Volume 1: Kyoto Winds and Clouds Chapter 9: A Night of Revelry at the Palace Banquet

  As Liu Hong arrived at Ganquan Palace, the Empress and Lady Liu Yan had already been waiting there to pay their respects. In ancient times, when entering the palace for an audience, if it was a favor from the Emperor, summoning the whole family for a banquet, generally the Emperor would receive the male members of the family, while the Empress would receive the female relatives. Only during the banquet would the Emperor meet with the wives and daughters of high-ranking officials, and that was only if they were familiar with them. If it was something like New Year's greetings, the Empress would be present at the beginning of the banquet, and the Emperor would at most go over to say hello!

  As for the women who entered the palace, if a minister's unmarried daughter was favored by the emperor, she might be chosen to enter the palace as a concubine. However, the emperor would never meet with a minister's daughter alone. Even if the emperor fancied a married woman, he would have her divorce her husband before taking her in. Of course, this also depended on the woman's willingness; otherwise, even the emperor couldn't do anything about it! As for any improper relationships between emperors and ministers' daughters, there were almost none among Han Chinese emperors. Even emperors known for their debauchery, such as Emperor Ling of Han or the Jiajing Emperor of Ming, who made palace maids wear open-crotch pants or go naked, never had any rumors of improper relationships with ministers' daughters!

  Only in the Yuan and Qing dynasties, when non-Han ethnic groups ruled China, did emperors have a history of debauchery with their officials' wives and daughters. Take the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors of the Qing dynasty, for example - they were both praised to the skies by later generations, but which one of them didn't have rumors of impropriety with his officials' wives and daughters? Although some of these stories may have been fabricated by scholars who opposed non-Han ethnic groups ruling China, where there's smoke, there's fire. The main reason for this was that they didn't know how to avoid suspicion, and it was also due to their national culture! After all, before the Jurchen people entered the Central Plains, it was very common for fathers and sons or brothers to share a wife - in their eyes, women were just part of one's property. As long as she wasn't your birth mother or sister, anything went!

  Liu Hong's empress was surnamed Song, originally a palace maid, selected by Empress Dowager Dou, General Dou and Cao Jie together. The reason for not choosing a young lady from a large family is that the Dou family and Cao Jie were worried about another powerful family emerging. It is worth noting that Dou Wu and Liang Ji became powerful ministers relying on their connections with the imperial harem. If another family emerged to share power, Dou Wu would naturally be unhappy, while Cao Jie was also worried about having another force opposing him. Therefore, in the selection of the empress, General Dou and the eunuchs' forces maintained a rare consistency!

  The Empress Song, who was born as a palace maid, understood that Emperor Liu Xie had no real power, so she always advised him not to oppose the powerful generals, including Cao Jie. If it were another noble-born lady, she would have thought the emperor was all-powerful and tried to grab power for him, probably getting him killed before he could even stabilize his position. It's worth noting that several emperors of the Han dynasty had been murdered. When Liu Xie grew up, he understood Empress Song's kindness and always treated her with great respect. However, Empress Song never forgot her humble origins. Despite being elevated to the position of empress, she continued to serve the emperor according to the rules for palace maids, which was also one of the reasons why Liu Xie respected her.

  When the Emperor arrived, Empress Song hastily stood up and paid her respects. Madame Liu naturally followed suit. Emperor Liu Xuan smiled and said: "All of you may rise! There are no outsiders here, why be so formal? Come! This is my imperial uncle Liu Yan, Liu Junlang!"

  "Pay respects to the Imperial Uncle!" The Empress curtsied to Liu Yan.

  Liu Yan was so frightened that he hastily retreated and bowed to the empress, saying: "I dare not receive such great courtesy from Your Majesty!"

  "It's nothing!" Liu Hong smiled and said: "If I weren't the emperor, I would still have to show uncle-nephew courtesy to the imperial uncle! Now the empress will take my place in showing respect!"

  The Empress Song's eyes flowed with movement, after five or six years of interaction, she knew that the Emperor valued Liu Yan not because he had imperial blood. Just like Emperor Xian of Han recognized Liu Bei as his uncle, it was only because Liu Bei was a hero and also had Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as his claws, making Cao Cao somewhat wary. Since Liu Yan was useful to Liu Hong, the Empress naturally wanted to help win him over, so she made a big show of courtesy towards him, putting Liu Yan in an awkward position. However, Liu Yan was an old fox, and Liu Hong and Empress Song's little tricks couldn't stump him - it was hard for the two supreme rulers to resist his Tai Chi moves! The more this happened, the happier Liu Hong became - if he could be blown up to heaven by a useless person, would that be worthy of Emperor Liu Hong lowering himself?

  After the formalities, everyone took their seats and Xiao Huangmen began to serve dishes. Liu Yan led his three sons to kneel down at the lower end of the emperor's table, while Madame Liu Yan led Liu Zhang to kneel down beside the empress. At a Han Dynasty banquet, each person was given a small tray with food on it. The food included both raw and cooked dishes, and even the cutting method had to follow etiquette. Confucius said: "If the cut is not proper, do not eat." In other words, when attending a banquet, one must cut their food according to standards, but no one expected Liu Zhang, a five-year-old child, to know how to cut his food according to etiquette!

  Indeed, Liu Zhang didn't know how to cut his food, but he could eat! As soon as the dishes were served, he immediately changed from kneeling to sitting cross-legged and picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and started gnawing on it. The action was swift and sudden! Liu Yan saw that Liu Zhang was usually very polite, but today he was so rude in front of the emperor, and said somewhat unhappily: "Zhang'er! How did your father teach you normally?"

  Liu Yan's question made Liu Zhang's face turn black, as he had been pretending to be mute since birth and only started speaking a few days ago. Liu Yan had never taught him anything before. But when his father got angry, Liu Zhang didn't dare ignore him. He swallowed the meat in his mouth with difficulty and asked Liu Yan: "Father, what feast are we having now?"

  "Nature is the imperial court's gift of a royal feast!" Since this little son started speaking more than ten days ago, he has brought many surprises to Liu Yan. Upon hearing Liu Zhang's question, Liu Yan suddenly realized that his little son was doing it on purpose.

  Liu Zhang turned his head to Liu Hong and said, "Imperial brother, when the eunuch invited us mother and son to the banquet, he said it was a family banquet bestowed by Your Majesty. I wonder if I have misspoken?"

  Liu Hong nodded and said: "Today's banquet for the imperial uncle is naturally a family banquet!"

  "Since it's a family banquet, everyone present is either a father or an elder brother. As long as the etiquette is observed, how can one not enjoy the meal to their heart's content?" Liu Zhang smiled and said: "If even when eating with fathers and brothers, there's still a fuss about cutting the meat correctly, isn't that treating them like outsiders?"

  Liu Hong burst out laughing and said: "The imperial brother is right, today's banquet only has father, elder brothers and elders, no outsiders. Imperial uncle, I'll toast you a cup!"

  "Oh no, oh no!" Liu Yan's habitual modesty.

  Liu Hong angrily said: "Is it that the imperial uncle does not regard me as a close relative? The nephew respectfully offers wine, and the imperial uncle accepts it without shame! Come! Drink this cup to the full!"

  Liu Yan had no choice but to accept Liu Hong's toast. Empress Song was a clever person, seeing such a situation, how could she not understand Liu Hong's meaning? Moreover, with Liu Zhang's interjections and jokes, the originally solemn imperial banquet became lively and extraordinary, and both Liu Yan and Liu Hong felt a sense of unease in their hearts.

  After three rounds of wine and five flavors of dishes, Liu Hong looked at Liu Zhang who was resting on the side after eating his fill and asked: "Younger brother, have you ever attended school?"

  "Big brother, I'm only five years old, you want to abandon me to those corrupt Confucians?! Liu Zhang smiled: "I want to be the Huo Qubing of big brother, how can I not go and do those searching for quotes things! If big brother wants to cultivate me, just find a good teacher for me, teach me to read and write, as for those classics, forget it!"

  Liu Hong laughed loudly: "Huo Qubing is a famous general of our dynasty, who is well-versed in military strategy and has a good grasp of literature. However, since the imperial brother does not want to learn those classics, why not be my reading companion? The person who teaches me now is the great Confucian Cai Yong! He never talks about those classics when teaching, but only discusses state policies and reads history to understand wisdom!"

  Liu Zhang was somewhat hesitant, Cai Yong's talent is beyond doubt. Although he was later killed by Wang Yun for collecting Dong Zhuo's body, that was Wang Yun's narrow-mindedness. If it were someone else, they might have praised Cai Yong for knowing how to repay kindness, after all, Dong Zhuo had shown him great favor. But if Dong Zhuo had died and Cai Yong remained unmoved, he would have become an ungrateful and disloyal person! However, as the emperor's teacher, in the eyes of outsiders, what he taught was the art of ruling emperors, how could ordinary people learn it?

  Seeing Liu Zhang hesitating, Emperor Wu smiled and said: "What? Can't my Huo Qubing leave his parents behind? You should know that the Marquis of Guangping was raised in the palace and personally taught by Emperor Wu!"

  "Liu Zhang looked at his parents and brothers, only to see his mother's reluctant face, his father's great joy and winking at him, while his three brothers were somewhat jealous. Liu Zhang gritted his teeth and bowed down: "Your Majesty has ordered it, how dare I not obey? However..."

  "Imperial brother, rest assured, I am not someone who doesn't understand human emotions!" Liu Hong laughed and said: "You also don't need to live in the palace, I will give you a token that allows you to move freely within the palace, and I'm not going to listen to Doctor Cai's lectures every day either!"

  The emperor has to attend the early court session every day, whether he is a puppet or not. Even if it's just going through the motions, he can't start reading books until after the hour of Chen. From Liu Zhang's current residence to the imperial palace, it doesn't take even a moment, and even if he lives at home, he gets up an hour early, which is enough time!

  "Then thank you, brother!" Liu Zhang knew that Liu Hong wanted to cultivate him as a pillar and win over Liu Yan. After all, Liu Hong was established by Dou Wu, and after Dou Wu's death, Cao Jie took power, but Liu Hong never had his own foundation. As for those loyal ministers of the Han dynasty, they were loyal to the Han dynasty and their own families, not to Liu Hong.

  Liu Zhang and Liu Yan's appearance, however, gave Liu Hong the opportunity to cultivate his own team. Liu Yan was an old fox, this kind of person is exactly what Liu Hong needed as a minister, while Liu Zhang was clever and intelligent, if cultivated properly, he would be a young talent, maybe not useful now, but Liu Hong was only 17 years old, when Liu Zhang was 30 years old, Liu Hong would be just over 40 years old and in his prime. Taking a step back, even if Liu Zhang was incompetent, Liu Hong could still use him to win over Liu Yan, this kind of risk-free business, if Liu Hong didn't do it, wouldn't he be a fool?

  A family banquet where the host and guest were both delighted, although Liu Yan did not express his intention to surrender to Liu Hong, Liu Zhang's behavior hinted at his attitude. As a new imperial relative in the capital, Liu Yan had climbed up the big tree of the emperor, as long as he didn't cross the emperor's bottom line, in the future days, he would be calling the shots in the capital. Of course, Cao Jie, who held great power, still couldn't be offended. But Liu Zhang knew that Cao Jie would soon be finished.