Chapter 1145: The Fourth Inspection Tour

In the first month of spring in the fifth year of Kaibao, another major upheaval occurred in the Great Han court, triggered by a low-ranking charlatan named Zhang Long'er. He and his followers were dealt with cleanly and swiftly, all beheaded in the marketplace, so that the ignorant common folk could see with their own eyes that the "Grand Master" they revered was not invulnerable to blades or impervious to fire and water—a single stroke of the executioner's sword was enough to separate head from body.

At the same time, the batch of officials implicated in the affair—not a single one escaped—all those who had any dealings with Zhang Long'er were dug out. Even with psychological preparation, the results still filled Emperor Liu with fury.

Among them were not only low-ranking officials who had hoped to receive the "Grand Master's" blessings and guidance to secure promotions and wealth, but also meritorious nobles, and even several officers of the imperial army.

Provoking the Emperor's wrath naturally led to grim outcomes—more than forty officials, regardless of who they were or what posts they held, were all dismissed. Even though none held particularly high positions of power, dismissing so many people at once in the Eastern Capital was no small shock. Of course, this also freed up quite a few positions for others to eagerly fill—the Great Han was hardly short of people wanting to be officials.

Among the meritorious nobles, thirteen also faced reckoning—their noble titles stripped and ranks revoked, including one marquis and two earls. This was also the first time Emperor Liu had punished the meritorious officials and nobles of the Qianyou era. Though the number was small, it set a precedent and also saved the court a sum of annual expenditure.

Of course, what infuriated Emperor Liu most was the imperial army officers and soldiers implicated in the affair. Though they were merely a handful of low-ranking officers and guards, the matter was grave. Problems elsewhere, with other people, all fell within acceptable bounds for Emperor Liu—but when the military got entangled in this kind of mess, the nature of the matter became serious.

All the implicated officers and soldiers were exiled to Annam. Not only that—because the incident originated in the Patrol Inspectorate, several senior commanders, from Han Tong to Li Jixun to Dang Jin, were summoned to the palace and severely reprimanded for failing to maintain strict discipline over their troops.

This affair indeed delivered a sufficient shock to Emperor Liu, alerting him to reflect: through all these years, what was the power that had always remained firmly in his grasp, never relaxed? Military power!

This was only the beginning—such corrupt tendencies had already emerged in the army. Though small, nipping problems in the bud and preventing trouble before it arose was Emperor Liu's creed. Thus, at the Emperor's command, with the Bureau of Military Affairs taking the lead and supported by the Military Intelligence Bureau, another rectification campaign was launched against the imperial army.

And the problems exposed in the process were indeed startling. Though Emperor Liu had repeatedly emphasized that the four barbarian peoples had not yet submitted and the time had not come to put the horses out to pasture, a lax and complacent atmosphere had quietly spread through the military.

This was something difficult to avoid. For the central imperial army, it had been too long since the northern expedition—too long of ease and comfort. Even during the southern pacification war, the imperial army was only deployed in limited numbers; the western advance and southern push had all used local forces.

Such a long stretch of time was enough to make officers and men grow lax—this was only human nature. And since the beginning of the Kaibao era, an age of peace had fully arrived, war gradually receded, living standards steadily rose, the imperial army's treatment was not low, and being stationed in the city of Kaifeng—it was only to be expected that military morale would undergo some change.

After all, even Emperor Liu himself could not help but feel weary and slack at times, let alone ordinary officers and soldiers. Military law remained strict, restraining the troops; military bearing remained imposing—what had changed was only the spirit and morale, an effect brought by the changing times.

The lesson Emperor Liu drew from this was the realization that in times of peace, the governance of the military also needed adjustment—one could not simply continue applying the methods of wartime military management. At the same time, the rotation of garrison duties between the inner and outer armies needed to be strengthened. Prosperity was certainly a good thing, but Kaifeng, as the capital, seemed to possess an extremely powerful "corrupting" influence.

Only when Emperor Liu's attention shifted to military rectification did the "Zhang Long'er Case" truly come to a close.

From the latter half of the fourth year of Kaibao, Emperor Liu had in fact emerged from the leisure of the previous two years. Delegating authority and reining in power was always merely surface appearance—having governed the realm for twenty years, one could say that every inch of flesh and blood on his body was saturated with power.

After entering the fifth year of Kaibao, he became even busier, and the focus of that busyness was one thing: making all the preparations and arrangements for an imperial tour. This was already the twentieth year of Emperor Liu's reign. Over all these years, Emperor Liu was not one to remain cooped up in the palace—from time to time he would go out to walk and see.

And over these twenty years, the time Emperor Liu actually spent inside the imperial palace was only about two-thirds. The rest of the time was spent on military campaigns, hunting expeditions, or inspection tours.

Excluding those covert inspections and investigations in the capital and its vicinity, Emperor Liu had made a total of three large-scale inspection tours of considerable fanfare.

The first was the western tour in the first year of Qianyou, to Luoyang. At that time, he had just ascended the throne and, disregarding remonstrations, rashly set out on tour. Besides displaying imperial might, the primary purpose was to make preparations for the rebellion of Li Shouzhen in Hezhong. Some of the military deployments against the Hezhong rebellion were also arranged during that western tour.

The second was the winter tour of the following year—braving the winter cold, he toured northward, comforting Hebei, and went as far as Yongqing. The purpose was equally clear: for the military defense of Hebei. At that time, the situation on the Great Han's northern border was not optimistic—not just the question of army loyalty, but also the pressure brought by Liao and the turbulence of the Youyan situation.

The third was the northern tour of the ninth year of Qianyou—an inspection of the entire northern territory. From Hebei, crossing the Taihang Mountains into Hedong, then south to Hezhong, west to Chang'an, then east through Luoyang back to Kaifeng—he traversed the entirety of the Great Han's core ruling region.

From these three previous tours, it could be seen that in the past, the focus of Emperor Liu and even the court had been placed on the northern part of the territory. Therefore, now in the fifth year of Kaibao, a decade later, when he went on tour again, the direction had correspondingly changed.

This time, Emperor Liu planned to go east and south. Though north and south were now unified, they had after all been divided for more than half a century, and there was inevitably some estrangement. One of Emperor Liu's purposes in going was to eliminate this estrangement as much as possible, to soothe the hearts of the southern gentry and common people, and to strengthen the Great Han's rule.

As the Great Han's fiscal and tax heartland, it was also worthy of Emperor Liu's attention. If one were to find a template for Emperor Liu's thinking and approach among previous dynasties' emperors, the closest parallel would be Emperor Yang of Sui—though compared to Emperor Yang of Sui, the difficulties Emperor Liu faced were far smaller.

However, the scale of this tour was also the largest of all previous tours. All palace consorts except those in poor health accompanied the imperial entourage. Among the imperial princes, all were brought along except for the few elder ones and those under eight years old. One-third of the ministers and officials were taken along, and the escorting troops exceeded ten thousand men.

The travel route was also planned out, divided into water and land routes. The water route was led by Shi Shouxin, bringing the dragon boats and official vessels, entering the Huai River via the Bian and Si rivers, arriving at Chuzhou to await the imperial arrival. The land route was the field headquarters, touring east through Henan—as the heartland of the Central Plains and the foundation of the Great Han's rule, Emperor Liu had truly never once made a serious journey through it in all these years.

"This time, when I go on tour, I don't plan to return to the capital for some time. You will still oversee the state in my absence. Be sure to listen more to the suggestions of the various lords, deliberate carefully and act with sincerity—conduct yourself well!" In Wansui Hall, Emperor Liu summoned the Crown Prince Liu Yang for final instructions.

Meeting Emperor Liu's gaze, Liu Yang remained as deferential as ever, bowing and saying: "Yes!"

Looking at his Crown Prince—who, after marrying, had grown increasingly composed and steady—he was very satisfied. What had never been spoken aloud was that what Emperor Liu was most satisfied with about Liu Yang as Crown Prince was not his intelligence or wisdom, nor his ability to handle affairs, but the humility and deference he displayed—his lack of "aggressiveness."

For a Son of Heaven like Emperor Liu, it was better for the Crown Prince to be somewhat moderate. When choosing a successor, Emperor Liu was not the kind of monarch who liked to mold someone in his own image. A son who resembled himself might be liked, but that kind of liking, in Emperor Liu's eyes, was not a plus point when considering succession—it was actually a minus point.

At the very least, Emperor Liu had some self-awareness about what his own character and conduct were composed of. If among his sons there truly was one who resembled himself—thinking about it carefully, it might even send a chill down one's spine...

In the third month of spring in the fifth year of Kaibao, the imperial carriage departed from Kaifeng, and Emperor Liu embarked on the journey of his fourth inspection tour.