Chapter 54: Wall-Breaking Card, Great Chaos About to Begin

—The fifth year of Yanxi.

As Liu Zhi grew older, Gu Xi gradually let go of the court affairs.

He began to let Liu Zhi, the Emperor, handle all court affairs personally.

Just as Liu Bao had done in the past.

Once Liu Zhi’s wings were fully grown, he would cast off all shackles.

The court officials were naturally not surprised by this, yet they remained immensely impressed by Gu Xi.

The word "retreat."

For those in high positions, it has always been difficult to achieve.

But what about Gu Xi?

Since the era of Emperor Xiaohe, he had been acting as regent, having had too many opportunities to monopolize power over the world.

Even if he had acted like Wang Mang in the past.

It would not have been impossible!

Because the people of the world were all grateful for Gu Xi’s kindness.

Yet, this was the kind of man who, when faced with opportunities delivered to his doorstep time and again, actively turned them all away.

How could others not admire him?

Regarding this, Liu Zhi also felt very lonely.

However, he also knew that Gu Xi was, after all, getting old.

Gu Xi was now nearly seventy; in this current era, living to such an age was already quite difficult.

Not to mention that Gu Xi had also been attending to court affairs throughout, and the effort he had poured into it was unimaginable.

Liu Zhi bestowed many rewards upon Gu Xi.

And to prevent any accidents from befalling Gu Xi, he insisted under any circumstances that Gu Xi not leave the capital, only allowing him to reside within the Champion Hou Fu.

To this, the court officials all agreed.

In truth, Gu Xi had not expected that he would still be alive today.

Some of the fifth generation of the Gu Shizi had already passed away.

Within the court, over these past five years, Cao Teng, Li Gu, and others had passed away one after another.

These people were even much younger than him.

Yet he alone had survived, and his body was still free of any ailments.

In fact, this matter had long since attracted the attention of many.

It was fine within the court.

But the rumors among the common people had spread extremely widely.

Back when Gu Xi was providing disaster relief, there were already people calling him an immortal descended to save the world.

Now, this rumor had become common knowledge.

And through the transmission of generation after generation, it made the common people of the world believe it without a doubt.

After all, this was something passed down from the generation of their fathers and even their grandfathers.

Moreover, Gu Xi’s lifespan truly exceeded everyone’s imagination.

This undoubtedly greatly reinforced the authenticity of the rumor, which could be said to be causing a great stir throughout the world.

Gu Xi, however, did not care much about all this.

After leaving the court, he once again began the education of his descendants.

That is correct, Gu Xi had already summoned the sixth generation of the Gu Shizi to Luoyang and began to educate them personally.

He was just that kind of person.

Since entering the temple court at the age of eleven, his entire life had been completely dedicated to the Great Han and his family.

How could he possibly be allowed to be idle?

Of course, Gu Xi naturally had his own intentions in doing this.

He had already perceived that the talents of the sixth generation of the Gu Shizi exceeded those of the fifth.

Especially Gu Wei.

He held great expectations for Gu Wei.

He felt that he could shoulder the future of the Gu Shizi.

He was using his own reputation to make plans for the future of his descendants.

In fact, his intuition was indeed correct.

Compared to the fifth generation of the Gu Shizi, the talents of this sixth generation were indeed higher overall.

Aside from Gu Wei.

There were also two other Gu Shizi whose attributes exceeded 70.

One was named Gu Tao; his other attributes were fine, but his martial arts attribute was as high as 73, just like Gu Xiao in the past.

The other was named Gu Ze, whose internal affairs attribute was as high as 75.

If educated properly, he might one day serve as a Commandery Governor.

However, the one who caught Gu Yi’s attention the most was a child named "Gu Chen."

He was the youngest son of Gu Xi’s eldest son.

He had only just been born.

Gu Yi’s interest in him was not because his attributes were high; on the contrary, it was the exact opposite.

This child’s attribute values were extremely low.

Almost every attribute was around ten or twenty.

Simply put, this was a child with low intelligence.

This situation was quite common in this current era.

The reason Gu Yi paid attention to him was naturally very simple: he used a Wall-Breaking Card on this child.

The attributes of the Wall-Breaking Card were a bit too much of a gamble.

Its requirements were extremely harsh.

First, it had to be a newborn, and the factors of attribute change involved were extremely broad, making it impossible for one to cultivate intentionally.

If Gu Yi were to use it on someone with decent attributes.

He would be absolutely unwilling.

If any error occurred, it was possible for their attributes to drop.

As for those with ordinary attributes.

There was even less need.

This was a Profound-tier item of the same rank as the Longevity Card, and since the effects already stated that it could completely break through upper and lower limits.

There was no difference between a person with ordinary attributes and this child with low intelligence.

For Gu Yi, family talent was the most critical factor.

Even someone with ordinary attributes had the potential to bring him achievement points.

But Gu Chen was different.

His attribute points had already destined him to become a burden to the family.

Using this item on him.

Not only might it solve his attribute problem, but it would also allow Gu Yi to observe the judgment criteria of this item.

If it could truly be observed.

If he could draw this item again in the future, perhaps there would truly be a chance to create an existence with terrifying attributes.

For Gu Yi, this was truly a rare opportunity.

Liu Zhi himself was an extremely intelligent person.

Although Gu Xi had been slightly hurried over these years, as time went on, he had also learned many things.

Gu Xi’s departure did not cause any changes in the temple court.

Liu Zhi could indeed be considered to have fully grown wings.

He was now full of ambition, hoping to continue the prosperous age of the Liu Bao era.

Gu Xi had just left the temple court.

He immediately promulgated a series of policies.

First of all, it was naturally the same set of tactics to win the hearts of the people, and he also continued the supervision of officials from the Liu Bao era.

These were indeed good methods.

The prosperous age of the Great Han did not experience any mishaps.

But as time gradually passed, Liu Zhi began to notice problems.

Why did the ministers under him have so much to say?

—The sixth year of Yanxi.

Northern Palace.

Just as Liu Zhi walked into the palace gate, he flew into a rage and cursed, "They deceive Me too much!"

"This group of people actually dares to refute Me in the temple court!"

"Who gave them the dog-guts to do so?"

"Do they still take Me for that child of the past?"

"Who do they think they are?"

"Is it the Grand Tutor?"

Liu Zhi gasped for air, his eyes filled with killing intent.

Today was the Grand Morning Assembly.

He had intended to renovate the Imperial Palace within the court.

Yet because of this very matter, it had unexpectedly drawn opposition from the entire body of court officials, who even went so far as to lecture him, the Son of Heaven, in public.

How could Liu Zhi not be furious?

He was the Son of Heaven!

Did he not even have the authority to repair a palace?

The more Liu Zhi thought about it, the angrier he became; veins even began to bulge on his face.

This absolutely could not stand!

He was now a true emperor with real power.

The existence of Gu Xi had already allowed him to completely bypass the period when Liang Na and Liang Ji held power.

And what emperor could endure this insult?

That’s right, to Liu Zhi, this was an insult!

The world was so peaceful.

What was wrong with him renovating a palace?

Must he be as frugal as the ancestors of the Great Han?

Liu Zhi slammed the table in front of him in anger and roared, "Issue the order immediately!"

"I will renovate the Imperial Palace."

"Anyone who submits a memorial in opposition shall have their official position stripped immediately!"

"I want the whole world to know that not just anyone can be Grand Tutor!"

He had to assert his authority.

He had to let everyone know that he was no longer a child, and that he was not someone anyone could lecture!

This matter spread instantly throughout the imperial court.

Without any surprise, faced with this demand from Liu Zhi, it was naturally met with opposition from the hundred officials.

But this undoubtedly only fueled Liu Zhi's anger further!

The hundred officials no longer regarded him as an emperor at all.

If this had been Gu Xi's idea, perhaps it would not have met with such opposition.

Immediately, Liu Zhi issued an edict to dismiss a full thirteen officials.

Although these people were not high-ranking officials.

It still served to demonstrate his stance.

He was the emperor!

But what Liu Zhi did not expect was that this move did not bring about the fear of the hundred officials; instead, it caused an even greater uproar!

These thirteen officials were not only highly praised by the scholars.

At the same time, the students of the Imperial Academy also began to criticize the imperial court and criticize him, the emperor!

In an instant, a powerful wave of public opinion bore down directly upon him, the emperor.

It seemed as if everyone was forcing him to bow his head!

This time, Liu Zhi was thoroughly enraged!

The court officials and scholars had completely incited his wrath; he promoted the eunuchs around him, ordered the arrest of nearly a hundred scholars, and dismissed nearly twenty ministers from the court!

In an instant, the entire court and the public were shaken!

Gu Yi also noticed everything that was happening, and his heart sank abruptly.

As expected, his guess was not wrong!

A huge conflict was destined to arise between court officials and scholars and an emperor like Liu Zhi.

In fact, this was inevitable.

In the original history, power during the mid-to-late Eastern Han was divided among the relatives of the empress, the eunuchs, and the scholar-officials.

Emperors often relied on eunuchs to deal with the relatives of the empress and the scholar-officials.

In essence, the Partisan Prohibitions were the emperor using the eunuch group to suppress the scholar-official group to strengthen autocratic rule.

Now, the existence of the Gu family had severely weakened the power of the Great Han's empress-relatives and eunuchs.

This certainly had its benefits.

With far fewer eunuchs causing chaos and harming the people, the national strength of the entire Great Han far exceeded that of the original history.

But this was also destined to have its downsides, namely the rapid expansion of the power of the scholar-officials.

The struggle would never cease.

The original history was a struggle between scholar-officials and eunuchs.

But now, it had evolved into a direct struggle between scholar-officials and imperial power.

Imperial power is destined to be dictatorial.

Someone like Gu Xi had completely transcended the category of a subject, had made great contributions to the entire country, and carried the label of someone who would never rebel.

Only such a person could make an emperor willing to share power.

But how could anyone else?

This was destined to cause great conflict.

Gu Yi did not know if the existence of Gu Xi would balance the conflict between the two sides.

But such a conflict was clearly not so easy to resolve; this was the result destined by the Great Han system.

Suddenly, Gu Yi remembered the undercurrents hidden beneath the prosperous age of the Great Han, and his pupils could not help but shrink.

The question that had always been impossible to solve now seemed to have an answer.

Champion Marquis Mansion.

When such a major event occurred, naturally someone would come to find Gu Xi.

In fact, Gu Xi had not paid much attention at first; Liu Zhi had only recently taken power, and it was normal to want to display his imperial dignity.

Even Liu Bao of the past had done such things.

Using reforms to display his imperial dignity to the fullest.

But he had completely failed to anticipate that this matter would develop to this point in such a short time.

The court and the public were shaken!

This upheaval even exceeded the uproar caused when the world heard that Liang Ji had murdered the Crown Prince!

Although Gu Xi was now seventy years old.

The Longevity Card still allowed him to maintain absolute clarity of thought.

He quickly saw the connections involved, and his expression quickly turned grim.

Gu Xi's role was brought into play at such a time.

He first summoned the hundred officials.

He scolded them for being so bold!

Faced with Gu Xi, the officials indeed had no temper at all.

Some scholar-officials cautiously stated their reasons, feeling that the emperor should not be so extravagant and immoderate, and so on.

These words could be said to have sent Gu Xi into a thunderous rage.

Gu Xi could not remember the last time he had been this angry.

The officials naturally dared not say more, and subsequently, Gu Xi went to see Liu Zhi.

Northern Palace.

If one were to divide Liu Zhi's life into two stages, he was clearly still in his wise period.

Liu Zhi was originally still full of anger.

But when he heard that Gu Xi had arrived, his expression softened slightly.

He even stood up directly to stop Gu Xi from bowing.

"Your Majesty..." Gu Xi sighed softly.

Liu Zhi's eyes narrowed slightly, and he sighed softly, "The Grand Tutor has come to persuade Me, right?"

Gu Xi nodded and said earnestly, "Your Majesty, this matter should not be escalated further."

"I have just met with the officials and persuaded them; they will naturally admit their mistakes to Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Liu Zhi fell silent.

He seemed to be considering it.

It was not until a long time had passed that he nodded slowly and said indifferently, "Very well, since the Grand Tutor has spoken, this matter shall end here."

"However... only this once."

His expression was incomparably serious, and his eyes grew increasingly sharp.

Gu Xi immediately bowed earnestly to Liu Zhi: "Your Majesty is wise!"

He did not mention Liu Zhi's promotion of the eunuchs; the actions of the court officials and scholars were destined to be balanced.

Liu Zhi promoted the eunuchs.

He clearly understood this point as well.

Watching all of this, Gu Yi could not help but shake his head.

Could Gu Xi balance everything out?

That was clearly impossible.

The Great Han valued Confucianism, and even the scholarship of Gu Kang was derived from it; the Confucian ideal of "the world belongs to the public" formed a structural contradiction with imperial power.

Even if Gu Xi could suppress it for a time, he could never suppress it for a lifetime.

Liu Zhi had already begun to promote eunuchs to balance power.

The gears of fate had already begun to turn once more.

If this matter were to stir up the undercurrents hidden beneath the prosperous age of the Great Han, then this Great Han, which appeared as prosperous as ever, would surely collapse in an instant.

"If it truly comes to this... I fear this upheaval will far exceed the original history."

Gu Yi muttered to himself, and even he could not help but feel a bit nervous.

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(End of this chapter)