"You brazen scoundrel!"
Cui Lin slammed the table and sprang to his feet, his face livid and his whole body trembling with rage. "Do you know what you're saying?"
Ma Chao had just said a great deal.
But it all boiled down to four words.
That was "Enfeoffment as a King!"
This outrageously audacious fellow actually wanted to lead a hundred thousand elite troops in occupying Liang Province, and even shamelessly demanded that the Son of Heaven bestow Liang Province on him as his fief!
He was utterly shameless!
Ma Chao smiled. "Of course I know. These are my terms for submitting to the Imperial Court. Is there anything wrong with them?"
The little joy that had just risen in Cui Lin's heart had long since vanished. Ma Chao's words made him laugh in fury, and he pointed at Ma Chao's nose as he cursed, "A mere rebel dares spout nonsense about Enfeoffment as a King?"
"Where did you find the nerve?"
There was no possibility of accepting Ma Chao's terms. They were not even open to discussion!
Since the early Han, no one outside the imperial clan could be made a king. This rule had endured for more than four hundred years.
Even setting that rule aside, one need only look at who had been qualified to receive kingships in the early Han.
Zhang Ao, King of Zhao; Ying Bu, King of Huainan; Zang Tu, King of Yan; Han Xin, King of Chu; Peng Yue, King of Liang; Wu Rui, King of Changsha; Lu Wan, King of Yan...
Which of them had not rendered illustrious service to Great Han? What qualified Ma Chao to compare himself to these founding merit officials?
Moreover, agreeing would slap the Son of Heaven in the face and plunge the realm into chaos!
If