Chapter 17 The third section

Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty Liu Heng (202 BC - 157 BC), the son of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, reigned from 180 BC to 157 BC, and was a generation of monarchs with great achievements in the early Han Dynasty. Before Emperor Wen ascended the throne, because Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to the education of the prince, he had a relatively deep and broad understanding of Confucianism and historical knowledge.After he ascended the throne, he issued an imperial edict seeking virtuous founders who can speak out and speak out, hoping that people who can speak out and speak out can help him in governing the country and cultivating virtue.Later, Jia Yi, a young man from Luoyang, was enlisted as a doctor by Emperor Wenwen of Han Dynasty at the age of 18 because he could recite "Poetry" and write articles well.

In the early Han Dynasty, the Qin system was inherited, and the doctor was not only the emperor's political adviser, but also a teacher of literature and history knowledge.Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty had many doctoral officers, some of whom were over sixty years old, and they were also very knowledgeable.Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty respected doctoral officers very much, and often appointed them according to their talents and virtues, and did not regard age as the main condition.After Jia Yi became a doctoral officer of Emperor Wen, Emperor Wen humbly asked for advice, and because he adopted many good suggestions from Jia Yi, the governance of the country improved greatly.Therefore, within a year, Emperor Wen made an exception and promoted Jia Yi to be a doctor of the Taizhong, and he was highly respected.From then on, Emperor Hanwen and Jia Yi were almost inseparable and obeyed.In order to give full play to Jia Yi's ability to assist, Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty wanted to promote Jia Yi to be a minister, but he was opposed by the officials.Emperor Han Wen had no choice but to temporarily send Jia Yi to the king of Changsha as a tutor.

After Jia Yi left, Emperor Hanwen missed him very much.A year later, he was recalled to the palace again, and had a knee-to-neck conversation until late at night. He said with great emotion: "I haven't seen Jia Yi for a long time, and I thought I surpassed him in knowledge. But judging from today's conversation, he is still far behind him!" Soon, Han Emperor Wen appointed him as the Taifu of King Huai of Liang.King Huai of Liang was an intelligent young man, eager to learn and make progress, and he was the beloved son of Emperor Wen.Emperor Wen intended to make him the prince, so he made the most respected Jia Yi the teacher of King Huai of Liang.

Jia Yi knew that he had a great responsibility, so he wholeheartedly tutored King Huai of Liang, so that his knowledge improved by leaps and bounds, which made Emperor Wen very satisfied.It is a pity that after a few years, King Huai of Liang grew up, but unfortunately fell to his death while riding a horse.Jia Yi thought he had failed Emperor Wen's great trust, and was very sad, and has been depressed ever since.However, Emperor Han Wen did not alienate him because of this, and still respected this talented teacher very much, and adopted his suggestion on weakening the power of the princes to consolidate the centralization of power.Soon, Jia Yi died young.Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty often missed this rare master.

Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty respected Jia Yi so much, which was inseparable from Jia Yi's extensive knowledge and great help to Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty.Jia Yi, as a royal family teacher, has a lot of successful experience in practice, and he offered a lot of suggestions to Emperor Han Wen about emphasizing royal family education.He believes that Xia has 10 generations, Yin has more than 20 generations, and Zhou has more than 30 generations, and the Qin Dynasty's family is only the second generation.Their human natures are not far from each other, and Xia, Shang and Zhou "the kings of the three generations have the virtues, but the Qin has no way to be violent" ("Jia Yiji·Chen Zhengshishu"), the fundamental reason is that the three generations of kings value family education, And this kind of tutoring has already started since the prince was a child.He advised Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty that the education of the crown prince should start with prenatal education, and he should be tutored by teachers, teachers, and protection after he grows up.Only in this way can the country's fortune last forever, otherwise it will repeat the mistakes of Qin II's death.

Emperor Hanwen not only humbly listened to and adopted Jia Yi's important suggestion, but also established his family education system.Since Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the family education of the Han royal family has been continuously strengthened, and the positions of teachers, teachers, and protectors of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been restored, and later the royal family education has been popularized to the princes, counties, and kings, and grandmasters have been set up.After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu’s suggestion of “respecting Confucianism alone”, the family education of the Han royal family began to take Confucian classics as the main teaching content, and recruited the master scholars at that time to the palace to teach Confucian classics for the crown prince and princes, such as Dong Zhongshu, Masters of Confucian classics such as Gongsun Hong, Xia Housheng, Zhang Yu, and Huan Tan were all recruited as teachers of the crown prince or emperor.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huan Rong, who had a family background, and his son Huan Yu and grandson Huan Yan, three generations of grandparents, successively taught the four emperors of Han Ming, Zhang, An, and Shun.Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty was quite accomplished in the study of Confucian classics. He once visited the lecture hall in person and ordered the crown prince and other kings to give lectures on the Confucian classics.Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty personally presided over the famous White Tiger View Conference in the history of Confucian classics to discuss the similarities and differences of ancient and modern Confucian classics.These achievements of the royal family education in the Han Dynasty should be said to be related to the family tradition of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty who respected teachers and valued education.