In ancient times, nicknames were very important. There are many kinds of nicknames in history, and one nickname can reflect the evaluation of this person by future generations. From another point of view, it is to express praise and disparagement according to the life deeds of the deceased, the so-called "exhortation of good and abstinence from evil". It is especially important that this nickname is certainly an affirmation of a person's life.
There are many nicknames in history, some are praised, such as the incompetence of the people, the god Song Shenzong, followed by the Heaven and Wei Di Wen Han Wen Emperor, etc., in short, the nickname represents a person's life deeds. There are also many demeaning titles, such as the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, the King of Youzhou, the King of Youzhou, the King of Lingzhou, and so on.
Nicknames can express a lot of meanings, so in the determination of nicknames, they are very important. In ancient times, only emperors and courtiers could have titles. During the Han Dynasty, there was an exception, that is, the empress had a nickname. This person was Wei Zifu, the second empress of Emperor Wu of Han, who was the first empress in history to have a courtesy name.
In history, Wei Zifu's nickname set a precedent. Wei Zifu came from a humble background and did not have a prominent family lineage, and from this point of view, Wei Zifu could become an empress, and he must have his own talents. Wei Zifu was born during the reign of the Han Jing Emperor, his father is not recorded in the history books, and his mother was Wei Mi. When Wei Zifu was young, he was sent to the Hou family of Pingyang to teach singing and dancing, and thus became a singer.
Because of this, Wei Zifu had the opportunity to meet Emperor Wu of Han later. In the second year of Emperor Wu of Han's founding, after Emperor Wu of Han worshipped his ancestors, he met Wei Zifu, and since then, Wei Zifu's fate has changed. Emperor Wu of Han looked at the crowd and took a quick look at Wei Zifu. The history books record that "if you drink, the one who praises enters, and the emperor speaks alone." Thus Wei Zifu entered the palace.
From then on, Wei Zifu lived to be the sole favorite of Emperor Wu of Han. After entering the palace, Wei Zifu was favored, and during his tenure as empress, wei Qing and Huo Zhifu were introduced to Emperor Wu of Han. Although Wei Zifu did not intervene in political affairs in her lifetime, her influence was not only during the period of Emperor Wu of Han, but also made great contributions and far-reaching influences on the three dynasties of Xiaozhao and Xiaoxuan.
In the chronicles, there is such a praise for Wei Zifu: "Gav Deros." "Then after Wei Zifu died, there was no name." It was not until the time of Emperor Xuan of Han that his great-grandmother Wei Zifu was posthumously honored as "Empress Si". In ancient times, the name of the empress certainly did not appear with the word "wu", generally speaking, it was based on words such as "gong", "filial piety" and "virtue".
So why is Wei Zifu's nickname "Empress Si"? First of all, there are many interpretations of the word "si" in ancient times. History of Justice? The Commentary on the Fa-rectification explains that the si characters are "morally pure one thought, great province Zhaomin thought, outer and inner thinking, regret before the thought" and then in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty? The Queen's Chronicle explains that "planning is not worrying about thinking." ”
The interpretation of the si zi in the "Tanfa" is "to think about it without thinking, but to think like the beginning." "Nowadays, it seems that the nickname of Si Zi is not good. This should be said about the experience of Emperor Xuan of Han, in the later years of Emperor Wu of Han, there was a scourge of witchcraft. Under such circumstances, Emperor Xuan of Han experienced hardships, and under such circumstances, Emperor Xuan of Han had some complaints about Wei Zifu's deposed crown prince Liu Zhi.
However, in his later years, Wei Zifu's ending was not good. The scourge of the witches forced Wei Zifu to commit suicide. From this point of view, Wei Zifu must have been implicated. The rebellion of the crown prince Liu Zhao made Liu Zhu killed. After that, Wei Zifu was also implicated, and after Wei Zifu committed suicide, the funeral was also very shabby. This can be confirmed by the tomb of Wei Zifu.
The occurrence of the scourge of witchcraft became the failure of Emperor Wu of Han's life. Ban Gu's "Biography of the Five Sons of Hanshu Wu" commented on this as "the scourge of the witches, don't you mourn!" This is not the only one that is filled with the river, but also has a time of day, not caused by human beings. Judging from such records, Ban Gu believes that Emperor Wu of Han himself directly caused the scourge of witchcraft. There is no doubt about that.
Emperor Xuan of Han was already the surviving grandson of Liu Zhao in the scourge of the Witches, and was affected by the plagues of the Witches, and Liu Was already imprisoned in his early years, and then exiled in the people. At this time, Liu Yi could not feel the treatment of the royal descendants at all. Under such circumstances, Liu Yi must have resented his father Liu Zhao, as can be seen from the nickname that Liu Yi had given Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao's nickname was set to "戾", which was actually a disguised accusation against Emperor Wu of Han. Regarding "戾", the ancient interpretation is "do not regret the previous yue; do not think about obeying the yue; know the past and do not change the yue." That is to say, according to Liu At that time, there must have been something wrong with it, after all, it was not a good thing to rebel.