It is well known that Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty was very fond of Wei Zifu when he was young, plus Wei Zifu was a strategic woman, so he could step by step from the ordinary Ge Ji to the throne of the empress, and his son Liu Zhi also successfully became the crown prince.
Historically, Liu Zhu was a prince who was diligent in government and loved the people, and he was also very generous, and it is said that every time The Han Wu Emperor Liu Che went on a tour, he would hand over political affairs to the crown prince Liu Zhao, and Liu Zhu, as the crown prince, was also deeply popular.
However, later, because he was falsely accused of using witchcraft and forbidden arts by the traitors, he was eventually killed before he could make a big show. So, let's imagine what kind of world the Han Dynasty would be if Liu Zheng could successfully ascend to the throne.
Photo: Cartoon of Emperor Wudi of han Liu Che
In his early years, Liu Che exerted great efforts to govern the entire Han Dynasty in an orderly manner, and there was a great scene of prosperity, and in order to maintain the unity of the Han Dynasty, he launched a war to weaken the Xiongnu.
Although this measure has achieved certain results, but the Han Dynasty's own financial and material resources have also been greatly consumed, no matter what, the most affected by the war will always be the common people, no matter whether the war is victorious or lost, for the people will always be the end of the family destruction. Although Liu Che was to develop the Han Dynasty, the people affected by the war still could not change their tragic fate.
Politically, Liu Che vigorously promoted Confucianism, selected talented people to enter the dynasty as officials in the civilian population, and vigorously promoted powerful soldiers as generals in the army.
However, Liu Che was afraid of death in his later years, perhaps because the emperor was not enough, or perhaps he was greedy for power and wanted to sit down in the position of emperor, so he sought fangshu in a big way, pursued the art of immortality, and believed in the theory of strange forces and chaotic gods, so it led to the disaster of witchcraft later.
When Emperor Wu of Han was superstitious and strange and chaotic, the officials headed by Jiang Chong did a lot of shady things in order to cater to Emperor Wu of Han, and the crown prince Liu Zhu was also victimized by him.
Photo: Stills of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty Liu Che dealing with political affairs
Liu Che ascended the throne as emperor at the age of 16, Wei Zifu and Liu Che met in the Marquis of Pingyang, Liu Che can be said to have fallen in love with her at first sight, and then followed her into the palace, in the palace with his own ability to eventually become an empress, but also his brother Wei Qing, nephew Huo Toyi and so on introduced to the emperor, achieving their career.
Wei Zifu also bore Liu Che 3 daughters and 1 son, which further established her position as empress. Although Liu Che also loved these three daughters very much, the most important feudal society at that time was the successor, so Liu Che spent most of his energy on his son Liu Zhao.
According to the Book of Han, "Emperor Wu of the Spring and Autumn Twenty-Nine Was the Crown Prince, Qunchen Xi, Gu Gao and Dongfang Shuo composed "The Birth of the Crown Prince" and "Li Wang's Blessing", and what he was commanded to do, did not follow the story, and the prince was also heavy. ”
From this record, it can be seen that Liu Zhao's birth was a very important event at that time, not only the Han Wudi Emperor Liu Che was very happy, but also the courtiers and the people were very happy, probably because the Han Dynasty finally had a successor.
At this time, Wei Zifu also became an empress by virtue of his mother, so Liu Zhi naturally became the eldest son of a concubine, and in ancient times, it was always a long and not a young child, so Liu Zhi later became the crown prince without any criticism.
Photo: Wei Zifu and Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty stills
Although Liu Zhi was later made crown prince was a tacit thing for the courtiers, but everything had a process and change, Liu Zhi also lived up to expectations, at the age of seven, he was made crown prince by Liu Che, and later a few years later, Liu Che selected Shi Fen's son Shi Qing for Liu Zhao to be Liu Zhao's crown prince.
At that time, Shi Fen had the title of "Wanshi Jun", so Emperor Wudi of Han was very careful when he selected Taifu for Liu Zhao. In addition to Shi Qing, there were many outstanding courtiers who had served as teachers to Liu Zhao, so that Liu Zhao's insight and ideas were very broad and not limited to a certain kind of thinking, which also laid the foundation for him to care for the people and handle government affairs skillfully in the future.
As a father, Liu Che naturally wanted to give gifts when the child became an adult, so he gave him a mansion after Liu Zhi became an adult, and allowed Liu Chu to find the people he liked to live in.
In ancient times, this kind of thing was often regarded as a gang and faction, which was the most taboo thing in the imperial court, but Liu Che allowed Liu Chu to do this, which can be seen that Liu Che was really cultivating Liu Chu as his successor.
Image: Prince Liu according to the stills
Since Liu Che gave Liu Zhi such a privilege, Liu Zhi naturally could not waste it, so he selected talents in the folk, and the talents he looked at did not have old and old ideas, most of them had a sense of innovation, and had unique views on things, and also had some special ideas, which was reflected in the ancient poem "The Biography of Wu Wuzi" of Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was recorded in the poem: "And the crown is in the palace, on the Libo Wangyuan, so that the guests, from their favor, so many heretics enter"
Later, as Liu Zhi gradually grew up, the benevolent and generous character was gradually revealed, which contrasted with the impatience of the Han Wu Emperor Liu Che, so Liu Che gradually became dissatisfied with Liu Zhi, plus Wei Zifu was no longer in appearance at this time, so Liu Zhi was even more snubbed, Wei Zifu and Liu Zhi began to feel uneasy, such a mood was hidden from Liu Che, so he relayed his heart through Wei Qing, saying that he still valued the prince's ability and would pass the throne to the prince, so as to give them a reassuring pill.
After Wei Qing conveyed Emperor Wu of Han's wishes, Wei Zifu was indeed much relieved, and later, every time he went out on a tour, he handed over state affairs to Liu Zhao, which showed that Emperor Wu of Han was ready to pass the throne to Liu Zhao.
Photo: Wei Qing and Wei Zifu stills
According to the Zizhi Tongjian's record of Liu Zhao: "The generous elders of the group are all attached to the prince, and those who use the deep and cruel are destroyed." It can be seen that Liu Zhao's benevolence won the hearts of the people, but it was precisely because of this that it attracted the opposition of some traitors, who began to frame Liu Zhao in order to achieve their own goals, of which Jiang Chong was the leader.
At that time, the scourge of witchcraft was prevalent, Jiang Chong and other traitors took advantage of this to frame Liu Zhao, and Emperor Wu of Han was old and believed the lies of Jiang Chong and others, and finally Liu Zheng could not prove his innocence and could only use the army, at this time Emperor Wu of Han thought that Liu Chong was going to rebel, so he sent troops to suppress it.
Photo: Jiang Chong received a witchcraft forbidden technique to frame Liu according to stills
In this incident, Liu Zhu did not want to be arrested and humiliated and chose to commit suicide, if Liu Zhu did not commit suicide, with his political ability and generous and benevolent character, he would surely usher in a prosperous era.
Although after Emperor Wu of Han, The Han Zhao Emperor Liu Fuling succeeded to the throne, and under the leadership of Liu Fuling, the Han Dynasty ushered in the "Zhaoxuan Zhongxing", but if Liu Zhao became emperor, there would certainly be a more prosperous scene.
Image: Stills of Liu Fuling, Emperor Of Han Zhao
Just as the so-called people who win the hearts of the people win the world, Liu Zhi has always won the hearts of the people, and coupled with his talents, he will certainly be able to seek the welfare of the people, make the Han Dynasty develop more powerfully, and make the comprehensive national strength of the Han Dynasty more prosperous.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!