Diqin Designer

Chapter 294: A King with Almost No Flaws

Li Nian said: "Although later generations jokingly called Liu Xiu the 'Great Mage' and the 'Son of the Planes', that was just out of admiration for his luck, not because they believed that Liu Xiu had nothing but luck."

"Liu Xiu was an emperor who was not only lucky, but also very capable."

A person who could become the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty and restore the glory of the Han Dynasty must have been capable.

People who can successfully make a career in history, especially emperors, are people who have both luck and ability.

If they are unlucky, they will not be able to stand out. If they lack the ability, they will not be able to grasp their luck and support their careers.

Like the First Emperor, although he seemed to have a smooth life, whether it was during the days in Zhao State or before he took power, facing the pressure exerted by Lu Buwei, Zhao Ji, Lao Ai and others, if he did not have some luck, he might have been finished.

For example, Er Feng, everyone knows that he became the ultimate winner of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, but in fact there were many variables during the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Any of these variables could cause the incident to fail.

Li Nian said: "Liu Xiu is highly regarded in history. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once commented on him: 'I have observed that the rulers who restored order in ancient times were all over 40 years old, but Emperor Guangwu was only 33 years old.'"

"Of course, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty made this comment probably to show off himself."

"Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty joined the army when he was young and made great military achievements. It can almost be said that the Tang Dynasty was conquered by him and his men, both civil and military. He was only 28 years old when he succeeded to the throne."

After listening to Li Nian's explanation, the First Emperor and the other two understood instantly that Emperor Taizong of Tang was also a man who cared about his reputation. When he praised Liu Xiu for restoring order in the world at the age of 33, he was actually boasting about his own achievements.

"Ming Hongwu also commented that 'only Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty recruited heroes, worked hard to govern the country, and brought prosperity to the country. He was the one who had the virtue of ruling the world and the merit of bringing peace to the world for all eternity.'"

"That person also spoke highly of Liu Xiu, calling him the emperor with the most knowledge, the best at fighting wars, and the best at employing people."

"It shows that Liu Xiu is quite capable. How could a man as powerful as Guangwu not see the dangers of the powerful?"

"But when the Eastern Han Dynasty was established, he and the powerful were on the same side. The powerful believed that he could accomplish great things, so they bet on him, and he also needed the power in the hands of the powerful to quickly pacify the world."

"If Liu Xiu doesn't use the power of the powerful, they will bet on others, which will be disadvantageous to him. In this case, why not use it?"

"After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the gradual pacification of the country, Liu Xiu realized the harm caused by the powerful and began to take a series of measures to restrict the powerful. For example, he implemented the 'Land Measurement Order' and issued an edict ordering all prefectures and counties to measure the land and verify the household registration, so as to check the land and population occupied by the powerful."

"At the same time, Liu Xiu also issued several edicts to release slaves and maids, stipulated that anyone who abused or killed slaves and maids would be punished, abolished the law of 'slaves and maids who shot and injured people will be executed in the market', and improved the status of slaves and maids."

"These measures have all had the effect of restricting the powerful. The reason why the powerful are strong is that they have land and people, but Emperor Guangwu restricted their land and people, so the power of the powerful naturally weakened."

"Moreover, this could bring many benefits to Emperor Guangwu. For example, the population and land investigated by the Land Survey could bring more taxes to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and freeing slaves could gain prestige from the people and ease the social conflicts at the time."

"Why not kill two birds with one stone?"

Meng Tian asked: "Didn't those powerful people resist this?"

Li Nian smiled and said, "Of course they resisted. Liu Xiu's decrees were like cutting their flesh with a knife and bleeding them. How could they be willing to do that?"

"It is possible that some of the powerful people are progressive and concerned about the country and the people, but most of them are greedy and want to take more than they can."

"Faced with Liu Xiu's land measurement order, they put up a fierce resistance and even took up arms to resist the order, which led to a nationwide riot that threatened the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, their swords and spears were obviously no match for Liu Xiu's, and they were quickly suppressed by Liu Xiu's combination of suppression and appeasement."

After hearing this, Meng Tian asked another question: "Why was Liu Xiu able to successfully deal with the powerful and implement the land measurement order, while Wang Mang failed?"

Li Nian said: "Because Liu Xiu and Wang Mang faced different situations in the world!"

"When Liu Xiu implemented the land measurement order, the population of the country had been decreasing dramatically. Even if the powerful occupied a lot of land, so many people died that the vacant land was enough for the survivors to share."

"With land, people can feed themselves, and many people will no longer join the tyrants in rebellion."

"Most of the time, people's needs are simple. They just want to have enough food and clothing. As long as they can survive, they will stay there peacefully."

"During Wang Mang's time, refugees were everywhere. Wang Mang's land could not be divided, and Wang Mang could not provide them with food and drink. They could not survive, so they naturally rose up in rebellion."

"The chaos in the world also weakened the power of the powerful. In the chaos, the powerful will also suffer a shock, losing population, weapons, food and other things, and will no longer be as strong as they were during Wang Mang's time."

"In addition, Liu Xiu's decrees were different from Wang Mang's. His land measurement order did not nationalize the land, but could still be owned by individuals."

"This is a very important point. Although the powerful people resisted Liu Xiu's decrees, their resistance was not as strong as it was during Wang Mang's time."

"Although Liu Xiu's decrees also harmed their interests, he did not force them into a desperate situation. Unlike Wang Mang, who wanted to directly nationalize the land, if Wang Mang really succeeded, their land would disappear overnight, and the powerful people would definitely not accept it!"

At this point, Li Nian thought of Lu Xun's words and laughed, "A literary giant in later generations said something interesting that can be used to describe the relationship between Liu Xiu, Wang Mang and the powerful people:"

"The Chinese are always willing to compromise. For example, if you say that the room is too dark and you need to open a window, they will definitely not allow it. But if you advocate removing the roof, they will compromise and be willing to open the window."

"Wang Mang's policy on land was to 'tear off the roof', which the powerful people would definitely not allow. Liu Xiu's policy was to 'open a window'. Compared with the unacceptable 'tear off the roof', 'opening a window' was certainly more acceptable to the powerful people."

Therefore, Wang Mang was really an unfortunate person. Without his land policy, Liu Xiu would most likely encounter greater resistance in implementing his Land Measurement Order. But with Wang Mang, the pioneer who took the lead, the Land Measurement Order was not so unacceptable.

At least Liu Xiu didn't let their land properties be wiped out overnight, so they couldn't continue to annex land and hide people in the future. Their lives would be relatively harder than before. Now that the old emperor is powerful, everyone has to hold their noses and bear it!

Li Nian continued: "In the process of establishing the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu not only gained great prestige, but also trained a strong army and loyal civil and military officials, all of which became the power to support him in his work." "When Wang Mang was a moral man, he might be comparable to Liu Xiu in prestige, but he was inferior to Liu Xiu in other aspects. After he usurped the Han Dynasty and his moral golden body was broken, he was even worse."

"Liu Xiu's life as an emperor was almost flawless. He did an excellent job both internally and externally."

"He rested the people, rectified the administration of officials, treated meritorious officials well, and suppressed the powerful, so that the country began to recover after the chaos."

"Although he did not conquer the barbarians as he did during the reign of Emperor Wu, he did manage to split the Xiongnu, make the Western Regions willing to submit, and get many ethnic groups on the border to submit. He also sent Ma Yuan to quell the rebellion in Jiaozhi."

It was incredible that Liu Xiu was an emperor with almost no flaws. He was both civil and military, and was good at both internal and external affairs.

Emperor Wen also had shortcomings like not being very good at dealing with foreign countries, while Emperor Wu of Han, although he had great achievements, also had many faults...

Didn’t Liu Xiu become confused and foolish in his later years, causing troubles or something?
Li Nian said: "If we really want to count Liu Xiu's flaws, for me, it may be that he advocated Confucianism, received the foot basin envoy, and gave the country the name 'Wakoku', but these are not actually flaws. Confucianism at that time still had its merits, and he would not have thought about things thousands of years later."

"In the second year of Jianwu Zhongyuan, Liu Xiu, who had been in office for 29 years, passed away at the age of 62. He left a will saying: 'I will not benefit the people. All of them should follow the system of Emperor Xiaowen and be frugal. Provincial governors and officials of 2,000 stone level should not leave the city, and should not send officials or report by mail.'"

After hearing this will, the First Emperor and the other two fell silent.

Meng Tian and Meng Yi were thinking that such a capable emperor claimed that he was "of no benefit to the people" when he passed away, and asked for his funeral to be handled frugal, without asking officials to send condolence letters.

The First Emperor was thinking in his heart, if he were to pass away, would he leave behind such a will, saying that he was "of no benefit to the people" and asking them to "be frugal"?
Facing such an outstanding emperor in later generations, the First Emperor felt a lot of pressure. He was ambitious and had a huge ambition:

He not only wanted to surpass his predecessors, but also made it difficult for future generations to surpass him and become a role model for future emperors.

But it seems that it is really not easy for later emperors to surpass him in all aspects!
The First Emperor understood that Li Nian's intention in telling him about outstanding emperors like Liu Xiu was not only to let him know about later history, but also to make him think about comparing himself with outstanding emperors so that he would change and not become the First Emperor in history that Li Nian knew.

But I have to say that this kid achieved his goal.

It would have been fine if I didn’t know it before, but now that I know it, of course I have to compare myself with the emperors of later generations.

Just like what the poet said in his lyrics, "If I want to compete with the God, I can compete with him." If I can compete with the God, why can't I compare myself with the emperors of later generations?
Interestingly, after learning about the poem from Li Nian, the First Emperor wrote it down himself and read it privately every day.

Li Niandao: "He was buried in Yuanling, given the temple name of Shizu and the posthumous title of Emperor Guangwu, becoming one of the three emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty with a temple name."

"Originally, several emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty had temple names, but because their achievements did not match their actual merits, they were eventually stripped of their temple names, leaving only three!"

"This shows how strict the temple names were in the Eastern and Western Han dynasties. It was unlike later dynasties, where almost every emperor had a temple name, and no one else had much weight."

"After Liu Xiu's death, his son Liu Zhuang succeeded him. Liu Zhuang, the son of Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua, was both the second emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the second holder of the temple name."

Meng Tian had come back to his senses from his deep thoughts and asked, "Didn't Liu Xiu later marry Guo Shengtong? Why didn't her son succeed to the throne, but Liu Zhuang?"

I'm just asking out of curiosity, and the reason can be guessed. It's just that Liu Xiu liked Yin Lihua and Liu Zhuang more, so after he became emperor, he gave up Guo Shengtong's son and chose Liu Zhuang.

Li Nian's answer was not unexpected to Meng Tian: "Because compared to Guo Shengtong, Yin Lihua is more favored by Liu Xiu, and Liu Zhuang is also quite outstanding."

"Yin Lihua and Liu Xiu had met in their early years, and Liu Xiu never forgot her. In later times, Yin Lihua was Liu Xiu's white moonlight."

"When Liu Xiu was studying abroad at the Imperial College in Chang'an, he saw the grand scene of the Praetorian Guards' march and said, 'If I want to be an official, I should be the Praetorian Guards, and if I want to marry, I should marry Yin Lihua.'"

"Later, after the Battle of Kunyang, Liu Xiu got his wish and successfully married Yin Lihua."

"Liu Xiu naturally loved this wife he had missed for many years. In addition, Yin Lihua was not only outstanding in appearance, but also respectful, frugal, and kind by nature, which was exactly the right personality for Liu Xiu."

"After Liu Xiu married Guo Shengtong, Yin Lihua took the initiative to resign the position of empress due to Guo Shengtong's background and the fact that she had given birth to a child for Liu Xiu, so that Liu Xiu could make Guo Shengtong the empress and she was named a noble lady. But Yin Lihua's resignation would make Liu Xiu feel that he owed her more and he would love her even more."

"However, Guo Shengtong had some issues and Liu Xiu loved Yin Lihua more, so she harbored resentment against him. Eventually, Liu Xiu deposed Guo Shengtong and made Yin Lihua his empress. Yin Lihua's eldest son Liu Zhuang was also made crown prince two years later."

This is the power of Bai Yueguang, not to mention that she is such a beautiful and charming Bai Yueguang. Emperor Xuan of Han expressed his praise.

"After Liu Zhuang ascended the throne, he continued to follow the path of his father Liu Xiu, strictly guarding against foreign relatives, suppressing the royal family, and curbing the powerful..."

"But compared to Liu Xiu, Liu Zhuang was more majestic and harsher towards his officials. If a minister of the Nine Ministers made a mistake and angered him, he would be whipped. Once, Liu Zhuang was angered by a minister and even picked up a wooden stick himself to hit the minister."

"The minister fled under the bed. Liu Zhuang was so anxious that he shouted at the minister to come out quickly, but the minister said, 'The emperor is majestic, and the princes are glorious. I have never heard of a monarch getting up and hitting a man.'"

The scene can be imagined. As an emperor, he was furious and holding a wooden stick, shouting at the ministers hiding under the bed to come out and be beaten. Liu Zhuang was also an interesting emperor!

"But Liu Zhuang's harsh treatment of officials also brought a benefit: the officials were more loyal to their officials, the people were more able to live and work in peace, and the population grew year by year."

"Liu Zhuang also appointed Wang Jing to control the flooding of the Yellow River. He blessed the country for more than 900 years. He also established schools so that the Xiongnu people could send their children to study in Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty."

"Liu Zhuang was also tougher on foreign policy than Liu Xiu. At that time, Liu Xiu had just settled the country and was lacking in vitality, but the situation was much better during Liu Zhuang's reign, so he sent generals to defeat the Northern Xiongnu and recover the Western Regions. It was at this time that Ban Chao was sent by Liu Zhuang to the Western Regions as an envoy."

"The Eastern Han Dynasty inherited many things from the Western Han Dynasty, including the tough style of the Western Han Dynasty envoys."

"Ban Chao led his men to travel across the Western Regions, intimidating the kings of other countries, holding their monarchs hostage, and killing Xiongnu envoys, spreading the tyranny of the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions again."

Sons of the Western Regions, your Han father is back. Do you still remember him?
If you don’t remember, it’s no problem. Dad has a great memory recovery technique that will make sure you all remember it!
(End of this chapter)