Chapter 31 6. Diplomacy

In the autumn of the 20th year of Jianwu, in September, General Fubo Ma Yuan returned to Beijing from Jiaozhi, and brought back from Jiaozhi a bronze horse three feet five inches high and four feet five inches in circumference. Cast by Yue Bronze Drum, it is of great significance.Liu Xiu was very happy, and stood the bronze horse on His Highness Xuande.Within two months, because Wuhuan and the Xiongnu repeatedly invaded the frontier, the Xiongnu even frequently attacked Tianshui, Fufeng, and Shangdang counties and counties, constantly harassing the people in the frontier fortress. When Ma Yuan set off, Liu Xiu ordered civil and military officials to see him off. It is said that Liang Song and Dou Gu were among them.

Due to civil strife in the early years, the newly established Han Dynasty was not enough to deal with the surrounding ethnic minorities, especially the Xiongnu, no matter in terms of military strength or people's livelihood and national conditions.For this reason, Liu Xiu still adopted the policy of humiliation and gentleness. In the sixth year of Jianwu, Liu Sa, the Marquis of Guide, was appointed as an envoy to the Xiongnu and presented a large amount of money. At that time, the Xiongnu Shanyu was arrogant and rude to the envoy. as ever. In the twelfth year, Sui Yu, Lu Fang's subordinate who stayed in Wuyuan, returned to the Han court, forcing Lu Fang to abandon his luggage, and only a dozen or so men fled to the Xiongnu on horseback.Although the disintegration of Lu Fang's power is a good thing, it also caused the Han army in the northern counties to be forced to contact the Xiongnu head-on and fight against each other to some extent.After that, the Xiongnu invaded Hedong and other places on a large scale, and the defenders of the Han army were powerless to resist.

Under the strong pressure of the Xiongnu's southern criminals, Liu Xiu took the measures to fortify with heavy troops and relocate the border residents. In a relatively short period of time, Liu Xiu mobilized a large number of troops to build defense lines in the northern counties. This line of defense shrunk to the inland through Xihe, Weiqiao, Heshang, Anyi, Taiyuan, Jingxing, Zhongshan, Ye The city and other places stretched for thousands of miles - at that time, the imperial court was distributing meritorious officials to withdraw their military power, but Du Mao, Ma Wu, Zhu Hu, Ma Cheng, Wang Chang, Wang Ba and others were still stationed in this line of defense. Online, resist the invasion of foreign enemies.Because the country has just regained the country, the focus must be placed on restoring economic production, and the Han Dynasty has limited forces and is really unable to control the vast remote areas. Therefore, Liu Xiu judged the situation and adopted a defensive strategy of retreating. He successively abandoned Youzhou and Bingzhou Part of the land, where the residents will be relocated to live in the interior.

After Ma Yuan was stationed at the northern border, he led 3,000 people to attack Wuhuan in the autumn of the 21st year of Jianwu, but unfortunately nothing was gained.However, the governor of Liaodong County, Jixun, defeated more than 10,000 Xianbei cavalry. This battle was fought so hard that Xianbei no longer dared to approach the frontier. In the winter of this year, the Xiongnu attacked Shanggu and Zhongshan counties again, and Ma Yuan led the crowd to resist to the death. At the time when the Xiongnu and the Han had frequent frictions and fierce battles, countries in the Western Regions sought help from the Han court one after another because they could not bear King Shache's harassment.

The Western Regions are located in the northwest of the Great Han Dynasty. For the Han court, the Western Regions were far away from each other. Now, in order to deal with the Xiongnu, they even gave up some land in Youzhou and Bingzhou in the north, causing the Xiongnu to go further.Eighteen small countries in the Western Regions, including Cheshiqian, Shanshan, Yanqi, Jingjue, and Qiuci, were afraid of being annexed by the powerful Shache Kingdom, so they expected China to lend a helping hand.They each sent their princes to Luoyang to act as hostages, expressing that as long as China is willing to send troops and set up a guard house in the Western Regions, so that Shache Kingdom will not dare to dominate the Western Regions, and they have the idea of ​​acting recklessly, then they are willing to submit to them from now on. China bows down.

In the face of such a request, some of the courtiers thought it was a great thing to fall from the sky, while others didn't take it seriously. They regarded themselves as a big country and claimed that they don't need to pay attention to those barbaric and small countries. This is a decision involving national politics and diplomacy. The ministers have discussed it countless times, but have not yet reached a final conclusion.The arrival of the protons from the eighteen countries one after another made Da Honglu Guo Kuang really busy. The protons all brought jewels to the court to pay homage, and there were as many as dozens of servants, and as few as more than a dozen servants. Together, there are quite a few people who need to be resettled.Coupled with the continuous snowfall and the sudden cold weather, it is necessary to buy clothes, quilts, charcoal stoves, firewood and other daily necessities.

Compared to the turmoil in the court, Liu Xiu's reaction seemed a little cold.I watched from the sidelines, even if he didn't express his position, I could understand what was going on in his mind. It was a windy and snowy day, I took Liu Shou in one hand and Liu Liliu in the other, and walked from the West Palace to the Yuntai Hall. Although the road was covered by verandahs, I was still blinded by the snowflakes facing me. .The two children were very happy, and they were very happy facing the white snow scene. There is a charcoal stove in the Guangde Hall, and as soon as I entered the door, I felt warm. I took a breath and walked in with my two children.Liu Xiu was leaning over his desk to read the documents. When he saw me entering the room, he stood up hurriedly. Liu Shou smiled and shouted: "Father!" On the ground, said delicately: "The child pays homage to the father!"

At this moment, Liu Xiu had already embraced Liu Shou in her arms. I was afraid that Liu Xiu would be troubled, so I hurriedly sent the wet nurse to take Liu Shou down, but she clung tightly to Liu Xiu's neck, no matter how coaxed she was, it was useless. This was all due to Liu Heng's death at a young age, so Liu Xiu loved this little daughter very much after that, and earlier this year designated Liyi County as Liu Shou's fiefdom, named Princess Liyi. Snowdrops slammed on the window, but the sky was getting darker. I saw that although the hall was lit, the light was not bright enough, so I couldn't help saying angrily: "Don't bother me too much, you always perfunctory me... Now your body is no more than a teenager."

Liu Xiu smiled, and said repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I will follow the Queen's order." Then, she hugged Liu Shou and walked into the inner room. In order to keep warm in the dormitory, heavy curtains were hung at the door, and when people entered, they felt warmer again.I just muttered: "Why don't you move the desks from the outside room inside?" Then I heard a "sneeze" behind me, but it was Liu Liliu who covered his mouth and sneezed. I turned around and saw her standing at the door, still wearing the sable coat, the gray sable fur tucked around her neck, making her little face as white as snow.She was young and small, with a childish baby fat face, but her slender eyebrows and flickering eyes made me feel dazed in an instant.

"Mother..." Maybe I stared at her too strangely, so she whispered shyly. I came back to my senses, blinked my eyes, my tense face slowly relaxed, and the corners of my mouth curled up: "Why didn't you take off your coat?" Seeing that my expression was relaxed, she also smiled, stretched out her hand and untied the coat, Turning around and handing it to the maid, I held out my hand to her, and she put her hand into my palm with a smile. The tentacles are very warm, and the five fingers are white and slender. I rubbed that little hand in the palm of my hand and said with a soft smile, "Your nails are growing again. Let Aunt Shanan cut them for you later."

"I want it too." Without waiting for Liu Liliu to answer, Liu Shou loudly threatened in his father's arms. Liu Li smiled shyly, that pure and flawless smile once again made my heart tremble: "Thank you, Queen Mother, she is so kind to me." The corner of my mouth twitched, I stared blankly and didn't speak, the room suddenly fell silent.After an unknown amount of time, Liu Xiu pushed me from behind and called softly, "Lihua..." I just came back to my senses as if I had just woken up from a dream. I hugged Liu Liliu behind me, and said with a smile: "You are my daughter, if you are talking stupidly, if the mother doesn't love her daughter, who will she love?" After hearing this, Liu Shou yelled repeatedly: "What about me, does the queen mother love me?" I smiled and turned back: "Same! You and your sister are both the queen mother's darlings!" Liu Shou seemed dissatisfied with such an answer, and pouted his mouth in displeasure, but Liu Li and Liu laughed, smiling like a flower, brimming with happiness.I smiled at her lightly, she took my hand to make me lean down a bit, then stood on tiptoe, kissed me heavily on the face, and smiled shyly: "I like the queen mother the most! I want to The most well-behaved daughter of the queen mother, when she grows up, she must be filial to her mother like the brother of the prince and the elder sister of the eldest princess." "Good boy!" I touched her face with a smile, and handed her a ball from the case, "Let's go outside with my sister to play balls, the mother and the father have a talk, a while Come play with you again." Liu Li and Liu agreed, and Liu Shou saw that there was something to play, so he also slipped down from the obedient Liu Xiu, and the two sisters went out happily hand in hand. I sat down on the bed, a little dazed, Shanan brought a basin of hot water to soak my feet, but Liu Xiu sent her out, then rolled up her sleeves to do it herself. I didn't refuse either, as soon as my two frozen feet fell into the water, I felt as if my whole body had come alive, warm and indescribably comfortable. With the sound of rushing water, I stretched out my hand to stroke his gray temples, and sighed for a while: "I really don't know if it's right or wrong to do this?" He raised his head when he heard the sound, his hands were wet, but his brows and eyes were smiling like a spring breeze: "As long as you think it's right, stick to it, don't worry about it..." I sighed again: "So, you have already made up your mind about the Western Regions?" When he looked straight, I pulled him up and sat on the head of the bed together. "I... plan to send the princes of the Western Regions back home, and prepare some rich gifts for them to bring back..." I was shocked when I heard this, and fell silent. Neither he nor I opened our mouths to speak, and our eyes were glued to each other, our eyes were dark, and the bright black pupils clearly reflected my face.The water in the basin was getting colder, I lifted my foot suddenly, and the water splashed everywhere. "It's so good." He said "um", still bent down to dry my feet, and then held his hands tightly, the palms were slightly cool. I suddenly said vaguely: "I remember that year when hungry people wandered into my home, my eldest brother and second brother were not there, and I forced my third brother to take in the refugees. The third brother didn't dare to say anything, but he didn't care much in his heart." I am willing. Actually, I also know that there are so many people in the family. Under such circumstances, it is not easy to take care of the food and clothing of the clansmen. How can I take care of others? Furthermore... living is easy for a while, but difficult for a lifetime. I seem to have saved so many people, but I don't want to end up exhausting myself..." Liu Xiu called softly: "Lihua..." I raised my head and smiled at him: "After years of wars, the people need to recuperate and restore the economy. These are the top priorities. The Western Regions are too far away from the Central Plains. We need to send troops to station and set up guards to protect the interests of those countries and jointly resist the Shache Kingdom. To be honest, this burden is too heavy. The border is sparsely populated, and you would rather abandon Youzhou and Bingzhou, evacuate the people on the border to the interior, and shrink the territory. What you are worried about is that the country’s finances are limited, and you can’t take care of them. To so many regions? If so, how can we have extra energy to worry about going to the farther Western Regions?" He let go of my foot and sighed again: "Lihua, I'm really not a good emperor." "You are not considered a good emperor. I really don't know what is the standard to measure a good emperor." I put on my socks with a smile. Putting all the people in dire straits is really not a good emperor." Liu Xiu's face changed slightly, and she was stunned for a long time before she said dumbly: "How can I compare to Emperor Wu..." I laughed and said: "Yes, I should compare you with Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, but I still don't want our Yang'er to become an emperor like Liu Che in the future, even if...he will be famous in the future and remain in history forever." I straightened my back involuntarily, "I'm a blunt person, and I don't have any great wisdom of benevolence. In my opinion, the significance of the Western Regions to our Han Dynasty is really very little. In the past, Zhang Qian was sent to the Western Regions to unite with the Da Yuezhi. Attacking the Xiongnu is out of military strategic considerations. Now, what is the use of the Western Regions to us? Its land, its products, and its people are neither useful to us, nor is it a battleground for military strategists. What's the use of vassal states, big and small? Setting up a guardian will waste national power, waste people's money, and the loss outweighs the gain. You still thought of love and prepared gifts. If it were me, I would have sent them back to their hometown..." He sneered, put his arms around my shoulders, and pulled me into his arms: "Thank you." "no need thank me?" "Thank you for defending me, and for taking the trouble to praise me with so many words." I laughed loudly: "Then why don't you save those great gifts that are prepared for the princes of the Western Regions, and give them to me directly!" Liu Xiu couldn't help laughing out loud when he heard the words: "It really is a money fan!" I replied: "It's not my money fan, it's you who are stingy! I still remember the year before last when you went to Runan Nandun County, what did the people there say about you?" The smile in his eyes was even wider, and I pursed my lips and snickered, "My father-in-law used to be the Nandun order, so you exempted Nandun's tax for one year, and the officials asked you to simply reduce it for ten years, but you refused to say anything. In the end It was only after bargaining that I barely added another year." What happened in that year is still fresh in my memory, because at that time the monarch, ministers and people were having fun together, and the officials and people saw Liu Xiu's good temper, so they joked and teased the emperor, saying that the emperor Xiaoqi, obviously reluctant to part with those ten years of taxes, pretended to be righteous. It still makes me laugh out loud when I look back on it.My Xiu'er, sometimes she really doesn't look like an emperor, she doesn't have the airs of an emperor at all, and she behaves in a dignified manner, just like the simple young man who hoed the crops in the past. "I'm really stingy." He put away his smile, and suddenly there was a hint of guilt in his eyes. He took my hand and said, "Although you are an emperor, you can't let you live a luxurious life. You As an empress, no matter how much you spend on food and clothing, it is far inferior to the former empress, I am the one who tires you to suffer..." I covered his mouth and said, "Fortunately, you are not as luxurious as the former emperor. If you also get three thousand beauties in the harem, I will die on the pillars of the Yuntai Pavilion!" I said deliberately jealous Strong, able to dilute his shame, "I don't want your gold, I don't want your silver... As long as you are your people, your heart..." The snowstorm outside seems to be getting bigger, and the howling wind is circling outside the window, but my heart is extremely warm.We cuddled and leaned on each other without too many words, watching each other, and the occasional eye wave intertwined, and that moment was already eternity. In the winter of the 21st year of Jianwu, Emperor Jianwu of the Han Dynasty politely declined the countries of the Western Regions, sent the prince who was a hostage back to his country, and gave generous gifts.The Eighteen Kingdoms panicked when they heard that China refused to send a guard, so they sent a call to the governor of Dunhuang, asking the prince to stay in Han territory, hoping to deter Shache with the illusion that China agreed to send a guard. . After Pei Zun, the prefect of Dunhuang, reported the truth, Liu Xiu agreed. In the 22nd year of Jianwu, Liu Ying and Guan moved out of the palace.In fact, compared with Liu Qiang and Liu Fu, he has lived in the palace for a long time, but even so, Xu Meiren still cried to death when she parted from her only son-I have clear grievances and grudges. The past ten years in the palace are considered to be honest and responsible, and Liu Ying is obedient and obedient, so she ordered Da Changqiu that on the first and fifteenth day of each month from now on, King Liu Ying of Chu will visit me in the palace and take him to Xu Meiren's palace. Let their mother and son get together for half an hour. Xu Meiren knew that she would rely on her son for the rest of her life, but before that, all these dependencies were in my own thoughts, so she became more and more cautious in her words and deeds in the harem, keeping her door behind closed doors. It was at the end of autumn of this year, one afternoon in September, before I woke up from my nap, I heard panic screams in the palace.I was woken up by screams, and before I opened my eyes, I felt the bed under me shaking unceasingly. The floating bed was not like a bed, but like a boat floating on the sea.At first I thought I was dreaming, but there was a rattling sound all around. I opened my eyes and saw that the furnishings in the room were shaking, and the piles of bamboo slips on the desk slipped and fell, and finally fell to the ground. The next second, I jumped up from the bed reflexively. There was no one in the dormitory, but it was very noisy outside. The plaster on the rammed earth wall was falling down, and the choking lime powder permeated the narrow living room. inside the space. When I was covering my mouth and nose and was about to rush out, a person rushed in and almost hit me. "Your Majesty!" Shanan's skill is quite good. Seeing that I was fine, she couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and hurriedly took my hand and said, "Hurry up and get out! I can't stay in the house anymore..." While speaking, there was a slap, and I Something fell from the top and shattered. In the nick of time, I didn't bother to see what was broken, so I quickly grabbed Shanan with my backhand, and the two of them ran out together. After leaving the main hall of the West Palace, I found that the garden was already full of people, squatting or standing. Many court ladies and eunuchs hugged each other in fear, and some boldly raised their heads and pointed at the roof. The feet were still shaking, and the earth was shaking, and people kept running out of the West Palace, screaming in horror: "An earthquake——" My heart suddenly became tense, and only then did I realize the seriousness of the situation, and I called out: "My child—" I was so anxious that I almost passed over. Seeing that I was in a state of confusion, Shanan hurriedly stopped me and said, "Your Majesty, don't panic! The crown prince, several kings and princesses are all fine, so your Majesty should also retreat to a safe place." The so-called safe places are nothing but empty plains on the left and right. I turned my head and looked along the place where Shanan pointed, but I didn't see Liu Zhuang and others, but I vaguely saw another familiar figure hurriedly. ran over. "Lihua——" The earthquake was so strong that he could barely stand, Liu Xiu almost stumbled and ran from the outside, and he almost fell down several times. I yelled "Ouch" and hurriedly shouted: "Don't move! Don't move! Squat down quickly!" But he didn't listen to me, he just staggered to me, followed by others in a panic thereafter. The earthquake lasted about five or six minutes, and then it stopped.The quiet palace felt unspeakably weird. Liu Xiu and I stood side by side hand in hand. The maids who were so scared to cry sobbed twice. They didn't dare to be too timid in front of the empress, so they all stopped. cried. However, at that moment, I really saw the fear in Liu Xiu's eyes. The 22nd year of Jianwu was destined to be a year full of disasters and disasters. The earthquake occurred in September, and the epicenter was located in Nanyang. According to the Nanyang prefect, the houses in Nanyang collapsed, the ground cracked, and the people were crushed and buried. There were countless casualties.In addition to Nanyang County, as many as 42 counties were affected by the earthquake, accounting for two-fifths of the total number of counties in the country. Liu Xiu's fear was not unreasonable. Such a devastating natural disaster caused a huge number of casualties, and the huge economic loss was even more immeasurable. hit.In addition, thinking about this matter from a different angle of thinking, what scares Liu Xiu is the superstition in his bones. Due to the lack of correct scientific proof concepts, the ancients often imagined natural disasters as punishments from heaven, and ordinary people are like this. Not to mention Liu Xiu, an old superstition?The most terrible thing is that the epicenter of this earthquake is Nanyang, which is the hometown of Emperor, so Liu Xiu is even more convinced that the heavens are on the alert for his actions. Of course, I couldn't agree with his nonsense idealism, so I tried my best to get Da Si Nong to allocate disaster relief food in time before he took people to sacrifice to heaven. Disaster relief efforts in counties and counties across the country were quickly mobilized. The emperor issued an edict: "An earthquake in Japan, especially in Nanyang. Those who live in the land are the most important, and those who are still and do not move. Now the earthquake is cracked, and the blame is on the king. The ghosts and gods are disobedient and have no virtue, and the disaster will reach the officials. I am very afraid. He ordered Nanyang not to lose the draft of this year's land rent. The person who sent the caller to the case will be sentenced to death before Wuchen, and the death penalty will be reduced. Untie the pliers and loosen the flocks of clothes. Three thousand coffins are given to the residents of the county to crush the dead. Those who pay taxes by mouth, especially those who destroy houses, are not to be held accountable. Officials die, or under the ruins of houses, But those whose families are weak and can’t take care of them will look for money and grain to get servants.” On October 19th, Zhu Fu, the general manager of civil engineering in Yingcheng Qiyi, was dismissed from his post. The next day, Guang Luxun Du Lin was appointed as Da Sikong. Not long after the earthquake, another locust plague broke out in Qingzhou, and the whole country was once again shrouded in haze. At this time, the princes of the Western Regions living in Dunhuang couldn't bear their homesickness and fled back to the Western Regions one after another. King Shache learned that China would not send the guards to the Western Regions, so he led troops to attack Shanshan and even beheaded him. King Kucha.King Shanshan wrote to the Han court, expressing his willingness to send the prince to China as a hostage again, requesting that China must appoint a general to go to the Western Regions to suppress the rampant arrogance of King Shache. In addition to the earnest words in this memorial, at the end there is an additional sentence that is neither serious nor serious-if China does not send the guards there, they will have to go to the Xiongnu. Liu Xiu, who was suffering from the domestic disaster, heard about this, and replied in a neutral way: "Nowadays, it is impossible to send envoys and troops to the Western Regions. If the power of the countries is not enough, the east, west, north, and south are at ease. It's up to you." Choose!" The good sentence "the east, west, north and south are at ease", countered all the coercive arguments in King Shanshan's words that were like child's play.Shanshan Kingdom had a bad nose, and finally had no choice but to surrender to the Xiongnu together with Che Shiguo.