When Liu Bei, the Emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty, raised an army, people spoke lightly, and in order to expand the intensity of propaganda, they reported the name of Liu Sheng, the king of Wang Jing, the son of his ancestor Emperor Jing of Han, but it added a bit of royal color to him.
To this day, the name of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, is also widely known, but for Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, and his Zhongshan Kingdom are little known, especially "worrying" is that when the Zhongshan Jing King, who has more than 120 sons, encounters the "Tui En Order" of Emperor Wu of Han, how should his Zhongshan Kingdom be divided?
Today, Shui Yibai came to talk about those things about Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, and the "Tui En Ling".
1. King Jing of Zhongshan
Liu Qi, the Emperor of Hanjing, had fourteen sons, the tenth of whom was Liu Che, the Emperor of Han, and the ninth was Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, who was born to Liu Pengzu, the king of Zhao Jingsu (the seventh son of Emperor Jing of Han), both of whom were born to Lady Jia, the favored concubine of Emperor Jing of Han. In 154 BC, after the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" was put down, the 12-year-old Liu Sheng was given the title of King of Zhongshan and had a fief of his own, ruling Lunu County (in present-day Dingzhou, Hebei).
The Zhongshan Kingdom is not very large, just a corner of the northeast of the former Changshan County, with a population of about three or four hundred thousand, which is naturally incomparable with those great princely states in the early Han Dynasty, but it is still quite free. Liu Sheng's greatest hobby in life seems to be listening to music, drinking some wine, enjoying songs and dances, making games with beautiful women, etc. As for being diligent in government and loving the people, and appeasing the people, these things are solved by the officials under his command.
His brother Liu Pengzu, the king of Zhao Jingsu, always said that he "only knew how to enjoy a life of luxury and pleasure, and did not know how to assist the emperor and appease the people. At this time, Liu Sheng would retort to his lips and sneer: "Do you have to handle government affairs instead of officials like you?" When the princes of nature should listen to music, accompanied by beautiful women. It can be seen that the personality difference between the brothers of the same father and mother is also quite large.
2. The oppressed princes
Since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the rebellions of the princes have occurred from time to time, especially the impact of the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" is even greater. From then on, it seemed that weakening the power of the princes, disclosing the crimes of the princes, and so on, these acts of attacking the princes became the right choice, and the princes felt great pressure. If during the Jing Emperor period, Liu Sheng and these princes could still have some preferential treatment, in the period of Emperor Wu, they naturally became the object of suppression.
In the third year of Jianyuan (138 BC), Liu Sheng, the King of Jing of Zhongshan, together with Liu Fa (Liu Sheng's sixth brother) the Prince of Changsha and Liu Deng (son of Liu Sheng's third uncle Liu Shan), went to Beijing to meet Emperor Wu of Han. When Emperor Wudi of Han saw his brothers come to see him, he was naturally warmly entertained, with a large feast and a song and dance performance. However, just between the banquets, Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, actually cried in public (Liu Bei's skill seems to be inherited from Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing), and Emperor Wu of Han asked Brother Jiu why he was crying, and Liu Sheng pushed the boat along the water and poured out all the bitter water in the stomach of the prince.
"He who hears sorrow shall not be tired, and he who thinks shall not sigh... Imabari's heart has been knotted for a long time, and every time he hears the sound of young eyes, he does not know the cross of weeping. ”
"Although the subject is thin, he must be attached to the lungs; although he is humble, he must be the Eastern Domain, and he is also called a brother." Nowadays, the group of ministers is not a relative of Ye, the weight of the hair, the group party, the friends, so that the husband's clan room is rejected, and the flesh and bones are frozen. Spocky is so displaced, than dry so cross-divided also. "Poetry" cloud "my heart is sad, and my sorrow is like a pound; false sleep is eternally sighing, only worry about the old; the heart is worried, and the scabies are like a disease", and the subject is also said. ——" Book of Han. Biography of king Jing Thirteen
It can be seen that although Liu Sheng is greedy and lustful, he is also a scholar, otherwise he would not have spoken his views in public under such circumstances, not only to fight for the interests of these princes, but also to adopt a way that was easier for Emperor Wu of Han to accept, and indeed he was not an ordinary person. After listening to Liu Sheng's speech, Emperor Wu of Han immediately said that he would increase the rewards of the princes, reduce the listening to the officials to play the princes' affairs, and exert more imperial favors on the relatives of the imperial family.
However, although the superficial rewards are more, the real "threat" comes soon after.
Third, the strength of the "Push Grace Order"
The earliest to put forward the idea of "Tui En Ling" was the politician Jia Yi during the Han Wen Emperor period, in view of the strength of the princely states, Jia Yi proposed that "the princes were built and less powerful", but due to the political situation in the early Han Dynasty, this politics was not fully implemented. In the second year of Yuan Shuo (127 BC), Zhongdafu's father Yan proposed to Emperor Wu of Han that "the princes should be ordered to divide their sons and sons, and to be the marquis of the land." Everyone was pleased with what they wanted, and they divided their country with virtue, and did not cut it and were slightly weaker", Emperor Wu of Han adopted this strategy, which was the "Tui En Order".
The core idea of the "Tui En Ling" was to let the princely states divide their land among their own sons, and the han dynasty policy would determine the title, and the management of the princely states would belong to the Han County.
Obviously, the power of the princely states has been weakened step by step in this process, but the princes themselves have no corresponding solution. The land was mainly given to the sons of the princes, and was not released, but the princes themselves or their concubines were diluted with "original shares", which was a state policy that was difficult to refuse.
However, the question is, like Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, who has more than one hundred and twenty sons, how should his land be divided? One son and one county are not enough points.
IV. King Jing of Zhongshan Encounters the "Tui En Order"
The history books do not write about what kind of state Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, was in when he saw the "Tui En Order" issued. Shui Yibai thought, he was probably ignorant at that time. According to the original plan, his fiefdom should be passed on to his eldest son Liu Chang, but now it is to be distributed to other sons in advance, which seems to be a bit of a sense of early separation of family property. However, what should come was always coming, and in more than three years, nineteen of the sons of King Jing of Zhongshan were given fiefs.
1. The first batch of sub-seals
In the same year (127 BC), Liu Sheng was divided into five counties and given to his five sons, Liu Zhong the Marquis of Guangwang, Liu Chaoping the Marquis of Liang, Liu Weiyang the Marquis of Salary Hall, Liu Zhen the Marquis of Lucheng, and Liu Jia the Marquis of Salary.
Note: Liu Zhen, the Marquis of Lucheng, was the ancestor of Liu Bei, the Emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty, and at this time, he was only a county, and there were still more than three hundred years left for Liu Bei, what other industry could there be? Moreover, Liu Zhen lost the marquis in the fifth year of Yuan Ding (112 BC) because of insufficient gold color.
2. The second batch is divided into seals
The second batch of seals consisted of only one person.
In the third year of Yuan Shuo (126 BC), Liu Sheng's son Liu Yi was given the title of Marquis of Land.
3. The third batch is divided into seals
In the fourth year of Yuan Shuo (125 BC), Liu Shengzi Liu Guang was made the Marquis of Linle, Liu Zhang the Marquis of Dongye, Liu Xi the Marquis of Gaoping, and Liu Po the Marquis of Guangchuan.
4. The fourth batch is divided into seals
In the fifth year of Yuan Shuo (124 BC), nine more sons of Liu Sheng were given the title of Marquis.
Marquis Liu Of Sangqiu, Marquis Liu Shaohu of Gaoqiu, Marquis Liu Gai of Liusu, Marquis Liu Rang of Rongqiu, Marquis Liu Xiu of Fanyu, Marquis Liu Wanzai of Qucheng, Marquis Liu Chuanfu of Anguo, Marquis Liu Ying of Anjian, and Marquis Liu Hui of Andao.
It can be seen that the "Tui En Order" has just been promulgated for more than three years, and Liu Sheng's Zhongshan State has been divided into 19 counties. So, how many counties does Liu Sheng's Zhongshan Kingdom still have? There are probably only nine counties left, namely Lunu, Beiping, Quqi, Wangdu, Tang County, Kuxing, Shenze, Wuji, and Xinshi, less than 40% of the original.
It can be seen that the promulgation of the "Tui En Order" still had a very great impact on Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, and the fief was rapidly reduced in a few years. Moreover, these did not occur during his reign, not after his death, which shows the strength of the "Tui En Order". Fortunately, from then on, the land of zhongshan state was no longer divided among Liu Sheng's other sons, and probably Emperor Wu of Han also considered that there were not many fiefs in the hands of his ninth brother.
5. Is the "Push Grace Order" unbreakable?
It seems that after Emperor Wu of Han promulgated the "Tui En Order", the gradual weakening of the strength of the princes was already irreversible, and there was really no way to crack it?
It should be said that if it is implemented in full accordance with the laws of the state, the "Tui Grace Order" is indeed unbreakable.
Not only were the lands of the princes constantly divided among their sons, but even those who were given marquises had difficulty retaining their titles. As far as these sons of King Jing of Zhongshan alone are concerned, very few of the nineteen marquises can keep, most of them were removed from the country in the fifth year of the Yuan Ding (112 BC) due to the "Conquest of the Lordship of Jin", and it was even more difficult to keep the title because of other mistakes or no queen, and the title of King of Zhongshan was also removed from the country in 58 years after Liu Sheng's death (113 BC).
So, what if it is not implemented according to national decrees? That means rebellion. However, after years of efforts by Emperor Gao of Han, Emperor Wen of Han, and Emperor Jing of Han, the strength of the princely states of the Han Dynasty was far inferior to that of the early Han Dynasty, and they did not have the strength to rebel.
In the early Han Dynasty, the seven kings with different surnames had 22 counties in their hands, while the Han Dynasty government had only 24 counties; by the late Han Jing Emperor, the Han Dynasty government had 43 counties, and the princely states had as many as 25. Compared with the early Han Dynasty, on the one hand, the county administration was constantly divided, and the county at this time had shrunk a lot, plus there was only one county in these princely states except for Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu Yi, and the strength was already much smaller. At this time, it was too difficult to fight against the Han Dynasty government.
Moreover, at this time, the princely states no longer had the two major benefits of the early Han Dynasty, "self-appointed officials" and "endowments", not only could not arrange their own subordinate officials, but also reduced their income a lot. When the famous King Liu An of Huainan planned a rebellion, he had to find a way to hide his state minister and important subjects, which invisibly increased the risk of information being leaked, and as a result, because the matter was exposed, it led to the end of self-murder.
Therefore, princes like Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, could only choose the fate of being silently weakened in the end.
Water talk
Finally, I would like to make two points:
1. Although the fiefdom of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, was constantly divided, his living conditions were still what many emperors hoped to see, and the princes who "listened to music every day and sounded the royal colors" were still much less threatening than those sage-like princes. Moreover, although this state of life seems to have fallen a lot, is it not the best choice for these princes?
2. Liu Sheng also had a son who was not given the title of Marquis by dividing up his lands, he was Liu Quyi. Between 92 BC and 90 BC, Liu Quyi was awarded the title of Marquis of Peng for serving as a chancellor. However, as Liu Quyi was convicted and beheaded, his title was naturally revoked by the Han government.