When it comes to the name Zhao Yong, many people may not know who it is, but if you talk about the Zhao Wuling King, it should be "famous and thunderous".
Speaking of the feats of King Wuling of Zhao, such as "Hufu Riding and Shooting", "Swallowing Zhongshan", "Great Defeat of Lin Hu Lou", "Opening Up the Yanmen Dai County in the Clouds" and "Building the Great Wall of Zhao", everyone always praised it.
However, the ending of King Zhao Wuling was not good, and in the end he was actually starved to death, and many people sighed about it: Why is the evening scene so sad for a generation of male lords? Today, we will talk about the death of King Zhao Wuling.
The cause of the incident dates back to 299 BC, when the forty-one-year-old King Wuling of Zhao suddenly announced that he was going to abdicate in May of this year, passing on to his second son Zhao He (later King Huiwen of Zhao).
When talking about the cause of this incident, the "Shi Ji" and the "Zizhi Tongjian" use similar strokes to explain: King Wuling of Zhao favored his second son Zhao He, so he coldly met the crown prince Zhao Zhang.
In my opinion, this statement is unreliable. The top politicians, without exception, are all rational creatures, and how can they choose to change the prince of the country so much that they rely on their own love and hatred? Not to mention the choice of abolishing the long and young, which is easy to cause turmoil.
Initially, the relationship between King Wuling of Zhao and his eldest son Zhao Zhang could only be described as "subtle".
This is not only a problem between King Wuling of Zhao and Zhao Zhang, but also a problem between most monarchs and princes, which we call the "prisoner's dilemma".
Two criminals, A and B, were arrested at the same time, and the police said to them: "Whoever confesses first will be acquitted, and the remaining one will be given a heavier punishment." After saying that, they were interrogated separately.
For A and B, they would like to be angry with their victims, but they will also worry: "Will he be the first to confess and leave me alone to bear the guilt?" ”
In the case of the bottomless hearts of both sides, it is likely that there will be a situation in which A and B compete to confess, and the result is that the two are sentenced together, which is called the "prisoner's dilemma".
For the monarch, he hoped that the prince could fight for qi and could take over well in the future, but he was afraid that the prince would be too angry and eventually kill himself and take over in advance;
For the crown prince, he hoped that he would be able to fight for the monarch to see his ability, but he was afraid that he would behave too well and attract the monarch to kill him.
Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, Sun Quan the Great of Wu, Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty, Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, Kangxi the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty... These people, without exception, are male lords, but none of their princes can die well, because of this damn "prisoner's dilemma".
As Crown Prince Zhao Zhang's age grew, he would inevitably gradually have a set of teams belonging to the Prince, and in this case, King Zhao Wuling would inevitably have an unspeakable sense of crisis.
But King Zhao Wuling was not a madman, and the behavior of prince Zhao Zhang had not been out of the circle, so the relationship between the two sides could only be described as "subtle", but it was not tense.
But the problem is that this contradiction will only deepen over time, and it is not impossible to go from subtle transition to tension. For this reason, King Wuling of Zhao decided to abolish Chang Liyou.
The eldest son, Zhao Zhang, grew older and easily threatened King Wuling of Zhao, so why wouldn't the second son, Zhao Zhang? At present, it will not be, because at the time of the abdication of King Wuling of Zhao, Zhao He was only ten years old.
But this kind of thing must not be clearly said, so it can only be said that King Wuling of Zhao favored Zhao He's mother, and Zhao He's mother died young, so King Wuling of Zhao used this way to fill his love for Zhao He's mother.
In this way, the sanctity of the monarchy was not damaged, but the personal image of King Zhao Wuling suffered: which is the work of a male lord? He is clearly a rich man with a color word.
Looking at king Zhao Wuling's move alone, there is actually no problem: the eldest son threatens his own rule, so he takes the initiative to pass on the younger son, and hides behind the scenes to manipulate the government, avoiding the possibility of father-son cannibalism.
But there is a question involved in this: the eldest son, Zhao Zhang, has always been the crown prince, and now that he has suddenly been deposed, how should King Wuling of Zhao treat this son?
The later Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi was more ruthless, and he forced his son Liu Rong to die in an almost desperate way, clearing obstacles for the Han Wu Emperor Liu Che and avoiding possible future fratricide.
But King Wuling of Zhao did not seem to have such a cruel heart, and the crown prince Zhao Zhang did not do anything out of the circle, so he could not do anything, so he named Zhao Zhang as Anyang Jun, which was considered to give him a decent face.
It was The momentary softness of the Zhao Wuling King's heart that eventually caused a catastrophe.
The position of prince represents not a person, but a group. In the process of the prince's gradual growth, the monarch must equip him with various talents: some accompany him to read, some teach him to read, some accompany him to practice martial arts, and some teach him to practice martial arts.
Only by doing so can we ensure that the prince can mobilize a force in the most extreme circumstances (such as the sudden death of the monarch), maximizing the authority of the prince.
Now that Zhao Zhang is no longer the prince, what about the group around him? In the unlikely event that King Wuling of Zhao died suddenly, would the Zhao Zhang Group have a fire with the Zhao He Group? Not to mention how high the probability is, but it is scary when you think about it.
What era was that? It was the Warring States Period when the seven heroes stood side by side! If there is infighting in the Zhao royal family, it may cause the Zhao kingdom to fall into civil strife and never recover; to put it more extremely, it may also cause the Zhao kingdom to fall into long-term civil strife and thus perish.
What King Zhao Wuling should do most at this time is to quickly disintegrate the group around his eldest son Zhao Zhang, otherwise there will be endless troubles, but before he can start, King Zhao Wuling will change his mind.
The cause of the incident occurred in 297 BC, the King of Chu Huai, who was detained by the State of Qin, escaped, but the State of Qin blocked the road to the chu land, and the King of Chu Huai had to flee all the way to the State of Zhao, but Zhao He did not know for what reason, did not want to take in the King of Chu Huai, this matter was later learned by king Wuling of Zhao, he was very angry.
According to the history books, King Wuling of Zhao has always regarded the Qin state as a great enemy, and in line with the principle that "the enemy of the enemy is a friend", the king of Chu Huai should be counted as a friend of the state of Zhao, and why did Zhao not take in the king of Chu Huai, it was too cowardly.
There is some truth to this statement, but it is superficial. King Wuling of Zhao's biggest concern was whether Zhao He, who had gradually gained real power, would still listen to his own words as usual.
Why didn't Zhao He want to take in King Huai of Chu? I am afraid that it is not the timidity mentioned in the history books, but how can Zhao He be a timid and cowardly person who is known as the famous King Zhao Huiwen and the Lord of the Coffin?
Zhao He made such a decision, which must have been initiated by the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs of the State of Zhao, and their purpose in doing so was simple: they experienced the benefits of serving a young monarch, and hoped that King Wuling of Zhao would recognize the reality and stop interfering in the affairs of the dynasty.
In addition, because King Wuling of Zhao was still a monarch who liked to reform, such as his "Hufu Riding and Shooting", many people opposed it at the beginning; later, King Wuling of Zhao made a decisive battle with the Qin State, and even joined forces with Lin Hu and Lou Fu, who had been defeated by him, this move also attracted a lot of opposition.
Finding that the court was out of control, King Wuling of Zhao also felt that he was a bit out of control, so he planned to give the Dai Commandery to his eldest son Zhao Zhang, use Zhao Zhang to balance Zhao He, and take center operations himself and regain power.
What is Dai County? Later, the Zhao state of Handan was attacked by the Qin army, and Gongzi Jia fled to Dai County to establish another central government and continue to resist the Qin state. In other words, Dai County was a place that qualified as the second capital of the Zhao State.
In such a military and political position, King Wuling of Zhao planned to give it to the former crown prince Zhao Zhang, and if he was not careful, the State of Zhao could split at any time. In this context, the ministers of culture and martial arts of the Zhao State united as never before, and joined hands to clean up the Zhao Wuling King.
The results of the disposal of the former prince Zhao Zhang were soon introduced: kill! But for King Zhao Wuling, it was really a bit difficult to deal with.
To kill him, to bear the name of the king; to let him go, who knows what kind of moths he will do in the future. Everyone couldn't think of a very good way, so they imprisoned King Zhao Wuling in the Dune Palace, and three months later, King Zhao Wuling was starved to death.
King Wuling of Zhao was highly evaluated in later life, but his nickname was very interesting: Wu was a beautiful man, but the spirit was an out-and-out evil one. This means that the Zhao Wuling King is a combination of half angel and half devil.
If King Wuling of Zhao had only played a trick to abolish the long and young, but in the end he had not shaken the political situation of the Zhao state, the future generations would at most say that he was old and confused, and that he was starved to death in the Dune Palace to blame himself, but he would still respect his achievements.
However, the use of the word "Ling" in the title is not only a mockery of King Zhao Wuling's abolition of Chang Liyou, but also a denial of his political measures.
From this point of view, the death of King Zhao Wuling also has a "credit" from conservatives.