Chapter 38 Xiao He, a famous prime minister in the early Han Dynasty

Xiao He, one of the Three Heroes in the early Han Dynasty, was a famous prime minister.A native of Fengyi, Peixian County (now part of Fengxian County, Jiangsu Province).No matter during the war or during the recovery period in the early Han Dynasty, he showed the demeanor and ability of governing the country as an outstanding statesman in ancient China, and has been praised by people for thousands of years. In February 202 BC, Liu Bang ascended the throne, and then rewarded him for meritorious deeds. In May, Liu Bang held a banquet with wine and officials in Nangong, Luoyang.Liu Bang asked the officials: "You all tell the truth, why can I win the world? Why did Xiang Yu lose the world?" The officials said different things.In the end, Liu Bang said: "You only know one thing, not the other. I'm not as good as Zifang (Zhang Liang) in strategizing and decisively winning thousands of miles away; With an army of one million, the battle must be won and the attack must be conquered. I am not as good as Han Xin. These three people are all heroes. I can have them, so I can win the world. Xiang Yu only has one Fan Zeng and he can't reuse it, so he finally lost in my hands It can be seen from the above dialogue that Liu Bang believed that Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin were his most capable heroes, and these three were called the "Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty".

Later, when Liu Bang discussed meritorious deeds and rewards, he could not decide for more than a year because of the competition among the ministers.In the end, Liu Bang chose Xiao He as the first meritorious service, and granted him the most food cities.Many heroes felt aggrieved because of this, saying that they had experienced many battles, while Xiao He only made comments and did paperwork, and had no military achievements. Why did he have more food cities than us? Liu Bang asked the ministers: "Do you know hunting dogs? When hunting, hunting dogs are used to indicate whereabouts, and it is people who let dogs chase animals. Now you are only able to hunt wild animals, which is equivalent to the contribution of hunting dogs. As for Xiao He, he can release the hounds and give instructions to chase the target, which is equivalent to the merit of the hunter. Besides, you only follow me alone, and most of you only bring two or three family members, while Xiao He has dozens of people from the whole clan following me, How can these credits be obliterated?" Everyone was speechless.

After the feudal enfeoffment of the princes is completed, the next step is the ranking.All the ministers said: "Pingyang Hou Cao Shen suffered more than 70 battle wounds, attacked the city and plundered the land, and made the most contributions, so he should be ranked first." Liu Bang has already overwhelmed everyone once and re-sealed Xiao He, so it is difficult to say anything about the ranking, but he still believes that Xiao He should be ranked first.At this time, E Jun, Marquis of Guannei, said: "During the five years of the struggle between Chu and Han, Your Majesty's entire army was defeated several times and escaped alone, all relying on Xiao He to send troops from Guanzhong to supplement. Sometimes, even without your Majesty's order, Xiao He I also dispatched tens of thousands of people at a time, just to supplement your Majesty's urgent needs. Not only the soldiers, but also the military rations are all supplied by Xiao He from Guanzhong, so that the army's food is guaranteed. Your Majesty lost Shandong several times in defeat. Fortunately, Xiao He was in charge Only in Guanzhong can your Majesty regain his strength. These are the great achievements of the founding of the Han family and passed down to future generations. How can the temporary military achievements of Cao Shen and others be listed above the eternal achievements! I think Xiao He should be ranked first, and Cao Shen second."

These discussions hit Liu Bang's heart, so he ranked Xiao He first, allowed him to wear shoelaces and swords to go to the palace, and sealed Xiao He's father, son and more than ten brothers. After Liu Bang ascended the throne, he issued an edict to stop soldiers and return to farming, and let the soldiers go home to farm and open up wasteland.Tax relief for the common people.At this time, the problem of establishing the capital became increasingly urgent.Liu Bang temporarily lived in Liyang, and ordered Xiao He to build Chang'an (now northwest of Xi'an, Shaanxi) as his capital.In 199 BC, Liu Bang came to Chang'an.Xiao He is building the Weiyang Palace. He has built the East Tower and the North Tower (tall palace gates), and built the front hall, arsenal, and Taicang. The ending is still unknown, why did you build such a luxurious official room?"

Xiao He replied: "It is precisely because the world has just stabilized that we can take the opportunity to conscript more people and things to build rich houses. Besides, the emperor takes the whole world as his home, so the grand palace can show his majesty, and it will prevent future generations from rebuilding." Then he turned his anger into joy.Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, lasted for more than 200 years, and Xiao He was the first to plan and design it. In order to consolidate the regime, Emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty found excuses to eliminate kings with different surnames one after another.Seeing that Han Xin's meritorious service was highly respected and he held military power, he cut off Han Xin's military power several times with excuses, and finally he was reduced to the Marquis of Huaiyin with only a false name.

In 197 BC, Chen Xi, Marquis of Yangxia, rebelled and proclaimed himself king.Liu Bang personally led the army to conquer.At that time, Han Xin said that he was ill and did not go with him.So, one of Han Xin's retainers asked to see Empress Lu, and reported that Han Xin was originally Chen Xi's close friend, and that this time Chen Xi rebelled, Han Xin was the insider.One night, he was going to falsely preach the imperial decree.Release the slaves and prisoners, and attack Empress Lu and Prince Liu Ying. Upon hearing this, Empress Lu thought that the matter was of great importance, so she secretly summoned Prime Minister Xiao He.The two of them discussed a plan, and Xiao He participated in the implementation.The next day, Xiao He sent someone to invite Han Xin to the Xiangfu for a banquet.Han Xin claimed to be sick, but politely declined.Xiao He went to Han Xin's residence in person, and directly entered Han Xin's inner room under the pretext of visiting a doctor.Han Xin could no longer refuse, so he had to exchange greetings with Xiao He.Xiao He said: "You and I are good friends. I invite you to the banquet because I have something to say to you."

Han Xin hurriedly asked what he wanted.Xiao He said: "In the past few days, the emperor has sent good news from Zhao, saying that the conscript army has won a complete victory; Chen Xi has fled to the Huns. Now the princes in the court have all entered the palace to congratulate Empress Lu in person. Are you claiming to be sick? Going to court has aroused people's suspicions. So I come to persuade you to enter the palace with me, congratulate Empress Lu, and dispel people's suspicions." Han Xin had no choice but to believe what Xiao He said.So I followed Xiao He to the Changle Hall to congratulate Empress Lu.Who knew that the warriors had already been ambushed in the palace, and when Empress Lu saw that Han Xin had been tricked, she ordered the knives and axes to tie Han Xin to the ground.Seeing that something was wrong, Han Xin hurriedly called: "Prime Minister Xiao, come and save me!" Xiao He had already avoided it.Empress Lu did not allow Han Xin to plead, and ordered the warriors to drag him to the bell chamber next to the hall and kill him.Afterwards, Han Xin's father, mother, and wife were all hunted down.Xiao He assisted Empress Lu and murdered Han Xin, which was in line with Liu Bang's need to consolidate the regime and relieved Liu Bang of a heartache.

In Liu Bang's later years, there was a struggle in the court to abolish and establish the prince.Liu Bang wants to abolish the crown prince Liu Ying and replace Zhao Wang Liu Ruyi as the crown prince.It was only because of repeated admonitions by ministers such as Xiao He that Liu Bang never made a decision.In 195 BC, Liu Bang died of illness, and Xiao He assisted Prince Liu Ying to ascend to the throne of God. This is Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty.Xiao He succeeded as prime minister.During Xiao He's prime ministership, another major event was done in formulating the rules and regulations of the Han Dynasty, that is, the Nine Chapters of the Han Law.On the basis of the three chapters of the contract, refer to the Qin law, extract the content that is in line with the situation at that time, and make a total of nine chapters of the law.This is the beginning of the Han Dynasty to make laws and regulations.The Nine Chapters of the Han Law formulated by Xiao He deleted the harshness and harshness of the Qin Law and made the laws clear and simple.In 193 BC, the elderly Xiangguo Xiao He finally fell ill due to long-term labor for the Han Dynasty.When he was critically ill, Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty visited him in person, and took the opportunity to ask: "Who can replace you as prime minister after a hundred years?" Then Emperor Hui asked, "How is Cao Shen?" Sick, he kowtowed to Emperor Hui and said, "Your Majesty can get Cao Shen as a minister. Even if I, Xiao He, die, I have no grudges!" Remember the generosity of old grudges.