Chapter 122 Huns
Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che narrowed his eyes. That's right. Under his grandfather's generally lenient attitude towards the princes of the same surname, and as the princes grew up and the Taifu and others retired due to old age and illness, the Liu princes could be said to be lawless in their respective fiefdoms, and the power they had accumulated was also considerable.

If not, why would his father be so eager to reduce the power of the princes, and why would he suffer coercion from ministers such as Zhou Yafu?

Of course, he did not object to his grandfather's use of the power of the princes to compete with the meritorious officials and marquises. This was a major option at the time and a relatively easy method, just as he had compromised with many people before he came to power.

However, Liu Che's resentment towards those kings and ministers was as deep as his resentment towards the people who had forced him to compromise - no matter if you are a king or a minister, the emperor appointed you, but you think highly of yourself and even threaten the emperor. Do you still remember your identity?
Since he had forgotten his own identity, it was only natural that he would be punished in the end.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Qi was more concerned about the last sentence of Tianmu: "Liu Wu played a huge role during Liu Qi's reign."

Liu Wu was the prince's younger brother from the same mother, and their relationship was indeed closer than that of other brothers. But under what circumstances could a person who was made a king play a huge role for the emperor?

The kings of the Han Dynasty were different from the marquises in that they could control military power, administration, and taxation, which was the basis for Liu Xingju and Liu Chang to rebel. But this was not all the conditions for Liu Wu to give Liu Qi great help.

However, if we connect it with Jia Yi's point of view above, and let the King of Liang's fiefdom become a barrier for the emperor in Chang'an... Liu Wu is the King of Liang, which means that Liu Wu used his power to help Liu Qi resist certain attacks?

"Could it be that my policy towards vassal kings will bring about such a great impact?" Liu Heng put the consideration of adjusting the policy towards vassal kings on his agenda.

The fact that Liu Qi used Liu Wu to resist, coupled with the geographical location of Liang, shows that the other party must be a vassal king, and more than one. Tianmu had previously said that Liu Qi's reduction of the vassal states was "urgent and necessary", so Qi'er's actions at the time were probably somewhat radical, and the only one who could have caused such an impact was his father.

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and glanced at Zhu Di, saying in a sarcastic tone: "Mianzhi, the prince is ill!"

"..." Zhu Di was embarrassed. It was really unfriendly for the old man to think of him only when he saw someone who only wanted to become emperor.

The point is, he didn't say this, so what does that self have to do with the self now? How could he turn something from his beloved eldest son into a pie in the sky for another son?
[In addition to the issues of the central government and local princes, Jia Yi also put forward his views on another key issue of the Han Dynasty: the issue with the Huns.

Judging from his views on the Huns, Jia Yi clearly lived up to the saying "young and full of vigor".

"Your Majesty, how can you bear to become a vassal of the Huns with the title of emperor? Your status is low and humiliating, and the disaster will never end. How can you bear to be like this in the long run!" Using the title of emperor to become a vassal of the Huns, your status is low and humiliating, but this cannot quell the disaster, and it will never end in the long run.

At that time, the Han Dynasty adopted methods such as marriage with the Huns, but Jia Yi thought that such methods were not of much use. Instead, he proposed the policy of "three appearances and five baits": the emperor should establish credibility, accept the appearance of the Huns, and recognize the various skills of the Huns themselves; at the same time, he should give the Huns gorgeous clothes and carriages, delicious food, music and dance, wealth and gold and jade, and treat the Huns well to appease them.

Jia Yi believed that by taking such measures, he could win the hearts of the Xiongnu people, make them move closer to the Han Dynasty, and finally make it impossible for the Xiongnu Chanyu to be used.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang was helpless: "The Han Dynasty is still not strong enough, so we can only try to divide the Huns in this way." But it is unknown how much effect such division can have.

The most ideal method is to use powerful force to intimidate the Xiongnu, and then use the "three statements and five baits" to govern people's hearts and minds, so that they are willing to become a member of the Han Dynasty; after all, without the power of the central government and the dynasty, it is impossible to truly make the Xiongnu and other ethnic groups sincerely convinced. Even if there is a lot of wealth, it is only good for a while.

If the Han Dynasty wanted to become strong and be able to defeat the Xiongnu, there were many things to do. For example, efforts should be made to restore the chaotic domestic economy and ensure that the army had sufficient logistical support; or, the cultivation of war horses should be strengthened so that the Han Dynasty could build an invincible elite cavalry.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che agreed, "Marrying the princess and becoming a vassal is like adding fuel to a fire. How can it bring lasting peace? It will only last for one night." Therefore, since he ascended the throne, he has been advocating a crusade against the Huns and letting the Han army take the initiative to attack the Huns.

Although he has also gone through twists and turns, who can still say that his ideas are wrong? It's just that some people who are still stuck in the old era need to be eliminated.

Wei Qing and others expressed their agreement with the emperor's words. Those who were able to watch the sky curtain with the emperor were basically the pro-war faction - the pro-war faction who advocated taking the initiative to attack the Huns. The reason for this annotation was that the pro-war and pro-peace views of the Han Dynasty were different from those of later generations, especially the pro-war and pro-peace views of the Song Dynasty.

Of course, they also knew that the emperor's words were just to express his feelings and to help some people who still had doubts to stand firm. The emperor himself did not oppose the policy of seeking stability such as marriage and marriage adopted by his ancestors due to the situation.

[What was Liu Heng’s attitude towards Jia Yi’s suggestions in this regard?
He did not express his views directly, but it was reflected in the way he dealt with the Xiongnu. Of course, it is difficult to say how much influence Jia Yi's words had on the various measures taken by Liu Heng, because Liu Heng himself was full of vigilance and hostility towards the Xiongnu.

Liu Heng still maintained the basic policy of restraint and tolerance. He did not stop using methods such as marriage alliances. He also continued to divide and win over the internal discord of the Xiongnu. Even when Junchen Chanyu led 60,000 cavalrymen to invade the Han Dynasty and reached Juzhu Pass, Liu Heng still adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the Xiongnu as a whole.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng caught a word, or a name, that was very important to him in this passage: "Junchen Chanyu?" This was an unfamiliar name.

Before that, Maodun Chanyu died, and his son Jizhou succeeded him, also known as Laoshang Chanyu. Laoshang Chanyu launched a war against the Han Dynasty in the 14th year of Emperor Wen. The scale of this war was quite large, and the Xiongnu vanguard army was only more than 200 miles away from Chang'an. In response, although Liu Heng urgently mobilized the army and spent more than a month to make Laoshang Chanyu withdraw from the frontier, it was unable to cause a real blow to the Xiongnu.

Because, the Han army went out of the border and returned, but what about the Xiongnu? That was like a dragon entering the sea.

So, it seems that the old Shanyu will not live for many years, and this Junchen Shanyu should be his successor.

Liu Heng quickly put aside the fact that the old Chanyu had attacked the Han Dynasty and turned to thinking about the replacement of the Xiongnu Chanyu. Since he already knew that the old Chanyu would not live long, could he further benefit from the Han Dynasty's existing foundation? [Did Liu Heng know that the Han Dynasty could not always rely on a policy of seeking peace? Of course he knew, or rather, this was the consensus of the entire Han Dynasty's knowledgeable people. Of course, the far-sighted people in the Xiongnu also had the same view.

But Liu Heng had no choice but to do so for now, because the power comparison between Han and Xiongnu at that time did not allow him to directly launch an offensive and overturn the unreliable peace agreement.

Usually, after a dynasty is established, there are two situations. One is that there are some external forces, like the Ming Dynasty, but they cannot have too much negative impact on the dynasty and will soon be suppressed or eliminated by the unified dynasty;
The other scenario is like the Han Dynasty, where external forces are not weak and may even be quite powerful and can easily influence the dynasty, while the dynasty itself may still have various problems. Therefore, it is necessary to use various means to seek peace within a relatively short period of time in exchange for time for development.

Of course, after achieving peace, whether we can really develop ourselves and ultimately fight back against external forces is another question.

The Xiongnu that the Han Dynasty faced was not a weak force, but a very powerful one. 】

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng nodded. It was true. After his Great Qin unified the world, not to mention the various forces within the country that attempted to restore the six kingdoms, the outside of the Great Qin was not peaceful either. Although those foreign races were intimidated by the power of the Great Qin army, their existence was undeniable.

As for the fact that it takes a long time to gain opportunities for development, this is also true. The fact that the Qin Dynasty can unify the world today is also inseparable from the efforts of the previous kings.

Although the method used by the Qin Dynasty to seek external peace was different from that of the Han Dynasty.

But how did the Xiongnu become so powerful? Could it be that, like in the Central Plains, someone unified all the divided voices?

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin was silent again.

This is indeed the case with the founding of a nation. Some are extremely powerful, and external forces are merely future territories; others need development, and the methods of seeking development opportunities are different.

But, again, achieving peace does not guarantee true development. Isn’t this exactly the case in the Song Dynasty?
After watching it several times, he had figured out the virtues of Zhao Guangyi's descendants: I and the ministers have brought peace to the Song Dynasty, isn't that enough? This is a great act of benevolence, worthy of being a sage king after three generations!

To be honest, after figuring out what these people were thinking, Zhao Kuangyin just wanted to beat them up one by one. Is this the kind of logic a normal emperor would have? Is this the kind of talk and thought a normal pillar of the country who holds state power and sits on the throne could come up with?

He could only confirm once again that most of the people in the Song Dynasty, from the emperor to the prime minister, were completely poisoned by inexplicable ideas.

Peace - what peace?
To be honest, people like Zhao Kuangyin didn't care about the peace that people advocated. What he cared about was the time for development gained through peace. What he wanted was development. Peace could provide a better development environment for the Song Dynasty, so peace must be maintained.

However, there are many ways to achieve peace. Marriage and trade are one of them, and launching a war is another.

If, as he wished, the Song Dynasty could pacify the forces in the north except the Liao Kingdom, stabilize areas such as Dingnan, and seize Yanyun, that would be his concept of peace.

But what did the later kings of the Song Dynasty do? And what did the ministers of the Song Dynasty do? He wanted to restrain the excessive behavior of the generals, not to make everyone lose the bravery of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Kuangyin sighed deeply, and faced the worried eyes of Zhao Guangmei and others, and just said: "It's nothing, I just suddenly understand why those emperors in ancient times longed for immortality."

It was useless to say anything, especially after learning from the previous experience. Zhao Kuangyin felt that he could not trust anyone else to be in charge of the country. Therefore, no matter what he said, it was not as good as living longer.

[There are many different views on the origin of the Huns.]

Some people believe that the Xiongnu and the Central Plains had the same origin. "The Xiongnu were descendants of the Xiahou clan, called Chunwei. Before the Tang and Yu dynasties, there were Shanrong, Xianyun, and Hunzhou, who lived in the northern barbarians and moved with animal husbandry." (Sima Qian)
Some people also believe that the Xiongnu was not originally the name of a single ethnic group, but a general term for Guifang, Xianyun, Rong, and Di.

But no matter what, in the initial stage, the Xiongnu was a loose, independent tribal alliance without an absolute central government. They had conflicts with the Central Plains dynasty from time to time, but they were not a unified regime, and the Central Plains at that time was actually not a unified regime either.

In the 26th year of King Zheng of Qin, Qin annexed the six kingdoms, unified the Central Plains, and established a truly centralized power. King Zheng of Qin was no longer the "common ruler" of the past, but had a completely new identity: the emperor.

Parallel to the conquest and unification of the Central Plains was the conquest and unification of the grasslands.

Before the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, the Xiongnu tribes distributed north and south of the Yinshan Mountains had gradually integrated the scattered tribes and formed a political system with a central royal court, the Left Wise King who was in charge of the east, and the Right Wise King who was in charge of the west.

But at this time, the Huns were still not an absolutely powerful force. There were still many places on the grassland that were not under their control. Even those that were under their control were not under the absolute rule of the royal court.

At this time, the Huns were still no match for the Central Plains. During the reign of Qin Shihuang, Meng Tian led 300,000 troops to garrison the border. "In the north, we built the Great Wall to guard the frontier, and kept the Huns back more than 700 miles. The Hu people did not dare to go south to graze their horses, and the soldiers did not dare to bend their bows to avenge their grievances." The words from Jia Yi confirmed the weakness of the Huns at that time.

It was not until Hu Hai ascended the throne in conspiracy, in the first year of the reign of Qin II, that the Xiongnu finally welcomed their monarch, Maodun.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng was not surprised by the unification of the Huns, nor was he happy or anything else about Jia Yi's description of the frontier under his rule. The only thing he cared about was that the monarch who truly unified the Huns and made them a powerful force came on the stage in the first year of the reign of Qin II.

(End of this chapter)