Chapter 388 Liu Che: The Kind Father of the Han Dynasty
Luo Ling's carriage left Zhaocheng, and then entered the grassland from Youyan. This time when he came to the grassland, it was naturally impossible for him to spend the family's wealth like last time. The Han Dynasty was not worthy of Luo's efforts. Even for his own Bang Zhou, Luo had never done so. It was even more impossible for him to do so with a mere Han Dynasty.
Chang'an.
Ever since the army left the border, Changle Palace in the imperial city has been very quiet. Everyone knows that the emperor is waiting for news from the grassland.
In this atmosphere, Luo Jing returned to Chang'an, and then he and Jia Yi came to the palace together.
Liu Che tried his best to remain calm, but the two men could still see that the young emperor's face was full of anxiety.
After the two of them exchanged greetings, Luo Jing immediately said, "Your Majesty, I went to Zhaocheng a few days ago to meet my uncle, Lord Zhaogong. Lord Zhaogong should have gone to the grassland now."
Liu Che was stunned when he heard this, and then he visibly relaxed. This was how Luo Ling intimidated the world. He was a contemporary god with infinite power. As long as he took action, everyone would feel at ease.
Liu Che was silent for a moment. The Liu Che in the original world had many flaws in his character, but this world was different. Even Xiang Yu’s tyranny could be changed. How could a person like Liu Che remain the same?
He was the second son of Emperor Xiaowen and the biological son of the empress. His path to the throne was not bumpy. He did not have so many powerful relatives controlling the government, and he did not even experience the beatings from the Empress Dowager.
He had been the King of Liang for many years and had seen some realities. When he was in Liang, he liked to have fun with the people, rewarding them with fine wine and delicious food, clothing, and silk, and then listening to the people praising him.
In real history, he was somewhat foolish in his later years.
But if an emperor has problems in his later years, it may be a problem of one person. However, in history, it was not just Liu Che who had problems. Not to mention Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, even Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, one of the ceilings of personal ability among emperors, also began to have problems in his later years. If he had not died at an appropriate time, he might have been the second Liu Che.
When Liu Che was young, he was absolutely wise and brave. The battle plan to counterattack the Huns was designed by Liu Che. Under the execution of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, great results were achieved. Of the victory over the Huns in the early Han Dynasty, Liu Che, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing each accounted for one third. This is the fairest evaluation.
As for the lack of fruitful results in the later period, it was because Li Guangli was too rubbish. He led such strong soldiers and the best resources, and Liu Che also had the best strategies, but he couldn't execute them well.
Second Division General?
A second-rate general is almost the same!
His ability was only enough to make him an ordinary captain. But he was made the general of the Han Dynasty and commanded a field army. This is really a criticism of Liu Che. He was nepotism and wanted to appoint people like Wei and Huo.
People like Li Guangli want to be generals, but does he have the ability to do so?
No, after losing to the Huns, they surrendered immediately. Otherwise, they would have lost the Western Regions next. After losing the Western Regions, they would have lost the Southwestern Yi. After losing the Southwestern Yi, they would have lost the Shanyue. There would have been nothing to lose next.
The Liu Che in this world is even more childish than the one in history. After all, Luo's various hymns to the saints, such as "The spirit of Su Wang is in heaven, and the mandate of heaven for all China lasts for thousands of years" are quite childish. Liu Che had a mother who deeply believed in Su Wang, and his teachers were all from Shandong Confucianism, so he was naturally influenced.
But he was never an emperor who only cared about his own achievements. In this respect, he was different from those tyrants in history. Liu Che wanted to do things that benefit the country and the people. In real history, Liu Che did some wrong things, but when he went to the people and saw the difficult lives of the people, he immediately realized his mistakes, stopped the war against the Huns, and admitted his mistakes.
He has been the emperor for decades!
No one dared to say he was wrong. His power was unimaginable. The prime minister, the head of all officials, could kill anyone he wanted. Even the most powerful clan could be wiped out with just one order. This was not the case even when Qin Shihuang was at the height of his power.
The prince had been trying to persuade Liu Che for many years but he remained unmoved. In fact, he was using the wrong method. It was useless to talk about the hardships of the people in front of Liu Che every day. Liu Che would only think that it was the powerful people who had a hard time living. How could a man like Liu Che care about the powerful?
Prince Ju should have taken Liu Che directly to the real people to see what life was like for the common people after the war. In this way, the relationship between father and son would not have ended up like that. Liu Che was a man who would correct his mistakes as soon as he realized them. The reason why he was stubborn was because he did not know he was wrong.
Liu Che sighed and said, "Only Prime Minister and Marquis Dong'e are here today. I can tell you two something from my heart. I am prepared to fail in this war.
The Han Dynasty had never had a large-scale war with the Huns. The art of war states that if you know yourself and your enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Now the Han Dynasty knows nothing about the Huns, and is fighting a war on their territory. How can it possibly win a great victory?
But I still have to fight this battle, because if I don’t fight, I will never know what the Han Dynasty lacks, and I will never be able to understand the strength of the Huns, so how can I completely defeat the Huns?
All I hope is that the loss of soldiers can be less and more casualties can be inflicted on the Huns, that's all. When the soldiers come back, I will reward them as long as they have made some gains.
The encouragement before the battle was just to encourage the soldiers to move forward bravely.
But now that Lord Zhao has gone to the grassland, I can feel a little relieved.
Wait until the general returns to take a good look at the Huns' combat power and characteristics to accumulate experience for future wars.
My Han Dynasty has the most elite soldiers and the foundation accumulated over sixty or seventy years. We can definitely defeat the Xiongnu. This is probably my mission in life, and it is the task entrusted to me by the Emperor Suwang. "
Jia Yi and Luo Jing looked at each other. They didn't expect that the emperor, who was so passionate and determined to win before the war, actually had such thoughts. However, this also made them feel slightly relieved.
At least the emperor was not so ambitious as to insist on a great victory. In particular, Jia Yi was afraid that the emperor would be provoked by failure and would send large armies out of the border continuously, wasting the national strength accumulated by Emperor Xiaowen in vain.
"Your Majesty, the army has been out of the border for more than a month. The consumption of food and grass, the conscription of good families, and the conscription of soldiers and assistants are roughly as follows. At present, the national treasury can afford at least two more major battles out of the border."
After Jia Yi felt relieved, he began to report these logistical matters to Liu Che. When it came to money and food, Liu Che's nature of lavishing money began to show. He waved his hand and said, "Prime Minister, I have heard that since ancient times, no victory has been achieved by mistreating soldiers. My soldiers are bleeding on the front line. I don't want them to suffer in terms of military supplies and logistics. Please provide generous supplies and reduce the losses of the soldiers."
In fact, the rewards for military merit in the Han court at that time were extremely generous.
In this world, the most powerful and loyal army is the Daring Warriors. Daring Warriors appeared very early, and many countries have tried to establish such armies. Wei Wuzu was the most successful one, with extremely high combat effectiveness.
Apart from the fact that King Su cannot learn, all outstanding generals have summarized the combat effectiveness of brave warriors, and one thing that stands out is that they value rewards and favors, especially favors. Under the influence of social customs, once a person receives a favor and then betrays his master, the social criticism will be even more severe than in the original world, which can almost be called social death. Especially with the existence and dominance of the Luo family, the Luo family despises this kind of people extremely. Those despised by the Luo family will find it really difficult to survive in society, and may even bring harm to their offspring.
Moreover, the Han Dynasty was founded on military power, and those who held high positions in the court and local power were all marquises with military merit. Under such circumstances, it was impossible to suppress the military merit group.
Needless to say, the treatment of being a marquis is that it is a real fiefdom that lasts for decades, and even the fiefdoms throughout the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were not so long-lasting.
Many feudal lords lost their fiefdoms before they even died.
There were also rewards for ordinary soldiers killing enemies and subsequent benefits. In order to win the hearts of the soldiers, these were far more than during the Qin Dynasty. Moreover, the Han court did not have so many cases of using titles to atone for crimes, so the value of military merit titles was very high.
Liu Che stopped Jia Yi from speaking and said seriously, "Prime Minister, is there anything more precious than life in this world?
There are many hard-working people in this world, but only the soldiers fighting on the battlefield can lose their lives at any time.
If we want to defeat the Huns, can we rely solely on a few words from me or the strategic planning of our generals?
It's not like that. It's going to be a bloody fight among the Han soldiers. Ten people go and only five return. It's bound to be so tragic.
There is nothing I can do to make up for it. I can only learn from the Luo family's method. Those who have no brothers or children should not be allowed to go to the battlefield. For those who die on the battlefield, the state should give more pensions and make their families glorious.
I want the men of the Han Dynasty to be proud of fighting and shedding blood for the country. I don't care about a little bit of wealth. Prime Minister, do you know what I think today?"
Liu Che rarely spoke so softly, he was always passionate, but today Jia Yi heard a tone of far greater determination than usual, and this was an unquestionable tone.
Luo Jing nodded slightly, Jia Yi bowed deeply and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I understand."
Liu Che said: "Prime Minister, you are a great scholar in the country and the leader of the Meng Confucian scholars. I believe in you, but please tell my subordinates that in the face of the war, if they are deducted, I will not give them the opportunity to go to Lingnan or Qiongzhou.
The only place they can go is the underworld where there is no sun!"
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Emperor Liu Che of the Han Empire was evaluated as "Wu" by his ministers after his death, that is, "the emperor who is best at martial arts". He was deeply loved by his soldiers. In studying the history of the Han Empire, the author found that during the reign of Emperor Liu Che, the overall treatment of soldiers increased by more than five times, which is quite similar to Emperor Severus of the Roman Empire. Emperor Severus once said: "Don't treat soldiers harshly, reward them heavily." As a result, the military expenditure of Rome increased sevenfold. Emperor Liu Che of the Han Empire chose the same way. Going forward, the great Caesar did the same. This may be the similarity between great monarchs. ——"Global History of Qin and Han Volume 4"
(End of this chapter)
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