After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, he also faced the same problem as Xiang Yu, the sub-feudal system or the county system, under the political structure at that time, it was obvious that it was impossible to directly adopt the county system, but the sub-feudal system has been proved many times to greatly affect the centralization of power, so that the political situation will return to the state of the masses at any time, history tells us, with Xiang Yu's previous lessons, Liu Bang finally successfully stabilized the situation, creating a foundation of the two Han Dynasties for more than 400 years, how did Liu Bang do it?
Liu Bang film and television image
After the Battle of Xiaxia, Xiang Yu Wujiang killed himself, Liu Bang became the overlord, and the warlords who helped him become the overlord were some of the warlords who had been Xiang Yu's allies and subordinates, and some of them were the meritorious generals who helped him win the world, they all had the strength of mercenaries to respect themselves, and they also had the ambition to divide the territory of the land, if Liu Bang did not divide them, then the war that had just been quelled was likely to start again, and Liu Bang could not take such a risk. In addition, in the Chu-Han war, Liu Bang also gave these warlords the promise of dividing the seals, without these promises, these tyrants who did not see rabbits and did not scatter eagles would not defect. Liu Bang initially decided on Huanyu and it was also very important to win the trust of people, so whether subjectively or objectively, he had to choose the sub-sealing system.
Xiang Yu film and television image
However, Liu Bang definitely also saw the drawbacks of the sub-feudal system, and he must have wanted to greatly strengthen the centralization of power, so there was a gradual removal of the princes who were divided into feudal princes. It should be said that Liu Bang showed outstanding political ability in dealing with this matter. After the Chu-Han rivalry, the number of warlords decreased, some such as the Three Qins (Yong Zhai Sai), the State of Wei, etc., and these previously destroyed princely forces were incorporated into Liu Bang's forces. After Liu Bang's unification, the first step was to use the excuse that some princes did not help them to attack Xiang Yu, and sent troops to fight, such as the State of Linjiang, which was destroyed. After weakening these princes, Liu Bang's power was further strengthened, and he was greatly ahead of other princes in terms of territory and population, laying the foundation for the elimination of kings with different surnames in the later period.
In addition, among the political forces at that time, Liu Bang made several political forces equal, such as the "Fengpei clan" who fought with him and the "foreign relatives" of Lü Hou, which were "his own people" who he could trust in a limited way, and he used the competition of these political forces to slowly find opportunities to clean up the warlords. Another opportunity is that these warlords lack time to cultivate their own internal forces because of the short-term Chu-Han rivalry, and it can be said that the foundation is not very stable, and The strategy of Liu Bang's separation of seals makes them even less confident to confront the central government.
The following specifically talks about Liu Bang's measures, starting from Han Xin, who Liu Bang regards as the biggest threat, Han Xin was accused of rebellion shortly after he was crowned king of Chu, and we do not know whether this denunciation really happened or Liu Bang deliberately arranged it, but from the perspective of Liu Bang's attitude toward this matter, it is likely that he was instructed and acquiesced by Liu Bang. In the face of this accusation, Liu Bang appeared unusually determined, and immediately devised countermeasures to how to arrest Han Xin, without even considering whether it was a false accusation. When Han Xin came to explain to Liu Bang with the head of Xiang Yu's old part Zhong, whom Liu Bang hated, Liu Bang also decided not to give Han Xin a chance, although he did not kill him, but he was also demoted to the Marquis of Huaiyin, and finally he was also killed by Liu Bang.
Han Xin film and television image
Speaking of the former prince of the same name, Han Wangxin of Korea, he was originally sealed in the Warring States Period of Korea's homeland, the territory is small, but located in a strategic point, so Liu Bang changed the Han Wangxin to the north of Taiyuan, which borders the Xiongnu, on the one hand, to remove the obstacles on the road to cut the domain, on the other hand, it can also deplete the strength of both sides through the confrontation between Han Wangxin and the Xiongnu.
The King of Yan, Zang Di, was originally a subordinate of Xiang Yu, and after Liu Bang was unified, he hunted down Xiang Yu's old subordinates on a large scale, and Zang Di was terrified and rebelled against Liu Bang, which was simply great news for Liu Bang, taking the opportunity to destroy the State of Yan, and then replacing him with his own hair Xiao Lu Xuan as the King of Yan, strengthening his own forces.
For the State of Zhao, Liu Bang married his daughter to Zhang Ao, the King of Zhao, which was a way to stabilize his rule through in-laws, but Liu Bang insulted Zhang Ao many times, probably also wanting to provoke the rebellion of King Zhao, and as a result, Zhang Ao did not dare, and his state minister rose up to assassinate Liu Bang, and after the incident, Liu Bang took the opportunity to belittle Zhang Ao and replace Zhang Ao, the King of Zhao, with his own son.
Peng Yue film and television image
Peng Yue, the king of Liang, was the most miserable, and the general of the ministry instigated him to rebel, but he sternly refused and threatened to kill the general, and as a result, the general was afraid to go to Liu Bang to falsely accuse Peng Yue of rebellion, and Liu Bang also laughed at this "great gift" without considering it, and directly deposed Peng Yue as a shuren. On the way to exile, Peng Yue cried to Liu Bang's empress Lü Yan, Lü Yue brought him back to Liu Bang, Peng Yue thought that she would intercede for herself, did not expect that Lü Yan was also a fierce person, but instead advised Liu Bang to kill Peng Yue to avoid the consequences, Peng Yue died so inexplicably.
Wang Yingbu of Huainan, Xiang Yu's most courageous general, rebelled against Xiang Yu to help Liu Bang, and was also falsely accused of rebellion, Liu Bang sent people to be held accountable, and as a result, Yingbu watched these princes being handled by Liu Bang one by one, worried that the next one was himself, and decided to start a strong attack and raise an army to rebel, but he knew that at this time, he was already weak, he was not Liu Bang's opponent at all, and it was ultimately difficult to escape the end of being killed.
Liu Bang and the founding heroes of the Western Han Dynasty
Liu Bang's strategy summed up as a tired enemy and a weak enemy, a rapid response, a surprise, and a division and annihilation. The basis was the power struggle between his powerful Han family's direct domain and various factions in the imperial court, and taking advantage of some false accusations generated by these struggles to push the boat along the water to seize the royal power of the princes. Liu Bang was born into a rogue city, fierce and fierce, but also had such profound political ability, not in a hurry to implement the county system, but the first to create a parallel system of counties and states, eliminating the princes with different surnames and then dividing the princes with the same surname, although there was also a rebellion with the same surname, until his great-grandson Emperor Wu of Han gradually purged the power of the princes. However, we should also know that Liu Bang's later division of princes with the same surname was also to balance political power, and used the strength of his family members to oppose the "Fengpei clan" in the imperial court and the "foreign relatives" in Lü Hou, maintaining the stability of the regime in the early Han Dynasty.
Most of the time politics is not simple and rough can be handled, but to judge the hour and size up the situation, to grasp properly, this history is also wonderful, can be used as a textbook-like existence, even comparable to a work of art, after reading people pleasing to the eye, many great people in later generations also have a very high evaluation of Liu Bang, because our recent articles mainly introduce the historical process of the sub-feudal system and the county system, so there is no detailed analysis, and later there is an opportunity to talk about this history.