He was sent on a mission to occupy some disputed areas and accomplished this with ease. A great war that lasted for five years finally killed his bitter rival Xiang Yu who supposedly dominated the whole conflict as the former Qin Empire had aligned with him. He then went onto history as the Emperor Gao of Han. With his new power, he re-centralized the whole of China following the footsteps of the former Qin dynasty.
The economy was among the first that got his attention, as the whole countryside was devastated following the destruction of the Qin dynasty. Without hesitation, he reduced taxes, developed agriculture that reached new heights at the time and restricted spending. And with the corruption that engulfed Qin merchants, he leashed commerce activities by levying heavy taxes and restrictions on them.
While in the middle of all this, he also made peace with his rivals. Under his reign, Confucian ideas slowly sidelined legalist ideas for good. He also devoted himself into subduing other unruly kings within the neighborhood. He soon annexed them all, appointing his sons and relatives as princes of these subjugated kingdoms, thereby consolidating all the powers of his new empire.
Liu Bang was mortally wounded during his Ying Bu rebellion campaign with a stray arrow. He fell ill, and saw that his health is slowly failing him.
His confident and fearless personality impressed this landlord that was also good at physiognomy. He believed that this bragging young man would be very successful in the future, and decided to marry his daughter to Liu Bang, even though many people tried and persuaded him that Liu Bang was not a diligent and reliable person.
Finally, Liu Bang got his first wife Lv Zhi from this party when he was already 38 years old; they lived a normal life together until many uprising armies started to fight against the Empire Qin. Once, Liu Bang was transferring a group of criminals to another place, some of them escaped in the chaos.
Seeing the big mistake that may have himself punished, Liu Bang set the rest free and decided to escape as well. Soon, Liu Bang allied with his friends in his hometown, they defeated the leader of their town and occupied there as their first military base. This was his first force, which was mainly consisted of fugitives, civilians, farmers, butchers, and a few junior officials in his town. Liu Bang officially announced that they would join the rebel army and try to overthrow the Qin Dynasty as well, now he was 48 years old.
So, he firstly complied with King Xiang Yu, a powerful commander who came from a noble family of the former Kingdom Chu. Allied with other uprising armies, they perished troops of the Qin Dynasty together. Within 4 years, Liu Bang gained respect and support from many extremely intelligent people. With the assistance of those exceptional generals and remarkable strategists, Liu Bang made some commanders of the King Xiang Yu to surrender, and then alienated relationship of the king and his most intelligent and trusted prime minister.
In their final war, Liu Bang and his army defeated the last , soldiers of Xiang Yu, the king then committed suicide afterward. After having defeated the biggest enemy, Liu Bang established the unified Han Dynasty , and he was respected as the Emperor Gaozu of Han. He allowed other leaders to have kingdoms in the eastern part of the empire, and they spread over most of the territory of the empire.
The imperial court had direct power over the western third of the empire. Liu Bang inherited a large empire and the foundation of imperial rule laid by the Qin court. He utilized a standardized written language for the whole empire that had been promulgated by the previous system. Liu Bang also inherited the military technology and tactics that had enabled the Qin Dynasty to form their empire. He laid great emphasis on Confucianism.
In his early days, he disliked reading and scorned Confucianism. After becoming the emperor, he still held the same attitudes towards Confucianism but his favorite Confucian teacher convinced him of the need for the philosophy, which he then accepted and promoted. He prepared a banquet and invited all his old friends and townsfolk to join him. Liu Bang was often thought to have the semblance of a dragon. The dragon is an important symbol in China.
North America. International Relations Religion Education Sports. Search form Search. Connecting History. Hot off the Press. History Talk. Printer Friendly Version. RSS Feed. Email alerts. Read Article. Featured Book Review. Civilizations of Ancient Iraq. Foster and Karen Polinger Foster. Read Book Review.
0コメント