Chao CuO

Chao CuO

Chao CuO (200-154 BC), Han nationality, was born in Yingchuan (now Yuzhou, Henan Province), a politician and writer of the Western Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Ren Taichang made anecdotes, and later successively served as Prince Sheren, doctor, and Prince's family order; after emperor Jing ascended the throne, he was appointed as the internal historian, and later moved to the imperial historian.

Chao CuO developed the policy of "attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce", advocated to accept nobility, increase agricultural production and revitalize the economy; on the issue of resisting the invasion of Xiongnu, he put forward the strategic idea of "immigrating to the border", suggested to recruit people to enrich the frontier fortress and actively prepare for the invasion of Xiongnu; politically, he proposed to cut the vassal and deprive the political privileges of the princes to consolidate the centralization and damage the interests of the princes In the name of "please punish Chao Cuo, and take the side of the Qing emperor", the princes of the seven states led the rebellion. Emperor Jing obeyed yuan Ang's plan and beheaded Chao CuO in Dongshi.

Chao CuO's political essays are "sparse, direct and incisive, and do what he wants to say", and Lu Xun called them "Hongwen of the Western Han Dynasty, which has a far-reaching influence on posterity.". His representative works include Yan Bing Shi Shu, Shou Bian Quan Nong Shu, Lun GUI Su Shu, and Xian Liang's countermeasures.

Life experience

Prince's think tank

Chao CuO was born in Yingchuan (now Yuzhou, Henan Province) in the seventh year of emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty (200 BC). When he was young, he studied legalism from Zhang Hui. In the period of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, because of Nengwen, he was too familiar with stories. Chao CuO was sent by Taichang to Jinan to study Shangshu with Fusheng and accept Confucianism. After returning from his studies, he was appointed Prince Sheren and doctor, and later promoted to doctor. When Chao CuO was a doctor, he wrote the book "the prince should know how to run a country". Chen said that the prince should know how to run a country. He was praised by Emperor Wen and was worshipped as the order of the prince's family. Because Chao CuO was eloquent and good at analyzing problems, he was deeply loved and trusted by the crown prince Liu Qi, and was praised as a "think tank" by the crown prince family.

Give advice to the frontier

Eleven years before Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty (169bc), Xiongnu invaded the border repeatedly and harassed Didao. Emperor Wen sent out troops to punish him. Chao CuO took the opportunity to write a book about military affairs to Emperor Wen, and put forward the viewpoint of "attacking barbarians with barbarians". He pointed out that in the war against Xiongnu, the instruments should be firm and sharp, the soldiers should be strong and vigorous, the generals should be proficient in military affairs, and the king should mainly choose good generals. Emperor Wen appreciated it and gave Chao CuO an imperial edict as a reward, but he didn't take Chao CuO's initiative. Chao CuO then wrote "guarding the border and persuading farmers" to Emperor Wen. He proposed to use economic measures to encourage immigrants and to use immigration to strengthen the border to resist foreign invasion, which was adopted by Emperor Wen. So Chao CuO went to the book "the real situation of recruiting people", and put forward specific measures on how to resettle the immigrants.

The Han court asked

Fifteen years before Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (165 BC), when Chao CuO was appointed as the crown prince's family order, Emperor Wen ordered his ministers to recommend virtuous, founder and literati, and Chao CuO was elected virtuous. In general, Emperor Wen asked questions by himself. At that time, Jia Yi was dead, and Chao CuO's answer was the best among the more than 100 people who took part in the countermeasures, which won the praise of Emperor Wen, and was promoted from the crown prince's family order to the Chinese doctor. Since then, Chao CuO wrote to Emperor Wen many times, proposing to cut the vassals and reform the decrees. Although Emperor Wen did not adopt it, he appreciated his talent. The crown prince Liu Qi was very much in favor of Chao CuO's proposal, while yuan ang and other ministers did not like Chao CuO and opposed it.

Emperor Jing's favorite letter

In the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (157 BC), Emperor Wen died, and the crown prince Liu Qi ascended the throne and promoted Chao CuO as the internal history. Chao CuO met with emperor Jing many times to discuss state affairs. Emperor Jing obeyed his advice and trusted him more than Jiuqing. Many decrees were amended and made by him. Shen Tujia, the prime minister, was filled with resentment. He asked the king to put Chao CuO to death on the ground that Chao CuO had broken the temple wall without permission. Chao CuO got the news ahead of time. Shen Tujia failed, so he had to apologize and quit. He soon fell ill and died. After the death of Shen Tujia, Emperor Jing promoted Chao CuO to the rank of imperial censor doctor, ranking among the three princes, and his status became more and more prominent.

Jin Yan cuts the vassal

In 155 years ago, Chao Jingbian proposed to take back the fiefdom. Shangshu's policy of cutting the vassal states: "it's also against cutting now, and it's also against not cutting. If you cut it, it will be more urgent and less disastrous; if you don't cut it, it will be later and more disastrous. " When the memorial was sent up, Emperor Jing ordered Gongqing, liehou and the royal family to hold a meeting to discuss it. Because emperor Jing trusted Chao Cuo, no one dared to express their opposition publicly. Only Dou Ying disagreed with Chao Cuo. From then on, he and Chao CuO had a grudge. The imperial edict of emperor Jing: to take Changshan County of King Zhao, six counties of King Jiaoxi, Donghai County and Xue County of King Chu, Yuzhang county and Kuaiji County of King Wu. Chao CuO changed 30 laws. The princes were in an uproar. They all strongly opposed and hated Chao Cuo. Chao CuO forced his vassal to be cut, taking great risks. Chao CuO's father failed to persuade him and took poison to commit suicide.

The rebellion of the seven countries

More than ten days after emperor Jing issued the order of cutting the vassal, Wu and Chu and other seven states joined forces to rebel in the name of killing Chao Cuo, which was for the rebellion of Wu and Chu. When Emperor Jing heard the news, he discussed with Chao CuO about sending troops. Chao CuO suggested that emperor Jingdi of the Han Dynasty drive his troops and stay in the capital. When Dou Ying entered the palace, he asked emperor Jing to summon yuan ang. Yuan ang was once the Prime Minister of the state of Wu, so emperor Jing asked Ji Yu Yuan ang. Yuan ang thought that the rebellion of the seven kingdoms of Wu and Chu was not enough, and asked emperor Jing to hold back others and offer advice, saying: "the purpose of the rebellion of Wu and Chu was to kill Chao CuO and restore the original fiefdoms. As long as Chao CuO was killed, envoys were sent to absolve the seven kingdoms and restore the plundered fiefdoms, the rebellion could be eliminated Emperor Jing remained silent for a long time and decided to sacrifice Chao CuO in exchange for the withdrawal of the princes. So yuan ang was granted the title of Taichang, and he was asked to renovate his luggage secretly and sent to the state of Wu.

Yaozhedong City

More than ten days after Yuan Ang's advice, the prime minister Tao Qing, Lieutenant Chen Jia and Tingwei Zhang Ou jointly wrote a letter to impeach Chao CuO and propose that Chao CuO be beheaded. When Emperor Jing approved the memorial, Chao CuO had no idea. So emperor Jing sent a lieutenant to Chao CuO's house and issued an imperial edict to deceive Chao CuO into going to court. When the chariots and horses passed through the east city of Chang'an, the lieutenant stopped and read an imperial edict to Chao Cuo. Chao CuO was still wearing court clothes when he was beheaded. After Chao CuO died, Deng Gong, the captain of the school, returned from the front line to report the military situation. Emperor Jing asked about the progress of the negotiation. Deng Gong thought that the Qing monarch's side was just an excuse to kill Chao Cuo, which blocked the loyal minister's mouth internally, but avenged the princes externally, and the rebellion would not subside. Emperor Jing thought it was true, and worshipped it as the lieutenant of Chengyang. After that, Emperor Jing issued an imperial edict and won the battle in less than three months.

Main achievements

Political contribution

Agriculture and millet

Chao CuO advocated the revitalization of the economy of the Han Dynasty. In the 12th year of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (168 BC), Chao CuO wrote a treatise on GUI Su Shu. This article inherits Jia Yi's thought of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce. Chao CuO carefully analyzes the contradiction between farmers and merchants in this book, which leads to the serious situation of farmers' exile and food shortage. In the face of the situation that the power of merchants was expanding and the peasants were going bankrupt, Chao CuO put forward a series of ideas, such as emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, paying homage to the nobility and eliminating crimes. It is suggested that Emperor Wen should take two measures: first, he should pay more attention to grain than to jade. Second, it's expensive. This had certain progressive significance for the development of production and the consolidation of national defense at that time, and Emperor Wen accepted it. Then, Chao CuO wrote another article to Emperor Wen about reducing peasants' rent. In order to satisfy the people's desire and bring tangible material benefits to the common people, it is necessary to pay more attention to agriculture and mulberry, pay less taxes and collect more money; sometimes it is required that the ruler's political activities should not affect the farming time; the desire to benefit the people is to satisfy the people's desire and give the people visible material benefits.

Immigration to Shibian

Chao Cuo, like Jia Yi, was dissatisfied with the invasion of Xiongnu and the negative policy of the central government of the Western Han Dynasty. Chao CuO had a tough attitude towards Xiongnu, and began to advocate military pacification. After this argument was not accepted by Emperor Wen, he still advocated actively preparing for war and proposed the strategy of immigrating to Shibian. In 169 B.C., Chao CuO gave Emperor Wen a lecture on the history of Yanbing. He put forward the viewpoint of "attacking barbarians with barbarians". Chao CuO did not advocate relying solely on barbarians, but attempted to combine them with the Chinese army, so that "the two armies should be external and internal, and each should use its own strong skills". He advocated to attack the Xiongnu on his own initiative, which was politely rejected by Emperor Wen. Then he put forward the active defense strategy to Emperor Wen, namely "guarding the border and persuading the peasants" and "recruiting the people to fill the gap". In the book of guarding the border and persuading the peasants, Chao CuO analyzed the mistakes of the Qin Dynasty's border defense policy and the characteristics of the Xiongnu's national activities. He put forward the idea of "resettling the people to the border". Chao CuO's idea of "moving the people to the border" was a kind of active defense, which was adopted by Emperor Wen. In order to make the resettlement work better, Chao CuO put forward two suggestions in his book the real situation of the resettlement: first, he put forward specific measures to resettle the migrants. Second, we should learn the ancient methods and organize the immigrants strictly according to the military system. At the same time, Chao CuO suggested in his treatise on expensive millet that the people of the whole country should send grain to the frontier fortress in exchange for a certain title or atonement, which is called nobility conferring. These measures advocated or changed by Chao CuO laid an important material foundation for the economic development and "the rule of Wen Jing" in the early Han Dynasty. Emperor Wen immediately put into effect Chao CuO's policy of immigrating to border areas and employing troops in agriculture. This policy not only played the role of defending Xiongnu at that time, but also opened the precedent of the policy of tuntian in the past dynasties, which had a great influence on later generations. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Chong adopted the garrison policy, while during the reign of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao adopted the garrison policy, which is the inheritance and development of Chao CuO's immigration policy.

Firmly cut the vassal

He inherited Confucius' thought of great unification and Legalists' thought of restricting and cracking down on "father, brother and Minister", praised the policy of "emperor Gao does not need to be related by the same surname", firmly advocated "cutting the vassal", and believed that "cutting it now is also against it, not cutting it is also against it", "cutting it is against the urgency and the disaster is small; not cutting it is against the tardiness and the disaster is big". Chao CuO's idea of cutting the vassal was a criticism of Jia Yi's idea of "building all vassals"

Chinese PinYin : Chao Cuo