Lesson 12 Han Wudi consolidates the unified dynasty

"The Implementation of the "Push Grace Order

At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the vassal kings were powerful and dominated their own side, living in arrogance and luxury, and even openly rebelled against the officials sent by the court politically, and some even attempted to rebel. The local powerful landlords also developed, annexed land, amassed wealth, roamed the countryside, and fought against the government. These two forces led to social disorder.

Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty accepted the suggestion of "pushing the enlightenment" of Lord Father Yan and issued an edict stipulating that vassal kings, in addition to their firstborn sons succeeding to the throne, could subdivide their fiefs to their sons and daughters as vassal states, with the emperor setting the title. In this way, there were more and more vassal states, and the fiefs and power of the vassal kings became smaller and smaller. Emperor Wu then found various excuses to cut the titles, take away the land and even remove the state, and severely suppress their rebellion, the vassal kings have since been devastated. Emperor Wu also established the system of assassins, dividing the country into 13 state ministries, and assigning one assassin to each ministry to monitor the local officials, powerful people and their sons and daughters in the state ministries on behalf of the court and forbid them to do wrong. Through these measures, the central government's control over localities was greatly strengthened.

"Dismissing the Hundred Schools of Thought and Respecting Only Confucianism"

At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the court's control over the local communities was weak and the ruler pursued a policy of "ruling without doing anything", and the doctrines of the hundred schools of thought were very popular in the society. After the reign of Emperor Wu, he took a series of measures to strengthen the centralization of power.

Emperor Wu accepted Dong Zhongshu's proposal to "dismiss the hundred schools and revere only Confucianism" and established Confucianism as the orthodoxy, making the Confucian idea of loyalty and propriety the spiritual pillar of the unified regime. Emperor Wu also set up the Imperial College in Chang'an and used Confucianism's "Poetry," "Book," "Ritual," "Yi," and "Spring and Autumn" as teaching materials to train Confucian scholars for the ruling class, and Confucian scholars entered all levels of power. From then on, Confucianism took the leading role and was respected by successive dynasties, with far-reaching effects.

Salt and iron monopoly

At that time, private coin minting was not yet completely banned, and the right to operate salt and iron was mostly in the hands of the powerful, so there were many rich merchants and magnates in the society, who controlled the important economic lifeline of the country. For example, in the early Han Dynasty, when the vassal kings rebelled, the court borrowed money from them to quell the rebellion, but they refused to lend for fear that the court would not win.

In order to strengthen the court's control over social economy, Emperor Wu returned the power of coinage to the central government and unified the casting of the five baht coins; he also set up salt and iron officials throughout the country, nationalized the management of salt cooking and iron smelting, and implemented the official management and monopoly of salt and iron; he also unified the deployment of materials throughout the country to suppress prices. These measures greatly improved the country's financial situation and laid the economic foundation for the implementation of many of Emperor Wu's policies.

Emperor Wu consolidated the situation of great unification in political, ideological and economic aspects, and brought the Western Han Dynasty into its heyday.（618words）