Emperor Wen of Han - Middle Reign

Middle Reign

An incident otherwise uncharacteristic of Emperor Wen occurred in 176 BC. Zhou Bo, who had been instrumental in Emperor Wen's becoming emperor and who had by that point retired to his March of Jiang (絳, in modern Linfen, Shanxi), was falsely accused of treason. Instead of doing initial investigations first, Emperor Wen had Zhou arrested and incarcerated. It was only with the intercession of his mother Empress Dowager Bo and his daughter Princess Changping (昌平公主, Zhou's daughter-in-law) that Zhou was released, and the charges against him dismissed.

In 175 BC, over the objections of Jia Yi, Emperor Wen issued an edict permitting any person to mint money (then only in the form of coins) out of copper and tin. The main beneficiaries of this policy were those with access to copper, including the court official Deng Tong (鄧通) (see also below), to whom Emperor Wen had given a major copper mine in Yandao (嚴道, in modern Yaan, Sichuan), and Liu Pi, the Prince of Wu, whose principality had a major copper mine at Yuzhang (豫章, in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi).

In 174 BC, a major incident occurred involving Liu Chang, the Prince of chen, who was then Emperor Wen's only living brother. Emperor Wen had great affection for him and did not punish him for using styles and ceremonies that only emperors were supposed to use. Also, contrary to imperial laws, Prince lang issued edicts within his own principality and also commissioned his own prime minister. He also carried out executions and created titles for people—two powers that were also reserved to the emperor. Emperor Wen constantly excused him for his indiscretions—which included killing Shen Yiji (審食其), the Marquess of Piyang—but eventually became unhappy. He asked his uncle Bo Zhao (薄昭) to write a letter to Prince Chang to try to change his ways. Instead, Prince Chang was offended and planned a rebellion. When the conspiracy was discovered, Emperor Wen stripped Prince Chang of his title and exiled him to Yandao—with the intent to teach him a lesson and then summoning him back. However, on the way, Prince Chang died—probably by suicide. In 172 BC, Emperor Wen, missing Prince Chang dearly and still lamenting his death, created his sons Liu An, Liu Bo (劉勃), Liu Ci (劉賜), and Liu Liang (劉良) marquesses, again over Jia Yi's objection.

Also in 174 BC, when Xiongnu's new chanyu Laoshang came to power, Emperor Wen continued the heqin policy by giving him a prince's daughter in marriage.

In 170 BC, Emperor Wen's uncle Bo Zhao, who had been instrumental in his administration, killed an imperial messenger. Emperor Wen forced him to commit suicide. This incident drew criticism from later historians, who believed that he should have curbed Bo's powers in earlier and saved his life in that manner.

In 169 BC, Chao Cuo (晁錯), then a low level official, offered Emperor Wen a number of suggestions at dealing with Xiongnu. Emperor Wen was impressed, and made him a member of Crown Prince Qi's household. At Chao's suggestion, in 168 BC, Emperor Wen instituted the policy that if people contributed food for use by the northern defense force against Xiongnu, they could receive titles or have their crimes pardoned.

In 167 BC, Emperor Wen banned the corporal punishments of facial tattoo and cutting off the nose or a foot, and replaced them with whipping. These punishments would not be instituted against as a matter of formal legal sentencing for the rest of Chinese history. (However, as was later noted, this actually caused more deaths, and so the amount of whipping was further reduced in 156 BC by Emperor Jing.)