Chapter 34: Execute Xiao He?

"During the reign of the founding emperor."

Hearing these six words, Liu Bang felt a slight tremor in his heart. Was Lu Xuan referring to him? Had he, because of a single case, launched a massive purge of meritorious officials?

Executed over thirteen thousand people?

Impossible.

He was not a man of bloodlust, and he would never slaughter the founding fathers of his empire. In fact, he had even harbored various reservations when Han Xin employed such ruthless methods to prune the ranks of the meritorious.

In his view, only those vassal kings of different surnames who were secretly recruiting troops and buying horses had ever driven him to thoughts of murder. As for the others, he would never kill them.

However, Lu Xuan had never told a lie. The "founding emperor" was clearly him, Liu Bang. As a temple title for an emperor, "Taizu" first appeared during the Shang Dynasty. The *Book of Rites, Regulations of the King* records: "The Son of Heaven has seven temples, three *zhao* and three *mu*, plus the temple of the Great Ancestor, making seven. The feudal lords have five temples, two *zhao* and two *mu*, plus the temple of the Great Ancestor, making five." The "Great Ancestor" here is "Taizu."

The first monarch in history to be posthumously titled Taizu was Cheng Tang of the Shang.

Since he was the one who founded the Han Dynasty, he was destined to be the Taizu in the future. Therefore, Lu Xuan was indeed talking about him.

"Is the Holy Emperor really such a cold-hearted person?"

"It is impossible for him to wantonly massacre his meritorious officials."

Liu Bang shook his head in rebuttal.

Hearing this, Lu Xuan found it amusing. Could one really say Zhu Yuanzhang was not cold-hearted?

However, he understood his Uncle Ji’s reaction. In a feudal dynasty, the emperor was usually deified as a symbol of the union between royal power and divine authority. Furthermore, such a massive slaughter of meritorious officials had never occurred before Zhu Yuanzhang, and since the Ming Dynasty had just been established, the Emperor had not yet employed any such measures against his ministers in the early stages. It was understandable for Uncle Ji to think this way.

Yet, in history, Zhu Yuanzhang had indeed killed so many meritorious officials that he was criticized by later generations.

"That question is not important. Didn't you ask me what the consequences would be if one were to massacre meritorious officials on a large scale?"

"Actually, there were no serious consequences. You must realize that the base of the masses is vast. Normally, even if the Holy Emperor killed so many officials, it would make people subconsciously view him as a tyrant, even if he were the founding emperor."

"But in the eyes of later generations, most people are just ordinary folks. They naturally cannot empathize with those officials. Therefore, looking at the historical evaluation, while this matter is subject to criticism, not many people have actually said much about it."

"At the time, it did not cause any major repercussions either. Ever since the Emperor abolished the office of the Chancellor, he achieved true centralization of power. Even with the mass execution of officials, it could not stir up any waves; there were no truly serious consequences."

Lu Xuan shared his perspective. Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang’s purging of many meritorious officials indeed did not lead to severe consequences.

Of course, this was setting aside the future "Campaign of Jingnan" and the rise of Zhu Di.

The only two serious consequences caused by Zhu Yuanzhang’s purge were that when Zhu Di launched his campaign, the imperial court lacked capable generals to fight, and they had no prominent commanders to face foreign incursions.

The former led to the success of Zhu Di’s rebellion, but as Zhu Di achieved many merits, no one pointed out the consequences of Zhu Yuanzhang’s purge anymore.

The latter was also resolved because Zhu Di’s expeditions into the northern deserts conquered those foreign threats, causing the second serious consequence to vanish as well.

That was why Lu Xuan said there would be no serious consequences. Of course, if this were any other dynasty, it might have caused quite a bit of trouble, but he was currently in the Ming Dynasty—why worry about other dynasties?

"No consequences..." Liu Bang muttered to himself, feeling much more at ease. Yet, he also harbored doubt and unease. What exactly was the reason that drove him to massacre his meritorious officials?

And what was this about abolishing the office of the Chancellor?

Beside him, Zhang Liang’s eyes flickered. Hearing the words "massacre meritorious officials," he felt terrified. He, Zhang Liang, was one of those officials. Would the Emperor kill him in the future?

It must have been due to some event that caused the Emperor to become murderous.

What could it possibly be?

"Master Lu, could you tell us about this case, and what the abolition of the Chancellor’s authority is all about?"

Liu Bang asked. Lu Xuan thought for a moment and decided to speak, "Just don't spread this around."

He had revealed a lot of information before, even things that could cause trouble if leaked. Yet, no trouble had ever found him, which proved that whether it was Uncle Fang or Uncle Ji, they had followed his instructions not to disclose the related matters.

Because of this, Lu Xuan felt much more at ease.

"First of all, the case of the massacre of meritorious officials, in the final analysis, was simply for the Emperor to abolish the power of the Chancellor!"

Abolish the power of the Chancellor!

Liu Bang and Zhang Liang exchanged glances. Did the "Chancellor's power" here refer to the power of the state prime minister? Or the power of the Imperial Chancellor?

The Imperial Chancellor and a state prime minister were not the same. In the current system of the Han Dynasty, only the official who managed all the central authority was the Chancellor, while various vassal states also had their own prime ministers.

The Chancellor was essentially the high official assisting the emperor in handling various government affairs, an official who stood "under one person and above ten thousand." His power extended to all scopes and fields of the central and local governments; he could even appoint or dismiss officials and supervise the hundred officials.

As for the state prime ministers, they were merely officials managing the affairs within their respective vassal states; in terms of power, they were far inferior to the Chancellor within the central court.

Currently, the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty was Xiao He, the Marquis of Zan.

Regarding Xiao He, no one in the entire court was dissatisfied. Xiao He had always been a "good old man"—gentle as jade, kind and approachable. He was also tireless and devoted to handling all sorts of matters. Liu Bang was very at ease with Xiao He serving as Chancellor.

How could he possibly abolish the Chancellor's power?

While Liu Bang was lost in doubt, Lu Xuan had already guessed that Uncle Ji would ask for clarity, so he began to explain.

"The Holy Emperor's abolition of the Chancellor system was the result of multiple factors working together. The fundamental purpose was to strengthen imperial power and consolidate his rule. The previous dynasty suffered political chaos precisely because the Chancellor’s power was too great. The Emperor believed that the expansion of the Chancellor’s power posed a serious threat to imperial authority. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous dynasty, he decided to abolish the system and eliminate this hidden danger at the institutional level."

Lu Xuan spoke slowly. There were many reasons for the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, and the power of the Chancellor was a very important one.

The Chancellors of the Yuan Dynasty held immense power; they possessed significant decision-making authority and the power to appoint and dismiss personnel, and could even influence the succession of the throne.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Yuan, the Chancellor Bayan wielded power that eclipsed the court. He arbitrarily decided on the appointment and dismissal of officials, frequently defied imperial edicts, and even attempted to depose the Emperor to install another, posing a severe threat to imperial power.

This power struggle between the Chancellor, the Emperor, and various factions within the court led to intense political infighting, consumed vast administrative resources, and caused policies to lack consistency and stability, plunging state governance into chaos.

During the Yuan Dynasty, some Chancellors, in order to consolidate their own power, practiced nepotism and formed cliques, leading to rampant corruption that severely interfered with the normal execution of state policy.

Also during the reign of Emperor Huizong, another Chancellor, Hama, for the sake of personal gain, presented the Emperor with aphrodisiac techniques, which corrupted the court's atmosphere. At the same time, he excluded dissenters and suppressed honest officials, worsening the Yuan Dynasty’s political ecology and leading to low administrative efficiency, making it difficult to effectively respond to social crises.

Zhu Yuanzhang had witnessed the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty with his own eyes. Often, a new dynasty will always take lessons from the demise of its predecessor. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the Chancellor system was one of the important reasons for the Yuan Dynasty's fall.

Upon hearing Lu Xuan’s words, Liu Bang nodded in deep agreement.

Lu Xuan was indeed correct; the Chancellor system had major problems. The Qin Dynasty, because of the Chancellor Li Si, led to the fact that Fusu could not ascend the throne.

Although the Great Qin had already developed many problems by then, and uprisings across the land and the restoration of the six kingdoms' nobility were only a matter of time, what if Li Si had not colluded with Zhao Gao to install Huhai?

If the kind and virtuous Fusu had ascended the throne, he might have been able to resolve many of the corrupt practices and various problems left behind by the First Emperor. There was a certain chance that the Qin Dynasty would not have collapsed so quickly.

"At the same time, the Holy Emperor came from a humble background and experienced great hardships to establish a unified dynasty. He had a strong desire to control power. As the head of the hundred officials, the Chancellor assisted the emperor in handling government affairs and possessed significant decision-making and administrative power, which to some extent limited imperial authority. After abolishing the Chancellor, the Emperor could directly manage the civil and military officials, achieving a high concentration of power, with all government decisions coming directly from the Emperor's hand."

This statement made Liu Bang’s eyes flicker. It struck a chord in his heart; he was a man who longed for power and wanted to hold the reins of authority.

Back when he was performing corvée labor in Xianyang, he witnessed the grand procession of the First Emperor and couldn't help but sigh, "Alas, a real man should be like this!" At that time, he was already filled with longing for the supreme power possessed by the First Emperor, and in his heart, he subconsciously felt an aspiration for such power.

If he hadn't yearned for power, when he was enfeoffed as the King of Han, he would not have chosen to become an enemy of Xiang Yu again, but would have settled for peace in a corner like the other vassal kings. Facing the powerful Xiang Yu, in order to achieve final victory, he engaged in a fierce struggle against him for four long years.

What was all this for?

Was it not for power?

"Because of these various reasons, the Holy Emperor finally plotted a major case to abolish the Chancellor's power. I estimate this will happen very soon. The current Chancellor has remarkable ability in handling government affairs, but he will eventually be charged by the Emperor with crimes such as 'forming cliques for personal gain, acting arbitrarily, overstepping his authority, and privately handling major matters like the promotion and execution of officials.' With these labels of 'perverting the law to frame the virtuous' and 'harming the politics,' the Emperor will execute the Chancellor and his cohorts, and take the opportunity to abolish the Chancellor system, ordering that the position of Chancellor shall never be established again in future generations."

"It was in this case that the Holy Emperor slaughtered his meritorious officials on a massive scale, killing over thirty thousand people."