Guide:
There are 422 recorded emperors in Chinese history, of which the longest reign was the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (61 years), and the longest-lived one was the Qianlong Emperor (89 years old), who was strictly speaking longer in power than Kangxi, because he was emperor for four years after his abdication. In fact, as early as the Qin Dynasty, there was a long-lived person, who not only lived for 103 years but also survived the death of 9 emperors, this person was Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue.
Zhao Tuo was originally a military general of the Qin Dynasty, after Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, the Lingnan region Baiyue often broke out rebellions, disobeying the rule of the central government, so Qin Shi Huang decided to send a large army to conquer the Lingnan region, Zhao Tuo was one of the main generals of this expedition. After pacifying the Lingnan region, Zhao Tuo was appointed to remain in Panyu (present-day Guangzhou).
In the last year of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains to send troops to block the road between Lingnan and the Central Plains and establish himself as king. At that time, the Qin Dynasty was in a precarious situation and had no time to take care of the Lingnan region. After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he was in ruins and could not get money and grain to conquer Zhao Tuo in the lingnan region, so he could only send emissaries to officially crown Zhao Tuo as the king of Nanyue. Although he accepted the canonization of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Tuo was a "Tu Emperor" in South Vietnam and did not pay attention to the Han Dynasty at all.
At that time, South Vietnam was far away from the struggle in the Central Plains, and the territory was peaceful, and Zhao Tuo, the "Emperor of the Earth", actually lived to be 103 years old, and his sons were all killed, and finally he could only pass the throne to his grandson. In the Central Plains, 9 emperors such as Qin Shi Huang, Qin II, Prince Infant of Qin, Han Gaozu, Han Huidi, Liu Gong, Liu Hong, Han Wendi, and Han Jingdi were successively replaced, and Zhao Tuo was already on the throne of Emperor Wu of Han when he died. In addition to Zhao Tuo's longevity, his mausoleum has also been the target of countless people for more than two thousand years, and it is said that countless rare treasures have been buried inside, but no one has ever found it.
In 1983, an ancient Tomb of the Han Dynasty was found on a construction site in Guangzhou, and after the excavation by the archaeological team, a large number of precious cultural relics were unearthed in the tomb, including rare golden jade clothes. The funeral system of the Han Dynasty stipulated that only the emperor could use the golden jade robe, and the princes used the silver jade robe, so some people speculated that this tomb would not be the burial place of Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue.
But the next discovery overturned the archaeological team's judgment, and a gold seal was unearthed in the tomb, with the inscription "Emperor Wen Xingxi", from which it can be concluded that the owner of the tomb is Zhao Tuo's grandson, the second king of the South Yue Kingdom, Zhao Xuan. Experts also said that the Nanyue King's Golden Seal is the largest Western Han Dynasty golden seal found in China, with high cultural relics and historical value.
Historians said that although the official history records that Zhao Tuo and Zhao Xi have always been subject to the Han Dynasty and did not claim the title of emperor, according to the text on the golden seal, Zhao Xiao is likely to have arrogantly claimed the title of emperor before his death. Because in the history books, his nickname was "King Wen of Nanyue", but he became "Emperor Wen" on the golden seal, which inferred that Zhao Tuo was also posthumously honored as "Emperor Wu" by his grandson after his death, and he was addicted to the emperor.
References: "History", "The Complete History of Dayue"