After the rebellion of the vassal states, Han Jing quickly executed Chao Cuo, who advocated independent vassal states. Does this help counter-insurgency?

Chao Cuo was a statesman and writer in the Western Han Dynasty. Shi Li rose to the position of the top scholar in the imperial examination in the Han Dynasty and the Han Jing Dynasty.

Chao Cuo inherited and developed the policy of "attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce", advocated accepting the title of Suna, expanded the scale of agricultural production, and revitalized the economy of the Western Han Dynasty. In resisting the Huns, he took the lead in putting forward the strategic idea of "moving to the real frontier", recruiting talents, enriching the frontier fortress and actively preparing to resist the invasion of the Huns.

Politically, he cut the vassal, further deprived the vassal of the political privilege of strengthening and consolidating centralization, which greatly damaged the interests of the vassal state. Later, under the pretext of "killing Chao Cuo, clearing the monarch's side", he sent troops to rebel. In order to make peace, Han Jing obeyed Yuan Ang's plan and beheaded Chao Cuo in Dongcheng.

Chao Cuo's political essays are praised by Mr. Lu Xun because of their "frankness, eagerness to learn and freedom to speak". He believes that "the great prose of the Western Han Dynasty is far from being cultivated by future generations". His representative works include "Talking about Military Affairs", "Talking about Your Millet" and "Guarding the Border and Persuading Agriculture".

Chao Cuo has a straightforward temperament and speaks freely to people and things. In BC 155, due to the excessive expansion of the power of governors, Chao Cuo was worried that their power would develop to the point of threatening the central government of the Han Dynasty. So, I took the initiative to lower the policy. After weighing the pros and cons, Emperor Jing accepted his suggestion and sent a letter to cut the vassal. However, more than ten days after the promulgation of the law, "all seven countries of Wu and Chu are against it, in the name of making mistakes."

The personalities of Chao Cuo and Geng Jie offended many people. Dou Ying and Yuan Ang were their political opponents in the imperial court, and they took the opportunity to blame the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" on Chao Cuo's independent governors. They proposed that Emperor Han Jing kill Chao Cuo to retreat the soldiers of the Seven Kingdoms. Chao Cuo, without a clue, was approved by Emperor Han Jing and beheaded and died.

Since then, Yuan Ang has been sent to the State of Wu, announcing the death of Chao Cuo. The central government has restored the fief of the State of Wu and ordered Liu Bi to withdraw. Liu Ying, the king of Wu, exposed the ambition of the jackal: "I am the Eastern Emperor, why should I believe!" It can be seen that the rebellion of the prince of Wu has been planned for a long time, and the "Jun Qing side" is just a cover.

It can be inferred from this that Chao Cuo's sudden death had no practical effect or even no significance in quelling the rebellion of the Seven Countries.

Chao Cuo's view of "attacking vassals" is a defense, inheritance and development of Jia Yi's thought of "building vassals with more people and less strength". He is resolute, always catching Wu, the country with the strongest national strength, constantly exposing it and taking a firm attitude. It was under the planning of Chao Cuo that Jingdi "cut Wuji and Erxian".

After the rebellion of the seven countries of Wu and Chu was quelled by the Central Army, Emperor Jing made it clear that the governors could not continue to govern the country in good condition, and the central government would send officials to govern it. And rectify the bureaucracy of the former vassal state, change the prime minister of the vassal state into the prime minister, and cut off most officials such as ancient government officials, so that the king of the vassal state lost great political power.

From this point of view, Chao Cuo's sacrifice greatly consolidated the central political power in the Western Han Dynasty, and laid the foundation for Emperor Gaozu Liu Che to further solve the problem of the increasing number of vassals with the policy of "favor".