In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, after experiencing wars at the end of the Qin Dynasty, wars with the Xiongnu and several civil strife, the people's livelihood was withered and everything was in ruins. Emperor Wen of Han was proclaimed emperor after Lü Hou's death, he learned the historical lesson of the death of the Second Qin Dynasty, and after ascending the throne, he exerted great efforts to govern, abolish harsh laws, promote rule by virtue, make the country rich and strong, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. However, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the various laws of the Qin Dynasty were basically retained, and once the government convicted someone, his family members often sat together. After Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, he immediately began to discuss with his ministers the abolition of harsh laws such as sitting together.
Ministers at the time believed that without strict criminal law, the people would not be able to restrain their behavior very well. Practicing consecutive sittings can make people have greater psychological pressure when committing crimes, and can reduce the probability of committing crimes. Moreover, this method has been around for a long time, and officials and the people have adapted to it, so it should be continued. However, Emperor Wen of Han felt that the purpose of enforcing the law should be to prohibit evil deeds and guide good deeds. The practice of consecutive sittings, which not only punishes the perpetrators but also punishes relatives who have not committed crimes, is not in line with the purpose of making the law. Moreover, only when the law is just and reasonable can the people agree, and only when the punishment is appropriate can the people obey. If the officials who govern the people cannot guide the people to goodness, but use harsh criminal law to deal with them, it will cause more crimes. The ministers had nothing to say, and the long-established law of sitting together was abolished.
Corporal punishment accounted for a large proportion of the law at that time, and once tortured, it became disabled, and it was very difficult to reform even if it was necessary. Later, because of Ti Qian's rescue of his father, Emperor Wen of Han felt the cruelty of corporal punishment, and he blamed himself for his lack of education, so he ordered the abolition of corporal punishment that made people disabled.
In order to dispel everyone's concerns about entering the court, Emperor Wen of Han also deliberately abolished the crime of slander and rumor-mongering in the code: "The ancients ruled the world and did not establish the crime of slander and rumor-mongering, so all the courtiers and the people dared to speak out and advise without any worries. However, there is one more such crime in the law today, the courtiers are afraid of being convicted, they do not dare to consult, the people are afraid of being punished, and they do not dare to talk about government affairs, so they are deceived, they are not aware of their own faults, and they have suffered great losses. Therefore, from now on, if this crime is abolished, everyone can dispel all worries and speak freely. ”
Emperor Wen of Han relaxed the shackles on the speech of his subjects, further enhancing the enthusiasm of his subjects to make suggestions. At that time, Emperor Wen of Han often encouraged his ministers to boldly express their opinions in the court, and when they walked out of the palace and heard the people discussing state affairs on the side of the road, they would immediately stop and listen carefully.
Emperor Wen of Han repeatedly issued edicts to encourage his subjects to boldly enter the advice, whether it was aimed at himself or the important subjects of the court, they could directly and explicitly state that there was no need to hide anything, which once again set off a climax of the subjects' consultation. Many people were fiercely worded when they entered the advice, and some even directly rebuked Emperor Wen of Han, and Emperor Wen of Han did not think anything of it. Good advice will be actively adopted and rewarded by those who have advised; those who have bad advice will not be blamed, and he will speak out to encourage those who have advised. In the view of Emperor Wen of Han, in order to become a Ming Emperor, it is very important to listen to the advice of his subjects extensively, and it is more important to know how to distinguish between the good and bad of these advices, and it is more important to treat them differently.
While abolishing various harsh laws, Emperor Wendi of Han vigorously advocated indoctrination. Filial piety came first, and Emperor Wen of Han placed "filial piety" first among all virtues. He once made a special decree to ask all localities to take care of the lonely and widowed elderly, to set an example for the people of the world to honor the elderly, and later to give more care to the elderly over the ages of eighty and ninety. Emperor Wen of Han not only demanded filial piety from the people, but also set an example for the people by example. Emperor Wendi's birth mother, Empress Ying, was in poor health and once suffered from a serious illness, which took three years to get better. During his illness, Emperor Wendi of Han took good care of his mother, not only did he boil the soup medicine by his own hands, but the work of feeding the medicine to his mother was also done by him, the king of a country. In order not to let the medicine burn his mother, he tried the temperature of the medicine in advance every time, and fed it to his mother until it did not burn his mouth. The filial piety of Emperor Wen of Han was widely spread at that time, and everyone knew that the current emperor was a benevolent and filial prince. Later, when the Yuan Dynasty compiled the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties", Emperor Wen of Han personally tasted the soup medicine and was also among them.
Emperor Wen of Han also advocated frugality, and he himself can be counted as the most frugal emperor in Chinese history. According to historical records, during the twenty-three years of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he did not build any new palaces and gardens. Once, when Emperor Wen of Han wanted to build a terrace in the palace, the craftsmen said after budgeting that they would need to spend one hundred taels of gold. Emperor Wen of Han believed that one hundred and two pieces of gold was too much for ordinary people, so he did not want to spend it and canceled the construction plan. Emperor Wendi of Han rarely added even vehicles for daily travel and his own clothing. He allocated a large number of horses from the palace to the caravanserai, leaving only a number of barely functioning in the palace. He was also wearing cheap black cloth clothes, and even his favored Lady Heng did not reward him with any luxurious clothes.
Ancient emperors paid the most attention to their own mausoleums, generally building large-scale civil engineering for decades, using countless treasures as funerals, consuming a lot of manpower and material resources. When Emperor Wen of Han built his own garden mausoleum, he sought simplicity. The entire mausoleum was built according to the topography, and all utensils were required not to use expensive gold and silver and other gold and silver, but to use pottery. Emperor Wen of Han's frugal behavior reflected his love for the people and his understanding of the people's suffering, and he led the officials of the time to jointly pursue the improvement of the people's living standards.
In order to improve the living standards of the people, Emperor Wen of Han opened up the mountains, forests and rivers that used to live in the country. The people were able to develop minerals, carry out fishing and animal husbandry, and the peasants' side production developed rapidly. Emperor Wen of Han also greatly reduced the number of enlistments. Twice, he "removed half of the land tax" and reduced the rent to thirty taxes, that is, one-thirtieth of the harvest paid. Thirty taxes and one also became customized in the Han Dynasty. He also changed the length of service for adult men to three years, which greatly reduced the burden on the peasants and enabled the people to engage in production with peace of mind. In order to encourage the people to participate in production and construction, he led hundreds of officials to personally go down to the land to cultivate on many occasions, and fixed the emperor's cultivation and the empress's planting of mulberries as a ceremonial system. For the people who are diligent in production, the government gives property rewards.
Emperor Wen of Han practiced virtue by practicing self-cultivation, and was regarded as a model for ming emperors at that time and in later generations. At that time, the people were even more affected by the rule of virtue, the living standards were greatly improved, and the strength of the whole country was greatly enhanced, creating a prosperous situation of "the rule of culture and scenery".