"Why don't the boys take Wu hooks and charge Guan Shan Fifty States." Please go to ling yan pavilion for the time being, if a scholar is a ten thousand households? This is a poem written by Li He in the Tang Dynasty, "Thirteen Poems in the South Garden" (the fifth). The poem writes the poet's desire to be enfeoffed through military merit. Not only poets, in ancient times, both civilian officials and military generals took the title of marquis as their goal, if it was in the Western Han Dynasty, if it was not a marquis, it was not possible to be a minister at all.
Still
I. What is Hou (or Liehou)
The marquises are generally divided into meritorious marquises, prince marquises, and foreign relatives. Prince Hou and his foreign relative Hou did not say anything, that is the kind of person born with a golden spoon. Ordinary people can only obtain titles by establishing merit. The emperor rewarded the fiefs to the marquises, who, although unable to participate in the administration of the fiefdoms, collected taxes from the fiefs. As long as you don't violate the imperial court rules, this marquis can also be hereditary, and passed on to his son after the father's death. As long as you are excellent, this title can continue with the imperial court. In addition, the princes and emperors are closer, and the opportunities for promotion are also very large. Therefore, the marquis has always been the greatest pursuit of being an official.
The princes accepted the division of the imperial court and enjoyed such good treatment, of course, they also had to fulfill their responsibilities. The first is absolute obedience to the emperor's orders; The second is to keep peace for the Son of Heaven; Then there is the regular entry into Beijing to report for duty; Finally, there is a small tribute.
Shochu (gold cake)
2. The Gold Medal
In 112 BC, Emperor Wu asked the marquis to offer a tribute to the temple. In feudal society, the sacrifice of the temple was a very important thing, which was usually presided over by the emperor, so any details were sloppy.
However, when the emperor sent shaofu to inspect the gold, he found that a large amount of gold was insufficient or not in good color. Shaofu informed Emperor Wu of this situation, and Emperor Wu of Han ordered a strict screening, and it turned out that there were problems with the gold of one hundred and six of the princes. Emperor Wu of Han waved a big hand and deposed these one hundred and six princes.
Zhao Zhou, who was then the chancellor, was reported not to have reported it, and Emperor Wu of Han ordered him to be arrested and imprisoned, and Zhao Zhou finally had to choose suicide.
Third, there is a reason for the incident
Emperor Wu of Han deposed 106 marquises because of the fact that He Jin had done so little, and the chancellor was forced to commit suicide for this reason. First of all, the imperial court fought for many years, the imperial court's savings were exhausted, and Emperor Wu adopted the suggestions of Sang Hongyang and Zhang Tang and others to implement a series of economic changes, so that almost all the wealth in the world returned to the imperial court. From the princes to the common people have been affected by this, the income has been greatly reduced, so they choose to cut corners. In addition, there were problems with so many marquises, why didn't Zhao Zhou, as a chancellor, react to Emperor Wu? Personally, I think this problem should have existed for a long time, and nothing has happened all along, so I turned a blind eye.
If you know the background at that time, I don't think they have been wronged at all.
First, seriously desecrated Gao Zu.
Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, struggled to establish the Great Han Dynasty, and after the establishment of the new dynasty, he also rewarded the meritorious deeds. Therefore, when the princes want to enjoy their rights, they should also drink water and think about the source. The amount of gold presented today is insufficient or the color is not good, which is a great disrespect to Gao zu.
Second, there was no worry for the imperial court
After Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, he put the center of the empire on the crusade against the Xiongnu. Successive years of conquest have left the imperial court with empty inventory and a serious attrition of men. Some people will ask whether it is appropriate for Emperor Wu to pursue and beat the Xiongnu poorly, preferring to beat the Xiongnu to the ground if he is poor and white. History has taught us that this is the perfectly correct approach. Since Emperor Wudi of Han drove the Huns to Central Asia, the invasion of nomadic peoples from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the beginning of Emperor Wudi of Han for almost a thousand years has been well resolved. Until the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, the nomads could not pose a threat to the Central Plains Dynasty. This is entirely due to the long-term vision of Emperor Wu of Han.
However, some of the princes were not very supportive, and they even cut corners on gold, so don't expect them to make much contribution to the imperial court. Of course, even if their gold was in line with the requirements, it would not solve the situation of the imperial court's financial difficulties, but Emperor Wu would not feel so lost.
The princes' gold was not conspicuous to the emperor, and what really made Emperor Wu rectify the marquis was the appearance of a person, this person was called Bu Shi. This man was born as a sheep herder, but he donated half of his family property free of charge to help the court fight against the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu was very happy to make him the minister of state of Qi. Later, the South Vietnamese minister Lü Jia rebelled. Emperor Wu planned to send Liehou to lead an army to quell the rebellion, but no one was willing. At this time, Bu Shi also requested to lead people familiar with the water nature of the State of Qi to South Vietnam to suppress the rebellion. Emperor Wu thought that a group of marquises were inferior to a sheep, and what was the use of leaving them, so he took the opportunity to criticize the marquis with the matter of gold.
III. Strengthen centralization
Most people believe that the purpose of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to seize the throne was to strengthen the centralization of power in the imperial court, but I personally hold different views. After emperor Jing of Han quelled the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the other six princely states except the State of Chu were abolished, and the land was divided into counties. These lands were directly administered by the imperial court, which almost doubled in size. At this point, it was no longer difficult for the local princes to confront the imperial court, and during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu adopted the Tuien Order, which further weakened the strength of the local princes. In addition, at this time, the princes only collected the taxes of the fiefs as a salary, and had no management power at all. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han did not need to centralize power in the way of The Jin Dynasty.
The imperial court faced many difficulties, the marquis only cared for his own pleasure, and the marquis was deposed as a matter of course. However, the innocent suffering of Zhao Zhou is indeed regrettable.