"The Great Emperor of Hanwu" Liu Zheng stills
In his later years, Emperor Wudi of Han did not distinguish between right and evil, and preferred to believe in Jiang Chong, who was a good manipulator, and as a result, even his heir, the crown prince, suffered.
Who is Jiang Chong? He was originally a native of Zhao and served as a protégé of King Jingsu of Zhao. Because of his discord with Crown Prince Dan, he went to the imperial palace in Chang'an City to expose Crown Prince Dan, which was favored by Emperor Wudi of Han and used it as a direct envoy for embroidered clothes, specially responsible for supervising the affairs of the noble Qi and his close ministers.
After he took office, he had a conflict with the crown prince. Once, when he accompanied Emperor Wu to Ganquan Guan, he met the prince's family, and while riding in the middle of the carriage, he immediately stepped forward to stop and detain the carriage and horse. When the crown prince learned of this, he quickly sent someone to intercede and told Jiang Chong not to play it to Emperor Wu, but Jiang Chong did not listen, so he told Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu thought that he was impartial and praised, "This is how a human minister should be." He promoted Jiang Chong to be the captain of Shui Heng.
Coincidentally, a major event happened in the Han Palace at this time. Prime Minister Gongsun He captured Zhu Anshi, a warrior whom Emperor Wu ordered to be arrested. While in prison, Zhu Anshi wrote a letter to Emperor Wu, accusing Gongsun He's son Gongsun Jingsheng of fornicating with Princess Yangshi, and also had witches bury puppets on the road to curse the emperor. Emperor Wu was furious when he read this, and immediately ordered Gongsun He's father and son to be executed, and also gave Princess Yangshi and Princess Zhuyi to commit suicide. Thus began the famous witchcraft case.
One day, Jiang Chong went to visit Emperor Wu, who said that he always had nightmares these days, dreaming that countless puppets were beating him with wooden sticks, and he often woke up.
Jiang Chong felt that he had offended the crown prince and Empress Wei, and felt that Emperor Wu was already old, and he was afraid that if Emperor Wu died, he would be punished by the crown prince, so he came up with a bad idea, insisting that Emperor Wu's illness was caused by witches. Emperor Wu was confused, but he believed his nonsense, and asked him to set up a witchcraft prison to deal with the crimes of those involved in this matter.
Jiang Chong received the support of Emperor Wu and let it go. He found a few Hu Wu and went to the residence of the people he hated to secretly bury the puppets first, and then let Hu Wu lead them to dig the ground in the residences of these people. Those arrested could not survive the torture and had to confess to others, which again affected some people. In this way, tens of thousands of officials and civilians in the capital were innocently framed and killed one after another.
After passing through the capital, Jiang Chong set his eyes on the palace again. He asked Hu Wutan He, who was trusted by Emperor Wu, to say: "Emperor, I see that there is demagogic demon qi in the palace, and if you don't get rid of it, your illness will not get better." Emperor Wu was eager to cure his illness, and of course he believed it, so he ordered Jiang Chong to enter the official to investigate and deal with the matter, and also sent Hou Han according to Dao, and Yushi Zhang to assist. Also accompanied were Huangmen Suwen and Hu Wutanhe.
With Emperor Wu's edict, Jiang Chong led everyone into the palace and searched everywhere. Very few puppets have been dug up elsewhere, only many puppets have been dug up in the two palaces of the Crown Prince. This was actually deliberately buried by Jiang Chong in advance.
What's more, next to the puppets dug up in the womb there is a book with words of disobedience written on it. Jiang Chong walked out of the East Palace with these evidences and threatened to let the emperor know.
The prince did not bury the puppet, and when he saw that Jiang Chong had dug up a lot of evidence, he was shocked and frightened, so he hurriedly asked the young Fu Shide to ask him for a plan. Shi De was also afraid of being punished, so he said to the crown prince: "Former prime minister Gongsun He's father and son and the two princesses have all committed this crime and were killed, and now Jiang Chong has taken Hu Wu to the East Palace to dig up puppets. For today's reasons, it is better to pretend that the emperor ordered Jiang Chong and others to be arrested and punished for treachery, and then it is not too late to plan this matter. ”
The crown prince was shocked when he heard this, and said: "Jiang Chong came on order, how can he capture it without permission?"
Shi De said: "The emperor was recovering from illness in the Ganquan Palace, and the empress and the family officials asked him for instructions and no one informed him. The emperor is unknowable, but the traitor is so daring. If we don't act quickly, won't we repeat the mistake of Prince Qin Fusu?"
At this time, the prince had no other way but to act according to Shi De's plan. He falsely preached the divine decree, recruited samurai, and arrested Jiang Chong and others. Suspecting that the messenger was false and refusing to accept the edict, he fought with the samurai and was killed, while Su Wen and Zhang Yi fled to Ganquan Palace.
The samurai escorted Jiang Chong and the others to the East Palace. When the prince saw Jiang Chong, he couldn't help but feel angry and scolded: "Zhao Yu, you messed up Zhao Guo, and now you want to frame our father and son?" After that, he ordered the samurai to kill Jiang Chong and had the witch Tan He sent to Shanglin to be burned to death. On the other hand, there were no people in Paise, and they entered the Weiyang Palace on the night of the festival to inform Empress Wei of the situation and make defensive preparations.
Su Wen and others fled to Ganquan Palace to tell that the prince had rebelled and arrested Jiang Chong without authorization. Emperor Wu was taken aback and said, "The prince must have rebelled because he dug up puppets in the palace and hated Jiang Chong." So he sent an envoy to summon the prince.
The messenger was afraid to go to the East Palace, so he made up a lie and replied: "The prince plotted against his subordinates
In fact, he wanted to kill the minister, but the minister had to flee back. ”
When Emperor Wu heard this, he was furious, and immediately ordered Prime Minister Liu Qu to send troops to capture the crown prince. Liu Qu got the order and hurriedly mobilized men and horses from all over the Beijing Division to go to the East Palace.
After the crown prince knew that the situation had changed, he falsely preached a divine decree to release all the prisoners in the capital, and ordered Fu Shide and his guest Zhang Guang to lead them to resist the enemy. He also announced to the officials of the imperial court: "The emperor is critically ill in the Ganquan Palace, and I am afraid that the traitor will give birth to trouble." ”
The crown prince led the crowd to engage the troops led by Liu Quyan. Under the western part of Changle Palace, the battlefield was set up, killing for five days, killing tens of thousands of people, and blood flowing like rivers. Some thieves said: "The prince rebelled", and some of the people with the prince fell to the side of Prime Minister Liu Quyan;
So the crown prince was defeated, and Shi De and Zhang Guang were killed. The prince panicked and fled outside the capital with two boys.
Liu Qu did not capture the crown prince and reported the details to Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu was furious and ordered the seal of Empress Wei to be confiscated. Empress Wei was killed, and members of her family were either beheaded or committed suicide.
At this time, Emperor Wu was already furious, and the ministers did not dare to enter into the consultation, only the third elder of Huguan, Ling Humao, did not avoid the risk and wrote a letter to analyze Jiang Chong's tricks in detail and persuade Emperor Wu to come to his senses. Emperor Wu woke up like a dream, but it was too late. After the prince escaped from the capital, he went straight to Hu County and hid in Quanji, where the people treated him well but were very poor. The prince remembered that his old friend was also very rich in Hu County, so he sent someone to look for him, not wanting to leak the rumors. Xin'an ordered Li Shou to lead people to capture overnight and surrounded the prince's residence. The prince had no way to escape and killed himself. Two of his sons resisted arrest and were killed.
After the death of the crown prince, rumors spread in the capital, accusing Emperor Wu of being mediocre, and Gao Yulangtian Qianqiu wrote to Emperor Wu to defend the crown prince's wrongs. Emperor Wu was greatly moved, summoned Tian Qianqiu, and said very sadly: "Between father and son, it is difficult for people to speak. Today, you have been wronged by Prince Chen Ming, and it was Ancestor Gaozu who asked you to teach me to awaken. So he worshiped Tian Qianqiu as a great hongxuan, and ordered the entire Jiang Chong clan to be destroyed, and Su Wen was taken to the top of the bridge and burned to death. He also built a Si womb in Lake County to show his repentance.