052 On Loyalty and Treachery

Emperor Zhao of Han, Liu Fuling, was the youngest son of Emperor Wu, Liu Che. He ascended the throne at the age of eight and, at fourteen, thwarted a coup d'état plotted by his elder brother Liu Dan, the Prince of Yan, along with co-regents Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang. He heavily relied on Huo Guang to comprehensively implement the national policy of letting the people recover and rest, and passed away due to illness at the age of twenty-one.

His life was as brief as a shooting star, yet in the mere thirteen years following his ascension, he forged the foundation for the flourishing eras of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan, reviving the national power that had once declined in the later years of Emperor Wu and creating the final glory in the history of the Western Han dynasty.

Today, Xue Huai specifically chose this story from the scattered fragments of the long river of history, arousing a hint of curiosity in Crown Prince Jiang Xuan.

As the eldest imperial son who had received strict training since childhood, Jiang Xuan was very familiar with the life of Emperor Zhao of Han, and the historical materials Xue Huai was about to present were not unfamiliar to him. He was simply curious about what kind of unique interpretation this young Reader-in-Waiting of the Hanlin Academy would bring him.

Xue Huai was unhurried and calm, narrating the events in a smooth and eloquent manner.

Before his death, Emperor Wu appointed the eight-year-old Liu Fuling as crown prince and designated Huo Guang, Jin Midi, Shangguan Jie, and Sang Hongyang as the four co-regents to jointly assist the young ruler.

Only a year after Liu Fuling ascended the throne, Jin Midi passed away due to illness, turning the imperial court into a gladiatorial arena where Huo Guang and the other two fought for supreme power.

Over the next five years, Shangguan Jie's power expansion was checked by Huo Guang, Sang Hongyang's political proposals were overruled by Huo Guang, and Prince Liu Dan coveted the imperial throne. These various factions colluded with one another, and with the participation of the Emperor's elder sister, Princess Eyi, a conspiracy targeting Huo Guang gradually took shape.

At that time, the fourteen-year-old Emperor Zhao of Han personally presided over the imperial court session, using clear and meticulous logic to publicly expose the false accusations made by Shangguan Jie and others against Huo Guang, thereby ensuring the stability of the political situation and Huo Guang's position.

Driven to desperation, Shangguan Jie and his co-conspirators decided to take a dangerous risk, but their plot to seize power by force leaked. It was jointly crushed by Emperor Zhao and Huo Guang. Nearly the entire clans of Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang were executed, while Prince Liu Dan and Princess Eyi committed suicide one after another.

From then on, Huo Guang held absolute authority. With the support of Emperor Zhao, he overturned the national policy of the later years of Emperor Wu, which had exhausted the empire's resources. Instead, he abolished the state monopoly on alcohol, relaxed regulations on salt and iron, reduced corvée labor and taxes, ceased military campaigns against the Xiongnu, pacified the Wuhuan, abolished harsh punishments, and ushered in the recovery of the Great Han Empire.

In this historical episode—especially the critical suppression of the Yuanfeng rebellion—Huo Guang's personal presence was actually not particularly prominent. Instead, the teenage Emperor Zhao of Han shone brilliantly, and the mental fortitude and political acumen he displayed were truly admirable.

Xue Huai possessed an exceptional talent for storytelling. Combined with his clear articulation and modulated tone, he polished the sparse wording of the historical texts, slowly unfolding a treacherous and shifting drama of court politics before Crown Prince Jiang Xuan.

This was a remarkably novel experience for Jiang Xuan.

Since childhood, he had been educated and nurtured by various great Confucian scholars. In terms of sheer academic knowledge, those men were undoubtedly superior to Xue Huai; however, their stern, humorless demeanor and pedantic dogmatism, which parsed every single word, made Jiang Xuan quite bored. No one had ever rendered the classics and history like a professional storyteller while preserving the crucial details of the historical sources, as Xue Huai did.

After more than an hour, Xue Huai finished his narrative, leaving Jiang Xuan with a subtle expression of lingering satisfaction.

"Reader-in-Waiting Xue, please take a seat and have a cup of tea to moisten your throat."

A faint smile appeared on Jiang Xuan's face, clearly showing his satisfaction with Xue Huai's performance.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Xue Huai bowed and took his seat.

Savoring the "story" he had just heard, Jiang Xuan asked, "Reader-in-Waiting Xue, do you consider Huo Guang a loyal minister or a treacherous official?"

Hearing this question and looking at the Crown Prince's pensive expression, Xue Huai's mind immediately conjured the face of the Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Ning Hengzhi.

Historical sources and reality could not, of course, be forcibly matched. Ning Hengzhi did not possess the unique advantages that Huo Guang enjoyed, and the Crown Prince before him was not Emperor Zhao of Han, who had ascended the throne at eight and died suddenly at twenty-one. Should Jiang Xuan successfully ascend the throne, the Great Yan would not fall into a situation where a young sovereign and a suspicious nation forced reliance on a powerful minister.

Yet, Xue Huai's intuition told him that the Crown Prince's question was very likely an allusion to Ning Hengzhi.

Upon this thought, Xue Huai replied calmly and honestly, "It is hard to say."

"Oh?"

The Crown Prince felt a brief wave of surprise.

Xue Huai weighed his words and said, "Your Highness, throughout his life, Huo Guang never coveted the imperial throne. Moreover, apart from pushing forward a series of national policies that allowed the people to rest and recover, he also stripped the principalities of the Princes of Yan, Guangling, and others of their military power, effectively safeguarding the authority and stability of the Emperor and the central court. From this perspective, calling him a loyal minister of the Great Han is not an overstatement; hence, the *Book of Han* evaluates him as 'one who rectified the state and pacified the altars of state and land.'"

Naturally, the Crown Prince held a differing opinion. He shook his head and said, "Yet, after monopolizing the supreme power of the court, he also used absurd reasons to depose the Prince of Changyi, forced Emperor Xuan to install his daughter as empress, and connived at his own children and offspring acting lawlessly and arbitrarily. The *Book of Han* also records: 'When visiting the High Ancestral Temple, Huo Guang rode in the carriage of honor; the Emperor inside felt such deep dread that it was as if he had thorns sticking to his back.' From this single record alone, one can imagine the towering power of Huo Guang and his overbearing contempt for the Son of Heaven."

"In My view, Huo Guang simply acted like Wang Mang without actually usurping the throne."

As the heir apparent of the Eastern Palace, Jiang Xuan naturally loathed powerful ministers like Huo Guang who treated imperial authority as nothing.

Xue Huai was well aware of why the Crown Prince had summoned him into the palace to lecture today.

He harbored no resistance toward this. Although the current political situation at court remained unclear and the Crown Prince might not necessarily reach the ultimate end, and though he had already prepared to seek a provincial posting as soon as possible, this did not mean he should intentionally rebuff the Crown Prince's favor.

Xue Huai knew all too well how frail his current position was; hence, even before Jiang Sheng, the guard at the Princess's estate, he strove to maintain goodwill with everyone. How could he possibly act foolishly before the Crown Prince?

The reason he chose to present this historical episode to the Crown Prince today was to test the latter's foundational character.

Now, it appeared that the Crown Prince was no mediocre individual, yet he still could not escape the shackles of the millennia-old dogma of the relations between ruler and minister.

Therefore, Xue Huai calmly said, "Does Your Highness believe that Emperor Zhao ever realized that Huo Guang would eventually become an uncontrollable powerful minister?"

The Crown Prince understood the profound meaning behind this question. If Emperor Zhao had been entirely oblivious to Huo Guang's ambition, then he would have been the root cause of the ensuing disaster. However, judging from Emperor Zhao's achievements and political acumen, he was able to perceive the conspiracy of Shangguan Jie and others at the tender age of fourteen and effortlessly quell the upheaval.

With a mind like Emperor Zhao's, how could he not have foreseen that after the downfall of Shangguan Jie and his faction, the political power of the court would inevitably concentrate in the hands of Huo Guang alone?

Yet, he still chose to do so.

The Crown Prince could not help but fall into deep contemplation.

After a long silence, he spoke softly, "Emperor Zhao had no other choice."

"Your subject does not understand."

Looking seemingly perplexed, Xue Huai slowly said, "Judging from the situation at the time, initially the two co-regents Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang were not colluding with Prince Liu Dan of Yan; they were merely contending with Huo Guang for power. During this process, Emperor Zhao continually favored Huo Guang, which eventually caused the other two to harbor different intentions. Unable to secure the Emperor's support, they had to seek alternative paths and collude with Prince Liu Dan of Yan. Only by having Liu Dan ascend the throne as emperor could they completely eliminate Huo Guang and his faction."

The Crown Prince mused, "Does Reader-in-Waiting Xue mean that if Emperor Zhao had chosen to heavily employ Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang from the beginning, allowing the two men to mutually check and balance each other, he might have avoided the calamity of Huo Guang's monopoly on power?"

Xue Huai replied, "Looking backward from the present, such a choice seems somewhat more rational. The abilities and influence of those two men were comparable; neither could easily overpower the other. If Emperor Zhao had chosen them, he might have adopted a strategy of checks and balances, making them restrain each other, which would have been more reasonable than letting Huo Guang alone wield supreme power."

The Crown Prince gave him a meaningful look.

He felt that this young Reader-in-Waiting was hinting at something, yet the man's words contained no flaws whatsoever, remaining tightly anchored to the historical texts in the old volumes.

Even so, he still could not help but indulge in quiet speculation: in the imperial court of the present day, who was Shangguan Jie, who was Sang Hongyang, and who was Huo Guang?

Returning to the topic itself, the Crown Prince spoke solemnly a moment later, "The reason Emperor Zhao chose to support Huo Guang was based on the fundamental interests of the imperial court."

Xue Huai said, "I ask Your Highness to dispel my confusion."

Taking a sip of clear tea and gathering his thoughts, the Crown Prince stated, "As the Reader-in-Waiting mentioned earlier, Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang, appointed as co-regents by Emperor Wu, were steadfast supporters of the national policies of Emperor Wu's era—specifically, the continuation of policies like the state monopolies on salt and iron, under which the common people were already suffering bitterly. To maintain the stability of the state, it was imperative to revise the policies of the latter years of Emperor Wu and allow the people to rest and recover. Fundamentally, Emperor Zhao and Shangguan Jie's faction had irreconcilable differences in their political views; conversely, his stance aligned with Huo Guang's."

Xue Huai said with admiration, "Your Highness is truly perceptive."

"Emperor Zhao proceeded from the perspective of national security and survival. Heavily employing Shangguan Jie and others meant endorsing their political views; conversely, heavily employing Huo Guang allowed the ruler and minister to share a single heart. As for the changing winds and clouds that followed—"

The Crown Prince paused and sighed softly, "Those who share the same path reap its benefits; those of divergent paths suffer its harms."

When Huo Guang and Emperor Zhao shared the same political views, he was a loyal minister of restoration.

When he conflicted with Emperor Xuan's interests, he became a treacherous official seeking to destroy the clan.

Right and wrong, merit and demerit, loyalty and treachery, success and failure, are left solely for future generations to judge.

"As Your Highness has stated, Emperor Zhao may well have perceived during his lifetime that Huo Guang's power had grown too vast to control, but for the sake of the state's stability, he had no choice but to continue relying heavily upon him. That is precisely why the flourishing era of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan came to be, yet it also laid the hidden groundwork for the later extermination of the Huo clan."

Following the Crown Prince's train of thought, Xue Huai unhurriedly expressed his own view: "When reading this historical record, your subject has always harbored one doubt: are the Huo Guang of the sixth year of the Yuanyun era under Emperor Zhao and the Huo Guang of the first year of the Jiejie era under Emperor Xuan truly the same person?"

The Crown Prince thought carefully and stated concisely, "Human hearts easily change."

When a person wields absolute power, their mindset naturally undergoes a transformation.

Xue Huai nodded and said with a hint of curiosity, "Suddenly, I am quite eager to know whether Huo Guang could have foreseen the destiny of his clan before drawing his final breath."

Hearing these words, a ripple stirred within the Crown Prince's heart, and his expression gradually grew grave.