If the ancient emperor passed the throne to the crown prince in advance, would it end the struggle for the throne? But why were ancient emperors reluctant to pass the throne in advance? Today Xiaobian takes you to see it together!
emperor
First, the temptation of power
In fact, the reason why the emperor is reluctant to pass the throne to the next generation early is often because of his own concerns, which is that after losing the highest power, his own safety and welfare will be seriously affected.
1. Li Yuan's sorrow
Speaking of Li Yuan, I believe many people will think that he is the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, but Li Yuan has only been an emperor for 9 years, and he has completely lost the throne because of the impact of the Xuanwumen Change, but Li Shimin said that as long as Li Yuan is willing to obediently abdicate, he can honor Li Yuan as the Emperor Taishang, where is Li Yuan at this time? In this way, Li Yuan became the Emperor Taishang.
However, Li Shimin compressed Li Yuan's living standards in terms of living expenses, which made Li Yuan feel very dissatisfied, and when Li Yuan was lonely, he wanted to chat with the ministers in the imperial court, and he was suspected by Li Shimin.
In fact, emperors like Li Yuan are not uncommon in history, for example, during Li Longji's tenure as Emperor Taishang, Tang Suzong dismissed all the people around Li Longji in order to prevent Li Longji from colluding with his ministers to seize power, resulting in Li Longji living alone in a lonely palace and spending the rest of his life in sorrow.
Li Yuan
2. The tragedy of King Wuling of Zhao
In addition, after the emperor ascends the throne, his personal safety is actually a problem worthy of attention, after the new emperor succeeds to the throne, if the old emperor is not satisfied with the new emperor, it is likely to depose the new emperor, therefore, after the new emperor becomes the emperor, in order to sit on the throne, he is certainly not assured that the old emperor still exists.
A simple example occurred in the Warring States Period, the Warring States Era, when King Zhao Wuling of the State of Zhao was old, he passed the throne to his son, but after the succession of the number of years, he developed remorse and wanted to redistribute the power structure of the State of Zhao, which led to a coup d'état, which led to the starvation of King Wuling of Zhao.
The tragedy of King Zhao Wuling also made later emperors feel that if the emperor gave up his power, not only could not the welfare be saved, but even his own life was difficult to be guaranteed, so the ancient emperors often held the power firmly and did not allow anyone to touch it.
King Wuling of Zhao
Second, the emperor who did not show up
However, there are no absolutes in the world, in Chinese history, there are really emperors who take the initiative to give the throne to the prince, and the reason for the Zen position makes people cry and laugh: in order to enjoy the rest of their lives.
1. The advantages of the Emperor Taishang
In fact, objectively speaking, if the relationship between the abdicated emperor and the emperor is very harmonious, then the abdicated emperor may obtain benefits and advantages that many emperors do not have, whether ancient or modern, Chinese and foreign, for human beings, the most worrying thing is the problem of making a living, the ancient working people need to be squeezed by landlords and governments, and officials in the official field, need to beware of others framed, the emperor needs to deal with state affairs.
Of course, the emperor was most concerned about three things, the first of which was the invasion of foreign enemies; The second was the suppression of the peasant revolt; The third thing is that there are usurpations of the throne by powerful ministers or rebellions by generals in the imperial court, and any of these three things may lead to the danger of the emperor's life, so the emperor needs to be busy with these three things all day long.
And the Emperor Taishang can enjoy the best material life of the empire, and even the stronger Emperor Taishang, whose living standards must be the same as that of the emperor, the emperor has the benefits of the emperor, but there is no responsibility and obligation of the emperor, it can be said that he is the happiest person in the world.
Emperor Taishang
2. Northern Qi Gaowei
In fact, in Chinese history, such an emperor does exist, such as the northern Qi emperor Gao Wei during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period is typical, Gao Wei was still a young and powerful spiritual boy when he ascended the throne, this elder brother ascended the throne for a few years, deeply felt that when the emperor's errands would delay his pleasure in the harem and beautiful women, he came up with a groundbreaking idea: that is, to pass the throne to the prince and let the prince take care of state affairs.
As I said just now, this Gao Wei is still a spiritual boy, so his prince, in fact, is just a child of a few years old, handing over the Northern Qi Empire to a child of a few years old to cook, and it is not difficult to see Gao Wei's absurdity from this.
Sure enough, during Gao Wei's tenure as Emperor Taishang, Northern Qi's government continued to corrupt, and Northern Qi's military began to have serious problems, but even so, Gao Wei did not care, and in the end, during Gao Wei's tenure as Emperor Taishang, Northern Qi's neighbors and rivals Northern Zhou sent troops to attack Northern Qi, and Northern Qi perished.
High dimensional
3. Zhao Zhao
Of course, Gao Wei is a negative example, and there are also relatively positive examples in history, that is, Song Gaozong Zhao Shuo, speaking of Zhao Shuo, many people will think of the minister Qin Ju who was reused by him, and Yue Fei, who was killed, but what is less known is that Zhao Shuo also served as the Emperor Taishang for more than twenty years.
It is said that in the later years of Zhao Shuo, he deeply felt that being an emperor was a boring profession, in fact, Zhao Shuo was proclaimed emperor at that time, but he was surprised, because at that time, the Northern Song Dynasty collapsed, and whoever became the new Song Emperor would be hunted down and killed by the Jin Dynasty. Zhao Shuo was originally a prince who wanted to live in peace, and as a result, history pushed Zhao Cuo to the wind outlet. When Zhao Chou stabilized the situation in the Southern Song Dynasty and felt that life should be enjoyed, Zhao Cuo passed the throne to Song Xiaozong, and then he began to enjoy his life in the harem.
Song Xiaozong also had a similar example of Zhao Shuo, saying that less than two years after Zhao Shuo's death, Song Xiaozong, who had been emperor for more than twenty years, also suddenly learned from Zhao Shuo, passed his throne to the crown prince, and then went to become the emperor himself.
The deeds of Zhao Zhao's father and son and Gao Wei actually show that in ancient times, if there was no suspicion between father and son, then it was also possible for the Zen throne to become a hedonistic life for the Emperor Taishang and avoid internal friction in the imperial court.
Zhao Zhao
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