In the third year of becoming the emperor, in the first month, Liu Heng issued an edict saying that agriculture is the foundation of the world, and I decided to hold a 'home field' ceremony, and I personally farmed, and the queen personally picked mulberry and raised silkworms, calling on people all over the world to pay attention to agriculture and mulberry.

The development of agriculture and mulberry is the fundamental way for the people to be fed and clothed.

Liu Heng created a precedent for the emperor's personal cultivation, which was emulated by later generations of emperors who attached importance to economic development. In the same year, he issued an edict to exempt half of the land rent of peasant households across the country, and the tax was reduced from 15 to 30 taxes during the time of Emperor Hui. For the next 400 years, the Han Dynasty implemented a tax rate of 30 taxes in kind for most of the time.

In 167 BC, Liu Heng exempted the people from land rent for another year. In his 23 years in power, there have been four such large-scale tax cuts.

Liu Heng is conscientious, hiding wealth from the people, living a very frugal life, trying to reduce expenses, and being the emperor for 23 years, the palace, the garden, and the chariot and riding have not increased.

He wanted to build a terrace, and summoned craftsmen to calculate that it would cost about a hundred gold. Liu Heng said: "One hundred gold is the sum of the property of ten medium-sized households. I inherited the palace of the first emperor, and I was often afraid that I would be incompetent as an emperor and disgrace the first emperor, so what did I build a terrace for! He immediately terminated the plan.

The dignified emperor of the Han Dynasty is not as enjoyable as a rich man in the countryside. Liu Heng usually only wears black coarse silk clothes, and his favorite Mrs. Shen has a skirt that is not as long as the ground, and the curtains used are not embroidered to show simplicity and set an example for the world.

Whenever the emperor is in power, he must build a mausoleum for himself while he is alive, and Liu Heng is no exception. Relying on the mountain's situation, his tomb is carved according to the mountain, and there is no tall grave.

Liu Heng took Mrs. Shen out of the palace by car to inspect the progress of the Baling project. One hundred years later, the two will be buried here. That day, Liu Heng was in a bad mood, and Mrs. Shen was inevitably sad. Life is like a dream, all kinds of love in life, after all, dust to dust, earth to earth, nothing can be left.

After coming down from the construction site, Liu Heng did not return to the palace immediately. He put the ministers aside, led Mrs. Shen to the west, walked up to the Baling Bridge, stood side by side with Mrs. Shen, and stood on the bridge and looked into the distance. The breeze gently stroked the ends of the two people's hair, Liu Heng turned his head, looked at Mrs. Shen beside him, suddenly smiled slightly, pointed to the Xinfeng Post Road in the distance, and said softly: "Follow this road, you can go to your hometown Handan." ”

Mrs. Shen suddenly, no wonder you brought me here. She looked at Liu Heng and was full of emotion. Since entering the palace, only in a dream can I return to my hometown, at this moment tiptoeing overlook, the post road is winding, and the white clouds in the sky are under Handan.

Mrs. Shen burst into tears. Liu Heng asked Mrs. Shen to play, and she sang a mournful parting song along with the tune, "Who is Heguang?" A reed. Who is Song Yuan? Hope for it. ”

I just want to be with you quietly behind me and not be disturbed.

Walking down the Baling Bridge, Liu Heng said to the waiting ministers: "If the coffin is made of the stones of Beishan and then coated with the broken linen mixed with paint, who can pry it in the slightest!" ”

Zhang Shizhi, who accompanied him, didn't care about the emperor's mood, and told the truth, "If there are tempting treasures in the tomb, even if the Nanshan Mountains are cast, there will be gaps; If there are no heart-warming treasures in the tomb, there is no sarcophagus coffin, what is there to worry about! ”

Advice against the ear is good for action. Liu Heng understood this truth, he calmed down his emotional fluctuations, and his reason returned to his brain, praising Zhang Shizhi for being right. Perhaps it was because of this conversation that Liu Heng came up with the idea of a thin burial after death.

Leaving Baling and on the way back to the palace, Liu Heng and his entourage encountered an unexpected situation.