Chapter 43 Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty
On the first day of the sixth lunar month in 157 BC, Liu Heng died in Weiyang Palace at the age of forty-six.
Before Liu Heng died, he left a will. It is always a pity that such a good emperor, who is rare in an ignorant age, died.As his posthumous work, this edict is very necessary for future generations to understand, not to mention that this edict is very sensational.
The content of the imperial edict is as follows: "I heard that all things in the world have a beginning and an end, and that all things will inevitably die after they are born. Death is a natural thing in the world, and it is something that all living things in the world must experience. What is there to be sad about?
"Nowadays people are greedy for life and afraid of death. It always takes a lot of manpower and material resources to bury the dead. Virtuous and incompetent, I did not bring the slightest benefit to the people. Now that I am such a rotten emperor with no virtue and incompetence, I have died, and let the innocent officials and people come to wear mourning and cry for me, and let the common people there mourn for my death on a hot day And sad, I don't think about food, so that I even forget about their own sacrifices, which damages my virtue even more, how can I be worthy of the common people!
"Since I became the emperor, I, an insignificant person, have ruled the world for more than 20 years. I have relied on the protection of the gods of heaven and earth and the care of the gods of the country. The country is safe and peaceful, and there is no war. I made a lot of mistakes, and I was afraid that if I didn’t do well enough, the late emperor would be ashamed. Later, when I was in power for a long time, I was even more afraid that I would not do well enough, that I would become more confused as I got older, and that I would do some immoral things when I was dying.
"Looking back on my life now, I have never done anything too wrong. I can leave safely and accept offerings safely in the Gaozu Temple. Such an ugly emperor like me can end up with such a good result. , this is perfect enough, there is nothing worthy of people's sorrow.
"Now I order the people all over the world to mourn for me for three days after hearing the news of my death, and immediately take off the mourning clothes after the news is over, and do whatever they want. People cannot be prohibited from marrying in the days after my death. Wives and daughters, offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods, drinking wine and eating meat. People who should cry for sacrifices should not be barefoot, and the width of the filial belt should not exceed three inches. There is no need to wrap chariots and weapons with white cloth, and it is not necessary to arrange men and women to come to the palace. Zhong cried day and night, and to be honest, the sound of the dry horn was really ugly.
"Anyone in the palace who should cry for me should cry fifteen times in the morning and evening. It's not the time of mourning in the morning and evening that is forbidden to cry. I know it's just pretending. Let everyone relax. After I'm buried, I should wear Fifteen days is enough for the people who wear the big meritorious service clothes for my mourning, and it is enough for the people who should wear the minor meritorious service clothes to wear for 14 days. Seven days, when the time comes, quickly take off your filial piety.
"In addition, there are a lot of funerals that need to be handled after death. I haven't mentioned them here one by one. You all refer to the above methods and handle them lightly and simply. Be sure to tell the people of my intentions. My tomb bullies the mausoleum Just build according to the original mountain situation, and don’t damage the local environment. The female titles in the harem, from the lady below to the young envoy, should be sent home. Don’t delay their good youth. If you are old, you can’t get married. They can Marry freely."
After carefully savoring Liu Heng's edict, Liu Heng first expressed his care and fraternity for others, and also reflected his frugal thinking.Liu Heng accommodated his concubine Ji tolerantly, which is rare.In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor had his concubines buried; in the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian was arranged to become a monk in Ganye Temple after Li Shimin's death; after Cao Cao's death, all his concubines were arranged to guard the spirit in Tongque Terrace.Liu Heng is indeed a rare enlightened emperor.
Emperor Wen's criticism of the Qin Dynasty's system was also unprecedented.Jia Yi's "On Passing the Qin Dynasty" can be regarded as completely destroying the beautiful dream of "Han inheriting the Qin system" constructed by Liu Bang's period for the entire central government.Huang Lao's thought of governing the country was advocated in the period of Liu Bang and Huilu, but why it was not really popularized until the Wenjing period, I think it has something to do with the Wendi Dynasty getting rid of the shadow of the Qin Dynasty system.
However, legal construction is still an indispensable content in a country's political life.The rise of grammatical officials in Liu Heng's era cannot be simply regarded as the recovery of the power of Legalism, nor can it be regarded as the empirical evidence of Liu Heng's "outside the way and internal law" in power.Take Zhang Shizhi as an example. Under the background of practicing Huang Lao's art in the whole society, the laws of Emperor Wen's dynasty are far less strict than those of Qin Dynasty and Liu Bang, and the most important feature of law enforcement is to act according to the law, so you Looking at Zhang Shizhi's law enforcement, he often faces the common people. Under a benign social environment and legal system, law enforcement is the greatest blessing for the common people.
The Wendi Dynasty established a basic line of wealth accumulation for the entire Wenjing period. The entire country centered on economic construction, and the main political activities of the Jingdi Dynasty also revolved around the accumulation of wealth.The abundance of social wealth can drive the development of productive forces and meet the needs of people's lives. More importantly, it laid the foundation for Emperor Wu's counterattack against the Huns.
Liu Heng's reign was not considered long, and his twenty-three years accounted for only one-tenth of the entire Western Han Dynasty's reign, and the Emperor Wen's dynasty faced many disadvantages accumulated by the entire country since the Qin Dynasty, so What Liu Heng did was only to lay the foundation.Sima Qian said that it has been more than 40 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty to the time of Emperor Wen. The country is prosperous and prosperous, and it is time to change the calendar, change the color of the clothes, and hold the Zen ceremony.It may sound exaggerated, but when you think about it carefully, Liu Hengzhi's contribution and great achievements are indeed unprecedented.
On the seventh day of June, Liu Heng was buried in Baling, and was posthumously named Emperor Xiaowen after his death.Prince Liu Qi succeeded to the throne at the Gaozu Temple, officially proclaiming himself emperor on the ninth day of June, and a new era is slowly coming.
Here we need to specifically mention the issue of thin burials in Ba Mausoleum. As explained earlier, according to historical records, Liu Heng was buried in a simple manner, with only pottery in the tomb. What is the truth?
The author summed up the views of the academic circles, and there are only three possible reasons for this situation:
First, Liu Qi violated his father's wishes. He may have misunderstood his father and felt that his father was modest, so he buried Liu Heng generously when he arranged for Liu Heng's burial.
Second, according to Mr. Wang Zijin, the treasures in the Ba Tomb may be the burial objects of the burial people.Firstly, it is possible that Emperor Wu brought a lot of funerary objects when Emperor Wen’s Empress Dou was buried in the Baling. Secondly, it is also possible that the eldest princess Liu Piao died and was buried with Dong Yan. Lots of treasures.
Third, it is also possible that Liu Heng's imperial edict itself was just a show, and everyone tacitly agreed that when Liu Heng was buried, he would still be buried generously.Previously, the "thin burial" propaganda was just to prevent private tomb robbers, so they simply told the tomb robbers that there were no treasures in the tomb.
In short, the truth of history cannot be verified. The enlightened emperor Liu Heng, who was rarely seen in the autocratic era, left the world impatiently before showing his face on the stage of history.
Liu Qi ascended the throne, and the era of Han Jingdi Liu Qi began.
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