All nations come to the dynasty, and the eight parties come to the ceremony. Such a scene generally appears in the heyday of each dynasty, many countries come to the Central Plains to pay tribute, and the Central Plains Dynasty, in order to show its strength, will give a lot of property to the countries that come to pay tribute, much more than they pay tribute. The Central Plains Dynasty lost money in this transaction, and the money it took was just to buy a face, in today's terms, it is to lose money and make money.
Of course, when the dynasty has money, this is nothing. But when the national treasury was insufficient, the emperor also knew that his face was not as good as his face. You may wonder how the lack of dynastic treasuries means that the dynasty has declined and has no deterrent power, so how can there be any country to pay tribute.
In fact, there is still such a fierce dynasty in history, even if it is about to perish, the surrounding countries still have a great reverence for it.
This dynasty is the Han Dynasty, known as the "Strong Han". When many later dynasties were about to fall, the surrounding nomads would begin to have trouble, such as the Turks at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the Mongols at the end of the Song Dynasty. This was not the case in the Western Han Dynasty, where during the period of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty had a huge foreign influence, loyal and upright people were framed, and the government was in a mess. During this period, natural disasters such as hail and drought occurred, and the people's livelihood was also very bitter, and a cult was born. People held hemp poles to pass to each other, saying that this was the plan of the Queen Mother of the West to pass on to the world. For this reason, some people wore their shawls and spread bare feet, some went around the pass at night, and some rode horses on horseback, passing the hemp pole to Chang'an. The local government cannot prohibit these things. People gathered and gambled in the fields and on the paths, and then sang and danced to worship the Queen Mother of the West until autumn. As a result of this cult event, there was no harvest in the autumn, a harvest season, resulting in an emptiness in the national treasury.
At this time, shan Yu, the leader of the Xiongnu, an old rival of the Han Dynasty, wrote to the Han Dynasty and wanted to meet the Tianzi of the Han Dynasty next year. At this time, the Han Emperor was ill, so he asked the ministers for their opinions. The ministers all said that the Xiongnu dynasty would spend a lot of money on the treasury this time, and now the treasury has very little money, so it is better to refuse it first.
Shan Yu was about to say goodbye, and at this time a heavy figure appeared. Although his name is not very familiar to you, you must have heard the poem about him - Nanyang Zhuge Lu, Western Shuzi Yunting. He was Yang Xiong, the lord of the Western Shu Zi Yunting Pavilion, who was juxtaposed with Zhuge Liang in Liu Yuxi's "Buried Chamber Inscription".
He said that the Confucian Six Classics say that the most sophisticated method of governing the country should be solved when chaos has not yet taken shape. The same is true militarily, and the enemy can be subdued without war.
Now if you want to come to the court, if you refuse, it will make the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty suspicious. The Xiongnu were a powerful nomadic people on the steppe, and a big man like Qin Shi Huang only built the Great Wall to defend. Your ancestor Liu Bang was besieged in Baideng with an army of 300,000, but fortunately, there was a strategist like Chen Ping who bribed Shan Yu's wife to escape. Your grandmother Lü Hou was insulted by the Xiongnu and could only humbly reply. Since then, the Han Dynasty has had to be at peace in order to maintain a brief period of peace. And this short period of peace is only to see the mood of the Xiongnu, and they do not want to fight us.
Emperor Wu of Han couldn't help it, took out all the family property he had saved in the early stage, and fought with the Xiongnu to defeat the Xiongnu. The Han Dynasty was almost destroyed, and the national treasury was empty. However, Emperor Wu of Han was highly respected, because he used one hard work to fight a battle that could only be fought in three generations with one generation, and obtained a good external environment for the Han Dynasty.
Although the Xiongnu were defeated, their strength was still there. The Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu began to compete in the Western Regions and other places, and generation after generation of generals threw their heads and spilled their blood, so that "those who commit strong Han crimes will be punished from afar" spread among countries.
Boss, you see how much it cost us to get today's environment, the Xiongnu surrendered, and the countries of the Western Regions respected the Han Dynasty.
Now the Xiongnu shan came to Chang'an to see him, which was equivalent to putting their faces on it to show affection. This is what many people used to dream of. If you refuse to use the reason that "the Xiongnu come from upstream, the momentum is overwhelming", it is equivalent to punching the Xiongnu in the face. In this way, the relationship between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty would become estranged.
If the Xiongnu only harbored hatred in their hearts and seized the opportunity to sever their relations with the Han Dynasty, the current national strength would not deter the Xiongnu, and then the Xiongnu would be watching from the sidelines and wreaking havoc in the western regions and the Silk Road.
At that time, no matter how much the army is recruited and collected taxes at home, sending emissaries to run around will not be better than the current situation.
The Western Regions Capital Protectorate, which took decades to build, ostensibly to administer the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions but in fact to guard against the Xiongnu, was probably destroyed in a very short time, because the country could not support them at all. The current treasury is not suitable for long-distance expeditions, only for strategic contraction.
Although the Xiongnu alone would have cost the state money, this was a must. Otherwise, the results that cost a lot of money will be lost because they cherish one point. Not only will previous efforts be in vain, but even a portion of the national treasury will be completely depleted.
I hope that the boss will pay attention to the war before the outbreak and when the chaos is in place to prevent the occurrence of the disaster of war on the frontier.
After hearing this, the Han Emperor felt that it was reasonable, and gave the letter of state to the Xiongnu emissaries, allowing the Xiongnu to meet alone, and then waited for the Xiongnu to come very painfully.
Perhaps this was a rare wise decision made by the Han Emperor, and the heavens rewarded him.
The Xiongnu Shan Yu fell ill and sent emissaries to the Han Dynasty, hoping to postpone the meeting for a year, and the Han Emperor happily agreed.
Although the Western Han Dynasty had some expenses, the Western Han Dynasty also made the western region countries more subservient due to this court of the Xiongnu Shan Yu. For at least a few decades, there will be no need to worry about external troubles.
Until Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty did not have the same external worries as the invasion of the surrounding nomadic peoples as at the end of other dynasties. If there were some disputes between the countries of the Western Regions, they would also ask the Han Dynasty for mediation. The Western Han Dynasty also had the legend that "the country is destroyed by weakness, and the only Han is destroyed by strength".
Yang Xiong wrote "Tai Xuan" and "Fa Yan", although his family was poor, he loved to drink. As a result, many people brought wine and vegetables to learn from him. After Yang Xiong's death, at that time, The Great Sikong Wang Yi and Na Yan Yan You asked Huan Tan whether Yang Xiong's book could be passed on to future generations. Huan Tan said, "It will definitely be able to circulate." But you and Huan Tan can't see it. Mortals despise the near and attach importance to the far, and see with their own eyes that Yang Ziyun's status and appearance cannot be moved, they despise his books. In the past, Lao Tzu's theory of nothingness, light benevolence and righteousness, and refutation of etiquette, but later generations liked it and thought it surpassed the Five Classics. Now Yangzi's book has the deepest meaning, and the discussion does not violate the saints, and if he meets the monarch at that time, and then reads it through the sages, and is praised by them, he will surely surpass the sons. More than forty years after Yang Xiong's death, his "Sayings of the Law" became popular in the world.
No wonder Liu Yuxi juxtaposed it with Zhuge Liang. On July 4, 2017, Yang Xiong was designated as the first batch of historical celebrities in Sichuan.