Chapter 10 "Carrots and sticks"——Emperor Han Wen dealt with heroes, princes and kings

The first thing Liu Heng did after he ascended the throne was to appease the heroes and princes. Knowing how to repay, without the support of these people, Liu Heng would not dare to think about the throne.Liu Heng, who had just ascended the throne, was not yet stable enough in the central government, and the imperial court was sinister. If he wanted to eradicate stubborn illnesses step by step, he had to take root in the imperial court first.Therefore, on the one hand, he has to cultivate his cronies, and on the other hand, he needs to cage those veterans who originally supported him. Liu Heng is like a potential stock. The heroes and veterans have invested money in him, and he has to return the proceeds to others on a regular basis, so that the heroes and veterans can be sure that their own vision is correct, and continue to support this company that came from afar from Daiguo in the future. young people.

However, Liu Heng is worthy of being a person who once hid his strengths and bide his time, and hid his achievements and fame. He has a deeper political vision than his peers.Ordinary people may only be able to reward heroes and win over the princes, but Liu Heng separated the power of the hero group from the princes and kings as much as possible while rewarding them, and separated the two groups of forces that were close to each other in the process of pacifying Zhulu. Separate in time, create conflicts between them by distributing differences in interests, weaken the threats they face, and ensure the stability of their own imperial power and throne.

So what exactly are these strategies adopted by Liu Heng, and how did they formulate them step by step? Let's start with the situation in the court in the early days of Liu Heng's administration. In his book "History of the Qin and Han Dynasties", the historian Qian Mu summarized the interweaving of the forces of heroes, princes, and Liu Heng in the imperial court in the early years of Liu Heng's administration.The article emphasizes that Liu Heng was always suppressed by the two major forces, the Hero Group and the Kwantung Princes Group. Liu Heng had to rely on them to stabilize the imperial power, and at the same time had to accept the restrictions imposed by the expansion of their group power. .Qian Mu said:

The princes and kings are all older than Liu Heng, and they will inevitably rely on their elders to sell their elders in front of the younger generation. The princes and generals are strong, but Liu Heng is actually being emptied, and his orders have no effect at all in the local area. Moreover, Liu Heng himself said: "I can dress like this, but I can't think of it. In the chaos of the Lu family, the heroes and clans are not ashamed, and they are in the right position by mistake. They are often trembling and trembling. I am afraid that the matter will not end." ("Historical Records" "Lü Shu") The domineering officials and princes are a potential danger signal, and the fear it brings to Liu Heng is beyond words.

Obviously, Liu Heng must take some severe measures in the face of these heroes and princes who are both kind and threatening to him.Although the two sides can't fight each other, Liu Heng can't live in fear and depend on others for the rest of his life. It is imperative for Liu Heng to come up with a "carrot and stick" policy. At the beginning of his administration, Liu Heng mainly made the following points. First, return the lands of Qi and Chu that were divided during the Empress Lu period. As explained in the previous article, because Qi Wang Liu Fei was almost plotted against by Queen Lu back then, Liu Fei and his family all learned to behave well. His son Qi Wang Liu Xiang has always been more obedient to Queen Lu. A certain place was set aside and sealed to the Lu family.Anyway, she knew that Liu Xiang's family was easy to bully, and they didn't dare to say anything after they suffered a loss. In addition, Qi State was originally a big place, so cutting off one or two counties would be a painless matter for Qi Wang. The situation of Chu State Also roughly the same.

However, it is different now. King Qi Liu Xiang contributed a lot in the process of pacifying Zhulu. Although Qi's army did not reach Chang'an and was stopped by Guan Ying on the way, Liu Xiang did not secretly collude with Guan Ying. Did the collusion put pressure on the court?Besides, although Liu Xiang's seniority is lower than that of Liu Heng, he is also a prince, and he voted firmly in favor of Liu Heng's ascension to the throne. All the land that was cut off was returned. Liu Jiao, the king of Chu, was originally Liu Heng's little uncle. He was highly educated and famous. It would have been good if he hadn't come to compete with Liu Heng for the throne. Of course Liu Heng wanted to appease him, so he returned everything that was cut off by Empress Lu. Chu land.

Second, on the sixth day of October, Liu Ze, the king of Langya, was renamed King Yan, and Liu Sui, the king of Yan who was previously granted by the hero group, was renamed King Zhao. Although Liu Ze, the king of Langya, was conferred by Empress Lu, he also voted for Liu Heng when everyone was discussing the candidate for the new monarch. , is a big reward. Third, balance the power of the hero group characters. Liu Heng promoted the Taiwei Zhou Bo to the right prime minister, demoted the right prime minister Chen Ping to the left prime minister, and promoted the general Guan Ying to Taiwei.

It is only natural for Guan Ying to be rewarded, and this can be regarded as a big "carrot" for the group of meritorious officials.In his later years, Liu Bang quelled Yingbu's rebellion, but he was hit by an arrow and left first. Afterwards, Guan Ying presided over the quelling of Yingbu. Guan Ying finally defeated Xiang Yu's former army, the titan Yingbo.It stands to reason that this was a great achievement, and he avenged the emperor, but it was unfortunate that Liu Bang had passed away when Guanying's class teacher triumphed, and the central government was busy with political struggles, so he didn't care about Guanying at all, and let him be in vain After working so hard for a while, Guan Ying didn't even have a formal official position during the reign of Emperor Xiaohui, but only served as a servant of Liehou.In addition, when Zhulu rebelled, Guan Ying was stationed in Xingyang to put pressure on Zhulu. The two achievements coexisted, and it was a matter of course for him to be promoted.

But the ups and downs of Chen Ping and Zhou Bo are intriguing.Chen Ping's demotion is equivalent to giving the hero group a "big stick", and Zhou Bo was also beaten by Liu Heng, which further shows that Liu Heng is wary of the hero group. According to the records in "Historical Records: The Family of Prime Minister Chen", it was Chen Ping who took the initiative to give way to Zhou Bo. When Chen Ping didn't go to court all day, Liu Heng came to ask him about his situation. He flattered himself: "When I followed Emperor Gao to conquer the world, Zhou Bo's contribution was not as great as mine. When I put down Zhulu, my contribution was not as great as Zhou Bo's. So I am willing to give up the seat of Prime Minister You to him."

When Liu Heng heard this, he was overjoyed, and felt that Chen Ping knew how to retreat bravely, and he was a courtier with a wink.Chen Ping's sense of wit contrasted with Zhou Bo's pride in taking credit, which made Liu Heng feel a little disgusted with Zhou Bo. Chen Ping's approach showed his strong political sense.He keenly felt that the heroic group's general situation was over, the big guys were not too young, and there was only a dead end if they continued to toss, and the new emperor was extraordinary, far from being as incompetent as everyone imagined, so he simply let the new emperor, young people Free up your hands and do some business.Taking credit for pride can only lead to anger. Instead of showing the end of one's momentary strength, it is better to accept it as soon as it is good and enjoy the old age in peace.

Of course, if you look at it from a bad point of view, Chen Ping, a scholar, has fallen out of favor with Liu Heng. He is full of intrigues and tricks and can no longer meet the requirements of the new administration. When Liu Heng bestowed rewards on meritorious officials, Zhou Bona benefited the most. The fiefdom increased by 10,000 households, and he was given 5,000 catties of gold (brass). Give two thousand catties of gold (brass). But Zhou Bo took the benefits but was still dishonest. His arrogance and arrogance aroused Liu Heng's disgust. Once, Liu Heng asked Prime Minister Zhou Bo how many cases the country had to try in a year. Zhou Bo was a big bastard, and he couldn't handle this kind of question at all, so he said anxiously, "I don't know." "So how much is the country's annual income and expenditure of money and food?" "have no idea." So Liu Heng asked Chen Ping again, and Chen Ping said: "These matters are managed by special personnel. To understand the case, you should ask Tingwei, and to understand the income and expenditure of money and food, you must ask Zhisu Internal History." Liu Heng asked again: "Then what is the prime minister doing?" Chen Ping said: "The prime minister, of course, is to be in charge of the ministers. But to be honest, the ministers are not very capable. Your Majesty, the key is that you don't understand me, so you let me be the prime minister. To be the prime minister, you must be able to help me. The Son of Heaven regulates and controls the yin and yang of the heaven and earth, and the four seasons of wind and rain; below, he can assist the rulers in nurturing their souls and grasping opportunities; externally, he can stabilize the feudal lords and appease the barbarians; internally, he can make the common people adhere to each other, and let the ministers perform their duties." Liu Heng was overjoyed after hearing this.After this argument, Zhou Bo's self-confidence was hit hard, and he realized deeply that he was just a big bastard who got his name out of it.After he came down to court, he complained to Chen Ping: "Why don't you teach me these things normally?" Chen Ping said: "As the prime minister, how can you not even know what you do? If the emperor asks you how many thieves there are in Chang'an, can you answer it?" Zhou Bo felt ashamed, and some people around him advised him not to take credit for his pride, so he resigned from the position of Prime Minister You after a few days.From this point of view, Zhou Bo is also considered interesting. Thinking about it carefully, Chen Ping is actually the most cunning. When the insidious and selfish Empress Lu was in power, he pushed away a generation of great rangers Wang Ling, but Chen Ping acted as the prime minister; when it came to Liu Heng, the boss Zhou Bo was beaten However, Chen Ping can still be the prime minister well.Chen Ping's ability to become a "tumbler" in officialdom is probably due to his familiarity with what later generations call the "hidden rules" of officialdom.Thinking about it carefully, Chen Ping has served many monarchs in his life, such as Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Empress Lu...he can handle these people with ease, which shows that he also has the potential to become a generation of political strategists, similar to Su Qin and Zhang Yi, who never speaks of morality , only talk about interests. Liu Heng favored Zhou Bo more than Chen Ping. After all, Zhou Bo was much more active than Chen Ping in supporting Liu Heng as emperor. Liu Heng's move was nothing more than a slight blow to Zhou Bo, but it was enough to see Liu Heng's Wisdom and proficiency in imperial art.He will never let his courtiers feel that he is favored by the king, even if this favor is an objective fact, because the emperor always thinks that he cannot lose his majesty in front of his courtiers. Fourth, reward Liu's clan. Liu Heng added 2,000 households to each of Zhuxuhou Liuzhang, Xiangping Hou Jitong, and Dongmouhou Liu Xingju, and rewarded 2,000 catties of gold (brass).In addition, Dianke Liu Jiefeng was sent to Yangxin (now northeast of Wudi, Shandong Province) as the Marquis of Yangxin. Each of the three has merit in its own right.Zhu Xuhou and Liu Zhang killed Lu Chan when he pacified Zhulu; Xiangping Hou Jitong forged an edict and let Zhou Bo join the Northern Army; should.In addition, when Liu Jie took part in seizing the seal of Zhao Wang Lulu commanding the southern army when he pacified Zhulu, he was also rewarded according to his merit. The above four points are Liu Heng's arrangements for the heroes and princes who participated in the coup and helped him to power at the beginning of his accession to power. All of these arrangements have profound meanings, and Liu Heng's political skills are very mature. However, there are two problems with this. First of all, it is abnormal that Li Ji, Lu Jia, and Cao Yu were not mentioned among the meritorious officials who received the award. Li Ji helped the hero group to persuade Lu Lu to give up his military power, Cao Yu reported to the hero group, and Lu Jia persuaded Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to join forces. All three of them have meritorious service and should be rewarded. If you think about it carefully, if you have to tell some truths, maybe Liu Heng didn't reward Li Ji because he wanted to use Li Ji's credit to compensate for his crime of being close to the Lu family, but Lu Jia and Cao Yu didn't receive the reward. It's really hard to explain.The main reason may be that these two people did not directly participate in the establishment.Lu Jia and Cao Yu have been contributing to the hero group in the process of pacifying Zhulu and supporting the new monarch, and have no direct contact with Liu Heng. From this we can also see that Liu Heng wanted to show an attitude through this matter: Anyone who does not conform to him and does not sincerely support him will not be rewarded. Secondly, the feudal rewards received by princes and kings are much smaller than those of the hero group, which is also abnormal. Especially Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang and Dong Mou Hou Liu Xingju, Liu Heng did not fulfill his previous promise, that is, to make Liu Zhang the king of Zhao and Liu Xingju the king of Liang afterwards, but only increased their feudal titles and gave them rewards. On the one hand, it shows that Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, denied the influence of the hero group—no matter what they say, it doesn't matter what they say, but what Liu Heng says counts.On the other hand, this also shows Liu Heng's eagerness for quick success in solving the kingdom's problems and preventing the expansion of the power of the princes and kings.Liu Heng's actions laid a lot of hidden dangers for the Han Empire in the future. Liu Heng probably never thought that Liu Zhang and Liu Xingju might be forced to rebel because of this, and later Liu Xingju did rebel.Liu Heng has great political skills and vision, but he is still inexperienced after all. The young man was full of enthusiasm when he first came to power, and he inevitably rushed into some things too hastily. However, there is no doubt that Liu Heng did use the above-mentioned four-point arrangement to stabilize the hero group and the princes and kings group. All the people in the court were very happy that they didn't miss it. The bet they made really brought them a lot of money As a result, their confidence in Liu Heng was built up. At the same time, Liu Heng used a series of "carrot and stick" methods to successfully separate the "meritorious officials-princes and kings' interest alliance group" formed in the process of quelling the chaos of Zhulu.Because people from the two groups were treated differently, their conflicts emerged, which made it easier for Liu Heng to separate the two factions and strengthen his autocracy.