In ancient China, the famous philosopher Lao Tzu put forward the philosophical view of "the interdependence of misfortune and happiness", which is sourced in chapter 58 of Lao Tzu: "Where misfortunes and blessings depend, where blessings and misfortunes lie." "Put simply, bad things can lead to good results, and good things can lead to bad results. In fact, the idea of "blessing and misfortune depending on each other" originated from the I Ching and is at the end of China's oldest philosophical thought.
In the case of the emperor, they ostensibly enjoy unlimited power and are the most honorable people in the world. But in fact, they are not as bright as we think, and there are many helplessness and misfortune.
Specifically, there are the following points:
First of all, according to statistics, in Chinese history, the average life expectancy of emperors was only about thirty-nine years old. At first glance, it does not seem to be low, because the average life expectancy in ancient China was only about thirty-five years old. However, you should know that when calculating the average life expectancy of the population, children who die at birth are added. Because the level of medical care in ancient times is far less than that of modern times, newborn babies have a very high rate of premature death.
However, the average life expectancy of the emperor is not calculated to include the person who died prematurely, because the child who died prematurely could not be the emperor. However, some demographers estimate that if the element of death of newborn babies is removed, the average life expectancy of the ancient population can reach about fifty-seven years. In such a comparison, it is obvious that the average life expectancy of the emperor is not high.
In addition, in addition to the murder of the emperor, there was another important factor that caused the early death of the emperor, that is, the low level of health. The dynasties of the Song and Ming dynasties were relatively stable, and the emperors were generally not murdered, and most of them could die well, but their average life expectancy was still lower than normal. Over the past several hundred years, eighteen emperors in the Song Dynasty had an average life expectancy of forty-five years; the average age of sixteen emperors in the Ming Dynasty was only forty-two years old.
Throughout the ming dynasty's two hundred years, there were only five emperors who lived longer than their average age. Emperor Xuande, who created the rule of Ren Xuanzhi, was appreciated by Ming Chengzu from an early age and has been following Zhu Di to fight the world, and it is reasonable to say that such an emperor's physical fitness should not be bad, but he reigned for only thirty-six years and died in the year of his establishment. Moreover, what is more interesting is that from the Xuande Emperor to the Zhengde Emperor, a total of five generations, none of them had a long life, basically all died around forty. Among them, the only one who lived longer was the Chenghua Emperor, but he had just passed forty and died.
In addition, the more tragic thing is that Ming Guangzong, who had a hard time ascending to the throne, but because of the spoils of several women, he injured his body and died after a month on the throne.
Secondly, in addition to normal deaths, there are also abnormal deaths. As we all know, China has a feudal history of more than two thousand years, and there are a total of 611 emperors who can be examined, including large unified dynasties and some small dynasties. Of these more than 600 people, a total of 339 died normally, which means that 272 died unnaturally.
Of course, this is still a clearly recorded number in the history books, and perhaps the real situation is even higher than imagined. Therefore, after a simple calculation, we can know that the abnormal mortality rate of ancient emperors is close to fifty percent. It can be seen that the emperor has risks, and he needs to be cautious!
Finally, the emperor's quality of life as a whole is not very good. Perhaps due to high pressure, psychopathic people often appear, and once such a person becomes emperor, it is simply a disaster for the whole world. Turning over history, those crazy things that are unbelievable have actually happened. According to the "Twenty-Four Histories", about 25 percent of the emperors had abnormal personality, mental health and other manifestations of mental illness.
Here, we can briefly enumerate it.
The Southern and Northern Dynasties were a very chaotic era in the history of our country, and there were many absurd and cruel emperors. For example, Liu Ziye of Liu Song has done many jaw-dropping things. Liu Yigong was a great hero of Liu Song, and he was not accustomed to What Liu Ziye did, and after regular persuasion, Liu Ziye hated him very much. Therefore, after Liu Ziye ascended the throne, he ordered That Liu Yigong's limbs be cut off, his stomach cut open, his eyes pickled with honey, and he also gave a name called "Ghost Eye Dumpling" and distributed it to the minister.
In addition, Liu Ziye's brutality is simply too much to read. In addition, Liu Ziye also tied his uncle to a pigsty, let him eat with the pigs, and crowned him as the "King of Pigs", watching and having fun every day. In fact, Liu Ziye is the former deposed emperor, and the later deposed emperor Liu Yu is also a perverted guy, and his degree of perversion is even more terrible. He likes to go out and play, as long as he goes out and encounters anyone who is in the way, no matter who it is, shoot and kill him. If any courtiers did not conform to his wishes, he tortured them with torture instruments, killing dozens of people a day.
It can be seen that these behaviors are no longer simply cruel, but typical psychopaths.
However, Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty suffered from severe bipolar disorder. Sometimes I don't eat for a few days, sometimes I don't sleep all night, and I start to count the merits and losses of my life, and I talk to myself non-stop. What is even more frightening is that he does not trust anyone and often suspects that someone is trying to assassinate him. Every time the official played, he remembered his old grudge and ordered him to be killed.
In addition, some people have abnormal appetite, such as: Liu Ziye's uncle "Pig King" Liu Yu, after luckily became the emperor, this person likes to eat to release pressure, and can eat hundreds of pieces of roast pork at a time. In addition to these, there are some people who like alchemy, but the elixir is some toxic ingredients, and if you eat too much, you will be poisoned and die. All in all, behind the emperor's brilliance, there is also pressure and sorrow that is different from ordinary people.
In fact, as long as people are under pressure, whether it is the emperor or the minister, whether it is the magnate or the people, everyone has their own pressure. The emperor is responsible for the world's major affairs, the ministers serve the monarch carefully, the magnates are afraid of having nothing, and the common people run all day for chai, rice, oil and salt. However, no matter what kind of pressure, we must learn to release it, otherwise everything will be in vain.
Even if there is supreme power, even if there is endless glory and wealth, but life is gone, all this is gone.
Resources:
[The Twenty-Four Histories, Book OF Song, Volume VI, Benji No. 6, Book of Song, Biography of Wang Yigong of Jiangxia]