Chapter 54 3. Liu Che and Ji An

The news that the 40,000 Xiongnu had been dealt with was immediately spread to Chang'an. When Liu Che heard it, he was ecstatic at first.Soon, he realized that there was a problem. Not to mention how to resettle the Huns, just welcoming them is a big problem.Anyone who has watched a lot of war movies knows that anyone who surrenders or is taken as a prisoner will often end badly, except for the leader who gets preferential treatment.However, when we look beyond the smoke and cloud of two thousand years, we will be surprised to find how lenient the emperor of the Han Dynasty was towards the Xiongnu captives.

In order to welcome the Xiongnu friends who have been eating wind and sand for a long time, Liu Che prepared 20,000 carriages.However, the first problem Liu Che encountered was that he did not lack a car, but a horse.If the car is missing, you can rush to work overnight, but if the horse is missing, it is impossible to feed the children overnight. what to do? If the government has no horses, then buy them. We know that during the reign of Wenjing, horse breeding became popular among the people of the Han Dynasty.When the country was rich, so were the people.Therefore, the people not only like to show off by riding horses, but also use horses as a contrast.At that time, mares and young horses were the things Chang'an people disdained to ride the most.If you go back to the Han Dynasty and have the courage to ride these two-class horses in the streets, I can guarantee that your friends in the Han Dynasty will pretend not to know you when you come back from a stroll.

The money that Liu Che wanted to buy the horse was apportioned to the Chang'an county magistrate.However, the second problem came again, the county magistrate had no money.The leader is forcing you to hand over the horse, what should you do if you have no money?The county magistrate of Chang'an, who was pressed by the emperor, suddenly thought of a way. If he had no money to buy it, he would borrow it. From whom?Borrow it from the citizens of Chang'an.However, he immediately discovered that it is not easy for poor people to borrow money, and it is not easy for poor officials to borrow horses.The people of Chang'an didn't believe that the county magistrate would return the horse he borrowed from him.So, everyone hid their horses one after another, and then made a big move, saying that my family has no horses.

As a result, the deadline for handing in the horses had come, and the Chang'an county magistrate did not have enough horses.So, upon hearing this, Liu Che sent someone to kill the Chang'an county magistrate without saying a word. However, when Liu Che made a big move to talk about pomp, at this moment, someone stood up and had something to say. This person is Ji An. Ji An is the special mayor of Chang'an City (right internal history), and his subordinates are not enough horses, so he is responsible.However, he said to Liu Che like this: Chang'an county magistrate is not guilty, if your Majesty wants to gather enough horses, there is a way to solve it.That is, cut me off.I believe that by then no one in Chang'an will be afraid to lend horses to our government.

Beheading to apologize is certainly not what Ji An wants to express most.After a pause, Ji An went on to say: The Huns surrendered, so why give them such a high standard of reception.Our government has tightened its belt, so why bother to make people's lives uneasy.I think it would be worthy of the Xiongnu to let the counties use the government's spare horses and deliver them from station to station. Ji An's words made Liu Che speechless for a moment. Liu Che had nothing to say, not because he really had nothing to say, but because he didn't want to.If he wanted to say something, Ji An would definitely keep pestering him.At that time, the day lily was cold, and there were still not enough carriages to welcome the Huns. Wasn't that a mistake for him?

In Liu Che's view, the only thing to say is that Ji An is a good parent official, but not a good politician.In fact, I myself agree with Liu Che's point of view.What happened next, Ji An's non-politician colors were all exposed at once. Not long after, thanks to the blessing of Emperor Liu Che and Huo Qubing's selfless protection all the way, Hunxie King of the Huns finally arrived in Chang'an smoothly.Liu Che held a grand welcome ceremony for the surrendered King Hunxie, and at the same time bestowed great gifts on them all. King Hunxie had the greatest gift and was named Marquis of Ten Thousand Households.The second is his lieutenants, four of whom were also named household marquises.Of course, the benefits of Huo Qubing are also indispensable, and he was granted 1,700 more households.In addition to the number of households granted three times before, Huo Qubing changed suddenly and became a lord of ten thousand households.

The Huns who received Liu Che's red envelope were of course overjoyed.However, Ji An was anxious. Liu Che is the head of the family, but he doesn't know that Chai Migui is expensive.For Ji An, with so many Huns coming to Chang'an City, the pressure was too great.First, the Huns did not come for sightseeing and consumption, but for free food and drink; second, it seemed that the Huns stayed in Chang'an for more than a day or two.If you rely on this for a long time, Ji An, the special mayor of Chang'an, will not be able to bear it. Ji An was suffocated in his heart, wanting to say it but unable to.Finally, he got a chance.

Since King Hunxie surrendered, he must bring his family along with him, and bring some local products or other materials with him.For Chang'an merchants and small citizens, who said that the Huns eat and drink for nothing, and they don't pay IOUs.They are simply sightseeing to stimulate domestic demand. Therefore, when the Huns flooded into Chang'an, Chang'an merchants and ordinary citizens, regardless of the circumstances, actually started doing business with the Huns. In fact, the merchants and ordinary citizens in Chang'an took advantage of the legal loopholes of the Han Dynasty.Because, the law of the Han Dynasty stipulated that in border trade, ironware was not allowed to be sold to foreigners, nor was it allowed to take money out of the customs.

This law of the Han Dynasty is tantamount to economic sanctions.Since the Han people were not allowed to bring money out of the customs, the goods of the Xiongnu could not be circulated in large quantities, and the items of the Han Dynasty that the Xiongnu longed for could not be obtained.So what to do?Either look thirsty, or come and grab it boldly. At that time, all merchants and ordinary citizens, including the Huns, thought that since Chang'an was not a border, they would not be bound by the law.As long as you have money, you can buy items from the Huns.And the Huns are also trying to make a fortune.Therefore, both buyers and sellers think that it is right for everyone to make a fortune together in business dealings.

However, for Liu Che, it was a violation of state policy for the citizens to do business with the Huns at will.So he sent relevant departments to investigate the so-called lawbreakers of the Han people. In the end, there were more than 500 people who were arrested and beheaded. Now, Ji An's accumulated complaints had to be released. Therefore, when Ji An went to court, he called for grievances for the five hundred small citizens who were open-eyed.This is what he said to Liu Che: Chang'an is the capital of the Han Dynasty, not the border.The law of the Han Dynasty only stipulated that Han people were not allowed to bring money out of the customs. Chang'an businessmen used money to do business with the Huns in Chang'an City. What kind of law did this violate?Killing five hundred businessmen was nothing short of nonsense.

This is not the most violent.Then, Ji An vented his anger on the Huns.He believes that Liu Che's Xiongnu policy is even more nonsense.He said this to Liu Che: The minister thought that His Majesty's policy towards the Xiongnu was very problematic.First of all, there have always been conflicts between Han and Hungary, and the Han Dynasty was kind and begging for peace.However, the Huns were the first to refuse to make peace, and repeatedly sent troops to rob the Han Dynasty.For many years, in order to destroy the Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty did not know how much money was burned and how many soldiers died. Today, the Xiongnu came to surrender. I think Your Majesty should degrade the Huns as slaves and reward the families of the soldiers who died fighting for the country, so as to thank the world for their suffering.Unexpectedly, His Majesty did not consider him a slave, but treated him like a distinguished guest.This is simply unbelievable.The minister thought that His Majesty was protecting the Xiongnu, but deliberately beheaded innocent businessmen.This kind of practice is tantamount to sheltering its leaves, and those who damage its branches, I secretly think it is not advisable. An objective evaluation of Ji An's remarks can basically be summed up in one sentence: it is respectable to seek justice for the five hundred business dead ghosts; it is short-sighted to take the opportunity to avenge the Xiongnu and use them as slaves. Ji An probably calculated that it was the account of the small businessmen, thinking that the Huns had made money by robbing the Han people in the past, and that they had made money by surrendering today for free.How to put it, the Han Dynasty always loses money.Why does Liu Che always do this kind of loss-making business? In fact, Liu Che is the big businessman.The so-called reluctance to bear children can't hold wolves.The reason why Liu Che was willing to spend a lot of money to feed the Xiongnu was that this method took advantage of two advantages. First of all, treating captives preferentially and repaying grievances with virtue is not only a kind of political mind, but also a kind of political interest.Only in this way will more Huns be attracted to surrender. Secondly, the Huns did not eat and drink for nothing.Because, the Xiongnu surrendered and ceded the 150,000 square kilometers of land in Hexi Goku to the Han Dynasty.The western frontier of the Han Dynasty advanced 900 kilometers northwest to the Western Regions.It laid a solid foundation for the future success of the Western Regions. So no matter what, Ji An can only be a competent administrative official, but not a politician with a broad mind.It's no wonder that after Ji An's words came out, Liu Che no longer kept silent this time. Instead, in front of everyone, he sternly criticized: I haven't heard Ji An speak for a long time, and today he is talking nonsense again. (I haven't heard of Ji'an's prescription for a long time, and now I'm making it up again). Ji An didn't even know that when the Xiongnu came to Chang'an, Liu Che was just letting them enjoy themselves temporarily.Sure enough, not long after, Liu Che divided King Hunxie into five parts and placed them in five counties along the northwest border.They are Longxi County, Beidi County, Shang County, Shuofang County, and Wuyuan County. Since then, from Jincheng (Lanzhou City, Gansu Province), Hexi Corridor, Qilian Mountains in the west, to Yanze (Lop Nur, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), it has become a vacuum zone, and there are few traces of the Huns. For such an effect, I believe that no amount of money Ji An saves can be bought.However, Liu Che did it.In my opinion, this is the most fundamental difference between a big abacus and a small abacus.