War had never been an end, but a means.
The court had crushed the rebellions of the King of Huainan and the King of Wu as easily as slicing melons and chopping vegetables, but rebuilding order afterward was the key.
The first task was a ruthless political reckoning and a legal determination of the crimes of those lawbreakers who had conspired to organize resistance against the Han Court.
The political acumen Liu Heng had displayed throughout this affair made Luo Xin feel it was time to let him truly begin handling affairs of state. This happened to be an excellent opportunity.
"Decades of entrenchment have left their roots thoroughly tangled. I truly never imagined that such an enormous faction opposing the court existed within the feudal states.
"Uncle, how should these people be dealt with?"
"Under the Han statutes, the ringleaders should be executed, and all the rest exiled to Lingnan."
Liu Heng froze at Luo Xin's words. There were more than thirty thousand people! Were they all to be exiled to Lingnan?
"Your Majesty, exile to Lingnan is an excellent strategy that achieves several ends at one stroke. You must continue it after you begin ruling in person.
"What Lingnan lacks most is Han people. Zhao Tuo, the King of Lingnan, has submitted memorials to the court many times, asking for more Han people to be relocated there.
"But the land of Lingnan is not yet very suitable for large-scale settlement. Sending large numbers of Han people there now would be harming and mistreating the people, no different from exile.
"Exiling the innocent is not something the court should do.
"But now things are different. We have so many criminals, even more than the total for the past ten years. Sparing their lives is already an act of grace