Why did Emperor Liu Che advocate Confucianism?

The fundamental reason why Liu Che, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, admired Confucianism was that the unified Western Han Empire needed a unified thought and the sovereign power of the unified empire needed a high concentration.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty didn't really like Confucian scholars. Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, disliked literati. When a Confucian scholar came to ask for an audience, he ran over and tore off his hat and peed in it in public. Talk to Confucian scholars and often call names. A scholar named Li Shiqi came to visit Liu Bang. Liu Bang sat on the bed with his legs crossed and asked two women to wash his feet. You know, in the Qin and Han dynasties, pants were open-backed, and it was extremely indecent to spread your legs apart, which was even more disrespectful or contemptuous of others. For example, after Jing Ke failed to stab Qin, he leaned against the post and sat on the ground with his legs spread like a dustpan, lambasting the king of Qin.

After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, facing the situation of war and broken mountains and rivers, we must choose the political guiding ideology that is conducive to social stability, so as to stabilize people's hearts, resume production and consolidate rule. Facts have proved that the legalist thought that guided the Daqin Dynasty advocated that land to the tiller and severe punishment could only be used to conquer the world, but not to rule it. Therefore, to accomplish this historical mission, it is not a legalist or a Confucian. Only Huang Lao's thought of advocating both civil and military integrity, combining punishment with morality, advocating quietism and sharing interests with the people can adapt to it.

In the powerful social tide of criticizing legalism and summing up the lessons of Qin's death, the study of Huang Lao not only established the guiding ideology of the empire, but also had a group of loyal followers. For example, Dou Taihou worships Huang Lao, despises Confucianism and Confucian scholars, and hates the glitz and practicality of Confucianism. On one occasion, Dou Taihou found a Confucian scholar named Yuan Gusheng and asked him for advice on reading Laozi. Yuan Gusheng actually said to Dou Taihou: I don't read books that domestic slaves read! Dou Taihou flew into a rage and called Confucian books criminals' books. Then he threw Yuan Gusheng into the pigsty and told him to hunt wild boar. Luckily, Emperor Han Jing happened to be there, so he secretly gave Yuan Jiasheng a dagger. Unexpectedly, scholar Yuan Gusheng was so bold in the pigsty that he stabbed the wild boar in the heart and killed it.

So, is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really an emperor who respects Confucianism? Not necessarily! In his life, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty not only reused the cool history of Zhang Tang, Wang, Du Zhou and Ningcheng, but also believed in witchcraft, which indirectly harmed Zi Fuhe, which was not recognized by Confucianism. Therefore, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited talents with great fanfare, Ji An, the minister, once laughed at him: Your inner world is full of desires, so why pretend to talk about benevolence and righteousness?

The desire of the inner world of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty is the supreme right and the unified thought of ruling the empire. Because a unified empire needs a unified thought, whether Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism or Han Wudi admired Confucianism alone, their motives and arguments are the same: the chaos in the world was caused by freedom of thought and criticism of the court. Now that the world is finally unified, how can I let you talk nonsense?

However, on the road of unifying thoughts, Qin Shihuang trusted legalists too much, thinking that legalists could make Qin rise under unfavorable conditions and eventually unify the six countries, or they could be handed down from generation to generation. As a result, Qin Guocheng is also a legalist, and he is also a legalist.

Why is Confucianism suitable for ruling thought?

This is because only Confucianism maintains the monarchy. Of course, Legalists also maintain the monarchy system, but Legalists demand that "the monarch and his subjects break the law, and the common people are guilty of the same crime", while Confucianism says that "the monarch is the minister's program, and the monarch lets the minister die, and the minister has to die". Confucianism thus pushed the emperor to the position of absolute authority.

Since then, Confucianism has gradually become the dominant orthodoxy in feudal society.