Chapter 37: Tian-Dou Dispute

This spring rain in the Han Palace came suddenly. Liu Li lay by the window, looking up at the drizzling rain outside washing the asphalt-shining ground. Water droplets kept falling from the eaves, as if forming a beautiful rain curtain.

The rain fell on the ground with a patter. If one had leisure and elegance, closing one's eyes to listen to the sound of the rain would not be lacking in refinement. Unfortunately, Liu Li didn't have much mood to listen to the rain now.

She found a comfortable position, lay by the desk, holding a pen in her hand, and planned to write down the entire event of the "Tian-Dou Dispute" in history in her special notebook.

According to her memory, Dou Ying in history was finally executed by Emperor Wu of Han because of a will. And the beginning of the whole thing started from the conflict between Tian Fen and Guan Fu.

And then what? Liu Li bit her pen and thought and thought, but she didn't remember the specific details of the whole thing clearly, only remembering that the final ending was Dou Ying being executed.

The rain outside the window didn't know when it stopped. Accompanied by the silk-like spring breeze, the leaves outside the window were also blown to rustle. Liu Li took a deep breath and smelled the scent of soil after the rain.

She put down the pen in her hand, lifted her skirt, and ran out of the bedroom. Zhuqing, who was guarding the door of the bedroom, hurriedly chased after her and draped a cloak over her: "There is still spring chill now, Princess, please be careful of catching a cold."

Liu Li stood still obediently, lifting her head to wait for Zhuqing to help her put on the cloak, and then said: "Zhuqing, follow me out for a walk."

Zhuqing nodded with a smile: "Understood." Zhuqing liked following the little princess very much; she felt that the luckiest thing since she entered the palace was being chosen by the princess.

Liu Li didn't run far after leaving the bedroom, just strolled around the corridor of Jiaofang Hall and ran to the back garden to look at some vegetables she had replanted. Seeing that the vegetables in the ground had sprouted small green buds, her mood instantly became much better.

After staying outside for a while, Liu Li felt her mind was a little clearer, and she turned to look at Zhuqing: "Let's go, let's go back."

Zhuqing followed behind Liu Li: "Was the Princess worried about something just now?" In Zhuqing's eyes, Jianling Princess was the heaven-favored daughter loved by both the Emperor and the Empress; what worries could a princess with such status have?

Liu Li pursed her lips: "It can't be considered a worry, just wanted to get some air outside and see if I could remember anything." Although she still hadn't thought of the specific event of the "Tian-Dou Dispute."

Every time an event was triggered, if Liu Li participated in it, then the points given at the end were more. But if Liu Li was just a witness to the event and didn't participate, then the final points would be relatively less.

At this time, her system points were already over eight thousand. If she really couldn't remember the details of the "Tian-Dou Dispute" in the end, then she would have to be a witness and witness the occurrence of the whole thing.

It was just a pity for a loyal minister like Dou Ying, and it was cheap for a villain like Tian Fen.

Liu Li had just returned to the door of her bedroom when she saw Fuqu standing there, and she asked strangely: "Why is the Imperial Chief in front of my bedroom?"

Fuqu said with a smile: "Returning to the Princess, the Little Lord is waiting for the Princess in the hall."

Liu Li was startled and hurriedly lifted her skirt to enter. Sure enough, she saw Liu Che sitting at the desk in her room, seemingly flipping through her notebook.

Liu Li walked into the door and then whispered: "Why is Father moving Daughter's things casually?" Liu Li's tone was a bit unhappy, but she wasn't worried about being seen by Liu Che, after all, Liu Che couldn't understand the characters she wrote.

In modern times, parents treat children as their own possessions and do not respect children's privacy, let alone this was in the Han Dynasty thousands of years ago; at this time, there wasn't even the concept of privacy.

Liu Che tapped Liu Li's notebook with his finger and asked: "What is the meaning of what you wrote on this? Tian Fen captured Guan Fu, Dou Ying took out the will, Dou Ying was executed in September of the fourth year of Yuanguang... what are these?"

Liu Li gasped, full of question marks: "???" When did Liu Che learn simplified characters?

She walked over in two or three steps, stared at the characters in her notebook, gasped again, and didn't know how to argue for a while.

What she had written down unknowingly just now was actually Small Seal Script! And when she looked at it herself, she didn't feel anything wrong at all.

Having been in this era for a long time, was she already integrating into this era? Such a thought made Liu Li's heart panic for no reason.

"A Li?" Liu Che called Liu Li's name in a deep voice, his sharp gaze carrying three parts suspicion and three parts scrutiny.

Liu Li took a deep breath and carefully opened her mouth, biting the bullet: "These are the Goddess..."

Liu Che suddenly laughed, but the laughter was cold: "Can the Goddess predict things that haven't happened yet?" And it was accurate to the exact time!

Because Liu Li could indeed take out many strange things through the Goddess, Liu Che hadn't doubted the authenticity of the Goddess, and even felt that it was a good thing that his daughter could communicate with the Goddess.

But how divine the Goddess was, he knew nothing about. Now seeing what Liu Li had written down, Liu Che's mind had long since turned a thousand times.

Liu Li fell into silence.

Sure enough, Liu Che asked again: "Can the Goddess predict the fate of my Great Han's national destiny, whether the Great Han can last for thousands of years? Can the Emperor and A Jiao swap back?"

Liu Li didn't dare to look into Liu Che's eyes, her eyes went blank and entered the sage time, and then she whispered: "Father, what you asked are all heavenly secrets that cannot be revealed, the Goddess is not convenient to answer."

"Oh?" Liu Che responded lightly: "The Goddess can reveal to you the specific time of death of Weiqi Marquis Dou Ying, but cannot answer me about the Great Han's national destiny?"

Liu Che's body faintly exuded a pressure that made people unable to breathe. Liu Li was nervous to death, feeling her heart was about to jump out of her throat.

Emperor Wu of Han in history believed in gods in heaven, so like Qin Shi Huang, he had always been pursuing immortality.

But Emperor Wu of Han was also a suspicious person; those who wanted to deceive the Son of Heaven through cheating and kidnapping were all beheaded by him.

The most famous example was Luan Da, the second husband of Princess Wei Chang in history. Luan Da claimed he could communicate with gods, so Emperor Wu of Han enfeoffed Luan Da as a general and married his favorite daughter to him. But later, when Luan Da was discovered by Emperor Wu of Han to be bragging and could not communicate with gods, he was directly cut in half at the waist.

Even a son-in-law could be cut down just like that; it can be seen how ruthless Emperor Wu of Han was.

"The matter of national destiny is of great importance, if the heavenly secret is revealed, I am afraid it will damage the national fortune." Liu Li quickly organized a set of rhetoric in her mind: "Originally, the Great Han could last for thousands of years, but because the heavenly secret was revealed, it might end up like the Qin Dynasty, dying in the second generation. Father, can you understand this principle?"

Liu Li didn't lie about one point; although the Great Han perished, the spirit of the Han people did indeed last for thousands of years.

Listening to Liu Li's words, Liu Che thought about it and felt it made sense. The matter of national fortune was indeed hard to say. After all, after Qin Shi Huang unified the six states, who could have thought that it would only be passed down to Hu Hai and then it would be gone.

The Great Han must absolutely not follow the old path of the Qin State.

Liu Li saw that Emperor Wu of Han had been fooled by her, and before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she heard Liu Che ask: "Since the Goddess told you about Dou Ying, then you tell me specifically why Dou Ying would be executed." Saying this, he tapped the notebook again.

Liu Li: "..." She couldn't help but complain in her heart: If I could remember the specific process of Dou Ying being executed, would you still be able to see the content on this notebook?

"Father, the Goddess only told Daughter these, and didn't say anything else in detail, so Daughter doesn't know either." In order to express her sincerity, Liu Li said sincerely: "Daughter was just thinking about telling Father and Mother about this."

Liu Che raised his eyebrows, still very interested in the prophecy about Dou Ying on the notebook. After tapping his fingertips on the desk, he said: "Regarding Dou Ying, don't tell your Mother first."

"Why not tell Mother?"

"If your Mother knows that Dou Ying will be executed, she will definitely not issue the decree." Liu Che's voice reached Liu Li's ears lightly: "I want to see, the things predicted by the Goddess, without interference, will they actually happen?"

And what Liu Che cared about more was another content on the notebook: Dou Ying took out the will.

Dou Ying actually had a will given by the late Emperor? Why did he never know about this? Between his thoughts, Liu Che also had a preliminary consideration about the cause and effect of executing Dou Ying.

That day, Liu Che personally went to Xuanshi Hall and had A Jiao order Su Wen to take people to Tianlu Pavilion to find this so-called late Emperor's will. If the late Emperor really gave Dou Ying a will, then there must be a backup in Tianlu Pavilion.

When A Jiao heard about the will, she already knew what was about to happen; after all, she was reborn, and she also knew about Dou Ying's death in the fourth year of Yuanguang.

Liu Che knew from A Li that Dou Ying had a will, so he started a secret investigation, and A Jiao also wanted to do the same. So she ordered Su Wen to do this according to her words, and urged him to proceed secretly and not to make it public.

Just as Liu Che thought, A Jiao wanted to save Dou Ying.

In her previous life, A Jiao didn't care about matters in the court, so she didn't know about the conflict between Tian Fen and Dou Ying and Guan Fu. It wasn't until Dou Ying was arrested and about to be beheaded that she knew such a big thing had happened.

At that time, Dou Ying's retainers begged her to plead for Dou Ying, and she did indeed help to plead, but the result was as one could imagine.

But Liu Che didn't listen to her and still beheaded Dou Ying.

She vaguely heard that Dou Ying had the late Emperor's edict in his hand, but Liu Che didn't find a backup of the edict in Tianlu Pavilion. In the court, Tian Fen impeached Dou Ying for the "crime of forging an edict."

Mother said it must be the Empress Dowager and Tian Fen who secretly destroyed the backup edict, wanting to use this to get rid of the Dou family and let the Tian clan grow completely strong.

So this time, before things developed to the point of no return, A Jiao decided to find this edict first, so that Uncle Dou Ying would not be impeached.

However, what A Jiao didn't expect was that Su Wen didn't find a backup of the edict in Tianlu Pavilion.

How could this be? A Jiao was astonished: "Are you sure you have searched all of Tianlu Pavilion?"

Su Wen said: "The slave took people to read through Tianlu Pavilion several times, and indeed didn't find it."

Liu Che's expression was calm, and he waved his hand: "You may withdraw."

Su Wen paused, looked at the Son of Heaven, and seeing that the Son of Heaven didn't speak, he responded lightly: "Understood."

After Su Wen left, A Jiao turned her eyes to look at Liu Che, her eyes carrying a hint of surprise. She didn't understand; at this time, the Empress Dowager and Tian Fen should not know about the will, so it was impossible to destroy the backup in Tianlu Pavilion in advance.

Then why was there no backup found in the end?

Liu Che looked at A Jiao: "It seems A Jiao also knows about the will; did A Li tell you?"

A Jiao straightened her spine and nodded: "Hmm."

"This child..." Liu Che scolded lightly: "I told her not to tell you."

Liu Li indeed hadn't had time to tell A Jiao about this, but Liu Che himself had already thought of the key to the matter and knew in advance that there was no backup edict.

"Don't blame A Li, it was me who felt it was strange that you were looking for some edict, so I asked A Li what happened." A Jiao defended her daughter.

Liu Che smiled, approached A Jiao, reached out to pull her large hand into his own to play with her fingers, and then said slowly: "I am not blaming her, it is good that you know about this in advance."

A Jiao frowned and asked: "Why is there no backup edict in Tianlu Pavilion?" She couldn't understand; with Dou Ying's character, it was impossible to forge an edict.

"Because Father didn't write two edicts at all; he only gave Dou Ying one edict without a stub." Liu Che had already figured it out when he knew there was no backup edict in Tianlu Pavilion.

Everything was Father's painstaking effort for him.

A Jiao was dumbfounded: "Why, why?" If this was the case, then wasn't Uncle pitting Dou Ying?

Liu Che looked up at the astonished expression on her face, smiled, and explained to her: "The reason, if I say it, you might not be happy. Father's purpose in doing this was to hope that I could take this opportunity to get rid of Dou Ying."

A Jiao: "..." She was already too shocked to speak.

When Han Jingdi passed away, Liu Che was only sixteen years old. At that time, the greatest imperial relative was the Dou family.

With Dou Ying's merits in the court at that time, no one could compare to him. So Han Jingdi thought of using this method to lay a path for his son to topple Dou Ying.

The content of the edict Han Jingdi gave to Dou Ying was: "If there are inconveniences, discuss them with the Emperor." On one hand, it was to give Dou Ying a reassurance, and on the other hand, it was probably a hint to Liu Che.

Once Dou Ying took out this will to check and balance imperial power, then this edict would be Dou Ying's death warrant. Clearly, Liu Che had already fully understood Han Jingdi's painstaking efforts.

"But... didn't Uncle Dou Ying make many contributions to the Great Han? He even offended Grandmother to support your Confucianism before, and was demoted from the position of Prime Minister. Why must you kill him?"

A Jiao only felt that all these conspiracies were a bit terrifying, whether it was the Liu Che before her or the Emperor Uncle who once loved her very much.

Liu Che's eyes were cold: "A Jiao, don't you understand yet? When Dou Ying took out Father's edict, it meant he had overstepped, and he had to die." No Son of Heaven would keep a minister who could order him around by his side.

A Jiao fell into silence. Was this the art of imperial power? If she were to learn it, she was afraid she would never learn so many twists and turns in this life.

Liu Che patted A Jiao's hand gently and said: "Let's just watch." He was very much looking forward to what kind of thing would make Dou Ying take out the edict regardless of the cost.

Even though Liu Che had already analyzed it with A Jiao, A Jiao still wanted to save Dou Ying. She couldn't discuss it with others and could only talk to Liu Li about this matter.

Hearing that A Jiao wanted to save Dou Ying, Liu Li thought that A Jiao was reborn, so she must know what happened between Tian Fen and Dou Ying.

A Jiao carefully recalled what she knew in her previous life and said: "As far as I know, Uncle Dou Ying had a conflict with Tian Fen because of Guan Fu..."

Specifically, that day at Tian Fen's wedding banquet, Guan Fu was angry because of Tian Fen's disrespect to Dou Ying, so he made a scene at the wedding banquet.

Finally, this matter was known by the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager was very angry and said to her son: "I am still alive, and someone dares to bully my younger brother; then after I die, won't there be no one who puts your uncle in their eyes?"

So Liu Che ordered people to arrest Guan Fu and behead him. Dou Ying chose to take out this will in order to save Guan Fu.

After A Jiao's narration, Liu Li combined the historical knowledge she recalled and finally sorted out the whole story line of the "Tian-Dou Dispute." She remembered that in history, not long after Dou Ying died, Tian Fen also seemed to have died from excessive fright.

She remembered that her deskmate at the time complained: "This Tian Fen was so old and still married a wife, but he hung up not even a year after marrying."

A Jiao asked: "A Li, you say what should I do to save Uncle Dou Ying's life?" A Jiao thought, perhaps she could never be a qualified monarch in the end.

Liu Li thought for a while and said: "To let Dou Ying live, we must stop him from taking out the will."

In fact, Liu Li also felt that it was a pity for Dou Ying to die like this. After all, according to the records of "Zizhi Tongjian," Dou Ying was an old minister who had experienced three dynasties. He could lead all officials in literature and had even been the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor. In terms of leading troops and fighting, he was also a capable hand. Dou Ying was once appointed as the Great General and quelled the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms; he was a rare loyal minister.

If he could be kept, it would also be good for A Jiao to govern the Great Han in the future. What's more, the Great Han still needed ministers who knew how to fight and use troops.

"This... I secretly find Mother to talk to him?" A Jiao thought for a while and said: "Let Mother persuade him to destroy the will directly?" As long as the will doesn't appear, it should be fine, right?

Liu Li shook her head: "Impossible, this will is the late Emperor's trust in him for Dou Ying; he cannot destroy it."

"I think the core of the whole thing lies in the dispute between Tian Fen and Guan Fu." Liu Li said: "If Guan Fu was not beheaded, then Dou Ying probably wouldn't have taken out the will, right?"

"But Guan Fu has already been arrested by Tian Fen." A Jiao patted the table and regretted: "It's all my fault; when Tian Fen came to me to complain before, I didn't remember who this Guan Fu was for a while."

Perhaps she patted her hand in pain, and after patting the table, A Jiao shook it lightly.

Liu Li also patted: "No, I remembered!"

"Awoo." She patted the table, and her hand also hurt, making her cry out.

A Jiao looked at her movements, burst out laughing, held her daughter's little hand in her palm, and blew on it gently: "Blow it and it won't hurt."

Liu Li looked at A Jiao, who was gentle and blowing on her palm, and inexplicably felt a sense of happiness filling her senses. The feeling of being loved by a mother was really good.

"Does it still hurt?" A Jiao rubbed her little fleshy hand again.

Liu Li shook her head: "It doesn't hurt, let's continue talking about what happened just now."

"Tian Fen should release Guan Fu after capturing him this time." Liu Li thought for a while and said: "As for the reason why Tian Fen released Guan Fu, it was because Guan Fu grasped a secret of Tian Fen, and Tian Fen had no choice but to release Guan Fu. We can use this matter to cut off Tian Fen's power!"

Tian Fen was able to become Prime Minister entirely because his sister, the Empress Dowager, became the Empress Dowager. Now in the court, the Tian family's imperial relative power is the most powerful. If this opportunity could be used to take away Tian Fen's position as Prime Minister, it would also be good for the Son of Heaven's centralization of power.

Back then, after Dou Ying offended the Empress Dowager Dou and was deposed from the position of Prime Minister, Dou Ying was never reused. It wasn't until the Grand Empress Dowager passed away and Liu Che personally ruled that he deposed the Prime Minister appointed by the Grand Empress Dowager and changed it to appointing Tian Fen as Prime Minister.

Clearly, Dou Ying was more suitable to be this Prime Minister than Tian Fen, but Liu Che didn't use Dou Ying and used Tian Fen instead, and the Tian family's imperial relative power grew day by day. Tian Fen also gradually became arrogant and reckless, not putting Dou Ying in his eyes at all.

And because Dou Ying couldn't get reused, he was eager to return to the court, so he went to make friends with powerful local rangers like Guan Fu.

A Jiao listened to Liu Li and felt a little excited: "What should I do?"

"Actually, it's very simple." Liu Li blinked her eyes and said: "As long as Father knows Tian Fen's secret, he will want to depose Tian Fen even more than we do."

Saying this, A Jiao was even more curious about the secret Tian Fen was hiding: "What exactly is it, tell me quickly."

Liu Li then said: "In history, about seven or eight years later, the Huainan King Liu An's rebellion will be known by Father. Father arranged for people to thoroughly investigate this matter and investigated the things that happened during the Jianyuan years. At that time, Tian Fen said to the Huainan King that Father didn't have a son yet, and once Father had an accident and passed away, maybe it would be the Huainan King's turn to be the Emperor."

After listening, A Jiao was speechless: "How did this Tian Fen think..." Actually hoping for his own nephew to have an accident? She thought if Liu Che heard his uncle say such things, he would probably be angered to death.

Liu Li blinked and said: "So, after Father knew about this, he said very angrily that if Tian Fen was still alive, he should be exterminated."

A Jiao: "..."

"Pfft." A Jiao burst out laughing: "Liu Che is really so angry that he forgot Tian Fen is his own uncle? If Tian Fen is to be exterminated, then is the first person he wants to kill himself?"

But how can one let Liu Che know that his uncle once said such things without moving a muscle? Liu Li hadn't thought of a good way for a while.

If she specifically found someone to tell Liu Che, Liu Che might suspect that someone was framing his uncle; he must hear it from Tian Fen's own mouth. ===== CHAPTER 38 =====

A Jiao: "..."

"Pfft." A Jiao suddenly laughed out loud: "Liu Che must be so angry that he forgot Tian Fen is his own uncle, right? If Tian Fen were to be exterminated, wouldn't he be the first one to kill himself?"

But how could she let Liu Che know that his uncle had once said such things without making it obvious? Liu Li hadn't thought of a good way for a moment.

If she specifically found someone to tell Liu Che, Liu Che might suspect that someone was framing his uncle; he must hear it from Tian Fen's own mouth.