Chapter 69: The Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms

When the dynasty was in turmoil, in Dragon City, Long Hui accompanied Yu Ji to have fun, and the training of soldiers was handed over to Peng Yue, Han Xin, Yingbu, Chen Wu, and Long He were responsible.

Liu Heng is the fourth son of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and his mother is Bo Ji. She was a native of Wu (now Jiangsu), at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and was the concubine of Wei Bao, the king of Wei. At the beginning of the Chu-Han War, Wei Bao attached himself to the Han and rebelled against the Han, but was killed by the Han generals Zhou Xin and Cao Shen after being defeated and captured. As a result, she became a captive and was soon sent to weave cloth in a weaving room. Later, Liu Bang saw that Bo Ji had some appearance, so he included it in the harem. In the fifth year of Gaozu (202 BC), she gave birth to Liu Heng. Liu Bang's former retainers, Chen Ping and Zhou Bo, joined hands to destroy the LĂź clan's power, and then discussed who would inherit the throne. Because they felt that Liu Hong, the little emperor of Lu Houli at that time, was not a descendant of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty and did not conform to the legal system of succession to the throne. In the end, they fell in love with Liu Heng, the acting king with a good reputation for generosity and kindness. So he sent an envoy to pick up Liu Heng to Chang'an to inherit the throne. Liu Heng was not very happy at first when he saw the envoy, on the contrary, it made him suspicious, and his subordinates also had different opinions, some thought it was a conspiracy, and some analyzed that it would not be false. Liu Heng decided to use divination to determine the good fortune and evil. But just in case, Liu Heng was careful step by step in the process of marching to Chang'an, and he was afraid that he would fall for the trick and die on Huangquan Road. The first is to send his uncle Bo Zhao to Chang'an first to inquire about the truth, and the second is to send his subordinate Song Chang to explore the road to the city when he is fifty miles away from Chang'an City. In the end, the careful Liu Heng finally lived in Weiyang Palace safely under the support of Chen Ping's ministers, inherited the throne, and was Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty.

Because it was not easy to get the throne, after Liu Heng ascended the throne, he first appointed his henchmen Song Chang and Zhang Wu to be responsible for guarding the palace and the capital, fundamentally ensuring his personal safety. Then, for the heroes who supported him as the emperor, they were rewarded one by one, and the king surnamed Liu, who was belittled by Empress Lu, also restored the title and fief, and at the same time, the heroes who followed his father Liu Bang to open the country were also rewarded and divided. These measures consolidated Liu Heng's throne.

In addition to consolidating power by means of co-optation, cracking down on important ministers is also an important measure for Liu Heng. This aspect is mainly the treatment of the great hero Zhou Bo. Zhou Bo was meritorious in supporting Liu Heng, so every time he retreated from the court, he always looked arrogant when he came out, and he didn't seem to take Liu Heng in his eyes. And Liu Heng was even more polite to him, and often watched him leave. Some ministers persuaded Liu Heng that he should not be so polite to Zhou Bo, and he would lose his status as a monarch. From then on, Liu Heng's expression became more and more serious, while Zhou Bo became more and more awe-inspired. Zhou Bo's subordinates reminded him in time: Be careful of the master and set himself on fire. Zhou Boru was empowered and suddenly woke up. So he resigned from the post of right prime minister, and Liu Heng soon agreed. A year later, because Chen Ping died, Liu Heng appointed him as prime minister, but only ten months later, Liu Heng dismissed him from his post on the pretext that the marquis returned to the feudal state. At that time, many princes lived in Chang'an, which added a lot of burden to the food supply in the capital, so Liu Heng issued an edict ordering the princes to live in their own feudal country, even if the imperial court allowed them to stay in the capital, they should send their sons to the feudal country. But many people found all kinds of excuses to stay in the capital, which made Liu Heng very angry, so he asked Prime Minister Zhou Bo to take the lead and remove him from his position as prime minister.

Later, someone reported that Zhou Bo often wore armor at home and had the intention of rebellion, and Liu Heng immediately arrested him. Zhou Bo hurriedly explained to Liu Heng through Liu Heng's uncle Bo Zhao that he had tied his armor because he was afraid of disaster and had no intention of rebelling. After Liu Heng re-investigated, he did not find the fact that Zhou Bo had rebelled, so he released him. Compared with many emperors in the feudal era, Liu Heng did a very tolerant job.

At the suggestion of the great doctor Jia Yi, he already felt the threat of the vassal state with the same surname, so he began to weaken the power of the princes. Emperor Wen of Han died. On the ninth day of June of the same year, the crown prince Liu Qi inherited the throne as Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, respected his grandmother Empress Dowager Bo Ji as the Empress Dowager, and respected his mother Empress Dowager Dou as the Empress Dowager. On this day, Chen Wu reported that a woman wanted to see Long Hui, and Long Hui was very curious, and he didn't know who it was? Wait for Chen Wu to bring the woman to Long Hui around the year. This is a slender, fair-skinned and beautiful woman, what are you looking for me? The general saw the ceremony, the little woman Zhuo Wenjun, liked the ritual music, traveled here to listen to someone in the city sing a song called the love of the life, a dozen heard that it was taught by the general, Gu came to consult the general. As soon as Long Hui saw that this woman liked songs, he sang songs to her every day.

After Liu Qi ascended the throne, he first promoted Chao Cuo to be the internal history, and then promoted Chao Cuo to the imperial history doctor, ranking one of the three dukes. After analysis, Chao Cuo told Liu Qi to be especially wary of Liu Bi, the king of Wu, who had the most powerful power among the princes.

Liu Bi has been secretly preparing for more than 40 years, he minted money privately, boiled salt and sold it, in order to accumulate strength, he also recruited fugitives, and the rebellion became more and more revealed. Therefore, Chao Cuo strongly advocated that Liu Qi cut the fiefs of the kings, that is, cut the feudal domains.

Liu Qi listened to Chao Cuo's suggestion and decided to cut down the two counties of Huiji and Yuzhang of Wu first. Seeing that the imperial court began to move, Liu Bi was unwilling to be arrested, and united the princes and kings of various places to rebel and rebel under the banner of killing Chao Cuo and stabilizing the country. Seven princes took part in this rebellion.

When Liu Qi learned the news of the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, he sent the Taiwei Zhou Yafu to lead thirty-six generals to attack Wu and Chu; sent Qu Zhou Hou Liji to attack Zhao State; sent the general Luan Bu to attack the state of Qi; Send the general Dou Ying to Xingyang to monitor the armies of Qi and Zhao.

Dou Ying introduced Liu Qi to Yuan An, who had served as the prime minister of Wu State. Liu Qi summoned Yuan Ang into the palace to meet him, and took the opportunity to persuade Liu Qi to kill Chao Cuo in order to protect national security and quell the rebellion. Liu Qi adopted Yuan An's strategy and killed Chao Cuo.

And the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms did not stop because of this, Liu Qi dispatched Zhou Yafu and other generals to lead troops to quell the rebellion. Zhou Yafu adopted the strategy of cutting off the rebels' grain routes and then holding on, and finally defeated the rebels and completely put down the rebellion in three months.

After the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was pacified, Liu Qi took the opportunity to take back the rights of the princely kingdoms to the central government, and reduced the number of officials in the vassal states in large quantities. The princes and kings no longer had executive power and judicial privileges. After the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the problem of the division of the princes and kings was completely resolved.

Liu Qi's sister Princess Guantao Liu Concubine hopes that her daughter can become the queen, so she wants to marry her daughter to the unmarried prince Liu Rong. Unexpectedly, Liu Rong's biological mother Li Ji refused the marriage because she was disgusted with Guantao's repeated beauties to Liu Qijin, and Liu Concubine was very annoyed, so she engaged her daughter to Liu Che, the king of Jiaodong.

After that, Liu Concubine said bad things about Li Ji in front of Liu Qi from time to time and praised Liu Che. Liu Qi also thinks that Liu Che has both virtue and talent, so he is very fond of him.

Once, the eldest princess Liu Concubine and Liu Qi said that Li Ji often had the palace maids curse and spit on the emperor's favorite concubines with witchcraft behind their backs. After Liu Qi heard this, he was disgusted with Li Ji, but because of his deep relationship with Li Ji in the past, he still had good thoughts. Later, when Liu Qi was sick, he tested Li Ji and said, "After I am 100 years old, you must be kind to other concubines and their sons." Li Ji was resentful at that time, and not only did she not agree to Liu Qi, but instead spoke ill of her. Liu Qi was completely disappointed in Li Ji, but he didn't have a seizure.

Liu Qi deposed Empress Bo. Wang Wan was made queen, and Wang Huan's son Liu Che was made the crown prince.

Liu Qi was very frugal, and during his reign he rarely built palaces and pavilions. Liu Qi was ill, and his illness was getting worse and worse, and he knew that he couldn't do it, so he presided over the coronation ceremony for the crown prince Liu Che during his illness.

Soon, Liu Qi died of illness in Chang'an Weiyang Palace, and the crown prince Liu Che became the emperor and was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.