Wang Anshi's "Nanxiangzi": "Since the ancient imperial state, lush and beautiful. Four hundred years have been a dream, and it is sad. The Jin Dynasty was crowned with ancient hills. Swim around the water. The upper floor of the city is even higher. The past is leisurely and gentle, and I look back. The Yangtze River flows empty of its own streams outside the sills. ”
China has a history of five thousand years, and in this period, the ancient Chinese emperor system lasted for more than two thousand years, until modern society really abolished. The establishment of the emperor system originated from Qin Shi Huang, who established the title of emperor after the unification of the six kingdoms, and he himself as the emperor was the supreme ruler. From the beginning of Qin Shi Huang's establishment of the three dukes and nine secretaries system to maintain imperial power, the emperors of successive dynasties have been working hard to consolidate imperial power, the internal and external dynastic system promulgated during the Han Wudi period, the perfect three provinces and six ministries system of the Tang Dynasty, until the Establishment of the Military Aircraft Department in the Qing Dynasty, the emperor system has truly reached its peak.
The ancients' desire for the throne
Different from today's socialist system, ancient China has always been dominated by the emperor, the emperor has the supreme power, whether it is a high-ranking official, nobleman or ordinary people, in front of the emperor can only rely on people's sniffles, human life and death are actually between the emperor's thoughts. Under such circumstances, the throne became the dream of countless people, and once the emperor sat in this position for a long time, he was unwilling to retire, and other people who did not sit on the throne became extremely eager. We all know that being born in the royal family has no family affection to speak of, and in order to compete for the throne, incidents of bloodshed often occur. The "Nine Sons and Concubines" incident during the Qing Dynasty ended with a tragic ending.
And the reason why people are so keen on the throne is because they can hold huge powers in their hands, and huge powers have become the targets of many people's predecessors and successors, and they have also caused many casualties. However, in addition to holding the power of life and death in his hands, the most enviable point of the ancient emperor was probably his three thousand harem beauties. In ancient times, polygamy was practiced, and for the emperor, there was no so-called polygamy, and the beauty in the harem could be said to be countless. However, the only "bodhisattva emperor" in china's ancient history, who did not go to the harem for 40 years, was a truly pure-hearted emperor, but his cause of death became a laughingstock.
2. Xiao Yan, who has one heart for the Buddha
This emperor was Xiao Yan, the Emperor of Liangwu who established Southern Liang, and whether he lived and rested or his ideological attitude, he did not look like an emperor, but developed from the perspective of a monk and a monk. For Xiao Yan, he was born into a family of nobles, and later successfully established Southern Liang, becoming the emperor above ten thousand people, and also having supreme power. However, Xiao Yan did not act arbitrarily because of his own rights, on the contrary, he was an emperor who was extremely good at thinking about the people, and the reason for this was because Xiao Yan was devoted to Buddhism. Xiao Yan did not start believing in Buddhism since he was a child, and the reason why he embarked on the path of believing in Buddhism was actually inseparable from his original wife. After the death of his original wife, Xiao Yan once dreamed of her, and his wife hoped that Xiao Yan could use the Buddhist scriptures to overdo it for her, and Xiao Yan also began to come into contact with Buddhism.
After Xiao Yan became emperor, he would go to the harem at first, but with the birth of his son, Xiao Yan felt that he had an heir to the throne, and he never set foot in the harem again, and it lasted for forty years. Xiao Yan himself was immersed in Buddhism from then on, and although he was very enlightened in the governance of the government, he was bent on becoming a monk. Although he was dissuaded many times, Xiao Yan already regarded himself as a monk in his heart, not only the same as the monk's life and rest, but also with good intentions, I am afraid that he can be said to be the kindest emperor in ancient Chinese history. However, this kindness eventually hurt him and made him a laughingstock.
3. Being killed for goodness
It turned out that during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, his kindness and enlightenment were well known, and the people praised Xiao Yan. However, some people took this as an opportunity to try to break through The Southern Liang. When he was in Southern Liang, Xiao Yan had accepted the trust of a man named Hou Jing, although Hou Jing was a person with a strange temper and full of evil in the eyes of outsiders, but Xiao Yan thought that all people were good because he was devoted to Buddhism, and there were ways to think of good people to change, so he accepted Hou Jing without any hesitation, and even made him an official, with a lot of rights in his hands.
Hou Jing was destined not to become Xiao Yan's ideal person, although he had an official position, Hou Jing was not satisfied with this, he hoped to sit on the highest throne, so he led troops to force the palace, just to seek power and usurp the throne. However, even at this time, Xiao Yan was still defending Hou Jing, believing that this was not his own intention, but Hou Jing finally failed Xiao Yan's wishes and starved Xiao Yan alive. Being starved to death because of kindness is certainly unacceptable today, but this has become a laughing stock in the eyes of the ancients, after all, Xiao Yan is too pedantic, and can even be described as stupid.