War is never an end, but a means.
The imperial court put down the rebellions of King Huainan and King Wu by chopping melons and vegetables, but the subsequent re-establishment of order was the key.
The first thing is to carry out brutal political liquidation and legal characterization of the lawless elements who conspired to organize anti-Han Dynasty.
Liu Heng's political qualities before and after this incident made Luo Xin feel that it was time to really let Liu Heng get involved in political affairs. This happened to be a very good opportunity.
"Decades of entrenchment is really intricate. I really didn't expect that there would be such a huge group against the imperial court in the vassal states.
Uncle, what should we do with these people? "
"According to Han law, the chief evildoer will be killed, and the rest will be exiled to Lingnan."
Liu Heng was stunned when he heard what Luo Xin said. This is more than 30,000 people. Are they all going to be exiled to Lingnan?
"Your Majesty, exile to Lingnan is a clever plan that achieves multiple goals with one stone. You must stick to it in the future.
The most lacking thing in Lingnan was Han people. Zhao Tuo, the king of Lingnan, wrote to the court many times, hoping to move more Han people to Lingnan.
However, the land in Lingnan is not very suitable for large numbers of people to live in it. The large-scale migration of Han people used to be a way of crippling and abusing the people, which was tantamount to exile.
Exiling someone without guilt is not what the court should do.
But things are getting better now. There are so many sinners, even more than the total of the past ten years. It is a grace for the court not to kill them, and they are just in time to open up wasteland in Lingnan.
Moreover, with such a large number of powerful merchants migrating together, large areas of space can be vacated, and those who have great talents but cannot display them can take advantage of the wind. "
Liu Heng suddenly raised his head when he heard the words. He heard an additional meaning from these words. Political struggle can also be beneficial.
There are always unappreciated talents in the world. These people will cause trouble if they are not reused. However, because high positions are controlled by powerful people, these people cannot be promoted and reused.
Political struggle can take the opportunity to purge those useless aristocratic bureaucrats to achieve the effect of class mobility.
Luo Xin was looking at him. He saw that Liu Heng was really smart and could hear the deep meaning in his words. He smiled with satisfaction. Liu Heng knew that he had guessed right. A turmoil arose in his young heart. There was such a thing. kind of operation?
Then his eyes suddenly became excited, and he felt that he still had a lot to learn, and he was still far behind his uncle.
After the punishment of the criminals was over, it became more critical to deal with the two vassal states of Huainan and Wu.
The rebellion between the King of Huainan and the Kingdom of Wu failed, so the kingdom naturally wanted to be eliminated. Luo Xin looked at Liu Heng and decided to test Liu Heng, so he asked: "Your Majesty, what do you think the Huainan Kingdom and the Wu Kingdom should do?
Should we continue to select suitable candidates from the clan to be crowned kings, or should we accept them as counties under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court? "
Liu Heng pondered for a while and then said: "Uncle, you once told me the advantages and disadvantages of enfeoffment and counties. There is no distinction between the two.
I remember that before March, you explained to me the reforms of various countries. You said that in Chu State, counties and states were implemented in parallel and intertwined ways.
Among the rebellions of Huainan and Wu this time, King Jiaodong was the quietest because he was directly blocked by the Thirteen Chehous of Qi Lu.
One after another.
I have some ideas.
Is it possible to enfeoff the kingdom in the vast land of Shandong, and then enfeoff Chehou in the key counties of the kingdom, retaining the power to control the army for the princes and Chehou, but taking away the government power, and then establishing it among the contiguous kingdoms and princes? Some directly governed counties.
This not only retains a certain degree of strength of the princes and kings, it can effectively deter those in the court who attempt to usurp the throne, and it also restrains the princes and princes through Chehou.
As you said, the military nobles like Chehou depended on the imperial power for their survival. Once there was no war and the emperor's trust was lost, they would soon decline and become ordinary fiefdom nobles.
As for setting up counties and counties, it is exactly the policy you mentioned in the Chu State with the surname Mi. For example, the Wu State was divided into three counties. In this way, the contact between the Yue State and the Chu State was lost and the kingdoms would not be connected. Together.
In this way, the court officials, princes, kings, and Chehou can achieve a balance. "
"Your Majesty, you are really smart and extremely smart. You are the most precious gift God has given to this man."
Luo Xinyan couldn't help but burst into laughter. Regardless of whether Liu Heng's idea could be realized or not, it was already extraordinary that he could say these words at his age.
The most important thing is that he can draw inferences from one example and use Luo Xin to tell him various policies that have appeared in history, and then combine them based on reality. This is a very unusual ability.
Liu Heng was very excited when he heard Luo Xin's praise. In his eyes, his uncle was the most powerful person in the world, and he who was praised by his uncle was the second most powerful person. He smiled and asked: "Uncle, what did I just say? What do you think?"
It was the first time that Liu Heng put forward his own opinions on this kind of policy involving the whole world. Luo Xin knew that education should always encourage children. Of course, he would not attack Liu Heng on this matter. At most, he would fix the implementation later. Okay, just put in a little more effort.
So he said warmly: "Your Majesty, your suggestion is very practical and can be implemented. However, in actual operation, you will encounter many problems, such as the location selection of kingdoms, princes, and counties, and how to make them interlock. How to keep them balanced instead of one eating the other.
The choice of the princes, princes, and magistrates is very important. If the princes and princes are colluding, this policy will lose its effectiveness. If the governors and magistrates are incompetent, or even cling to the powerful, they will only follow the princes and princes. .
Do you still remember what I said when I told you about the reforms in various countries?
The Qin State's reforms basically copied the Wei State's reforms, and the Chu State's reforms also copied the Wei State's reforms to a large extent. The reforms of all countries were similar, and the content of the reforms was left there.
What's the difference?
It’s all about execution!
The same is true now. Your unrestrained plan requires nobles, officials, powerful people, and even the common people to implement it. These talents are the key to determining the success or failure of the policy. "
Liu Heng was thoughtful when he heard the words, looked at Luo Xin and said: "Uncle, when you implement this policy, can I follow up next to you?
You have said more than once that the central court's orders will be completely different when they reach the local level. You must pay attention from time to time to ensure the complete implementation of the policy.
I want to take a look at what problems a policy will encounter from its proposal to its final implementation. "
Luo Xin smiled and said: "You are the emperor of the Xia Dynasty and the emperor of the Han Dynasty. I am your minister. Of course you can follow up on this policy. This is exactly what I want to lead you to do."
Liu Heng was very excited when he got the affirmative answer. Naturally, Luo Xin Regent had some rumors that came from nowhere in recent years.
It was said that Luo Xin completely monopolized power and was unwilling to delegate power to the emperor. As the emperor grew older, Luo Xin probably did not want to return power.
This is normal. After all, King Su was slandered by his brothers back then, and Luo Xin was also not immune.
However, Liu Heng himself lived in the palace and never felt the pressure brought by Luo Xin on him, and he could feel that Luo Xin was really serious about teaching him to become a qualified emperor.
Therefore, he did not have to face Luo Xin with the attitude of a powerful minister, but dared to take the initiative to undertake some affairs within his power. As expected, Prime Minister Luo Xin was very willing to participate in it himself, and was happy with his achievements.
"Then there's only one last thing left, about the rewards for those who helped put down the rebellion this time."
Speaking of this matter, the expressions on the faces of Luo Xin and Liu Heng became a little strange. Luo Xin muttered: "First of all, the imperial guards and the disciples of Guanzhong. These people must be well rewarded. This is a great thing to show the grace of the imperial court." opportunity.
If these people's hearts turn to the imperial court, then the imperial court will be as stable as Mount Tai. Your Majesty, you can give them wealth, food, gold, silver, cloth, and recruit new warriors from them to the palace. "
Liu Heng nodded, these are routine rewards. This time Luo Xin meant to give a little more. The rewards for the soldiers were simple, and the rewards for the general Han Xin were also simple. Anyway, the number of households was so large, it would be okay to add a little more.
The most troublesome thing is those Chehous. These people are going to get military merit, because the relationship between the second and third generations of Chehous and the royal family is getting farther and farther, which makes some people worried. They don’t even need to increase the number of households in the feudal country, and It is to return to the innermost circle of Chang'an.
"Your Majesty, the hero group wants official positions."
————
In the previous chapter, the author talked about Dong'ahou Luoxin's failure to completely eliminate the influence of local princes and kings, but instead implemented a system of displacing the country in the land where rebellion was suppressed. In this chapter, the author will describe in detail the impact and even influence of the country. distant system.
The core idea of this system is a system of military merit that can be promoted up or down. The king ensures low-cost governance by granting land to clan members and meritorious officials, but it is very different from the land granting in the pre-Qin period.
The essence of this system is that the clan members obtain the right to use the land through their close blood relationship with the king, and the meritorious officials obtain the right to use the land through their loyalty to the king and their contribution to the dynasty.
Once the king believes that the blood relationship between the clans is no longer close, he will start to take back the feudal country.
This is an irreversible process. The only way is for the distant clan members to become members of the military meritorious group and experience the transformation from vassal kings to Chehou, which is far more difficult than ordinary people becoming Chehou.
As for Chehou, the same is true. Fengguo is not a once and for all.
There are only two ways for any Chehou. The first is to stay in Chang'an City and become a close minister of the monarch, and then continue to gain the monarch's trust to maintain the existence of the feudal country. The second is to do his best in the dynastic war. Achieve victory and maintain the existence of the feudal state through merit.
certainly.
In the Han Dynasty, Duke Zhao was a special existence. It was not affected by this system, or in other words, it was not affected by any system. It existed independently of the political order. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of chapter)
