Liu Heng was later known as Emperor Wen of Han. The title of "Wen" is not something that a general prince can have such a title. When evaluating a king, the texts are based on the following texts: through heaven and earth; moral knowledge; and huili for the people. Whichever of these three words can be called the Ming Emperor, let alone the Monarch of the Trinity!
Why Liu Heng can get this "Wen" nickname, today we will talk about it specifically.
Let's start with the heavens and the earth
Internally, Emperor Liu Heng of Han inherited the policy that Lü Hou continued well, and during the twenty-three years of Emperor Han's reign, there was almost no war, the people could feed themselves, and the king did not toss. If you count the fifteen years after Lü Hou, the early Han Dynasty experienced a period of stable cultivation for forty years, which greatly restored the strength of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wen of Han adopted Jia Yi's strategy, weakened the military clique without bloodshed, split up the princes, and greatly strengthened the rule of the central government.
Externally, if you can not fight a war, throughout the entire period of Emperor Wen, although Emperor Wen was cool with the Xiongnu, his attitude towards the Xiongnu was to endure again and again, insisting on defense. Tighten the belt of the pants and concentrate on developing the domestic economy. In order to create a safe environment for the development of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Han could only pinch his nose and endure, and continued to implement a policy of peace and pro-kinship, by marrying the Han princesses far away to the Xiongnu in exchange for a short period of peace. Generally speaking, the real princess was exchanged for three years of peace, the false princess was exchanged for one year, and then the Xiongnu came to plunder again, and after being driven away, Emperor Wen of Han had to endure and continue to send the princess to the past and kiss.
Emperor Wen of Han, from a puppet emperor who was elected, took back everything that belonged to him step by step through his own means, and more importantly, these methods were very clever and almost did not cause any social unrest. Emperor Wen of Han did have the talent of the heavens and the earth.
Let's talk about moral knowledge
Emperor Wendi of Han's benevolence was reflected in all aspects, one of which was that he abolished the law of sitting-in-the-row and corporal punishment. Emperor Wen of Han believed that decrees were the yardstick for governing the country, a means of guiding the people to goodness, and used to stop violence, so there should be no corporal punishment. In the same way, since the sinners have been punished, they should not be condemned to their innocent relatives.
Emperor Wen of Han was also an emperor who obeyed the edicts, and although he was an emperor, he could not be higher than the decrees. Once, when Emperor Wen was passing by the Wei Bridge, a man suddenly stepped out from under the bridge, startling Emperor Wen's horse and running in shock. Emperor Wen of Han wanted to kill this person, but according to the law at that time, pedestrians only needed to be fined two gold, and in the end, Emperor Wen of Han did not kill the person, but only the person who was dealt with according to the law at that time.
Second, Emperor Wen of Han abolished the crimes of slandering the imperial court, slandering the public, and attacking the government of the people. Emperor Wen of Han believed that in ancient times, when governing the world, the imperial court had a banner for entering the good words and a wooden plaque for criticizing the government, so as to introduce more talents. This crime will make the ministers and the people afraid to tell the truth, and the emperor will not know whether the decree is correct or not, and he will not know his own faults.
Third, Emperor Wen of Han was also tolerant of his courtiers, believing that the son was not the fault of the godfather, and the faults of the hundred officials should be borne by himself. Some of the ministers were corrupt, and after the matter was revealed, Emperor Wen rewarded them with money out of his own pocket, using this method to make them repent of themselves, rather than handing it over to the officials who enforced the law. Liu Liu, the king of Wu, lied that he was ill and could not come to the court, so Emperor Wen gave him a wooden cane and exempted him from the ceremony of entering the capital for the pilgrimage.
Emperor Wen of Han was truly "subjugated by virtue" and was a moral model, in order to impress the officials and the people.
Finally, let's talk about the people's favor
Emperor Wen of Han lived an extremely frugal life, and during Emperor Wen's reign, the palace, jingyuan, dogs and horses, costumes, and cars did not increase. Emperor Wen once wanted to build a terrace in the palace, and found craftsmen to calculate the cost, and the cost of repairing the terrace was about one hundred gold. Emperor Wen said, "It costs a hundred gold to build a terrace?" This is the equivalent of ten medium-sized households. The terrace is still not repaired! ”
Emperor Wen was also very frugal in his dress, Emperor Wen often wore coarse silk clothes, even the favored Lady Shen, she was not allowed to wear clothes that mopped the floor, and the draperies of the palace were not allowed to embroider patterns, in order to show frugality and set an example for the people of the world.
In June of the seventh year of the Later Yuan Dynasty (157 BC), Emperor Wen died at Weiyang Palace. When Emperor Wen died, he issued a testament. Through this testament, we can also see Emperor Wen's frugal and loving heart for the people. This is also why the literati of later generations all admired Emperor Wen of Han, calling the era of Emperor Wendi's rule "the brightest era." ”
The edict says, "There is no one who grows up in the world without dying." Death is the common sense between heaven and earth, the law of growth of all things in the world, what is too sad! In today's era, people are good at life and death, and after death, they should be buried thickly to destroy their family property, and excessive mourning to hurt the body, which I think is very undesirable. Moreover, my virtue is shallow, and I cannot help the people. Now that I have passed away, and let people overserve mourning for a long time, to suffer from severe cold and heat, to make the fathers and sons of other people's families mourn for me, to hurt the hearts of the elders and children, and to reduce their diet, which will make my virtues more shallow, how can I explain it to the people of the world! ”
"Now order the officials and the people of the world to go out to mourn for three days after the order is given, and then they all take off their mourning clothes." Do not forbid wives, wives, sacrifices, drinking, or eating meat. Don't mobilize folk men and women to come to the palace to cry and hang. Those who should weep and sacrifice in the temple weep fifteen times in the morning and evening, and stop weeping sacrifice after the ceremony is completed; it is forbidden to come to weep sacrifice without permission; and this edict is made known to the world, so that the people of the world can understand my intentions. The mountains and rivers around Baling remain as they are, and do not change. The concubines in the harem, from the lady below to the young envoy, were sent back to the mother's house. ”
After Emperor Wen's death, Lang Zhong ordered Zhang Wu to send fifteen thousand soldiers near Chang'an, and another fifteen thousand soldiers from Neishi to be responsible for digging holes, digging soil, and filling in soil for Emperor Wen, and Emperor Wen's tomb was also the most rudimentary of the emperors in the past.
In June, all the courtiers prostrated themselves to the emperor with the honorific title of Emperor Xiaowen. Immediately, the crown prince Liu Qi ascended the throne at the High Temple and inherited the title of emperor. Historically known as the Han Jing Emperor.
During the reign of Emperor Wen, he implemented the study of Huang Laozhi and devoted himself to educating his subjects with morality, and the four seas were rich and prosperous, and etiquette and morality prevailed in the world. During the reign of Emperor Wen, it was the Han Dynasty that smoothly passed through the dangerous period, making the Han Dynasty step by step stronger, and the reign of him and his son Emperor Jingdi of Han was collectively known as the "Rule of Wenjing".