Chapter 151 The Emperor, a Man of Great Might, Came to Liaodong to Learn from His Son

Emperor Liu was a studious and diligent emperor.

Since these talents cannot be used for my own purposes now, it makes sense for them to be used for Liu Fu. In any case, my son's team will eventually be the team of the Later Han Dynasty anyway, since I am even planning to pass the throne to him. So let it be.

There's no need to bring talented people back to the capital, but he can learn from them himself. He plans to host a banquet that night, inviting Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, and Fang Xuanling to his side to consult on their strategies for governing the country.

Late that night.

Everyone came to Liu Laowu's side, including Changsun Wuji and Du Ruhui, as well as Xiao He, who had been delayed in returning.

The feast prepared by Liu Laowu was not particularly lavish, but today he was dressed in coarse linen clothes and acted very amiably.

Upon seeing Liu Laowu's attire, the crowd immediately felt less nervous.

After all, it was an audience with the emperor, and everyone was quite nervous. Liu Laowu was very friendly and told everyone not to treat him as the emperor today, as there was no relationship between ruler and subject, only friendship.

Liu Laowu raised his wine glass and said to everyone:

“From now on, you all should just call me Old Liu. Don’t treat me like an emperor. I’m just a farmer by birth, so it’s better to be natural. You’re calling me by such a high title, and I’m not used to it. Take my Imperial Garden for example. It’s filled with so many precious flowers and plants. They look beautiful, right? But I feel that it’s not as reassuring as growing some crops in the fields. So I changed the Imperial Garden into the Imperial Vegetable Garden. But I never expected that the whole world would laugh at me for it.”

"But we're not angry. On the contrary, we're quite happy. Why? Because we're happy. How could an old farmer like us not be happy to have a place to grow vegetables?"

Everyone felt a sense of relief upon hearing Liu Laowu's words, as he had mentioned them again yesterday:

"When we wear that dragon robe, we feel uncomfortable all over, like we're being bitten by lice all over our bodies. But as soon as we change into this coarse linen clothing, we immediately feel full of energy."

"Look at me today, I'm dressed like this to see you. As long as we don't treat each other as ruler and subject, we'll be able to talk about things in the court without any problems. Don't hold back from us. Don't worry, I'm the emperor, I don't eat people. Just tell me what you want to say, and I'll definitely take it into consideration as long as it's good."

Upon hearing Liu Laowu's words, Hai Rui, an upright official, immediately stepped forward and began to recount the shortcomings of the Later Han Dynasty:

"Your Majesty, since you have said so, I will take it as you humbly accepting my advice. So I will speak frankly, but my words may be a little harsh. Please do not take offense."

Liu Laowu waved his hand:

"Hey, we don't mind, just say what you want to say."

In fact, Hai Rui was being very polite. He had a heroic record of confronting and scolding the Jiajing Emperor face to face. It was only because the fifth emperor, Liu, was very kind and frugal that he left a good impression on him. Otherwise, Hai Rui would not have spoken so politely.

As he spoke, Hai Rui pulled out a thick memorial from his waist. This left Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, Wang Xuanling, and even Emperor Liu Laowu slightly stunned.

Good heavens!

Hai Rui's memorials, written in such a thick volume, must have been over an inch thick, containing tens of thousands of words.

Liu Laowu thought to himself, "Oh no!" He had indeed come to humbly accept advice, but Hai Rui was too formidable. He had come prepared and prepared such an extraordinary memorial. It must be quite long, and if he were to reveal all the points about the advantages and disadvantages of the Later Han court, it might bury him alive.

Liu Laowu's prediction was indeed correct. Hai Rui's memorial to the throne was divided into 18 major categories, 32 minor categories, and 135 important problems.

Hai Rui wrote down all 135 major problems, including many impassioned and eloquent statements, and his criticisms were incredibly fluent.

At first, Liu Laowu thought Hai Rui was easy to get along with, which was different from what others had told him.

He even defended Hai Rui, believing that everyone else had wronged him and were deliberately making false accusations against him.

But only now did he realize that Hai Rui was actually saving face for him. In front of so many people, he didn't directly start cursing him, which was already very kind of him. The important words were all written in the memorial, and Liu Laowu had only read a few sentences before he was completely torn apart by the insults.

Liu Laowu secretly gasped, thinking to himself that Hai Rui was truly upright and dared to directly contradict his superior. This troublemaker was simply too ruthless; his words had even made him blush with embarrassment.

Even Liu Laowu, the emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, who had always considered himself to be quite magnanimous, was now finding it unbearable.

Liu Laowu thought to himself, "I've only spent a little time with Hai Rui and I'm already feeling so bad. Liu Fu, on the other hand, spends every day with Hai Rui and hasn't even gone crazy yet. He really has a strong mentality."

However, it must be said that Hai Rui's words were very strong and his words were very harsh. But indeed, since I started reading this memorial while I was wandering, I stopped using those abusive language. The value of this memorial can only be described as terrifying.

Every word was precious, almost every word resonated with Liu Laowu's heart, and the shortcomings of the Later Han Dynasty were pointed out very accurately and precisely.

Being an emperor is difficult. When Liu Laowu was emperor, he often couldn't hear a single truth from those around him.

Finally, Heaven gave him a Hai Rui, a man who could speak the truth and list out all the problems in one go. Liu Laowu had always thought he was a pretty good and wise ruler, but after seeing Hai Rui's memorial, he realized that there were actually so many problems in the Later Han Dynasty under his rule, problems that he had never discovered before.

Oh my god!

The sense of defeat was overwhelming. I had always thought of myself as a wise and good emperor, for the sake of the country, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of my obsession, but I was disappointed by this moment.

After Hai Rui pointed out these shortcomings, Liu Laowu finally realized just how incompetent he had been as emperor.

After a sigh, Liu Laowu shook his head helplessly and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Hai Rui.

“You’re right. We accept all your proposals. We’ll take this memorial back and have it copied. Then we’ll hang it on the walls of the bedroom and the study. We’ll look at it every day. As soon as we solve one problem, we’ll erase it. Let’s give it a try and see if we can solve all the problems in our lifetime. If we can’t solve them, then let our eighth son solve them.”

Hai Rui nodded, as did Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, and Fang Xuanling. They all nodded in agreement. Having an emperor like Liu Laowu was not necessarily a bad thing, as he was truly able to humbly accept advice and listen to others' suggestions.

Hai Rui was also very excited and happy, and he quickly and respectfully handed the memorial to Liu Laowu with both hands.

At this moment, Liu Laowu nodded seriously and sighed:

"Since coming to Liaodong, we have really learned so much. This trip has been worthwhile."