Liu Bang was the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, he was also one of the pioneers of the Han people and Han culture, and in 195 BC, Liu Bang died.
As the founding emperor of the country, Liu Bang had a founding hero named Zhou Bo by his side, and Zhou Bo advised Liu Bang to stabilize the world, which can be said to be Liu Bang's Bole and confidant.
Later succeeded by Liu Bang's son Liu Heng, who was the later Emperor Wen of Han, who, unlike his father Liu Bang, did not reuse Zhou Bo, but constantly weakened his power.
Emperor Wen of Han weakened Zhou Bo's power because he feared that Zhou Bo would threaten the imperial power in the future, so he began to consolidate the imperial power, weaken the power of the princes, and seize the military power. For this reason, Zhou Bo almost lost his life, and he was imprisoned by Emperor Wen of Han, and finally rescued by the empress.
Why was Zhou Bo, as a loyal vassal, targeted by Emperor Wen of Han? In fact, the reason is very simple, Zhou Bo is loyal, very direct, does not know how to give in and is not smooth, he is very disliked by others, let alone Emperor Wen of Han? During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Zhou Bo served twice as chancellor, but was deposed.
Outstanding merit is entrusted with heavy responsibilities
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Zhou Bo's son Zhou Yafu was honed in the barracks. Once, Emperor Wen of Han happened to meet Zhou Yafu when he inspected the military camp.
Between Zhou Yafu stood at the gate of the military camp, if there was no token, no one could enter and exit at will, even the emperor had to abide by discipline. When Emperor Wen of Han saw such a man who observed the discipline of the army, he could not help but like him and felt that he could be reused, so before his death, he recommended him to the crown prince, the later Emperor Jing of Han, and said that Zhou Yafu was a person who could be entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
Therefore, Zhou Yafu won the favor of the emperor by virtue of his talent and courage, and he also played an important role in the war, quelling the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms. At that time, Zhou Yafu was already famous, and his merits were even higher than his father Zhou Bo.
Emperor Jingdi of Han began to pay attention to Zhou Yafu from this incident, after all, Zhou Yafu was recommended to him by his father when he was alive, and there was certainly no mistake.
Unlike his father, Emperor Wen of Han, was willing to reuse his ministers to preserve his throne, so after quelling the war, Emperor Jing of Han summoned Zhou Yafu to the palace and promoted him to the position of Chancellor, who was second only to the Emperor in power at that time and was the Emperor's right and left arm.
Everyone has some selfish ideas, and so does emperor Jingdi of Han, who reuses Zhou Yafu only hoping that Zhou Yafu will listen to his own words, make meritorious contributions to himself, consolidate his imperial power, and obey his own will, rather than a person who opposes himself.
Moreover, Emperor Jingdi of Han was not really wholehearted to Zhou Yafu, and was always guarding against him, so that later there was an irreconcilable contradiction between the two, which led the emperor to be bent on getting rid of the day and night blessing.
Contradictions arise and are suspected
Zhou Yafu was loyal to Emperor Jingdi of Han, but why did there be a conflict? This has to be from Zhou Yafu himself, he is a very stubborn person, very similar to the temper of his father Zhou Bo, unwilling to bow his head when encountering things, but only seeking truth from facts.
Such a personality naturally caused dissatisfaction to Emperor Jingdi of Han, whose contradictions were already between the rebellions of the Seven Kingdoms, and Emperor Jingdi of Hanjing ordered Zhou Yafu to lead troops to attack the rebels, but Zhou Yafu did not listen, but led his troops to remain still. It turned out that it was because a good time had not been found, and the soldiers could not be killed in vain.
But Emperor Jing of Han did not think so, he began to have doubts about Zhou Yafu, but the emperor at this time did not want to get rid of his thoughts, he thought that it was just a small matter, but soon there was something that made the emperor feel that he could not keep him.
The direct trigger was that Zhou Yafu opposed Emperor Jingdi of Han to make his foreign relatives hou, and he believed that it was only Liu Shi who could be crowned king, and that he could not be made a hou without meritorious fame and fortune. Although Emperor Jingdi of Han insisted on his own opinion, he did not have any reason to refute Zhou Yafu. Emperor Jing of Han still demoted the Xiongnu to the rank of waiting. From then on, the relationship between Zhou Yafu and Emperor Jingdi of Han became more tense.
Once the Han Jing Emperor invited him into the palace and wanted to invite him to dinner, but things were not as simple as imagined, and the Han Jing Emperor did not give Zhou Yafu chopsticks during this meal.
At this moment, Zhou Yafu thought that the steward had forgotten to take it, so he asked him to take a pair again, but he did not expect that at this time, the Han Jing Emperor said: Are you still not satisfied with the food? Zhou Yafu was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and immediately said, "The subject knows the sin and hopes that His Majesty will forgive the sin." When Emperor Jing of Han saw this, he said, "Rise."
But at this moment, something unexpected happened, Zhou Yafu directly stood up without speaking, and walked straight out.
Emperor Jing of Han was furious, believing that Zhou Yafu was just a courtier and had no qualifications to treat the emperor in this way, which also made the emperor want to kill him, because Zhou Yafu was not easy to control at this time.
If Zhou Yafu had told him that he did not have chopsticks at that time, he would have immediately sent someone to get chopsticks, but Zhou Yafu did not do so, he would feel that there was nothing wrong, and let Zhou Yafu go.
After this incident, Emperor Jingdi of Han had been looking for an opportunity to get rid of Zhou Yafu, but although Zhou Yafu's personality was straight, he was loyal and honest, and there was nothing wrong with him, so he could not find the opportunity for a long time.
Until one day, Zhou Yafu's son bought five hundred armor shields to use for Zhou Yafu's funeral, but at that time, the law stipulated that weapons could not be hidden privately, and the armor shields just belonged to weapons, which provided an opportunity for the Han Jing Emperor to move Zhou Yafu.
When Emperor Jingdi of Han learned of this, he sent someone to arrest Zhou Yafu and mercilessly imprisoned him, and finally Zhou Yafu died in prison under all kinds of torture.
Zhou Yafu's death made the other courtiers take it as a warning, and did not dare to disobey the will of Emperor Jing of Han, and was obedient to him, and the imperial power of Emperor Jing of Han was more solid. But the loyal Zhou Yafu had a tragic ending.
Since ancient times, loyal courtiers have hardly had a good ending. Their strength is won by themselves, they are loyal to the emperor, there will be no complaints, but the emperor is afraid that they will become strong to seize their imperial power and pose a threat to themselves, so they began to suppress them, and even exterminated the Nine Tribes.
If you think about it, this is all a temptation from power. Everyone is selfish, but since ancient times the selfishness of the emperor has needed the names of many people to fill his lusts. And for those loyal subjects, how can it not be a kind of sadness?