Emperor Wu of Han had a total of six sons, of whom the second eldest, Liu Hong, died prematurely in his early years, the eldest Liu Zheng died in the "Scourge of the Witches", and the fifth elder Liu Feng also died depressed.
Therefore, those who can inherit the throne now are the other three sons of Emperor Wu of Han, namely Liu Dan the third elder, Liu Xu the fourth, and Liu Fuling, the oldest and youngest son.
There is an old Chinese saying: "Standing tall, the state is long, and the society is blessed." "Under normal circumstances, old age means rich experience, careful thinking, calm demeanor, and it is not easy to be deceived when considering things, and it is not easy to be held hostage by other powerful people or evil forces. Therefore, when determining the heirs of the country, it is generally necessary to "establish the elders" and try to choose older children to inherit the family business.
It can be seen that if considered from this aspect, Emperor Wudi of Han should choose the older third or fourth oldest, instead of choosing the one who is only seven years old and does not understand the old sixth Liu Fuling.
However, in this sea election of Emperor Wu of Han, the reason why Liu Fuling was able to win was entirely to create people.
The first incompetent opponent was Liu Dan, the third son of Emperor Wu of Han.
You must know that in the battle for the crown prince, Liu Dan has a great advantage. First, he is the eldest of the surviving brothers, the oldest; Second, according to the "Biography of the Five Sons of Han and Wu", Liu Dan was not only extremely intelligent, but also well-read, proficient in the art of the Hundred Sons, and a qualified successor.
Unfortunately, although the advantages are obvious, Liu Dan's shortcomings are equally amazing. What are the disadvantages? Eight words to describe: lack of patience, rush to work hard.
In the first year of the Later Yuan Dynasty (88 BC), Liu Dan suddenly went to Emperor Wu of Han, and he applied to return to Chang'an to serve as a personal guard for his father.
You think, Emperor Wu of Han was such a clever man, as soon as he saw this letter, he immediately knew Liu Dan's trick. Therefore, emperor Wu of Han, who was furious, beheaded Liu Dan's emissaries and incidentally cut off the fiefdoms of his three counties.
Liu Dan stole the chicken and did not become a rotten rice, so he could only flee into the wilderness and find a place where no one was crying and weeping.
Liu Fuling's second rival was Emperor Wu of Han's fourth son, Liu Xu the Prince of Guangling.
Compared with his third brother, Liu Xu's personality is just the opposite. Liu Dan was erudite and good at literature; but Liu Xu was good at martial arts, he was not only strong and strong, but also brave, and was a good material for a general.
Having said that, Liu Xu's only hobby is to go up the mountain and fight with the bear.
It is said that in order to better wrestle with these bears, Liu Xu deliberately built a bear garden in his fiefdom, which housed various brown bears, grizzly bears, black bears, Malay bears, white bears, cat bears... In a word, what kind of variety there is.
After having these bears, Liu completely dropped out of school. People don't do anything, they just think about how to fight with these bears every day. One day, Liu Xu encountered a powerful bear, fighting, and Liu Xu was knocked to the ground by this bear. From then on, he was half-paralyzed and completely paralyzed.
In view of this, Emperor Wu of Han was completely dead to this son.
To sum up, in this way, the only person who can inherit the unification and become his successor is the old man Liu Fuling.
Of course, according to the records of the "Records of History", Liu Fuling was talented and intelligent from an early age, smarter than children of the same age, and much larger than children of the same age, coupled with the mythical effect of the "Yao Mother's Gate", Emperor Wu of Han's favor for him, that is more. Every day he said to people, "This child, like me, like me!"
Having said that, Liu Fuling is like himself again, he is also a child who does not understand the world, and Emperor Wudi of han has little time, once he dies, how will Liu Fuling face this dangerous world alone?
It seems that he can only entrust himself with a loyal and capable minister on his deathbed, and appoint him as a minister of life to entrust his own affairs.
Of course, Emperor Wu of Han also knew that from ancient times to the present, in the case of the lord and the weak minister, all the dynasties and dynasties were a gamble, a gamble that determined all the fate of the Son of Heaven!
Taking the Three Kingdoms as an example, Tuo Gu was right, that is, Zhuge Liang, who bowed down and died; The entrustment was wrong, that is, Sima Yi, who plotted to usurp the throne and change the dynasty. Therefore, this kind of thing must be cautious and cautious...
Finally, after several screenings and back and forth weighing, Emperor Wudi of Han finally saw that he had found the right person.
This person was Huo Guang, the personal attendant of Emperor Wu of Han. So, why did Emperor Wudi of Han choose Huo Guang? First of all, Huo Guang has never been wrong.
According to historical records, Huo Guang entered the palace as a teenager and served Emperor Wu of Han for a full twenty years. There has never been a single mistake in the meantime, and its caution is unmatched.
A person who doesn't make mistakes for two or three days should be fine. Two or three months without error, the estimate is very difficult. Twenty years without error is even more difficult. Therefore, Huo Guang was not only suitable for being a minister of care in terms of prudence and stability, but he was also absolutely competent. Secondly, Huo Guang was a man, he was very loyal.
Some old Chinese sayings are good; People's hearts are separated from their stomachs, and they don't know each other on the other side; It is difficult to draw a tiger and paint a skin, and it is difficult to draw a bone, and it is difficult to know the face of the person and not the heart. It is very easy to really understand a person, to understand the talent and character of this person, but it is extremely difficult to judge whether he is loyal or not.
As everyone knows, for this problem, Emperor Wudi of Han can put a hundred hearts.
It turned out that Huo Guang had a half-brother, and he was the invincible Huo Who died young. It can be seen that part of the reason why Huo Guang has been able to come to this day is that he has dipped his brother Huo's illness and enjoyed the emperor's treatment of his brother.
Therefore, for Emperor Wu of Han, I usually treat you not thinly, you should have a heart of gratitude and loyalty. Even if I want to gamble, just bet on your loyalty, I should be able to win.
In any case, the result we saw was that on the issue of the deathbed orphan, Emperor Wudi of Han had bet all his bets on Huo Guang, and he had also won the bet.
After the death of Emperor Wu of Han, Huo Guang became a generation of regents, he assisted the two emperors of Han Zhaodi and Han Xuan, formulating policies with the principle of "resting with the people", correcting the situation of exhausting troops and fighting wars every year during the Han Wudi period, so that the Han Dynasty flourished again, known in history as "Zhaoxuan Zhongxing".