Introduction: The emperor can be said to be a very key role in the history of ancient Chinese feudal autocracy, after becoming an emperor, he proved that he had supreme power in his hands, which also made many people in ancient times dream of becoming an emperor, so they did not hesitate to make a vendetta between father and son, and brothers killed each other.
For example, li Shimin, the famous emperor of the Tang Dynasty, once planned the Xuanwumen Rebellion because he competed with his brother and brother for imperial power, and single-handedly killed his brother and brother, eventually making himself the emperor at that time. There are countless cases like this, which also shows how weak the so-called family relationship is in the face of absolute power.
But not all of them fight their relatives for the emperor, or even kill each other. The two princes to be told today resigned to each other for the emperor's throne, and finally created a prosperous era, the two of them were Liu Jiang and Liu Zhuang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, both of whom were the sons of Liu Xiu, the famous prince of the time.
After Liu Xiu established his own territory and gained a certain dominance, he thought of making himself a prince. However, his original wife did not give birth to a son for him, so he was at an impasse in the selection of a prince for a while, and had to focus on other concubines.
It happened that at this time his concubine Guo Shengtong gave birth to a son for him, named Liu Jiang, who was also the candidate for the crown prince chosen by Liu Xiu later. And because the succession to the throne at that time required strict adherence to the primogeniture system, it was reasonable to say that his original wife had not yet passed away, and he should have had the opportunity to give birth to a son, and guo Shengtong should not have been made empress so early.
The reason why Liu Xiu made Guo Shengtong empress actually had another important purpose, that is, Guo Shengtong was born in hebei at that time, and Liu Xiu's control over the Hebei region was relatively weak, so many powerful people in Hebei were not satisfied with Liu Xiu's rule and wanted to rebel.
If Liu Xiu made Guo Shengtong his empress, then he could establish good relations with those clans in Hebei, further consolidate his dominance in Hebei, and achieve the stability of the social order during his reign, so Liu Xiu established Guo Shengtong as empress. And this act did not cause the dissatisfaction of his original wife.
On the contrary, his original wife was very much in favor of Liu Xiu's idea, believing that she and Liu Xiu had not given birth to a son for Liu Xiu since their marriage, which was not conducive to Liu Xiu's succession to the throne, so she willingly surrendered the empress's throne. It is reasonable to say that after Liu Jiang became the crown prince, he should have received a very prominent education, and soon he could inherit Liu Xiu's throne.
However, in the process of Liu Jiang's growth, those clans in Hebei were very arrogant in the position of Guo Shengtong, which also made Liu Xiu very dissatisfied with those clans in Hebei, and the power of those rich nobles in Hebei at that time had declined, and the momentum of Hexi's power gradually exceeded that of Hebei.
Hexi was firmly under Liu Xiu's control, so that the Hebei region was not so much of a threat to Liu Xiu, and at that time Liu Xiu's original wife had already brought many sons to Liu Xiu, and the eldest son at that time was the later emperor Liu Zhuang.
According to the ancient primogeniture system, since Liu Xiu's original wife had already given birth to a son for Liu Xiu, the position of prince should be returned to Liu Zhuang. However, Liu Zhuang believed that he was younger than Liu Jiang and did not receive as much education as Liu Jiang, and he was afraid that he would not be able to take the position of emperor, so he wanted to continue to keep the position of crown prince in Liu Jiang's hands.
However, Liu Jiang also believed that although he had been made crown prince by Liu Xiu before, according to the real situation, he was only the eldest son of Shu, and Liu Zhuang was the real eldest son of Concubine, and he was more qualified to serve as the crown prince, so he repeatedly proposed to the chancellor of the court or Liu Xiu himself that he should abolish his position as prince and return the position of prince to Liu Zhuang.
Liu Xiu fell into a dilemma for a while, the two sons were very promising, and he was also very optimistic, for a while he did not know which son should be chosen to become the crown prince. However, at this critical time, Liu Jiang's mother Guo Shengtong was reported and exposed because of her style problems, and Liu Xiu abolished her identity as empress in anger.
With the empress deposed, Liu Jiang naturally had no protection from power, so Liu Xiu finally decided to return the crown prince to Liu Zhuang. Liu Zhuang became emperor after Liu Xiu's death. However, after Liu Zhuang inherited the throne, he did not kill his rival Liu Jiang, but was very concerned about this brother and made him the King of the East Sea.
Summary: And from time to time will also take time to visit their brothers, the country will be better and better governed by the joint efforts of the two brothers, there is a very rare prosperous situation in the chaotic era, which can be regarded as the scene that Liu Xiu wants to see the most.