They did not want to be used as decorations by their courtiers, so why did Emperor Wen of Han succeed but King Changyi fail?

The picture shows a portrait of Emperor Wen of Han. (People's Vision/Photo)

Emperor Zhao of Han died without heirs, and Liu He, the king of Changyi, was welcomed to Chang'an to become emperor, and after only twenty-seven days, he was deposed by the great general Huo Guang, who held real power.

In the "Book of Han and Huo Guang's Biography", liu He's many crimes are listed in detail, most of which are trivial and boring, but they can be big or small. So historically scholars have tended to believe that this is actually a power struggle. Huo Guang hoped to use the emperor as a decoration, but Liu He was not willing, and Huo Guang could not tolerate him. Ban Gu did not intend to write this matter too thoroughly, but when Liu He's cronies were pushed to the execution ground, the sentence shouted "When the break is continuous, it is chaotic" has actually broken the truth: compared with Huo Guang, he wanted to launch a coup but moved slowly.

The middle of the dynasty was an era when political struggles still had a bit of a bottom line. After all, Liu He was a person who had been an emperor, so he would not kill him, and even his treatment could not be too bad, so today we can still find so many things worth looking forward to from his tomb. But he could not tolerate that he still had his own team, so when Liu He was a courtier of the King of Changyi, Huo Guang killed more than two hundred people.

Therefore, those who have not become ghosts under the knife are particularly eye-catching. "Only lieutenants Wang Ji and Lang Zhong ordered Gong Sui to reduce death with a number of advice", these two men repeatedly advised the king of Changyi to learn well, and Huo Guang left them alive.

Both Wang Ji and Gong Sui have biographies in the Book of Han, but compared with other deeds recorded in the history books, the positions of these two, "Lieutenant" and "Lang Zhongling", are more reverie.

There were three armies in Han Chang'an City:

In charge of Gyeonggi security, the units in charge of the guards inside and outside Chang'an City and various official offices, called the Northern Army, were commanded by lieutenants.

The guards in charge of the palace, called the Southern Army, were commanded by a lieutenant.

There was also an elite army stationed inside the palace, composed of Lang Guan, commanded by Lang Zhongling. If you want to compare it to today's position, Lang Zhongling is roughly similar to the head of the Federal Presidential Security Bureau in Russia, which has the Presidential Guard (Presidential Corps).

At the time of Qin II, Li Si and Zhao Gao fought very fiercely, and Zhao Gao was able to eat li Si to death, an important reason was that he was Lang Zhongling and had a closer relationship with the emperor. After killing Li Si, Zhao Gao himself became a chancellor, and the groom Zhongling who was appointed was obviously his most trusted person, and later Zhao Gao killed Qin II, which was the hand of this Lang Zhongling and Zhao Gao's son-in-law Xianyang Ling Yan Le.

The official system of the princely states was similar to that of the central government, and the lieutenants Wang Ji and Lang Zhongling Gong Sui were the two most important figures under Liu He who held military power.

At that time, Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng also returned to Chang'an as an emperor as a prince, and look at how Emperor Wen of Han prepared before returning to Chang'an.

In the face of invitations from the heroes in the imperial court, Liu Heng, as the acting king, discussed with "LangZhong Ling Zhang Wu and others", obviously, this was the most important and trusted person under Liu Heng.

Zhang Wu had many concerns, and felt that the heroes were "learning military affairs and cheating a lot", and the emperor might not be able to sit steadily after returning to Chang'an, so he advised Liu Heng to wait and see what happened.

At this time, a man named Song Chang spoke, arguing that the imperial court was in great need of a new emperor, and Liu Heng was the most suitable candidate. -------------------------------------------------

Therefore, Liu Heng made up his mind to go to Chang'an. He asked Song Chang to be a "rider" and sit in a car with himself, while Zhang Wu and six other people followed in other cars. After Liu Heng arrived at Liu Bang's Gaoling, he stopped advancing and first let Song Chang enter Chang'an to inquire about the situation.

After confirming the sincerity of the heroes, Liu Heng finally entered the city. On the one hand, Liu Heng appeared extremely modest, repeatedly resigning himself to the matter of becoming emperor; on the other hand, Liu Heng stayed in Weiyang Palace in the evening, and "at night he worshiped Song Chang as a wei general, leading the southern and northern armies, and Zhang Wu as Lang Zhongling, and xingdian Zhongzhong." ”

That is to say, Liu Heng's first major move to Chang'an was to turn the lieutenant of daiguo into a lieutenant and guard lieutenant of the imperial court, and to change the langzhong order of daiguo into a langzhong order of the imperial court. Only by doing this can the throne sit securely.

Wang Ji and Gong Sui, who were under King Changyi, did not realize this identity conversion.

On the contrary, Huo Guang killed the ministers of changyi state, leaving only these two important people not to kill, probably not only because they often advised Liu He not to act recklessly, but because they had already had some kind of contact with Huo Guang: you want to depose the emperor, I will not create trouble for you, but after the matter is completed, you will keep us alive.

In the past, the old gentleman often stressed that when reading history, we should pay attention to "officials" because some simple job records can provide more information than some cumbersome laying out.

In addition, Liu He's father, Liu Qi the Prince of Laochangyi, was born to Lady Li, the favorite of Emperor Wu of Han, and was one of the most powerful candidates in the last round of the imperial battle, and because of this, the time of his death was also particularly sensitive: Emperor Wu of Han had just died and Emperor Zhao of Han had just ascended the throne, and Liu Qi, who was only in his twenties, died suddenly.

Perhaps, the state of Changyi has long been the focus of the imperial court, and Wang Ji and Gong Sui were also originally people of the imperial court (Wang Ji had the experience of being a lang official in the central government). When Emperor Han Zhao's death picked the emperor candidate, the group of ministers pushed other princes, Huo Guang "internally uneasy", du du was willing to choose Liu He, probably also considering that even if Liu He wanted to take the route of Emperor Wen of Han, he could prevent and control it. After all, the people in power are also very good at learning the lessons of their predecessors. In this sense, King Changyi was the defeated "Emperor Wen of Han".

(The author is a historian and university teacher)

(This article is only the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of this newspaper)

Liu Bo