Chapter 21 4. Peng Yue: The next one is you

Looking back, no one knows why the well-behaved King Liang called him sick.As a prince, it is only natural to obey the emperor.Calling illness means being lazy if you think about it lightly, but if you think about it deeply, it means confrontation and tearing.For Liu Bang, there is no reason for Peng Yue to be lazy, and the confrontation is digging his own grave. So, after Liu Bang returned to Luoyang, he carefully figured out Peng Yue's pathology report again.It was found that the probability of Peng Yue's rebellion was much higher than the probability of real illness. Indeed.Peng Yue pretended to be ill to the outside world with the idea of ​​rebellion.However, Peng Yue's rebellion was not about going to the fair, trying to have fun, and it was not about playing with his life for nothing, but about protecting his life.

Before, Liu Bang recruited Peng Yue repeatedly, and Peng Yue was already afraid, so he wanted to go to Chang'an to apologize in person.However, one of his generals named Hu Zhe stopped him. The reason was: King Peng, you didn't go at first, but now you have aroused Liu Bang's anger. If you go, you will definitely be arrested and punished.Don't talk too far, Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin is an example. If bad things are done to the end, it's better to turn them around. It was only then that Peng Yue realized the seriousness of the problem: if you go, you are afraid of being caught;what to do?To be caught is to die; to rebel, it is hard work, but as long as you can survive, you don't care about the little bit of hard work.

Therefore, Liang Wang simply carried on pretending to be sick to the end, waited for the opportunity, and prepared to rebel. However, Heaven does not help Han Xin, nor does it help Peng Yue.Peng Yue's military chariot didn't move, and the plot was leaked first.The person who accused him of treason was the driver (the servant) who often went in and out with the leader.The servant of Liang Guo committed a crime for some reason, so he fled to Luoyang to inform him and atone for his crime with merit.When Liu Bang heard this, he jumped up and said, "Well, you Peng Yue, as I expected, if you want to rebel, you must take your life first."

Liu Bang made a decisive decision: capture Peng Yue immediately and punish him. How easy it is to catch Peng Yue.Liu Bang's trick against Han Xin was definitely useless, but he immediately thought of a trick, that is, to send someone secretly into Liang Guo to kidnap Peng Yue. American blockbusters tell us that the CIA is the best at kidnapping public enemies of the country.At that time, Liu Bang did not have the CIA, the KGB of the former Soviet Union, the Mossad of Israel, and the Jinyiwei.However, Liu Bang quickly formed an armed squad led by an envoy, and quietly dispatched to Liang Guo.

The special police team of the Han Dynasty lived up to Liu Bang's high expectations. As soon as they sneaked into Liang Guo, they successfully kidnapped Peng Yue and imprisoned him in Luoyang City.This is simply unbelievable!Peng Yue, the founder of guerrilla warfare in China, was accustomed to beating the east and attacking the west, but he was successfully attacked by the emissary without knowing it? Peng Yue's opposite has been revealed, the evidence is conclusive, and it is imperative to wipe out the three tribes.However, Peng Yue surprisingly saved his life.Because, Liu Bang did not kill Peng Yue, but pardoned the death penalty, and took him to Tsingyi (North of Mingshan County, Sichuan Province).

This time, Peng Yue seemed to have just walked to the gate of hell. When he wiped his neck with the face of a bull-headed horse and was about to kill him, he suddenly found that the day of execution was not right, so he had to be pushed back to the world again, and his sentence was suspended. This kind of feeling is called resurrection from the dead, which is extremely sad. The reason why Liu Bang didn't kill him was not because of a coincidence, but because he deeply observed that Peng Yue might not be the real traitor.The reason is obvious. If Peng Yue is really rebellious, it will be the best time when Liu Bang expeditions to Chen Xi.

Peng Yue is not a fool, he knows what is the real time and space, and what is the real edge.But he stayed still, not because the time had come, but because there was only one reason: to guard against Liu Bang in order to protect himself.As the saying goes, if people don't attack me, I won't attack others. If people attack me, I will attack them. Peng Yue's defensive mentality is called fear. Fear is right, in the face of life and death, who is not afraid of death.The tragedy of the two Han Xins actually sounded the death knell for Peng Yue.This kind of tragedy, in my humble opinion, does not belong to Liu Bang, nor does it belong to Peng Yue and others.

Here, we have to review the political system of the Han Dynasty.Otherwise, we would not be able to know why Liu Bang was so crazy, kicking princes and kings with different surnames off the cliff one by one. We know that the red flag of the Han Dynasty was derived from the five virtues, and it was the Zhou Dynasty that learned it.The system of the Zhou Dynasty was a feudal system, and this model was from top to bottom: Son of Heaven - Princes - Doctors - Commoners.According to this kind of political theory, Confucianism sprouted a great dream through reverse thinking, that is, to straighten one's heart, cultivate one's morality, regulate one's family, govern one's country, and bring peace to the world.

In layman's terms, this saying is: If an intellectual wants to make a difference, he must first be himself, and then manage the fief for the doctor, then manage the country for the princes, and then manage the world for the emperor.So it is said that Confucianism will not teach you to soar to the sky, but to climb to the top of life step by step, just like climbing stairs.As the saying goes, if you don't sweep a house, why sweep the world. Of course, theory is dead, but man is alive.In historical reality, there are too many intellectuals who can sweep the world without sweeping a house.

Let us return to the system itself.The feudal system was implemented in the Zhou Dynasty, and the vassal states were like special zones, with great autonomy and self-development rights.The result of this institutional development is that once the local government grows larger, the central government will become empty.The fact is also the same. The Zhou Dynasty lasted more than 800 years, and when it developed to the Eastern Weekend, its fiefdoms were only a few small counties, like a dying chicken drowning.And the other princes are all like wolves and tigers, full of energy, and invincible.

Later, Yingzheng established the Great Qin Empire. In order to realize his superhuman empire, he eliminated the system of princes and implemented the system of prefectures and counties.However, in the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang did not go back to his ancestors, nor did he learn from Yingzheng's absolute superman, but decided to take the middle route. This route is characterized by the coexistence of the prefecture and county system and the vassal system.The central government manages counties and counties, and the princes manage special zones. As the saying goes, one country, two systems is also true. Needless to say about the system of prefectures and counties, let's focus on the special features of these large special zones in the vassal states of the Han Dynasty.In the early Han Dynasty, the feudal state was divided into two types, the kingdom and the marquis. To adapt to it, two feudal states were also established.This is the vassal kingdom system and the vassal state system of the lords.Don't talk about the political power, just rule the area, the princes' land accounted for more than half of the Han Dynasty, and Qi State occupied the largest fiefdom.The rights and obligations enjoyed by the vassal kingdoms: First, the vassal kingdoms belonged to the Han Dynasty, but they could have the administrative and judicial power to govern the kingdom; they could allow the establishment of hundreds of officials, and they had the power to appoint and remove kingdom officials other than the Taifu and the prime minister.Please note that only the central government has the right to appoint the Taifu and the prime minister, and others can be discussed by themselves. At the same time, the fulfillment of obligations is: the princes and kings must be bound by the emperor; they are not allowed to learn the emperor's rituals; they go to Beijing to invite them twice a year, once in winter and October to perform the ceremony of the year, which is called "Spring Dynasty".Another time is scheduled for autumn.Of course, if you have a cold and fever, or are in poor condition, you don't have to go in person this time, and it is also possible to send a representative to perform official duties.In addition, the princely kingdoms have no legislative power, and all laws must be promulgated by the central government. Second, the vassal kingdoms have the financial power to control the taxation of the feudal country, such as land rent and oral taxation.Of course, if there are benefits, you can't get them yourself, you have to pay a part of the tribute to the emperor and the central government.As for how much, it depends on your mind. Third, princely kingdoms have the power to form and train local armies.You see, this is the power of the princes, as the saying goes, the army overwhelms everything.Although it is said that the formation of the army must be under the command of the central government, the problem is that there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom.Where there are constraints, there are anti-constraints.Anyway, the Tao is one foot high, the devil is one foot high, and there is no end to it. Compared with the vassal kingdoms, the treatment of the princes is far worse.To sum up, there are only two central preferential policies enjoyed by Liehou: First, Hou Guo can allow himself to set up officials.The princes ruled over tens of thousands of households with large land, such as Xiao He and Zhang Liang, which were as large as a few counties; five or six hundred households with small land were only as large as a village pavilion.Don't think that when Hou Guo is small, the central government will let it go.Wrong, in order to prevent them, the Han Dynasty either sent people to conduct surprise investigations from time to time, or conducted surveillance through neighboring counties. Second, Liehou has a food and rent tax in the feudal country.Taxation is a general term, actually including land rent and taxation.Of course, the princes didn't charge as much as they wanted, and everything had to be done according to the central government's documents.Anyway, the central government and the vassal kingdoms can have big fish and big meat, but they can only be small fish and shrimp, plus two catties of shriveled rabbit meat. From the above, we can know that when the princes sent princes and kings, they sent them without troops.Without an army, it is doomed to be difficult to rebel. Han Xin is an exception. At this point, we finally understand why Liu Bang is always uneasy about Wang with a different surname.The conflict between the emperor and the princes and kings with different surnames is not artificial, but caused by the objective system.The emperor was afraid that the princes and kings would rebel, and the princes and kings were afraid that the emperor would seize power. Therefore, the only low-level method Liu Bang thought of was to get rid of the king with a different surname and make Liu's descendants king.Only in this way can the Han Dynasty be controlled by the Liu family from generation to generation.Liu Bang was wrong!Princes are unreliable, and family affection is also unreliable.Power is a devil, as long as it possesses its body and entangles its heart, it will be as fierce and ruthless as its killing. The fact is also the same, and the subsequent Seven Kingdoms Rebellion was born from this.