Chapter 10 Guangwu Zhongxing

Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu is a typical successful figure in Chinese history.But it is far-fetched to say that he is "inner sage and outer king".Moreover, our review of him today is not for the purpose of reviewing characters, but because the original materials lack articles describing social profiles. We can only see the general situation of the middle and lower classes of society from the actions of the upper class figures. Liu Xiu's sixth ancestor was King Ding of Changsha, one of the 14 sons of King Jing of the Western Han Dynasty.Later, his ancestors went through the ranks of marquis, prefect, captain, and county magistrate, descending from nobles one after another, through the status of upper and middle bureaucrats to ordinary civilians.During Wang Mang's time, Liu Xiu used to go to school in Chang'an. Because the funds were not given, he and his classmates collected money to buy donkeys, and the servants led them to carry the donkeys for value.He had also acted as a manager of his uncle's lawsuit, and he had also sold grain during the famine, so he was good at calculating, and he belonged to the middle and lower class of gentry and merchants in society.

The generals who fought against him in the future probably had similar backgrounds to him, and they also represented a mobile social class.Wu Han used to be a horse dealer, Deng Chen was an official gentry, "General Dashu" Feng Yi was the governor of the five counties (equivalent to the section chief or book of modern Daotai), Wang Ba was a jailer, and Li Tong was a wealthy businessman. Wang Chang was born in the green forest, so he is really a desperado.These conditions also make us imagine that in the last years of Wang Mang, the "bandits and bandits" rebelled all over the country because the civil uprising spread to the middle class. At this time, Liu Xiu and his brother Liu Yan gathered "guests" and made big events.Presumably, Wang Mang, in his identity as Jushe, had been a "false emperor" for many years and a "real emperor" for more than ten years, so it was still a rebellion that rose up, not necessarily considered an "uprising".When Liu Yan launched a rebellion, the children of all families stayed in hiding. Later, when they heard that Liu Xiu had also participated, they said: "Those who are sincere will do it again", thus breaking the barrier between rebellion and uprising.But it was also thanks to Liu Yanzhi's persuasion of Wang Chang to win over the "generals going down the river" who belonged to the green forest, and the "Han army" of the Liu family, to master the initial basic military strength.And most of these characters are young people.Guangwu was 28 years old at the time of the uprising; Deng Yu, who was reluctant to participate at the beginning until Guangwu settled in Hebei, was 24 years old; another general who served in the north, Geng Yan, was only 21 years old.

Although the Liu brothers played a leading role in this movement, they were not the only ones representing Liu Han's recovery.Clan brother Liu Xuan was even more supported by the "Xinshi Bing" who belonged to Lulin, and was established as emperor in 23 AD as "Gengshi Emperor".Because he was jealous of Liu Yan's reputation, he executed him for some reason.Not only did Liu Xiu not avenge his brother, nor did he cry in mourning, but instead met Liu Xuan in person, expressing that he had no grievances.He may have already made a long-term plan for the future at this time.On that day, there were more than a dozen groups that independently ruled the country.Wang Mang owns territory from Luoyang to Chang'an.Emperor Gengshi and his subordinate green forests advanced from the northwest of present-day Hubei through the southwest of Henan to this area.The red eyebrows in Shandong also covet the same area westward from Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and they will kill you sooner or later.And this entire large area, called "Kandong" by the Han people, is the place that has suffered the heaviest losses from natural disasters in successive years.The rogues that have been dealt with may not be able to be rectified well.Therefore, within a month of Wang Mang's appointment, he was appointed by Emperor Gengshi to appease various places in the north in the name of General Polu and the Liu family's clan. Opportunity.Before he went north, he took Kou Xun as the prefect of Hanoi to prevent other troops from crossing the river and chasing after him.Kou Xun hereby "cut the bamboo in the Qi Garden, and made more than a million arrows".Liu Xiu traveled northward to Handan, where Wang Lang proclaimed himself emperor. He was not strong yet, so he only adopted a detour strategy, heading to Jizhou, Ding County, in the extreme north, and gathered tens of thousands of soldiers by means of persuasion and conquest. The strength of the people, at the turn of the spring and summer of the following year, turned around and pulled out Handan to kill Wang Lang.This is the policy of using the north-south axis for military operations, and using the emerging forces in the border areas to win the Central Plains, surpassing the strategy of other military groups.

In 25 A.D., Ru Ziying, who was established before Wang Mang, was also supported as emperor.This person is indeed more famous than anyone else and can inherit the Han Dynasty, so Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan also wanted to crusade him and make him decapitated.Liu Xiu only had to wait and see from the side.It was not until June of this year that he became the emperor under the circumstances of "all generals' firm invitation" and "red talisman destiny".In the next few months, Chimei entered Chang'an, Liu Xuan descended Chimei, and was killed by Chimei again.Guangwu regained Luoyang first, and then Chang'an, both of which can be regarded as a matter of course.Since then, his base in Chang'an, Luoyang, has never been seriously threatened.Although the conquests of all parties were still protracted, it was not until the last enemy Gongsun Shuzhan died in Chengdu in 36 AD that Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu was considered to be able to eliminate the heroes.

Liu Xiu has to command and control many people who are not easy to lead, but they can all complement each other and check each other. Apart from his clan status, solid reputation and psychological preparation for destiny, his genius for leadership cannot be denied.At the same time, he personally supervised the management of all matters, big and small, without letting up.He often risked his life to go to the front line when the situation was critical.Some people say that he was "cowardly when he sees a small enemy and brave when he sees a big enemy" all his life.We can also imagine that the enemy is already in his expectation, if he does not avoid it, he must be ready for a showdown, so he can face danger without fear.On the contrary, the little enemy will appear unexpectedly, and you need to be vigilant, otherwise, if you don't handle it properly, you can affect your whole body.From this point of view, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu not only had military acumen, but also had the ability to be a general.

"Hou Hanshu" <Geng Yan Biography> said that Geng was a general, Pingjun was forty-six, and "slaughtered three hundred cities". "Emperor Guangwu Ji" also said that in the winter and November of the twelfth year of Jianwu, Xinsi was "Chengdu, the capital of Wu and Han".It can be seen that the battle was cruel that day, and ZTE's benevolent and righteous teacher was still like this, and other "bandits and rebellions" can be imagined.In 30 A.D. (the sixth year of Jianwu), Guangwu also issued an imperial edict saying: "Nowadays, the people are in distress, and the household registration consumption is low, but the county officials are still busy." So a large number of layoffs were made, "more than 400 counties were merged, and the officials Job loss, one out of ten." It can be seen that since the Lulin uprising in 17 AD, the Central Plains has been full of turmoil, locust plagues have occurred repeatedly, civil wars have continued, and the population of the whole country has decreased. Ten thousand).At the same time, there are "guests" participating in each army, and sometimes these affiliated personnel also join the field army.However, the siege of a large city often lasts more than a month.There are thousands of baggage vehicles in each army.These historical materials also remind us that in military organizations, middle-level figures in society must be used to design and arrange liaison logistics and other matters.Under the condition of "successful ones are kings and losers are bandits", the elimination of giant families and surnames may be more severe than ordinary households.

The official record of the Eastern Han Dynasty in AD 28 contains the following passage: Moreover, after the defeat of Gongsun Shu, it was not until Chengdu sent suburban temple musical instruments, Bao chariots, and Yu chariot chariots to Luoyang.The text attached to it said: "When the military revolution is over, there are few things in the world, and the documents are kept in weekly service, and the affairs are kept simple and few, and even ten of them are kept." Combining the above information, it can be seen that Liu Xiu did not solve the problems of the day, but the social problems eased after a lot of bloodshed. Not only the population dropped sharply, but the middle class was also hit. The cultural relics decorated by the imperial court are not yet complete.Therefore, on the one hand, he "reformed with the people" and restored the land tax to one-thirtieth of Emperor Wen's time.In 40 A.D., "Yin Zhangji of Henan Province and more than a dozen county guards were imprisoned and died because of their unrealistic land use."This method of being soft on the outside and strong on the inside, coupled with the ideology of prophecy, enabled him to complete the great cause of ZTE.

At that time, the monarchy was hereditary and the centralization of power could not be given up. We hope that Liu Xiu will change his course, which may be a little too much.But we read that Luo Yang ordered Dong Xuan in the biographies of the cruel officials (Luo is Luo, because the Eastern Han Dynasty claimed to be a fire desperation, avoiding water and adding a good work Luo) to fight for his own life in order to bring the murderer of the princess's family to justice.At that time, it was also called "goods are light and money is thin", which means that the people need a powerful currency system to make materials circulate.Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu didn't even think about all these problems. It can also be said that although he is a super politician and military genius, he is still not a great thinker.