Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Eight Kings’ Biography!

Prince Lu looked at Wang Baobao who had taken out this Eight Kings’ Biography, and was equally astonished. You should know that the Eight Kings’ Biography was not insignificant; when Daqian established its nation, the resentment among the Han people was intense, and public anger surged.

Rebellious Han people were not uncommon, and Qian Taizu, the Heavenly Khan, was deeply concerned about the situation across various regions.

Though he also adopted many Han house slaves by nurturing them, conferring titles and stabilizing the situation locally, it was still internal and external troubles. In this circumstance, Qian Taizu did not dare to delegate real power to the Han people, especially local powers such as County Magistrate, Prefectural Governor, and various Ministers.

To balance the power and prevent Han rebellion, he thought of granting titles to local vassal kings, using the Mulan people to suppress the world.

This led to the granting of titles to eight Great Kings, who were the original Eight Kings.

Later, the Heavenly Khan, due to excessive workload and many years of warfare, suffered numerous injuries from the then Han masters, and thus passed away shortly after founding the nation.

At this time, the new emperor was young, and outsiders wielded great power. The Heavenly Khan feared that after his death, the court would be dominated by the harem, and outsiders would wield exclusive power, so he delegated authority outside, promoting a Prime Minister able to rival outsiders, thus balancing their power.

However, after doing this, another problem arose: if outsiders fell, how would one balance the power if the Prime Minister caused harm to Imperial Power?

Finally, a solution was devised: the Eight Kings’ Biography.

This was a type of memorial format; ordinarily, a memorial where Princes and ministers were similar, needing to go through the cabinet, first reviewed by the Prime Minister, and after the Prime Minister gave opinions, it was passed to the Emperor.

If the Prime Minister felt the matter was trivial, not worthy of disturbing the Emperor, he could keep it within the palace and not issue it.

And the authority to judge the size of matters rested with the Prime Minister. What constitutes a major event? Perhaps a minister taking a concubine and getting impeached; if the Prime Minister felt this was significant, then the Emperor would see the memorial about impeaching the concubine.

If the Prime Minister felt the matter was small, such as a flood in Henan and Shandong leading to widespread starvation, hardship among the people, and rebellion by rebel armies,

then he could conceal the small matter and not report it, and the Emperor naturally would not know.

This was the authority of the Prime Minister, also the authority of the Grand Chancellor Tuotuo, who held half of Daqian’s National Fortune.

So even if the capture of Ruyang King was not reported by Tuotuo, the Emperor would not know that his Uncle Ruyang King was being placed under house arrest by the Prime Minister.

So how could one bypass the Prime Minister and present the memorial directly to the Emperor?

That was the Eight Kings’ Biography.

This was authority given by the Grand Ancestor Emperor, who, to balance the Prime Minister’s power, gave local vassal kings the authority to bypass the Prime Minister; of course, the Grand Ancestor Emperor also provided a constraint for the authority to prevent these vassal kings from deliberately disturbing the court.

Namely, the matter must be jointly memorialized by six Princes to directly reach the Emperor, allowing the Emperor to see it directly.

Bypassing the Prime Minister.

It was called Six Kings’ Biography at the time, but later as development progressed, the numbers of emperors increased, and each emperor held private interests. They would grant their sons the title of Prince to help their father guard the nation.

Additionally, some were so eminent that they had no place to accommodate them, so they could only be granted titles of kings.

In this way, local vassal kings increased significantly, reaching more than twenty at one point, each going their own way, essentially dividing the world.

Thus, they had to find ways to increase the threshold for memorials.

At this time, the local vassal king group and the Prime Minister group in the court began to clash. Initially, six kings; then the Prime Minister said it required at least twenty kings to jointly memorialize.

Both sides disagreed, finally presenting the issue to the Emperor.

Under the counsel of advisors, the Emperor made a regulation that required at least eight Princes to jointly memorialize, and among these eight Princes, there must be one leading Prince with real authority.

What defines a Prince with real authority, like Ruyang King, suppressing the Five Routes of Jiangnan and eighty-one prefectures, making him a key Prince because within his territory, other princes existed, and he also commanded a major corps like the White Deer Army of the Empire.

Similarly, a key Prince was King Qi Li Siqi in the Northwest.

And Boluo Timur, who managed the Capital’s Treasure Elephant Army; although he had no surrendering prince, his status itself was treated like a local vassal king, thus this Eight Kings’ Biography.

A main leading Prince was needed, plus seven other authoritative Princes, along with some minor Princes, like Prince Lu, who was among those minor Princes, having troops less than ten thousand, and relying on ancestral protection to achieve success.

Nonetheless, this way, Princes still held certain authority in the court, especially with the Emperor, no matter what; these Princes were descendants of the Grand Ancestor.

And now the Treasure Elephant Army Commander Boluo Timur was hiding in the Capital, even sharing loyalty with Tuotuo, surely would not take the lead in executing the Eight Kings’ Biography.

And Ruyang King himself was confined in the Capital, unable to use this Eight Kings’ Biography.

So the only one qualified to initiate the Eight Kings’ Biography was King Qi in the Northwest, Li Siqi.

But everyone in the world knew the relationship between Li Siqi and Ruyang King—they were competitors and enemies, so how could Li Siqi possibly assist Ruyang King in executing this Eight Kings’ Biography?

Therefore, in conclusion, Prince Lu was utterly unexpected that Wang Baobao suddenly produced the Eight Kings’ Biography.

Wang Baobao naturally saw Prince Lu’s expression, and with a calm demeanor said, ”Uncle Prince Lu seems quite shocked.”