Chapter 47 Chao Cuo's "Wrong"

Today's Chao Cuo is like calling the wind and rain in the court, covering the sky with one hand, and the prime minister is mad at him, let alone other ministers. This situation is very similar to the situation during Shang Yang's reform. Shang Yang migrated to Mu Lixin, and also dealt with the prince's masters Gongsun Jia and Gong Ziqian. Qin Xiaogong and him sang together. Liu Qi and Chao Cuo gave people the same feeling in the court at this time. In August of the second year of Emperor Jing (155 BC), Chao Cuo was promoted to the imperial doctor of Wanshi. Then he proposed the policy of reducing the vassal, and Jianfeng pointed directly at Wu Wang Liu Bi.

Chao Cuo said to Liu Qi: "When Emperor Gaozu pacified the world, because he had few brothers and most of his sons were young, he enshrined some people surnamed Liu on a large scale among relatives. These people It was Emperor Gao who reluctantly granted the title because he did not have enough trusted people in his family, so Liu Fei, the concubine, was granted the title of King of Qi, with over 70 cities under his jurisdiction; his younger brother, Liu Jiao, was named King of Chu, with over 40 cities under his jurisdiction. Liu Bi, the son of the second elder brother Liu Zhong, was granted the title of King of Wu, with more than 50 cities under his jurisdiction. None of these three people is the true root of Gaozu's blood, but they control half of the land in the world.

"Especially Wu Wang Liu Bi, this man is a high-risk person. He harbors the hatred that his son was killed by the emperor, so he pretends to be sick all day long and finds reasons not to come to court. According to ancient laws, his head should have been chopped off long ago. It's a pity that the first emperor was too kind, not only did he not kill him, but he also gave him a walking stick and a couple. How tolerant and merciful the first emperor is. "It stands to reason that Liu Bi has no reason not to be grateful to the emperor, to be obedient to the central government, to change his past and start a new life. But look at that guy, he is relying on the Danyang Copper Mountain to mint money and cook sea salt. It's clear. He has ulterior motives. Moreover, he recruited a lot of desperadoes, which is definitely a sign of rebellion. Now, in my opinion, cutting his territory will force him to rebel, and he will rebel without cutting his territory. Cut him If he rebels early, the harm will be small; if he is not cut down, he will rebel later, and the more power he accumulates, the more harm will be. Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain, I suggest that your majesty cut down the feudal clan as soon as possible."

The reason why Chao Cuo insisted on cutting the feudal vassals was because he believed that Liu Bi would always rebel. ") However, upon careful analysis of this sentence, Chao Cuo seems to have made a mistake. What's wrong? Huang Renyu believes in a book that according to Chao Cuo's thinking, rebellion does not necessarily count as rebellion, as long as Liu Bi has the power to rebel, then he will rebel, otherwise he will save such a powerful power for what to do ? In the face of Chao Cuo's malicious slander, if Liu Bi could speak, he would have sighed: If you want to add a crime, there is nothing wrong with it!Although from anyone's point of view, Liu Bi's various actions seem to be preparing for rebellion, and he also has sufficient motives, but as long as he does not act for a day, no one is qualified to say that Liu Bi will definitely rebel.No favorable speculation can be accepted as fact before an event occurs.

It's a pity that Chao Cuo is a cruel official. People who uphold legalism like to infer guilt, because they want to ensure that the power of the dictator is absolutely stable, so Chao Cuo's words will inevitably exaggerate the facts to scare Liu Qi. The habitual "guilty inference" of legalists is actually a habit of guessing other people's minds.This habit has influenced many Chinese people for a long time. In the process of communicating with others, what Chinese people like most is to use a few words to figure out the other party's mind.However, these practices will eventually destroy a person's interpersonal relationship, and it is easy for people to misunderstand.At the same time, the methods themselves are despicable, and these practices will eventually lead to a society that lacks trust.

Thinking about it carefully, although Liu Bang did seal more than 70 cities for Liu Fei at once, by the time of Emperor Jing, the Qi State had been divided into Qi State, Jinan State, Jibei State, Jiaoxi State, Jiaodong State, and Sui State. There are six countries in Sichuan.These six vassal states act independently, and the power of Qi has been greatly weakened.Besides, in Chu State, there are only thirty-six cities in total. Chao Cuo is clearly trying to confuse the public, and intends to arouse Liu Qi's anger, thereby enhancing his own political value. However, new problems also arise as the times require. It is true that Chao Cuo said that Liu Bi made money to boil salt and recruit desperadoes. However, why did Liu Bi take these measures?

Is there any reason to defend Liu Bi? Have. Think about it, Liu Bi's head is full of silver threads. If he wanted to rebel, he would have risen a long time ago. There is no need to delay it until this late. He has old arms and legs. He will definitely not be able to use his limbs on the battlefield. Don't you want to win the battle!From this point of view, what Liu Bi did was just a way of venting, because Liu Bi relied on his military exploits on horseback to sit on the throne of King Wu, and he cherished this hard-won throne very much.However, things backfired, Liu Heng was full of suspicion towards him, Liu Qi killed his son again, Liu Bi only felt anger and helplessness in his heart.He must be thinking every day: "One day I will overthrow you people and make you pay with blood." What soldiers value most is dignity, and Liu Bi wants to defend his dignity. At the same time, he only hates people on the throne. And not coveted the throne.

King Wu's anger needed to be vented, and his way of venting was to act like he wanted to rebel. He liked to see Liu Qi's fearful expression, which made him feel satisfied.The old man was always very happy to hear how his enemies were afraid of him, but he knew that he didn't have enough strength to overthrow a government. Besides, the country belonged to his own family, and it wouldn't do him any good to ruin his own things. From another point of view, casting money to drive the economy and cooking salt to create wealth are all for the good of Wu. This is a manifestation of a king who attaches great importance to people's livelihood. Why should he be said to be a rebel?The central government has a sour grape mentality. Seeing that Liu Bi governs the country better than them, they are jealous, fearful, and hostile, and even think that he has purpose and ambition.

As for recruiting desperadoes, Liu Bi made it clear that he was out of anger on purpose.Under the huge blow of bereavement, Liu Bi acted like a child, fighting with his little nephew Liu Qi.He doesn't want to rebel because it's no good to rebel against him.He acted like he was ready to move, just to let his enemy Liu Qi live in pain and fear; he developed the people's livelihood and economy just to be brave, so that the monarchs and ministers in the central government envied Wu's wealth, unity and stability. Liu Bi is just a helpless old man who comforts himself with a childlike air.

Chao made a mistake. Was this mistake made accidentally or on purpose? This, of course, is intentional. Why did Chao Cuo make a mistake? There are three reasons. First of all, as a person who upholds legalist thought, Chao Cuo must have a very strong sense of political struggle.In his eyes, only by making a career out of desperation can he gain enough political capital to overwhelm his officials.Legalists like to reform the law and remove the old, which is a kind of political gamble.Chao Cuo is well aware of the principle that high risks will result in high returns. He must increase his political value by supporting the reduction of feudal vassals, so that he can be regarded as a treasure in the eyes of the emperor, thereby expanding his own political capital.What's more, Chao Cuo knew that if there was a real war, he would never be the one who charged ahead, so he was very relieved that he only needed to do his political work with peace of mind.

Second, Chao Cuo needs to show his loyalty to Liu Qi.The purpose of Chao Cuo cutting down the feudal clan was to help Liu Qi consolidate his rule.Legalists were born with a voluntary ambition to be the second child under the emperor. Their goal in life is to be the biggest slave and look after the family business for their master.This was most vividly manifested in Chao Cuo. His uncle and nephew had some minor conflicts in the old Liu family, and he meddled there. In the end, the result was that the uncle and nephew got together and squeezed him right first.Chao Cuo's foolish loyalty eventually led to his "suicide".Of course, Chao Cuo couldn't see this at all at this time, and Liu Qi's absolute support was the basic condition for him to implement the policy of reducing the vassal and maintain Liu Qi's rule. Third, Chao Cuo genuinely believed that the royal system hindered the centralization of power.In fact, the disadvantages of the kingdom are an indisputable fact, but Chao Cuo is relatively stupid, and he doesn't understand Jia Yi's set of "many build princes but less power". Compared with Jia Yi's approach in dealing with the kingdom issue, the "Family Reduction Policy" is too tough and outrageous, and it is a very stupid strategy. To sum up, Chao Cuo's cutting of the feudal clan was entirely for personal purposes. You said that he was maintaining Liu Qi's rule, but the problem is that the Legalists believed that the best interpretation of one's life value was to become the most outstanding slave under the emperor's feet.In order to accomplish this goal, Chao Cuo needs to overcome all opinions, insist on cutting the vassal, and grasp absolute political resources. Chao Cuo's "mistake" was an intentional "mistake", but historical facts finally proved that this will become the "mistake" of his life.