When it comes to the history of the Han Dynasty in China, it must not be ignored that foreign relations must be monopolized, and both the Western Han And Eastern Han Dynasties have long been plagued by this problem. In the history of the Western Han Dynasty, the era of foreign relatives initiated by Lü Hou ended in the hands of the Han Wu Emperor Liu Che, as a very powerful emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, he not only defeated his grandmother Empress Dou, but also put an end to his mother Lady Wang.
But what Emperor Wu of Han did not expect was that his path to the throne stumbled due to Empress Dou's reasons, and after he had easily destroyed Empress Dowager Dou, his mother moved her mind again. But these pressures did not crush this wonderful young emperor, but made him more powerful.
As we all know, Emperor Wudi of han was a very capable emperor, and during his reign he did many things that had never been done before. The first thing Emperor Wu of Han did must have been to strengthen the power of centralization and solve a serious problem in the old Liu family's heart, after all, from the beginning of Han Gaozu's ancestor Liu Bang, he hated and ruled it.
Under the efforts of Emperor Wu of Han, the local power became less and less, and finally with the implementation of decrees such as the Tuien Order, Emperor Wu of Han formally withdrew the power scattered in various places. Subsequently, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was naturally fond of conquest, also raised his sword to the frontier areas, which also liberated the people who had long suffered from the attacks of the Xiongnu.
Emperor Wu of Han's actions caused the Xiongnu to dare not invade the Central Plains during his reign, and the people of the frontier also eased up from the war and plunder. Moreover, the way Han Wudi selected talents was also very ingenious, and the combination of ability and political integrity and the courage to innovate were the requirements of Han Wudi for talents, and the newly promoted young talents were like a clear spring water injected into the court.
The talents selected by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had special abilities in a certain aspect, not simply family members, nor straw bales climbed up by nepotism. This is also why during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty reached its peak of prosperity. This also laid a solid economic foundation for the later Emperor Wu of Han to send Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions.
Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions was the beginning of the opening of the Silk Road, which brought great convenience to the circulation and development of the Han Dynasty economy, this Silk Road brought food, clothing, and culture outside the Han Dynasty into the Central Plains, and sold the goods of the Han Dynasty for greater benefits.
What many people don't know is that such an emperor who made an important contribution to the development of the Han Dynasty was very difficult to obtain even his initial throne. After succeeding to the throne, he fought with his grandmother and mother in a bloody storm, but Emperor Wudi of Han, who crawled out of such a muddy swamp, came out exceptionally well, and was an emperor who made great achievements.
In fact, in terms of truth, the second emperor that Empress Dou wanted to establish was not the unknown Liu Che at all, after all, it was really necessary to calculate, and the identity of Liu Che's mother was also a big obstacle. The emperor that Empress Dou wanted to establish at that time was Liu Wu the Prince of Liang, the younger brother of Emperor Jing of Han, and this Liu Wu was Empress Dou's biological son, so in Empress Dou's eyes, no one was more suitable for that position than him.
Because Empress Dou was a typical example of a foreign relative interfering in politics, how could Empress Dou, who had tasted the beauty of power, allow the power in her hands to gradually disappear. Therefore, when Emperor Jingdi of Han decided to write an edict, Empress Dou repeatedly hinted that she wanted to make Liu Wu emperor, after all, Liu Wu was his own family, and he would certainly not regain the power of his own family after succeeding to the throne.
Emperor Jingdi of Han was very obedient on the surface, but behind his back, he secretly changed the name on the edict to Liu Che, which made Empress Dowager Dou angry. So when Empress Dou, who was dissatisfied with Liu Che, saw that Liu Che was completely adhering to a different political concept from herself, Empress Dou had the idea of getting rid of Liu Che.
At this time, Liu Che had just been proclaimed emperor, the foundation was very unstable, in the face of Empress Dou's open gun and dark arrows Liu Che was able to hide and hide, can avoid and avoid, after all, at this time he did not have the strength to compete with Empress Dou, it turned out that those who would be patient would definitely find time to attack, after Liu Che repeatedly criticized Empress Dou's old thinking, some people in the court began to favor Liu Che.
Liu Che took the opportunity to take advantage of this wind direction to vigorously publicize his political views and ideas, and in the end, Liu Che's new ideas conquered most people, and Empress Dou was defeated. This was not the end of it, after Empress Dou's death, Liu Che had not spared those who were with Empress Dowager Dou, and casually found some excuses to make a fuss, and cleaned up Empress Dou's clique from the court.
It is said that ruthlessness is the imperial family, here Liu Che only breathed a sigh of relief to regain power from Empress Dou, and his mother Empress Wang became a demon, during the first reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che often turned to his mother and his mother's family, which is why Emperor Wu of Han could be far above the court but could win the hearts of the people below the court.
The biggest mistake of Empress Wang's life was to try to seize power from her son and emulate her second Empress Dowager Dou. After defeating Empress Dowager Dou, Liu Che's uncle, with the strong support of Empress Wang, became the chancellor of the dynasty, and often made various demands on the young Liu Che.
This action of Empress Wang and her uncle completely chilled Liu Che's heart, and he no longer regarded them as his relatives, after all, the court he had so hard to clean up had become a miasma because of his mother and uncle, which Liu Che could not tolerate, so Liu Che stalked himself as if he had initially dealt with Empress Dou.
Fortunately, Liu Che was very young, and he still had a lot of time and energy to fight with them, so Liu Che secretly cultivated his own forces, replacing the moths promoted by the matriarch little by little, putting his newly cultivated talents in the right position, and soon after, his uncle also died.
Empress Wang, who had lost the support of the court, was suddenly like a deflated leather ball, completely devoid of the arrogance she had just had, so she also completely let go and returned the few powers in her hands to Liu Che, and since then, the monopoly of foreign relatives who had bound the Han for hundreds of years had come to an end.
In fact, neither Empress Dou nor Empress Dowager Wang's struggle with Emperor Wu of Han was entirely a bad thing, at least, these struggles made the political means of the young Emperor Wu of Han become particularly mature and sophisticated, and they were more able to distinguish between them in the face of demagogues and rumors.
Emperor Wu of Han was able to do so on the one hand because he was extremely intelligent and had a strong ability to govern the country, and on the other hand, his ancestors, including Empress Dou, were able to do nothing, and the ideology of rule by inaction determined the first half of the history of the Han Dynasty, which allowed Liu Che to have sufficient resources to realize his ideas.