A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 192: Taking charge of government affairs
May
At a court meeting, Taichang Liu Tong, one of the nine ministers, said: "People have good fortunes and misfortunes, and so does the country. Therefore, a prince should be established to establish the future of the country. If the prince is established, the country will be stable. If the prince is not established, the country will be in doubt. Therefore, I ask you to establish a prince as soon as possible, so as to respect the ancestral temple and stabilize the foundation of the country."

The Han Emperor squinted at Liu Tong. This was not the person he arranged. He didn't know what his purpose was, so he said: "My virtues are shallow. Even the emperor and gods have not yet enjoyed the sacrifices, and the people of the world have not yet been satisfied.

Now, even if I cannot search for the wise, sage, and virtuous person in the world, and surrender the world to him, but say that I will establish a prince in advance, this will make my virtue even shallower. What can I say to the world? Let's put this matter aside for now. "

Zongzheng Liu Zhang also said: "Your Majesty, by appointing a prince in advance, you must respect the ancestral temple and the country, and show that you will not forget the people of the world."

The Emperor of Han thought for a while and said slowly: "The King of Chu is my uncle. He is old and understands many principles of the world and the general situation of the country. The King of Wu is my elder brother. He is kind, benevolent and likes morality." .The King of Huainan is my younger brother. He upholds morality and assists me.

Aren't they the pre-established heirs? Among the princes, kings, clan brothers, and meritorious ministers, there are many capable and virtuous people among them. If they recommend virtuous people to assist me in completing my unfinished business, it will be a good thing for the country and a blessing for the world.

Now if I don't recommend them, but say that I must make my own son the prince, people will think that I have forgotten the virtuous and virtuous people, and only think about my own son. This is not an approach to share the worries of the people of the world, so I I think this is undesirable. "

After the emperor said so, no one mentioned the matter of appointing other princes, kings and clansmen as princes. So Tian Guangyong, the imperial censor, said: "I heard that in ancient times, the country created by the Yin, Shang and Zhou dynasties had long-term peace and stability for more than a thousand years. Year.

In ancient times, no dynasty that conquered the world lasted longer than this, because the successors chosen by the emperors of these two dynasties must be their own sons. This has been a long-standing tradition.

Emperor Gao personally led the civil servants and generals, and as soon as the world was pacified, he established vassal states and became the ancestor of the emperor of this dynasty. The princes, kings and princes who first accepted the feudal state were also the ancestors of each country.

It is the great justice of the world that descendants should inherit the throne without interruption from generation to generation, so Emperor Gao established this system to stabilize the hearts of the people at home. Now to give up what should be observed and choose other princes and clan members is not Gao Di's original intention. It's not appropriate to discuss it anymore. The eldest prince, Liu Qi, was kind and kind, so he was the best candidate for the crown prince, so I requested that he be made the crown prince. "

The Han Emperor resisted, and the ministers persuaded him. Finally, the Han Emperor had no choice but to say: "Well, since all the ministers think Liu Qi can be the prince, let's make him the prince."

Later, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty ordered that all the heirs in the world who should succeed their fathers should be promoted to one level of nobility, and he also ordered that the general of chariots and cavalry, Bo Zhao, be granted the title of Marquis of Zhen.

June
Someone submitted a letter asking for the queen to be appointed. Empress Dowager Bo said: "The princes all have the same surname, so let's make the prince's mother the queen." The queen's surname was Dou. In addition, because of the appointment of a queen, the Han Emperor gave quotas of cloth, silk, rice and meat to the widowed, lonely, poor and needy people in the world, as well as to the elderly over eighty years old and orphans under nine years old.

Later, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty ordered to reward his old ministers: "When the ministers put down the rebellion of Shen Shiqi and the Lu family and welcomed me to the throne, I was hesitant, and all the ministers stopped me. Only Lieutenant Song Chang encouraged me, and I was able to respect him. Ancestral Temple. Although I have promoted Song Chang to General Wei, I think this is not enough to show my favor to him. Now I make him Zhuang Wuhou, and the other six people who came with me have their official positions promoted to Jiu Qing."

July
Emperor Han ordered: "The emperor Gao's peace in the world depends entirely on the efforts of the princes. Although Emperor Gao has already named them Chehou or Guannei Hou, this is the favor of Emperor Gao. As the son of Emperor Gao, I cannot but express my gratitude to them.

Therefore, I decided to follow Emperor Gao to sixty-eight princes from Shu County and Hanzhong, and grant them 300 households each with food towns. In the past, I followed Emperor Gao Emperor, and ten people including Liu Zun, the governor of Yingchuan County, who were officials above 2,000 shi, and granted them six food towns each. 100 households;

Ten people including Shen Tujia, the governor of Huaiyang County, were granted a grant of food to 500 households each; Wei Wei Ding and other ten people were granted a grant of 400 households each.

In addition, Zhao Jian, the uncle of King Huainan, was granted the title of Marquis of Zhouyang; Si Jun, the uncle of King Qi, was granted the title of Marquis of Qingguo; the Prime Minister of Zhongshan, Jianwen Marquis Su Jian, was granted the title of 300 households, and he was appointed as the Dianke of the vassal state, and Tian Zhong was appointed as the Dianke The new Prime Minister of Zhongshan Kingdom. "

Someone advised the right prime minister Zhou Bo: "You originally killed the Lu family and welcomed the king, but now you boast of your great achievements, receive the highest reward, and occupy a prestigious position. You are about to face a disaster."

So Zhou Bo, the right prime minister, claimed to be ill and asked to be dismissed. The Han emperor repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay. Seeing that he had already decided to leave, he agreed, leaving Bai Jun, the left prime minister, to serve as prime minister alone. He also appointed Zhou Bo's son Zhou Yafu as Weiyang palace guard.

December

The Han Emperor issued the first formal policy for governing the country after he succeeded to the throne: "I have heard that laws and regulations are the rules for governing the country. They can be used to prohibit atrocities and encourage people to do good. I read the "Han Code" and found that now After those who break the law are convicted, their innocent parents, wives, children, and brothers must be punished together, and their children must be confiscated as official slaves. I think this approach is very undesirable, please discuss it."

Tingwei explained: "Your Majesty, the purpose of setting up this law is because the people cannot govern themselves, so a law needs to be formulated to restrain them. The stipulation that the affected family members must also be arrested is to make people feel at ease. Concern makes them treat things that violate the law carefully. This practice has been around for a long time since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. I think it is more appropriate to follow the original practice."

But the Emperor of the Han Dynasty said: "I have heard that if the law is fair, the people will be loyal, and if the punishment is appropriate, the people will be obedient. Moreover, those who govern the people and persuade them to do good are officials. If the officials cannot persuade the people, but also use unjust laws to punish them , on the contrary, it is harmful to the people and forces them to do bad things. What should be used to prohibit it? I don't see why it is appropriate. Please think about it in detail."

Prime Minister Bai Jun saluted and said: "Your Majesty, in fact, during the period of Emperor Ren and Empress Ren, this law was already abolished. However, after Emperor Dang succeeded to the throne, he appointed him as the prime minister. He rudely believed that the people were afraid of the power. Don't be afraid of virtue, what you do above will be effective below, so this law was quickly revived, and Shen Shiqi and others simply restored it.

Your Majesty, I have always believed that the purpose of laws and regulations is to persuade people to do good, not to punish. Now that the people cannot be independent, they need laws and regulations to restrain them. If the people can take the initiative to be virtuous and do good, laws and regulations may not even be needed. .

Besides, today's world is sparsely populated after the great chaos. Although there has been some development under the rule of Emperor Ren and Empress Ren, the time is too short after all. There is still no way to say that the Han Dynasty has entered a prosperous period. Therefore, in this situation, loose measures should be implemented. laws to ensure population growth.

History books say that in a chaotic world, heavy codes were needed to suppress the large number of scoundrels. But now that the world is at peace and people expect to live and work in peace and contentment, heavy codes and severe punishments are no longer applicable. Therefore, I believe that your Majesty's actions are in line with the current real situation. "

The Emperor of Han sat on the throne and looked at Bai Jun with satisfaction. He did not expect that the first person to support his idea was Bai Jun. He thought that he would need to go through many games with the three forces before he could decide on this matter. Now he sees It is a good choice to cooperate with Bai Jun.

After Bai Jun took the lead in the charge, the officials of the Bai family continued to voice their support. For a time, the voices of support and the voices of opposition started a fierce debate. However, because of Zhou Bo's departure, most of the Chehou Group's forces were in the military. , there are few officials among them, so they have not participated in this debate.

Soon, under the fierce debate of the Bai faction officials headed by Bai Jun, the opposition was overwhelmed. Seeing that things were going so smoothly, the Han Emperor was happy and said: "Since all the ministers have agreed, then the matter will be settled like this." Okay, in addition, in order to prevent the old incident of corrupting the emperor, you must implement it thoroughly and don't blame each other and make things happen again."

All the officials said: "Your Majesty's kindness and merits are beyond our imagination. We will obey the edict and abolish the law that punishes innocent family members as official slaves."

The second year of the Han Dynasty
New Year
The Emperor of the Han Dynasty ordered: "Farming is the foundation of the world. Now that we are reclaiming our land, I will personally take the lead in cultivating it to supply the grain used for the ancestral temple's sacrifices. This shows that I attach great importance to farming, and I hope that the officials and people of the world will encourage it."

March
Su Jian, a guest from the Dian Kingdom, wrote a letter requesting that the prince be granted the title of prince of vassals.

The Emperor of the Han Dynasty said: "Liu You, King Min of Huaiyang, was deposed by Emperor Dang for no reason and died of depression. I felt very sorry for him, so I decided to make his son Liu Sui the King of Hejian. I also mourned the great contributions of King Hui's son, Zongzheng Zhuxuhou Liu Zhang, to the state." If you can make him a king, I decided to use Chengyang County, a large county in Qi State, to make him the King of Chengyang.

In addition, the prince Liu Wu was named the acting king, the prince Liu Shen was named the King of Taiyuan, and the prince Liu Yi was named the King of Dongping. "

In the same month, Emperor Han issued an edict: “In ancient times, when governing the world, the imperial court set up banners for offering good words and wooden pillars for criticizing the government, in order to maintain the smooth flow of governance and encourage outspoken advice.

The laws now include charges of slandering the government and misleading the public with evil words. They were abolished during the reign of the benevolent emperor and then enabled again. This made the ministers dare not speak freely and the emperor was unable to know his faults.

How can we attract virtuous people from far away like this? Therefore, I believe that this law should be abolished. Some people among the people cursed the emperor and agreed to conceal it from each other, but later deceived each other. The officials thought this was treason. If there were any other remarks, officials would consider them to be slanderous against the government.

Isn't it ridiculous to sentence ordinary people to death because of their ignorance? I think this move is very undesirable, so I stipulate that from now on, anyone in the county who receives news of such crimes will no longer be punished. "

September
The imperial court began to grant bronze tiger talisman and bamboo envoy talisman to the governors of counties and states.

(End of this chapter)