Queen Dugu: It makes sense that "the son is more precious than the mother", no matter how Liu Qiang said it, he was also the prince, and he was abolished without fault, and it was also a good start to abolish the system left over for hundreds of years.

Bao Zheng: The abolition of the eldest son is more beneficial than disadvantageous, the position of the emperor has always been the virtue of virtue, and the disadvantage should be that there are too many brothers killing each other.

Zhu Di: Brotherly cannibalism is, to put it bluntly, infighting, and if it is serious, it may form like the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", but the common people will not consider these, the ministers will not consider these, they only need an emperor who can govern the country, the people want to live and work in peace and contentment, and the ministers need to meet Mingjun.

Li Si: Frankly speaking, Liu Xiu is not a big problem, but what about others? And what about the Huns? ”

"Liu Xiu's biggest mistake was to compromise too much with the Xiongnu and give up the Western Regions."

"At the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the war, the population decreased sharply, and the Xiongnu took advantage of the chaos between the two Han Dynasty, under the leadership of Shan Yuyu to restore the rule of the neighboring ethnic minorities and become stronger and stronger, in the face of the powerful Xiongnu forces, Emperor Guangwu could only endure, and even resumed the humiliating peace policy."

"After the division of the Xiongnu, some meritorious heroes suggested taking the opportunity to eliminate the Northern Xiongnu and pacify this great disaster in the northern Xinjiang, but Liu Xiu thought that the country had just settled down, and natural disasters were frequent, so how could he fight against foreign troops again, thus missing the great opportunity to eliminate the Xiongnu."

"At that time, all the countries in the Western Regions expressed their willingness to surrender to the Han Dynasty, and even were willing to let the prince come to the Han Dynasty as a hostage, and promised to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty every year, but Liu Xiu believed that the Central Plains had just been pacified, the national strength was weak, and the surrounding areas were uneasy, so they were unwilling to go to war again, and spent national strength to compete with the Xiongnu, so they refused."

"At that time, the Xiongnu took advantage of the chaos in the world to invade the Western Regions, and the king of Shache was a student of the Han Dynasty, refused to join the Xiongnu, and led the countries of the Western Regions to resist bravely, but the Xiongnu were strong, and the countries of the Western Regions were defeated and retreated."

In 18 A.D., he drove the crane to the west, and warned his son before his death: "You must belong to the Han Dynasty from generation to generation, and you must not disobey it." His son Kang succeeded to the throne and still "led the country to reject the Huns".

"In 29 AD, at the request of King Kang of Shache, Dou Rong, the general of Hexi, made him the Governor of the Western Regions in the name of the imperial court, and all countries in the Western Regions must obey his orders."

"After Kang's death, his younger brother Xian succeeded to the throne, and at this time, the war of the Western Regions against the Xiongnu had reached the moment of life and death, so Kang sent an envoy to the Han Dynasty to request attachment on behalf of the Western Regions, hoping that the imperial court would use troops against the Xiongnu."

"Liu Xiu didn't want to spend national strength to fight the Huns, so he didn't agree."

Zhao Kuangyin: A great opportunity is in front of you, alas! I just don't send troops!

Liu Bang: Liu Xiu! Are you stupid! Why not send troops!

Lv Pheasant: This is where the government is good? Who doesn't know the threat of an alien race, and is still hiding at this time? Ha ha!

"In 41 A.D., Shache Wang Xian sent an envoy to pay tribute, and once again asked for the establishment of the Western Regions Protector, and Dou Rong, who was the Great Sikong at the time, suggested to Liu Xiu that Shache Wang Xian should be given the Western Regions Protector Seal."

"He had two reasons."

"The first is that the Shache Kingdom has always been loyal to the Han family, and the imperial court should express it, and the second is to let the Shache King be the protector of the Western Regions, and the Western Regions can be recovered without a single soldier."

"Liu Xiu felt that it was reasonable, so he awarded the seal letter and ribbon of the protector of the Western Regions, and also rewarded vehicles, flags, gold, splendid embroidery and other things."

Unexpectedly, when the Shache envoy returned to Dunhuang, some people raised different opinions, and Pei Zun, the Taishou of Dunhuang, proposed to the imperial court, "Yidi cannot pretend to be powerful", otherwise it will be difficult to control. ”

"Because Shache Wang Xian has always been high-flying and domineering, and often oppresses neighboring countries, he is really not suitable to serve as the protector of the Western Regions."

"So when Liu Xiu heard this, he also felt that it made sense, so he reversed himself and ordered to take back Xian's seal letter and ribbon, but the sand cart messenger refused, and Pei Zun sent someone to forcibly take it back."

"This kind of backsliding, simple and rude, seriously affected the attitude of Shache and the Western Regions countries towards the Eastern Han Dynasty."

"Shache Wang Xian was therefore resentful of the Eastern Han court, but he still pretended to be the protector of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty and issued notes to the countries of the Western Regions, and all of them expressed their obedience."

Later, Shache Wang Xian became more and more arrogant.

"In 45 A.D., eighteen countries including the former king of Cheshi, Shanshan, and Yanqi secretly sent princes to serve the Han court and offer treasures."

"They cried and told the Eastern Han government that Shache Wang Xian often sent very heavy taxes, and whoever did not pay on time, he would send troops to attack whomever he wanted, so they begged the Han Dynasty to send another Western Regions protector."

"At that time, the Xiongnu frequently harassed the Shanggu and Zhongshan areas, the Wuhuan and Xianbei invaded the border in the northeast, and the Qiang people in the west were also ready to move, which was obviously not the best time to enter the Western Regions."

"So, Liu Xiu once again rejected the request of the Western Regions countries, and also sent back all the hostages sent by the countries."

"In 47 A.D., Shache Wang Xian broke through the Shanshan Kingdom and killed the King of Qiuzi."

Shanshan Wang An had no choice but to write to Liu Xiu again: "Please allow me to send the prince into the court again, and ask the emperor to send the Western Regions to protect it, if the emperor does not agree, we have to surrender to the Xiongnu." ”

"It's all said about this, Liu Xiu still didn't agree, he replied that he really couldn't help."

"So, Shanshan, Cheshi and other countries were once again attached to the Xiongnu, and then Qiuzi, Yanqi, Gumo, Yuli, etc. also followed in their footsteps and attached themselves to the Xiongnu, so that most of the Western Regions fell into the hands of the Xiongnu."

"Although Liu Xiu's abandonment of the Western Regions made some sense at that time, from an objective point of view, Liu Xiu was still too conservative, because the Han Dynasty did not need to send troops at all, and only needed to arrange a suitable candidate for the protector of the Western Regions to integrate the forces of the Western Regions, one is to contain the Xiongnu, and the other is to lay the foundation for the recovery of the Western Regions in the future."

"Therefore, it is a pity that Liu Xiu gave up the best opportunity to include the Western Regions in the Central Plains Dynasty."

"To talk about the situation at that time, Liu Xiugang established a dynasty, and it was indeed not suitable to send troops due to civil strife, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was not rich in grain and grass at that time, and there were many rebellions within the Eastern Han Dynasty at that time, such as the Nanjun barbarian rebellion, the Wuling barbarian rebellion, and the invasion of the border by the Eastern Han Dynasty."

"Although it cannot pose a substantial threat to the Eastern Han Dynasty, but at this moment, if you travel a long distance to attack the Xiongnu, it will not be able to guarantee the stability of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

"Then why do you say it's a passing thing?"

"Because of the plague in the territory of the Xiongnu at that time, coupled with natural disasters, many Xiongnu people were displaced, and the entire Xiongnu people were struggling to survive, and their combat effectiveness dropped sharply."

"You must know that the Xiongnu have always been the henchmen of the Han Dynasty before, and in the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Che sent troops to beat the Xiongnu many times before it was briefly stable for a while."

(End of chapter)