Emperor Wen of Han in film and television dramas
On the first day of June in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (157 BC), Emperor Xiaowen of Xiaowen, who had been thrifty and diligent in his rule, died at Weiyang Palace, and eight days later, the old crown prince Liu Qi succeeded to the throne. Why is it said that he is the old prince, because at this time, Liu Qi is already 32 years old, from 180 BC was made a prince to the current King's Landing, Liu Qi has been the crown prince for more than 20 years, although it is not as long as the Qing Kangxi Dynasty's Yin Rong, but he is luckier than Yin Rong, because he successfully completed the transition of imperial power.
As soon as Emperor Jingdi of Han succeeded to the throne, he began to plot one thing with his teacher Chao Chao —to attack the forces of the princes, which is what we often call the cutting of the domain.
Why can't Liu Qi wait to cut the domain?
The Han Jing Emperor in the film and television drama
For example, when Liu Bang was in conflict with Chu and Han, he was forced to seal many kings with different surnames, and when Xiang Yu was eliminated and the Western Han regime was established, he killed or abolished these kings with different surnames for various means and reasons, and then sealed a number of kings surnamed Liu, including the mastermind of the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms: Liu Tao, the King of Wu. In this way, everyone is a member of their own family, Liu Bang's prestige is also high, and the princely states need to build and develop, and the situation under the world in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty is still relatively stable. However, after the periods of Emperor Hui, Lü Hou, and Emperor Wen, and by the time Emperor Jing succeeded to the throne, the blood relations of the princes were relatively distant, and the princes had developed in the local areas for a long time, their status was stable, and their strength had greatly increased, posing a threat to the central government of the Western Han Dynasty.
Secondly, as mentioned earlier, Emperor Jingdi of Han has been the crown prince for more than twenty years, and this time is a long time, from playful children to adulthood to middle age, and has been living in the reign of Emperor Wen of Han. People familiar with the history of the Western Han Dynasty also understand that Liu Qi's mother, that is, Empress Dou, is a strong woman who likes to interfere in politics, so Liu Qi's living environment can be summarized as follows: Although he is noble, he has always been in a state of pressure, even after adulthood, some ideas must be contained. For example, in a company, a person is a deputy, often pressed half a head, people with such an experience, what do they most desire? That is, after fully taking power, get out of the way, and hurry up to do something to prove yourself!
Portrait of Liu Qi
There is another factor, how old will the Han Jing Emperor be when he succeeds to the throne? 32! During the Qin and Han dynasties, due to various reasons, the average life expectancy of people was not high, and the new emperor's health has not been very good, so it is necessary to quickly make some political achievements.
The power of the princes and kings is a hidden danger, and they need to show their ability, and in this way, a vigorous campaign to cut the domain has begun.
Why is King Wu the most difficult to deal with
After Chao mistakenly wrote the book "Cutting the Clan Strategy", the land of the princes such as the King of Chu, the King of Zhao, and the King of Jiaoxi was still relatively smooth. However, among the princes, the most powerful was Liu Hao, the King of Wu, who was not easy to deal with.
Wu Wang Liu Hao in the film and television drama
In terms of generations, Liu Xi, the father of Liu Hao, the King of Wu, was the second brother of Emperor Gao Liu Bang, so Liu Hao was a cousin of Emperor Wen of Han and an uncle of Emperor Jing of Han. In the early years, Liu Hao was only a marquis, following Liu Bang in his crusade against King Yingbu of Huainan, and had meritorious service in the army, and Liu Liu was a very fierce and brave person, Liu Bang was worried that the people of Wudi were frivolous and strong, disobeying imperial power, and difficult to govern, so he decided to let this young, strong and powerful nephew be the king of Wu and rule over the three counties and fifty-three cities.
In the early years, Liu Hao had just arrived at the feudal state, facing the authority of the Western Han regime, naturally obediently as a party prince, Emperor Hui, Lü Hou period, the world has just stabilized, need to pacify and restore the productive forces, so Liu Hao, like other princes, has also been developing in the feudal state, and the world tends to be stable and harmonious.
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court did not have special intervention in resources, currency, etc., and the princes and princes could be said to be a small imperial court in the feudal state, with their own set of systems and punishments. The State of Wu was strategically located and had abundant resources, and there were copper mines in Yuzhang County, so Liu Hao summoned the world's outlaws to secretly mine and mint money here, and boiled seawater for salt in the east. In this way, the economy of Wuguo was very fast, and the country was rich and oily. Some of Liu Hao's local initiatives are also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, such as the State of Wu has money, do not need the locals to pay taxes, and secondly, the Han Dynasty stipulates in the service of soldiers that those who do not want to go can pay money to replace, and in the State of Wu, if you do not want to go, decide to spend money to find someone to replace, then this money is paid by king Wu. Moreover, in Wudi for decades, every year Liu Hao had to go to the township talents in the jurisdiction area and reward everyone. Another point, and the most dangerous point, is that King Wu recruits outlaws from all over the world, these are all tough people who are not afraid of death, and if the officials of other princely states come to arrest them, King Wu will protect them. This series of measures made Liu Hao extremely prestigious in the local area, with a large number of daredevils loyal to him, and at the same time had the ability to mobilize the strength of wu.
All this, Emperor Jing of Han must have seen in his eyes, because the Western Han chancellor Yuan Ang and Dou Bao had successively served as ministers of state in the state of Wu, and in the face of such a powerful prince, it was not okay to hastily cut his domain, and there was also a small episode in it, that is, the Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi was still the prince, and once there was a dispute with the prince of Wu who had entered the dynasty, and he killed prince Wu with a chessboard, which made King Wu very angry, and in the face of the Han Officials who sent Prince Wu's body back, he not only spoke out to humiliate the imperial court, but was also ready to rebel He no longer observed the etiquette of the imperial court, nor did he go to Chang'an to see him, and later Emperor Wen of Han consciously killed his son Li Yi and agreed that King Wu could no longer enter the court until his death.
Throw out the bait and lure the brother into the company
For Emperor Jing of Han, whether at the level of the Western Han court or at the level of personal grievances, the possibility of cutting the domain to cause a rebellion by Liu Hao, the king of Wu, was very large.
Liang Wang Liu Wu in the film and television drama
What to do? Another powerful prince entered the vision of Liu Qi, the Emperor of Han Jing, and this person was Liu Wu, the King of Liang. It is reasonable to say that as long as there are princes with fiefs, they are all those who have suffered interests, and looking at the world, only King Liang is the younger brother of Emperor Jing, and he can have one heart with the Western Han court.
The history books record that the Liang kingdom has fertile land, a very large area, a large population, and a strong comprehensive strength, and more importantly, if the King of Wu raises an army, the Liang State is the only place through which the King of Wu must go west. It was necessary to win over this younger brother to fight or defend the princes together. But the people are already kings, everything is available, and what else can attract this younger brother to defend the imperial power at all costs? There is only one answer: the crown prince! That is, the future throne!
Therefore, in the twenty-fifth year of Liang Xiaowang, that is, in 154 BC, Liu Wu entered the dynasty. Emperor Jing of Han is also straight into the theme, when drinking, directly said that he has not yet established a prince for the time being, and after he has lived for thousands of years, the throne will pass to you King Liang! In the "Records of History", it is recorded that the King of Liang resigned, but he was very happy in his heart, and Empress Dou was also very happy! Therefore, under the temptation of this big gift package, Emperor Jing put forward the initiative of cutting the domain, and the King of Liang would naturally fully support it, because supporting his brother at this time was equivalent to supporting his future self!
This time, the two brothers talked very happily, so as soon as King Liang returned, Emperor Jing of Han could not wait, and immediately issued an order to Liu Hao to cut and overturn. Sure enough, as soon as the edicts of Wu Yuzhang Commandery and Huiji Commandery arrived in the State of Wu, King Wu killed the officials placed by Han under 2,000 stones in the State of Wu, and contacted Liu Peng, the King of Chu, Liu Sui, the King of Zhao, Liu Peiguang, the King of Jinan, Liu Xian, the King of Zichuan, Liu Ang, the King of Jiaoxi, and Liu Xiongqu, the King of Jiaodong, to jointly rebel against the Han.
Liu Hao raised an army, and the anti-Han Dynasty was passionate
Liu Hao's ability to recruit is still good, and he is a pioneer, an old man of sixty and two, who actually personally took command of the expedition, and the call for speech was also quite touching: "I am sixty-two, and an old bone has also come out to rebel!" Oh, no, also come out of the uprising! My youngest son is only fourteen years old, and he is in the team! Therefore, those between the ages of fourteen and sixty-two should stand up and raise troops together! "In this way, an army of 200,000 was conscripted. With the people there, Liu Hao also formally raised an army in Guangling, crossed the Huai River to the west, and joined the rebel soldiers of the Chu State.
Liu Hao in film and television dramas
As soon as Wu Chu meets, the team is strong, but the imperial power is granted by heaven, the whole world can not be the royal land, the son of heaven wants your land, you rebel, morally impossible to say ah. So he humbly sent letters to all the princes, in addition to the princes who had colluded in advance, the letters were also sent to the princes of Huainan, Hengshan, Lujiang, and other princes, mainly to expound his own set of words, to win everyone to start an army together, what is the advantage of Liu Hao doing this? First, it is best for you to participate, and second, even if you don't participate, it is better to be a wait-and-see than to help the imperial court fight me! Then how did Liu Tao's letters whitewash his treason and then persuade and confuse the princes of the world?
The first point was to concentrate the artillery fire on the body of Emperor Jingdi's teacher, Yushi Dafu Chao! The Son of Heaven is naturally not guilty, but this Chao Dafu is an evil man, he is defenseless, he will only cut down the land of the princes and insult the personality of the princes, so if he continues, he will endanger the Liu clan Jiangshan, and I will not plot to start a army today but to kill the rebel thief! This sounds good, chaotic mistakes have endangered the Western Han regime, and the soldiers who killed him are justified! Moreover, Liu Hao also said that although the order to cut the domain was ordered by Emperor Jing of Han, it was because the emperor was ill and his brain was not clear, and he was deceived by Chao. In this way, he completely whitewashed his crime of rebellion and gave the princes of the world a reason to participate in the rebellion against thieves.
The second point is to exaggerate his own strength, (1) Liu Tao said that although his wu land is small and the population is small, he can also recruit 500,000 elite soldiers (as mentioned earlier, from 14-year-old children to 62-year-old people, he only recruited 200,000), (2) he has been operating in Wu for so many years, and the relationship with the king of Nanyue is also very good.
Third, Liu Tao proposed his military strategic deployment to everyone, and without too much description here, the main thing is that the troops are divided into several roads and approach Chang'an from all directions. This gave the princes of the world a very clear plan, knowing that Liu Hao had a plan and a slight grasp.
The final fourth point is that the grand prize is set, and there is a reward for merit, and according to the different levels, there are also corresponding bounties and knighthoods. The rewards were definitely multiplied by the reward system of the Han Dynasty. Those who already have knighthoods and titles will not be considered at your discretion because you have them, but will only give you more, my money is everywhere in the world, you can receive it everywhere, those who have merit must tell me, I personally go to you to hang a big red flower to award bonuses!
The above four points can be summed up as a reasonable and well-founded uprising, the strength of the troops is strong, there are plans and strategies, and there are many rewards.
Kill the teacher, do not save the brother
The ancient news was slow, and when the Han Jing Emperor knew that the Seven Kingdoms were all reversed, the basic world already knew, and the arrangement for the battle at this time had been slowed down a lot, and when the Han army had not yet gone out, another major event occurred in Chang'an City. In the face of this fierce army of joint rebellion against the Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing of Han, who had just succeeded to the throne for less than two years, was naturally panicked, and all this was seen by Dou Baby, who had a strong insight, so under the recommendation of Dou Baby, Yuan Ang, the minister who had been the minister of state of Wu, gave advice to Emperor Jing of Han, which basically meant that these rebel thieves were all under the guise of killing Chao, as long as they killed Chao, there was naturally no reason to continue to raise troops, and the soldiers could quell the war without bloodshed. This statement made the Han Jing Emperor who had no way to do anything to kill, and the history books recorded that the Han Jing Emperor was silent for a long time and said: I can't lose the world because of one person!
Chao's mistakes in film and television dramas
That being said, but killing enshi damages the emperor's reputation, not to mention that Emperor Jing of Han was a benevolent and righteous prince in the mouth of the people, and the emperor immediately kicked this ball to the chancellor, so at a court meeting more than ten days later, there was a scene: Tao Qing, the minister of the imperial court, and the lieutenant Chen Jia and the court lieutenant Zhang Ou jointly wrote a letter, impeaching Chao, saying that Chao was wrong to provoke the relationship between the monarch and the subject, fooling the emperor into personally marching, and sitting in Chang'an himself! Such a rebellious person should be beheaded and killed his parents, wife, brothers and sisters! Han Jingdi personally signed: Yes!
But what was dramatic was that this benefactor who had been with Liu Qi since he was the crown prince actually did not know anything about the impeachment of everyone in the imperial court! What is even more ridiculous and pitiful is that Chao mistakenly did not know that the emperor he was loyal to wanted to kill himself, Emperor Jing sent people to deceive Chao into entering the palace by mistake, and chao, who was full of enthusiasm, thought that he wanted to discuss important matters, and put on his imperial clothes to enter the palace, and the carriage did not run to the palace, but stopped in Chang'an East City, and a masked chao was thus beheaded in the city. It was possible to give poisoned wine, Bai Aya, but Emperor Jing created such a big battle, killing Enshi at the mouth of caishikou, and also used the cruel method of waist chopping, the purpose of Nu Yan to please the princes was clearly revealed, and the killing of Enshi was started dozens of days after Yuan An's advice, and Emperor Jing of Han must have made a choice after careful consideration!
But can killing Chao Mistake make the princes strike? Smart people don't know that it is impossible, because the purpose of people is not to kill Chao Wrong at all, and killing Chao Wrong is only Liu Hao's means, the dragon chair of Chang'an that people have in mind, not to mention that the arrow is on the string, and there is a reason to take it back? If the teacher is wrongfully killed and the rebels do not retreat, the people of the world will only see the incompetence, cruelty, hypocrisy and naivety of this emperor!
Unable to do so, Emperor Jing of Han began to deploy imperial troops to fight against the rebels, with Taiyu Hou Zhou Yafu attacking Wu Chu, Marquis Li of Quzhou attacking Zhao; general Luan Bu attacking Qi; and the general Dou Infant Tunbing Xingyang to monitor Qi and Zhao's armies.
The rebel forces were mainly two forces, one was the Wu-Chu coalition army, the other was the Qi-Zhao coalition army, first of all, as mentioned earlier, the Wu army crossed the Huaishui and the Chu army to join forces and march westward together, and the princely states of Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Jinan, and Zichuan also rose up to the west one after another, and the King of Qi, who had agreed to join together, temporarily repented. So the kings of Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Jinan, and Zichuan did not go west, first besieging Linzi, the king of Qi, and the worst was the king of Zhao, who secretly contacted the Xiongnu to prepare to jointly attack the Western Han.
Specific how to fight, the article does not elaborate, in general, let's talk about the wu-Chu coalition army, because Wu Chu's strength is large, Zhou Yafu felt that the odds of a frontal battle were not great, so he and Emperor Jingdi of Han agreed on a strategy, that is, to let Liang Guo attract Wu Chu's firepower, to put it bluntly, it is to be a cannon fodder, which doubled the pressure on Liu Wu, the king of Liang in Suiyang City, and the combined siege of Wu and Chu combined to attack the city, breaking the thorn wall south of the capital of Liang State, Suiyang was in a hurry, Liu Wu, the king of Liang, hurried to zhou Yafu for help, and Zhou Yafu ignored it. Liu Wu, who had no choice, asked the emperor's elder brother in the imperial court for help, and Emperor Jing of Han had no choice, so he ordered Zhou Yafu to save Liang Guo, but Zhou Yafu resisted and did not obey, and also said a famous saying, "Will be outside, the king's life is not affected"! This kind of rebellious words, the Han Jing Emperor was actually not angry, and did not punish him later, but in his later years because of a pair of chopsticks killed Zhou Yafu, what does it mean? It shows that not saving liang guo was tacitly approved by emperor Jingdi of Han.
The image comes from the Internet
In fact, the King of Liang should also think, will the Emperor's elder brother come to save you? What is the cause of this great war? Cut the domain! You Liang King is also a prince, now take the opportunity to attack you, so that you and the Wu-Chu alliance will suffer losses! The hopeless King of Liang could only stubbornly resist, but fortunately he persevered and saved the capital of the Liang state. Seeing that they could not attack liang for a long time, the angry and corrupt Wu-Chu coalition army turned its head to attack Zhou Yafu, and Zhou Yafu did not move, holding on to the barrier, at the same time, privately sent light troops south to seize the mouth of Surabaya into Huai, cut off the rebels' grain routes, ancient wars, grain and grass supply is very important, the Wu-Chu coalition army that was cut off from logistics had no rations, the army was scattered, and the hungry and dazed army sneaked into Zhou Yafu's camp at night, Liu Hao could only be regarded as an ambitious prince, not a general with rich experience, but the Wu-Chu army still had a little plan In order to attack the southeast of Zhou Yafu's army, this plan was discovered, and Zhou Yafu ordered a garrison to the northwest. Sure enough, Wu Chu's army attacked from the northwest, because the Han army was defensive, Wu Chu's army failed to break through, starvation, cold (the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms occurred in the first month), Wu bing was defeated, most of the soldiers starved to death or surrendered and scattered, Zhou Yafu led the army to pursue, and broke the combined forces of Wu and Chu.
Seven Kingdoms Rebellion Battle Route Map (Image from the Internet)
In Qidi, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Jinan, Zichuan and other large armies are still besieging the State of Qi, these gangs have not been attacked for three months, plus Wu Chu in the south is also a chicken feather, naturally it is more and more weak-minded, under the pressure of Luan Bu's army, they retreated to their respective fiefdoms. And Li Ji led troops to attack the State of Zhao, and Liu Sui, the king of Zhao, while holding the capital city of Handan, asked the Xiongnu for help, and the Xiongnu naturally refused to send troops to help after learning about the defeat of Wu Chu's troops. The Luan Buban division, which had pacified the princes of Qidi, attacked Handan together with Li Ji, flooding the city of Handan and destroying the city of Handan.
At this point, the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was put down in just three months.
Why did Liu Hao, the King of Wu, fail?
At the beginning of the army, the great battle frightened the Han Jing Emperor in Chang'an City, and he did not hesitate to kill the enshi infamous to please these princes. Therefore, for the final victory of the Han army, the central government of the Western Han Dynasty was also uncertain at the beginning, how could the huge Wuchu Seven Kingdoms army be so vulnerable?
First of all, it is unpopular, Mencius said in "Mencius Li Lou Shang", those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and Liu Tao's move is unpopular, in 221 BC the Qin Dynasty was established, but the world was bitter Qin for a long time, the Qin Dynasty period was very hard, and then there was the late Qin uprising, the Chu-Han dispute, a period of time after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang also quelled chaos everywhere, most of the time was in war, the lives were ruined, the people were miserable, and the people under the world really rested and recuperated, settled down, from the Huidi to the Wen Emperor period to calculate, It's only been twenty or thirty years, and now that there's going to be a war again, will people support it? And it is not the same as the late Qin uprising, it will be because the oppressed can not get up, now? Everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, because you Wu Wang Liu Liu's ambitions alone, and want to start a war, whether it is the people of the world or the soldiers within the rebel army, they must be resistant in their hearts, not to mention that the subjects are rebellious and rebellious, and it is something that cannot be lived in conscience.
Secondly, Wu Wang is a very conceited person, can not listen to the opinions of others, there have been three people to give him advice, he either thinks that others are young, look down on others, or do not trust others, do not give up power, or is not focused on the right, should not pay attention to. This eventually led to failure.
After the war, Liu Hao, the king of Wu, fled to Eastern Yue in defeat, and under the lure of the Western Han, the king of Eastern Yue gave Liu Hao to death and sacrificed his head to the Western Han Dynasty; Liu Peng, the king of Chu, committed suicide in defeat; the king of Jiaoxi committed suicide; the king of Jiaodong, the king of Zichuan, and the king of Jinan, Fufa, were cursed.
Revenge of the Han Jing Emperor
The news of Wu Chu's rout reached Chang'an, and Emperor Jing of Han was very happy. But in addition to being happy, it is anger! Because in order to please the princes, he killed his mentor and did not buy a strike, which made the emperor who had recently succeeded to the throne lose his reputation and lose face. He did not pardon the rebels for his victory, but retaliated further.
The historical record records that he issued an edict, as long as the rebel officials above three hundred stones are killed without mercy, in fact, the standard of three hundred stones is very low, there are almost no people with such a small number, most of them are more than this number, which means that many people will be killed, and the Han Jing Emperor also added a clause at the end of the edict, vain or not implemented, sent to the waist beheading!
Anyone who beheaded or captured more than three hundred stones was killed, and nothing was done. Those who dare to discuss the edict and those who are inferior to the edict must be beheaded. Historia. Biography of Wu Wang liu lie
Whether Emperor Jingdi of Han should pardon the defeated soldiers, we cannot evaluate, but in the face of Wu Chu's fiasco and the remnants of the soldiers who have no ability to fight back, Emperor Jingdi of Han did not give a decree to prevent the wanton slaughter of the Han army as a victor, but ordered to expand the scope of killing, which is enough to see the cold-blooded ruthlessness behind this benevolent king.
Of course, as one of the founders of the rule of Wenjing, Emperor Jingdi of Han jing made indelible contributions to the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, and everything he did should also be the helplessness of the emperor!