If you don’t have Liu, you can’t be king, and if you don’t have merit, you can’t be a marquis? This is the oath Liu Bang made with his ministers before his death. There are two specific contents of the agreement: First, as long as the Han Empire exists , the ministers and the descendants of the future generations will always be rich and noble, with wine to drink and meat to eat; secondly, the royal family without the surname Liu cannot be the king, otherwise the world can attack them all, and those who have no military merit cannot be made marquises, otherwise the world can attack them Execute.
1. What is the White Horse Oath?
In layman's terms, the White Horse Oath was set by Liu Bang. No one without the surname Liu can be crowned king, and one cannot be named a marquis without merit? Two prohibitions, using hereditary wealth to win over a group of Han officials. After Liu Bang's death, I hope that the subjects of the Han Dynasty will always rely on this oath to protect the Liu family of the Han Dynasty and maintain the stability of the Han Dynasty. In fact, not long after Liu Bang's death and before his body was cold, Empress Lu broke her oath and prepared to make the Lu family's children kings. She also received the support of Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and other important ministers in the court, and the White Horse Covenant became A piece of paper.
"Historical Records: The Chronicles of Empress Dowager Lu": The Empress Dowager called Zhi, and discussed making Zhu Lu the king, and asked the right prime minister about the royal mausoleum. Wang Ling said: "The Emperor Gao punished the Baima League and said, "If you are not the Liu family but the king, the world will attack you." The current king, the Lu family, is not an appointment. ?The Queen Mother was displeased. Ask Zuo Prime Minister Chen Ping and Jianghou Zhou Bo. Bo and others said to each other: Emperor Gao rules the world, the prince's younger brother, now the queen mother is the ruler, Wang Kun's younger brother and other Lu are omnipotent.
What is the oath, and why can Empress Lu, Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and others easily ignore it without observing it?
According to the explanation of "Release Names and Interpretations of Words", "League" is a system of praying to gods, and specific rituals must be followed, such as killing the white horse. According to the explanation of "Shuowen Jiezi Yanbu", "oath" is a kind of constraint that cannot be regretted. Together, the White Horse Oath uses the ritual of killing the white horse to pray to the gods. The two parties must abide by the constraints of "No one can be king without Liu, and no marquis without merit." They swear to heaven not to go back on their word, and to always abide by the agreement. Therefore, the oath has no legal significance, and even if it is not followed, there is no penalty.
2. Why did Liu Bang make a white horse oath that has no legal meaning?
This is closely related to the political environment at the end of Qin and the beginning of Han. After Liu Bang rebelled against Qin and defeated Xiang Yu to unify the world, he once asked his ministers to think about the reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty. Liu Bang was originally a person who looked down on and hated Confucian scholars very much. He once took off the Confucian scholar's hat and peed in the hat. He also neglected to receive Confucian scholars, such as Li Shiqi. Liu Bang washed his feet when he received them, as a sign of disrespect. So when the Confucian scholar Lu Jia often quoted Confucian classics such as "The Book of Poems" and "The Book of Shang" in front of Liu Bang, Liu Bang didn't take it seriously. In the end, Lu Jia said to Liu Bang a world-famous saying:
You can get it immediately Can the world be ruled immediately?
Lu Jia explained to Liu Bang that the demise of the Qin Dynasty was due to the lack of knowledge of benevolence and righteousness in governing the country and the end of the Qin Dynasty through militarism and harsh punishments. These words made Liu Bang completely awakened, and Liu Bang let Lu Jia live. The book analyzes the specific reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty, so there is the book "Xinyu". This book made Liu Bang think about many ways to govern the world and maintain long-term rule.
The Liu Gang started by resisting the Qin Dynasty. At the same time, they defeated Xiang Yu in the Chu-Han War to unify the world. In the process, Liu Bang united all the forces that could be combined and enfeoffed seven princes with different surnames. King, isolated Xiang Yu politically and conquered the world. After Liu Bang unified the world, he realized that these feudal princes and kings with different surnames were independent existences and became a threat to the central government of the Han Empire. Therefore, after Liu Bang unified the world, he Part of the time, he was busy dealing with the rebellions of princes and kings with different surnames. Until the last moment of Liu Bang's life, King Lu Wan of Yan was rebelling.
In the process of using force to solve the internal feudal lords and kings with different surnames, Liu Bang was also thinking about how to pass on the Han Dynasty for eternity. Liu Bang adopted three methods:
First, enfeoffment The princes and kings of the Liu family defended the central government of the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang learned the reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty. When the Qin Dynasty collapsed, no princes with the same surname came to rescue him, so when the anti-Qin rebels swarmed in, no one came to rescue him. When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were fighting for the world, they created kings with different surnames. However, Liu Bang was not sure whether these princes and kings with different surnames who held military power, land, and population would rise up in resistance in the future like they did during the Warring States Period. At that time, there was a blood relationship to maintain, which had a certain rationality.
The second is to implement the parallel system of counties and states. The system of counties and counties is implemented at the central level and the feudal system is implemented at the local level. The two systems exist. Because the Qin Dynasty implemented a complete system of prefectures and counties, all local officials were appointed by the central government. This was bureaucratic politics, and official positions could not be hereditary. Therefore, when the world was in chaos at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the local officials of the Qin Dynasty were not too loyal to the Qin Dynasty. , most of the officials of the Qin Dynasty turned into anti-Qin rebels as the situation changed. For example, Xiao He, Cao Shen and others were officials of the Qin Dynasty, including Liu Bang, who was also a lower-level official of the Qin Dynasty, and became one of the main forces against Qin.
The coexistence of the prefecture and county system and the enfeoffment system was obviously a compromise at the time, which could avoid the mistakes made by the Qin Dynasty and alleviate the people's incomprehension of the prefecture and county system to a certain extent. After all, the enfeoffment system has been implemented for thousands of years and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. However, as a new system, the county system is difficult to accept for a while.
The third is to formulate the White Horse Oath, which stipulates that no one without Liu can be called king, and no one can be named a marquis without merit?, and that the meritorious officials will always be rich and hereditary. The White Horse Oath actually contains an agreement to protect the wealth of the heroes forever. As long as the Han Empire exists, the heroes will always be able to inherit the title. Note that it is a hereditary title. Official positions cannot be hereditary. The title can guarantee survival, wine and meat.
In fact, to put it bluntly, Liu Bang relied on profit promises to the heroes, so that the heroes would help him maintain the stability and long-term peace of the Han Empire. This was actually problematic. When the heroes faced the temptation of greater interests, they would They will not betray the interests of the country to seek their own interests. Obviously, they will. This is the reason why Chen Ping and Zhou Bo agreed with Queen Lu to enfeoff the Lu clan. With Queen Lu in charge, Chen Ping and Zhou Bo seemed much more tactful. , First of all, I don’t agree with Empress Lu’s intention. It can range from dismissal from office to death, or death and annihilation of the family. Can I disagree?
So the White Horse Oath formulated by Liu Bang was not formulated separately, but in conjunction with the first two systems: the title of Liu clan princes and kings was agreed together with the system of prefectures and states. The White Horse Oath alone will not have much effect. Yes, but working together, they can stabilize the world.
3. Is the White Horse Oath really useful?
Not only is it useful, but it has also been used throughout the entire Han Dynasty for more than 400 years. The role of the White Horse Oath is similar to that of Zhu Yuanzhang's "Huang Ming Ancestral Instructions". Although some people violated it from time to time in later generations, Most of them were used by later generations as the legal basis for conferring kings and nobility and safeguarding the country and the country.
For example, although Chen Ping and Zhou Bo succumbed to Empress Lu's intimidation, after Empress Lu's death, Chen Ping and Zhou Bo became one of the main forces in maintaining the Han Dynasty. After Empress Lu's death, Chen Ping and Zhou Bo Ping and Zhou Bo united some members of the Liu family to annihilate all the Lu family. Their basis was the White Horse Oath. At the same time, the basis for King Liu Xiang of Qi to rebel against Lu was also the White Horse Oath. Liu Xiang was a descendant of the Liu family and had legitimate reasons to kill the Lu family.
However, politics is complicated, and any agreement has two sides. The White Horse Oath can be used as a basis to safeguard the Han Dynasty and the country, or it can also be used secretly as a tool to obtain political capital. Liu Xiang also rebelled against Lu , isn’t his ultimate goal to ascend to the throne of emperor himself? The same heroes like Chen Ping and Zhou Bo used the oath of the White Horse as the basis to kill the empresses. They did not want to establish a weak monarch so that they could continue to hold the supreme power of the empire. As for the blind choice, Emperor Wen of Han, the wise king, is another story.
In fact, the White Horse Oath was basically abided by during the Han Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty, apart from the kings with different surnames who were entrusted by Liu Bang during his reign, there were only two kings with different surnames, Wang Mang and Cao Cao. Therefore, the clever Liu Bei had already The identity of a descendant of the Han Dynasty does not have much political risk when he proclaims himself the King of Hanzhong. Most of the time, "No one is Liu, no king" is strictly observed. The fundamental reason is that Liu Bang's ancestral precepts are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and form a **knowledge. Moreover, the political influence caused by someone with the surname not Liu being crowned king would be too great. Unless it was a particularly extreme situation, no one would challenge the ancestral motto that anyone with the surname Liu would not be the king.
But? Basically no one abides by this constraint. It is basically an unwritten rule to enfeoff relatives as marquises. As long as a queen is established, the queen's relatives will be enfeoffed as marquises. Inevitably, for example, during the period of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty wanted to enfeoff Wang Xin, the brother of Queen Wang Nuan, as a marquis. The prime minister Zhou Yafu at the time clearly opposed the enfeoffment of Wang Xin as a marquis based on the words in the White Horse Oath of Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty that he was not a marquis without merit. However, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty insisted on going his own way, and instead was suspicious of Zhou Yafu. He still ennobled his unworthy relatives as marquises, which opened the door for his nephews to become marquises. This was also one of the reasons why the relatives continued to have exclusive power, so the White Horse Oath was actually used.
The two prohibitions of the White Horse Alliance Oath are the ancestral precepts of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty. As long as he is the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he must abide by it unconditionally. In fact, the only one who is abided by it is "Not Liu Buwang", because it is too obvious. , rather than "neither merit nor marquis". This kind of prohibition basically depends on the emperor's preference. For example, if a relative is granted the title of marquis, the emperor will usually do so. When ministers are granted the title, they will sometimes strictly abide by it. For example, the reason why Li Guang cannot be granted the title of marquis for life is because of him. If there is no major merit, another example is when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made Wei Qing's young son a marquis who had no merit, it was entirely personal preference, and he loved his house to the death.
4. Who does the White Horse Oath protect against?
The White Horse Alliance is actually to guard against all non-Liu family political forces, including relatives and heroes. When Liu Bang was seriously ill before his death, he heard someone saying that Fan Kuai and Empress Lu wanted to join forces after his death. , killed Zhao Wang Liu Ruyi and Mrs. Qi, so Liu Bang was not willing to investigate clearly, and directly sent Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to kill Fan Kuai. This was Liu Bang's behavior to protect the Liu family. Here Liu Bang was guarding against his relatives.
The reason why Liu Bang was so excited and wanted to kill Fan Kuai immediately was because the power of Empress Lu was already Liu Bang's biggest concern at that time. As the emperor, Liu Bang originally wanted to change the power of his relatives. The powerful King Zhao Liu Ruyi became emperor, but Liu Bang obviously did not even have the power to change the prince, so the power of Queen Lu's family became Liu Bang's biggest suspicion. First, because Fan Kuai was Empress Lu's brother-in-law and held military power, he could easily overthrow the Liu family. That's why Liu Bang was so excited and wanted to kill Fan Kuai.
As for the heroes, Liu Bang was also on guard. The White Horse Alliance gave the heroes eternal wealth and guaranteed their titles, but official positions were not hereditary and still needed to be appointed by the emperor. Only wealth and no power, the heroes had to He continued to perform meritorious services for the Han Empire in order to obtain official appointments. Otherwise, he was just a rich man. How could he maintain the White Horse Alliance? What Liu Bang did not think about was that because of his excessive trust in the princes and kings with the same surname, the later princes and kings with the same surname threatened the central rule of the Western Han Dynasty, including the rebellion of the princes and kings and the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms, but Liu Bang did not expect it.