Chapter 6 Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty

In Chinese history books, "Qin Huang Han Wu" often connect with each other.And when it comes to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it is inseparable from the evaluation of "very happy".Looking at his records today, we cannot deny that he is an outstanding person; but his achievements still need to be judged in the long history.The most important point is that the situation he created cannot be continued by future generations.Therefore, when we read his biography, we must accompany and work hand in hand with "Wen Jing Zhizhi" at the top, while "From Huo Guang to Wang Mang" below has an inseparable relationship with his life.

Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, had a strange background.His mother, Wang Shi, was married before entering the palace. She was married to Jin's wife and had a daughter.Her mother, who is the grandmother of the future emperor, forcibly took her back from the Jin family and entered into the Crown Prince as Emperor Jing.Liu Che was born in 156 B.C. and ascended the throne in 141 B.C., his full age should be no more than 15 years old.Since then, he has reigned for 54 years, and has been the longest monarch in Chinese history for more than two thousand years.This record was not broken by Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty until the 18th century.

Judging from various sources, Liu Che was courageous and imaginative.He planned to attack the Southwestern Yi, so he dug the ground near Chang'an as "Kunming Pool" to practice the navy.In other spheres he is also unconstrained.For example, his mother had remarried and had a daughter of the Jin family, but no one dared to mention it. When he heard about it, he openly visited his half-sister and gave her the name Tian Zhai.His queen Wei Zifu was a geisha, and his beloved Mrs. Li was a prostitute.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not a barbarian, and he did not have the elegance of Chinese rhetoric.In his court, there are not only upright Confucian scholars such as Dong Zhongshu, but also harmonious figures such as Dongfang Shuo, and even more famous scholars such as Sima Xiangru.Let's look at his Fu mourning Mrs. Li (Ban Gu said that Emperor Wu wrote it himself), "The autumn air is filled with tears, and the osmanthus branches fall and perish."Moreover, he seemed to see the shadow of Mrs. Li, and wrote a poem: "Is it evil or not? Standing and looking at it, why is it so late!" It can be imagined that he is not a character without emotions.

Liu Che has never actually commanded a battle on the battlefield, but whenever there is an important battle deployment, the arrangement of the so-called "battle order" is in his own hands.And he knows how to use people well.Wei Qing is the younger brother of Wei Zifu, and Huo Qubing is Wei Qing's nephew, both relatives have created invaluable military exploits.Huo Guang and Huo Qubing were half-brothers, and later became central figures in the court of the Han Dynasty.Only Li Guangli, the elder brother of Mrs. Li, was appointed as the general of the second division, and it was the biggest mistake of Emperor Wu to appoint others if he was unfavorable in battle and surrendered to the Huns.Emperor Wu's treatment of his subjects also depended on the individual.He can meet the general Wei Qing in the toilet, and he can also meet the ministers in the usual Yanju clothes. Only You Nei Shi (Assistant Confidential Secretary) Ji An always speaks bluntly according to the facts. The emperor is afraid of him. In the tent, don't go to see him.Later, because Huaiyang was difficult to govern, he summoned Ji'an as the prefect, but Ji'an refused to accept his resignation. The emperor said: "Gu Huaiyang's officials and people don't get along with each other. I will be the king's weight, and I will rule it." He also knew. Just because of his reputation as an outspoken loyal minister, he doesn't need to be particularly cheered up, and he can handle this place well.Later, Ji An lived in Huaiyang for 10 years and died in office.

However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also had the fault of a general autocratic devil king.As soon as he inspected various regions, the local prefects committed suicide one after another to avoid crimes, either because of insufficient supplies or because of improper allocation in the territory.By the end of his reign, the DPRK and China were also shrouded in terrorist politics.Confidant ministers such as the prime minister and the royal censor also fought each other over trivial matters, and those who failed could only escape with death.The emperor himself believed in immortals and desperately wanted to live forever.Whenever he fell ill, he believed that someone used witchcraft to harm him. The sound of "Gu" is ancient, with three characters for insects placed on top of the character for "vessel". According to folklore, witches put poisonous insects and snakes in a vessel, let them swallow and eliminate each other, and the last one that survived The monster is for Gu.The sorcerer is manipulating the elf to harm the enemy by using curse talismans, cutting wooden figures and burying Gu underground.In 91 B.C., Liu Che fell ill. It was rumored that there was a witch in the palace that involved the Queen and Prince Liu Shi.It turned out that Emperor Wu had severe punishments and strict laws, but the prince was kind and often rehabilitated.The Minister of Law Enforcement was deeply afraid that Liu Ju would succeed to the throne one day, which would be detrimental to them.And Captain Shui Heng (in charge of Lin Yuan near the palace) Jiang Chong, who "directly pointed at the embroidered clothes envoy" (the spy leader) was even more estranged.Liu Che was recuperating in another palace, even if the queen and crown prince asked the emperor, he would not be able to reach him.The crown prince was angry and captured Jiang Chong and executed him, so Chang'an claimed that the crown prince had rebelled.Because of this, both sides summoned troops, and the Royalist Party and the Crown Princeling Party fought in the capital for five days, with "tens of thousands of dead."As a result, the crown prince was defeated and committed suicide, the empress Wei Zifu also committed suicide, and Wei Qing had already died.Emperor Wu later repented and built the "womb of thinking", which was also called "the platform of returning to Wangsi".

Four years later, when Emperor Wu was in danger, he appointed Liu Fuling, an 8-year-old child, as the prince, who was Emperor Zhao, and the emperor also bestowed the death of the prince's mother, Mrs. Yi. ".And Huo Guang and others were entrusted to "do the work of Duke Zhou". Why is it that such a shrewd, powerful and arbitrary monarch is so stupid and has no claim when it comes to setting up an heir?Even father and son meet each other with swords, bringing disaster to the army and the people?This is definitely not a problem between Liu Che and Liu Ju alone, but has something to do with the Western Han Empire arranged by Emperor Wu.

After Emperor Wu Liu Che inherited Wenjing, he continued to centralize power.In 127 BC, the princes of the orderly princes pushed the son's younger brother, and ordered all articles. In 122, the rebellion of King Huainan and King Jiangdu was caused by the reduction of the vassal. After the reduction, "tens of thousands of heroes died".In 112 B.C., 106 people won the title because the rewards paid by the princes to worship the royal family were inconsistent and not as good as the amount.Since the emperor Gaozu, the feudal lords have been dismissed so far.However, Emperor Wu used Sang Hongyang, Dongguo Xianyang, and Kong only for financial management, so we should not be rashly regarded as "businessmen participating in politics".They did not use commercial organizations and merchant capital to enhance the government's functions, nor did they use government authority to support the development of commerce in order to expand future financial resources.And the deer coin calculation, the average loss, etc. are all temporary fundraising methods for military consumption.As a result, the emperor controlled about 50 to 60 million people from above, and there was no effective middle-level organization that was either based on local history or relied on economic interests to act as a hub between the upper and lower levels.Even the prefect and governor is nothing more than the emperor's representative, and the election of Xiaolian in various places can only follow the will of the central government. Therefore, the emperor's actions can only expand and protect his own authority.This situation shows one of the greatest weaknesses of the traditional Chinese autocratic monarchy.

Qian Mu once said: "The central government's thrifty and inactive governance can no longer cover up the vitality of all parties in society." Han Wu's method is to use a kind of movement to replace the lack of organization.If there are uneven development in various places, and it is impossible to support them for unbalanced development, comprehensive mobilization and regular activities can also be regarded as a way out.Some people say that he "strikes the eagle to rule".He himself once said to Wei Qing: "If you don't go on an expedition, the world will be uneasy." This is what people call "externalizing the problem".

It's just that Han Wu pacified South Vietnam, marched into Korea, added troops to the Southwestern Yi, and used Zhang Qian to penetrate the Western Regions. Everything that the traditional Chinese power can reach in terms of history and geography has reached or exceeded.And he attacked the Xiongnu eight times, and he had exhausted his troops.The nomadic people fought against the Han people, which China could not match, because they were all cavalry in peacetime and wartime, so they did not need to be mobilized.They attack or plagiarize, often with victories.China's conquest of the Xiongnu, as the censor Cheng Jin said, "following it is like fighting a shadow".Liu Che's attack on the Huns in 119 B.C. was a great victory for the Han army, but as people said at the time, "a thousand miles of burden is given to the naan, and the rate of more than ten minutes is one stone."As a result, there were 140,000 private horses of the officials who went out of the fortress, not counting the luggage, and the entry into the fortress was less than 30,000.In the last years of Emperor Wudi, "there were many military revolutions, and the people bought more, and the five great officials, thousands of husbands, and the people who conscripted were fresher."That is to say, many civilians have already paid to be exempted from military service, and it is not easy to make up the number of personnel below the rank of junior officers and sergeants when it comes to conscription.

The strength of Emperor Wu relied entirely on the support of this internal centralization and frequent conquests externally.The way he ruled was not to pick up lost things, but under the strict law of arrest and robbery, he was forced to do so under the power of hundreds or even nearly a thousand people at a time. It has been like this for half a century.Once difficulties arise in his movement, his organizational weaknesses are easy to see through.At this time, when the issue of succession occurred, not only did he feel embarrassed, but his subordinates were also whispering about their own misfortune and fortune in private.Superstition and misunderstanding, as well as Liu Che and Liu Ju's different personalities, coupled with the tendency of bureaucrats to tend to rigid personnel, only contributed to the tragedy of his family.

However, China's early political maturity did not wait for the development of the organizational power of the economy and the legal system, as mentioned above.In the third year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that is, in 138 BC, the fact that "the river overflowed the plain, there was a great hunger, and people ate each other" has appeared in official records.In other words, it shows that the power of nature is inescapable. Because of flood control and famine relief, China has to organize a great empire to deal with it. Emperor Wu's chronicles often have narratives of worrying about floods and famines.The defense line in the north, which stretches for more than two thousand miles, coincides with the "15-inch rainfall line".In the northwest of the line, the annual rainfall is less than 15 inches, and it is impossible to operate agriculture. It is only a place for nomads to come and go. This threat also forces China to deal with it uniformly.Liu Che's use of Wei Qinghuo to "curtain" (through the desert) is a feat in military history, but his wish to destroy the Xiongnu could not be realized.Afterwards, the fight between the two sides between the 15-inch rainfall line will continue for about 2,000 years. It was not until Emperor Kangxi defeated Galdan with new artillery and forced him to commit suicide that the advantage of the nomadic cavalry was lifted. It can be seen that history is not all man-made. We can't ignore the importance of weather and geographical factors when we talk about Emperor Qin, Han and Wu after 2200.