introduction
Gao Cheng of the Song Dynasty talked about "puppets" in "Things Jiyuan, Game And Play, Puppets": "The hereditary puppets originated from the siege of Zuping City of Han Gao, used Chen Pingji, carved wood as a beauty, and established the city to deceive the Dunfu clan, so that future generations became puppets. So later, puppets were also likened to people who could not have autonomous abilities. In ancient times, the most famous such people may be the puppet emperors in history.
In the feudal era of our country for more than 2,000 years, there were more than 400 emperors. Among these emperors, there are the utilitarian emperors of thousands of years, and some are absurd and tyrannical tyrants; there are long-lived kings who are too old to be rare, and there are infant emperors who are less than a hundred days old. Of course, there are also the most helpless kings and puppet emperors.
▲ Han Xiandi Liu Xie stills
01
Speaking of puppet emperors, perhaps the most famous are Emperor Xian of Han and Emperor Xuantong. Due to the monopoly of foreign relatives and eunuchs, there were particularly many puppet emperors and small emperors in the Han Dynasty and northern Wei. These puppet emperors were either young or because they were specially supported by powerful ministers, so they had no real power in their hands, and many times they could only be said to be a "humanoid jade seal". There are some puppet emperors who are willing to eat and wait for death, but more puppet emperors are not willing, because it is not to say that it is very uncomfortable to be manipulated, and more importantly, once they lose their use value, they are likely to be killed directly.
So there are also some puppet emperors who will try to resist, but their fate is often miserable. The Han Emperor Liu Yi was poisoned because he was too young and vigorous, and bluntly said that the general Liang Ji was a "general of the Great Wall". Emperor Xian of Han had planned and issued an edict to eliminate Cao Cao, but the action failed. Afterwards, although Cao Cao did not kill Emperor Xian of Han, all the ministers involved in the operation, as well as Dong Guiren, who was pregnant, were killed.
▲Cao Cao stills
But it is not the emperor who has not succeeded in getting rid of the puppet status, the Han Xuan Emperor Liu Yi has just ascended the throne, in fact, he is also Huo Guang's puppet, but he is more intelligent, has been Tao Guang to cultivate obscurity and patience, and when the right time comes, he will uproot the Huo family and finally become a generation of sages. In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, several puppet emperors appeared in succession, among which Emperor Xiaozhuang Yuanziyou was also unwilling to be a puppet emperor to launch a coup d'état and fight with the powerful ministers to the death, but unfortunately failed in the end. Later, northern Wei produced an emperor who was not willing to be subject to power, Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu, who was also the last emperor of Northern Wei.
02
Yuan Xiu was born in the third year of the Northern Wei Dynasty (510 AD), Yuan Xiu was the son of Yuan Huai, the King of Guangping Wumu, a collateral of the imperial family, who was not eligible to inherit the throne. However, in the chaotic situation at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the emperor changed frequently, and each powerful courtier would support a puppet emperor, and Yuan Xiu was favored by Gao Huan, who held great power at that time.
▲ Yuan Xiu stills
After the change of Heyin, the Northern Wei Dynasty was in chaos, and most of the various royal clans at that time fled to the people to live in seclusion, and Yuan Xiu was also one of them. Yuan Xiu originally lived in seclusion in the countryside, but was found by Gao Huan,who told him that he wanted to invite him to become emperor. After Yuan Xiu had just learned of this, according to the "History of the North", "The emperor changed color and said: 'Is it not to sell me?'" So it seems that Yuan Xiu is not willing, of course he knows that under the circumstances at that time, the emperor was not so good, it was all up to the high-ranking officials to decide, if they wanted to abolish it, they would abolish it, and if they wanted to kill it, they would kill it. Gao Huan personally came to see Yuan Xiu, crying and making trouble, and showed great sincerity, and Yuan Xiu agreed to enter the capital to become emperor.
Gao Huan let Yuan Xiu become emperor, of course, just want to have a puppet, he married his eldest daughter to Yuan Xiu as an empress, Yuan Xiu and this Gao clan of course have no feelings, it can be said that they are tired of looking at each other. Yuan Xiu made his three cousins princesses and raised them in the palace, and the name of the princess was actually his harem.
▲Northern Wei Princess stills
03
Yuan Xiu was not willing to be a puppet emperor, so he made overtures to another powerful minister, Yuwen Tai, who was certainly not a loyal vassal loyal to the royal family, but the two sides had common interests, so they hit it off. Yuwen Tai wrote to Yuan Xiu and expressed his loyalty. Yuan Xiu prepared to attack Gao Huan, when Yuan Xiu proposed to move the capital to Guanzhong, and the imperial court ministers were very much in favor.
In July of the third year of Yongxi (534 CE), Yuan Xiu broke with Gao Huan completely, and in one fell swoop, he took a part of the Northern Wei royal family and his favorite concubines to Yuwen Tai. Gao Huan personally led his troops to chase and intercept, but in the end he failed to catch up. After Yuan Xiu arrived in Chang'an, he was supported by Yuwen Tai and established a northern Wei court. However, Yuan Xiu only changed a manipulator for his puppet status, he was still subject to people, and all the decrees depended on Yuwen Tai.
▲ Yuwen Tai stills
Yuan Xiu was greatly annoyed by this situation, he originally thought that he could become a real emperor and have something to do, but Yuwen Tai and Gao Huan actually just wanted to use the identity of the emperor to facilitate the form. Yuan Xiu not only had no rights in Chang'an, but also had no one to use. Eventually, his dissatisfaction caused Yuwen Tai to kill the killer. In December of the same year of moving west, Yuan Xiu was poisoned by Yuwen Tai. After that, northern Wei was divided into two, and Yuwen Tai established Yuan Baoju as emperor, known in history as Western Wei.
epilogue
Gao Huan established Yuan Shanjian as emperor after Yuan Xiu fled, and was known as Eastern Wei. Yuan Baoju was very cooperative with Yuwen Tai after becoming Emperor Xu Wei and became a very competent puppet emperor. After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng took over his father's position, and he beat and scolded Yuan Shan mi, and finally although Gao Cheng was stabbed to death, his brother Gao Yang still poisoned Yuan Shan Mi to death.
Resources:
"Things Kihara, Game Play, Puppet"
History of the North