In the ancient imperial system, there were three key points, one was the supremacy of imperial power, the second was the emperor's exclusive dignity, and the third point was the hereditary throne. In the course of history, the emperor is the ruler of the state and the master of the country. The quality and ability of the emperor determines the fate of the country, and the position of the emperor in a country can be said to be very important.
Therefore, in order to ensure the stability of the country and society, the stability of the imperial throne has become a crucial link. But there is only one emperor, and accidents can happen at any time, in order to ensure that even if the current emperor has an accident, the position of crown prince will be born.
The crown prince is also what we usually call "the prince". According to the regulations, the position of crown prince is generally inherited by the eldest son. But the emperor also had the power to depose the crown prince. In history, there are many cases of father-son and brother-killing in order to seize the throne of the prince. There is even a claim that the crown prince is more difficult to hold than the throne.
First, the desire for power is smoked
If we analyze the position of this emperor according to our current thinking, we can actually see a lot of bad aspects of the imperial throne. For example, the emperor was busy with government affairs and was really tired every day. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang was a famous and diligent emperor in history. History records that he read more than 800 sheets a day, worked sixteen hours, and probably had only one day off a year.
Such a high-intensity work is difficult for even the daily 996 workers to accept. In addition, the emperor's throne can be described as a daily line of life and death, and someone assassinates at any time, and one who is not careful will lose his head. There are not many emperors in history who have died well, and some people have summarized that of the 611 emperors, 272 died unnaturally. Just like the President of South Korea, this is a real, high-risk profession.
In addition to busy government affairs and the front line of life and death, in fact, the quality of life of the emperor who is dressed in fine clothes and jade food is not very high. This is mainly because the pressure on the emperor's position is too great. Even idle emperors had to face the oppression of various forces every day, so the ancient emperors were often psychopathic.
As mentioned above, the throne is so difficult to do, why are there still many people who want to be the head. There is actually only one answer, and that is the desire for power. In particular, the emperor who has ascended to the throne holds the power of life and death, and he is the only one who respects himself. Such supreme power makes it easy to lose oneself.
The history books record that emperors who were reluctant to give up power and struggled with the supremacy of power until the last moment of their lives abounded. If the emperor does not relinquish power, the prince will be too difficult to endure. On the one hand, the emperor suppressed himself, and on the other hand, the brothers were looking at the tiger. Living a luxurious but saccharine life every day, if you are not careful, you will have a psychological breakdown, so it is a good idea to take risks and plot rebellion.
Second, it is difficult for the crown prince to do it
If the emperor is busy with government affairs, stressful, and other difficulties, but at least he still has nominal supreme power, but the prince is even more miserable than that. Since the ancient emperor was ruthless, many princes, even their own sons, were pawns under the emperor's art of checks and balances in order to maintain his own power.
Although the crown prince was a prince, he was not necessarily the emperor's favorite son. In this way, the prince must not only conscientiously complete the busy homework required by the prince, but also guard against other sons who are favored by their fathers to seize power. If you are not careful, you will be framed, step by step is calculated, and people in the position of the prince can say that staying for one more minute and one second is suffering, of course, they want to get out of the sea of suffering as soon as possible.
For example, the famous nine sons and wives in history can be described as the most cruel in history. The drama of the nine sons taking the concubine probably appeared in the later years of The Kangxi Dynasty, as the name suggests, nine princes participated in the struggle for the position of crown prince.
The most competitive of the Nine Sons' Conquest were the Four Brothers and the Eight Brothers, who were both capable and powerful people, but after the brutal battle, the Eight Masters and one party were persecuted and countless people died. Once you participate in the battle to seize the wife, it can be said that either you die or I die, and the prince naturally bears the brunt of the fight.
Third, involuntarily
The position of prince is not so much the prince's alone, but rather the prince's faction. Capable princes can grasp the direction of the development of things, but most of the princes who are not so powerful can only obey the interests of the forces behind them and do things that are powerful to them. The "prince" is more like an interest group, one glory and one loss, and the prince himself is just hanging the banner of the supremacy of the group.
Most of the parties that stand with the prince are officials of his mother's family, as well as the families who are married to him, and other officials who have defected and taken sides, so that the members of the party are mixed. Within such a huge interest group, as a prince, there are also many helpless moves.
Just as the prince could not choose whether he was born into a royal family or not, he had no choice but to choose which interest group he belonged to since he was born, and who he would fight for. There are really very few options that can be made as a personal prince.
Many deposed princes were born as the eldest son of the emperor at the beginning, carrying the expectations of everyone, but finally they entered a road of no return and were forced to the point of rebellion. Kangxi's concubine Ai Xinjueluo Yinrong was the last publicly established prince in history. His mother, Empress Renxiao, fell in love with the Kangxi Emperor, but unfortunately died. He received the emperor's favor at a young age, was crowned as the crown prince, and was studious since childhood, with both literature and martial arts.
However, when he grew up, his life became particularly unhappy because of the title of prince. He was detained in Xian'an Palace for his sins, reinstated as crown prince the following year, deposed again for several years, and finally died of illness in Xian'an Palace, ending his life. He experienced two erections and two wastes, more than twelve years of imprisonment, and the evening scene was desolate. In fact, this is the result of a long and complicated political struggle, the initial gentle teenager, and finally disappeared into the cruel court struggle involuntarily.
Looking back on Yin Rong's life, it seems that the father and son of his childhood had a deep affection, and his efforts to cure him were just flowers in the mirror of the moon in the water, like a big dream. Then, after more than decades of political struggle, he was forced to participate in it, and schizophrenia was the essence of his life. The sad fate given to him by the position of prince in this way is really mournful.
epilogue
In history, the success of the prince's rebellion is actually very small, and even if the rebellion is successful, most of them are difficult to last. When the crown prince pointed his sword at the emperor, he was already saddled with the crime of killing his father and the name of rebellion. But even under such circumstances, the prince who still chose to rebel was actually at the end of the road.
The throne of the crown prince looks like an infinite scenery, but in fact, what is hidden below is endless political struggle and psychological pressure that makes people collapse. After stepping on the blood of countless political struggles to the top, it may not matter whether it succeeds or fails, what is important is that this long contest has finally come to fruition.
Countless palace coups in history have been the bloody demise of a group of people, but fortunately such a tragic fate does not have to exist today. We can't exist independently of our own times and society, so when we look back at the long river of history, we are also mixed with feelings about personal destiny.