From the time Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms as emperor to the abdication of the last emperor Puyi, a total of 422 emperors appeared in Chinese history. According to experts, the average life expectancy of these 400 emperors was only more than 30 years old. Qianlong is relatively long-lived, but he only lived for 88 years. So why did the ancient emperors mostly have short lifespans? This is mainly because the medical level in ancient times was too poor, coupled with the emperor's concern for national affairs and hard work, so he died young. There are also some emperors who have destroyed their bodies because they are addicted to wine.
So is there an emperor in history who lives longer than Qianlong? There was really one, he was zhao tuo, the emperor of the South Vietnamese state. Zhao Tuo was a native of Zhengding, Hebei Province, who joined the army in his early years because of his family's poverty, and because of his bravery and good fighting, he soon came out on top. After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, he sent Tu Sui as the main general to lead a 500,000-strong army to pacify Lingnan, and Zhao Tuo was then a deputy general. After Tu Suizhan's death, Ren Hu was appointed as the commander-in-chief, and Zhao Tuo was still a deputy commander, and later after years of hard fighting, he finally pacified Lingnan. Ren Huan served as the lieutenant of Nanhai County, which had four counties under his jurisdiction, Namely Panyu, Longchuan, Boluo, and Sihui, and Zhao Tuo served as the county commander of Longchuan County.
Zhao Tuo is a compound talent, who can kill the enemy on the horse and an anbang on the horse. After he served as the commander of Longchuan County, he took a series of measures to make the local economy develop greatly and the public order was relatively stable. Shortly after the death of Qin Shi Huang, the peasant revolt at the end of Qin broke out, and at this time, when the Nanhai Commandery was strong, the county lieutenant Ren Hu saw that the Qin Dynasty was powerless to look south, and he began to have ambitions to divide the territory. However, before he could put it into practice, he fell seriously ill, and before he died, he ordered Zhao Tuo to take over his post and told him to close his door and establish himself as king in order to stabilize the south Vietnamese lands.
After Ren Hu's death in 208 BC, after Zhao Tuo took over as the lieutenant of Nanhai Commandery, in accordance with the strategy given by Ren Husheng, he immediately ordered people to block all the main traffic routes on the Wuling Mountains, control the three passes of Hengpu, Yangshan, and Huangfu to sever all ties with the Lingbei region, and at the same time kill and kill those military and political officials loyal to the Qin Dynasty in the county, and replace them with their own confidants. Later, Zhao Tuo sent troops to capture Guilin County and Xiang County, and established the state as king in 204 BC. Two years later, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Western Han Dynasty, and he sent Lu Jia as an envoy to South Vietnam to persuade Zhao Tuo to submit to him.
At this time, Zhao Tuo had just become king, and his foundation was unstable, so he did not dare to openly confront Liu Bang and submitted to the Western Han. However, due to the distance of emperor Tiangao, everything in South Vietnam was decided by Zhao Tuo. After Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou took sole power and intended to truly control South Vietnam in his own hands. In 181 BC, Lü Hou sent Marquis Longxu and Zhou Zao as generals, commanding more than 100,000 troops to attack the State of South Vietnam. However, due to the rampant miasma, these more than 100,000 people fell ill before they crossed Lingnan.
At the time when Longxuhou and Zhou Zao were in a dilemma, Lü Hou hung up, and after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, he decisively summoned the large army attacking South Vietnam. Zhao Tuo won without a fight, and his reputation increased greatly, so he called himself "Emperor Wu of South Yue" and began to openly confront the Western Han Dynasty. Later, Emperor Wen of Han sent Lu Jia on another mission to South Vietnam, and Zhao Tuo ostensibly declared himself a vassal to the Western Han Dynasty, but still used the title of emperor in the country. Zhao Tuo was a very long-lived person, and his son Zhao Shi had been the crown prince for decades, and finally walked ahead of his father, and he did not become emperor before his death. In 137 BC, the 103-year-old Zhao Tuo died, and before his death, he passed the throne to his grandson Zhao Hu, and at this time Zhao Hu also reached the age of Huajia, and he died after only 15 years as emperor. Zhao Tuo not only survived his own son, but also almost hung up his own grandson, which is the longest-lived emperor in history.