After Liu Bang's death, it was his son Liu Ying who succeeded him as emperor, that is, Emperor Hui of Han. However, it was his mother Lü Hou who was in power, and even after the death of Emperor Hui of Han, Lü Hou still controlled the overall situation and established two minor emperors successively.
However, Lü Hou died, and the Lu War broke out. With the support of Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and others, Liu Heng ascended the throne as emperor, that is, Emperor Wen of Han. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han and his son Emperor Jing of Han, he pursued a policy of recuperation and light enrichment, during which the Western Han Dynasty was strong and powerful, known in history as the "Rule of Wenjing", which was also the first prosperous era of the Western Han Dynasty.
Before Liu Heng, the Western Han Dynasty experienced a period of turmoil, and although the government stabilized, the economy was seriously damaged. In politics, Emperor Wen of Han adopted the ruling ideology of rule by doing nothing, that is, the rule of Huang Lao, and the rule of inaction. In the economy, the policy of lightly dispensing with meagre endowments and recuperating and recuperating played a key role in restoring agricultural production and stabilizing the order of feudal rule.
In order to attract peasants to return to agriculture, Emperor Wendi of Han thought of many ways to stimulate the peasants' enthusiasm for production by reducing servitude and reducing provincial rents.
Emperor Wen's subjects practiced frugality and exerted great efforts to create a prosperous situation of "the rule of Wenjing".
After the death of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Qi, the Emperor of Han Jing, succeeded him. He had a similar personality to that of his father, Emperor Wendi of Han, and adopted the same Huang Laozhi technique, ruling by doing nothing. The policy of lightly dispensing with the small and resting with the people has been implemented at the same time, so that the people's burden can be reduced.
Under the rule of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, the Western Han Dynasty changed, the economy developed and prospered, and "Taicang had uneaten millet, and there was money in decay."
The rule of Wenjing was also the first prosperous era of the Western Han Dynasty. Under the influence of conditions such as ruling ideology, the Wenjing period did not organize an army to take the initiative to attack the invasion of the Xiongnu, but adopted a policy of peace and affinity. Therefore, in terms of diplomacy, the Western Han Dynasty did not have any achievements in expanding its territory, but this was also to avoid increasing the burden on the people.
But it was precisely the foundation laid by these two emperors that enabled Emperor Wu of Han to change his foreign policy during his reign and play the prestige of the Western Han Dynasty.