Name:Liu Zhuang;
Date of birth and death: 28 AD - 75 AD,
Reigned: 18 years;
Origin: Fourth son of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, grandson of Liu Bang 10th, second prince of Liu Xiu, second empress;
How to ascend to the throne: At the age of 29, he took the throne as the crown prince and succeeded Liu Xiu to the throne
How he died: He died of illness in the palace at the age of 47
Meaning of the emperor's name: The temple number Han Xianzong, the nickname Xiaoming Emperor, Ming, enlightened, wise, this word is indeed worthy of Liu Zhuang's wisdom and transparency. The manifest character also has a clear meaning, the merit is remarkable, and the endowment is manifested in the world. The second monarch after the founding of the country, in peacetime, can basically make a great achievement. But it was also this period that laid the foundation of the dynasty.
Meaning of the era name: Yongping, forever peaceful, which shows Liu Zhuang's expectations for the world and the importance he attaches to the common people;
Main auxiliary ministers: Ban Gu, Ban Chao, Dou Xian
Life:
Prince Liu Zhuang was born and was able to become a prince in a counterattack, in addition to the merits of his mother Yin Lihua, the biggest reason was two, one was because of the strength of the local Hao clan of his Yin family, and the other was that Liu Zhuang himself was very smart. I think Liu Zhuang is one of the smartest of all the chinese emperors, at the top of the list. This kind of intelligence is a very transparent person who has a very thorough understanding of human nature, politics, interpersonal relationships, interest relations, etc. It is a kind of cleverness that cannot be fooled, deceived, and can see through everyone's tricks and deceptions at a glance.
His permeable cleverness can be seen in several things:
The first, in 39 AD, when Liu Zhuang was twelve years old, once a magistrate reported to Liu Xiu on the work of inventorying the local population and farmland, and the report wrote: "Yingchuan and Hongnong can be asked, but Henan and Nanyang should not be asked." words. Liu Xiu did not understand what it meant, so he asked the other officials, who did not understand or dared not say. But Liu Zhuang said that this was because Henan was the imperial township, Nanyang was the imperial city, the hometown and place where emperor Liu Xiu started, in addition to the emperor's family, there were countless meritorious ministers and hao families in the local area, so it was impossible to check the population and land. Liu Xiu later asked someone to check and found that this was indeed the case. At the age of twelve, he already knew the complex political relations, official rules and people's hearts.
The second incident occurred in 43 AD, when Liu Zhuang was sixteen years old, and in that year there was a civil uprising and rebellion, in which the imperial court sent a large army to suppress it and besieged the rebels in a city, but because the city was strong and the grain and grass were sufficient, the officers and soldiers lost soldiers and attacked the city many times, causing large casualties. Even Liu Xiu was helpless, and later Liu Zhuang said that this was because the siege was too tight, as long as the encirclement was relaxed a little, so that they had a chance to run out, then the local pavilion chief could eliminate them. Later, Liu Xiu asked the commander to implement this method, and sure enough, the rebels scattered and fled, easily suppressing the uprising.
Third, after he ascended the throne, his brother Liu Jing plotted rebellion three times, and in any dynasty, this kind of brotherly rebellion has always been killed without forgiveness and cut down the grass and roots. But Liu Zhuang did not do this, and spared this Liu Jing three times, and the most severe punishment was only to change the seal to other places or cut Feng Lu. On the contrary, other foreign forces, local hao clan forces, officials, etc. have been seriously hit, and each time they will be killed and some families will be eradicated. Why did Liu Zhuang do this, because he was a really wise man, he clearly knew that Liu Jing was only a small king, and he had no power, and he had no ability to rebel, and he would definitely not pose any threat to the imperial power.
The reason for such behavior is entirely because of the manipulation and instigation of foreign relatives and Hao forces. Therefore, while treating his brothers with tolerance, he severely cracked down on all the external forces involved, even at the cost of thousands of killings, and did not miss the opportunity to crack down on foreign relatives and Hao forces. It was precisely because Liu Zhuang cleverly took advantage of this opportunity to continuously attack the foreign forces of the Hao clan throughout Liu Zhuang's reign that the political situation was effectively stabilized, and the society achieved great development, and there was no turmoil that caused resistance. In this process, he can be said to be doing everything to the extreme, even including many inexplicable, big or small opportunities, he makes full use of it, never let go, as long as he finds an excuse, he will never be soft, amplify the blow surface, even if it involves the Empress Dowager Yin family is equally harsh.
This kind of clever approach has not been achieved by few emperors from ancient times to the present.
Fourth, he has extremely strict requirements for officials, and has high requirements for the assessment and recruitment of officials. Because he knew that the management of the country depended on the bureaucracy, and as long as the system did not have problems, the country would not have any major problems. So he spends almost all of his energy on the management of the bureaucracy, and assessment is its biggest tool. Whether it is cracking down on foreign relatives and Hao forces, checking the population and land, foreign wars, suppressing rebellions, etc., they are all operated through the bureaucratic system. In this process, officials who are found to be negligent, incompetent, and inadequate in implementing policies are dismissed from their posts or imprisoned or beheaded.
But he has preferential treatment and tolerance for capable and decent officials, one of the stories that has been widely circulated in history. A capable official was unable to do things because of his negligence, and Liu Zhuang was very anxious after understanding it, hating that iron was not steel. Picking up a wooden stick and about to hit it, the official did not expect to pull his leg when he saw that the situation was not good. Liu Zhuang actually chased after him with a wooden stick, and finally the official could not run, so he went under the bed in a room. Liu Zhuang had no choice but to order him to come out, and later the official calmed down and said that there was no emperor like you who was out of line and beat his subordinates with a stick. Liu Zhuang was also stunned, so he calmed down and discussed with this official a way to solve the problem in a disciplined manner.
Unfortunately, such a brilliant man died in his prime and did not re-establish an effective system and bureaucracy for the Eastern Han Dynasty. The blow to the local Hao forces has not yet been completed. As a result, the later emperors no longer had the ability and intelligence to accomplish these two great things. After all, the Eastern Han Dynasty could not escape the fate of foreign relatives interfering in politics, eunuchs interfering in politics, and collapsing the dynasty. Whether an emperor can become a great emperor and whether he can become an emperor who changes history and changes the world is also a key factor. An emperor who dies young will bring more uncertainty to future generations.
Liu Zhuang had 9 sons and 11 daughters, and first established the eldest son Liu Jian as the crown prince, but the crown prince died early, and then the fifth son Liu Ju was made the crown prince and inherited the throne.
Major policies and influences on the dynasty:
1. Recover the Western Regions and reset the Western Regions Capital Protectorate, which is also the only credit for Liu Zhuang to open up the territory and expand the territory. After Wang Mang's new dynasty broke away from the Central Plains, the Western Regions were not officially recovered until the late Liu Zhuang period. The biggest contributor is Ban Chao, which is also a historical celebrity that we are more familiar with. In order to manage the Western Regions, Liu Zhuang sent Ban Gu to lead thirty-six people, relying on the power and deterrence of the Han Dynasty at this time, to cross the countries of the Western Regions, and only through a few small wars, with the help of force, and a vigorous blow to the Northern Xiongnu, he submitted to the countries of the Western Regions. The kings of various countries automatically sent protons to Luoyang as hostages and bowed down to them, and the Han Dynasty finally re-established the Western Regions Capital Protectorate and reproduced the glory of the Han Dynasty.
2. Cracking down on foreign relatives and Hao forces, this is Liu Zhuang's biggest domestic policy, and he has been trying to do this all his life. The fact that the foreign forces were too large and unconstrained was the most important reason for Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne. Therefore, as soon as Liu Zhuang came to power, he began to use various structures, laws and opportunities to attack foreign relatives. First of all, his empress Yan family, who was not allowed to participate in the government of the marquis, and his status was not higher than that of the ninth secretary of the imperial court. Including the mother Yin family, it is also strictly guarded, once the fault is found, it will strike with all its strength and show no mercy. The Hao forces are suppressed and attacked by local bureaucrats, and all officials who are ineffective in attacking and poorly managed will be severely punished. Moreover, through various political events, especially the intentions of other brothers to rebel, he also famously and justifiably attacked the Hao clan everywhere.
This policy achieved good results under the premise of the stability of the Han Dynasty's imperial court, the rapid development of the economy and population, and the control of the army. Land concentration, loss of tax collectors, public security problems, and Disputes over the Hao clan have been significantly improved. Especially in the case of public security, because the bureaucracy is strong and the local Hao clan is suppressed, all disputes and violations of law and discipline are basically extinct, and the Hao clan does not dare to violate the law and challenge the authority of the government. It is recorded in the book that the road is not left behind.
3. Comprehensively assess officials and set extremely strict requirements on officials, which is also Liu Zhuang's very far-sighted means and policies. Through the annual assessment of officials at all levels, once he found that his ability was insufficient, his work was ineffective, especially in the work of cracking down on the Hao clan, or he favored the Hao clan officials, he was even more killed and dismissed. This is also the reason why history said that Liu Zhuang was harsh when evaluating him, but it is precisely because of Liu Zhuang's practice that the efficiency of the bureaucracy has been greatly improved, the number of corrupt officials has decreased, and people at the bottom have a high evaluation of Liu Zhuang and his bureaucratic system, and there are many things that praise merit and virtue. This kind of system and ability is something that few emperors in history can do.
Impact on history:
1. Vigorously develop Confucianism, which is one of the basic actions of the emperor of the Han Dynasty, with the development and improvement of Confucian theory, coupled with the fact that the history books are written by Confucian intellectuals. Basically every emperor vigorously promoted Confucianism. On the basis of the original Han Dynasty's establishment of official studies and doctorates, Liu Zhuang also required the children of nobles to read the Five Classics uniformly, focus on promoting the Filial Piety Classics, and become the first person to rule the country with filial piety. Confucianism, through the development of the Han Dynasty and the lessons of Wang Mang's experiments in the past two hundred years, has been more perfected and systematic, and has played an increasingly important role in the cultivation of talents in the imperial court, the guidance of administrative principles, the propaganda of public opinion, the strengthening of royal power, the strengthening of centralized power, and the suppression of aristocratic foreign relatives and noble families. A systematic theory can play a very great role in promoting the emperor's implementation of policies and systems. Otherwise, the division will be unknown, and the world will inevitably be turbulent.
2, the introduction of Buddhism, this is a really big thing, Buddhist cultural theory is very important to China's traditional culture, especially Confucian culture impact is very large. Why Liu Zhuang introduced Buddhism is said to be because he had a dream one day that a golden man flew to the West, and later the ministers explained that the West was the kingdom of Tianzhu and that this golden man was the Buddha. So Liu Zhuang sent two officials to India, invited two monks and returned with a white horse camel forty-two chapters, and built the White Horse Temple in Luoyang. Since then, Buddhism has begun to develop in China.
But if we believe in historical stories, if we believe that an emperor introduced Buddhism with only one dream, it would be too pedantic. It is believed that Liu Zhuang and the entire imperial court and society already had a certain understanding of Buddhism. Because from the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty had exchanges and business with India, the Middle East and other regions through the Western Regions. So it's not surprising that he might have learned about Buddhism. The introduction of Buddhism must have been for political purposes, otherwise the emperor would not have been able to do such a thing. Liu Zhuang himself is a very intelligent and transparent person, and it is also possible for him to understand the role of Buddhism in stabilizing society and educating the people at the bottom and the nobles through understanding Buddhist theory. More importantly, it is estimated that Liu Zhuang also understood the shortcomings of Confucianism and needed a more developed and diverse culture to rule the empire, so he introduced Buddhism.
Emperor Hanming may have been too good-minded, but in times of peace and economic stability, the power of Buddhism did have a great effect on stabilizing society and stabilizing people's hearts. But in times of corruption and incompetence at the imperial court, local out-of-control, and agricultural and economic decline. The conflict between Buddhism, a foreign culture, and traditional Chinese culture, will intensify, leading to greater social unrest and even dynastic change. The Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty directly began the great upheaval of 400 years. The great turbulent periods such as the Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Wuhu Chaohua were inseparable from the shadow of Buddhism. The social conflicts and divisions caused by this cultural conflict were gradually reduced until after the Song Dynasty, after the fusion of Confucian culture and Buddhist culture and Taoist culture through Zhu Xi's theory.