The fault of Emperor Wu of Han, what are the merits and faults of Emperor Wu of Han?

Sima Guang said: "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was extremely poor and extravagant, punished heavily, expropriated violently, built palaces on a large scale internally, and conquered barbarians from all directions externally, and was confused by the theory of gods and monsters, and paraded excessively, causing the people to be tired and withered, and many people were forced to become thieves. ”

In the first half of my life, some mistakes were made as a last resort and forced by the situation, and it is difficult to say whether it is right or wrong. Later generations mainly evaluated the mistakes he made in the latter part of his reign.

Han Wu's ambition is relatively large, and his ability is average, but he is just ordinary smart.

At that time, the country was already relatively stable, and there was no need for repression, but a policy of long-term peace and stability. In terms of livelihood, it is nothing more than equalizing land rights and controlling capital. The former is the theory of Confucianism, and the latter is the strength of Legalism.

It is said that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty respected Confucianism, and what he could do was superficial. Dong Zhongshu's strategy of equalizing land has never been used. Legalist Sang Hongyang formulated some policies, which only played a role in collecting money, but failed to control capital.

Because the policy did not conform to the people's wishes, they had to use Zhang Tang and other cool officials. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty himself, sealing Zen, parades, reusing Fangshi, and building palaces are all extravagant and wasteful. In his later years, thieves were rampant in Shandong, almost causing a catastrophe.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he made great achievements in foreign wars. The main victory is in terms of national strength, and it has little to do with strategy.

I want to talk about relatives and generals like Wei Qing, Huo Quzhi, and Li Guangli. The first two abilities are quite strong, not to mention the latter. But their biggest problem is that they are born as relatives of the emperor, they are not disciplined, they are not sympathetic to the soldiers, and they waste a lot of military supplies.

According to the Book of Han, Huo Qu was sick and troubled, and abandoned the vehicles containing food, while many soldiers in the army were still starving. As for Huo Quai's revenge and killing Li Kang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not punish him, which shows his selfishness in employing people. Wei Qing commanded a station in Mobei, and hundreds of thousands of horses died, so I really don't know how to manage it.

Li Guangli conquered Dawan and brought out 60,000 regular troops, not counting private voluntary soldiers, and 30,000 horses; When they returned, there were 10,000 soldiers left, and 1,000 at once. Historians say that this operation was not big, and there was no shortage of food, but it was like this. They are all the scourges of employing people without abiding by the law.

Evaluation of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was an eloquent emperor in the period of China's feudal society. His reign was the most powerful period of the Western Han Dynasty. He adopted a series of measures in political, economic, ideological, cultural, military, and ethnic relations to promote and consolidate the situation of great unification.

The merits are: (1) Politically, reuse talents, weaken the power of vassal states, and strengthen the centralization of power; (2) Economically, the right to mint money and the right to operate salt and iron will be collected, and the five-baht coin will be minted in a unified manner; harness the Yellow River and avoid water hazards; (3) In terms of ideology and culture, "overthrow the hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone", and regard Confucianism as the orthodox ideology of feudal society; Organize Taixue and promote Confucian education; (4) Militarily, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were sent to defeat the Xiongnu and relieve the Xiongnu threat to the north; (5) In terms of ethnic relations or foreign exchanges, Zhang Qian was sent to the Western Regions twice, laying the foundation for the opening of the Silk Road.

The faults are: (1) being too superstitious about force and waging foreign wars for a long time; (2) There are superstitious thoughts of seeking immortals, and a lot of manpower and material resources are wasted.

In short, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was an outstanding politician and military strategist in ancient China, and his merits outweighed his faults.