Emperor Wen of Han was one of the most famous Ming emperors in Chinese history, who stabilized the Han Dynasty regime during his reign of twenty-three years and created the "Rule of Wenjing" that was praised by later generations. However, from the following two points, we can see that the situation at the beginning of Emperor Wendi's reign was very unfavorable to him:
1. Emperor Wen of Han lacked a foundation in the dynasty. His mother, Empress Bo, "hoped to see Gaozu" after "Ichiyuki gave birth to a man". His daiguo, which was originally enfeoffed by Liu Bang, was not only far from the capital, barren in land, and sparsely populated, but also a front line against the Xiongnu. It can be seen that both Empress Bo and Liu Heng, the acting king, were not favored by Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, and they naturally lacked strong supporters in the dynasty.
2. At that time, the Han Dynasty was the world of the Meritorious Sect. Liu Xiang, the King of Qi, and others made great contributions to quelling the "Rebellion of Zhulu", and had high prestige among the princes of the Liu clan, and could be said to be the best heir to the throne. However, the meritorious faction led by Zhou Bo and Chen Ping easily expelled Liu Xiang on the grounds that "the mother of The King of Qi was a donkey, and the evil one was also", and instead supported Liu Heng, the acting king of "benevolence and filial piety" who had not participated in the pacification of Zhulu. This shows the great power of the Meritorious Faction at that time.
Portrait of Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of Han
It can be seen from this that the starting point of the meritorious faction that pacified Zhu Lü supported Liu Heng was because he lacked a foundation in the dynasty and was not as strong as Liu Xiang, and he was more easily subject to others in comparison. Guo Shijun (Guo Shi Tong Theory) believes that after Emperor Wen of Han took the throne, he not only did not become a puppet of the Meritorious Faction, but strengthened his imperial power, mainly because he took the following three aspects step by step and fought steadily.
From the two passages of the "History of Empress Lü Benji", we can see the importance of grasping the military power in the capital:
1. "The emperor is not a strong son, the empress dowager is afraid of the king, etc." Junjin asked Lü Tai, Lü Chan, and Lü Lu to be the generals, and the generals to the northern and southern armies, as well as all the Lü Lü, to enter the palace and use things in the middle, so that the empress dowager would be at ease, and the jun would be lucky to get rid of the disaster. "The Prime Minister is like a plan. The Empress said... Lü Shiquan thus arose. 2. In the middle of July, Gao Hou was seriously ill, and Lü Lu, the king of Zhao, was made a general of the northern army; Empress Lü admonished And Lu Yue: "... I am about to collapse, the emperor is young, and the minister is afraid of change. It will be guarded by soldiers and guards, and it will not be sent to the funeral, nor will it be controlled by man. ”
Empress Lü knew very well that whoever controlled the northern and southern armies would be able to control the entire capital and thus hold the supreme rule of the Han Dynasty. After Empress Lü's death, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping used tactics to force Li Ji to persuade Lü Lu to surrender the military power of the Northern Army (Lü Lu believed in his plan and wanted to return to the general Yin, and then the Marquis of Zhu And Zhou Bo jointly killed Lü Chan and others, recovering the military power of the Southern Army. In this way, lü's power in the capital was all controlled by Zhou Bo and other meritorious factions, and they also had the right to establish a new emperor.
Sculpture of Chen Ping of Qu Reverse Hou
However, they did not expect that Liu Heng, the acting king of "benevolence and filial piety", was not a weak and incompetent ruler—the night he entered Weiyang Palace, he ordered the appointment of Lieutenant Song Chang, who had followed him from the DaiGuo to beijing, to take over the northern and southern armies of the capital (the emperor entered Weiyang Palace on the same day and night. Naiye worshiped Song Chang as a Wei general and pacified the southern and northern armies. With Zhang Wu as lang zhongling, in the middle of the hall). Mastering the military power of the capital was the most important step for Emperor Wen of Han to lay the foundation in the capital and get rid of the fate of becoming a puppet.
After Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, he naturally had to stabilize the situation at that time first, so he "Yifeng Taiwei (Zhou) BoWanhu and gave five thousand jin of gold." Chen Ping, the minister of finance, and the general Officia, each had three thousand households, and two thousand pounds of gold. Liu Zhang, Marquis Tong of Xiangping, Marquis Liu Xingju of Dongmu, and so on, but at the same time, Emperor Wen of Han also began to support his own forces, in addition to Song Chang (who was given the title of Marquis of Zhuangwu) who held the military power in the capital, Zhang Wu, who held the military power of Miyagi, he also named his uncle the general Bo Zhao as the Marquis of Xuan, and there were also "six people from The Six Concubines, and the officials were all to Jiuqing".
Sculpture of Zhou Bo of Qihou
After the daiguo meritorious servants were properly settled, Emperor Wen of Han immediately issued an edict to "order the kingdom of the princes", but his edict was not supported by the meritorious faction--who would want to leave his rich and gentle countryside and go to a remote fiefdom? More importantly, the Meritorious Faction can only ensure its own safety by hugging a group, and once it is scattered, it loses their power in the capital, and it is easy to be broken by each one, which is "one glory and one loss.". Of course, Emperor Wen of Han knew what they were thinking, so he said to Zhou Bo, the chancellor at the time: "The country of the marquises sent the day before yesterday, or the resignation has not been done." The weight of the Emperor Xiang is the country of the Princes of the Fallen Rate", which means: My emperor seems to be listening to him, Zhou Cheng Xiang, you are reluctant to make it difficult, let's set an example for everyone! Emperor Wen of Han immediately deposed Zhou Bo from his position as chancellor, and Zhou Bo, who had been intimidated by emperor Wen of Han's majesty, finally obeyed the orders of the country, so that "every time Hedong guarded the county to The Dai, Hou Bo feared himself and feared himself, and was often armed, so that his family held troops to see it." Soon after, Zhou Bo, who was busy saving his life, lost the prestige of "Su Zhulu, the king of the dynasty, and the mighty world", and completely became a courtier of Emperor Wen of Han.
Zhou Bo, the leader of the Meritorious Sect, is still like this, and the situation of other meritorious people can be imagined. Emperor Wen of Han won the battle against the Meritorious Faction, and the power of the world was finally firmly in the hands of the emperor.
Map of the situation in the early years of the Han Dynasty
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In the previous article Chinese Shijun (General Theory of National History), it was mentioned that after Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, the implementation of the "county system", that is, the system of counties and counties and sub-feudalism, at the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the emperor directly administered only 15 counties, and the other forty counties were in the hands of various princes. The king's power thus became a major threat to the imperial power, as Jia Yi said in the "Security Policy": "If these kings, although they are called subjects, they all have the heart of the cloth kundi, and they are worried about the imperial system and the son of heaven is the one who is himself", so he suggested that "all the princes should be built and less powerful". Although Emperor Wen of Han did not use Jia Yi, Chao Que, and others during his reign to cut down the domain, he still took action to deter and weaken the princes:
1. Deterrence of princely states. The princes of the early Han Dynasty had great power, and in order to avoid further domestic turmoil, Emperor Wen of Han generally adopted a gentle policy toward the princes, such as Liu Hao, the king of Wu, who "cheated on the disease and did not go to the dynasty", and he "gave a few rods". However, Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei, once took advantage of Emperor Wen of Han's preparations for the imperial conquest to "send troops to attack Xingyang", and Emperor Wen of Han ordered Chai Wu to lead an army of 100,000 to quell the rebellion, and finally Liu Xingju committed suicide. Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, attempted to rebel, but When Emperor Wen of Han discovered this, he deposed him, and the king of Huainan immediately committed suicide. This all shows that Emperor Wen of Han was not infinitely tolerant of the princes—he was good at grasping and almost shocking the princes.
2. Weaken the power of the princes. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, he divided the state of Zhao into two (fengfeng Zhao You's eldest son Liu Sui as king of Zhao and his younger son Liu Peiyi as the king of Hejian); divided the state of Huainan into three (dividing Huainan into three kingdoms, and the third son of King Li was king); and dividing the state of Qi into six (dividing it into six kingdoms, and establishing six sons of King Hui as kings), so that the power of the princely states was weakened, and this measure of Emperor Wen of Han provided a precedent for the "Tuien Order" during the Han Wudi period.
From the above analysis, we can see that although Emperor Wen of Han did not have a solid power in the capital before he ascended the throne, he was even constrained by the meritorious faction that pacified ZhuLu everywhere, and almost became their puppet. However, after he ascended the throne, he first grasped military power, and then worked to weaken the power of heroes and princes, and finally strengthened the imperial power step by step, laying a solid foundation for the stability and prosperity of the Han Dynasty.