Han Heng: It's your life's fault to treat my low profile as weakness.

In the Han dynasty, it was very cautious to add temple names to the dead emperors. It is difficult for the emperor to get a temple name unless he has made great achievements.

During the more than two hundred years of the Western Han Dynasty, only four emperors, namely, Taizu Liu Bang, Taizong Liu Heng, Sejong Liu Che and Zhongzong Liu Xun, obtained temple names.

In particular, Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, during his reign, greatly restored the national strength destroyed in the early Han Dynasty, improved the living and production level, developed agriculture and industry and commerce, and established the rule of Wenjing with his son Liu Qi, which laid a solid material foundation for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to break the Huns. He is an important emperor who links the past with the future.

But it is such a person that his father Liu Bang never intended to make him an emperor before his death.

Disadvantage

Liu Heng is the fourth son of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. His birth is very legendary:

Liu Heng's mother, Ji Bo, was the illegitimate daughter of Wei nobles during the Warring States Period. Her mother once asked someone to meet her and came to the conclusion that "she should be the son of heaven".

This has become an important means for Gilbert's mother to promote her daughter. When she told Wei Bao, the then king of the Western Wei Dynasty, Wang Wei was happily married to Ji Bo.

But Wei Bao's wish to have a son of heaven failed to come true. Soon, the Western Wei Dynasty was conquered by Han Xin and Cao Can, and Ji Bo was brought into the palace as a trophy by Liu Bang.

Perhaps Ji Bo, who became Liu Bangji's concubine, was lucky only once. But this time, Kibo was pregnant with the dragon seed, and the prince born after October was Liu Heng.

Liu Heng's unloved mother seems to decide his unloved fate, which can be seen from the fief he got.

Liu Bang has eight sons. Except for Lv Hou's eldest son, Liu Ying, who was made a prince, the other seven sons were made kings and fiefs.

Liu Fei, the eldest son, is the largest country in the East, with strong strength.

The third son, Liu Ruyi, was the most favored by Liu Bang, and was sealed to Zhao, the most economically developed country.

Guo Liang and Huaiyang, which were sealed by Liu Hui, the fifth son, and Liu Youfeng, the sixth son, are not as good as Zhao, but they are also located in the rich land of the Central Plains.

Huainan, where Liu Chang is located, is a little far from the fief, but the climate is mild and there are few border problems.

Although the eighth son Liu Jian was sealed in Yan Di on the northern border, the land was vast.

Only the Daiguo, where Liu Heng lived, had a narrow fief, close to the Xiongnu, and a bad climate, which was arguably the best of the seven kings.

The cold reception of his mother and himself made Liu Heng develop a cautious and low-key character from an early age, but it became an opportunity for him to ascend to the throne in the future, just in response to the old saying: "Misfortune comes from the mouth, and happiness lies in misfortune."

Cleverly avoid disaster

After Liu Bang's death, Liu Yuxin won the throne for Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, and his mother Lv Hou naturally became the Empress Dowager and took power. Lv Hou, who gained power, took crazy revenge on her former rivals and their heirs.

First, Liu Bang's favorite Mrs. Qi and Liu Ruyi's mother and son.

First, Mrs. Qi was imprisoned in Yongxiang by shaving her head. Finally, her hair was brutally cut off, her facial features were destroyed, and she was thrown into the toilet and died miserably.

Although Ruyi Zhao was protected by Hui Di, the young and kind emperor could not compete with his ruthless mother after all. One day, while Hui Di was away, Lv Hou broke into the palace and poisoned Ruyi.

But to Lv Hou's surprise, Hui Di, who witnessed all this, also suffered a heavy blow. From then on, he ignored the failure of state affairs and indulged in debauchery. A few years later, he left this world with his younger brother.

The next victim is Liu Fei, who was almost poisoned by Lv Hou because of his rude behavior at the family dinner. Finally, I was forced to give it to a county town and recognized my sister as a godmother before I escaped. Four years later, Liu Fei died. It is hard to say that his death has nothing to do with this cowardly spirit.

After Liu Ruyi, Liu You and Liu Hui were renamed princes of Zhao. One of the two brothers starved to death because he was imprisoned in Beijing, and the other committed suicide because of depression. Liu Jian, the prince of Yan, died before Lv Hou laid hands on him, but his son was killed by Empress Lu.

Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, is an exception. Liu Chang's mother died after giving birth to him. The prince was raised by Lv Hou himself, and Lv Hou treated him as his own. How could he be poisoned by a tiger?

The only person who lives by wisdom is Liu Heng. After Liu Hui's death, Lv Hou ordered Liu Heng to inherit Wang Zhao. On the strength of sealing the country, Zhao is far stronger than acting for the country, but he is keenly aware of the danger.

Hui Di died, and Lv Hou, which lost its dependence, was in deep crisis. She is determined to further consolidate her power. She fostered two little emperors as puppets, and arranged party member in North Korea, ready to expand her influence to various vassal states.

Before Liu Hui died, he broke Liu Bang's white horse oath of "not being Liu and not being king" and made his two nephews kings. Zhao is a piece of fat, of course, he won't leave it to outsiders. In addition, Zhao also had three brothers killed. If Liu Heng comes to power, I'm afraid there will only be fatal disasters waiting for him in the future.

Having said that, how dare the queen mother's orders be easily violated? Clever Liu Heng declined on the grounds that she was already familiar with the affairs here. Instead of offending Lv Hou, she accepted the sentence "I would like to be the first mother".

In addition to clever excuses, Liu Heng and his son were disliked by Liu Bang, which became an important factor for their survival, as evidenced by Lv Hou's release of Ji Bo from the palace and his reunion with Liu Heng after he came to power.

Ministers' misjudgment

After his death, the old heroes who followed Liu Bang joined hands with the Liu royal family to destroy the whole family of Lu and control state affairs.

On the one hand, Lv Hou's ruling for more than ten years made them suffer from oppression and exclusion, on the other hand, they also saw the infinite scenery of the ruling and opposition parties. None of them have the ability and strength to monopolize this country, but they don't want to lose their power, and they are even more afraid of retaliation and liquidation in the future.

For various reasons, they need a suitable agent to stand at the front desk-a weak emperor with Liu surname and no Lujia background.

Liu Ying's sons can't stay-after all, we are their first family. The rest, only one brother, two princes and three adult grandchildren of Liu Bang.

The emperor's brother was excluded first.

Liu Jiao, the king of Chu, followed Liu Bang for many years, read many poems and was very close to his brother ideologically. Once such a person becomes an emperor, I'm afraid he will play with the heroes in applause.

Grandson can't be chosen either.

Although Liu Fei is timid, all his three sons are brave. Liu Zhang, the second child, dared to contradict face to face before he died, and killed a Lushi clan in front of her. After Lv Hou's death, eldest brother Liu Xiang took the lead in attacking, while Liu Zhang and Liu Xingju stayed in the palace to do back office work. How can such brave three brothers be made by others?

The rest are two princes. Liu Chang was brought up by Lv Hou and was closely related to him, so he could not be considered.

After some elimination, only the king of this generation is left. .

For everyone, all kinds of conditions seem to be suitable: the son of Gaozu, which has nothing to do with Lu, and most importantly, he seems to be weak.

Liu Heng's weakness is manifested in two aspects: his remote fief and unloved position determine his strength weakness, and Zhao, who is willing to stay in the countryside rather than prosper, shows his weakness in character.

Therefore, Liu Heng finally emerged as the designated candidate for the new emperor.

If everything goes as they think, maybe Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han Dynasty or Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty will happen hundreds of years in advance, and maybe the Han Dynasty will be as short as the Qin Empire. But the supporters of Liu Heng never dreamed that it was a big mistake for them. Everyone looked down on the 23-year-old prince.

When he received the news that he requested to go to Beijing to take the throne, Liu Heng's actions seemed to show his cowardice: First, he asked his subordinates for instructions, and their disputes continued; Then he went to consult his mother again, but he still didn't make up his mind; Then he went to divination and got lucky. But he didn't act immediately. Instead, I sent my uncle to Beijing to find out the truth and got a positive return before I got up and went to Chang' an.

Nevertheless, Liu Heng did not directly enter Chang 'an. Stop at Gaoling and send Minister Chang Song to town to inquire about the situation. Chang Song came to the Weihe Bridge outside Chang 'an, where he met the Prime Minister and the officials who greeted him. Liu Heng, who was rewarded, then came to Weihe Bridge.

After the meeting, Zhou Bo, the main figure who staged a coup to support the new emperor, came forward, hoping to talk to the soon-to-be-enthroned son of heaven alone.

So far, Liu Heng's performance has met his expectations: obviously, it was a pie that fell from the sky, but he hesitated to walk around the pie several times before slowly approaching.

Ambitious frequency is now trying to take all the credit of the son of heaven, and by the way, scare the timid child so that he can do whatever he wants in the future. Unexpectedly, what happened next greatly surprised him.

Zhou Bo's request to meet the Emperor alone was directly rejected by Chang Song: "If Qiu wants to talk about business, he will say it in front of everyone. If he wants to talk about private affairs, I'm sorry, the king has no private affairs. "

Liu Heng's previous behavior was not cowardice, but caution. When he first got the news of Yingli, his subordinate Zhang Wu said, "The ministers in the DPRK are all generals under Emperor Gao (Liu Bang), who are good at fighting and scheming. They don't want to be worse than others, but they are afraid of Emperor Gao (Liu Bang) and Lv Hou. "

Now that Liu Bang and Lu's family are gone, there is news that he is going to Beijing. If he is really a coward, he can refuse the request and live quietly in his own country. However, Liu Heng, who has been dormant for a long time, knows that this is his chance, but he must be careful everywhere and step by step.

But at the moment, things are different. After coming to Weiqiao, the situation became clear. He knew that his position was unanimously agreed by ministers, and even Qiu, who had military power, could not change it. In that case, it's time to show your edge.

The ultimate victory

Chang Song said so, but what he said was what Liu Heng meant. Liu Heng's reaction after hearing this sentence is not recorded in Historical Records. His silence represents his approval of Chang Song. Zhou Bo found something was wrong, so he had no choice but to give Jeff the jade seal.

More unexpected things are yet to come. On the night of his accession to the throne, the young son of heaven did three things in succession: worshipping Zhang Wu as a doctor and managing the palace guards; Appointed as general Wei, in charge of the troops stationed in Beijing; Issue an imperial edict and grant Amnesty to the world.

Control the palace, master the army and be kind to the people. Ensure your own safety first, and then consolidate your position through military and political means.

Overnight, Liu Heng took the initiative. In the process of eradicating Zhu Lu, the heroes who showed great power woke up from a dream and knew that they had been taken in by a young man, but it was too late.

In this way, Liu Heng changed from a neglected prince to a powerful emperor.

During his reign, he practiced economy, worked hard and loved the people. He abolished the laws of corporal punishment and sitting together, reduced the corvee and taxes, and greatly alleviated the people's suffering; At the same time, he also promoted the donation of grain for knighthood, opened up state-owned resources to encourage private mining and stimulate the development of private economy; He sent envoys to South Vietnam, making them princes, comforting Huns, putting down warlord rebellion twice and maintaining domestic stability.

Throughout the first half of Liu Heng's life, keeping a low profile was an important factor in his success. When a person's talent brings benefits to himself, it may also be regarded as a threat by others. Therefore, we must not only learn to show our strength, but also know how to converge at an appropriate time and put it back and forth freely in order to be invincible.