Chapter 8 Chapter Eight: Why Changsha King Survived

From the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Western Han Dynasty advocated the implementation of benevolent governance, such as the three chapters of the law when Liu Bang entered the customs, for example, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he repeatedly reduced the penalty, and even advocated Huang Lao's theory, and implemented the policy of inaction to achieve "harmony" with the common people as much as possible.But the political struggle at the top has always been full of blood and rain.After Liu Bang won the world, the most massacre political movement was the purge of the princes and kings of different surnames he canonized.

During the Chu-Han War, out of the need to defeat Xiang Yu, Liu Bang tried his best to win over the political forces of various factions, and made officials and made wishes. The most tempting thing for Han Xin, Peng Yue and others was Liu Bang's promise of being king to them.In China during this period, the national concept still remained in the enfeoffment system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and after the establishment of the Western Han Empire, the princes of different surnames who had been Liu Bang’s allies suddenly changed at this time, and became enemies of Liu Bang’s establishment of the Liu Family World.Therefore, after the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, the fate of many kings with different surnames was worse than that of the other: Han Xin was designed by Liu Bang and got rid of in Weiyang Palace; He simply raised the flag and rebelled, but Liu Bang led the army to pacify it; Han Wangxin was desperate and surrendered to the Huns with a stomp.The others, Yan Wang Zang Tu and Yan Wang Lu Wan were successively pacified by Liu Bang. Liu Bang's son-in-law, Zhao Wang Zhang Ao, was accused of treason, and although there was no evidence after that, he was still deprived of his title.Looking at these miserable kings with different surnames, no matter how close their relationship with Liu Bang was before or how much credit they made, after the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, they were always under guard and suspicion. Cruel suppression.However, there is an exception of a Wang family with a different surname-Wu Rui, the king of Changsha.

Speaking of this mediocre Changsha king, he may not be well-known in history, but he has a very famous son-in-law-Huainan Wang Yingbu.His son-in-law was a general Xiang Yu in his early years, and then he took refuge in Liu Bang and was named the Queen of Huainan. Seeing that Han Xin was condemned, he rebelled in order to protect himself, and injured Liu Bang, who was personally conquered by the imperial driver, in the battle.It can be said that he has a deep hatred with the Liu family.However, the king of Changsha has always been in peace, and his throne status has always been preserved. What is the reason for this?

The life experience of this unknown Changsha King Wu Rui in the Western Han Dynasty was not simple. Wu Rui, a native of Yugan County, Jiangxi Province, had a famous ancestor—Fuchai, king of Wu, one of the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period.After Fu Chai, the king of Wu, was "spent on his salary and tasted his courage" by Goujian, the king of Yue, the state of Wu perished from then on, and the descendants of the Wu family were also adjusted to zero.After this, the descendants of the Wu family produced another outstanding figure-Wu Qi, the military god of the Warring States Period.By the time Wu Rui was born, it was already the end of the Warring States Period, but the Wu family did not forget the glory of their ancestors.

Wu Rui was clever and smart since she was a child, and was deeply influenced by the family legacy. She studied the "Wu Qi Art of War" left by her ancestors since she was a child, and was proficient in martial arts. She gradually became the leader of the Wu family in Jiangxi.Wu Rui also has a wide range of friends, one of whom is the enigmatic navigator Xu Fu.Even Wu Rui's younger brother followed Xu Fu across the sea, and has since disappeared.Some Japanese historians even suggested that today’s Yamaguchi County in western Japan is where Wu Rui’s brother settled after he traveled east with Xu Fu.

Wu Rui, who has a legendary family background, has started his legendary experience since he was young.This period was the era when Qin Shihuang destroyed the six kingdoms.Jiangxi is located in the land of Chu. At this time, there were frequent wars, and stragglers looted and looted everywhere.In his youth, Wu Rui shouldered the important task of protecting the environment and the people.Although he has practiced martial arts since childhood, Wu Rui is not an ordinary reckless man. On the contrary, he has studied the art of war all year round, which has created his calm and calm personality.He organizes militia groups and teaches martial arts, but he doesn't use force lightly. As long as he doesn't take the initiative to find trouble for the stragglers who escaped, he will not embarrass them.As time went on, Wu Rui's reputation spread throughout the local area. Speaking of him, the local people almost all praised him: a kind man.

In that unkind year, kindness was the best sign. The result of kindness was that the militia organized by Wu Rui, and all forces "attached to each other like a stream". When Qin Shihuang ruled the world, Wu Rui's hands also accumulated. Nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses were recruited.After all, what he was facing was Qin Shihuang, who unified the world. With so many troops on hand, such a high prestige, and being located in Chu, the most violent place against Qin, it was easy to recruit.But Wu Rui keeps a low profile. Although he has tens of thousands of soldiers in his hands, he "hides soldiers among the people" and adopts the Baojia method. Most of the soldiers are soldiers and farmers, and they are ordinary people without their uniforms.For a long time, only a few thousand soldiers were used to show off to the outside world, wholeheartedly showing weakness to the Qin Dynasty at that time.This hard work finally paid off. At this time, Qin Shihuang's ambition was to mix the north and the south, and the focus of the attack was on the Baiyue ethnic groups in South China and Southwest China. It is his wooing object.Therefore, after Qin Shihuang ascended the throne, he immediately canonized Wu Rui as "Fan Jun" and authorized him to manage the provinces in central China.Although the title of "Fan Jun" has no actual official position, but is only a kind of authorization from the central government, it is not easy to obtain the power of a separatist party under the wings of the "tyrant Qin" unification.

With the signboard of "Fan Jun", with tens of thousands of horses in his hand, Wu Rui, who is low-key, has since embarked on the road of expansion under the eyes of the Qin Dynasty.During this period, southern China was still in a wild stage, and its economy and population lagged behind that of the north. If you want to have a stable foundation, you must occupy an area with developed agriculture. Wu Rui's goal is Poyang Lake.From the age of 20, Wu Rui led the militia group to the east and entered the Poyang Lake area. After clearing the local bandit forces, Wu Rui built the first city in Poyang Lake, which is today's Poyang County.In the next few years, he cultivated and developed agriculture in the local area, developed production, and developed this originally barren land into a thriving farm paradise.At this time, it was the period when the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty was raging, and a large number of farmers fled south. Wu Rui vigorously recruited and expanded his strength in the local area.But at this time, Wu Rui was still a small role. After the Qin Dynasty heard the news, he was promoted to the magistrate of Poyang County. Compared with the previous ambiguous "Fan Jun", this time he finally had a "organization" in the control of the central government.This period is already the year when the peasant war was in full swing in the late Qin Dynasty. Wu Rui knew that with his strength, he was not enough to compete with any faction in the Central Plains. It is his best to develop in the local area with peace of mind and at the same time choose the most powerful faction as a backer. s Choice.

The first backer he found was Xiang Yu. Wu Rui's relationship with Xiang Yu was mainly through Yingbo.As early as when Wu Rui was based in Poyang Lake, he had contacts with Yingbo. At this time, Yingbo was an important general under Xiang Yu's command. However, the acquaintance between the two in the early years began when Yingbo led his troops to defect.At that time, Yingbu led 7,000 people to exile in the Poyang Lake area, and was taken in by Wu Rui. He even married his daughter to him and provided military support with money and food.With this level of kinship, things will be easier in the future.During the period when the Xiang family was fighting for the world, Wu Rui's territory was an important "logistics base" for the Xiang family. It provided a large amount of money and food every year to help Xiang Yu "strengthen the mountains and surpass the world" time and time again in the Central Plains.In return, Wu Rui's territory became a paradise for refugees from the Central Plains, and his influence further expanded southward. Not only did the Poyang Lake area develop and stabilize, but it also expanded to the Changsha area, and Changsha City was built.The history of Changsha, a famous city in southern China, started from this point.

When Xiang Yu entered Guanzhong and enfeoffed the princes, he finally did not forget Wu Rui who was entrenched in the south at this time, and officially canonized him as "Hengshan King".And just before that, another rising new force——Liu Bang, also had a relationship with Wu Rui.This time, it was Zhang Liang, a counselor under Liu Bang's command, who built the bridge.When Zhang Liang visited Dongting Lake in his early years, he made friends with Wu Rui, and the two became good friends.It is also because of this relationship that Wu Rui remained neutral for a time during the later battle between Chu and Han. When Xiang Yu won the battle against Pengcheng, but when his troops were scarce, he declined Xiang Yu's order to transfer troops. , adopted a cautious wait and see.

In the last year of the Chu-Han War, when the outcome was basically decided, Wu Rui finally placed his bet on the Central Plains battlefield.He resolutely announced that his "Hengshan Kingdom" had betrayed Xiang Yu, joined Liu Bang, mobilized tens of thousands of troops to advance northward, and launched an attack from behind Xiang Yu. As a result of "gambling", Wu Rui's army became a part of Han Xin's "Ambush from Ten Daggers", and also drove Xiang Yu, who is invincible in the world, to the end of Wujiang suicide. For Liu Bang's final victory, Wu Rui's attitude is of great significance. If at the last moment of the Chu-Han War, Wu Rui turned to Xiang Yu and took his Hengshan Kingdom as the base for accepting Xiang Yu, then China at this time, I am afraid that it will not be the unification of the world, on the contrary, it will enter the Northern and Southern Dynasties in advance.With the bravery and good fighting skills of the soldiers from Chu in the east of the Yangtze River, and the support of money and food from the Changsha area that was not damaged by the war, it was enough to deal with the Western Han Dynasty, which was severely economically exhausted at this time. Therefore, Liu Bang also acknowledged Wu Rui's contribution. In the distribution after the victory, Wu Rui was one of the eight kings with different surnames who were granted the title.Liu Bang's imperial edict also praised Wu Rui greatly, saying that he "served as a soldier of Guangdong, served the princes, and made great achievements in punishing the Qin Dynasty", and he was named "King of Changsha".In terms of territory, Wu Rui's territory at this time included today's Hunan Province, southern Hubei, parts of Jiangxi, and Anhui. He was also the one who occupied a larger area among the eight princes with different surnames. But this award once again pushed Wu Rui to the forefront. Liu Bang didn't trust the king with a different surname, even for Han Xin who fought for him through life and death, let alone Wu Rui who had little contact with him?What made Liu Bang even more afraid was the disclosure of Wu Rui's identity as "the descendant of King Wu".In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the land of Wu, that is, the Jianghuai and southern Jiangsu regions, had gradually become the economic center of the Western Han Dynasty.On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to sleep soundly?For Wu Rui, Liu Bang first focused on probing.For example, Liu Bang once probed Wu Rui's tone and asked: "Wu, the founding of the country in ancient times. In the past, King Jing had both his lands, but now he is dead. If I want to restore the King of Wu, it can be agreed." These words are actually It was full of murderous intent, how could Wu Rui not hear it, and quickly stated: "Your nephew Liu Bi can be made king of Wu." Liu Bang's doubts gradually disappeared.Just in case, Wu Rui took various actions and took the initiative to report to Liu Bang to expose his son-in-law Yingbo's displeasure, expressing his attitude of "destroying relatives with righteousness". In the end, in order to reassure Liu Bang, he simply asked his son Wu Yuan to bring some of his clan members back to live in his hometown. In this way, he put the family under Liu Bang's supervision.In Changsha, Wu Rui also behaved with his tail between his legs. He took the initiative to disband the original army, leaving only a few thousand guards, and vigorously developed agriculture in the Changsha area, resumed production, and rested with the people.In the last period of her life, Wu Rui devoted most of her energy to reciting poems and enjoying the moon, and lived in love with his wife Mao Ping.It is worth mentioning that Mao Ping, the wife of Wu Rui, is also very famous in history. She is one of the famous talented women in Chinese history, and is also the founder of Hunan folk music.Wu Rui's death is also particularly legendary: it is said that in 201 BC, he and his wife Mao Ping went boating on the Xiangjiang River, playing music and carols, and the husband and wife disappeared into the vast river amidst the long-winded songs.The fact is that it was this year that both the loving couple who held hands died young. Wu Rui was able to be preserved in the bloody storm of Liu Bang killing kings with different surnames in the early Han Dynasty, not only because of his "low-key" and indisputable, but more importantly, his use value for the Western Han Empire at that time.The Changsha Kingdom of the Wu family ruled by Wu Rui was a barren land during the Western Han Dynasty. In the south of Changsha Kingdom, there were even large and small Yue regimes.The existence of the Changsha Kingdom was not only a barrier to ensure that the territory of the Han Empire would not be invaded by the Yue people, but also an important chess piece for the Han Empire to control the Chinese land south of the Yangtze River.In the early days when Wu Rui ruled Changsha, the local area was still in a state of "half Han and half barbarian", and there were a large number of primitive tribes. After five generations of Wu's family's management in the local area, farming became the main economic mode of the local area, with a large Han population. Immigrants continue to deepen ethnic integration.By the time of Wenjing's rule in the Western Han Dynasty, Changsha Kingdom already had a population of 120,000 households and more than 600,000 people.Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited Baiyue, the economic take-off of the Southwest, the southward crossing of the Han civilization, and the Changsha Kingdom all had the significance of inheriting the past and ushering in the future. After Wu Rui's death, the troubles of Wu's Changsha Kingdom did not end. With Liu Bang's death, Wu's Changsha Kingdom soon ushered in a new round of crisis. During the reign of Queen Lu, he was also quite afraid of Changsha, the only regime with a different surname.For Changsha, Empress Lu adopted the strategy of "killing people with a borrowed knife".To the south of the Changsha Kingdom is the Nanyue Kingdom, which accepted the canonization of the Han Empire and became a vassal state of the Han Empire.During the reign of Empress Lu, she deliberately canceled the title of the king of the Nanyue Kingdom, which angered Zhao Tuo, the king of the Nanyue Kingdom, and made Zhao Tuo brazenly send troops to attack the Han.At this time, Wu Rui was dead, and Wu Rui's eldest son Wu Hui was the king of Changsha.As a result, in the war between South Vietnam and Changsha, both sides suffered losses.Changsha was defeated, a large number of people were plundered, and South Vietnam also suffered heavy losses.Later, Lu Jia, the minister of Changsha Kingdom, and others went to South Vietnam and successfully persuaded the two sides to strike and reconcile.Since then, exchanges between Changsha and South Vietnam have become increasingly frequent, and the advanced agricultural and water conservancy technologies of the Han people have been continuously imported into ethnic minority areas such as Guangxi and Yunnan, and economic exchanges have become increasingly close.The war in South Vietnam also made Empress Lu understand that the existence of the Changsha Kingdom was an important weight for the peace and stability of the southwest region at this time, so she also dispelled the idea of ​​​​getting rid of the Wu family.After that, the throne of the Wu family was passed down from generation to generation, and when the fifth generation of the Wu family, Sun Wuchai, the throne was abolished because he had no descendants.After that, Liu Fa, the tenth son of Emperor Han Jing, was canonized by the Han Empire as the King of Changsha, and the throne was passed on for nine generations until the Western Han Empire fell.Among Liu Fa's descendants, there was a British lord who rebuilt the Han Dynasty - Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty.