Chapter 6 Chapter Six: The Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, Great Chaos and Great Order

When it comes to the rebellion of princes and kings that broke out in 154 BC-the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, modern people are no strangers to it.This rebellion war, which affected two-thirds of the Western Han Empire, brought huge shocks to the Western Han Dynasty.The eight-month rebellion involved two-thirds of the elite troops of the Western Han Empire. Almost all the most powerful vassal states and the most affluent regions in the Western Han Dynasty were involved in this tragic war.For any feudal country, this is an internal friction that has suffered a huge blow. However, for the Western Han Empire, this war brought a completely opposite consequence-great chaos followed by great order.The massive civil war did not end the golden age of peace in the Western Han Dynasty like the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty.On the contrary, the central authority of the Western Han Empire was thus unprecedentedly strengthened, and a powerful empire with a high degree of centralization rose from the ground in East Asia.If we link the glorious victory of the Western Han Empire against the Huns in the war against the Huns and the great achievement of the unification of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, we have to say that the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was the foreshadowing of all this.

If we want to use a metaphor, we might as well borrow a passage from Jia Yi, a Confucian official in the era of Han Wendi, in his memorial: The general trend of the world today is like the flesh on the thigh, which is more than the flesh on the body. The whole country is already bloated.The "bloated" mentioned here refers to the situation where the power of the princes cannot be lost.The decades of rest and recuperation after the founding of the Western Han Empire not only rested the people, but also "lived" the princes. The long-term peace made the power of the princes stronger and stronger, and even a situation where the central government could not control it.Just like the changes in the Zhou Dynasty back then, if there is no way to stop this trend, then the situation of separatism among the princes and even the disputes in the Warring States Period will be the general trend.Therefore, the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" was precisely a compulsory operation for the Western Han Empire to solve the problem of the vassal states.Although experienced the danger of "hemorrhage", the operation was successful.

Speaking of the outbreak of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Western Han Dynasty, the world attributed the responsibility to Chao Cuo's hastily adopted policy of "cutting the feudal clan".In fact, in the early days of the launch of the policy of reducing feudal vassals, Chao Cuo already had a premonition that a big chaos was about to happen.But Chao Cuo believes that it is much easier to deal with riots breaking out now than later, just like a seriously ill patient who has a better chance of recovery if he undergoes surgery earlier than if he has surgery later.But how did this "sinking illness" in the Western Han Empire come about?This point has to be said that the later emperors Wen and Jing of the Western Han Empire were "paying the bill" for Liu Bang's enfeoffment policy. On this point, we have to talk about the enfeoffment situation of the various vassal states after the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty.

In the early days of Han Gaozu Liu Bang's ascension to the throne, by means of conspiracy and force suppression, he successively put down various princes and kings of different surnames who made great contributions to him during the Chu-Han War, including the three major forces of Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Yingbu.However, on those lands seized by princes with different surnames, Liu Bang did not establish counties and counties under the direct control of the central government like the previous Qin Dynasty.At the same time, in many of the old places of the six countries, Liu Bang also entrusted many princes and kings one after another.Without exception, these princes and kings are all descendants of the Liu surname.Liu Bang’s move was, firstly, using the power of the Liu clan to defend the central government, and secondly, after Liu Bang won the world, he felt more and more powerless against the increasingly powerful Empress Lu’s power, and strengthened the authority of the princes, especially to deter The expansion of the Lu family's power.Therefore, from the founding of the country, the Western Han Empire actually formed a very strange political system, including a centralized prefecture and county system, as well as a vassal state enfeoffment system that gave locals sufficient autonomy. It is a "chowder" of two era systems.

The climax of Liu Bang's enfeoffment of princes and kings was from 201 BC to 195 BC. At this stage, the most princes and kings were entrusted, and the princes and kings had the largest territory.At that time, the purpose of the enfeoffment was to "make the initial decision in the country, with few children, and the isolation of the Qin Dynasty and the death of the vassals, so the same surname was entrusted to rule the world."That is to say, although the Western Han Dynasty realized the benefits of the central county system at that time, when summarizing the experience of the demise of the Qin Dynasty, it was regarded as a very important point that the royal family had no one to guard because of the implementation of the central county system.It is worth mentioning that the adoption of the enfeoffment system in the Western Han Dynasty also had a lot to do with the Western Han Empire's adoption of the Taoist Huang Lao Wuwei theory as the founding idea of ​​the country.Huang Lao thought advocated governance by doing nothing, especially in the national administrative system, advocating the central government's "doing nothing" and giving the localities sufficient development power, so enfeoffing princes is also a way of "doing nothing".In these 6 years, Liu Bang successively canonized 9 princes with the same surname: Qi Wang Liu Fei, Zhao Wang Ruyi, Dai Wang Liu Heng, Liang Wang Liu Hui, Huaiyang Wang Liu You, Huainan Wang Liu Chang, Yan Wang Liu Jian, Chu Wang Liu Jiao, Wu Wang Liu Bi.Among them, except Liu Jiao, king of Chu, who is Liu Bang's younger brother, and Liu Bi, king of Wu, who is Liu Bang's nephew, the rest are Liu Bang's own flesh and blood.

If you look at the map, you will find that the lands of the nine princes and kings with the same surname, from south to north, almost included all the former places of the Kanto princes during the Warring States Period.In terms of the number of counties and counties in the world, when the Western Han Dynasty was founded, there were 57 counties in the country, of which 42 were controlled by princes, but the Han Empire, which was the central government, only controlled 15 counties.The territory actually controlled by the central government of the Western Han Dynasty only included the Guanzhong region, Sichuan region, and parts of Henan and Hebei during the Qin Dynasty.In other words, the so-called central government of the Western Han Dynasty, in terms of the area of ​​control, was nothing more than a relatively powerful vassal state, with the status of "son of heaven", but the national power was very limited.

From the perspective of the authority of the princes and kings, the princes and kings in the early days of the Western Han Empire had local autonomy powers that were no less than those of the princes who surpassed the emperor of Zhou during the Warring States Period.According to the regulations of Liu Bang when he was enfeoffed, each prince must "rule his country", that is, he has absolute local administrative power in the princes' country.In terms of the administrative system of the local kingdom, the vassal states imitated the Han court, such as the calendar, orders, guard troops, and the division of positions such as subordinate prime ministers, all of which were "same system" as the central government, and the princes and kings had the right to appoint and dismiss subordinate officials. rights and the right to control taxes and armies within the territory.Such a vassal state seems to be an independent kingdom nominally obeying the orders of the central government.

So knowing this, it is not difficult to understand why in the early Western Han Dynasty, the powerful Xiongnu had to adopt a kinship policy. In terms of military combat effectiveness, the Han army may not be able to fight the Huns, at least relying on the Great Wall for defense. questionable.But the fatal problem is that the main reason why the central government of the Western Han Dynasty was able to maintain its rule over the princes in the early days was strength.Although the strength of the central government is disadvantageous to all vassal states, it has an absolute advantage to a single vassal state. Once a long-term war with the Xiongnu occurs, whether it wins or loses, it means that the power of the central government will be seriously weakened.Once this situation occurs, the situation of the country splitting up during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when various countries fought for hegemony, is very likely to repeat itself again.The Xiongnu also had a good understanding of the administrative system of the "chowder" of the Western Han Empire.During the early "marriage" between the Western Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu often used the method of provoking the princes in the Western Han Dynasty to rebel, which caused the Western Han Empire to fight on two fronts at home and abroad. The front teeth swallow into the stomach.From Empress Lu to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Han Jing, these generations of emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, although they were all evaluated well by later generations, and their "GDP achievements" in recuperation were also good, but they have always been splinted.

As far as the "rest and rejuvenation" in the early Western Han Dynasty was concerned, the Western Han Dynasty's "economic construction-centered" national construction idea, and the results of economic construction were mostly enjoyed by the princes.The princes of the Western Han Empire had great economic autonomy, second only to the states in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.The princes at that time had the power to collect taxes within their own territory, especially the two major taxes of the central finance of the Western Han Empire: land tax and agricultural tax, which were collected by the princes in the territory of the princes. A small part was turned over to the central government in accordance with the regulations, and the other parts were owned by the princes.Everyone is talking about the policy of light corvee and light tax and rest with the people in the early Western Han Dynasty, but in the vassal states of the Western Han Dynasty, the burden of the common people was not light at all.At that time, only 10% of the taxes paid by the people in the vassal states were usually handed over to the central government, and the other 90% were handed over to the vassals and kings.In other words, the burden of the common people in the vassal states was 10 times that of the counties directly under the Central Committee of the Western Han Dynasty in terms of land tax and poll tax.In addition, the common people in the territory of the vassals must also bear taxes such as salt and iron taxes, fishing taxes, and market rents.In other words, during the decades of recuperation since the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, the country benefited very little, and the burden on the common people was also limited. The most wealthy people were the princes in the middle.

And the crisis of the Western Han Empire, also in the rapid economic development of the founding of the country, gradually "the mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of the building".Regarding the governance of the vassal states in the Western Han Dynasty, Jia Yi, a famous official in the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, once hit the nail on the head-the strong will also oppose.In other words, the stronger the power of the vassal states, the greater the possibility of challenging the authority of the central government.From Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty to Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, the situation in the Western Han Dynasty was temporarily calm, mainly because of the limited power of the princes, the dominance of the central government of the Western Han Dynasty, and the mutual restraint between the strengths of the princes. , this balance can easily be broken.Unfortunately, the person who broke the balance actually appeared a long time ago. He was the nephew of Han Gaozu Liu Bang, King Wu Liu Bi.

Speaking of the instigator of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, Han Gaozu's nephew King Wu Liu Bi, in later historians, this is a very despised and despised person.The reason why he was despised was not only that he was committing rebellion and treason, but also because many people felt that he was "overthinking his abilities".For example, Sima Guang, who was later repaired, was very puzzled. He once said in his article, how dare he challenge the authority of the central government as a small prince and king like Liu Bi, the king of Wu.Those who hold this point of view do not understand the history of the Western Han Dynasty at all. At that time, Liu Bi, the king of Wu, dared to pull the flag, mainly because he possessed this kind of strength. Wu Wang Liu Bi is the nephew of Han Gaozu Liu Bang. He was named Wu Wang in the last year of Liu Bang's death. His territories include Dongyang County, Zhang County, and Wu County, with a total of 53 counties.This scale, even in the Warring States Period, surpassed the land area of ​​the then big countries Zhao, Yan and other countries, and it seemed to be a strong one.Moreover, Liu Bi not only had land, but also resources. The Wu Kingdom he ruled had two resources that were absolutely profitable at the time, one was salt and the other was copper.Salt is a necessity for ordinary people after birth and must be bought. Whoever has salt will have a huge source of wealth.And copper is even more difficult. Copper was the main material for casting currency at that time. With copper, it means that money can be cast at any time, and you can cast as much money as you want.At that time, Zhang County, which was under the jurisdiction of Wudi, was the largest copper mine in the entire Western Han Dynasty.This wealth is just like today, if any country has abundant reserves of oil or high-quality iron ore, it will be very tough internationally.At that time, Liu Bi, the king of Wu, was a prince with an absolute advantage in resources and a very strong waist. Not only is his waist tough, but Liu Bi's strength is even tougher.The reason why Liu Bang canonized Liu Bi back then was because to the south of Wu State was the king of Changsha with a different surname canonized by the Han Empire, and further south was the Nanyue regime with powerful military power.In the Western Han Empire at that time, Changsha State was the buffer zone for the Western Han Dynasty to resist the South Vietnamese army, and Wu State was the hub of the Western Han Dynasty's southern defense line.Such an important strategic position naturally requires absolute military power.Therefore, Liu Bi, king of Wu, has obtained privileges since the time of Liu Bang. He can use the name of strengthening the defense of the south to massively expand the army, and the power does not need to expire.For many years, Liu Bi not only recruited troops wantonly, but also formed military alliances with Dongou, Minyue and other countries in the south of Wu.In the late period of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, the total number of troops in Liu Bi's territory reached 300,000 at its peak.This scale was not only unmatched among the vassal states at that time, even the Central Army of the Western Han Dynasty did not have much advantage.Liu Bi, who had money, resources and soldiers, was already the great enemy of the Western Han Empire at this time. Moreover, Liu Bi, who is rich and has soldiers, is a person who "has a Liangzi" with the Western Han Empire, and this Liangzi is irreconcilable-the revenge of killing his son.In the era of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bi's son "entered the court"—that is, he went to the central court of the Western Han Dynasty as a hostage in the name of an audience. As a result, when he played chess with Liu Qi, who was the prince at that time, they fought violently because of a momentary quarrel. In a rage, Liu Qi smashed the chessboard at Prince Wu's head, killing Prince Wu all at once.This is a big blow, and Liu Qi himself was almost abolished as the crown prince because of this.In order to deceive the public, the Western Han Empire said that Prince Wu died of a plague.Emperor Wenwen of Han also took the initiative to send envoys to the State of Wu, announcing that the State of Wu would be given the right to "exempt from the court", and allowed the State of Wu to open Tongshan to cast money without permission.I wanted to hold Liu Bi down because of this, but in reality it was cutting meat to feed wolves.The right to be exempted from the court allowed Liu Bi to lose the control of the central government over him, and he could expand his strength in Wu with peace of mind; allowing him to have the power to control currency allowed Liu Bi to solve the financial problem of recruiting troops.Moreover, a large amount of Wu coins circulated into the market, which undermined the central financial policy.In this way, Liu Bi's power grew like a snowball. However, in the era of Emperor Han Wen, because of political stability and the fact that Emperor Han Wen himself was an extremely capable king, Liu Bi did not dare to act rashly.The turning point of the matter occurred in 157 BC, when Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty died, and Liu Bi's "killing son and enemy"-Emperor Han Jing Liu Qi ascended the throne. In fact, before and after Han Jingdi Liu Qi ascended the throne, the central government of the Western Han Dynasty and Liu Bi had been on guard against each other.The reason why Liu Qi made great efforts to destroy Chao Cuo was because the accidental killing of Prince Wu was a psychological shadow for Liu Qi himself. He knew that this old feud would have a showdown sooner or later.Therefore, weakening Liu Bi's strength as much as possible has become an inevitable choice.For the vassal states of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Qi adopted a policy of fighting and pulling after he came to power.In terms of fighting, he used Chao Cuo, the official censor, and began to implement the comprehensive reduction of feudal vassal states.In 155 BC, the "Decree to Cut the Fan" was officially announced to the whole country, and the key target of the reduction of the Fan was King Liu Bi of Wu.Among the princes who were cut off in the first round, King Chu, King Zhao and King Wu were included.Among them, the fiefdoms that Wu Wang Liu Bi was deprived of included Zhangjun, which had the largest copper mountain in the country at that time, and Wujun, which had the largest population and was the source of Wu's soldiers.The deprivation of these two counties means that Liu Bi's money was first taken away, and then Liu Bi's soldiers were taken away.However, Liu Bi's preparations were meticulous. As early as the late Han Wendi, he had already joined forces with various princes and kings, especially he and the king of Chu had already formed a strategic alliance to advance and retreat together.At that time, the king of Chu owned more than 40 cities, and the land of Chu State was basically the old place of Chu State during the Warring States Period.Although Chu State is not as rich as Wu State, it has a vast territory, a large population, and there are many mountain tribes.If a war breaks out, Chu State can recruit millions of troops at most, and its combat potential is extremely huge.The reason why Chu State and Wu State formed an alliance was not only because the cutting of feudal vassals touched their common interests, but also because of the close blood relationship between the two families.Unlike other vassal states that are direct descendants of Liu Bang, both Chu and Wu obtained the status of vassals as Liu Bang's nephews.In the clan with the surname Liu, they belonged more to the side branches. In this case, they naturally wanted to come together. In preparing for the rebellion, another move of Liu Bi was to contact Qi.In fact, in the original enfeoffment, Qi was the most powerful country among the princes.There were more than 70 cities in Qi State, and Qi State was the richest area in the entire Han Empire at that time, and its financial reserves and food reserves were the best among the vassal states.Regarding the powerful power of the Qi State, the Han Empire was alerted as early as Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, and divided and ruled its territory.By the time of Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi's reign, the borders of Qi State had been assigned to various princes such as King Jiaoxi, King Qi, King Jinan, King Jibei, and King Zichuan, and their power had been dispersed.But Liu Bi is good at focusing on key points.In Qidi at that time, the most powerful person was Jiaoxi King Liu Mao.This person's territory is the largest in the whole Qidi, and he owns more than 30 of the 70 cities in Qidi.According to historical records, "everyone in Qi feared it" at that time.Although Liu Mao's cities are not as many as Liu Bi's, his territory is rich and rich.He himself has a tough and brutal personality, and he is a hero among the princes.For such a character, Liu Bi naturally tried his best to win him over.What moved Liu Mao the most was that he made an appointment with Liu Mao to "divide the world equally" after overthrowing the Han Empire.The reason why such a big sacrifice was made was because Liu Mao was in an important strategic position. Once Liu Mao attacked from the side, the Western Han Empire would fall into a situation where the enemy was on its back, and it would account for one-third of the Western Han Empire’s fiscal revenue. The fall will also "wean the finances" of the Western Han Empire from now on.In addition to Liu Mao, Liu Bi successively connected in series, a total of 14 princes and kings. In terms of land area, the princes who formed a "united front" with Liu Bi at this time had a territory far larger than the actual ruling area of ​​the Han Empire. , The comparison of strength has already put the cart before the horse. Regarding the possible turmoil, Emperor Han Jing Liu Qi also made a response. One was to send central officials and patrol envoys to various vassal states. The existence of these people enabled the central government to keep abreast of the movements of the vassal states; The action is to intensify the division and win over the vassal states.Among the vassal states at that time, there were still 8 vassal states that firmly stood on the side of the Han Empire, including King Liang, King Dai, King Hejian, King Linjiang, King Huaiyang, King Runan, and King Guangchuan. Wang and Changsha Kingdom.The reason why these eight vassal states support the central government is not because they support the central government’s policy of reducing vassal vassals, but because their blood relationship is too close to Emperor Han Jing Liu Qi. Among them, Liang Wang Liu Wu is the younger brother of Han Jing Emperor, Dai Wang is Han Jing Emperor’s nephew, and the rest The six lords are all the sons of Emperor Han Jing.For them, cutting the vassals is certainly harmful to their own interests, but once Wu Wang Liu Bi seizes power, what awaits them will be a catastrophe.Therefore, "the lesser of two evils", they had no choice but to tie themselves to the chariot of the central government of the Han Empire.Although the number of these 8 vassal states is large, their strength is extremely limited. Except for Liang Wang and Liu Wu, the strength of others is very weak, and they are simply unable to compete with such tycoons as Wu Wang, Chu Wang, and Jiaoxi Wang.Therefore, Liu Qi, Emperor Jingdi of the Han Dynasty, tried his best to win over Liang Wang Liu Wu. He gave Liu Wu a lot of economic and military support, and helped him rebuild the city of Suiyang, the important town of Liang Guo.This step is very important. The border of Liang State is bordered by Wu Chu. Once the war breaks out, the main force of the Wu-Chu coalition forces will inevitably concentrate on attacking the territory of King Liang. Under the nose of the army, the situation will be very bad. In the first month of 154 BC, Liu Qi issued an order to cut down the vassal, and the imperial edict was sent to the state of Wu, and Liu Bi, the king of Wu, immediately decided to rebel.He had been preparing for this rebellion for decades, and now it was a matter of course.Liu Bi immediately executed all senior officials of the Han Empire in the territory, and ordered the whole country to mobilize, and all men over the age of 15 and under the age of 62 in the territory must be conscripted to join the army.At the same time, the King of Chu also raised troops to respond, killed the officials of the Han Dynasty in the territory, and joined forces with Liu Bi in Guangling. At that time, the total number of Wu-Chu coalition forces exceeded 500,000.Moreover, while being powerful, Liu Bi's propaganda work is also good. He set the slogan of the rebellion as "Qing Jun's side, punish Chao Cuo", that is, he announced that he was not trying to seize the throne, but to kill those who were powerful and reduced the vassal. "Traitor" Chao Cuo.All of a sudden, the whole country turned upside down. The situation at that time was very unfavorable to the Han Empire.After the rebellion broke out, King Liu Mao of Jiaoxi, who had been in collusion with Liu Bi for a long time, also rebelled. In addition, King Zichuan, King Jinan, King Jiaodong in Qidi, and King Zhao in the north, a total of 7 vassal states participated in the rebellion. , known as the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" in history.These seven rebellious countries are all very powerful among the princes, and their strategic positions are also extremely important.For example, King Zhao, who was located at an important point to defend against the Huns, even linked up with the Huns. The rebellion of the three kings of Qidi also deprived the Western Han Empire of the money, food and taxes needed to counter the rebellion.In this way, the Han Empire lost not only its strategic advantage, but also its financial advantage. In the name of the central government, there is only an empty shelf.When the Han Empire was preparing for the counter-insurgency war, the Xiongnu, who had always had a "peace" relationship with the Han Empire, also frequently moved. They frequently assembled large armies to invade the northern border of the Han Empire. Therefore, it was difficult to mobilize the most elite border cavalry troops of the Han Empire. Go south to counter the rebellion.In the early days of the rebellion, the Han Empire had less than 100,000 mobile troops that could be used in counter-insurgency wars. This number was naturally far inferior to the 500,000 rebels in Wu and Chu. So after the rebellion, the Western Han Empire suffered repeated defeats.On the southern line, the allied forces of Wu and Chu drove straight in, and the defense line originally established by the Western Han Empire in Liang State collapsed within a few days of fighting.The two sides fought in Chibi, Liang Guo's army was killed by tens of thousands of people, and the main force was lost in the first battle. In desperation, Liang Guo could only retreat to Suiyang City and stick to it.This was already a dead end, once Suiyang was captured by the rebels, there would be no dangerous position to defend south of Hangu Pass, and the rebels could drive straight in and take Hangu Pass in one fell swoop.As far as Qi is concerned, there is news that is beneficial to the Western Han Empire: when King Qi participated in the rebellion, he repented because he was worried that things would fail, and instead fought with King Jiaoxi and others. Time first fell into civil war, and temporarily had no time to move eastward.The key reason why King Qi changed his mind was that Liu Jianglu, King Qi at this time, was originally the authentic king of Qi Liu Fei. Most of them were Confucian scholars advocating "great unification". Their desperate efforts to obstruct them also made King Qi change his mind in the end.Afterwards, King Qi defended Linzi City to the death and confronted the Qi rebels, so that the flames of war in Shandong did not spread to the area directly under the Han Empire for the time being.At the same time, among the 13 princes and kings connected in series by Liu Bi, the subjects of King Huainan and King Jibei were mainly pro-Han forces and refused to carry out the king's orders, so they could not participate; Before knowing the balance of power, they also chose to stand still; King Lujiang and King Hengshan, because they had conflicts with King Wu Liu Bi, were unwilling to be under Liu Bi, so they did not buy it in the end. China is in a weak position, but they all occupy very important strategic positions. Because of their defection, the Han Empire can safely and boldly implement counter-insurgency strategies. Speaking of the counter-insurgency of the Han Empire, although Zhou Yafu was the last one to counter-insurgency, it was Chao Cuo, the advocate of cutting down the feudal clan, who first formulated the counter-insurgency strategy for the Han Empire.As early as when the decree to cut down the feudal vassal was brewing, Chao Cuo put forward the counter-insurgency strategy of "using Liang Guo as a screen and using Qi as a gap" in his memorial to Han Jingdi Liu Qi, that is, to use Liang Guo's solid defensive front to Prevent the northward advance of the rebels, and then use heavy troops to break through from Qi to achieve the purpose of annihilating the rebels in a roundabout way.However, in the early days of the rebellion, the Han Empire was still insufficiently prepared to face the situation of consecutive defeats, and Liu Bi's slogan of "killing Chao Cuo" even deceived many people for a while.In order to temporarily stabilize the situation, Emperor Han Jing killed Chao Cuo. Now some people regard Emperor Han Jing's killing of Chao Cuo as a "delayed strategy" to win time to suppress the rebellion, but in fact, Emperor Han Jing had already suppressed the rebellion at that time. The heart is greatly depressed.After killing Chao Cuo, he once asked Deng Gong, the envoy who had returned from the front line: "Wen Chao Cuo died, so why not Wu Chu?"But Deng Gong's answer gave Emperor Han Jing a blow: "Wu Weifan is ten years old, and his intention is not to make mistakes." Only then did Liu Qi fully understand Liu Bi's intentions, and Liu Bi's own behavior showed his attitude even more. , he arrogantly proclaimed "I mean the Eastern Emperor", and captured the hearts of the world, which has been clearly revealed. Since Liu Bi wants to fight to the end, the Han Empire will also follow to the end.The commander-in-chief appointed by the Han Empire to suppress the rebellion was Taiwei Zhou Yafu.At the same time, the Han Empire also dispatched two divisions to restrain them, one was Luan Bu's army to pacify Qi, and the other was Liji's army to deal with Zhao Guo.At this time, the Han Empire was at a serious disadvantage compared to the rebels in terms of military strength, even less in terms of population and economic resources.After the rebellion, the treasury of the Han Empire was empty. In order to raise military expenses, the Han Empire even had to borrow money from wealthy businessmen in Guanzhong.Therefore, although the Liang State resisted the Wu-Chu coalition forces by virtue of its defensive cities, and the rebellion in Qidi became a stalemate for the time being, but with the economic capabilities of the Han Empire at this time, it was impossible to delay it at all. It's the best strategy, but at this time, the total force used by the Han Empire is less than 100,000. How easy is it to fight quickly? Therefore, after Zhou Yafu was ordered in danger, his anti-insurgency policy was one: "You hit yours, and I will hit mine." It is entrusted to cut off their food supply, and it can be controlled.” In other words, he wanted to use Liang Guo as a bait to attract the attack of the Wu-Chu coalition army, and then copy the Wu-Chu coalition army’s retreat to cut off their food and grass supply.This move took a very big political risk at the time. Liang Wang Liu Wu was not only the younger brother of Emperor Han Jing, but also the most beloved son of Empress Dowager Dou. Offending Liang Wang meant offending the Western Han royal family at that time.After the end of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, Zhou Yafu was finally liquidated by Emperor Han Jing, arrested for treason, and died in prison.The origin of the tragedy lies in this war. After the war started, Suiyang, the important town of Liang State, was besieged. The King of Liang sent people to ask Zhou Yafu for help several times, but Zhou Yafu ignored them, and only ordered general Li Guang to lead a small number of troops to rescue. This battle made the later "parachutist" Li Guang.During the battle, Li Guang, who was originally a cavalryman, went to the city to fight. With his exquisite shooting skills, he kept sniping and killing the generals of the Wu-Chu coalition army. He became the best sniper on the battlefield at that time. His brave skills were also appreciated by King Liang. .But the situation was still critical. Although Suiyang had made sufficient preparations for war and stored a large amount of food and grass, the reserves of crossbow arrows were seriously insufficient. After being besieged for two months, it was already at the end of its rope.At the end of the fight, Liang Guo's army had to hang cotton clothes on the city pool and pour water on it to absorb the enemy's crossbow arrows. Liang Wang Liu Wu even took the lead and stood on the city pool to supervise the battle in person, motivating the army and people in the city to unite as one. Suiyang City's desperate resistance gave Zhou Yafu time to display his own strategy, and took advantage of the opportunity of the Wu-Chu Allied Forces to attack.Zhou Yafu sent troops from Changyi all the way south, and seized the mouth of Surabaya into the Huaihe River in one fell swoop, and the food road of the Wu-Chu coalition forces was cut off.Liu Bi, who heard the bad news, had no choice but to withdraw the siege of Suiyang and turn to a decisive battle with Zhou Yafu. However, the combat area at this time was on the plains of the Jianghuai Plain, and the main forces of the Han army were the Southern Army and the Northern Army. The long-term "imaginary enemy" of the two armies is the sturdy Hun cavalry in the north. Their combat methods are also based on cavalry and chariot defense. Although the number is relatively small, they are all experienced and selected elites.In comparison, most of the members of the Wu-Chu Allied Forces were temporarily recruited domestic civilians with extremely little combat experience.In the Battle of Huaibei, the 100,000 Han army was like a rainbow, defeating hundreds of thousands of Wu-Chu coalition forces and killing tens of thousands of enemies. At this time, Liang Guo's army also took advantage of the situation to counterattack. Liu Bi, who was in a good situation, Now he was caught in the splint between Liang Guo and Zhou Yafu, and basically stopped eating. But Wu Wang Liu Bi didn't want to stop cooking. In order to save the crisis, he decided to lead his army to launch a final offensive.In Xiayi, Anhui, the King of Wu launched a counterattack against Zhou Yafu again. Zhou Yafu did not directly fight with the King of Wu, but retreated deliberately, and then used cavalry to copy the back of the King of Wu. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Wu troops were killed. To the front and rear pincers, the crash occurred again.Wu Wang Liu Bi fled to Dongou country with only thousands of people. The king of Chu, who joined Wu Wang and Liu Bi, also committed suicide after the defeat of Wu Wang and Liu Bi.So far, the two major forces in the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, Wu and Chu, were wiped out by Zhou Yafu after only two months. Wu and Chu are finished, and the other princes can easily deal with it.Liu Jianglu, the king of Qi, held on to Linzi for three months. Luan Bu of the Han army arrived and attacked him from inside and outside.Zhao Wang originally fought with Liji all the way to the end, but the Xiongnu finally changed their mind after receiving a large amount of grain and rice from the Han Dynasty, and withdrew their troops on the Han-Hungarian border, and the elite cavalry of the Han Dynasty were able to join the army. In the counter-insurgency war, King Zhao collapsed immediately.But he was still stubborn, and insisted on fighting the Han army in Handan. In the end, Luan Bu and Li Ji joined forces, dug the surrounding waterways, and completely submerged Handan City, and this disaster was completely resolved. The end of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion was of great significance to the Western Han Empire.In a sense, it was the second unification war waged by the Western Han Empire after the founding of the country. For the rising of great powers in the Western Han Dynasty and domination of the Eastern world, its significance is like the significance of the Civil War to the United States. The direct impact of the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was that the Han Empire took the opportunity to adopt a policy of suppressing the princes from all walks of life, and even involved a wide range of princes. Not only the princes who participated in the rebellion were severely punished, but those princes who had colluded with Wu Chu and waited and watched during the rebellion, They have also been traced and even liquidated.For example, Liu Jianglu, the king of Qi, who changed his mind during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, originally defected when the rebellion broke out, which was of great significance for the Han Empire to put down the entire rebellion. Not guilty, and finally ended up committing suicide and apologizing.As for the seven countries that participated in the rebellion, except for the preservation of the Chu State and the establishment of a separate king of Chu, the other vassal states were changed by the Han Empire into areas directly controlled by the central government. The absolute dominant position, the degree of centralization has been greatly strengthened.Even the retained vassal state, its strength has shrunk greatly. Most of the original local military power was taken back by the central government, and the tax collection was also controlled by the officials stationed in the central government. The policy of cutting vassals that Chao Cuo advocated before his death was also vigorously promoted.Not long after the end of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, King Yan and King Chengyang, who had held a wait-and-see attitude during the war, were cut off a large area of ​​land, especially the western Liaoning area originally owned by King Yan, which was designated as a county directly under the Han Empire. It was the acquisition of this county that enabled the Han Empire to establish a complete line of defense against the Huns from east to west. In the later Han-Hungarian War, Liaoxi County played a role in the war when the Han army recovered the Hetao Grassland and captured the Hexi Corridor. The diversion effect of the main force of the Huns. After the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, the situation of each vassal state can be described as poor and weak.In terms of "poor", most of the taxation rights originally owned by the vassal states were collected by the central government, and each vassal state could only collect a small amount of tax in its own territory, and it could only maintain a basic life.The original "administrative power" of the vassal states was also withdrawn by the central government of the Han Dynasty. The prime ministers in charge of administration in each vassal state were appointed directly by the Han Empire instead of being appointed by the vassal states themselves. The common people are completely in the hands of the Han Empire itself.In addition, the appointment and removal of officials with a salary of more than 400 shi in each prince's country was completely transferred to the central government. The administrative power in the princes' country has since existed in name only. The so-called princes have actually become counties directly controlled by the Han Empire.By the late period of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, the number of counties directly controlled by the Han Empire had changed from 15 at the beginning of his reign to 44 at this time, and the counties and counties occupied by the feudal states had dropped to 15. , so to speak no longer exists.A unified and centralized Han Empire was only truly established from then on. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han fought back against the Huns, which gave him confidence.