When it comes to the history of the Western Han Dynasty, history buffs will pay attention to a very contradictory emperor. He was Liu Yi, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. After he ascended the throne, due to the efforts of several kings such as Emperor Zhao of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han, the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak during the period of Emperor Yuan of Han. In 36 BC, Chen Tang led an army to eliminate Zhi Zhidan and shouted out the domineering bold words of "those who offend me strong Han, although they are far away, they will be punished", which has also become the most direct symbol of the strength of the Han Empire.
However, although the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak during the Han Yuan Emperor period, and also created a series of historical achievements that made historical voters talk about such as the elimination of Zhi Zhidanyu, the surrender of the Southern Xiongnu to the Han Dynasty, and the zhaojun out of the plug, the evaluation of the future generations of the Han Yuan Emperor himself was very poor. The reason for this is that Zhaoxuan Zhongxing could have continued in the hands of Emperor Han Yuan, but Emperor Han Yuan personally terminated Zhaoxuan Zhongxing.
Above_ Chen Tang (?) —c. 6 BC)
On the whole, the Han Yuan Emperor terminated Zhaoxuan Zhongxing for the following very important reasons.
First, the Han Yuan Emperor completely changed the "Confucian-legal unity" way of governance that the Western Han Empire had followed for many years, governing the country with pure Confucian thinking, which caused a series of social problems.
Although the specific measures taken by the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty were different, from Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, to Liu Qing, the emperor of Han Xuan, the overall general direction was the same, which was the "unity of Confucianism and law". In 202 BC, Liu Bang established the Western Han Dynasty. In order to make the empire long-term peace and stability, Liu Bang learned many lessons from the demise of the Qin Dynasty and gently gave the people a rest. But we must note one point: although Liu Bang abandoned the harsh tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang's governing ideology, system and law in the Western Han Dynasty absorbed the thinking of the Qin system and the legalists. It laid a solid foundation for the Western Han Dynasty's "external Confucianism and internal law" way of governing the country.
Liu Bang, Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty (256–195 BC)
During the period of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han, the Western Han Dynasty's idea of "external Confucianism and internal law" continued to develop along with the strength of the Han Dynasty.
First of all, the two emperors, Liu Heng and Liu Qi, used the Confucian idea of "loving the people" to reduce the burden on the people, abolish corporal punishment, and continue to develop productive forces. The idea of "the people are noble, the society is secondary, and the king is light" advocated by Mencius has indeed been well reflected in the period of Wenjing's rule.
Secondly, Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han took many measures to manage ministers and princes in the way of the law, and strengthened the centralization of power. As long as any local princes dared to rebel against the central government, the imperial court resolutely suppressed them.
For example, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, rebelled against the central government, but his rebellion was quickly suppressed by the imperial court. During the reign of Emperor Jingdi of Han, Liu Tao the King of Wu and Liu Jiao, the King of Chu, gathered hundreds of thousands of troops to launch a rebellion, but Emperor Jingdi of Han resolutely maintained centralized power and put down the rebellion of the princely states in only three months. Emperor Wenjing also reused Zhang Shizhi, Zhi Du and other cool officials, who did not show mercy, enforced the law like a mountain, severely cracked down on lawlessness and strength, and maintained the stability of imperial power.
Above: Emperor Taizong of Han, Liu Heng (203 BC – 157 BC), also known as Emperor Wen of Han
After Liu Che ascended the throne, he comprehensively implemented the governing ideology of "the unity of Confucianism and law."
On the one hand, Liu Che advocated "deposing a hundred schools and respecting Confucianism alone" and establishing the absolute authority of Confucianism throughout the country. Liu Che also issued many edicts to reduce taxes for the people in the disaster areas, improve the welfare of the elderly, and implement the Confucian idea of "loving the people".
On the other hand, Liu Che adopted the Tuien Order to completely eliminate the threat of the princely states and suppress the illegal behavior of the lawless and powerful and merchants. Implement salt and iron official camps and currency reforms, concentrate forces to fight the Xiongnu, and maintain centralized power and national unity.
These were all the policies of the Legalists, such as the salt and iron official camp and currency reform, which provided strong financial support for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to fight against the Xiongnu. In Liu Che's later years, there was a crisis in the way of governing the country with the Legalists as the mainstay, and Liu Che issued an edict to "take turns to sin against oneself." The national policy of "lightly dispensing with thin endowments" with Confucianism as the mainstay and the Dharma as the supplement was restored, and social production was restored and developed.
After Liu Che's death, the two emperors, Emperor Zhao of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han, continued to implement the idea of "confucian and legal unity", and the strength of the Western Han Dynasty flourished. After the death of Emperor Xuan of Han and the ascension of Emperor Yuan of Han to the throne, the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak.
Liu Che (156 BC – 87 BC), also known as Emperor Wu of han
However, the Han Yuan Emperor ruled the country completely abandoning the "Confucian law unity" thinking of the emperors of previous dynasties and fully implementing the Confucian rule of the country. If Emperor Yuan of Han could make good use of Emperor Xuan of Han to leave him a group of Confucian practitioners before his death, such as Xiao Wangzhi and others, and continue the idea of unifying Confucianism and law, the prosperity of the Western Han Dynasty would really be able to continue.
But what Emperor Xuan of Han did not expect was that after Emperor Han Yuan ascended the throne, he not only killed Confucian practitioners such as Xiao Wangzhi, but also reused retroist Confucian masters such as Kuang Heng (the protagonist who chiseled the wall to steal light) to make the imperial court a miasma. Because the Han Yuan Emperor was an ideal Confucianist and did not grasp the essence of Confucian thought, under the guidance of Retro Confucian masters such as Kuang Heng, the Han Yuan Emperor ruled the country everywhere with "retro wind". Many of its national policies are only "superficial articles" and do not solve the fundamental problems of national development.
Above_ Kuang Heng, zi Gui
In addition to reusing the retro Confucianists to govern the country, the Han Yuan Emperor also completely abandoned the way of legalism. This move caused very serious consequences for the Han Dynasty. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, because Liu Bang divided the princes, Liu Heng and Liu Qi attached importance to commercial development, and a number of princes and commercial tyrants who did not listen to the central government, flew high, and did evil deeds arose in the localities. These princes and commercial tycoons annexed land, exploited the people, and threatened the imperial power of the Western Han Dynasty. In order to maintain centralized power and maintain the long-term peace and stability of the Han Empire, several generations of emperors, from Liu Bang to Liu Qing, adopted the way of ruling the country by law, brutally suppressed the princes, ministers, and powerful people who annexed land and committed wrongdoing, reduced the burden on the people, alleviated social problems such as land annexation, and maintained a unified centralized empire.
The Han Yuan Emperor himself abandoned the way of governing the country, a large number of powerful landlords were rising rapidly, the problem of land annexation was becoming more and more serious, and the people were displaced. However, the Han Yuan Emperor, who believed in the corrupt Confucian way, could not do anything about the annexation of land by powerful landlords. Powerful landlords became a malignant tumor in the development of the Han Empire.
Above_ Western Han Dynasty Xiongnu territory
This was particularly evident in the abolition of the Lingyi system by the Han Yuan Emperor. The royal mausoleums of the Western Han Empire had a very important subsidiary system- the lingyi system. What is Lingyi? Cities were established in places near the cemetery, and the rich merchants, powerful middle and upper class of the country were relocated to Lingyi to live. This move was of great significance to cracking down on and suppressing the rich and powerful, maintaining centralized power, and resisting the invasion of the Xiongnu. On the surface, if you don't build a lingyi city, you don't have to work hard and hurt the people, but in fact, the abolition of the lingyi system is equivalent to the central government acquiescing to the development and growth of rich merchants and powerful people in the local area, endangering the centralization of power.
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, could only rely on powerful landlords to maintain state power. Because the powerful landlord class was too strong, the Eastern Han Empire flourished and declined after experiencing the brief glory of the Guangwu Dynasty and the rule of Ming Zhang. Therefore, the Han Yuan Emperor abandoned the "Confucian-legal unity" way of governing the country and ignored the annexation of land by powerful landlords, which not only led the Western Han Empire to its demise, but also planted a time bomb for the development of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Above: Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (15 January 5 BC – 29 March 57 BC), courtesy name Wenshu
All in all, several generations of emperors from Liu Bang to Liu Qing have grasped the "unity of Confucianism and Law" just right. When Confucianism is dominant and when Dharma is dominant, the emperor will flexibly adjust according to the different stages of national development. If the country is in the stage of economic development and recuperation, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han, Emperor Xuan of Han, and other emperors will adopt the method of governing the country with "Confucianism" as the mainstay to alleviate social contradictions, but they will never abandon the practice of suppressing lawless and powerful officials and princes in legal thought and strengthening the centralization of power.
If the country was in the period of war against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty adopted the strategy of governing the country with the law as the mainstay and Confucianism as the supplement, and concentrated manpower, material and financial resources to win the war. If there was a crisis in the strategy of governing the country with the legalists as the mainstay, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty adjusted in time in his later years and restored the way of recuperating and recuperating the country with Confucianism as the mainstay and the Legalists as the supplement. Whether it is Confucianism or Buddhism, supplemented by Dharma. Still the Fa family as the mainstay, Supplemented by Confucianism, the "Confucian law unity" way of governing the country allowed the Western Han Dynasty to continue for more than 150 years.
More importantly, several generations of emperors from Liu Bang to Liu Qing have experienced the essence of Confucian thinking--the people are noble, the society is secondary, and the king is light. Successive generations of Emperors of the Han Dynasty have adopted many ways to reduce the burden on the people, such as reducing the burden of taxes and servitude.
The Han Yuan Emperor not only completely abandoned the "Confucian-legal unity" way of governing the country, ignored the rise of the powerful and the powerful, and let the imperial power fall by the wayside, but also reused corrupt Confucianism to formulate many unrealistic policies for governing the country, so that the country's development fell into crisis, land annexation became increasingly serious, and the Western Han Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline. Therefore, the level of governance of the Han Yuan Emperor is really far from that of the emperors of the Han Dynasty from Han Gaozu to Emperor Xuan of Han.
Above_ The situation in the early Western Han Dynasty
Second, the Han Yuan Emperor reused eunuchs, opening up the precedent of eunuch dictatorship and laying another hidden danger for the demise of the Western Han Dynasty.
The very important reason for the fall of the Qin Dynasty was the eunuch Zhao Gao's monopoly on power, referring to deer as horses. After Liu Bang established the Western Han Dynasty, he learned the lessons of the Qin Dynasty, strengthened imperial power, and put an end to the monopoly of eunuch power. Liu Bang went to Liu to consult several generations of emperors, preferring to let capable foreign relatives (such as Lü Hou, Huo Guang, and others) monopolize power rather than let eunuchs participate in the government.
However, the Han Yuan Emperor Liu Yi ignored the lessons of the fall of the Qin Dynasty and reused the eunuch Honggong and others as Zhongshu Ling, causing chaos and chaogang. These eunuchs were arrogant and arrogant because of the emperor's favor, and their power was tilted toward the opposition, and those who followed us perished. Even though the eunuch Shi Xian forged the edict and the matter of elevating the imperial power was exposed, the Han Yuan Emperor not only did not punish, but also gave Shi Xian more rewards. The Minister of Culture and Military Affairs dared to be angry at the eunuch's monopoly.
Above_ Liu Yi (74 BC – 33 BC), also known as Emperor Yuan of Han
It is precisely because of the above two reasons that the Han Yuan Emperor has become an emperor with a low evaluation in later generations. Although when he ascended the throne, the western Han dynasty's national strength reached a strong point of view, but he abandoned the Western Han Dynasty's inherent idea of governing the country for more than 150 years, "Confucianism and law integration", reused the corrupt Confucian scourge and chaos super program, ignored the merger of land by the powerful, and let the western Han Dynasty's national strength decline rapidly. He also ignored the lessons of the fall of the Qin Dynasty and reused eunuchs to make the imperial court smoke miasma.
Therefore, although during the Han and Yuan Emperors, there was a feat of "those who offend me strongly, although they will be punished from afar", he himself was mainly responsible for the transformation of the Western Han Dynasty from prosperity to decline. He did not fulfill the historical mission entrusted to him by the times.
Author: Military Handsome Guy Correction/Editor: Lilith
References: Book of Han, Records of History
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author