Chapter 39: National Affairs and Family Affairs

"Whoever wants to scold me, let them scold me. It is not scary to curse me at this time. What is scary is that if the ancestors' foundation is not well maintained and they are ruined in their own hands, then more than these people will scold me, and the people who suffer all over the world will follow me and those Confucian scholars who are full of sourness and jealousy will also use their pens to leave me with an eternal infamy!" Emperor Qiyuan stood in the middle of the house, paced back and forth. "But... if it really comes to that time, these infamous are nothing. What I am afraid of is that no longer Wuyan will go to see my father and Wuyan will go to see my ancestors!"

After Emperor Qiyuan said this, the Empress Dowager was also moved, but after thinking about it, he just sighed. Emperor Qiyuan came to the Empress Dowager and said slowly: "My mother, since the death of the late emperor, my son has taken over the throne. There is no day that I have not lived tremblingly, for fear that I would let down the entrustedness of the late emperor and let down the hopes of the ancestors. The act of withdrawing the vassal is helpless, not that my son has any personal selfish intentions... I hope my mother... understands!"

"Oh..." The Empress Dowager raised her eyes and looked at Emperor Qiyuan's face carefully, sighed a long time, stretched out her hand to pull Emperor Qiyuan's arm: "Come on, sit down and talk! Look at you, how come you have only been in a few years, how come you have grown so fast!" Emperor Qiyuan sat down next to the Empress Dowager as he said. The Empress Dowager slowly said: "We are the Great Establishment Dynasty... You are the Emperor. If you really want to do anything, no one can stop you. But although the Emperor is big, there are also ancestor regulations and principles and rules. Before deciding to do things, you have to think carefully. The Ai family knows that you are filial and will come to inform you of any major matters. According to the Ai family's ideas, the withdrawal of the vassal state is not only related to the court and the people, but also to the prospects of our Zhang clan, especially... it also to the emperor yourself!"

"Mother Queen?"

"Well..." The empress dowager paused slightly, and saw that Emperor Qiyuan seemed a little puzzled, and said slowly: "Who did our Emperor Gaozu win the world? Is Xiang Hu? Fang Gui? Those counselors and generals? No... Of course they have the achievements of founding the country, but in the final analysis, Emperor Gaozu relies on our Zhang clan. Our Zhang family was originally a big clan and had a solid foundation. If Emperor Gaozu was not from our Zhang family, would he come to serve Xiang Hu and Fang Gui that day? Will people in the world still look at the scenery? Hehe, you don't need to answer the Ai family. No one knows what happened, and they can't explain it clearly, but think about it carefully, is it so reasonable?"

Seeing that Emperor Qiyuan did not speak, the Empress Dowager continued: "Everything is born with roots, plants and animals have nests. Where is your foundation? Of course, it is our Zhang family. After the founding of the country, Emperor Gaozu was granted a great title to ministers, but how many people who were granted the vassal kings were foreigners? Not many, right? The rest are our Zhang family, who are brothers and brothers of Emperor Gaozu, and their blood ties are close relatives. Why is this? In terms of merit, some of them are not as good as those ministers. In the final analysis, they are still the same saying, love is not as father and son, and they are not as close as brothers. The most trustworthy person is still our own family!"

"Your roots are in the Zhang family, but what is the Zhang family? To put it bluntly, they are the vassal kings enfeoffed by the ancestors and clans! Without them, the Zhang family would not become the Zhang family. You have now been thinking about the withdrawal of the vassal for a temporary dilemma, but have you ever thought about the consequences after the withdrawal? Then don't talk about anything else. On the surface, you won't talk about what you are like, the emperor, but behind your back, you will definitely regard you as a rebellious person of the Zhang family... Oh, the queen mother can't watch you and go on that road! If this person loses the roots, it's like a tree without roots, and floating duckweed on the water will not last long. You are the emperor, but you don't know what's going on with the throne over the years? The emperor is glorious on the surface, but many things are not what you want to do. There are various restraints under the table, which sometimes makes people a little crazy..."

"My mother's painstaking efforts are all understood by my sons..."

"It's good to understand... People in this world only see these vassal kings collecting money, not paying taxes, and living leisurely. But you have to think about it. With such a large land and so many people in the court, these vassal kings have helped manage them over the years? The world is the emperor's world, but can the emperor manage such a big world? Didn't he rely on the reliable people around him to help? Who is the reliable person? The Ai family just decided to be a traitor: wherever the roots are, the people are reliable!"

"You think about the withdrawal of the vassal states when you go back. The same goes, you are the emperor. No one can stop you if you want to do, and the Ai family cannot, nor do you want to block you." The empress dowager looked at Emperor Qiyuan, and a hint of worry appeared on her face: "The Ai family just wants to say something to you. You are my son. No matter what you have done, will the mother still not look to her son?"

Emperor Qi Yuan felt something when he heard this and subconsciously called out: "Mom..."

"Oh..." The empress dowager's eyes were also a little red, and she quickly turned her head: "My mother is afraid... If the matter of withdrawing the vassal state is settled, you will never have a peaceful life in your life. It is hard to say what the Zhang family will reach. My mother has never read any books and does not know how to write articles, but she knows some things before. Think about it, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty was the princes of the previous dynasty, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the princes of the previous dynasty. They all have big families behind them. If they lose these roots, or the family is in decline... Then the next emperor may be someone from another family to do it..." The empress dowager said this, turned her body and looked at Emperor Qiyuan and said word by word: "So, after all, those ministers need to use it, but they cannot listen to everything. People from other surnames have never been the same as us!"

"Yes..." Emperor Qi Yuan felt a little dissatisfied when he heard this, but the empress dowager said something reasonable, but he could not refute her at this time, so he just lowered his head to respond.

"As the saying goes, 'One emperor and one minister', but if you think about it carefully, many times the dynasties have changed, but some people are still serving as officials. Look at the people of the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, isn't that the same? Haha, when you think about it, think about our Zhang family, the Xiang family, and the Fang family, and think about it, do you look like it? Besides, there are more than these families in our Dajian Dynasty, and the families that emerged later cannot be underestimated. The Zhao family has two dukes, and their power is not small... These corpses have a lot of eyes!"

Seeing that Emperor Qiyuan seemed to have changed his attitude, the Empress Dowager felt a little relieved and said, "If you want to use them, you have to hold them up and not make them arrogant. With the vassal kings of the court supporting you later, those clans of the foreign surname will have some concerns. This is to use the power of the family to check and balance the foreign ministers. If the emperor is really alone and one of the only ones, who would be afraid of you? Then again, the reason why you want to withdraw the vassal is because the court lacks silver. If you lack silver, you think of a way, and you may not necessarily withdraw the vassal!"

"Haha, the Ai family suddenly remembered that they came when they were playing cards just now. Look, this hand is smooth, and they can come up with cards of whatever cards they want, and they make sense to play. But this hand is not smooth, and they don't come up with whatever they want, and throw away whatever they want. Just played a card, and after a while, I found that it was useful! But now, you can only wait to try your luck, and you can't touch the same card again." The empress dowager looked at Emperor Qiyuan and said earnestly: "But, cards may be able to touch the same card. If this person is gone, there is no place to find a exactly the same one... So, the emperor, this card must be kept, and you can't say when you have to use it. You have given up this card yourself, and when you find that you are going to use it in the future, you will regret it... but it's too late..."

"Well..." Emperor Qiyuan nodded. He was quite dissatisfied with what the empress dowager said at first, but now that the empress dowager said so much in a gentle voice, Emperor Qiyuan listened to it. Thinking about it, I did ignore these things before. But I knew that these questions were known. The words on the left were reasonable and the words on the right were reasonable. But the principles of these two parties attributed to their attitudes towards one thing, but what made Emperor Qiyuan frustrated was that these two principles were both for the sake of him, the emperor... "What the Empress said was that the son minister... the son minister was indeed a little impatient. When the son minister returned, he could think it through slowly, and then ask the mother for advice."

"Haha, what are you asking for advice? The Ai family doesn't know anything, just know how to play cards and tease birds." The empress dowager was in a much better mood and said, "You can promise your mother to go back and think about it. The empress dowager is really happy. You are a filial son and also the head of our Zhang family. Everything depends on the general situation and try to take care of it as much as possible. Uh..." The empress dowager pondered for a moment and said, "As for the affairs of those two young uncles, I see that although the rumors started from the market and were out of ulterior motives, the wind was not coming. These two people may have some indecisiveness. In a few days, it will be August 15th, and the reunion day. When they come, the Ai family will scold them for you! Not only them, but they are the uncles. If they are lawless, the people below may not be so peaceful..."

"As for the current shortage of silver in the court, the Ai family will also mention it at the family dinner. You are the emperor, you can't say that the Ai family has no scruples, just think that the Ai family borrowed it from them, and the Ai family will find a way to return it to them in the future." The empress dowager raised her head slightly and smiled: "The Ai family stayed in the palace all day long, and she had no ability, so she could only do such a thing. The Ai family has lost the people with their ankles, and only this little face is left, and it can still be worth some money. I don't dare to refute my face!"

"My mother..." Emperor Qi Yuan was moved after hearing this, and hurriedly knelt down and said, "My mother has this heart, and my son is already very grateful. It is all the incompetent son, which makes my mother worried! But... I should think of other ways to do this money, so I dare not let my mother suffer!"
Chapter completed!