Author: Qi Yunke
(King Wuling of Zhao)
Gongzi Cheng (公子成) was a major vassal of the four dynasties of Zhao Chenghou, Zhao Suhou, Zhao Wuling, and Zhao Huiwen. He was the son of Marquis Chenghou of Zhao, the younger brother of Marquis Su of Zhao, the uncle of King Wuling of Zhao, and the uncle of King Huiwen of Zhao.
Although later in the Dune Rebellion, Gongzi Cheng and Li Dui trapped King Wuling of Zhao, which seemed to be contrary to the way of being a vassal in later generations, the historical Gongzi Cheng was by no means a traitor and a criminal subject of the Zhao State. If you don't believe me, please listen to the author's details.
First, brotherhood
During the Zhao Chenghou period, Zhao Cheng, as a prince, had gradually grown up, and together with his brother Gongzi Yu, he was placed high hopes by his father and marquis for key training. It is precisely with this foundation that Gongzicheng later showed his arrogance and ability to not be in danger and calmly and unhurriedly when dealing with government affairs and chaos emergencies later.
It should be said that the relationship between Gongzicheng and his brother Gongziyu is very good. The brothers formed a deep friendship from an early age, which made them unite and cooperate in the face of chaos, unity and unity of purpose, and unity with the outside world.
In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Marquis Chenghou of Zhao (350 BC), Marquis Chenghou of Zhao collapsed and was succeeded as the new Marquis of Zhao as the Prince of Zhao.
At this time, the brothers Marquis Suhou of Zhao and Gongzi Cheng should not forget that twenty-five years ago, when their father Marquis Zhao Chenghou had just ascended the throne, the princes of the clan rebelled and wanted to seize the throne of their father, and the country was divided due to this turmoil, and it was only after a few months of chaos that it was pacified, which had a far-reaching impact. The greater difficulty faced by the brothers in joint ruling was that from the twenty-second year (353 BC) to the twenty-fourth year (351 BC) of Zhao Chenghou, the city of Handan was occupied by the wei army for nearly two years, the country was occupied by foreign troops, and the days of the state generals were only a year old, because of the war, the Zhao state could be described as the people's livelihood was withered and wasted.
It can be seen from this that the Zhao Kingdom that The Marquis of Zhao Su and the Gongzi Cheng brothers took over from their father was actually a mess. The road to national revival will be difficult. Fortunately, the brothers are united, just so-called: brothers are in the same heart, and their profits are broken. Another advantage is that they are still young, which is a good time for officials to start a business.
Just when the brothers were about to shake off their arms and do a big job, there was chaos in the country. Zhao Xuan, the prince of the clan who disobeyed Marquis Zhao Su's succession, mobilized a group of people to rise up and rebel and seize the throne.
The rebel army marched towards handan city, and those who were ready to respond inside and outside the city were also prepared to cooperate inside and outside.
Gongzi Cheng, who saw that his brother was not safe from the throne, took the initiative to shoulder the burden of defending his family and defending the country, organized the army to deploy defenses, knew great righteousness to the people in the city who sympathized with Gongzi Zhao, and beheaded the captured diehards who were unwilling to surrender and confess their guilt in public, thus stabilizing the situation in the city. He then led his army to take the initiative to confront the rebels and defeated the disorganized rebels.
Seeing that the general trend was gone, the prince Zhao Xuan quickly fled to Korea and applied for political asylum, but he never returned to the Zhao kingdom.
In the first year of the reign of Marquis Su of Zhao (349 BC), Marquis Su of Zhao became a prince and was enfeoffed as the Prince of Pingjun, with the two brothers ruling the State of Zhao together. It can be seen that they are indeed brothers.
The security situation facing the country is still not optimistic, and it is mainly responsible for military training and stabilizing the domestic situation. Gongzi Cheng did have foresight, because soon a turmoil came to the Zhao Kingdom.
In the third year of Zhao Suhou (347 BC), zhao Fu, the prince who fled to Korea for refuge, remotely commanded the remaining tongdang gongzi Fan to launch a rebellion, and the rebels also launched a strong attack on handan city, which was blocked by government forces. In the end, Gongzi Cheng led an army to battle, killed Gongzi Fan, and put down the rebellion.
In the same year, Gongzi Cheng resigned and no longer served as Xiang Bang, and recommended that Da Peng Wu take over, so that this Xiang Bang during the Zhao ChengHou period would continue to govern.
After this, Gongzicheng was in charge of the military and politics of the Zhao state on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also exerted an important influence on the government and politics, which can be described as the second in command of the political arena of the Zhao state and the real power faction.
Second, uncle and nephew
In the twenty-fourth year of Zhao Suhou (326 BC), Zhao Suhou collapsed and died. The political situation of the Zhao state is once again facing variables.
The ministers Fei Yi and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao, who were deeply trusted by Marquis Zhao Su, took the initiative to ask Gongzi Cheng to come out and temporarily preside over the imperial government, because Crown Prince Zhao Yong was still working as a proton in Korea.
Gongzi Cheng went to the Zhao Guo Court, and those clans who coveted the big position did not dare to act rashly, after all, the previous events of Gongzi Qi and Gongzi Fan rising to seize the throne were not far away, which was enough to be a warning.
Soon, the fifteen-year-old Zhao Yong was escorted back by the Korean army and successfully succeeded to the throne as King Wuling of Zhao.
King Wuling of Zhao reused Zhao Bao, Fei Yi and others, with Zhao Bao as the prime minister, Fei Yi in charge of the army, and Gongzi Cheng took the initiative to give up power and live behind the scenes.
Later, King Wuling of Zhao decided to change, carry out Hufu riding and shooting, and consulted his uncle, Gongzicheng was not enthusiastic. However, King Wuling of Zhao went to advise many times to do his uncle's ideological work, and finally Gongzicheng agreed, and he also led by example, personally wearing a beard and walking around the country. The subjects who had previously had opinions about wearing bearded clothes had no opinion when they saw that the highly respected prince Chengdu had worn them.
Gongzi cheng's behavior played a positive role in promoting his nephew's vigorous implementation of reforms.
After that, King Wuling of Zhao respected this uncle more, but did not give him power, perhaps with some scruples. After all, Gongzi Cheng's influence in the Zhao dynasty was too great, and his prestige had already surpassed that of the young King Wuling of Zhao. As a monarch, there is such an uncle as a minister, presumably he will not sleep at night.
Gongzi Cheng will not think of this, so on the grounds of old age and illness, he will return all the power to his nephew, rest assured that he will retire at home, and not interfere in the government and politics, so that the two sides will not be jealous of each other, hello, hello, hello, everyone, is the best relationship.
Every New Year's Festival, the nephew comes to see the uncle, or asks the uncle to have a meal, play chess or something, and needs to decide on the major national policies to ask the uncle for advice, which not only gives face, but also buys people's hearts, the two sides are at peace, and maintain a very harmonious uncle-nephew relationship, isn't it very good?
Third, the love of grandchildren
King Wuling of Zhao had two princes successively, one was Gongzi Zhang and the other was Gongzi He.
Gongzi Zhang was born to the first wife of King Wuling of Zhao, the eldest son, and was cultivated as the heir to the throne since childhood, and he was also very contentious, which satisfied everyone. The disadvantage is that the birth mother died early and lost the strong support from the inner palace. Therefore, his position as crown prince was later replaced by his son He, whose birth mother Wu Wa was favored by the king.
For such a major matter as the change of crown prince, it is said that King Wuling of Zhao should consult his uncle Gongzi Cheng.s. I don't know how Gongzi Cheng expressed his position, maybe he saw that Gongzi Zhang was no longer a malleable talent when he grew up, so he agreed, or did not agree to change to a prince, but King Wuling of Zhao did not listen, or perhaps King Wuling of Zhao did not come to ask his uncle at all, after all, at this time, King Wuling of Zhao was no longer the fifteen-year-old boy who had just taken the throne, but a generation of male lords who had been ruling the Zhao kingdom for more than twenty years.
As the son of his uncle, Cheng, was somewhat overwhelmed by the change of the crown prince's throne of the two nephews, and he was already a little stretched for the control of the Zhao Dynasty' government. That being the case, let it go.
At this time, gongzi cheng was already old, and it was indeed time to enjoy the happy life in his old age, but Zhao Guo did not let him continue to idle. Because the clear-eyed people can see clearly, Gongzi Zhang, with the support of the main father, is bound to duel with his brother Zhao He and regain the lost throne.
In the fourth year of King Huiwen of Zhao (295 BC), the Dune Rebellion broke out. Gongzi Cheng could not bear to see that the country that his father and brother had painstakingly managed for many years had been destroyed by chaos, so he led the army and commanded the third counterinsurgency campaign in his life.
Gongzi Chengbao was not old and his ability was not reduced, but he quickly put down the rebellion, killed his nephew Gongzi Zhang, who was rebelling, and trapped his nephew Zhao Yong, the mastermind behind the rebellion. He calmed the war for the Zhao state and maintained the unity and stability of the country.
Later, his nephew Zhao Huiwen the Prince of Zhao He asked Gongzi Cheng to go out of the mountains again and serve as the minister of the State of Zhao and preside over the imperial government. Gongzicheng did not resign and gladly agreed. He gave his brother a picture, and this time he gave a picture to his grandson, and more than half a century has passed in a hurry. However, this xiangbang, he did not do it soon, at most a year, and died. Maybe he was worried, maybe he was tired, after all, age is not sparing. If he could live longer, and assist King Huiwen of Zhao for a few more years, when the monarch grew up, the later Li Dui would lose the opportunity to specialize in imperial politics. However, he had reached his old age and could no longer control what was behind him. Thinking about it, I can't help but sigh, regret, lament and sigh.
Personally, I believe that Gongzicheng's decisive attack during the Dune Rebellion, the eradication of the Gongzizhang rebel forces, the avoidance of national division and further chaos, and the same as his previous two counter-rebellions, are patriotic and just acts. Later generations could not accuse and criticize Gongzi Zhang and King Wuling of Zhao because they had killed him during the counter-rebellion. On the whole, he still made a great contribution to the stability and development of the country. Gai Coffin concluded that his life should be fully affirmed, and he was a great loyal minister of the Zhao Kingdom.
(King Huiwen of Zhao)
【About the author】Qi Yunke, male, educator. In recent years, he has published more than 800,000 words in media at all levels. Signed author of The Reading Platform. He is a member of the Henan Provincial Writers Association and a standing director of the Henan Provincial Youth Writers Association.
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