Most of the Thorough Marquis families in Chang'an were somewhat frightened by this turn of events, for it had come far too suddenly.
But after issuing this decree, the imperial palace fell silent. No further decrees came down.
As the Thorough Marquises named in the imperial decree left Chang'an one after another, everything seemed to return to peace, as though that earlier decree had never appeared.
Changle Palace.
Liu Heng sat opposite Luo Xin. He poured wine for him, then said, "Uncle, these past years, the treasury has grown so full that the cords stringing the copper cash have rotted away. Lift a string, and the coins fall straight to the ground. There is so much grain in the granaries that some has even begun to spoil. Great Han has completely recovered from the chaos at the end of Qin. This is all to your credit.
"If Great Han were a towering palace, you would have built almost all of it. All that remains for me is to hang the decorations and make a few repairs each year. The achievements are plainly yours, yet in the end, it is my name that will be carved upon them. I truly feel ashamed."
Luo Xin sipped his wine and shook his head. "Your Majesty, you are overthinking this. Great Han has only just recovered to where it stood before the end of Qin.
"But the Qin Dynasty was also at war year after year. The campaigns against the Xiongnu and the conquest of the Baiyue in Lingnan were both enormously costly wars. So what we have now is not enough.
"I have indeed done many things over these past dozen years and more, but there is still much I have not had time to do. That will depend on you in