Chapter 125: King of Tyranny

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Without saying anything else, Liu Bang excitedly slapped his thigh when he saw that Liu Heng raised 300,000 horses and encouraged the people to raise horses, and said, "War horses are great!" Since its establishment, the Han Dynasty has suffered from the shortage of horses. The problem of shortage of horses was reflected in foreign wars, which meant that the Han people were always outwitted by the Huns and could only defend themselves, but could hardly take the initiative to attack.

That good grandson of Emperor Wu was able to defeat the Huns like that, so he must have solved the problem - at least temporarily solved the problem of lack of war horses. Otherwise, it would have been a big problem for the Han army to go beyond the border.

The problem of horse shortage cannot be solved overnight. Liu Heng's horse policy is a key step. Even if these 300,000 horses are not all war horses, it is still good.

Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Jing.

The first two policies, "paying grain to be awarded a title" and "recruiting people to serve the border", were both submitted in the memorial by Chao Cuo, which made Liu Qi fall into reminiscence for a moment.

However, the current military merit group is no longer the same arrogant military merit group as before.

Thinking of this, he thought of the Emperor Wu of Han who conquered the Xiongnu. It was his favorite Crown Prince Liu Che, and he couldn't help but feel better. It seemed that everything he did was effective. Weakening the military merit group and controlling the princes, these measures created a stable central government for the future Han Dynasty...

Only because he had no worries could Liu Che wage such a violent war against the Huns.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin sighed: "The era that created brilliant achievements is certainly worthy of attention, but before that, the profound accumulation of these achievements is also indispensable."

The glory of Emperor Wu of Han is dazzling and makes people unable to help but be moved. Regardless of whether his evaluation is positive or negative, whether he is a wise ruler or a tyrant, he is an existence that no one can ignore.

Of course, this does not mean that Emperor Wen was ignored - as the first wise emperor after three generations, Liu Heng's presence was just as strong, and his reputation was far greater than that of Liu Che.

However, the evaluation of Liu Heng is also limited to his wise king who loved his people and ruled the country with benevolence, while few people discuss his military prowess.

Such conscious or unconscious neglect does exist. Whether it is conscious or unconscious, the reason lies in the tendency of the people who make the evaluation: they do not advocate force, but rather advocate benevolence, and they yearn for the "three generations", or in other words, the three generations in the book.

When Zhao Kuangyin mentioned this matter, he was not just sighing for a moment, he was more concerned about the ideological tendency behind such an evaluation. Emperor Wen's benevolence is good, but the Song Dynasty needs not only benevolence, but also a policy like Emperor Wen's that constantly prepares for the military! What is needed is not only recuperation, but also the purpose behind recuperation!

A good starting point is to increase praise for Liu Heng's policies in this regard.

[Except for the Huns, Liu Heng adopted a policy of peaceful defense towards neighboring countries, including Nanyue and Korea.

Due to the national strength issues of the Han Dynasty at the time and the covetous eyes of the Huns, Liu Heng had peaceful exchanges with Nanyue and Korea and carried out economic trade, which maintained the stability of the border and reduced the burden on the people, allowing them to concentrate on production operations.

"So the people have no internal or external burdens, and can rest on their farms. The country is rich, a grain of rice costs more than ten coins, cocks crow and dogs bark, and fireworks can be seen thousands of miles away. Can this be called a harmonious and happy country?"]

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng narrowed his eyes: "Nanyue..."

According to the developments in Tianmu, he must have sent people to conquer Nanyue, and eventually achieved certain results. That is, when he was there, Nanyue should have submitted to the Qin Dynasty.

But by the time of the Han Dynasty, not only were Hetao and other areas occupied by the Xiongnu, but the two vassal states of Nanyue and Korea also became independent and no longer paid tribute to the Han Dynasty?
Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng was still very satisfied with the results of his policies. The people could live thousands of miles away and the price of millet could be as low as ten coins. Wasn't this the greatest affirmation and praise of himself?
As for South Vietnam and Korea, there was nothing he could do. The current situation of the Han Dynasty was such that it was not the time to resort to war. The most important thing now was to develop the country's strength first. To this end, he could tolerate some small actions by the princes and meritorious officials.

As long as the Han Dynasty develops and becomes strong, whether it is the internal princes and meritorious groups or the external Xiongnu and Nanyue, they will all be eliminated one by one.

At the very least, Qi'er was not an emperor who would tolerate the princes and meritorious officials to abuse their power.

Liu Heng kept smiling, looking gentle and calm.

[In general, Liu Heng implemented the policy of "ruling by doing nothing" based on the teachings of Huang-Lao, encouraged agricultural production among the people, reduced farmers' taxes and labor service, reduced the number of foreign wars, abolished harsh penalties, lifted restrictions on merchants' trading, and generally adopted a more lenient attitude towards princes and meritorious officials.

This approach allowed the population of the Han Dynasty to continue to recover. At the end of his reign, the population was close to the Warring States period. After the Qin Dynasty and the Chu and Han Dynasties, the population finally recovered. 】

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

The smile on Liu Heng's face became more genuine, and the curve of his mouth corners became a little bigger.

Is the problem of the Han Dynasty just food, economy, or lack of war horses? No, the most serious problem of the Han Dynasty is the sparse population. Although it is not so sparse as to be extremely tense, it is still very serious.

The small population made it impossible for the Han Dynasty to restore its food reserves in a short period of time, nor could it organize a strong counterattack against the Huns. With so many people busy farming and building water conservancy facilities, how could they be mobilized in large numbers to fight foreign wars?
The population of the Han Dynasty was indeed larger than that of the Xiongnu, but how could the nature of the Han Dynasty be the same as that of the Xiongnu?

Since he ascended the throne, his biggest goal in governing the country was to restore the national strength of the Han Dynasty. By the end of his reign, he was able to restore the population to that of the Qin Dynasty, which was proof that he had successfully restored the national strength of the Han Dynasty.

After seeing this, Liu Heng suddenly felt very interested in changing the calendar, changing the clothing color, etc. - With such a destiny in my hands, I should take on the responsibility of establishing a ritual system for the Han Dynasty!

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, okay."

He counted the time on his fingers. Although there was no accurate data, the age at which Liu Ying died was clear. In this case, he estimated the life span of Lu Zhi and the fact that Liu Xiang and his brothers died one or two years after Liu Heng ascended the throne. With this calculation, the time for the Han Dynasty to restore its population to that of the Warring States Period and Qin Dynasty would not be too far away.

In this case, he can rest assured that the big man will not need a long time.

However, if this is the case, then the situation of the Han Dynasty is basically able to support some wars. Even if Prince Liu Heng has to deal with the problems of princes and meritorious officials after he succeeds to the throne, he should not wait until the next emperor to start attacking the Huns, right?

Liu Bang's face looked strange.

By this calculation, does it mean that his son's heir is not going to live long enough?

[During Liu Heng's reign, in addition to Jia Yi, there was another person who also played an important role in the policies and development of the Han Dynasty.

This person is Chao Cuo, who served as the Prince's Household Manager during the reign of Liu Heng. The two policies mentioned above, "paying grain to be granted a title" and "recruiting people to serve the border", were both proposed by him. Chao Cuo was not like Jia Yi, a genuine Confucian - although there is a huge difference between Confucianism during the Han Dynasty and Confucianism in later generations.

In his early years, Chao Cuo studied the Legalist thought from Zhang Hui, yes, the Legalist thought.

Although most people in the Han Dynasty believed that the demise of the Qin Dynasty had a lot to do with the Legalists, the Legalists did not die out as a result, but still maintained a certain vitality.

Looking at the Han Dynasty as a whole, except for the early period when Huang-Lao was firmly employed, the rest of the time, it was never a single school of thought that was adopted, but rather the pros and cons of both. There was both "Confucianism in appearance and Legalism in essence" and Emperor Xuan of Han's conclusion that "the Han family had its own system, which was originally a mixture of hegemony and kingship."

Since then, the ideas and concepts of the Legalists have been passed down, although not necessarily under the name of the Legalists.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng didn't even frown. The meaning of the content on the sky curtain was actually the same as before, which was that the Qin Dynasty's system was too tyrannical and harsh - he was not surprised.

The way of the Han Dynasty did have its merits, a mixture of the kingly way and the hegemonic way? Confucianism did have some merits.

However, judging from the meaning of the sky, the Legalist thought, or the means, etc., have indeed been passed down, but the name is no longer Legalist, so who else could it be? Only Confucianism can be said to be a Confucian with a Confucian skin and a legalist body.

The First Emperor looked at Li Si, and sure enough, Li Si was gritting his teeth.

Li Si noticed the emperor's gaze, but he could no longer care about it. Anyway, the emperor would not punish him for his misconduct, so why should he suppress himself?

Confucianism! Those shameless Confucianists!
They say it sounds good, benevolence, righteousness, and morality, and everyone regards it as a guiding principle, and even uses it to accuse the Legalists of being cruel and inhumane - what about you? Have you practiced benevolence, righteousness, and morality?

If he had achieved benevolence, righteousness, and morality, how could he have the audacity to claim the theories of Legalism as his own and give them the name of Confucianism?

If a rat has a body, a person will be rude; if a person is rude, why will he die?

You talk about etiquette all day long, but you yourselves don't have any etiquette. How come you don't know that you should die to prove your innocence?
Don’t say it’s a problem of later Confucianism - if you look at it from his perspective, the problem lies in the roots of today!
As he thought about it, he suddenly found a strange balance: Look, look, look at what your disciples have turned the Confucianism you insist on into? If you see the Confucian theory in the future, I'm afraid you won't dare to recognize it. If you see it, I wonder if you will be angry.

Li Si speculated with some malice.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang's face was full of admiration, and it seemed that he almost stood up and sang a song to express his appreciation and excitement.

"That's right. Nai Gong said, how can we govern the country by relying on only one doctrine? Different things have different requirements. If we only use one, problems will arise sooner or later."

Isn't this the case with the Qin Dynasty? The Legalists were indeed useful before, but after unifying the country, some changes should be made appropriately. The same is true for the Han Dynasty. In the early days, they had no choice but to recuperate. After recuperation, how could they still stick to the old calendar?

Legalism and Confucianism are both good, so why must we choose one? Why can't the emperor have both?

——He felt relieved when he saw that his descendants were so open-minded and practical.

Lu Zhi stood aside with a blank expression on her face. She certainly had no objection to the way of hegemony. On this point, she and Liu Bang had the same attitude: the useful ones are the best. Since they are useful, why should we abandon one?
However, this style still made her sigh: He is indeed a descendant of that bastard Liu Bang, and is simply of the same lineage as him.

It seems that, just like Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, Liu Bang, the founding emperor, had an extremely profound influence on the entire Han Dynasty.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Jingdi’s death.

Liu Qi looked at the sky and agreed.

That's right, the Han Dynasty is a mixture of the kingly way and the hegemonic way. What's wrong with that? The hegemonic way is useful, and the kingly way is also useful. The combination of the two is the governing philosophy that suits the Han emperor.

I am the emperor, and I always choose the appropriate methods and theories and implement them; instead of asking you to blindly believe in a doctrine and deify it.

That's right, I'm talking about those who insist on Huang-Lao. They don't understand why they must regard one doctrine as the standard? Which one is better and which one is not?

It's not that he completely discards Huang-Lao, as the Han Dynasty still needs to continue to develop; nor is he hostile to all those who apply Huang-Lao, as these people can agree with Huang-Lao, but they should also know how to apply other theories.

【Afterwards, Chao Cuo served as the Minister of Rites. During this period, Liu Heng recruited people to study the Book of Documents. Chao Cuo was sent by the Minister of Rites to Jinan to study the Book of Documents with Fu Sheng and accept Confucianism.

At this point, Chao Cuo added Confucianism to the foundation of his Legalism, which also laid the foundation for his later theoretical viewpoints.

After returning, Chao Cuo was appointed as the Prince's attendant and Gate Doctor, and later promoted to Doctor. Later, Chao Cuo submitted a memorial entitled "On the Prince's Advantages in Learning Divination", stating that the Prince should be familiar with the methods of governing the country, which was praised by Liu Heng and he was appointed as the Prince's Household Manager.

This was also the beginning of the relationship between Chao Cuo and Liu Qi as emperor and minister. From then on, he was deeply trusted by Liu Qi and was called a "brain trust."

After being named the Prince's Household Manager, Chao Cuo officially started his political career. The "Memorial on Guarding the Border and Encouraging Farming" and "Memorial on Recruiting People to Serve the Frontier", which were related to immigration policies, were born during this period and were adopted by Liu Heng.

As for the Huns, a major threat to the Han Dynasty, Chao Cuo naturally also had some suggestions.

He wrote "On Military Affairs", in which he discussed the problems and differences between the Han and the Xiongnu, analyzed the five strengths of the Han army and the three strengths of the Xiongnu, and proposed a series of practical countermeasures, including "using barbarians to attack barbarians", "using one's strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses", and "using the many to attack the few".

He also emphasized the importance of generals, weapons, etc. in combat. 】

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che nodded: "Generals and weapons are indeed important in war." The Han Dynasty's current achievements are inseparable from Wei and Huo, and are also related to the Han Dynasty's iron smelting technology, which far surpasses that of the Xiongnu at that time.

"Every word Chao Cuo said hits the nail on the head, his insights are insightful, and they are in line with reality. They are all suggestions that can be truly implemented." Liu Che highly praised Chao Cuo's memorial, and also expressed his dissatisfaction with some people today, "Unlike some people, who hold on to their own theories and ignore reality, or are blindly virtuous..."

As he spoke, his voice became gloomy.

(End of this chapter)