Speaking of famous emperors in China's history, most of us will think of the Qin Emperor Han Wu, Tang Zong Song zu, and even foreign emperors such as Genghis Khan and Kangxi Emperor, who all have a commonality: they are good at power and strategy, even in the face of their own brothers and the humeral ministers of the country, they have no mercy, but when they face the common people, they are generous and benevolent, love the people like sons, and have left a reputation in history.
However, there are also many negative news about them, such as Qin Shi Huang's "book burning pit Confucianism", Emperor Wu of Han's late years to build civil engineering, Tang Taizong's "Xuanwumen change", Song Taizu's "Chen Qiaoyi Mutiny", Genghis Khan's conquest of Europe all the way to the west but also slaughtered countless cities, making countless pure lands scorched earth. I have to say that they are good emperors, but they also have a well-known stain.
But there is such a king, he left a very good evaluation in history, mentioning him, the world knows his "benevolent" side, but his other identity, that is, the "tyrant" side, is little known. If we talk about power and means, in the ancient Chinese emperor, Emperor Wen of Han can be said to be unparalleled, and few can match it.
Emperor Wen of Han was the child of Liu Bang and his mother Bo Ji, and according to his mother's status, he could only be a vassal at most. Indeed, when he was born, he was doomed not to become a prince, and he was not favored by his father Liu Bang since he was a child. After he grew up, his father directly sent him to the frontier to guard the border for Han.
However, it may also be in response to Mencius's statement that "the heavens will descend upon the Scythians, and they will first suffer their hearts, strain their bones, starve their bodies, empty their bodies, and confuse their deeds, so they will be tempted to endure and benefit what they cannot do." In the bitter cold days of Shubian, he thought a lot and grew a lot, and the heavens also cared for him, and eventually he became the emperor.
Liu Bang was benevolent, and after Liu Bang's death, in the days when Lü Hou took office, while supporting his own son Liu Ying of Hanhui, he also eradicated dissidents, and either killed or sent the prince who was not her own to the frontier, achieving the purpose of her own dictatorship and centralization.
During this period, Lü Hou also asked Emperor Wen of Han to go to the interior to be the king of the domain, but Emperor Wen of Han forbade the temptation and directly refused. Emperor Wen of Han understood that although the conditions in the interior were much better, the relationship between struggles was much more complicated, and if he did not pay attention to it, he might die of Lü Hou's sabotage, so he chose to continue to hold on to the frontier and rejected Lü Hou on the grounds that the Han Shu border was the reason.
Later, lü hou died, and the political clique headed by Zhou Bo and Chen Ping had long been unaccustomed to lü hou's behavior and began to fight back. Before counterattacking, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping did something, and they sent people to the territory of Dai Wang (later Emperor Wen of Han), saying that Lü Hou was dead and wanted to support him as emperor. Although the DaiWang was on the side of the shu, he always sent his cronies to inquire about the news, and this time, the news that came to make the envoy was consistent with the news that his cronies had inquired about, which also made the DaiWang very happy, thinking that after so many years of hard days, he was finally going to survive.
However, the Dai Wang was also a wise man, he understood that there must be cattiness in this, when he was first assigned to the frontier by Gao Zu Liu Bang, the two old ministers Zhou Bo and Chen Ping did not come out to help themselves speak, and they had never given themselves the slightest help for so many years, how could they think of themselves now?
After a short period of thought, the Dai Wang replied to the envoy: "Sir, I have worked hard, and I will go back to tell the two old generals about this matter for me to think about it for a while, and then give an answer." After sending the envoys, the Dai Wang summoned his own cronies to hold a secret meeting, and most of the cronies who heard the news thought that there must be deception in this, so that the Dai Wang should not be alone in danger, and only Song Chang gave a supportive opinion.
Song Chang believed that under the current situation, the DPRK and China were in a chaotic situation, the little emperor Liu Hong was still young, naturally could not assume the big responsibility, so he needed another member of the Liu family to stand up and preside over the overall situation, the daiwang was just a good choice, capable, the foundation of the DPRK was not deep, the power was not large, and considering various factors, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping would not take the daiwang.
The DaiWang did not hesitate this time, he understood that the opportunity was fleeting, and once it was missed, there was no more. In this way, the Dai Wang took Song Chang and his cronies to Chang'an City, and when he reached Gaoling City on the outskirts of Chang'an, he suddenly stopped and sent Song Chang to the Weihe Bridge to inquire about the situation.
After Song Chang saw Zhou Bo and Chen Pingping waiting for the driver next to the Weihe Bridge, and reported the situation to the Dai Wang, the Dai Wang also let down his vigilance, and the group continued to move forward and saw Zhou Bo and others. Zhou Bo and his party "pounced" and knelt down and sacrificed the jade seal of the Son of Heaven. Unexpectedly, the Dai Wang was not moved, and said coldly: "Wait until you get to the mansion!" ”
Dai Wang is also a scheming man, knowing that at this time, he cannot be anxious, and he cannot eat hot tofu in a hurry. When the chancellor let the daiwang ascend to the throne, the daiwang also repeatedly gave in, saying that he was "not worthy of the throne" and that he could be a king of the clan, and he did not think that one day he would be able to usurp the emperor. However, the attitude of the ministers was very firm, they believed that only the acting king could become the emperor, and in the end, Emperor Wen of Han agreed to the ministers' request.
Finally, Under the leadership of Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, Emperor Wen of Han entered weiyang Palace, sat on the dragon chair, and began to deal with things, so what about the little emperor Liu Hong and his supporters? Naturally, he was brutally killed that night, and the reason for his execution was also absurd: not the son of Emperor Hui!
It is true that Emperor Hui and Empress Zhang did not have children of their own, but this did not rule out the possibility of having children with other concubines. However, there was no way, he had become emperor, Liu Hong naturally became his enemy, and to be kind to the enemy was to be cruel to himself, so he could only do this.
It was very easy to get rid of Liu Hong and become emperor, but the difficulty was how to skillfully get rid of the control of Zhou Bo and Chen Pingren and smoothly grasp the power firmly in his own hands.
Of course, this did not embarrass Emperor Wen of Han, who understood that if he wanted to firmly grasp power, he must attack the clique headed by Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, so who would he attack first? Zhou Bo was the most senior among the gang in the DPRK, and as long as he was brought down, others would be daunted.
On the first day of the Shang Dynasty, in front of all the ministers, Emperor Wen of Han asked Zhou Bo a series of questions, such as "How many cases should be decided in a year?" "How much does it cost to spend the next year under the heavens?" " and other issues. Zhou Bo, as a military general, naturally could not answer these questions, but from another point of view, Zhou Bo, as a minister of the DPRK and the CPC, did not even know these questions, and it was really impossible to say, but also in front of the group of ministers, in desperation, Zhou Bo's prestige in the DPRK was also instantly gone, plus he was old, so he had to submit a request to resign and return to his fiefdom to live a retirement life.
Zhou Bo was an old courtier in the middle of the dynasty, and he was also a person who followed Gao Zu to fight the world, as long as his prestige was still there, he would threaten himself, so Emperor Wen of Han needed to knock and knock him, so what way to beat him? Zhou Bo has been in the DPRK for many years, and it is inevitable that he will make enemies, and since he will make enemies, there will be false accusations, so that he can take the opportunity to cure his sins. Emperor Wen of Han did not really want to rule Zhou Bo to offend, after all, he had just become emperor, the foundation was still unstable, he still needed the support of Zhou Bo's old subordinates, and he did not want the Qunchen to think that he was a tyrant.
Shortly after Zhou Bo arrived in the fiefdom, someone reported that Zhou Bo was plotting rebellion, and Emperor Wen of Han did not care whether the matter was true or not, and directly ordered Zhou Bo to be arrested and put in prison. Zhou Bo's life can be described as an infinite scenery, when he suffered such a grievance, after being thrown into prison, he immediately panicked, while dotting the jailer to alleviate the jailer's difficulties on himself.
At the same time, through his own relationship, he found Empress Bo to help and intercede for himself. Emperor Wen of Han saw that his mother had come forward, and there was no substantial evidence, so he had to release Zhou Bo. However, his purpose was also achieved, so that Zhou Bo's prestige was instantly lost, and he had to return to his fiefdom and spend his life in panic in his fiefdom.
In this way, Emperor Wen of Han took it step by step, from the original "nameless pawn who was on the side of the Great Han" to the son of heaven who now controls the world, he relied on power to achieve himself and consolidate the power in his hands. This also fully proves that Emperor Wen of Han played the court clearly, "let the people who support you far more than those who oppose you, let the people who oppose you not pose a threat to you" It is obvious that Emperor Wen did it.