Chapter 26 Liu Xiu's failure to wage war on the clan

After Wang Mang was killed, Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor and established the Eastern Han Dynasty.Liu Xiu is a distant descendant of Nanyang's family with the surname Liu. His lineage is exactly the power of the local family that Wang Mang wanted to weaken. Most of the "Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai" who followed Liu Xiu to establish the Eastern Han Dynasty were powerful families. At that time, local forces took the opportunity to occupy the countryside, built docks, and supported their own strength. After Liu Xiu put on the robe of God, he immediately changed roles, still trying to weaken the power of the clan.The key to the policy lies in the annexation of land and population.

The regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty continued the famous land system and household registration system of the Western Han Dynasty.It is mentioned in many places in the book that the imperial court ordered that "officials and people shall not exceed the system of land and house", "businessmen shall not farm", etc. Liu Xiu also issued several edicts to release slaves and maidservants, but the effect was very small.In 39 A.D., after 15 years in power, Liu Xiu finally made up his mind and issued the famous "Field Duling Order", requiring the whole country to strictly check the number of hectares of cultivated land and check household fields, so as to completely put an end to mergers.However, the "Order of Dutian" met with strong opposition from the ruling and opposition parties. In order to make an example to everyone, Liu Xiu executed the chief situ Ouyang She who took the lead in making troubles. More than a thousand of his disciples gathered together to write a letter to plead for mercy, but Liu Xiu refused.In order to fight against, the tyrants from all over the country rioted with arms one after another. Liu Xiu suppressed everywhere, using both kindness and force, and finally quelled the rebellion.Later, Liu Xiu sighed and had no choice but to compromise with him. He left eight words, saying, "If it's not the right time, it's better to let people go."

Since the formation of a unified imperial model in China, the first task of the new dynasties must be to "reduce the vassal". If the "reduction of the vassal" is successful, the centralization of power can be achieved, but the "reduction of the vassal" cannot be achieved. The power and interests of the central and local governments, the government and the plutocrats The battle will never be peaceful.At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful and powerful could not be eliminated, and Emperor Guangwu would not be able to learn from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no more powerful emperor, and instead of weakening the power of the family, it gradually increased. Historian Tang Changru believed: "The so-called right positions of officials in the state and county bureaucrats are monopolized by the local surnames as usual. The surname Guan family only has this number of surnames in each county. Therefore, the state and county officials are hereditary.... We believe that the local government in the Eastern Han Dynasty was controlled by the local surnames and the Guan family to a certain extent.” Under the manor economy, free private businessmen obviously could not get fully developed.On the one hand, the local tyrants held administrative power, and on the other hand, they used various monopoly policies to form an unrivaled family economy.

In the final analysis, the aristocratic economy is a powerful economy, and profiting from power is the fastest way to get rich. Therefore, under this social form, it "leads to collusion between officials and businessmen and bureaucratic capital that are rare in Chinese history."And the public resources and wealth of the whole society are gathered in the hands of a few families, which will cause a serious disparity between the rich and the poor and social injustice. In this sense, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties for hundreds of years, historical facts have proved that there was no local division or self-government mode of centralization, and there was also no matching economy that could promote social progress and material civilization. system.Compared with centralization, the possibility of decentralization, or the inevitable threat of violence such as war, has brought more suffering to the people.Under this logic, China's national governance is deeply trapped in the dilemma of centralization and decentralization.