Chapter 19: Has Fourth Brother Liu Heng Rebelled?
“Reducing the fiefs...”
Liu Bang immediately grasped the meaning behind Lu Xuan’s words.
His unknown eldest imperial grandson intended to strip the princely titles granted to his sons and vassal kings.
“And then? That’s when the Jingnan Rebellion broke out?”
Lu Xuan nodded slowly, saying, “In the first year of Jianwen, the Jianwen Emperor decided to reduce the fiefs to strengthen central authority. After implementing the policy, the Prince of Xiang set himself on fire, while the Princes of Qi, Dai, and Min were deposed.”
“In July, the Prince of Yan used the pretext of ‘clearing the court’ to raise troops and launch the Jingnan Campaign.”
Lu Xuan’s brief account left Liu Bang unable to remain calm.
The Prince of Xiang self-immolated!
That meant one of Liu Bang’s sons had been made Prince of Xiang, and under the Jianwen Emperor’s policy of reducing the fiefs, he was driven to death by self-immolation?
Smack!
Liu Bang slapped his thigh hard, his face darkening, his entire aura shifting to one of intense anger.
His eldest grandson could drive his own uncle to such an extreme?
Absurd.
How could his imperial grandson be so unfilial?
“What was that noise?” Lu Xuan looked around in confusion but saw nothing, only sensing the sharp sound. Seeing this, Liu Bang calmed somewhat, sat upright, and composed himself.
These events had not yet taken place.
“Which son was this Prince of Xiang?” Liu Bang asked, suspecting it might be Liu Ruyi.
The Crown Prince, Liu Ying, was kind and virtuous, but that didn’t guarantee his offspring would share such qualities.
Perhaps it was Liu Ying’s son who bore a grudge against Liu Ruyi, who might once have been a contender for the crown prince’s seat, and was the first to force his uncle Liu Ruyi to death.
The more Liu Bang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Poor Ruyi!
“If memory serves, the Prince of Xiang was His Majesty’s twelfth son.”
His twelfth son?
Liu Bang’s emotions churned. So far, he had only four sons:
The eldest, Liu Fei, born to a concubine; the legitimate eldest, Liu Ying; the third son, Liu Ruyi; and the fourth son, Liu Heng.
He had no idea when the twelfth son would be born.
It seemed he was quite prolific; a long line of descendants was indeed a blessing.
Liu Bang’s mind suddenly grew more open, then he asked, “Could you tell me more in detail about this so-called Jingnan Rebellion?”
“And why was the Prince of Xiang driven to self-immolation? And how did the Jianwen Emperor dare to depose the Prince of Qi?”
Liu Bang’s anger deepened as he spoke.
Liu Fei, the Prince of Qi,
was his firstborn.
As the eldest of the second generation of the royal clan, even Crown Prince Liu Ying held him in high esteem.
Though Liu Bang himself might not have been a man of exceptional virtue, all his sons possessed gentlemanly qualities: Liu Fei was low-key, cautious, magnanimous, and benevolent. Though the eldest, he never made unreasonable demands.
Like a kind elder brother.
Yet his unborn eldest grandson was so unworthy of the name that he even deposed Liu Fei’s princely title!
Had Liu Fei harbored ambitions for the throne, he would have acted long ago. Notably, he had been dissatisfied with Liu Ying and instead placed hopes on Liu Ruyi. If Liu Fei had wanted to usurp the crown prince, it would not have been impossible for him to succeed.
“Alright, I’ll explain everything properly,” Lu Xuan cleared his throat, and seeing this, Liu Bang immediately understood and hurried to pour a cup of water for Lu Xuan.
After a sip to moisten his throat, Lu Xuan began:
“To ensure the dynasty’s long-term stability, His Majesty sought to strengthen the royal family’s power by enfeoffing his sons as kings. He granted princely titles to twenty-five royal clan members, stationing them at key strategic points across the realm, intending to use them as royal bulwarks. His Majesty said, ‘The world is vast; it is necessary to establish fiefs as shields, guarding the state above and securing the people below. Now that my sons have grown, each should have their own rank and fief, governing various lands.’”
“Across the nation, these fiefs fell into two categories: inner heartlands and border strongholds. Each enfeoffed prince set up a princely mansion with officials, holding high status. Dukes and ministers paid homage with bowed heads when visiting the princes. Over time, each fief’s grain supply exceeded the needs of ten thousand households, and the princes commanded military forces. The princely mansions had their own guard commands, each overseeing three protective units of armored soldiers numbering between three thousand and nineteen thousand.”
“The nine border princes bore heavy responsibility defending against foreign incursions, and thus had especially large guards. The imperial fourth son, the Prince of Yan, commanded one hundred thousand troops. The imperial seventeenth son, the Prince of Ning, led eighty thousand armored men and six thousand chariots. They oversaw fortifications, farming settlements, troop training, inspections of key passes, and military manufacturing at the border. The Princes of Jin and Yan frequently led expeditions beyond the frontier, attacking foreign forces, earning the emperor’s great favor. Their generals answered to them directly, and imperial edicts allowed them to handle minor military matters independently, reporting only major issues to the court. Especially the Prince of Yan, whose prowess earned him the unique privilege to ‘command troops and horses along the frontier,’ holding supreme status.”
As Lu Xuan continued, Liu Bang’s heart trembled. Had he heard correctly?
He did not know the seventeenth son, who was probably yet to be born.
But the fourth son? He knew him well.
Wasn’t that Heng?
His fourth son, Liu Heng, born to Consort Bo.
However, he was not fond of Consort Bo and had not visited her in a long time. He paid little attention to this fourth son, especially since Liu Heng was only two years old.
What could one see in a two-year-old child?
Yet, unexpectedly, his fourth son would one day command one hundred thousand troops.
So formidable in battle?
Liu Bang’s thoughts ran wild, unaware of Lu Xuan’s historical narrative as he continued:
“His Majesty not only enfeoffed his sons but also included a provision concerning the ‘Jingnan’—the pacification of disorder. Fearing that powerful ministers might usurp the throne, he decreed that the princes held the right to petition the central government to remove treacherous ministers and, if necessary, raise arms to ‘clear the court.’”
“‘If the court lacks loyal ministers and harbors traitors, the prince must raise troops to punish and purge them, thus clearing the court,’ was the ancestral injunction handed down to the royal descendants and regional princes. Later, the Prince of Yan used this as justification, labeling those ministers who proposed reducing the fiefs to the Jianwen Emperor as traitors who deserved punishment. He branded his rebellion as ‘Jingnan,’ meaning to quell the disaster and restore order.”
“Therefore, during the Jingnan Campaign, the Prince of Yan’s slogan was ‘Clear the court, pacify the nation.’ The term ‘Jingnan’ means to suppress and eliminate chaos and purge traitors.”
By this point, Liu Bang had pieced together the story.
During his lifetime, he had enfeoffed his sons as princes—that is, the current vassal kings. He had already granted Liu Fei the title Prince of Qi and naturally planned to enfeoff more sons in due course.
To prevent treacherous ministers from infiltrating the court, he left this ancestral injunction.
This was the root cause of the uprising.
He had always thought that among his current four sons, Liu Ruyi was most like himself. He had assumed that the so-called ‘Fengtian Jingnan’ was a rebellion caused by Liu Fei’s dissatisfaction at being the eldest prince or Liu Ruyi’s frustration at failing to claim the crown prince’s position.
He never imagined it was his fourth son, Liu Heng, who was only two years old.
As an emperor, he understood well that the so-called ‘Fengtian Jingnan’ was merely a pretext for rebellion.
In other words, his fourth son, Liu Heng, would one day rebel?
Would he succeed?
Could it be that the fourth son, Liu Heng, would eventually become emperor?