Chapter 6 Game of "Emperor" and "King"

The picture scroll of history unfolds slowly, and the eyes of today's people travel through time and space, and what they see should be such a scene on a day more than 2,000 years ago. On the seventh day of October in 149 BC, in the center of the vast Han Empire, a young man with a solemn face was standing on a high platform in front of the Gaozu Temple in Chang'an County.He looked like he was just in his early twenties, but his face had already shown a tired look from the whole day's work.He was overwhelmed by busy government affairs and fierce court struggles. He slowly completed a set of worship etiquette in front of his father's coffin, got up and stretched out his Chinese clothes, his face was not angry and majestic, the emperor's Chinese clothes revealed the solemn atmosphere at this moment.Beside him is a group of serious and tenacious doctors led by Lang Zhong Ling Zhang Wu.Under the high platform is the Northern and Southern Army led by General Wei Song Chang.The sergeants stared, their eyes lingering on the well-dressed ministers and princes and kings.The cavalry and infantry were fully armed, and there was a slight chill on the sharp sword in their hands, and the air seemed to be stagnant.

The young man slowly inspected the ministers in the audience, adjusted the crown, and then turned around to announce to everyone that he——Liu Heng, officially became the fourth ruler of the Han Empire. "Turn!" With the shout of the etiquette officer, the officials moved forward in small steps, and under the high platform, the doctors who were holding their scabbards tightly, dressed in crimson clothes, and fully guarded immediately stood on both sides of the steps.Ministers, lieutenants, and generals line up on the west side, facing east; civil servants below the prime minister stand on the east side, facing west.Almost everyone was fearful and fearful in front of the new monarch, and carefully followed the pilgrimage etiquette that Shu Suntong had designed for Liu Bang in the past, lest they offend the dignified new monarch.

Liu Heng's gaze fell on Taiwei Zhou Bo, who was not as serious as others, and was scratching his itch.Liu Heng frowned, but said nothing. The voice of "Long Live" swept across like a tsunami, and instantly spread to the streets and alleys in Chang'an City. The people spontaneously responded to the voice, and Liu Heng's dharma driver also drove slowly.The vast Han Empire is immersed in a new atmosphere, and everyone is full of longing and hope, except for Liu Heng, who is charged with the important task of governing the country. Liu Heng frowned, and under the high platform were self-reliant veterans and tyrannical Kwantung princes and kings. Can his own political means suppress these powerful officials and nobles?Feeling very annoyed, he simply raised his head, cast his gaze to the north of the Han Empire, and faintly saw the Ganquan Palace (Li Palace of the Western Han Dynasty) silent three hundred miles away.To the north, and further north, groups of Hun cavalry are riding their horses and bowing their bows, staring at the border of the empire. Liu Heng seems to see the Xiongnu Shanyu leading the Hun cavalry to break through Xiaoguan and come to Ganquan Mountain to look at the Weiyang Palace of the empire... terrified His body began to tremble involuntarily with fear.

Liu Heng looked back at the spiritual tablet of his father Liu Bang on the Gaozu Temple, feeling uncontrollably sad for a moment, and the repeated "Long Live" in his ears couldn't cover up the riddled society.Although the empire he took over was clad in a prosperous cloak, it was nothing but a mess that was still lingering after several bloody storms.The empire was founded by his fathers until now, and the turbulent history of the twenty-four years has created all kinds of contradictions and problems that are spreading in front of him today. These contradictions and problems have to start with the emperor system created by the Qin Dynasty.

In China before Qin, the enfeoffment system (royal system) was practiced.After Zhou Tianzi reserved his own directly-administered land, he divided the remaining land into small pieces and gave it to the princes, forming a vassal state with considerable autonomy. The princes had to obey the orders of Zhou Tianzi in name.This system is conducive to consolidating and expanding the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, but the country is prone to split. In 221 B.C., Qin Shihuang Yingzheng thought that "virtuous and three emperors, meritorious five emperors", combined the two most noble titles in the world, "emperor" and "emperor", as his own title, and at the same time eliminated the posthumous law and abolished the posthumous title. Enfeoffment, the centralized emperor system in Chinese history has been created since then, and the whole country has moved towards true unity.If the Qin Empire is a huge and brand-new body, then the imperial system is the soul of this body, and the autocratic attributes of the imperial system fit perfectly with the body of Qin State that was forged by barbaric civilization.

Before the founding of the monarchy and the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, in the tenth year of King Zhou Xian (359 BC), the famous Shang Yang came to Qin State and met Qin Xiaogong, who would become his lifelong confidant in the future. Qin State is different from the six eastern countries. Its culture does not have aristocratic traditions, and there is a barbaric atmosphere in its bones.It's no wonder that Qin and Xirong's neighbors are always culturally influenced by ethnic minorities. Qin people don't talk about dress etiquette. This barbaric and backward culture is very consistent with Shang Yang's harsh laws and autocratic rule, so In the next few years, Shang Yang's reform in Qin State has been going smoothly.

He compiled household registration, with five people as a team and ten people as a tithe, so that the government could manage the people in a unified way, arrange labor, and at the same time compile meritorious service and strengthen punishment.The most important thing is to implement the county system in Qin State, and the local government is directly ruled and managed by the central government, which undoubtedly increases the centralization of power. These measures are clearly the embryonic form of a centralized system in the future. Until the end of the Warring States Period, the scheming Yingzheng and his subordinates compared the political systems they could think of, weighed the pros and cons, relied on their familiarity with political struggles and their enthusiasm for actively supporting centralization and dictatorship, and based on their control over the general trend of the world. , and finally drew up a plan for unification.

Qin's tiger and wolf division is ready to annex the world at any time.The implementation of a centralized system has long been imminent, imminent. The first problem that Qin Wang Yingzheng and his counselors had to face came from the vast territory after unification. They never thought that one day they could manage such a large piece of land, and they were a little confused for a while.After thinking about it, it would be easier to arrange according to the old method of Qin State, but Qin State was originally a county system, which obviously can only be applied to a small piece of land in Qin State.If you want to manage the world, you must also make an enlarged version of the county system—the county system came into being.

In the future, the centralized system of prefectures and counties will have a brand-new name—monarchy. It seems that it has been impatient in the womb for a long time, and it has already squeezed to a position on the historical stage that is about to emerge. The imperial system is the culmination of the pre-Qin political culture, but the royal system that has been in operation for many years is actually a bit rotten in front of it. The six countries in decline are powerless to resist Qin's soldiers. The government is like destroying the unity of the six countries, dismantling them one by one, and screwing them all up.

The royal system fell apart and quickly collapsed.However, a wise man is bound to make a mistake if he has thousands of worries. As the pace of Qin's unification continued to accelerate, Yingzheng made a fatal mistake. During the entire process of pacifying the Six Kingdoms, Qin's goal shifted unknowingly, from eliminating the aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms to Eliminate the regime established by the nobles of the six countries. The nobles of the Six Kingdoms—those beneficiaries under the Shang and Zhou royal systems were not completely "eliminated". Although the noble status and power of the old and the young were deprived, their positions never changed, and eventually became opposition The main force of the imperial system and will become the leadership of the anti-Qin armed forces in the future.

The joy of achievement concealed the rationality of Yingzheng and the counselors. The forces against the imperial system appeared to disappear, but in essence they turned into secret activities, secretly accumulating strength, and prepared to shoot a sniper at the Qin Empire when necessary. The death knell of the Qin Empire was destined to be sounded not long after the empire was born. The harbinger of defeat appeared in the fourth year after Yingzheng proclaimed himself emperor (218 BC). The protagonist of the story is Zhang Liang, a down-and-out aristocrat in South Korea. The Zhang family had been the prime ministers of five dynasties in a row in South Korea. up.Zhang Liang was so angry that the prime minister in his hand was savagely snatched away by the people of Qin, and the people of Qin didn't know how to settle down the local powerful people. He traveled all the way to the central part of today's North Korea, visited Cang Haijun, the leader of the country of Xie, and hired a strong man from Canghai Jun to serve him. Zhang Liang is a special case among the dormant forces of the nobles of the Six Kingdoms. He did not join any underground organization, but wandered on the fringes of the noble forces. This Hercules.Zhang Liang planned to let this strongman block Yingzheng with a big hammer weighing 120 catties in Bolangsha, Yangwu (now in Yuanyang, Henan). However, Zhang Liang's plan seems to go with the flow, but it is actually full of loopholes.The most important thing is that Zhang Liang underestimated Ying Zheng's defense. Qin Shihuang Yingzheng was the ruler of the world at that time, everyone's life was like dung in his eyes, and the only thing in his heart was the sentence "Under the world, I am the only one".This person who cherishes power extremely has no reason not to regard life as the most precious wealth. After all, only life can enjoy prosperity and wealth. The sensitive Yingzheng always takes a gorgeous motorcade as a cover when he travels. The emperor of the Han Dynasty traveled with thirty-six subordinate vehicles. The number of Qin Shihuang’s subordinate vehicles is only a lot more than that of the Han Dynasty, so many are exactly the same. It’s hard not to dazzle people with a luxury car, but the Hercules hired by Zhang Liang would be damned if they could see it right.Sure enough, it was only Qin Shihuang's auxiliary car that was smashed by the sledgehammer.Ying Zheng survived the catastrophe, safe and sound. The angry Qin Shihuang demanded the world for ten days, but in the end there was no result.At that time, people all over the world were already very dissatisfied with Qin Shihuang's violent expropriation to satisfy his selfish desires, so there were many people with lofty ideals among the people, and they were very willing to take in and protect Zhang Liang.Zhang Liang fled all the way to Xiapi, and settled here, and became a local criminal shelter, who specially favored heroes who were persecuted by the Qin Dynasty, including Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Bo. It was not until the chaos at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the uprising army spread all over the place that Zhang Liang came out again, and finally became a hero who was awarded the title of Liuhou in the early Han Dynasty, ranking sixty-two on the list of heroes in the early Han Dynasty. Qin Shihuang took the assassination in Bolangsha as an individual case, but he didn't know that this was just a small appearance of the noble forces who had been accumulating strength.Eight years later, Yingzheng died of illness in Shaqiu.The CRRC Mansion ordered Zhao Gao to gear up, unable to suppress his conspiratorial heart, and decisively united with Li Si, the prime minister of the empire, and the two joined forces to launch a sand dune coup.Yingzheng's youngest son Hu Hai came to the throne, his eldest son Fusu was killed, general Meng Tian was killed, twelve princes were murdered, ten princesses were torn apart by a chariot, and chaos arose in the empire. Therefore, in the first year of Qin II (209 BC), Chen Sheng from Chu rose up and called himself "King Zhang Chu", while his accomplice Wu Guang was named "False King" by him.Zhang Chu's army invaded the land of Zhao, Chen Sheng's general Wuchen made himself the king of Zhao, and Zhao general Han Guang made himself the king of Yan. Afterwards, the aristocratic forces of the six countries, who had been dormant for a long time, saw that the anti-Qin trend was ready, so they all rose up and supported the descendants of their own kings as leaders—King Han Cheng of Han, King Wei Jiu of Wei, Mi Xin, King of Chu, and Tian Dan, King of Qi.Wu Chen was later killed by Zhao General Li Liang in the second year of Qin II. Zhao Xiang Zhang Er made Zhao Xie, a nobleman of Zhao State, as King Zhao. The country is boiling. Among the anti-Qin armed forces, the most powerful is the aristocratic forces of Chu State.Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu's uncle and nephew are the actual controllers of this force, and Chuhuai King Mi Xin is just a puppet king supported by them.Later, Xiang Liang was killed, and his nephew Xiang Yu finally wiped out the main force of the Qin army in Julu, and forced Zhang Han, the last general of the Qin Dynasty, to surrender to the anti-Qin forces in Shui Shui (now west of Ci County, Hebei). The Qin Empire is gone. At this time, Peigong Liu Bang under the influence of Chu State in the anti-Qin armed alliance had already entered Qinguan in the west. In 206 BC, Prince Qin Ying surrendered, and the Qin Dynasty perished. It has to be noted that it was the aristocratic forces of the six countries that originally supported the royal system that destroyed the Qin Dynasty. In other words, once these people gained power, they would inevitably rebuild the royal system vigorously.Diligent troops from all over the world were digging for treasures and making money in the ruins of Xianyang City every day. This group of people looked like bandits, and Xiang Yu, the leader, did not resist the persuasion of everyone.Everyone kept talking in front of him, "Brothers have done so much for destroying the Qin Dynasty, so let's divide up the land." Xiang Yu's ears were almost callused, and thinking about it, the purpose of everyone's sending troops back then was to rebuild the monarchy , Now that things are done, don’t forget your original intention. In the end, you can only agree to the request of the aristocratic forces to re-distribute the soil and rebuild the royal system, and you have given yourself the title of "Overlord of Western Chu" and set aside the largest territory. , I went to find leisure comfortably. The "post-Warring States era" was finally formed, the imperial system collapsed, and the royal system was rebuilt.Ordinary historians always like to comment that "Xiang Yu turned back the wheel of history" when talking about Xiang Yu's restoration of the kingship. Even the Kuomintang's revision of history has such an expression in "History of Wars in the Past Dynasties of China".However, this statement is actually very ridiculous. Any evolution has a long-term and complex nature. It is impossible for a single individual to complete this evolution, and any evolution cannot be attributed to the power of one person.The author does not believe that there is an absolute distinction between the county system and the enfeoffment system, and I do not agree with the progressive view of history. Not everyone is qualified to enjoy a leisurely life comfortably. At this time, Xiang Yu is slack, but Liu Bang is still full of energy!The wonderful thing about history is that it created two careerists at the same time.Liu Bang wanted to compete with Xiang Yu for power, so of course he had to sing against him.Xiang Yu supported the monarchy, and Liu Bang was about to proclaim himself emperor. Therefore, after being deeply instilled with Comrade Liu Bang's great foresight and foresight, the soldiers and civilians of the Han region resolutely took up their guns and went to Xiang Yu to seize the world together with Han Wang Liu Bang. The Chu-Han War broke out immediately. This was the "second revolution" in Chinese history when the imperial power overthrew the royal system after Qin unified the six kingdoms.The Chu-Han period not only restored the royal system, but also created a new competition between the imperial system and the royal system. Facing Liu Bang's attack, Xiang Yu dealt with it seriously at first, but later he responded lazily.This kind of negative sentiment permeated the Chu army, and the supply line was always cut off by Peng Yue's "army workers in the enemy's rear". The depressed Xiang Yu had to make peace with Liu Bang. However, it didn't take long, in the fifth year after Xiang Yu established the country, Liu Bang betrayed the "Gap Peace Treaty" signed by Han and Chu, and joined forces with Han Xin, Peng Yue, Ying Bu and others to destroy Western Chu.The desperate Xiang Yu slayed himself at Gaixia. Before he died, he looked at his beloved wife Yu Ji and the black horse, and sang loudly: "Strengthen the mountain and the world is overwhelming, and the time is not good. The time is not dying, and the time is not dying. What can I do? Yu Ji Yu How about Ji Nai?" The setting sun is shining, Wujiang is bleeding, and the glory of the overlord of Western Chu is like a floating dream, gone forever. After "Song of Gaixia" was sung, the sad and beautiful "Farewell My Concubine" that was circulated in the market did not happen between Xiang Yu and Yu Ji. Leaving his concubine to be ruined by the Han army would damage his own reputation. Xiang Yu loved face and loved him all his life, so he couldn't suffer a loss when he died.So the truth of history is as stated in the article "Zhongli County, Haozhou" in Volume 128 of "Taiping Huanyu Ji", "Yu Ji's tomb is sixty miles southeast of the county, six feet high, that is, Xiang Yu was defeated, and Ji Ji was buried. So." Xiang Yu killed Yu Ji and buried her before committing suicide. History is so cruel, it ruthlessly shattered the common people's beautiful fantasies.In ancient patriarchal society, men were ashamed to tell the nasty things about letting their beautiful women die casually, so they made up a story of Farewell My Concubine, as if women voluntarily died for men.Once the truth of history is revealed, the images of many male heroes will collapse instantly.The bloodthirsty, cold-blooded, and ruthless Xiang Yu is no exception. His moral and personality flaws are serious, and his so-called heroic and noble image is only superficial. In the tragedy and comedy of life, in an instant, Chu perishes and Han prospers, and the world is impermanent. Since then, Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, and the Western Han Empire was created from then on.The royal system was completely ended politically, and the Chu-Han War, as the second unification war to eliminate the forces of the Warring States Period, was forever recorded in history.However, no one would have thought that the royal system would be resurrected again and become a major problem that plagued the political situation in the early Han Dynasty.