Text/Kingdom Building
In the history of China's feudal dynasties, there were two founding emperors who for various reasons did not have children to inherit the throne. They were: Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and Zhao Shuo, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was not that the two of them were infertile, but that for various reasons, the heirs died before them, which led to a serious succession crisis before and after their deaths. So, how did they choose their heirs?
Guo Wei was born in 904, a native of Yaoshan (姚山; present-day Longyao County, Hebei Province). When he was young, he made a living selling salt and tea, and later defected to Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of Later Han Gaozu, and was promoted to The Privy Counsellor (Minister of Defense) of Hou Han for his merits. After Liu Zhiyuan's death (948), he became a chancellor and assisted The Later Han Emperor Liu Chengyou. Liu Chengyou was an emperor with very great political ambitions, not willing to be left with great power, and always looked for opportunities to eliminate the ministers who held military power, the first to bear the brunt of it were Wang Jun, Wang Yin, Guo Wei and others.
In 950, The Later Han Emperor Liu Chengyou secretly ordered his cronies to kill the commander of the guards and infantry, and at the same time sent people to murder the Xuanhui envoys (from the rank of Yipin or Zheng Erpin, after the suffragette of the governor and the privy councillor) Wang Jun and the privy envoy Guo Wei. However, he did not expect that the military general who was ordered to kill Wang Yin had a secret friendship with Wang Yin, revealed the news in advance and let Wang Yin go. Wang Yin ran to Wang Jun's house to complain about the change, and Wang Jun immediately sent someone to inform Guo Wei. Everyone was impatient, but they didn't have an idea. Why? Because in order to control these ministers who held military power, Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of The Later Han Dynasty, concentrated their families in the capital city of Kaifeng to live and live, named Huang En, but in fact, they were detained and monitored to prevent the ministers from rebelling.
Now the emperor wants to kill the powerful ministers, and everyone's family is detained in Kaifeng, which is really a rat trap, and it is difficult to be left and right. At that time, although Wang Yin and Wang Jun had high status, they had become commanders of the light pole, and only Guo Wei had heavy troops, so everyone pinned their hopes on Guo Wei. Guo Wei was loyal to the Later Han from the heart, unwilling to start a military plot but dragging down his family. The counselors advised: "I think that Cao Shuang was indecisive and did not dare to raise an army to kill Sima Yi's father and son, and finally ended up with the end of the extermination of the clan." Since the emperor has already decided to murder the general, is there a complete egg under the broken nest? "。 Guo Wei listened to the reason, his surrender is death, the failure of the rebellion is nothing more than a death, simply let go, no matter whether it is success or failure, do not lose the true color of the big husband.
After Guo Wei raised an army, The Later Han Emperor Liu Chengyou did indeed kill all of Guo Wei's family members who remained in Kaifeng City. In this way, when Guo Wei overthrew the Hou Han and established the Hou Zhou, he faced a very embarrassing thing, and there was no successor. When Guo Wei was emperor (951), although he was only 47 years old, he theoretically had fertility. However, because Guo Wei has been busy with military affairs for a long time, his body is very old, and he has experienced overwork and coma several times during his reign. Just in case, with the support of his ministers, he made his adopted son Guo Rong crown prince. Guo Rong, that is, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, was the nephew of Guo Rong's empress Dowager Chai, who had been passed on to Guo Wei as a son since childhood, and the father and son had fought on the battlefield for decades, had deep feelings, knew the roots, and Guo Rong's family was also killed by Liu Chengyou, the Emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, and the father and son could be described as the same disease.
Guo Rong was inferior to Guo Wei in military command and martial arts, but he had outstanding political ability, was experienced in handling affairs, treated people with generosity and benevolence, and was one of the most admired emperors in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Even if Zhao Kuangyin later plotted to seize the Later Zhou Dynasty to establish the Northern Song Dynasty, he also greatly respected Zhou Shizong, not only sent officials to guard his tomb, but also ordered his descendants to be kind. It can be seen that Guo Wei's choice of Guo Rong as his heir to the throne was a deliberate and wise decision.
Born in 1107, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty was the ninth son of Emperor Huizong of The Northern Song Dynasty, the half-brother of Zhao Huan, and the prince of Kang. When the Northern Song Dynasty fell in 1127, Zhao Zhuo became the only fish among the sons of the Northern Song Dynasty to slip through the net because he was recruiting soldiers and horses to resist Jin in the south. It was under such circumstances that the surviving ministers and southern warriors supported Zhao Zhao to take the throne in Nanjing (present-day), changed yuan jianyan, and became the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, known as Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty.
When Emperor Gaozong of Song established the Southern Song Dynasty, he was only 21 years old, which was a young and powerful young man, and it was said that it was not difficult to have children. However, Emperor Gaozong of Song had only one son, namely Emperor Jianzong of Song and Emperor Zheng'an (Emperor Zheng'an). In 1129, the military generals Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan, who were responsible for guarding the capital, launched a mutiny, put Emperor Gaozong of Song under house arrest, and took the throne at the age of 3, known in history as the "Miao Liu Mutiny". Although the mutiny was quelled by Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and others a few months later, due to excessive fright, he died, and Song Gaozong was also infertile because he was threatened and tortured during house arrest.
Emperor Gaozong of Song was an emperor who had experienced many great tribulations, attached great importance to the fundamental affairs of the country (the prince was called Guoben), and seeing that he could no longer have children, he immediately began to look for an heir from the sons of the clan. It was also more interesting for Emperor Gaozong of Song to look for an heir, not among his ancestor Zhao Guangyi, who was more related to his own blood, but in the distant relatives of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of Song Taizu, who was a distant relative of the imperial family, zhao Boqun and Zhao Bojiu, to cultivate as candidates. In this matter, Ye Shi records that it is because Emperor Gaozong of Song personally saw the Lord of the Jin Kingdom, Guanyan Akuta, and found that Guanyan Akuta looked exactly like Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of Song Taizu. Fang Shi told Song Gaozong that it was because Zhao Guangyi had seized the throne of his brother, and Zhao Kuangyin reincarnated into the Jin Kingdom to avenge himself, and if he wanted to avoid this catastrophe, he could only return the throne to Zhao Kuangyin's descendants, so that Song Gaozong could choose an heir from Zhao Kuangyin's descendants. But this is not the case. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, the sons of the clan who were related to Emperor Gaozong of Song were all poisoned by the Jin people, and they could not find a suitable candidate, so they had no choice but to look for them among the descendants of Zhao Kuangyin, who were more distantly related by blood.
After Zhao Boqun entered the palace, he changed his name to Zhao Xuan and was raised by Princess Zhang Xian of Emperor Gaozong of Song. After Zhao Bojiu entered the palace, he changed his name to Zhao Xuan and handed him over to Wu Guifei (Later Empress) to raise. Zhao Xuan and Zhao Xuan were both about 6 years old when they first entered the palace, and both of them were very smart and clever, the biggest difference was that Zhao Xuan was very thin and small, but Zhao Xuan was a small fat man. Emperor Gaozong of Song initially valued Zhao Xuan, so he was raised by Wu Guifei, the most powerful concubine in the harem at that time (Emperor Gaozong of Song sent his wife Empress To the north by the Jin people, so the position of empress was vacant, and Wu Guifei was in charge of the harem). And Zhao Xuan is just Zhao Xuan's spare tire. Then, why did Zhao Xuan later cross Zhao Xuan to become the heir of Emperor Gaozong of Song? Ye Shi said that it was because when Song Gaozong gave a lecture to the two young princes, a cat happened to pass by, and Zhao Xuan listened intently to Song Gaozong's lecture, while Zhao Xuan was attracted by the cat and kicked the cat with his foot. After Emperor Gaozong of Song saw this, he thought that Zhao Xuan was inferior to Zhao Xuan, so he made Zhao Xuan the crown prince. This statement is completely unfounded, when Emperor Gaozong of Song made Zhao Yun crown prince, it was more than 20 years after the cat kicking incident. Besides, just because the 6-year-old child played and kicked the cat, it decided the ownership of the prince's position, and it was too disrespectful to Song Gaozong. In fact, Emperor Gaozong of Song had always harbored the illusion of having his own son, and there was no need to inherit someone else's son at that time, which was the real reason why Emperor Gaozong of Song was slow to become crown prince.
At the end of 1158, Emperor Gaozong of Song was 52 years old and was completely desperate for his own children. Under the persuasion of the chancellor, he prepared to appoint a prince. The candidates knew all over the world, and they were one of Zhao Xuan and Zhao Xuan. At this time, Song Gaozong really conducted a comprehensive examination of the two people. In view of his own encounters in his youth, the biggest test that Song Gaozong gave to the two princes was his ability to adapt before the temptation of female sex. Emperor Gaozong of Song sent two princes and ten beautiful virgins each, and let them watch and do it for themselves. In this matter, Zhao Xuan may have been misled, he thought that Song Gaozong wanted to verify his fertility, so in just one month, he shared room with these ten beautiful women, and none of them were spared. Zhao Yun correctly realized that the reason why Song Gaozong sent beautiful women was to test his concentration in front of the female color, so he sat in his arms and never dared to make a mistake. A month later, Emperor Gaozong of Song recalled 20 beauties, and the palace people examined their bodies and found that all 10 beauties sent to Zhao Xuan were broken, while the 10 beauties given to Zhao Xuan were intact. In this way, Emperor Gaozong of Song determined the final heir to the throne through the concentration test.
In 1160, Emperor Gaozong of Song issued an edict and officially made Zhao Xuan crown prince. Two years later, Emperor Gaozong of Song, tired of government affairs, was located in Zhao Xuan and became emperor taishang. Emperor Gaozong of Song lived a very long life, not dying until 1187, at the age of 81, and was one of the longest-lived emperors in Chinese history. After Zhao Xuan ascended the throne, he was for Song Xiaozong. Emperor Xiaozong of Song had great respect and filial piety to Emperor Gaozong of Song, and for decades he served Emperor Gaozong of Song like a son, calling him Emperor Xiaozong, worthy of the name. The key issue is that Song Xiaozong was still a very responsible and effective emperor, and during his term of office, he rehabilitated Yue Fei's unjust case, posthumously degraded Qin Ju and other surrender ministers, and once gave the Southern Song Dynasty hope and capital for revival. It is a pity that during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song, there were no outstanding military generals and no one who could complete the revival of the Northern Expedition. Historians lament that "Emperor Gaozong of Song had the minister of revival and did not have the desire to revive; Emperor Xiaozong of Song had the desire to revive, but not the minister of revival." In any case, Song Xiaozong was one of the most outstanding emperors in Chinese history, and Song Gaozong made a very wise choice in his succession to the throne.