Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty reigned for twenty-three years, shi benevolent government, practiced moral rule, and opened the "rule of Wenjing", he worked hard to govern, build water conservancy, dress simply, abolish corporal punishment, and make the Han Dynasty enter a period of strength, prosperity and stability. At that time, the people were rich and the world was well-off. He was humble and frugal, generous and benevolent, strict in self-discipline, lenient in treating others, and his moral character was almost holy, and he was recognized by everyone as a good emperor. So, why don't you call Emperor Wen of Han "the Emperor of The Ages"?
1. Serve the people wholeheartedly
Emperor Wendi of Han was very concerned about the people's livelihood throughout his life, believing that agriculture was the foundation of people's livelihood, so he attached great importance to the development of agriculture, not only greatly exempting farmers from taxes, but also personally taking the lead in farming in the fields.
At the beginning of his reign, most of the princes lived in the capital chang'an, and the feudal estates were far away, relying on officials and soldiers to supply transportation supplies, which was wasteful and hard, and these princes could not teach and manage the people of the fiefdoms. Therefore, in the second year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he ordered the princes to return to their respective fiefdoms to reduce the burden on the people.
Emperor Wen of Han had planned to build a high platform, but he summoned craftsmen to calculate the cost of hundreds of catties of gold. Emperor Wen of Han said that a hundred catties of gold is equivalent to the property of ten medium-sized families, and I already have the palace room left by the previous emperor to live in, and what is the purpose of building a high platform? So I gave up immediately.
Emperor Wendi of Han himself usually wore thick silk clothes, and he was also very strict with his beloved Lady Shen, forbidding her to wear clothes that dragged the floor, and the tents used were not allowed to embroider colorful patterns, in order to show frugality and set an example for the people of the world.
Even before his death, Emperor Wen still cared about the people's livelihood and did not forget to think about the people, and issued an edict saying that after his death, the people could remove their mourning clothes for three days when they cried and hung; Do not forbid wives, wives, sacrifices, drinking, or eating meat; Those who should attend the funeral and serve the mourning and weeping sacrifices should not be barefoot; The width of the mourning belt should not exceed three inches, do not display train driving and weapons, and do not mobilize folk men and women to the palace to cry and sacrifice.
In short, Emperor Wen of Han came to the capital Chang'an from the Daiguo, that is, he reigned for twenty-three years, and the palace, gardens, dogs and horses, clothing, and driving did not increase. But anything which is inconvenient to the people shall be abolished; But whatever is convenient for the people and benefits the people, everything is done in every detail and every effort is done.
2. Generosity and benevolence
Emperor Wen of Han's generosity and benevolence were also rare in history. He not only abolished the law of sitting innocently and the corporal punishment of the flesh, but also did not kill innocents indiscriminately.
In the third year of Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Wen personally went to Daidi in order to resist the Xiongnu. When Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei, learned of this, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to rebel and planned to attack Xingyang. Emperor Wen ordered Dou Bao to lead an army to crush the rebels in Northern Ji and capture the King of Jibei, and immediately announced that Hao was free of the officials and people in the country who had rebelled with the King of Jibei.
In the sixth year of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, not only abandoned the Han laws and formulated decrees without authorization, but also sent people to contact the king of Minyue and the Xiongnu, and plotted rebellion.
After Liu Chang was captured, the courtiers all said that they should behead him and show him to the public. However, Emperor Wen of Han could not bear to punish the king of Huainan, spared him the death penalty, and only deposed him from the throne and exiled him to Shu County.
However, Emperor Wendi of Han's generosity and benevolence were not unprincipled. The Zhao state of Xinyuanping, who was good at looking at clouds and knowing the evil ji, came to see Emperor Wen, persuaded Emperor Wen to build a temple of the Five Emperors in Weicheng, and predicted that this would make the Zhou Dynasty's heirloom treasure appear, and there would also be strange jade.
Emperor Wen believed it at first, personally went to the outskirts of the Weiyang Five Emperors Temple to offer sacrifices, and really got a jade cup. However, this jade cup was actually offered by Xinyuan Ping in order to deceive Emperor Wen. In that year, the fraud of Xinyuanping was discovered, and Emperor Wen immediately ordered the destruction of the three tribes of Xinyuanping.
All of the above is enough to show that Emperor Wen of Han was indeed a rare good emperor. Why, then, could Emperor Wen of Han not be called "The First Emperor of the Ages" by later generations, as Qin Shi Huang was, or like his grandson Emperor Wu of Han?
This question actually involves the criterion of judging "one emperor through the ages". We say that Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han or Kangxi are emperors of the ages, and the root cause is that these emperors have pioneered and innovated or expanded their territory in their respective eras.
Although Emperor Wen of Han also expressed his willingness to personally lead troops to resist the Xiongnu, he did not make the trip in the end. Moreover, his merits are mainly in shoucheng, not in pioneering. Therefore, even if Emperor Wen of Han was recognized as a good emperor, he could only be called Shoucheng Mingjun, but he could not be called "an emperor through the ages".