In ancient Chinese history, almost all dynasties and dynasties have had powerful subjects appear. For example, Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty, Huo Guang of the Western Han Dynasty, Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms, and others all had power to fall to the opposition and were famous. But these people can be above one person and ten thousand people, and it is also after a long period of accumulation and polishing that they finally achieve such achievements after middle age, and few people can achieve it overnight. But the power minister introduced to you today by Xiaobian is an exception, he began to participate in politics at the age of 9, the power fell to the opposition at the age of 12, and when he was killed at the age of 14, he also left four widows, and his life experience can be said to be very legendary.
This person was Gao Yu, the third son of Emperor Wucheng of Northern Qi. The Northern Qi dynasty was very strange, 80% of the monarchs were faint and incompetent, and the remaining 20% of the monarchs, although young and promising, lived a short time and died young. When Emperor Xiaozhao of Northern Qi fell seriously ill, in order to avoid his son Gao Bainian being killed, he passed the throne to his younger brother Gao Zhan. After Gao Zhan succeeded to the throne, he was also absurd, and at first he was diligent in political affairs and understood the sufferings of the people, but soon he indulged in pleasure.
There were many concubines in the harem, but he took a fancy to his sister-in-law and forcibly blessed him. The young and lonely Empress Hu did not want to show weakness and had an affair with Gao Zhan's favorite courtiers and Shi Kai. After Gao Zhan found out, instead of punishing them, he blindly connived at the two people. In order to consolidate his position, He Shikai tried his best to curry favor with Gao Zhan, advising him: "Life is short, and we must be happy in time." So in March of the fourth year of Heqing, Gao Zhan, taking advantage of the opportunity of the appearance of the comet, gave the throne to the crown prince Gao Wei, and became the emperor himself, drilling in the harem every day for sexual pleasure.
Although Gao Wei inherited the throne, the power was still firmly controlled by his father Gao Zhan, so he could only blindly endure. And what worried him the most was his younger brother Gao Yu. Gao Yu was initially given the title of King of Dongping, and later held the positions of Kaifu, Shizhong, and Zhongshu Supervisor, and before Gao Wei succeeded to the throne, Gao Yu had already achieved the positions of Situ, Great General, and Grand Sima when he was only about 10 years old. After Gao Zhan's death, Gao Wei tried to murder Gao Yu several times, but because of Empress Hu's guards, he failed to succeed.
Later, Empress Hu's relationship with Heshikai became public, and courtiers played impeachment and Shikai. Gao Wei, fearing offending Empress Hu, chose to ignore the matter. Because Gao Yu had offended Heshikai, he was almost deprived of all power, leaving only a false position in Zhongcheng. At that time, Empress Hu's brother-in-law Feng Ziqun was at odds with Heshikai, so Gao Yu co-opted Feng Ziqun to kill him while he and Shikai were in the dynasty. Empress Hu was furious, but Gao Yu had three thousand troops, and even Gao Wei could not do anything about him.
However, this incident also caused Gao Wei to be vigilant about Gao Yu, openly killing the minister, and supporting the soldiers and respecting themselves, which is a time bomb no matter how it looks! So Gao Wei sent someone to assassinate Gao Yu. However, Gao Yu, who slipped his head, hid in the palace of his mother, Empress Hu, and even ate after Empress Hu tried it. During this time, Gao Yu did not make other preparations, but let the four palace girls become pregnant. Later, the killer Liu Taozhi sent by Gao Wei finally caught the opportunity to capture Gao Yu to the Daming Palace and kill him according to Gao Wei's instructions. Gao Yu was only 14 years old when he died, and all four of his widows were killed by Gao Wei.