My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 577 Summary and Conclusion
The enormous Xuan Shi Hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Inside the hall, lampstands were neatly arranged, and candlelight flickered.

The palace servants stood motionless in an inconspicuous corner, like statues.

Beside the imperial bed, the eunuch Ling Kui Wu instinctively hunched over, his eyes lowered, as if he were about to fall asleep at any moment. In reality, however, he was listening intently, waiting for Liu Rong's orders.

On the imperial couch, Emperor Liu Rong reclined lazily, his brows slightly furrowed.

His gaze fell upon the scrolls of paper on the imperial desk before him, some old, some new, some dark, some light, all covered with writing.

—Counting on my fingers, Liu Rong has been the emperor of the Han dynasty for five years now.

If we include the three years after the late emperor's death and the time Liu Rong, the crown prince, served as regent, then it would be eight years.

Eight years, in later generations, would roughly be two consecutive terms for a head of state.

Unless they are completely incompetent, they can usually achieve something in eight years and two terms to set the tone for their political career and give it a final verdict.

To put it more bluntly, in later generations, eight years is the time interval during which most heads of state can act as 'heads of state'.

The achievements of a head of state need to be made in these eight years—at least the seeds need to be sown and the initial results need to be seen.

In the Han Dynasty under Liu Rong's rule, the emperor was not elected for a four-year term or at most two terms, but rather served for life.

However, this did not affect Liu Rong's decision to use the eight-year interval between the two terms as a phase to summarize his work over the past eight years.

Of course, this was not a formal, politically motivated work summary, but rather Liu Rong's private reflection on the gains and losses, continuing to uphold the good aspects and making timely adjustments to the poor ones.

Identifying and addressing shortcomings, and summarizing lessons learned, is always a good thing.

It would have been better if he hadn't summarized it; the fact that he did make a summary inevitably made Liu Rong a little complacent.

—In the past few years, especially after he inherited the throne, Liu Rong never dared to say, let alone think, that his achievements could reach the level of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen.

At best, it was simply continuing the legacy of Emperor Xiaojing, following the established practices, and steadily advancing the existing policies and systems of the Han dynasty, building upon the foundation laid by Emperors Taizong and Xiaojing and following the general direction they pointed out.

As for his achievements, Liu Rong would humbly say: "Let alone Emperor Taizong, I still have a long way to go to catch up with the achievements of the late emperor."

Secretly, Liu Rong thought that his achievements were roughly on par with those of the late Emperor Xiaojing, but still a decade or two short of the diligent governance of Emperor Taizong.

Today, after summarizing his work—which seemed like a spur-of-the-moment decision but was actually planned in advance—Liu Rong was surprised to find that, without realizing it, he had done so much since taking control of the Han dynasty.

Since this is a summary, and a summary of the work of the past eight years, it should naturally be done year by year.

—In the first year, which was the fourth year of the late emperor's reign, Crown Prince Liu Rong began to oversee the state, taking over the reins from the late emperor and beginning to assume the power of the Han dynasty.

That year, Liu Rong, taking advantage of his pre-regency period, used surplus wheat to fill the gap in the grain market, and took the opportunity to eliminate the inertia of the grain merchants in Guanzhong, thus beginning to promote the state monopoly of grain.

What was originally just a sudden event of unstable grain prices was seized upon by Liu Rong and transformed into an opportunity for the Han family's grain market to shift from a market economy to a state-owned monopoly and macroeconomic control.

Before that, the expectations both inside and outside the court regarding Liu Rong's role in stabilizing grain prices were either that he would succeed in stabilizing grain prices and everything would return to normal, or that he would fail in stabilizing grain prices and force the late emperor to intervene.

The best outcome would be for grain prices to stabilize and return to normal, and then everyone would act as if nothing had happened.
The worst-case scenario is that Liu Rong's reckless actions only resulted in grain prices continuing to rise, forcing the late emperor to step in and clean up the mess.

Afterwards, grain prices returned to normal, and everyone acted as if nothing had happened, only secretly remembering Liu Rong as "unreliable".

To everyone's surprise, Liu Rong not only solved the specific problem of "overheated grain prices" during that effort to stabilize grain prices, but also took the opportunity to deal with the people who caused the overheated grain prices!

The grain merchants of Guanzhong disappeared completely after that.

The nobles and relatives who originally profited by manipulating grain prices were punished, some were punished, and others suffered the consequences.

Although at that time, few meritorious families were purged due to the soaring grain prices;

But looking back over the past eight years, it is not hard to see that the nobles and relatives who participated in the price gouging of grain disappeared from the Han aristocratic community without anyone noticing, in a way that was both reasonable and legal, and that left no room for criticism or even suspicion.

Some were expelled from the country, some died out of line, some were exiled, and some were imprisoned.

And yet, it's so flawless that no one can find fault with it!

It can only be said that the Liu family's reputation for holding grudges is not unfounded.

Liu Rong's methods of "settling scores after the fact" were undoubtedly much more sophisticated than those of the brutal late emperor, reminiscent of Emperor Taizong's style of "killing without getting blood on one's hands."

The grain merchants were eliminated, and the powerful nobles who acted as their protectors were also purged. The vacated grain market was not left unattended by Liu Rong.

—That same year, the Imperial Household Department opened its granaries to release grain under the pretext of 'stabilizing grain prices,' and took the opportunity to establish the previously idle position of Grain Supply Commandant.

Later, Taicang became the designated granary for the "affordable grain" of the Commandant of Grain Supply. The government sold affordable grain indefinitely and in unlimited quantities on a daily basis, which became the norm for the Han dynasty.

Later still, the Commandant of Grain Supply was merged into the newly established Commandant of Nobles, and became the main department responsible for one of the three major commodities under the official control of the Commandant of Nobles: salt, iron, and grain.

This was Liu Rong's first achievement in the first year after he took control of the Han dynasty, and also his first accomplishment in his political career.

—Grain was state-run.

—This made the price of grain in the Han Dynasty a nearly unshakeable constant for survival, like the price of cloth.

In the past, Liu Rong only thought that his achievement could make the lives of people at the bottom of society more stable, enable farmers to have basic risk resistance capabilities, or reduce the risks that farmers might encounter.
But upon closer reflection, Liu Rong realized that this seemingly insignificant action had actually extended the Han dynasty's fortunes by at least several decades!

Just imagine;
What were the fundamental causes of peasant uprisings at the end of dynasties in feudal China?
The answer is the four words: 'cannot survive'.

Then why can't they survive?
Is someone holding a knife to people's necks and slashing them at the drop of a hat?

Did they die homeless, or did they freeze or die of shame because they had no clothes to wear? None of these.

—In feudal times, the only reason that could lead the lower classes to the conclusion that "there is no way to survive and they cannot live" was that they had nothing to eat and were about to starve to death.

As long as there is food to eat, as long as there is a possibility of not starving to death, for the lower classes in feudal times, it meant there was a way to survive.

The possibility of survival is enough for the simple and honest Chinese people to endure almost all the injustices in the world.

As long as there is a way to survive, nothing is intolerable.

The only thing that is intolerable, the only thing that can make the simple, ordinary people think, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?", is having no way to survive.

Either way, I'm going to die!

Why not give it a shot!
Whether we perish now or launch a grand plan, we will still die; since death is inevitable anyway, is it not better to die for our country?
If you do nothing, you will definitely starve to death; if you rebel, you will most likely be killed.
Both are death, but at least the latter has a slim chance of survival.

Even if I die, I will always have a chance to find a way to survive for my descendants, even if the hope is slim!

This is the fundamental logic behind how the common people at the end of a feudal dynasty resolved to revolt and overthrow the corrupt regime.

Later generations also had similar anecdotes, talking about what would happen if a time traveler could get an unlimited supply of pickled vegetables and white rice from a system in a chaotic world.
The answer is that he will gain countless and endless suicide soldiers!
Because chaotic times often occur at the end of a dynasty.

The reason why 'chaotic times' occur and why dynasties come to their 'end' is because the common people cannot survive and have nothing to eat.

In such times, anyone who can feed the people—or even just provide them with food—is often regarded as a savior.

Therefore, the logic is very simple.

—A feudal dynasty will not fall into the 'end of the dynasty' as long as it can ensure that most people do not starve.
Even if a country is 'endangered' for other reasons, that is, on the verge of extinction, as long as the people at the bottom of society are not starving to death, there is still hope for salvation and the situation can still be brought under control!

Under this logic, Liu Rong's system of state monopoly on grain and fixed grain prices can be said to have minimized the possibility of widespread and large-scale famine and destitution among the lower classes, thus preventing them from being forced to rebel.

With Liu Rong's policy of state monopoly on grain and fixed grain prices, the Han dynasty was theoretically no longer at risk of peasant uprisings that could overthrow the dynasty.

The reason it is only in theory is that the state monopoly on grain and the fixed price of grain are ultimately rules set by the central government.

Where there are rules, there will be those who break them.

If one day, the Han dynasty produces an emperor whose mind has been corrupted by Confucianism, who is misled by Confucian sayings such as "one should not compete with the people for profit," and abolishes the state monopoly on grain and sets a fixed price for grain, then the Han dynasty will still perish as it was destined to do, and the common people will still rise up in rebellion as they were destined to do.

But that's beyond Liu Rong's control.

—At the institutional level, Liu Rong had already provided the Han dynasty with a theoretical foundation that would prevent it from perishing due to peasant uprisings.

If in the future, some foolish descendants truly abandon their martial arts skills, then it can only be said to be their fate.

In summary, Liu Rong's first achievement in his long political career during his first year in power as crown prince overseeing the state was establishing a solid foundation for the long-term stability and peace of the Han dynasty.

This achievement alone, this one event alone, is almost no less meritorious than the achievements of the late Emperor Xiaojing throughout his entire imperial career.

—Not only was he no less than Emperor Xiaojing of this world, who reigned for only six years, but he was also no less than Emperor Jing of Han, who reigned for a full seventeen years in history!

Subsequently, the second and third years of Crown Prince Liu Rong's regency were relatively stable.

Firstly, during those two years, Liu Rong focused his main energy on maintaining stability before the handover of power and on establishing his own authority and status.

Secondly, it was also because at that time, Liu Rong was ultimately only the Crown Prince Regent, not the true Emperor of Han.

At that time, Liu Rong was not only under the protection of the late Emperor Xiaojing, but also Empress Dowager Dou, who was of the same generation as his grandmother.

As the Crown Prince regent, Liu Rong dared not provoke the late emperor, let alone wield much influence in front of Empress Dowager Dou.

In summary, Liu Rong's main achievements during his first three years in power were the state monopoly on grain, stable grain prices, and ensuring a smooth, even seamless, transition of power.

Then came the fourth year of Liu Rong's rule, which was also the first year of Liu Rong's reign.

The events of that year need no further elaboration.

First, when the Han dynasty was in a state of uncertainty due to the young emperor, Liu Rong used his relatively mature political skills to weather that delicate period and, while ensuring that his authority was not compromised to the greatest extent possible, smoothly reached the day when he was to come of age and assume personal rule.

After assuming personal rule, Liu Rong, with the presence of Empress Dowager Dou, who was of a similar generation, and Empress Dowager Li, who was like a ticking time bomb, ensured stability both inside and outside the court after the death of the previous emperor and the transfer of power.

Following this, the Xiongnu invaded the northern frontier. Liu Rong responded with the Battle of Chaona between the Han and the Xiongnu, winning the first victory in the Han Dynasty's northern anti-aggression war since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, completely blocking the Xiongnu's hooves from entering the country.

From then on, Liu Rong's path to power was unimpeded, and he was no longer affected by anyone or anything.

Liu Rong spent five years completing the reform of the bureaucratic system, the crackdown on corruption, and the establishment of the imperial examination system as a guarantee of mobility within the bureaucratic system.

Meanwhile, ordinary people continued to enjoy a life of ease under the powerful influence of the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, with tax exemptions every three years, cash handouts every five years, and frequent bestowals of titles.

Externally, in just five years, the Han dynasty completed the shift in the strategic landscape between the Han and the Xiongnu through three consecutive foreign wars: the Battle of Chaona, the Battle of Hetao-Mayi, and the Battle of Gaoque.
The Battle of Chaona proved that the Han Dynasty had the ability to protect itself and completely keep the Xiongnu people out of the country.

The Battle of Hetao-Mayi not only secured the Hetao region, a natural horse-breeding land for the Han dynasty, but also proved that the Han dynasty, in addition to relying on fortified cities, also possessed the strategic offensive capability to launch proactive attacks.

The Battle of Gaoque laid bare a shocking truth for the people of both the Han and Xiongnu sides, both inside and outside the Great Wall.

The balance of power shifts between offense and defense!
—Next, it's time for the Han family to launch their strategic offensive!
As Liu Rong recounted these events one by one, he was surprised to find that his achievements in civil administration, military affairs, domestic and foreign policy, and foreign strategy, while not yet comparable to those of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, were actually quite similar.
If it were any other native emperor, Liu Rong's achievements over the past eight years alone, if taken as their life's work, would be enough to make them an indisputable wise and powerful ruler!
But Liu Rong knew very well that as a time traveler, what he had done—everything he had done in the past eight years—was still far from enough.

Even if Liu Rong doesn't achieve anything new in the next few decades, he should at least safeguard and consolidate the fruits of victory from the past eight years to be considered barely qualified.

Otherwise, if he had ended up with a stalemate and a senile old age, Liu Rong would have become another Emperor Wu of Han or Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

(End of this chapter)