Why the Overall Quality of the Early Emperors of Western Han Was So High?

"The youth who slays the dragon ultimately becomes an evil dragon—referring to a good person turning bad, shifting from good to evil. Then why couldn't it be that the youth who slays the wolf ultimately becomes an evil wolf?"

[Did someone even whitewash Dong Zhuo?]

[Whitewash what? He truly had the ambition in his youth to restore and support the Han Dynasty, though he later became a treacherous minister.]

[Official history is not Romance of the Three Kingdoms.]

[Dong Zhuo was still very ambitious when he was young; he was simply blinded by power.]

[Using Xiang Yu's personal saber to snap the Great Han's last breath, Xiang Yu surrounded by Chu songs seemed to come back to life, terminating Liu Bang's dynasty.]

Xiang Yu: Well said!

Liu Bang: Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu—Xiang Yu is already dead, why is his shadow still around? Even the later monarchs of my Great Han failed to shake him off!

"To use Buddhist terminology, this is karmic retribution!"

[How did Dong Zhuo die?]

[Who knows? In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was stabbed to death by Lü Bu.]

[He was also killed by Lü Bu in official history.]

[Wang Yun's chain scheme.]

Dong Zhuo: Lü Bu, Wang Yun killed us? We will remember this!

Wang Yun: My life is over!

[If Guan Yu's martial might is 99, Dong Zhuo's martial might is 90.]

[I see the empress dowager is still charming in her maturity. Whenever Dong Zhuo is mentioned, I think of this line.]

[Wasn't this line supposed to be said by Cao Cao?]

The line "I see the empress dowager is still charming in her maturity" made many emperors and empresses dowager flush red with anger.

Dong Zhuo: We never said these words, but we certainly like them!

Cao Cao: Slander! Who is so audacious to utter such words? Posterity actually pins this on Cao Mou!

[The unspeakable matters between Dong Zhuo and Empress Dowager He.]

[Dong Zhuo slept in Emperor Ling of Han's inner palace. Empress Dowager He was the empress of Emperor Ling of Han, born into a butcher's family, and became empress because of her beauty. Since she was so pretty, Dong Zhuo shouldn't have let her go!]

[If I were Dong Zhuo, at the very least I'd make the empress dowager bear me a son!]

[As long as you are bold enough, the empress dowager takes maternity leave, is that it?]

Lao Ai: Yes!

[Dong Zhuo poisoned the empress dowager to death—what a waste!]

[It is said that Empress Dowager He was Cao Cao's favorite. Is that true?]

[Who knows? Only the three of them—Empress Dowager He, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao—know their relationships with one another.]

Comment after comment regarding Empress Dowager He, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao instantly turned the comment section into a gossip zone.

Emperor Ling of Han in Emperor Ling of Han's plane was burning with rage.

"People of posterity truly dare to say anything! Wanting the empress dowager to bear him a son!"

"What's there not to dare to imagine? Didn't that Noble Consort Wei of the Northern Song and Empress Dowager Wei of the Southern Song bear two children for the Jin? I've seen through it: the imperial family is not sacred. As long as your troops are strong and your horses are sturdy, an empress dowager can bear you children too!"

"Shh! Do you have a death wish? How dare you say such things!"

"Dong Zhuo lived a life well worth it—he occupied the emperor's entire inner palace. Even dying was worth it!"

"If it were me, I'd also feel it was worth it!"

"If you made the empress dowager bear you two sons, it would be even more worth it, right?"

"That depends on whether the empress dowager is old or not. An old crone is not someone I could take a fancy to. It has to be a young and pretty empress dowager!"

[Why the overall quality of the early emperors of Western Han was so high? #Western Han #History]

["Born in adversity, dying in comfort—this saying is an absolute truth."]

["Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang was a founding emperor who hacked his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood: exterminating the brutal Qin, resisting Xiang Yu, and battling meritorious officials. Every day was either spent fighting or preparing to fight, and he didn't live a single stable day until his death."]

"Nai-gong truly didn't live a few stable days!" Liu Bang sighed.

["Emperor Wen Liu Heng endured under Empress Lü's high-pressure rule, scraping by with fear and trembling. After ascending the throne, he had to constantly contend with meritorious officials and vassal kings, likewise spending a lifetime in cautious prudence."]

"Emperor Wen Liu Heng? What about Ying'er?" Lü Zhi furrowed her brows tightly.

"Heng'er became emperor?" Liu Bang was equally astonished.

["After Emperor Jing Liu Qi ascended the throne, what he faced was the most powerful vassal king faction in the Han Dynasty, and he too knew no rest for his entire life."]

["Emperor Wu Liu Che—how did he himself become crown prince? How did his elder brother Liu Rong die? Could he not have known?"]

["In the early part of his personal rule he fought against his grandmother Empress Dowager Dou and his mother Empress Dowager Wang; in the later period he fought against the Xiongnu, Nanyue, Minyue, and Southwestern Yi. He was diligent and conscientious, not daring to slack off in the slightest."]

["Later on, when worries grew fewer and comforts grew greater, Liu Che began to slacken, which dragged down his historical evaluation."]

["Emperor Xuan Liu Xun was raised by his maternal family from childhood, growing up among the common folk. He witnessed firsthand the shifting warmth and coldness of human relationships, and the tragic deaths of his grandparents and biological parents. Later, his first wife died tragically and the Huo family monopolized power, forcing Liu Xun to be diligent and cold-blooded; a single misstep meant utter annihilation."]

["The later emperors like Emperor Yuan, Emperor Cheng, Emperor Ai, and so on simply hadn't experienced any hardships. Born deep within the palaces and raised in the hands of women, their overall quality plummeted in a straight line."]

[Liu Bang ran all the way and fathered children all the way.]

[Staying alive is the absolute principle.]

[This is what people call having a clear train of thought.]

Liu Bang: There are sensible people among posterity!

[Without giving him pressure, how can he grow?]

[A person who has never experienced suffering does not understand the hardships of the mortal world and can hardly become an enlightened ruler.]

Watching these comments, numerous emperors down through the dynasties felt it made a lot of sense. This wasn't empty rambling; emperors like Emperor Gaozu of Han and Emperor Wen of Han had indeed, just as the Heavenly screen stated, experienced hardships before becoming famous emperors in historical texts.

At this moment, numerous emperors reflected: their own crown princes (imperial sons), accustomed to enjoying a luxurious and extravagant life, should probably be made to experience some hardships to temper their wills.

[The first emperor in history to pioneer a golden age #history]

["Standing before you is hailed as the universal imperial preceptor and number one in civil governance in history. Even Li Shimin, the emperor through the ages, was his number one fan, and at the same time he was also the pioneer of the first golden age in Chinese history."]

["Some used 'asking ghosts and gods instead of the common people' to mock him, but in history he asked the common people countless times, asking ghosts and gods only once right before his dying breath."]

["Ancients often used final judgment to evaluate a person's life, but even two hundred years after Emperor Wen of Han's death, the Red Eyebrow Army did not dare to touch the tomb of this emperor who truly loved the people even once. He was the one who did his human utmost and left the rest to destiny, the foremost virtuous monarch within three generations: Emperor Wendi Taizong of Han Liu Heng."]

"So Heng'er is a good emperor!" Liu Bang looked at this son of his in a new light.

Lü Zhi beside him forcefully suppressed her murderous intent.

In another plane, Li Shimin's eyes shone with a glimmer, and he sighed with heartfelt sincerity: "Emperor Wendi Taizong of Han Liu Heng—an enlightened monarch of an era! Governing the country with benevolence and keeping the people close to his heart, he enabled the country to prosper and flourish, and the realm to enjoy peace. When We first ascended the throne, We wished to emulate Emperor Wen of Han and bestow blessings upon the common people."

Emperor Jing of Han Liu Qi frowned and said, "The Red Eyebrow Army are rebels, aren't they? They didn't dare to move the late emperor's tomb, then what about My tomb..."

[Before Li Shimin, Emperor Wen of Han comes first above all.]

[Without Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Che couldn't have fought the Xiongnu at all.]

[Each generation should have the matters that generation must complete!]

[He was not a good father, but he was definitely a good emperor!]

[Before him, the common people were merely consumable materials. Emperor Wen of Han was able to treat the common people as human beings; apart from him and Li Shimin, there are practically no emperors who truly treated the common people as human beings.]

[The Red Eyebrow Army didn't rob his tomb mostly because his tomb was too impoverished, with nothing good inside.]

[Emperor Wen was thrifty his whole life and laid stress on agriculture. Therefore, his life was truly so exhausting.]

[The greatest opportunistic winner of the Han Dynasty, the benchmark for ancient monarchs, and the pioneer of the Rule of Wen and Jing: Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng.]

[Do you know how high the gold content of completely exempting agricultural taxes in ancient times is?]

[Emperor Wen was truly great!]

[A tax rate of one-thirtieth.]

[To use modern parlance, with a monthly income of 3,000 you only need to pay 100, and moreover, every two or three years there would be a year where agricultural taxes were entirely waived.]

Watching comment after comment, the corners of Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng's eyes grew somewhat moist, feeling that his years of effort and perseverance had not been in vain, and that he hadn't served as emperor in vain.