Video spoilers history, starting with the blitzkrieg on Poland

The sky continues.

[It was this style of "being thorough and clear-minded" that created the most honest era of officialdom in the Eastern Han Dynasty.]

[During the Yongping period, the central government did not delegate power to local governments, and requests for favors were cut off.]

[Even the maternal relatives can only keep their tails between their legs. ]

[However, Liu Zhuang was by no means a tyrant who only knew how to wield a stick.]

[He is well aware of the principle that "too clear water will lead to no fish", and is ruthless towards corrupt officials, but extremely tolerant towards honest officials.]

[Kuaiji governor Zhongli Yi was impeached for opening warehouses to provide disaster relief without authorization.]

【Liu Zhuang praised him instead: "You are as concerned about your country as you are about your own family. What crime is that?"】

[At the same time, in the field of people's livelihood, Liuzhuang also showed a completely opposite tenderness. ]

【Liu Zhuang is well aware that agriculture is the foundation of the country.】

[He inherited and developed the "land measurement" policy of his father Liu Xiu, further investigated the land and population of the whole country, and curbed the land annexation behavior of the powerful families. ]

[Reducing taxes, providing relief to disaster victims, and distributing public land to landless farmers]

【At the same time, Liuzhuang vigorously developed water conservancy and organized the construction of many water conservancy projects across the country. 】

[Among them, the most famous is Wang Jing's management of the Yellow River. ]

【At that time, the Yellow River was frequently flooded, and the people downstream suffered greatly. 】

【Liu Zhuang appointed Wang Jing as the river bank supervisor to oversee the management of the Yellow River.】

[Wang Jing led hundreds of thousands of workers and carried out large-scale renovation of the Yellow River over a period of more than a year.]

【Through measures such as dredging the river and strengthening the dam, the Yellow River floods have been effectively controlled. 】

[The Yellow River did not undergo a major course change for more than 800 years.]

【The ancient miracle of "the Yellow River not bursting its banks for 800 years" originated from Liuzhuang. 】

【The management of the Yellow River has ensured the stability of agricultural production in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and promoted economic prosperity and development.】

[In addition, Liu Zhuang also encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland and promote advanced agricultural production techniques, which greatly improved agricultural production in the Eastern Han Dynasty.]

【People's lives are becoming more prosperous, and the country's fiscal revenue is also increasing. 】

[During the Yongping period, the population increased from 2100 million to 3400 million, laying a solid foundation for the prosperity of the Ming and Zhang era.]

When it comes to managing the Yellow River, rulers of all dynasties would naturally become immediately aware of the problem.

Many dynasties were deeply troubled by floods of the Yellow River.

I am even more envious of the Yellow River, which was well managed during the reign of Emperor Ming of Han.

At the end of Ming Dynasty.

The white-haired Emperor Chongzhen saw the sky curtain highlighting the achievements of Emperor Ming of Han, Liu Zhuang, in controlling the Yellow River.

He said this with some envy.

"Alas, our Ming Dynasty is also deeply troubled by the Yellow River problem."

“But I have tried my best.”

"I feel like the Yellow River flood is not my fault. It's mainly because my luck is so bad!"

"By the time I took over the Ming Dynasty, it was already a foregone conclusion that the Huai River would be seized and the sea would be entered."

“The Yellow River is already difficult to control.”

"The key is that the national strength is also incomparable."

"After the restoration of Emperor Guangwu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the political situation was stable and the economy recovered."

"I inherited a mess."

"If I were given a country like the Han Dynasty in Liu Zhuang's time."

"Give me another high-level river management talent like Wang Jing."

"I can also manage the Yellow River well, and then... my name will go down in history!"

……

The sky continues.

[If Liu Zhuang's iron-fisted rule laid a solid foundation for the Eastern Han Dynasty. ]

【Then his military and cultural achievements truly pushed the empire to its peak. 】

【Liu Zhuang was deeply influenced by Confucianism since childhood, and vigorously promoted Confucianism after he ascended the throne. 】

【Use Confucianism as the core ideology for governing the country. 】

[Liu Zhuang built the Imperial College in Luoyang, recruited students from all over the world, and personally went to the Imperial College to give lectures and discuss Confucian classics with teachers and students.]

[He also established the Five Classics Doctorate to encourage scholars to conduct in-depth research on Confucianism, which promoted the development and spread of Confucianism. ]

【Under Liu Zhuang's advocacy, a strong cultural atmosphere was formed in the whole society, and the trend of reading and learning prevailed. 】

【Liuzhuang was also the guide for the introduction of Buddhism into China.】

[Once, Liu Zhuang dreamed of a golden man. The next day, he asked his ministers about the scene in his dream.]

【The ministers believed that the golden man might be the Buddha from the West.】

【So Liu Zhuang sent envoys to the Western Regions to seek Buddha. 】

【We welcomed back two Indian monks and a batch of Buddhist scriptures and statues. 】

【This is the famous "Yongping Seeking Dharma". 】

[Liu Zhuang built the White Horse Temple specifically for them. This was the first official Buddhist temple in China, marking the official introduction of Buddhism into China and the beginning of its large-scale spread.]

[On the surface, the White Horse Temple is a place to house Indian monks. ]

【In fact, it is a transnational cultural hub built by Liuzhuang. 】

【He asked the eminent monks Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan to translate the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters here.】

【But he specially arranged for Confucian scholars to participate in the translation of scriptures. 】

[He allowed the sons of nobles to become monks, but stipulated that they must be familiar with Confucian classics.]

【This wisdom of "interpreting Buddhism with Confucianism" has enabled Buddhism, a foreign religion, to quickly become localized. 】

[In terms of foreign military diplomacy, Liu Zhuang faced a complex situation with the Xiongnu and the Western Regions when he ascended the throne.]

[The Xiongnu had been a powerful enemy of the Central Plains dynasties since the Western Han Dynasty.]

[In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu once again split into two parts, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to the Han Dynasty, while the Northern Xiongnu continued to invade the border. ]

[In order to completely resolve the threat from the Northern Huns, Liu Zhuang decided to take the initiative. ]

[In 73 AD, Liu Zhuang sent Dou Gu, Geng Zhong and other generals to lead a large army to attack the Northern Xiongnu. ]

[The Han army defeated the Northern Xiongnu in the Tianshan area, occupied the city of Yiwulu, and established the Yihe Commandery to carry out military farming.]

[This laid the foundation for further development of the Western Regions.]

【After that, Liu Zhuang sent Ban Chao as an envoy to the Western Regions. 】

[Ban Chao "used barbarians to control barbarians" and conquered Shanshan, Yutian and other countries with only 36 people, rebuilt the Western Regions Protectorate, and reopened the long-interrupted Silk Road. ]

[In the north, Liu Zhuang ordered Dou Gu and Geng Bing to defeat the Northern Xiongnu and plant the Han army flag on Mount Yanran again.]

[In the northeast, Goguryeo invaded Xuantu County. The Han army attacked its capital from a long distance and forced its king to kneel and present a map.]

[However, unlike Emperor Wu of Han's aggressive military campaign, Liu Zhuang's military actions always served a core goal - opening up the Silk Road.]

[When Ban Chao requested to send more troops to the Western Regions, Liu Zhuang's reply was very strategic:] ["Why not send officers and soldiers like Chao instead of selecting others?"]

[It means that one genius like Ban Chao is enough. ]

[This "low-cost, high-return" frontier strategy made the "four barbarians submit and the border towns close at a later time" during the Yongping period.]

【However, there was no dilemma of "wasting money at home". 】

[In terms of system construction, Liuzhuang's pioneering work also had a far-reaching impact. ]

[He perfected the "Shangshutai" system created by Emperor Guangwu, transferring decision-making power from the three officials to the secretarial team directly controlled by the emperor.]

[He pioneered the system of examination for filial and honest officials, requiring that the filial and honest officials recommended by local governments must pass the Confucian classics examination, laying the groundwork for the later imperial examination system.]

[He also formulated the first complete management system for princes in Chinese history.]

[It was stipulated that after the kings returned to their kingdoms, they were not allowed to levy military orders without authorization, nor to appoint officials privately.]

【The hidden danger of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Western Han Dynasty was completely resolved.】

[These institutional innovations were so successful that three hundred years later, when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out reforms, he still used "Restoring the Han Yongping Story" as his slogan.]

[But perhaps Liu Zhuang’s most astonishing achievement is the judicial miracle he personally created.]

[In the 12th year of Yongping, Liu Zhuang ordered a retrial of the backlog of cases across the country.]

【Historical records show that the "judgments were said to be fair" at the time, and there was even a miracle of "prisoner reformation". 】

[A death row inmate in Luoyang Prison wrote a letter through the prison guard, expressing his willingness to be punished to atone for his father's crime.]

【After Liu Zhuang personally reviewed the case, he made an exception and pardoned his father from the death penalty, which caused a sensation throughout the world.】

[Among the Han bamboo slips unearthed in modern times, there is a judicial document from the Yongping period, which records that a county magistrate was demoted to a pavilion chief for "being too strict in judging cases."]

[This indirectly confirms the record in history books that "prison administration should be lenient."]

[This spirit of rule of law that combines both firmness and flexibility led the Book of the Later Han to summarize the reign of Yongping in eight words: "officials fulfill their duties, and the people are at peace with their work."]

[Liu Zhuang's almost paranoid perfectionism has made him a great man, but it has also overdrawn his health.]

[In 75 AD, before Liu Zhuang died at the age of 48, he was still reviewing memorials on the establishment of military farms in the Western Regions.]

[But the legacy Liu Zhuang left behind after his death was far richer than people imagined.]

[During his 18 years in office, Liu Zhuang pushed the Eastern Han Dynasty to a new height through a series of political, economic, cultural and military initiatives. ]

[The crown prince Liu Zhuang (Emperor Zhang of Han) whom he trained continued the prosperous era and created the "Ming Zhang Reign";]

[He used the Ban Chao family, who managed the Western Regions for thirty years and achieved the strategic goal of "cutting off the right arm of the Xiongnu."]

[The Buddhist culture he supported flourished during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and was eventually integrated into the genes of Chinese civilization.]

[Looking back on Liu Zhuang’s life, we will find that the success of this “strongest second-generation emperor” was no accident. ]

[He is like a skilled chess player, making moves on multiple chessboards simultaneously, including military, cultural, and institutional.]

[Use cavalry to control the Silk Road, use Buddhist scriptures to soften the ethnic groups in the border areas, and use Confucian classics to regulate the bureaucratic system. ]

【It was also the family business of the Eastern Han Dynasty that was inherited and developed by Liu Zhuang.】

[This empire, which later became a kindergarten, still enjoyed a national life of nearly two hundred years. ]

The sky screen video ends here.

Barrages of comments appeared one after another.

"The most invisible top wise ruler, this is really valuable!"

"Those who are good at fighting do not have great achievements."

"He managed the entire country in an orderly manner with ease, and his level of management was very high."

"It's harder to keep a business than to start one, really."

"The top emperor who maintained the status quo, history did not give him a bigger stage."

"If there must be an emperor, then I hope all emperors are Emperor Ming of Han."

"The Emperor Guangwu was a great emperor. Emperor Ming of Han even dreamed of his parents in the end. After waking up, he was so sad that he couldn't fall asleep. I was very moved when I read this part of history."

"Because Emperor Ming of Han had a wonderful childhood compared to other good emperors."

"On the other hand, Liu Ziye had an unfortunate childhood."

"True, a loving father and filial son, loving husband and wife, friendly brothers and respectful younger brothers, how many emperors would envy this!"

"The Yellow River has been stable for 800 years! If the Yellow River had not been dug up during the Song Dynasty, it could have lasted even longer."

"So, so, merits in the future do not necessarily mean sins in the present, don't you think so, Guangshen?"

"It turns out that Buddhism was introduced by Emperor Ming of Han, who did not like monks."

"Even if Emperor Ming did not introduce Buddhism, it would have been introduced sooner or later, and Buddhism was actually completely integrated into the core of Han culture."

……

And outside the sky.

After watching the entire video introducing Emperor Ming of Han, Liu Zhuang.

As a predecessor, Liu Che also said with three parts of envy and three parts of agreement:

"As expected of the strongest second-generation emperor as Tianmu specifically mentioned."

"As an heir, he has indeed achieved top-level results in almost every aspect."

"Which emperor wouldn't want such an heir?"

"Tianmu has previously introduced Liu Xiu, the man who revived the Han Dynasty."

"The country inherited from Liu Xiu must be good."

"But generally speaking, it is this kind of good situation that makes us want to continue to do well and even develop it further."

“It will be more difficult.”

"Because as the country gets older, the opposition that will hold it back will also become stronger."

"An emperor can suppress these opposing forces."

"To bring the country as a whole to a higher level."

"This really fully reflects his personal ability to manage the country."

"Yes! Our Han dynasty has successors!"

But if I were to talk about the emperor I envy the most, it would be especially the first generation of Huang.

It has to be Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng looked at Liu Zhuang sitting in the Mingtang on the sky curtain, envoys from the Western Regions prostrating themselves to offer gifts, and white horses carrying scriptures into Luoyang.

His fingers rubbed unconsciously, and a strange color flashed in his eyes.

"This Liu Xiu's son..."

Ying Zheng whispered to himself, with a rare hint of hesitation in his tone, "He is no worse than his father."

Especially when I think of the Qin II Hu Hai who was spoiled on the sky screen.

Now look at Fusu, who was designated as the crown prince by himself but is still deeply influenced by Confucianism.

Ying Zheng became even more envious.

"Liu Ji, Liu Ji... How could you have such a descendant?" (End of this chapter)