Diqin Designer

Chapter 257: The Enfeoffment Order and the Future Generations

Learning from history generally means learning from past history, but what Li Nian is talking about now is letting Qin Shi Huang learn from the events of later dynasties.

"Everything should be done in moderation. It's okay to have external relatives' power, but if it grows wildly without control, it's not a good thing."

"Liu Qi, Emperor Jing of Han, reigned for sixteen years. His achievements and faults can be regarded as a wise ruler, but like Liu Ying, he was not a heroic ruler. Under his rule, the national strength of the Han Dynasty further improved, but because his achievements were not as significant as those of his father, Liu Qi did not have a temple name in the Han Dynasty."

Liu Qi was definitely stronger than Liu Ying, but like Liu Ying, he could not be considered a heroic ruler. He was just a normal emperor who did not cause chaos in the country and make the people suffer. Compared with some emperors, he could be considered "wise."

Li Nian said, "But the next Han emperor who succeeded Liu Qi was a great ruler, the one who was mentioned together with Your Majesty in later generations. The 'Han Wu' in 'It is a pity that the Qin Emperor and Han Wu were slightly inferior in literary talent; the Tang Emperor and Song Emperor were slightly inferior in style.'"

Meng Tian was horrified when he heard these two sentences. These two sentences were obviously the evaluation of famous emperors in history by later generations. But who dared to evaluate Your Majesty in this way and even said that Your Majesty was slightly lacking in literary talent?

Li Nian is also very bold. He said it so directly. Isn't he afraid that His Majesty will be angry?

Meng Tian observed Ying Zheng out of the corner of his eye and found that Ying Zheng had no emotion and accepted the evaluation very calmly. It was obvious that he had known it for a long time and might even know the person in later generations who evaluated him.

"Emperor Wu's name was Liu Che. He ascended the throne at the age of sixteen and reigned for fifty-four years..."

Li Nian slowly recounted the life story of Emperor Wu of Han, and Ying Zheng listened very seriously. This was a great ruler who was as famous as him in history, so why shouldn't he listen carefully?
"Emperor Wu did not judge talents by their backgrounds. Many of the talents he promoted did not have good backgrounds. For example, his empress Wei Zifu was once a singer in her sister's house, and his general Wei Qing was also a riding slave in his sister's house. Lord Father Yan, who presented the "Enfeoffment Order" to him, also came from a poor family and had not achieved success for many years..."

After hearing this, Ying Zheng nodded and said, "Prime ministers start from the prefectures and counties, and brave generals start from the ranks. A person's origin cannot determine his future. Then what is the relationship between Wei Zifu and Wei Qing?"

One was a singer in the mansion of Emperor Wu's sister, and the other was a riding slave in his sister's mansion. They also had the same surname, so they must be related.

"Wei Zifu and Wei Qing are siblings!"

After answering the First Emperor's question, Li Nian continued, "Emperor Wu promoted talents in an unconventional way, which led to the emergence of many famous ministers and generals during his reign. Together with Emperor Wu, they pushed the Han Dynasty into a prosperous era. Taishigong, who wrote the Records of the Grand Historian, was also a minister during Emperor Wu's reign."

"Emperor Wu strengthened the power of the central government and used the Enfeoffment Decree to weaken the power of the princes. In the early Han Dynasty, the Liu princes were the key to the stability of the Liu family's rule. But when the world was already stable and the court wanted to strengthen the power of the central government, the Liu princes became a factor of instability in the world."

"Unfortunately, the Rebellion of the Seven Princes broke out during the reign of Emperor Jing, the father of Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu had been thinking about how to weaken the power of the Liu princes so that they would no longer cause trouble. Lord Father Yan's Enfeoffment Order gave Emperor Wu a way. The Enfeoffment Order was called 'the greatest conspiracy in history.'"

When they heard Li Nian say "the greatest conspiracy of all time", Ying Zheng, Meng Tian and Meng Yi all became very interested. "The greatest" and "the greatest" are both very curious.

"Of course, there are some exaggerations in this, but it is indeed very useful. The Liu kings all have large fiefdoms. After the kings die, their crown princes will inherit the throne and this huge fiefdom." "There is only one throne and only one crown prince. After the crown prince inherits the throne, he will be no different from his father and his great-grandfather. With such a large fiefdom, if he becomes king, it will still pose a huge threat to the central government. But if there is more than one person who inherits the fiefdom..."

When Ying Zheng heard this, his eyes lit up. He understood the meaning of the Enfeoffment Order: the fiefdom originally inherited by the crown prince would be passed on to other sons of the princes. Since a prince could never have only one son, the fiefdom could be divided into many, and would be divided even more in the next generation.

The vassal states that could originally pose a threat to the central court will be divided into many large and small pieces. As long as they do not work together, they will no longer pose a threat.

Even if the princes knew the sinister intentions of this plan, it would be difficult for them to resist, because they and their princes did not want their power to be divided by the court, but their other sons would want to.

According to the original law of inheritance, the other sons of the princes would not get anything at all, but now they have the opportunity to have fiefdoms like the crown prince.

As for the Enfeoffment Order, which would divide the fiefs they had obtained, just divide them. Anyway, they had no chance to have fiefs in the first place. It would harm the interests of their father and the crown prince, and they would be the ones who would benefit. Unless they are stupid, how could they not agree?

At that time, if the princes follow this plan, their fiefs will be divided. If they do not follow this plan, nine out of ten times they will become "kind fathers and filial sons" and begin to split from within.

No matter what the result is, it is a good thing for the central court. It can gradually solve the problem of the kings. What threat can the princes, whose fiefdoms are divided into dozens or hundreds of pieces, pose?
At this moment, Ying Zheng also understood why Li Nian talked about the Enfeoffment Order, because the Qin Dynasty could also use it as a reference in the future.

Li Nian said: "Emperor Wu not only weakened the fiefs of the princes with the Enfeoffment Order, but also strictly prohibited the princes from participating in politics, reducing the threat of the princes to the Han Dynasty to a very low level, but this also caused a problem."

Before Li Nian could finish his speech, Ying Zheng said, "Although the princes are a threat to the central government, they also protect the dynasty. If they are weakened too much, they will be unable to defend the dynasty when it faces a crisis."

The same was true for the Qin Dynasty. The royal family was severely suppressed. Although the threat from the royal family was eliminated, the price was that when the Qin Dynasty was on its last legs, it was difficult for the royal family to produce talents to save the Qin Dynasty from decline.

Li Nian said: "As your majesty said, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, who later revived the Han Dynasty, was originally the ancestor of Liu Fa, the King of Changsha, the son of Emperor Jing of Han. But by the time of Liu Xiu's father, he had become the magistrate of Jiyang County due to the Enfeoffment Order."

"But the Enfeoffment Order also had a great benefit. It allowed the sons of the royal family to gradually enter the homes of ordinary people, and the bloodline of the Han Dynasty was able to spread throughout the world. In the later generations where I come from, the surname Liu is one of the most populous surnames."

The population in later generations is counted in tens of millions, and Liu is indeed one of the most populous surnames. How many people are there?
Even if not all of these people with the surname Liu are descendants of Liu Ji, there are definitely many descendants of Liu Ji. If you think about the royal family of the Qin Dynasty, I'm afraid there are not many...

Li Nian smiled and said, "There are some interesting theories in later generations. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu, claimed to be a descendant of Pei Gong. When it came to the great Genghis Khan, it was said that Genghis Khan also had the blood of Pei Gong."

"I almost forgot that after the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Zhaolie of Han, Liu Bei, who founded Shu Han, was also a descendant of Pei Gong."

(End of this chapter)