The story of the Western Han Dynasty from the founding of the People's Republic to its peak and then to its decline is really a long story.
At the end of the Qin Dynasty, a surging peasant uprising destroyed the Qin government's rule over the whole country. At the same time, strongmen all over the country rose up against Qin and established separatist forces. During this period, Liu Bang, a native of Pei County, also took advantage of the situation and pulled up a team, which soon became the main force in the uprising army.
Since then, Liu Bang led the troops into Guanzhong and Xianyang, and accepted the surrender of Zi Ying, the king of Qin. But later, because Xiang Yu, the overlord of the anti-Qin Coalition, was very dissatisfied with Liu Bang, Liu Bang had to give up Xianyang and admit Xiang Yu's leadership. Since then, Xiang Yu has sealed the princes and placed Liu Bang in the land of Bashu.
Later, Liu Bang took advantage of the civil strife of the major governors, appointed Han Xin as the general, sent troops to the East, and started the Chu-Han War. After years of fighting, Liu Bang finally. Defeat Xiang Yu and become the new overlord.
However, after Liu Bang became the overlord, he did not choose to continue to implement the enfeoffment system like Xiang Yu, but chose the system of county system and enfeoffment system in parallel. In 202 BC, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor in Dingtao, Shandong Province, and the Western Han Dynasty was formally established.
In the next few years, on the one hand, Liu Bang recuperated and restored his national strength, on the other hand, he began to solve the existence of Wang with a different surname. After several years of hard work, the Han dynasty finally solved all the remaining vassal States and completely unified the world. But at the same time, in order to stabilize his rule, Liu Bang began to enfeoffment Liu's people, and left an ancestral motto that Liu was not allowed to seal the king.
In BC 195, Liu Bang died, and his son Liu Ying became a teenager. However, Liu Ying died young after only seven years in office. As Liu Ying acceded to the throne as a teenager, it was difficult to subdue his ministers, so after Liu Ying acceded to the throne, his biological mother Lv Zhi began to intervene in state affairs. After Liu Ying's death, his son Gong Liu acceded to the throne in his teens, unable to handle state affairs at all, so Lv Hou began to proclaim himself emperor.
Lv Zhi has a * * * system for eight years. During this period, as he grew up, he threatened revenge, because his biological mother was hurt by Lv Hou. After that, Lv Zhi imprisoned and killed Gong Liu and made Liu Hong, another son of Liu Ying, emperor.
In BC 180, Lv Zhi died. Since then, the Hero Party of the Western Han Dynasty staged a coup, killed the Lu clan, and then made Liu Heng, the fourth son of Liu Bang, emperor of China. During the 23 years of Emperor Wen's reign, he has been adhering to the policy of rest and recuperation, and the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty has been significantly improved again. In BC 157, Wendi died, and his son Liu Qi succeeded to the throne, known as Jingdi in history. After Emperor Jing of Han ascended the throne, he continued to practice the policy of recuperation, and the Western Han Dynasty had another good time. During the nearly forty years of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty and Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, the history of later generations is called the rule of Wenjing.
However, in the period of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, because Liu Bang had sealed Liu's captaincy before, the local captaincy was too powerful, and finally there was a rebellion, which was called the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion. Fortunately, Han Jing was more capable, and finally appointed Zhou Yafu to quell the rebellion, which did not cause great losses to the country, but strengthened centralization.
After the death of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, the famous Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty was the next to ascend to the throne. After Emperor Wu ascended the throne, he further strengthened his national strength on the basis of Wenjing rule. The internal implementation of the award order divided the originally powerful vassal state into several small countries, thus solving the problem that the local vassal state was too big to fail. At the same time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched a war against the Xiongnu in the north, thrashed the Xiongnu, and extended the sphere of influence of the Han Dynasty to the western regions.
In addition, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", and chose Confucianism as the guiding principle of governing the country, which became the mainstream thought followed by China for thousands of years.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he made great contributions to the history of China. But at the same time, the war waged by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty all the year round also greatly damaged the national strength of the Han Dynasty. In particular, in his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty listened to the slanderers of treacherous court officials and killed his own prince by mistake, which led to the situation that there was no successor in the Han Dynasty.
After the death of Emperor Wudi, his youngest son, Emperor Wudi Zhao Di, acceded to the throne at the age of eight. Because he is too young, he can only leave it to Huo Guang and others. However, Zhao Di, the Emperor Gaozu, just came of age, but died young and had no children. So the ministers can only choose Liu He, the king of Changyi, as the emperor from the imperial clan.
But after Liu He reached the summit, it was ridiculous. He could not bear the responsibility of the emperor. So after only 27 days in office, he was abolished by the powerful minister Huo Guang. Then, Huo Guang established another member of the imperial clan, Liu Xun, which is the famous emperor Xuan Di in history.
After Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di ascended the throne, the early power was always in the hands of Huo Guang. However, after Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan Di soon ascended the throne and became a good emperor. During the periods of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty, although high-level turmoil often occurred, the whole Han Dynasty began to pay attention to rest and health preservation. The national strength consumed during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was also made up.
In the late Xuandi period, the national strength of the Han Dynasty finally reached a new peak, which was also the peak of the whole Western Han Dynasty. At this time, the Western Han Dynasty not only established the Western Regions Protection Government, but also brought the Western Regions into the control of the Central Plains Dynasty for the first time. At the same time, it completely defeated the Huns and solved the security problem in the north.
After the death of Emperor Xuan Di, his son, Emperor Hanyuan, succeeded to the throne. Emperor Hanyuan was actually a good emperor and continued to suppress the Huns in the north. The famous saying,' Those who openly commit crimes against the Han people will be punished even if they are far away' appeared in this era. At the same time, in order to appease the surrendered Xiongnu tribes, Emperor Hanyuan began to re-implement the kinship policy. It was during this period that Zhaojun went to the fortress in history.
However, Emperor Hanyuan was not that kind of talented emperor. Although he did a lot of things during his reign, he could not fundamentally solve the problems of the Western Han Dynasty. At that time, in the Western Han Dynasty, since the founding of the People's Republic of China was more than one hundred years ago, the problem of land annexation became more and more serious, and centralization began to weaken. None of these problems can be solved by Emperor Han and Yuan.
In addition, Emperor Han Yuan married a queen named Wang. This king is not very good at teaching children. After the death of Emperor Han Yuan, his son Liu Ao succeeded to the throne, which was called Emperor Han Cheng in history. After Emperor Han ascended the throne, he was greedy for pleasure and ignored state affairs. Coupled with the further deterioration of the land problem, peasant uprisings began to appear gradually within the Han Dynasty.
What's more, because Emperor Han Chengdi didn't care about state affairs, Wang Shufei's family seized power and laid the groundwork for the subsequent usurpation.
After the death of Emperor Han Chengdi, because Emperor Han Chengdi died without a son to inherit, he was only enthroned by his nephew Liu Xin, known as Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty in history. Liu Xin was not a good emperor and died after six years in office, which further strengthened the corruption of the ruling machine in the Han Dynasty. After Liu Xin's death, because he had no son, Wang Mang, the powerful minister, chose Liu Kan, who was only nine years old at that time, as Emperor Han Ping.
After Emperor Han Ping came to power, Wang Mang took full power. Because the Liu family was suppressed at that time, the bottom people were disappointed with the rulers of the Han Dynasty. So in the end, Wang Mang usurped the throne and forced Emperor Han Ping to give himself a Zen position. In the eighth year, Wang Mang officially ascended the throne and changed his title to' Xin', thus ending the Western Han Dynasty.
In the early Han Dynasty, I didn't know how to govern the country at all. Therefore, Liu Bang and Lv Zhi basically use whatever works, and there is no rhyme or reason.
Ji Bo, the mother of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, is a withdrawn person. She likes reading Tao Te Ching when she is free. As a result, she formed the habit of doing nothing with her son and daughter-in-law.
Therefore, during the period of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty and Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, Taoism was adopted to govern by doing nothing. Although this practice has the effect of letting the people rest, it can also condone many local tyrants and evil gentry.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gained the supreme sovereignty of the Han Dynasty by supporting his consorts (Wei Qing and Huo Qubing Group). He is also considering what means should be used to govern the country.
At this time, a bearded man named Dong Zhongshu came to tell Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty: Confucianism with me! I improved this thing, which is very suitable for the rule of your Liu family.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ran to have a look. Hey, if Confucius were alive, he would beat Dong Zhongshu, an unfilial disciple, to the ground! Because of Confucius' Confucianism, Dong Zhongshu changed it beyond recognition.
However, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty was very satisfied with this. Why? Because this set of Confucianism is completely transformed according to the responsibility of protecting imperial power. So Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty announced that he would oust hundreds of schools and respect Confucianism alone.
First of all, Huo Guang and Xuan Di deeply understood the governance style of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty respected Confucianism alone, did he really completely oust hundreds of schools and respected Confucianism alone? Of course not, because in a hundred schools of thought contend, legalism is the most practical. No matter who abolishes it, it is impossible to abolish legalism.
Therefore, Confucianism at that time was similar to shouting slogans.
The role of legalists lies in doing practical things.
No matter how loud the slogan is, it is just for others to see. Only by doing it yourself can things be done well. In order to really benefit.
Therefore, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the legalist thought was not abolished, but developed vigorously. It is precisely because Emperor Wu played like this that the momentum of the dynasty continued to move forward in the case of years of war.
Huo Guang clearly see in the eye. He knows that those Confucian scholars can publicize the dominant ideas, but they can never do practical things. Therefore, Huo Guang got the message. After he became the assistant minister of Emperor Zhao of Han Dynasty, he strictly carried out the instructions of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. So when Huo Guang was in power, the Han Dynasty was still relatively prosperous.
The heyday of the Han Dynasty was not in the period of Liang Wudi, but in the period of Xuan Di. Liu Xun, Xuan Di, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, won The True Story of Huo Guang. Therefore, during the reign of Xuan Di, this practice was still strictly implemented: Confucianism carried out propaganda and Legalists did practical things.
Second, Emperor Liu Shi of the Han Dynasty had no idea what his grandparents were doing. During the reign of Xuan Di, the Han Dynasty was pushed to its peak. This is also due to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Huo Guang, who opened up a routine for him to govern the country. However, after Emperor Liu Shi came to power, the situation changed completely.
When Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di was alive, he made Liu a prince, mainly because he missed Liu's biological mother and his former queen Xu Pingjun. However, Emperor Xuan Di was very dissatisfied with Liu Shi.
Why? Because Liu insisted on dying, in Liu's mind, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a god. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty announced that he had deposed a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone, he firmly believed that only Confucianism was decent in this world, and all other academics were crooked ways.
This really worried Xuan Di, his son didn't begin to understand! Xuan Di, the Emperor Gaozu, once hinted to his son that in the matter of governing the country, propaganda is one thing and doing things is another. Our emperors in the Han Dynasty should be both kingly and overbearing. How can we favor one over the other?
Unfortunately, Liu Shi has been covering his ears: if you don't listen, I just won't listen!
Great, Xuan Di, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, sighed: I'm afraid I'm going to be destroyed by this smelly boy!
So, this is still Xuan Di's fault. If we know that Liu Shi is not good, why not change his successor? That's great. After Liu Shi, Emperor of the Han and Yuan Dynasties, succeeded to the throne, he tried his best to reuse Confucian representatives to govern the country. These people shouted the slogan of "greatness" and really went to the battlefield. All of them became helpless cowards.
Their inability to do practical things led to the decline of the Han Dynasty. Just as Confucianism pays attention to virtue, Emperor Hanyuan really intends to convince people with virtue.
Boy, do you think you are Lei Laohu? Can you really convince people with virtue? Of course not. Because the landlord's strongmen don't have such a good conscience, they see that the court is lax in management and shout slogans there all day, but they just don't do it. So these people began to annex land and become bigger and stronger, making the influence of the court weaker and weaker.
Third, consorts, Confucian officials and eunuchs are fighting with each other. After Emperor Han and Yuan ascended the throne, he began to reuse Confucianism, which made his consort Shi Gao very angry. Why? Since the Han dynasty has been ruled by consorts since ancient times, when is it the turn of Confucianism?
The Lu family in the period of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, the Dou family in the period of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty and the Wei family in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty were all consorts. Scofield's father, Shi Gong, is the brother of Shi Liangdi, the grandmother of Emperor Xuan Di.
Therefore, Scofield was the first assistant minister appointed by Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di, but now he has been left out in the cold. Of course he is unhappy, but his own strength is not enough. So Scofield got in touch with eunuchs, consorts and eunuchs, and stayed with these Confucians.
In the end, the representative of Confucianism was forced to death by consorts and eunuchs. After Xiao's death, other Confucian officials were demoted one after another, and eunuch groups stepped onto the historical stage.
Emperor Han Yuan especially liked eunuchs. Even though he knew that they had forced Wang Zhi, Emperor Han Yuan chose to delegate power to them. Therefore, the chaos caused by eunuchs and consorts in the Han and Yuan Dynasties was one of the important reasons for the decline of the Han Dynasty.
Summary: After the Han and Yuan Dynasties, the royal family style became worse and worse. Xuan Di failed to educate his son Liu Shi, which was the root of the demise of the Han Dynasty. Because this generation can't do well, it will inevitably affect the emperors after the Han Dynasty.
Sure enough, Liu Ao, the son of Emperor Han Yuan, was also a dissolute and heartless emperor. Therefore, during his reign, the imperial power was gradually in the hands of the Queen Mother and the consorts of the Lao family.
After the death of Emperor Cheng of Han Dynasty, he left no son, so Liu Xin, Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. Liu Xin was supposed to have a good fight, but because of poor health, he died at the age of 25.
From then on, Emperor Liu Kan was an obedient child, a puppet in follwed's hand, and had no real power at all. Since then, the Western Han Dynasty has been declared extinct, and there is no power to return to heaven.
Generally speaking, the Western Han Dynasty began to decline from Xuan Di to the Han Emperor. All the decline in the later period was paved by the Han and Yuan emperors in the form of death.
References:
the Book of the Han Dynasty
The prosperity of any dynasty, after reaching its peak, will begin to decline, just like a parabola. Zhao Xuanzhongxing in the Western Han Dynasty was the highest end of parabola, and it began to decline from the Han and Yuan emperors.
Xuan Di, Emperor of the Han Dynasty, once said that his prince Liu Shi, later Emperor of the Han Dynasty, must be the child who messed up my family. But because Liu was the son of Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di and his first wife, Xu Pingjun, although he thought that this child would throw the Han empire into chaos, he still couldn't bear to abolish him.
Emperor Han and Yuan experienced a mediocre life, and from his term of office, the imperial power began to decline. He trusted eunuch Shi Xian to the point where he was partial to hearing and trusting. As a result, the eunuch was authoritarian and the normal operation of the country was destroyed. At this time, the parabolic decline of the dynasty was not obvious.
The absurdity of Emperor Hancheng accelerated the decline of the Western Han Dynasty. He likes sisters Zhao, and he is very extravagant with them. In order to please Zhao Hede, he also personally killed his son, leaving him without an heir.
Emperor Han Ai was a poor child since he was a child, because he had a grandmother who was too strong. His grandmother won the throne for him, and when he became emperor, his family was also given by her. Empress Fu tried her best to promote her family, and she was not happy that her grandson did not give her family official position.
After the death of the Queen Fu, Emperor Han Ai didn't learn well himself. Dong Xian, who is beautiful, broke his sleeves with this handsome man. He not only gave Dong Xian a big official to do it, but also gave him a lot of things. Finally, in order to express his feelings for Dong Xian, he even gave the throne of the emperor to Menan. How can such an absurd emperor govern the country well? How can you not let the imperial power disappear?
What Ai Di and his grandmother did made the parabola of the Western Han Dynasty slide directly to the bottom.
As for Emperor Han Ping, he is basically a puppet of Wang Mang, not to mention how depraved he is.
Compared with these ridiculous emperors, Wang Mang is really a talent. He is knowledgeable and popular. After 25 years, he finally achieved his goal.
To evaluate a great dynasty, we should use the same method as evaluating a computer phone, that is, both hardware and software should be excellent, but the Excellence brought by hardware is the basic starting point. The Western Han Dynasty was the benefit of the unification of the Great Qin Empire by the Chinese nation, but the hardware facilities were still very rough, the hardware foundation was still very weak, and the software did not follow up. The nation-state may still have the possibility of hardware and software collapse at any time. The way of governing the country through rest and keeping healthy still leaves the country in a semi-divided state. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted high-handed political and military means to unify the thoughts and actions of the whole country and strengthen the cultural awareness of the Han territory. The hardware level of the Western Han Dynasty has risen to an unparalleled height, but the hardware has gone up. Obviously, the software economy can no longer support the demand for hardware, so he began to enter the collapse stage frequently. Later, Liu Xiu, Guangwu Emperor, recreated a set of good software, which made the Han Dynasty glow again and run smoothly and easily.
1. The Han Dynasty reached its peak (BC 1465438+ BC 0-87).
The mid-Western Han Dynasty was the most prosperous period of the Han Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Liu Qi, Liu Yuxin Che acceded to the throne, that is, Emperor Wu. As soon as he took office, he changed the strategy of "ruling by doing nothing", attacked the Xiongnu three times, expelled the Xiongnu to Mobei, opened the western regions, and produced the "Silk Road". Internally, the "order to push the favor" was implemented to weaken the strength of the princes; And held a "salt and iron conference" to nationalize the production of salt and iron.
However, Liang Wudi's foreign war also comes at a price. After attacking Xiongnu three times, Liang Wudi continued to attack Xiongnu, which made the Xiongnu border suffer again. In the period of Emperor Wu, the state's tax revenue increased again, and at the same time, the punishment was intensified, which led to some riots in the later period of Emperor Wu. The cost is very high, so officials with "equal loss" and "leveling" were set up to compete with the people for profits. In addition, Confucianism has become an inherent cultural trend in China.
Liang Wudi published a famous imperial edict in his later years, which also expressed Liang Wudi's profound introspection. The country gradually became stable, so that although Liang Wudi lost the State of Qin, it did not lose it.
Second, Zhao Xuanzhongxing, the empire stood out (87 BC? The first 48 years)
In his later years, Liang Wudi was forced to death because of "witchcraft". Before the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Mrs. Ligou's eight-year-old son was Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, assisted by Huo Guang, the champion Hou and the younger brother of General Huo Qubing.
Emperor Zhao is very clever, but he is jealous of talented people. 265,438+0 years old died. He died childless, and Huo Guang and other ministers welcomed the imperial clan Liu He to succeed him. Later, due to the loss of Liu Hede, he abolished it and made Liu's grandson Wei Zhi, the Han emperor.
Before Xuan Di ascended the throne, the people were in trouble because of witchcraft, and they knew their own sufferings. After Xuan Di succeeded to the throne, he first got rid of Huo Guang, a once powerful blessing general, and then ruled the country by the golden mean. During his reign, the national strength and people's strength were greatly restored, and the Huns also expressed their willingness to submit. Uhaanyehe paid a visit to Xuan Di as a vassal, thus ending the Hundred Years' War of the Han-Hungarian Empire. Xuan Di and former emperor Zhao Di ruled.
Third, Yuan, Cheng, Ai and Ping, the demise of the Western Han Empire (48 BC? 9 ad)
The Decline and Success of RMB
Xuan Di, Emperor Gaozu, died at the age of 43. Where's Yuan? Acceded to the throne Emperor Yuan of Han Dynasty and his son, Emperor Cheng of Han Dynasty, were turning points in the decline of the Western Han Empire. This is related to the resurgence of land merger and the further intensification of class contradictions at that time, but the main reason is Liu? On the surface, "soft-hearted and good at Confucianism" is actually conniving at eunuchs, traitors and persecutors, and political darkness.
The emperor spoiled his concubine-his mother Wang's royal family was in chaos. Because Wang's younger brother, Wang Feng, and Wang's sons and nephews were once the ministries of Fu, Wang's influence in the imperial court gradually consolidated. Finally, Wang Mang, the illegitimate son of the royal family, usurped the Han family.
Defeated by sadness and peace
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty died childless. After Zhao and Yuan Emperor Zhao joined hands to crowd out the Wangs. Liu Xin, the younger brother of Ding, the son of Shi, acceded to the throne as Emperor Han, and put his grandmother Fu and his mother Ding into the palace. Seeing that the tide was gone, Axe Wang Mang suggested a temporary concession to the Queen of Zheng Jun. As a result, Wang Mang resigned and returned to Xinye Xinxiang to seal the country. The "Broken Sleeve Addiction" of Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty
After the death of Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty, there were no children, and the power of the king rose again, marrying Liu, the cousin of Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty and the son of Zhongshan. Emperor Han Ping became emperor for five years. At the age of 65,438+04, Wang Mang gradually got involved in state affairs as a gentleman. Finally, he poisoned Emperor Ping and deposed Xuan Di's great-grandson Ruziying. At the beginning of September, he officially proclaimed himself emperor, changed Han into a new one, and the glorious Western Han Empire finally came to an end.
The key to the decline of the Western Han Dynasty was Emperor Wudi, and Liu Che pushed the Western Han Dynasty to its peak. The key reason for the decline of the Western Han Dynasty was also caused by Liu Che, and even the fundamental reason for the decline of China's First Empire, represented by the Qin and Han Dynasties (including the Eastern Han Dynasty), was also caused by Liu Che.
If you want to find the root cause, you have to start with the battle of Mobei, the peak of Liu Che's martial arts. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing each led an expedition of 50,000 troops to Mobei, defeated Khan and the Left, wiped out more than 90,000 people, and the Han army lost less than half of the Xiongnu, which was an unprecedented victory in the Sino-Hungarian War.
However, all the 500,000 cattle that provided logistics for the Han army were lost, and the 500,000 civilian workers lost more than 400,000. These civilian workers and cattle were collected from today's Huang-Huai-Hai Plain areas such as Hebei, Shandong and Henan, and were then called Kanto.
We should know that in farming society, men are the first labor force, and the importance of plowing cattle is almost equal to that of men. This loss means that 500,000 farmers are bankrupt, and the lives of two or three million old, weak, women and children at home are not guaranteed.
In fact, the previous wars against Hungary have exhausted the people's strength. This battle in Mobei became the last big iron bar that overwhelmed the camel. Note that I use a big iron bar to describe it, not a straw, because this loss itself is the biggest one.
At this time, Liu Che did not tighten his belt to live a hard life, and concentrated resources to protect the lives of these people; On the contrary, they continue to lavish rewards, engage in witchcraft, seek immortality and medicine, and continue to squander the blood and sweat of ordinary people. Later, they even made an absurd move of1.8000 troops marching on the Sino-Hungarian border.
It is conceivable that in the second year, a great famine broke out in Kanto, and there were millions of refugees and thieves everywhere. Farmers who can't survive either starve to death or become refugees begging everywhere, and some are driven to Liangshan and become robbers.
But the death rate of begging is extremely high, even if you survived, it is not a long-term solution. Going up the mountain to be a robber is only the choice of a few people.
In this case, refugees and extended families choose from each other in both directions, and extended families help refugees, while refugees work for extended families and become their handmaiden, thus forming autocratic landlords.
Even after the condemnation letter issued by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, including the economic recovery during the reign of Huo Guang, some refugees returned to their homeland, but there were still a large number of refugees who were afraid of the tyranny of the imperial court or lived in the houses of extended families, so they chose to stay in the houses of powerful landlords as handmaiden.
This stage is the time when powerful landlords rise. Although it is not enough to pose a threat to the court, it already has the capital to confront the court.
These tyrannical landlords themselves were nobles or officials, enjoying the privilege of tax exemption and labor exemption to a certain extent, and were the supporting force for the rule of the Han Dynasty.
In the Han dynasty, the most glorious thing was to seal Hou. These powerful landlords have 65,438+0,000 handmaiden households, which is actually equivalent to the economic strength of thousands of households. Therefore, after the formation of powerful landlords, they spared no effort to expand their strength.
There are many powerful landlords at this time. First, they are nobles with tax-free privileges. Second, they are officials who carry out government decrees for the court. Third, they are big landlords themselves.
The core of the struggle between powerful landlords and the imperial court is population and land, because this is the source of wealth.
The imperial court can only issue decrees for officials to implement, but many of these officials themselves are powerful landlords and cannot harm their own interests. Therefore, no matter how beautiful the government's policies are, they have become persecuting people after being implemented by officials.
Even officials who are not powerful landlords, after a period of development, will become powerful landlords themselves, moving from supporters of the imperial court to the opposite side.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, monarchs and ministers had a clear understanding of this issue. The emperor sent non-tyrannical officials to check the household registration and taxes. These officials worked hard in the early stage, but stopped working after a while and began to undermine government policies like other tyrannical officials.
This forms a vicious circle. Farmers find it more comfortable to be a handmaiden in a powerful landlord's house than a court official, so more and more people go there. However, the imperial court always has considerable expenses, and these burdens are on fewer and fewer compilers and compilers, and these people's burdens are even heavier, so they give their land to powerful landlords.
The court ruled, but the more serious the governance, even officials who resolutely opposed the tyrannical landlords, as long as they ruled for a period of time, began to make money after becoming tyrannical landlords. After all, thousands of households can only be owned by people who have made great contributions, but a county magistrate can attract thousands of farmers to become his handmaiden in a few years. Who will work for the court after living in thousands of households or even Wan Huhou?
In fact, the Western Han Dynasty died on this issue. The popular saying is the problem of land and handmaiden. In fact, the imperial court and powerful landlords failed to compete for land and population and were unable to support the situation.
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu also wanted to solve this problem, constantly sending officials to check the household registration and land, but the problems he faced were the same as those in the Western Han Dynasty. These officials couldn't fish for a long time, so Liu Xiu had to stop crossing the fields.
The solution to the problem in the Eastern Han Dynasty was to recognize the existence of powerful landlords and give them legal status and power. Therefore, the powerful landlords in the Eastern Han Dynasty were powerful, and most of them held real power in the form of consorts, while the imperial court in the Eastern Han Dynasty was far less powerful than that in the Western Han Dynasty. The emperor always becomes a puppet and can only rely on eunuchs to fight back.
In fact, these powerful landlords are the predecessors of the Wei and Jin dynasties and the gravediggers of the First Empire of China. The problems of these families were finally solved during the period of Wu Zetian.
After reading Zi Tong Zhi Jian, generally speaking, several emperors in the year after next had no sons to inherit, and they were all short-lived. After their death, they had to hastily choose their other sons or nephews as emperors. It is conceivable that the emperor's quality was relatively poor, until Wang Mang, a relative of Liu's great-grandmother, usurped power, and the Western Han Dynasty finally ended. Wang Mang disguised himself well from beginning to end. Until he ascended the throne, he even pretended to shirk and let others call him to ascend the throne. He killed many relatives of the Liu family and those who disagreed slightly, all of them. It directly led to chaos in the country, and most of the victims could not survive, so they went up the mountain and became gangsters. Until a new star appeared in the south, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, established the Great Eastern Han Dynasty and restored the strength of the Han Dynasty. However, Wang Mang ended up at the end of the road. Eight people who followed him plotted to kill him on a boat on the river, and his head was presented to local officials. It can be said that the wicked still have no good news. Don't be a wicked person. If there is no good news, even Wang Mang will be killed.
My point is that success is also the failure of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, who is a great talent. Fighting in the north, expanding territory and consuming national strength. In the late Hanwu period, all kinds of strange tricks, obscenity and magic juggling from abroad entered China, which made people mentally ill and should not be immersed in these useless sensory stimuli. This is the fall of human nature.
The reason why the cruel officials were reused in the later period of Hanwu was because the law lost its majesty. However, the more cruel officials are reused, the denser the law becomes, the more bound people are, and the more they can't put themselves into their work and production. At this time, the more the law becomes a decoration, the more people are afraid of the cruel official criminal law instead of the law, which is the decline of the law.
The root of the disease already existed, but it didn't break out when Zhao Xuan reluctantly took medicine.
The decline of the Western Han Dynasty occurred in the period of Emperor Wudi. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing occupied the Hetao area and Hexi Corridor successively when they fought against Xiongnu, which marked the culmination of Western Han politics. As a result, the Huns lost their important wintering grounds during the livestock breeding period, which led to a sharp decline in livestock breeding, followed by a decline in population and the loss of their ability to resist the Western Han Dynasty. The two large-scale battles in the Western Han Dynasty also greatly overdrawn the national strength and were unable to support further border expansion. The imperial edict of Emperor Wu's infighting indicates that the Western Han Dynasty officially acknowledged this reality and entered a period of contraction.
Since then, the Western Han Dynasty has been unable to enhance its strength through external expansion. Social pressure began to accelerate the accumulation, and social contradictions became increasingly prominent. The so-called rule of Zhao Xuanzhi is just a small rebound in the process of the decline of the national situation, not another peak of the Western Han Dynasty. The mistakes of emperors in previous dynasties accelerated the evolution of contradictions and problems in the upper level of the country, creating conditions for Wang Mang to replace the Han Dynasty. While Wang Mang seized the political power of the Western Han Dynasty and ascended the throne himself, he also took the place of Liu to bear the social pressure of the Western Han Dynasty and the people's resentment of the decline of the country, which made Guangwu Emperor Zhongxing gain the public opinion base and paved the way for the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Financial bankruptcy.
Get wang xing and Wang with the same surname
In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang wiped out the king with a different surname, Emperor Wenjing put down the king with the same surname, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty even killed the army group 147 Hou Guoguo. At the same time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought for years, doubling the land and halving the population. The strongmen began to annex the land to hide the population, and at the same time formed the noble door through reading. In order to deal with refugees, they organized private armed forces, built castles and collected weapons and food. The emperor could not receive taxes, corvees and military service, so he had to increase taxes and catch able-bodied men. In his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to have refugees because he could not bear the tax service. At one time, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees in Beijing. The emperor committed a crime and wrote a letter to himself. The prime minister resigned, but the refugees had no solution.
After the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he began to recuperate and recover his national strength, which was known as Showa Zhongxing in history. But it's hard to find it back, and everyone is disappointed in the Han empire. Just then, a sage Wang Mang appeared, and he was elected as the emperor. Wang Mang restricted land and population annexation, and the New Deal disappointed bureaucratic landlords. If the policy cannot be implemented, the people will be disappointed, and Wang Mang will also fail. It was not until Liu Xiu suppressed a group of cremation that the empire barely stood up again.