Chapter 22 chapter Five

On horseback, Liu Bang took the power, technique, and power of the Legalists as his main purpose to seize the world; he knew that he could not govern the country with the same way of conquering the world, so he quickly changed from his position of not studying and despising Confucian scholars to using Confucian scholars. He not only adopted the etiquette established by Shusuntong, but also asked Lu Jia to write a book on the lessons of the Qin Dynasty's loss of the world and the way of governing the country. He began to pay attention to "Poetry", and believed in Confucianism. And this can only be achieved by Liu Bang's adaptability and adaptability to current events.

The direct beneficiaries of Liu Bang's final victory were the warrior class composed of peasants and scoundrels who fought with him, and those country folks who followed him turned into the true Sangong Jiuqing.From a positive point of view, Liu Bang became the Great Saint Emperor from a commoner, completely ended the thousands of years of Shiqing Shilu system, created the "bureau of commoner generals and ministers in the early Han Dynasty", and broke people's concept of racial blood; From a negative point of view, it is no different from a big retrogression for the overall culture of the nation that a group of old and crude warriors came to power.The long-running, brutal and bloody wars have made batches of elites the first to be killed and eliminated. Those who survived the war are often weak in body and intellect. A war is a retrogression of the race. ; And the ruthless destruction of history and culture by war is a retrogression of civilization.Adding all these factors together, it is no exaggeration to say that every time the Chinese nation goes through a huge war, it has to suffer the consequences of a major regression in the overall quality of the nation. "One piece and one relaxation are the way of civil and military affairs." From this point of view, it is necessary for Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty to rule by doing nothing and to recuperate with the people.

Liu Bang didn't really want to be an emperor when he was not an emperor, but he became addicted once he became an emperor.So, he began to be suspicious, always thinking that many chaotic officials and thieves in the world wanted to overthrow his throne.He began to look for new enemies after losing Xiang Yu, and would still destroy them with the tenacity of the past.After looking around, he found that the biggest threats all come from those princes with independent forces.Not only do they have their own territory, they can issue orders as they please, but they also want to pass on their status and titles from generation to generation.As long as they are slightly unsatisfactory, they are very likely to rebel.Isn't this the fate of Xiang Yu's demise?Liu Bang did not dare to take it lightly if he overturned the past and learned from the future. "The cunning rabbit dies, and the running dog cooks." Therefore, Liu Bang looked for various reasons and excuses, and used various scheming and soft methods to cut off the former meritorious officials Han Xin, Yingbu, Peng Yue and other kings with different surnames.

To eliminate princes with different surnames, for Liu Bang, his inner feelings must be quite complicated.He didn't have much talent at all, but it is with the help of these meritorious ministers that he has the glory of today.However, driven by the traditional cultural genes that can only share adversity but not enjoyment, Liu Bang had to raise the butcher's knife to the past heroes and benefactors.In order to sit firmly on the throne of the emperor that he didn't want to sit on, his heart was trembling. He had to find reasons for his rogue and ungrateful and try to excuse him. It is very likely that when the heads fell to the ground, , he wiped his tears and muttered: "In order to fulfill me, I thank you again, my dear and lovely comrade-in-arms..."

Once the internal hidden dangers were eliminated, Liu Bang's perspective turned to the outside again.The current him is different from the past. In the past, he only thought about how to live a happy and comfortable life by himself, but now he wants to think about the Liu family and the people of the whole country to live a happy and comfortable life.But the Xiongnu in the north always did not allow us Han people to live a happy and comfortable life. They always straddled their horses and came and went like the wind to attack, harass, and plunder. The Huns have been a trouble to the Central Plains for a long time. "Shangshu" called it "the barbarian cunning Xia", and said that "Rong and Di are Ying", and "Spring and Autumn" recorded "Youdao guards the four barbarians".Qin Shihuang once sent Meng Tian to lead 300,000 troops to deal with the Xiongnu, and built the Great Wall in order to keep them out of the "door".The fall of the Qin Dynasty was to some extent related to the Xiongnu.If there were no intrusion from the Huns, there would be no need to expend huge manpower and material resources to build the Great Wall, and there would be no need to recruit a large number of people to serve on the frontiers, and there would be no peasant uprisings that led to the mighty peasant uprising caused by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang; if the 300,000 troops did not enter The distant northern border was used to defend and conquer the Xiongnu, but it was used in time to counter the rebellion, and it must be easy to wipe out all the rebels.China's long-term border troubles are actually related to every dynasty change of the royal family, either implicitly or explicitly.

To fight against the outside world, we must first settle down inside.Internally united, Liu Bang decided to drive the Xiongnu out of China and establish Han control over the northern border. It was precisely because of this consideration that Liu Bang seized the opportunity of Han Wangxin's surrender to the Huns, and in the winter of 200 BC, he personally led an army of 300,000 horses to launch a large-scale military campaign against the Huns.When the two armies clashed, Mao Dun Shanyu feigned defeat and fled.Liu Bang pursued him closely, wishing to swallow the Huns immediately in one breath, in order to vent the humiliation and anger that had accumulated for a long time.As a result, he rushed forward rashly, and fell into Shanyu's treacherous tricks, causing the cavalry and infantry to be divided into two places, unable to respond.Liu Bang had no choice but to station in Pingcheng and climb the mountain, waiting for the infantry to come to rescue.The infantry failed to wait, so Mao Dun suddenly led more than 300,000 elite soldiers back to fight against the army, surrounded Liu Bang tightly and trapped him in Baideng.Liu Bang organized troops to break through the siege many times and failed. When he was at the end of the road, he had to resort to his usual trick of "hooligans".The Yan family received a generous gift secretly sent by the Han Dynasty, and told Modu that even if the Xiongnu occupied the Han land, they would not be able to rule for a long time. The best way is to harass and rob; , It can also be regarded as letting the Han people know the interests of the Huns and giving them a lot of insight.Mao Dun loved the Yan family so much, he naturally obeyed his words, so he opened his eyes to the Han army.Liu Bang was besieged for seven days and nights before leading his troops to break out.

Back in Chang'an, the capital city, Liu Bang realized that his abilities were limited, and he could not solve the Xiongnu issue by military means for a while.Then, they always come to harass you unexpectedly, making you hard to guard against, and you have to think of some way to contain it.What's the best way?Liu Bang's brain turned around three times, and his rogue habits unconsciously made him come up with a "rogue" idea-to adopt a "peace" policy and marry the Xiongnu. In 198 BC, Liu Bang sent Liu Jing as an envoy to the Xiongnu to negotiate peace with Modun, and the two sides finally reached a peace agreement.

Liu Bang's peace agreement is actually the first unequal treaty in the history of Chinese diplomacy. The marriage agreement included four clauses, the main content of which was that the Han Dynasty sent a princess to the Xiongnu to marry Shan Yu, and sent a large number of gifts of silk, rice and other food to the Xiongnu many times a year. The constraints of the agreement are mainly aimed at the Chinese side, and they are giving women and gifts, but the Xiongnu have no substantial returns.Later, Hanchen also proposed that the Xiongnu should send the prince to China as a hostage, but the Xiongnu ignored it.

Liu Bang's original intention was to change the lineage of the Xiongnu Shanyu through the "marriage" agreement. Isn't the next generation of Xiongnu Shanyu's successors the nephews of the Han people?Since they have the blood of the Han people, they must be close to China in their bones; the second is to improve the relationship with the Huns so that they will no longer go south to invade China. However, this is all Liu Bang's wishful thinking.The Xiongnu got a lot of benefits from the agreement, and there is no sign that they have restrained their past plundering behavior; after the agreement was signed, Modu looked down on China even more. He continued to pursue the principle of expanding and encroaching on Chinese territory, and his attitude towards the Han Dynasty became more and more The more arrogant, the more insatiable the appetite for Chinese goods.In 192 BC, Mao Dun was so arrogant that he sent envoys to the Han Dynasty to make an insulting request to marry Empress Lu.

The exchanges between the two sides can only be equal if they are based on strength and force.To deal with evil, often only through violent means can the goal of containment and elimination be achieved. The "peace of marriage" policy that Liu Bang came up with was essentially a policy of tolerance, accommodating, fear and retreat, which could not solve any problems at all, but the successor had no choice but to continue to implement it again and again.The national historical issue left by Liu Bang really troubled his descendants. Although history cannot be assumed, I often spread my romantic wings and imagine: If Xiang Yu became emperor, what would his foreign policy be like?With his bravery that is used to fighting, he will definitely not experience the humiliation and defeat of the siege of Pingcheng. It is very likely that he will drive straight in and kill the Huns, or drive them to the depths of the distant desert; even if the situation is weak for a while, With his aristocratic blood, he would definitely not come up with strategies such as "marriage".China's traditional foreign policy should also be another brand-new style, and the integration and development of the Chinese nation, the replacement of dynasties, and the trend of history will all be changed accordingly.