My father, Li Shimin, requests Your Majesty to become the Retired Emperor.

Li Shimin listened and agreed with Xu Hui's reasoning.

Because Li Shimin knew that establishing a crown prince and an empress was extremely important,

Therefore, he had already done all these things in advance and had carefully selected a teacher for Li Chenggan.

However, the final result was contrary to expectations.

Now, Li Chenggan has been deposed and has fled Chang'an, his whereabouts unknown.

Li Shimin felt a little irritated and took off his outer garment.

Xu Hui took Li Shimin's outer garment and hung it on the hanger.

"My beloved concubine, what do you think Emperor Wu of Han would do then?"

In fact, Li Shimin was also very interested in Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han.

He knew that Emperor Yang of Sui often compared himself to Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, hoping to surpass their achievements.

Emperor Yang of Sui once laughed at Emperor Wu of Han for not crossing the Yellow River to conquer the Western Regions.

Xu Hui smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Emperor Wu of Han's ascension to the throne was also a coincidence."

He was the tenth prince.

According to the principle of primogeniture, the eldest son of the legitimate wife should be chosen.

He was never destined for the position of crown prince; it was never going to be his turn.

but,

With the combined efforts of Princess Guantao and Wang Zhi, Emperor Jing of Han deposed his eldest son Liu Rong and installed Liu Che as crown prince.

Here, we have to admire Emperor Jing of Han's boldness.

Historically, the practice of deposing the eldest son in favor of a younger one has often been a path to chaos.

However, Emperor Jing of Han succeeded.

The tenth prince, Liu Che, was made crown prince.

Liu Che ascended the throne at the age of sixteen.

After he ascended to the throne, he did many remarkable things.

Emperor Wu of Han focused on centralizing power throughout his life, implementing the "Decree of Grace" issued by Zhu Fu Yan, which weakened the power of the regional vassal kings.

This left them powerless to confront the imperial court.

Emperor Wu of Han established the inner and outer court system. During his reign, he replaced more than a dozen prime ministers, greatly weakening the power of the prime ministers.

Imperial power was highly centralized.

He established governors in various localities to supervise the officials of each prefecture and kingdom;

He reformed the system for selecting officials, improved the recommendation system, and recruited talented people from all over the country.

In terms of ideology and culture, Emperor Wu of Han adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to suppress all other schools of thought and exclusively promote Confucianism, thus establishing Confucianism as the official orthodox ideology.

He founded the Imperial Academy, using Confucian classics to educate future generations.

Of course, we must understand that Emperor Wu of Han's actual strategy for governing the country was to use Confucianism as a facade and Legalism as the substance.

In terms of military affairs and territorial expansion, Emperor Wu of Han campaigned against the Xiongnu for decades, employing famous generals such as Wei Qing, Li Guang, and Huo Qubing. He recovered the Hetao region, opened up the Hexi Corridor, greatly dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Xiongnu, and drove them all the way to the northern desert.

He conquered Minyue and Nanyue, pacified the southwestern barbarians, and subjugated northern Korea.

He dispatched Zhang Qian to the Western Regions twice, opening up the Silk Road, which facilitated trade and cultural exchange between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

He implemented economic reforms, standardized the minting of the Wuzhu coin to stabilize the currency, and cracked down on local powerful clans.

He implemented state monopolies on salt and iron, which greatly enriched the national treasury.

Emperor Wu of Han and his son Liu Ju fought each other, which resulted in the suicide of Empress Wei Zifu and Liu Ju.

Later, Emperor Wu of Han, persuaded by Tian Qianqiu, repented and issued the Edict of Repentance at Luntai.

He reflected that years of war had depleted the nation's strength, so he adjusted the national policy, halting large-scale campaigns to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the Qin Dynasty's downfall.

It can be said that Emperor Wu of Han did many of the things that Qin Shi Huang did, but he did not cause the disastrous consequence of the Qin Dynasty's demise after only two generations.

That's truly remarkable.

Li Shimin also acknowledged the achievements of Emperor Wu of Han.

Li Shimin placed his hands on his knees and looked at Xu Hui: "So, do you think Emperor Wu of Han, as a wise ruler, made any mistakes?"