Chapter 16: The End of Kangzongs Eight Years in Reign, Indolence and No Achievements
Coming from the north and going to the west, it was rare to go on a patrol and it was obviously difficult for Emperor Liu Wenpeng to turn back. Therefore, after entering the Yangtze River in the north, he chose to continue upstream by boat.
The Jiangnan Navy dispatched almost half of its ships and sailors to escort him. Liu Wenpeng's two thousand silver armors also became "cavalry on the water."
It is worth mentioning that when King Shizu visited the south twenty years ago, he reorganized the entire southern navy due to the navy's shortcomings (supporting bandits to respect themselves, setting up traps to collect taxes, extortion and looting). During the Taizong period, the Han Dynasty
Under the strong authority and strict national laws, the river navy still maintains a good style and good combat effectiveness.
However, in the seventh year of Pingkang, it can only be described as a return to the old ways. Of course, what Liu Wenpeng could see and hear was that everything was calm and blessed.
After passing Wuchang and entering Jiangling, the prosperity of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River appeared in front of Liu Wenpeng in a different image and temperament. Riding on a dragon boat, with thousands of troops, swaggering across the border, Liu Wenpeng spent his time to the fullest, while "singing" the glory of the prosperous age, he also
This further consumed the almost instinctive awe and respect that local officials and people had for the empire's supreme ruler.
Putting aside the ordinary people in Guizhou, they are the most simple people to be ruled. Being exploited is their fate. The emperor's passing is just a temporary aggravation. Moreover, there is a domesticated respect for authority in the subconscious. Most of them
People just hope that life will be easier after Luan Jia leaves and that they can go back to before. But whether this extravagant wish can be realized is obviously doubtful.
In contrast, when those dignitaries who held local power put aside their awe, mustered up the courage, raised their heads, opened their eyes wide, and used the rare opportunity to observe the emperor above them, they were originally mysterious and aloof.
His image, not to mention collapsed, was shaken anyway.
When the glory of the emperor dissipates, all that remains is a willful and happy young man. The reason why this young man can be above everyone else and can spend as much as he likes and have fun is just because he has a good father.
Of course, the subversion of the impression will not make the local dignitaries lose their awe. In the current Han Dynasty, no matter what the emperor is, the imperial power is not so easy to shake.
However, if the emperor is like this, don't blame his ministers for imitating him, especially those powerful men with limited moral integrity and bottom line.
And this is obviously more serious than the cost of Liu Wenpeng's patrol. This is a fundamentally far-reaching impact.
Of course, Liu Wenpeng would not understand this, and he did not care too much about it. What he could see was the scene of "the arrival of the Luan Jia, the officials and the people surrendered". At least for the moment, the sanctity of imperial power and the authority of the emperor could prevent him from having to
To worry about the emotions, thoughts, psychology and other inexplicable things of the subjects.
No matter what, as long as the foundation of the empire remains strong, he will be the most outspoken and upright emperor of the empire. Regardless of whether they are willing or not, the world's dignitaries have to support him. Liu Wenpeng himself may not be so worthy of praise, but the heir apparent system is.
It is a system that the nobles of the empire, bureaucrats and even ordinary people believe in and respect. It has even become a social consensus.
In Jiangling, Liu Wenpeng accepted the "loving" contributions from Jinghu North Road and Jiangling Mansion. Here we must mention Jiangling Prefect Feng Duan, who was the great-grandson of Qianyou Prime Minister Feng Dao and the main lineage of the family.
In the first year of Kaibao's reign, when Shizu granted the title of meritorious official, Feng Dao was granted the title Duke of Ying, and he was enthroned in the 20th year of Emperor Qianyou's reign because he was "very knowledgeable" and had made outstanding contributions to the consolidation and maintenance of state affairs at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Among the four heroes.
As for the Duke of Ying, he is already the fourth generation, and the grace given by the ancestors of "+ undiminished hereditary status for the three generations since the founding of the country" has also been broken.
As the direct descendant of the Feng family, after the former Duke of Ying Feng Jie (grandson of Feng Dao and son of Feng Ji) died of illness, Emperor Taizong changed the title of his eldest son Feng Jing to the title of Duke of Hejian. The empire's noble system is truly mature and perfect, and it is still
In the Taizong era, because Taizong was a man who acted completely according to the rules, unlike Shizu, his personal likes and dislikes were inevitably mixed in the decisions of some affairs, and he liked to do things that could change things for the better.
The "Twenty-Four Ministers of Qianyu" who attracted much attention in the early years also presented a new situation half a century later in the Pingkang era.
To put it simply, there are differences even among the twenty-four ministers of Qianyou. Some of them have long since died out, and their names are only recorded in the annals of history, such as the two Wang clans (Gong Zhang of Yu Kingdom and Duke of Shang Kingdom).
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Some are still powerful and prominent, and are still rooted in the center of power of the empire. Even though there are ups and downs, they still exert important influence on the empire in all aspects, such as the Li family (Shou Guogong Li Shaoyou), the Murong family, the Guo family, the Gao family,
Zhe family, Xiang family, Zhao family (Zhao Kuangyin);
Of course, there are still those who develop as usual and inherit the system, such as the Feng family. Compared with those military aristocrats, and even compared with several civil servant families such as Wei, Wang (Wang Pu), and Fan, they are much weaker.
Among the twenty-four meritorious families that are still in existence, the Feng family is basically comparable to the Wu Xingde family of Geng Guogong, and the canonization of Wu Xingde back then can be regarded as the most arbitrary move of the ancestors.
The development of the Feng family over the years is also the most intuitive challenge to this lack of confidence. The influence of the Feng family in the center of the imperial court has been minimal. It is still prominent in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of the real people in power, it is actually worthless.
Mention that, except for Feng Jing, the Duke of Hejian County, Feng Duan, the prefect of Jiangling, is actually the highest-ranking person in the Feng family who is currently serving as an official.
The various greetings carefully prepared by Feng Duan and others did not please Liu Wenpeng as much as those of Chen Yaozuo and others in Hangzhou. Liu Wenpeng was tired of seeing the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang living in a gay and romantic setting.
Therefore, Liu Wenpeng was more interested in his imperial brother Liu Wenji. After visiting him, he also sent people to investigate King Jing's performance in Huguang.
The result made Liu Wenpeng very satisfied, because after Liu Wenji arrived in Jiangling, he had been recuperating at home, without inspecting the place, managing any government, or taking care of any affairs, and seemed completely unable to do what he wanted.
Liu Wenji also specifically apologized to Liu Wenpeng, hoping to punish him for his delay and neglect, otherwise he would feel uneasy. In this regard, Liu Wenpeng naturally pardoned him generously.
After meeting Liu Wenji, Liu Wenpeng was in a good mood and headed north, twisting and turning eastward on the way to the Taikang Palace. Summer was approaching and it was a good time to spend the summer there.
It can be said that it was a waste of natural resources. The Taikang Palace located in Jigong Mountain spent a lot of money and resources in those years. Not only the Shaofu, the Ministry of Industry, the generals, but also the soldiers and people of several surrounding states were almost sucked dry of their blood and sweat.
Since the completion of Taikang Palace, it was only used during Shizu's last southern tour. It has been abandoned for the past twenty years. Of course, it is not completely abandoned. Every year, the Shaofu and local governments still invest a certain amount of resources in construction.
After all, Xiuhu is the emperor's largest summer palace. At the same time, the years of "abandonment" also gave the people around it a relatively long period of peace.
Emperor Taizong made the entire Yongxi era austere and resolutely refused to go to Taikang Palace to enjoy it. This was Liu Wenpeng's first time. With the arrival of Luan Jia, everything was going crazy and he was in a hurry.
At the same time, more than 20 years later, an "enabling" ceremony was held again. Prior to this, an edict had been sent to the capital, and two thousand people from the inner and outer courts and court officials were transferred from the palace and the court to take the lead in settling in.
Taikang Palace, ready to serve the emperor.
Although it is really disrespectful to Emperor Shizu to compare Liu Wenpeng with Emperor Shizu, one thing is that Liu Wenpeng spent all his energy on luxury, tricks, and novelties, and it is not as good as Emperor Shizu who came to do it all at once.
At the same time, there is an even greater disparity in the management of reputation. In his later years, Shizu was unavoidably extravagant, but among the official people, not many people dared to criticize and accuse him, and many people even whitewashed and beautified it.
Liu Wenpeng spent the entire summer in Taikang Palace. After autumn, he just set off to return to Beijing in mid-July of the seventh year of Pingkang. He had to return to Luoyang to catch up with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
During the few months of summer vacation in Taikang Palace, Liu Wenpeng was not very comfortable. In the summer of May, because he was having too much fun, a fire broke out and burned down the Yankang Palace in the palace. If the fire-fighting measures had not been taken,
In time, the losses will be greater.
At the end of June, Liu Wenpeng's beloved Concubine Chen Shu passed away (she was from a mediocre background and had outstanding appearance and figure, but Liu Wenpeng took her back to the palace from the people).
However, the death of a beloved concubine did have an impact on Liu Wenpeng, but it was not big. What was really connected with the fate of the empire and the direction of history was that Liu Wenpeng contracted a very bad disease: drug abuse.
Because after more than a year of hard work, there was still nothing to show, Liu Wenpeng became anxious himself. For this reason, he specially sought medical advice, and all the national medical experts could provide were some nourishing and nourishing prescriptions.
Therefore, Liu Wenpeng ordered someone to find the famous Taoist priest Ziyang. As the true disciple of the legendary ancestor Chen Tuan, he should have two brushes. Liu Wenpeng asked him to make elixirs for him.
And Ziyang Zhenren lived up to his expectations. The result was that before the prince and princess were even seen, Liu Wenpeng opened the door to another world.
After a year-long tour, Liu Wenpeng was having fun and tired. After returning to Luoyang, he naturally needed to recuperate and it was rare to rest for a while. Even when it came to interfering with the government affairs and being away for so long, he actually didn't have much in his heart.
At the end of the day, we are afraid that those central dignitaries will take advantage of their power and go beyond their reach.
During Liu Wenpeng's tour for more than a year, the overall situation in the court was relatively stable, but the potential battles and pulls became more complicated and intense.
Wang Dan, who was promoted by Liu Wenpeng to the throne, was obviously unable to convince the public, and his control was far inferior to that of Zhang Qixian. This is also normal, after all, Zhang Qixian had come all the way to the Baochao Dynasty.
, has been through water and fire, and has been prime minister for many years, so he has some degree of leadership ability.
Of course, Wang Dan did not compete with Zhang Qixian, and he did not want to control the overall situation. The second point was simply impossible. Compared with those dignitaries and dignitaries with good roots and integrity, Wang Dan, a second-generation nobleman, had no qualifications or qualifications.
In terms of merit, they are all weaker than each other. They can cover small things, stabilize medium fires, and cannot suppress big fires at all.
The reason why the government was able to maintain a basic stability was mainly due to the mutual involvement of various forces. At the same time, Wang Dan was self-aware and just stayed in the middle, trying his best to coordinate and ensure the normal operation of the government.
But obviously, this situation is stumbling, and it is still difficult to say how long it can last. This is in conflict with the empire's consistent tradition of "strongman politics."
The "co-governance era" that appeared in the fifth to sixth years of Pingkang was more like an attempt at a political model. If it was given a long enough time to experiment, it might be possible to explore more new things.
But this is obviously unrealistic. First of all, Emperor Liu Wenpeng will not always be so "settled", and among the powerful people in the central government, conflicts and contradictions continue to accumulate over time, and there will always be times when they break out.
In the spring of the seventh year of Pingkang, a conflict broke out between the financial envoy Li Hang and the deputy privy envoy Guo Liangping. It was also a struggle between common people bureaucrats and military aristocrats.
The story of the incident is very simple. Li Hang firmly opposed the navy's huge shipbuilding needs and frequent training plans. Guo Liangping planned to replace all the main battleships of the Han Dynasty's navy with gunboats in the next ten years.
Such a huge plan involved an astronomical amount of money. As the prime minister of the Han Empire, Li Hang firmly refused and strongly opposed it.
For Guo Liangping, this plan was related to the century-old plan of the Han Navy and was a way to continue to improve the status of the navy. How could he allow a rotten scholar like Li Hang to destroy it?
What happened was that two central power factions started the most intense civil and military dispute in the empire in decades. Two old men in their seventies with white hair became red-faced and thick-nosed. When they were excited, Guo
Liangping almost took action, but although he was dissuaded, he insulted Li Hang with many words and severely damaged Li Hang's face.
But the result was that Li Hang lost face and lost face. Guo Liangping had outstanding military talents and a tough style, but when it came to political disputes, he was far behind Li Hang. Coupled with the gap in authority, he quickly fell into a disadvantage.
Behind this, of course, there are obstacles set up by a group of army dignitaries. To be honest, they are the most sensitive to Guo Liangping's "Navy Twenty-Year Plan". If Guo Liangping really succeeds, the Navy will not be able to turn over
Heaven?
With the help of another group of heroes, Li Hang naturally became the winner of this political battle. However, did Guo Liangping really lose? His plan to renew the navy was still launched and was actually promoted. Only
However, the scale is smaller and the time is doubled. It is difficult to say whether this is the real goal in Guo Liangping's heart.
After learning about some unknown details of the "Li Guo Controversy", Liu Wenpeng was overjoyed and felt much more relaxed. How could he, the emperor, be at peace if the ministers didn't fight?
Emperor Liu Wenpeng's silence did not last too long. At the end of the autumn of the seventh year of Pingkang, another conflict broke out in the court. The protagonist changed, between Emperor Liu Wenpeng and the financial envoy Li Hang.
The reason is that Liu Wenpeng wanted to build a summer palace in Xiyuan, Luoyang, but Taikang Palace was too far away and running around was too hard. Even after the construction plan came out, he planned to recruit laborers and excavate manually to create a pond.
Following the example of Meng Chang of the Later Shu Dynasty who built the "Crystal Palace" in Chengdu, a water palace was also built on the newly created artificial lake.
Let’s not talk about other things first. If we learn this from Meng Chang, we can see what kind of nature this matter is. (Of course, in Meng Chang’s "Issue of Orders", "You have a salary and a salary, and the people are fat and the people are anointed, and the people are easy to abuse.
The words "God cannot be deceived" are still engraved on the official walls and plaques of many prefectures and counties in the Han Empire.)
What is different from before is that this time in the Cultivation Palace, Liu Wenpeng plans to use the state's finances. To put it simply, he plans to waste people and money. He has completely stopped pretending. It is actually the young man Liu Gui who complained to him and kept spending his own money.
"Private money" has been going on for a long time, and I feel really distressed.
Li Hang naturally remonstrated impartially and resolutely opposed this. There was an uproar in the court, and there were not a few official and direct ministers who stood by Li Hang.
A large number of people, including the prime ministers Kou Zhun and Xiang Minzhong, came to Liu Wenpeng to give advice one after another, hoping that he would give up his thoughts.
In this situation, things tend to develop in the other direction. As a result, when Liu Wenpeng saw that Li Hang had set off such a big wave of opposition to him, he was shocked and angry, and "old and new grudges" surged up in his heart.
, the will was issued, the imperialists attacked Li Hang one after another, and then Li Hang, the veteran of the three dynasties and Prime Minister of Yongxi, resigned.
Li Hang's dismissal as prime minister had a huge impact on the Han Empire. From this point of view, it can be said to be more serious than the expulsion of Liu Ai and Zhang Qixian from the court to a certain extent.
Because, as soon as this incident came out, it meant that the balance between the common people's bureaucratic power and the aristocratic bureaucratic group in the central court of the empire was completely broken. At least in the political hall, the power was imbalanced.
The person who succeeded the financial envoy was Xiang Deming, Minister of the Ministry of War. In this matter, Liu Wenpeng, who had just dismissed Li Hang, did not dare to go against the wishes of the ministers. The remaining bureaucratic leaders of the common people at the center of the political affairs hall actually became
The four of them, Xiang Minzhong, Kou Zhun, Xu Shilian, and Wang Qinruo, are neither bragging nor discrediting. Even if these four people are tied together, they are not as famous and influential as Li Hang in the seventh year of Pingkang among the common people bureaucrats.
But for Emperor Liu Wenpeng, he really didn't care so much. At least he won the battle against Li Hang, but this victory was not worthy of joy at all. Even from the perspective of the empire, there was a trace of
sorrow.
At the same time, Liu Wenpeng's "Water Palace Plan" was also successfully promoted. In the winter of the seventh year of Pingkang, tens of thousands of people entered Xiyuan, and under strict management, excavation began.
In the summer of the eighth year of Pingkang Dynasty (1014), the emperor Liu Wenpeng, who was extremely restless and restless, started to stir up trouble again. This time he chose to patrol the north. He wanted to go hunting in the pastures of Monan. Of course, the name cannot be so straightforward and publicized to the outside world.
What is more important is that he wants to patrol the north to inspect Hedong, and at the same time worship the heaven in Taiyuan, the land of Longxing, and go to the grassland along the way to reconcile the conflicts between the Khitan and Naiman regimes in Mobei, and restore peace to the north of the Great Wall.
In the past few years, the situation in Mobei has never been peaceful. Under the rule of Taiyang Khan Liu Jin (the legendary son of King Liu Min of Wei), the Naiman tribe has grown day by day, and after absorbing the culture of Han and Khitan, it formed
established a basic political organization.
In the fourth year of Pingkang, Liu Jin officially proclaimed himself king, and the country was named "Jin". After becoming king, Naiman began to deal with the Han Dynasty as a state, and immediately sent envoys south to surrender to the imperial court, hoping that
He was rewarded by the imperial court. Liu Wenpeng, who had just taken charge of the government at that time, happily agreed to his request and granted Liu Jin the title of Golden King.
At that time, there was opposition in the DPRK and China, but not many people took this miscellaneous regime with only half a million citizens seriously.
After becoming king, Liu Jin began to lead his "Jin Kingdom" to continue to expand eastward, attacking Khitan settlements, robbing water and grass, and plundering tribesmen.
With the rise of the "Jin Kingdom", the Khitan's reputation as the overlord of Mobei also began to waver. Faced with its provocation, it naturally formed an army to resist. The Jin Kingdom lies in the barbaric momentum of the new forces, while the Khitan lies in the advancement of civilization.
In terms of strength alone, the Khitan still has an absolute advantage.
However, even in Yelvxian's time the Khitan could not completely eradicate the plague of the barbarians (of course there were big men acting as troublemakers at the time), let alone now.
The two sides fought almost every day, and the chaos in Mobei had already affected the tranquility of Shanyang in the Han Dynasty.
The former prime minister Wang Xuanzhen was pushed out to governor Monan in the name of appeasing Northern Xinjiang. Judging from subsequent developments, I don't know whether it was a foresight or a pure coincidence.
In recent years, Mobei has been like a big voodoo, with two voodoos named "Jin" and "Khitan" respectively, and perhaps also the Mongol and Ushiwei people who are constantly moving south.
They are fighting, evolving, and eliminating, just like the story that has been repeated on the grassland for the past thousand years.
In the seventh year of Pingkang, the Khitan and the Jin Kingdom fought another war. The two sides mobilized a total of more than 100,000 string control men. Such a war was enough to attract the attention of the Han Dynasty, and the empire was indeed shaken.
The Han Empire had been at peace for several decades, but in the bitterly cold northern Saibei, the Hu people began to gather, develop, and grow stronger again.
Emperor Liu Wenpeng went north with great momentum. The Forbidden Army and the northern frontier army trained in regiments and gathered hundreds of thousands of people to serve as guards. There was no way, and they did not dare to be careless. The Privy Council pinched their noses and had to mobilize troops and generals to ensure the safety of the emperor, and
Guo Yi was deployed as the camp capital and commanded the army.
It can only be said that Liu Wenpeng really went hunting. As long as he had the slightest idea of the Northern Expedition, no one can say what will happen. The history of the Han Empire may directly open a new page. When guarding Liu Wenpeng,
During the process, Guo Yi, a veteran who has been on the battlefield for many years, was always worried and had a few strands of white hair on his head.
Judging from the results, Liu Wenpeng's northern inspection tour was still somewhat effective, at least it played the role of "stopping the war."
Liu Wenpeng and Baishuiluo of Monan set up camp and sent envoys to invite the two kings to come and pay homage. A hundred thousand Han troops marched north, and there might be more behind them. Both the Khitan and the Jin Kingdom were inevitably "frightened". As nominal subjects,
After the two kings struggled, they both came south one after another and sat on the negotiation table set by the Han Emperor.
Under Liu Wenpeng's supervision, the two sides finally reached a settlement and agreed to a truce, stop the conflict, and stop attacking each other. At the same time, they both asked the court for help because of the huge losses in the war. Liu Wenpeng generously rewarded money, silk, grain, salt, and tea.
, and approved the request of the two countries to increase trade in border markets.
Liu Wenpeng thought that the two countries were forced to stop fighting and reconcile under the power of God. However, in fact, the two countries had suffered heavy losses in the constant battles. According to law, they would also fall into a period of dormant recovery.
After completing this "White Water Conference", Liu Wenpeng proudly "returned his troops to the court". After getting close to Liu Wenpeng, the emperor of the Han Empire, King Liu Jin of Jin expressed this emotion on his way back to the north: "I have personally paid homage to him.
Emperor Taizong's majesty is like that of a heavenly being, making people fear him and dare not change his mind. However, he is as wise as Emperor Taizong, and he trusts no one. If the Emperor of the Han Dynasty is like this, I can also be the Emperor of the Han Dynasty."
Being despised without knowing it, frankly speaking, Liu Wenpeng has lost his face in the foreign land of northern Saibei.
Liu Wenpeng's northern tour in the eighth year of Pingkang's reign was also the last time Liu Wenpeng struggled because he could no longer do it. On his way back south, he was weak and short of breath and contracted wind and cold.
After a long and arduous journey, I finally returned to Luoyang in the early winter of that year. I finally insisted on returning to the palace and did not die in a foreign country.
However, the reason why accidents are called accidents is because they often come suddenly. On November 19, the eighth year of Pingkang, his health improved. After inspecting the construction site of the "Xiyuan Crystal Palace Project", Liu Wenpeng went to work that night.
The Guanfeng Hall of Yang Palace suddenly died, completely ending his emperor career. He reigned for eight years at the age of twenty-eight.