Great Han Empire

Chapter 609 The Heroes of Troubled Times Like the Abyss
Li Hong remained silent.

I always thought that as long as the northern border is stable and there is enough money and food, I can lead an army of [-] to save the country. Now it seems that my idea is really naive and ignorant.Scholars believed that warriors were incapable of governing a country, and it seems that they had their reasons.Zhao Qi's words woke him up suddenly, and many vague things suddenly became clear.

Saving the country cannot be achieved by eradicating all traitors with strong force.After the use of force to stabilize the country and quell the flames of war, is the national policy correct?Is the administration of officials clear?The people will be rich?Guozuo (zuo) will be able to continue?Without a good national policy, no one respects the law, traitors will emerge in endlessly, the society will continue to be in turmoil, wars will continue, and the state will be completely cut off.

Saving the country is only the beginning of revitalizing the country.

The ultimate goal of saving the country is to revitalize the country and rejuvenate the country.If you want to rejuvenate the country, you can't rely on force alone. You need academic ideas to promote the rejuvenation of the country, you need governance strategies to make the country prosperous and strong, and you need laws that command the world.

However, apart from strong force, he has no other skills.I might be able to save Sheji, but it is obviously a dream to rejuvenate Sheji.

One's own ability, oneself is clear.Apart from fighting, I have nothing to show off my pride and be respected and convinced by others.Although Beijiang has made some achievements under its own administration in the past few years, it is mainly due to the contributions of Zhao Qi, Zuo Yan, Li Wei, Zhu Mu, Yu Peng and other officials in Beijiang. .After I led the army to station in northern Xinjiang, I first recruited the Yellow Turban Army, and then implemented the resettlement of the refugees to garrison the fields, liberalized the management of salt and iron, established the Jinyang University, developed the big market, and implemented the policy of paying equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce, etc. The success of these things all depended on the counseling and hard work of these officials in northern Xinjiang.I am just one of these officials in northern Xinjiang, and I really can't talk about any impressive achievements and outstanding knowledge.

I don't have the will to hold power alone, nor have the ability to govern the country. I am even more afraid of becoming Dong Zhuo's second scourge to the people of the country, being spurned by the world and left with a thousand years of infamy. Qu Yi, Zhu Mu and others discussed the distribution of power in the imperial court.If the eldest princess and the court are determined to eradicate Han Fu, Yuan Shao and other state officials, then he will be in charge of state affairs, because the court now only has Beijiang and Youzhou left, and no one is qualified except himself.However, with his own ability, he must follow Dong Zhuo's old path.

There is an essential difference between governing state affairs and monopolizing state power, and commanding a state's military administration.You can govern a state by yourself, but you may not be able to govern a country.I can command the army and county officials of one state, and gain their loyalty and support, but can I command the army and county officials of thirteen states?Can you win the loyalty and support of the people of the world?

Dong Zhuo is an example.What happened to Dong Zhuo may be repeated to himself. In addition to his identity as a warrior, there are also the distrust and confrontation of ministers, the continuous failure of national policies, and the armed conflicts between states and counties.Because of Dong Zhuo's reasons, Sheji was about to collapse. If the chaos continued because of his own reasons, it would collapse immediately.

I am not willing to take on this heavy responsibility, nor do I have the confidence and courage to take on this heavy responsibility.Now I really miss the days when I conquered the world under the command of the first emperor and the court. When I think about it, it was the happiest time for me, and I didn't have to think about anything except fighting.

=====

Zhao Qi and Li Wei looked at Li Hong very intently, waiting for his answer.

Li Hong's answer is too important. If Li Hong sticks to the old rules because of Dong Zhuo's lessons learned from the past, and is unwilling to change the existing national policy strategy, Zhang Wen, Cui Lie and other ministers are going to give up the idea of ​​revitalizing the country, abolish the Jinyang court, and re-enshrine the state. The Chang'an court returned all the power that should have been to Li Hong to Li Hong, and several people went to Jinyang University to teach and quit.This can not only help Li Hong avoid the crime of holding the eldest princess and the court hostage, but also avoid the disaster of the court helping the evildoers.Because the result is obvious, even if Li Hong stabilizes the country with his strong strength in the future, the big man still cannot escape the fate of defeat, and the extinction of Guozuo is inevitable.

A big tree that has rotted from the root to the top, no matter how you cultivate the soil and fertilize it, how you cut the branches and leaves, it is impossible to save it again. The roots began to protect it until it grew into a big tree.What Emperor Qinshi, Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Xiaowen, and Emperor Xiaojing could do back then, we can do the same.But the problem is, now that Liu Yu is gone, the Taifu who can take power, command Li Hong and be firm in reforming the system is gone, and now there is only one Li Hong who can't be controlled by anyone.If Li Hong is not willing to change the system, without firm determination and courage to go forward, nothing can be done.Li Hong controls the most powerful army in the Han Kingdom, and only Li Hong can control this army. If he doesn't do it, even if others want to do it in the future, Li Hong will kill him for treason.

Zhao Qi looked up at Li Wei and winked.

Li Wei coughed lightly, and said in a low voice: "The three things that the boss said are the foundation of the revival of the country, and are directly related to the success of the great cause of the revival of the country."

====
Because of the difference in academic thinking, the strategy of governing the country is also very different. What kind of academic thinking determines what kind of strategy for governing the country.For example, the Legalists ruled the country by emphasizing laws and despising rituals, while the Confucianists valued rituals and governed the country by virtue.Differences in governance strategies directly lead to differences in national laws and specific national policies.For example, some sages advocated putting the people first, some advocated putting the monarch first, some believed that a rich country and a strong people should pay equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce, while others believed that agriculture and business should be emphasized.

As far as this dynasty is concerned, from Emperor Gao to Emperor Xiaowen and Emperor Xiaojing, they all believed in Huang Lao's learning, based on the principle of putting the people first, and adopted the strategy of governing the country by doing nothing, obeying the law quietly, lightly paying taxes, and resting with the people. Specifically, in terms of laws and policies, the country is governed by law, the imperial power is separated from the power of the prime minister, the wealth policy is flexible and free, the tax is low, the government interferes less, and the freedom is laissez-faire.

When it came to Emperor Xiaowu of this dynasty, things changed.Emperor Xiaowu advocated martial arts. After attacking the Huns far away, he wanted to expand the territory and conquer the world, but his ideas did not get the support of the ministers, and the treasury was becoming more and more depleted, so he immediately began to reform the system.

Emperor Xiaowu first started from the academic thought.The great Confucianist Dong Zhongshu wrote a letter, requesting respect for Confucianism and etiquette, and the promotion of enlightenment.Emperor Xiaowu then respected Confucianism and dismissed hundreds of schools of thought, ending the dominant position of Huang Laozhi in the academic thought of the dynasty.Then Emperor Xiaowu enlisted a large number of Confucian scholars, based on Confucianism and based on the monarch, he drastically revised the law and law policy, and then ended the era of the dynasty’s quiet and law-abiding era, and "ruling the country by virtue" immediately replaced "ruling the country by law" .As far as the imperial court is concerned, the imperial power is above the power of the prime minister, and the inner court has weight.The emperor monopolized power and was no longer subject to any laws and could do whatever he wanted. The emperor's will became the law, realizing the extreme rule of man.As far as the fiscal policy is concerned, it is emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, increasing taxes, salt and iron official operations, equalization and equalization, and even levy money to hit merchants hard.

From the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, to the Qin Dynasty, and to the current Dynasty, the most brutal and intense power struggles were all related to academic thinking and governance strategies, such as the Qin State Shang Yang Reform in the Warring States Period.Although the power struggle in Qin State was the bloodiest during this period, Shang Yang’s reforms successfully helped Qin State from weak to strong, and laid the foundation for the first emperor to unify the world. It turned to decline, and created the disaster of Wang Mang usurping the country 200 years ago, and the disaster of the country's ruin today.

If we want to save the country and rejuvenate the country, we must first save the country from the very root, that is academic thought, and now we must respect the ancient Chinese classics and take the ancient Chinese classics as the official school.

When the academic thinking changes, the strategy of governing the country changes immediately, that is, the combination of Confucianism and Legalism, with morality as the mainstay and punishment as the auxiliary.In terms of academics, this strategy of governing the country is to no longer respect Confucianism alone, but to study law, the studies of Huang Lao, and the studies of Xun and Mencius.As far as the legal policy is concerned, it is a change from the old rule of virtue to rule the country, but external rituals and internal laws, grand rituals and laws, and equal emphasis on rituals and laws.

It will take some time for the change of academic thinking, and after most people can accept this change, then "morality is the mainstay and punishment is auxiliary" will be changed to "ruling the country by law".Putting the people first and governing the country by law is our ultimate strategy for governing the country.The emperor, like the common people, must abide by the laws of the Han Dynasty, so that the prosperous age can be rebuilt and the country rejuvenated.

The strategy of ruling the country by law is specific to the imperial court, which means that the imperial power is separated from the ministerial power, and the royal family is separated from the imperial court.Specific to the policy of wealth and taxation, it is to lighten the corvee and lighten the tax, pay equal attention to agriculture, industry and commerce, let go of salt and iron, and let the people recuperate.

"The official education, national policy, and official system mentioned by the elder are the key to ensuring the rejuvenation of the country and the foundation for the continuation of the Han Dynasty. The road to rejuvenation is very long and very difficult. It requires the concerted efforts of the monarch and his ministers. It cannot be completed overnight. Yes." Li Wei paused for a moment, and said in a low tone, "Today's crisis is an opportunity to restructure and rejuvenate, but maybe we will fail, maybe we will die like Shang Yang, so please be careful, sir. careful."

======
Li Wei's explanation allowed Li Hong to fully understand the root cause of the turmoil in the country this year, the real reason why the late emperor wanted to protect the traitors, and the real reason why the late emperor wanted to attack the scholars by using the dispute over the imperial lineage. Send out the original intention of the eldest princess to issue two wills.The first emperor wanted to defend the imperial power and the supreme authority of the emperor and the royal family.

Unknowingly, I fell into the struggle between imperial power and ministerial power, between two diametrically opposed strategies for governing the country, and into a battle of academic ideas.

The first emperor favored himself, saying that he had defended the country, while the scholars wanted to kill him, saying that he threatened the country. Now it seems that both of these statements are correct, because his powerful force has had a complete impact on their maintenance of their respective ideas of governing the country. different role.

On the surface, the struggle between the first emperor and the scholars was for power, but behind the power struggle is actually the country and the country.Whoever has the power to rule the world is the real ruler of this country.

In the eyes of the emperor, the emperor is the ruler of the country, and everyone else is my subjects.In the eyes of scholars, the emperor is just a symbol, and loyalty to the emperor is the same as loyalty to the great Han, and scholars are the real rulers of the country.

Emperor Xiaowu restructured the imperial power to be supreme, Emperor Xiaoxuan failed to restructure and the imperial power was still supreme, Emperor Guangwu intensified the imperial power granted by heaven, in fact, the emperor told the scholars, I am the big man, the big man is me, I am the country, and the country is me.But the scholars of the Han Dynasty did not sell this account. They continued to challenge the imperial power tenaciously from various aspects such as academics and national policies.

====
The study of ancient texts has been produced for more than 200 years, and the development of ancient texts coincided with a period of time when Wang Mang usurped the Han and the country was in turmoil.The development of ancient Chinese classics was very fast. Later, in order to maintain the imperial power, Jinwen classics fought openly and secretly with ancient Chinese classics, and reached its peak when Emperor Xiaozhang held the White Tiger View.Since then, the debate between ancient Chinese classics and modern classics has quickly transformed into a struggle between imperial power and ministerial power in the court. The facts of more than 100 years have proved that this is also the beginning of the rapid decline of the Han Dynasty.

In the dynasties of Emperor Xiaohuan and Emperor Xiaoling, the struggle between imperial power and ministerial power became bloody and cruel. The two scourges of party imprisonment dealt heavy blows to scholars, but at the same time destroyed some scholars' worship and respect for imperial power. Feng, strengthened the determination of another group of scholars to use force to reform the system.

The Luoyang Rebellion in the sixth year of Zhongping (AD 189) provided the scholars with an excellent opportunity for peaceful reform, but this excellent opportunity was fleeting. Dong Zhuo's sudden appearance completely shattered hundreds of scholars. Years of dreams, they got angry and fought back brazenly, which finally led to the catastrophe that overthrew the country.

Today's fact is that Dong Zhuo hijacked the emperor and took advantage of Guanzhong. The longer the time dragged on, the more difficult it would be to defeat.Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Han Fu and other state and county officials were forced to a dead end due to various reasons, and now they can only break through and stand up, so they simply made up their minds to overthrow the country and rebuild the Han Dynasty.The chaos in the world gave the Yellow Turban Army a chance to make a comeback, and the overwhelming Yellow Turban Army swept across the prefectures and counties, unstoppable.Without a strong imperial court and a unified command, the suppression of this rebellion became an unattainable matter.The catastrophe of the big man's collapse finally came inevitably.

======
How should I choose?

"If I agree, will it count as betraying the late emperor?" Li Hong asked.

Zhao Qi shook his head, "As long as the Dahan Sheji exists, and as long as the descendants of the Liu family are the emperors of the Han Dynasty, the general will fulfill his promise to the late emperor and live up to the great trust of the late emperor."

Li Hong hesitated for a long time, and then asked, "What should the Son of Heaven do?"

"If the reform is not completed, the general will not be able to serve the king." Zhao Qi said decisively, "This is the general's promise to the court, and it is also the condition for the court to support the general in taking power and rejuvenating the country."

Li Hong was very surprised and asked: "My lord, isn't that the revitalization policy formulated by the imperial court before? Your lord Taifu..."

"Master Taifu and we didn't tell you." Zhao Qi interrupted Li Hong and said, "Because the general is in charge of military power, it has nothing to do with the reform. After Luoyang is captured, we will naturally explain this to the general in detail. thing."

"We have always respected the current emperor and firmly occupied the righteousness." Li Wei explained, "But the emperor has been in the hands of rebels for a long time, and he has no prestige. When he returns to the court in the future, he must abdicate. This is the unwritten law of the great man. ,so……"

Li Hong instantly understood.He felt that he was really an idiot, an idiot who knew nothing but war.

Li Hong shuddered.

===

(End of this chapter)