If you want to say which part of the Han Dynasty has the most complicated situation and the most difficult rule, then there is no doubt that the northwest region, especially the northern part of Guannai Road and the Helong land that has not been recovered for a long time.
Han and barbarians were mixed together, surrounded by Rong and Di, and ethnic issues were the root cause. Of course, since ancient times, there have been frequent Western invasions, which is not surprising.
However, for the Han Dynasty at that time, the difficulties faced were far greater than those of previous generations. After all, the Central Plains regime had never lost control of the Helong land for as long as it had fallen to the hands of Tubo in the Tang Dynasty. Even if there were
The Guiyi Army prospered for a while, but it was just a dream.
When the Han people returned to Helong, they were faced with a situation where they had lost their popular base. Tubo, Uighur, Dangxiang, Qiang and other barbarians had already taken root in this land.
Although the Han Dynasty accepted people of all ethnic groups with an inclusive mentality, and all forces bowed to Chen Chen because of the power of the empire, in the process of implementing the Han system, contradictions and conflicts were still unavoidable, and rebellions were inevitable.
It is normal, and bloodshed is not uncommon.
Some turmoils, some difficulties, and some pains may be nothing to such a large empire, but the imperial court was still very resolute in the implementation of assimilation rule.
On the other hand, due to the shift of the center of gravity to the east, the lack of close deterrence from the imperial court also made the central government's ability to control the northwest region not as strong as that of the powerful previous dynasty, making it the weakest unified dynasty since the Qin and Han Dynasties.
This is an unavoidable question. The distance between Chang'an and Kaifeng also represents how difficult it has become for the imperial court to rule the northwest.
However, in the past two years, the contradiction between the old and the new people has become more and more prominent. Since the initial surrender of Ruan to quell the northwest rebellion, due to the scarcity of Han people, for more than ten years, the imperial court has been relocating the northwest border states.
Hu Shibian’s policy.
According to the official records of the imperial court, in the past fifteen years, the Han Dynasty migrated to the northwest region with a total of more than 300,000 people. Don’t underestimate this number, even considering the size of the northwest, it is already considerable.
Among them, three of them were the largest. After the Shu rebellion in Guanzhong, the rebellious people stayed aside; after the destruction of Shu, the powerful and rebellious people were relocated; in addition, the Manman forced relocation of large households in the southeast.
After spending so much time and energy, the results have naturally been seen. At least, the originally uneven population distribution has become more reasonable, and the Chinese flavor has become more prominent in the northwest region.
However, while a large number of foreign people moved in to fill the gap among the Han people, they also directly tested the government's ability and means to govern. Public security issues, conflicts between customs, conflicts between old and new, and various problems that affected the harmony of the northwest emerged one after another.
In the eyes of many people who have lived in the northwest, these outsiders are sinners, refugees, and evil wolves that come to rob them of their living space.
Most of the relocated households are not happy with this. Among the more than 300,000 people, less than 20% are landless farmers, poor people collected from all over the country, and those who were granted land by the imperial court in the northwest.
People who are attracted by policies and come up with innovative ideas.
The rest are either exiled criminals, forcibly relocated powerful people, landlords, civilians, or remnants of rebellions like Sichuan, Shu, and Wuyue.
These complex and resentful people are placed in a chaotic place like the northwest. It is not a joyful thing to think about. This probably means that the old problems have not been completely solved, and new ones have arisen. Already.
That is to say, the authority of the Han Dynasty is now at its peak, and it pays enough attention to the northwest region, and its rule is strong enough, and the relocations are scattered, so the problem is not acute.
However, the issue of household relocation is also real. There are many knowledgeable people inside and outside the capital. For example, Guo Tong, who has experience in political affairs in the northwest, once went to Emperor Liu to discuss the issue of household relocation.
Wang You, the former magistrate of Pizhou, who had been promoted to the post of inspector of the customs, also went to the court to remind the court that he had resentment in moving to the northwest and hoped that the court would take it seriously.
In this regard, Emperor Liu gave positive feedback. In addition to issuing several edicts to the northwest prefectures to properly handle ethnic and old and new people's affairs, he also temporarily stopped the policy of continuing to forcefully relocate people to border states.
After all, Emperor Liu immigrated to Shibian in order to balance the population and consolidate his rule. A certain amount of public resentment and backlash could be tolerated, but if this policy really caused any big trouble, it would be more than worth the gain.
If it gets mixed up with people who are already rebellious... that kind of situation will give me a headache just thinking about it.
Of course, Emperor Liu would not regret his real-border policy because of these uneasy factors. After all, compared with those barbarians, the relocated people were Han people after all. They had been influenced by Han culture. No matter how much resentment they had, the rulers It's always easier to get up.
And if they want to survive in a place where Rong and Di are rampant, besides the imperial court and the big family of China, who can they rely on?
What the court needs to do is to use time to resolve those grievances on the basis of maintaining social stability, and provide preferential treatment in terms of policies, such as tax concessions.
Emperor Liu also believed in the ability of the Chinese people to withstand stress and adapt to pressure. Once the immigrants took root in the northwest states, they would eventually become a force that the Han Dynasty could rely on.
It just takes time and the empire needs to remain strong and stable.
Regarding the ethnic groups in the northwest, Emperor Liu finally decided to adopt a policy of continued assimilation. Unlike the southwest, which is limited by geography, in the northwest, no matter what ethnic group they are, as long as they live on the soil of the Han Dynasty, the power of the imperial court can easily reach them. This is also the most important reason for the different governance methods.
Among the various ethnic groups, the Uighurs were already disabled, the Tubo people were severely divided, and the other small tribes were not worthy of mentioning. As of the fourth year of Kaibao, the only ones who deserved Emperor Liu's vigilance and attention were those entrenched in Lingxia. Party members.
Although political and economic means were used together, and after years of unremitting bribery and division by the Han Dynasty, the Difficult Army and Party members were no longer in power, but in the end the fundamentals were not damaged, and they still had the power to plot chaos.
The Military Intelligence Department reported a situation to Emperor Liu, saying that the disaster-defeating army, which had been divided for five or six years, was showing signs of merging. The first reason was that Jiedushi Li Guangrui's butt was gradually stabilized, and he had no control over Yin, Suizhou and Dangxiang. All the ministries were involved.
Secondly, the problem still lies with the Han Dynasty. The people who were most shocked by the action to destroy the Uighurs in Ganzhou were none other than the Dangxiang Army and the Party members.
After all, in terms of strength, the Ganzhou Uighurs during this period may not be as good as the Dangxiang people, but they must be better than the Dangxiang Army, but the result was that.
It is conceivable that if the imperial court wanted to eliminate the trouble-making army, how much effort would it take?
In the face of crisis, internal contradictions and disputes can still be temporarily put aside and unanimously dealt with the outside world. It can be said that the division of the Dingnan Army was due to the imperial court, and the merger of Zhu and Li was also due to the pressure of the imperial court.
After learning about the situation of the Difficult Army, Emperor Liu also realized that in order to deal with the Difficult Army and the party members, political and economic means alone were not enough. Military force was the most effective method.
Moreover, after dragging it on for so long, it’s time to solve this problem. There is such a small patch of strange color on the map of the Han Dynasty, which is really annoying to the eyes.
Regardless of whether it is the issue of various tribes, relocation of households, or the issue of mobilizing troops, they are all hidden dangers for the current Han Dynasty.