The Chinese civilization has gone through thousands of years of history, and after witnessing the former prosperous Tang dynasty gradually fall from the altar, China entered a chaotic era - the period of five dynasties and ten kingdoms.
Chaotic times are a nightmare for the common man, but also an opportunity for the few.
Troubled times produce heroes, and being born in troubled times gives many people the opportunity to get ahead and show their edge.
There is such a person in history, he was once just a soldier who was intoxicated with the art of war and martial arts, but in the chaotic times with his own skills, he became an extremely powerful minister from the merits of the dragon.
He also suffered from the suspicion of kings, and he struggled all the way, and finally embarked on the road of yellow robes and became the king of a country.
This person is the founding king of Later Zhou, Guo Wei, the ancestor of Zhou.
The son of the general was born in troubled times, and he devoted himself to the art of war and excelled in the army
Although Guo Wei was born in a troubled world, he was also lucky as a general, and the martial arts inheritance of the family could at least bring him some self-preservation power superior to ordinary people.
However, when Guo Wei was young, his father Guo Jian, who was the assassin of Later Jin Shun Prefecture, was killed because the city was attacked by enemy forces, and Guo Wei lost his father at a young age, so he had to follow his mother to his relatives to survive.
Later, his mother also passed away, and Guo Wei, who lost his parents, had to live with his aunt Han Shi, and grew up safely under the aunt's upbringing.
Although Guo Wei experienced the pain of losing his father when he was young and could not grow up under his father's teaching, he still became a shrewd, courageous and resourceful martial artist when he grew up.
At the age of eighteen, Guo Wei was called up to join the army and became a soldier, starting his future life as a horse.
As a soldier, he was not a reckless man who only knew martial arts.
In his spare time in the barracks, he was either studying the art of war or studying hard.
Although Guo Wei is a martial general, he has long understood that it is difficult to achieve great things only by understanding martial arts, so he has been trying to enrich himself.
And for Guo Wei's efforts, his superiors are in the eyes.
Such a subordinate with outstanding ability and courage and resourcefulness not only admired him by the generals in the army, but also by ordinary soldiers.
Later, Liu Zhiyuan, who was then a general of the Later Jin Dynasty, came to the army, and whenever he came to the battle, he would appoint Guo Wei's entourage, regard him as a confidant, and later take Guo Wei with him.
And Guo Wei's performance did not disappoint Liu Zhiyuan.
In the army, he convinced everyone with his outstanding military talent, and also advised Liu Zhiyuan on other matters, helping him expand his power and consolidate his position.
Later, the Later Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitans.
When the country was in chaos, Guo Wei and others persuaded Liu Zhiyuan to take this opportunity to become emperor, pacify the society, and dominate the world.
After Liu Zhiyuan established the Later Han regime, the situation was still unstable, there were constant rebellions, and the newly established dynasty was in turmoil, and Guo Wei stood up at this time to advise the new emperor and stabilize the situation in the country.
For Liu Zhiyuan, the emperor, Guo Wei was a talent he had seen in the army, a confidant who had followed him for many years, and a minister who assisted him from the Later Jin general to the Later Han emperor.
For Guo Wei, Liu Zhiyuan is not his Bole and nobleman.
Liu Zhiyuan gave Guo Wei the opportunity to show himself, and he seized this opportunity to have the later Jun'an Chenle.
After Liu Zhiyuan became emperor, he promoted his henchman Guo Wei to the rank of vice-chancellor.
The post of privy envoy originated in the Tang Dynasty, and by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was almost the general leader of military and political power, and his position of power was comparable to that of the prime minister.
Guo Wei's acquisition of such a powerful position shows the emperor's trust in him, and when Liu Zhiyuan later died, he appointed Guo Wei as the "minister of support" to assist the new emperor.
The later Emperor Hanyin may not understand that the friendship between Guo Wei and the previous emperor, Liu Zhiyuan really trusted Guo Wei, so he would leave him to the successor, and Guo Wei was also really grateful for his knowledge and grace, so he assisted him wholeheartedly.
In a surprising move, Kuang Houhan turned the corner
After Emperor Yin of Han succeeded to the throne, as the "minister of Tuogu" designated by the previous emperor, Guo Wei devoted himself to assisting the young lord, hoping to stabilize the situation of the Later Han Dynasty.
In the spring of the first year of the Later Han Dynasty, Hezhong Jiedu caused Li Shouzhen to rebel, and Emperor Hanyin ordered Guo Wei to personally lead troops to quell the rebels.
Guo Wei personally led the army to fight, once again showing his outstanding military talent and stabilizing the Later Han Dynasty.
After Guo Wei's army arrived in the river, he did not start the siege battle at the first time, but divided the army into three routes, with each subordinate leading a man and horse stationed in the west and south of the city, and he personally led the army to station in the east of the city.
Subsequently, Guo Wei ordered the large army to set up camp on the spot, and then arranged for tens of thousands of people to start building fences and forts, and tens of thousands of soldiers came to the city, not taking up weapons to charge, but taking up tools to build fortifications.
Although it is normal for marching and fighting to build fortifications, the oracle received by the army was to siege the city and suppress the rebellion, but now it has not been able to attack the city.
Although the subordinates were confused, they were forced by the coercion of the commander and dared not speak out.
The rebel general Li Shouzhen, who was besieged in the city, saw that Guo Wei did not immediately send troops to attack the city, but set up camp outside the city, and could not help but feel bad in his heart.
It turned out that the land in the middle of the river was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and if Guo Wei directly launched a siege battle, I am afraid that it would cause great casualties and would not be able to break through the city in a short time.
Therefore, Guo Wei chose to avoid casualties, besieged without attacking, cut off the connection between Hezhong City and the outside world, and when the food and grass in the city ran out, Li Shouzhen could only surrender without a fight.
It is also a long-term battle, and the use of such tactics can not only achieve victory in the end, but also do not allow a large number of soldiers to shed blood and die in vain.
However, Li Shouzhen naturally did not sit still, and since Guo Wei refused to take the initiative to attack the city, he ordered the army to take the initiative to attack the city and destroy the fences and fortresses that Guo Wei's army had just built.
In fact, Li Shouzhen did not just want to destroy the fortifications outside the city, but waited for the opportunity to highlight the encirclement of the army and turn the tide of the battle.
However, the fortifications that tens of thousands of troops spent a lot of energy to complete would naturally not be useless, and Li Shouzhen's rebels were trapped in the city, already deprived of food and grass, even if they were inspired by the will to survive, how could they compete with the army that was ready to go outside the city.
Since Li Shouzhen was besieged, he has repeatedly taken the opportunity of raids to try to highlight the encirclement, but he has repeatedly lost battles, and the city has run out of food and grass, so he can only make a desperate bet and fight with all his strength to find a way to survive.
Guo Wei, on the other hand, took advantage of the lack of troops in Hezhong City, ordered his troops to attack the city, and took Hezhong City in one fell swoop.
The rebel general Li Shouzhen eventually set himself on fire in despair, and after Han Jiangshan finally returned to calm.
A piece of Dan heart is difficult to defeat the king's suspicion, and the yellow robe is finally a change of dynasty
After Emperor Hanyin succeeded to the throne, Guo Wei's status was promoted again as a minister of Tuogu, and he was promoted from a privy deputy to a privy envoy, in charge of military and political power.
Grateful for Liu Zhiyuan's grace, Guo Wei was loyal to Hou Han.
However, what happens to loyal courtiers if they encounter the assassination of traitors?
At this time, Emperor Hanyin reused the traitor Su Fengji.
Although Guo Wei knew Su Fengji's personality well, in order to help the Hou Han and prevent the people from falling into war again, Guo Wei decided to fight hard to save the country and the people.
At that time, coinciding with the rebellion in Hezhong, Fengxiang, and Yong'an, Su Fengji took the opportunity to provoke Emperor Hanyin to send Guo Wei to various places to quell the chaos, and at this time, Guo Wei, as a soldier, had already achieved the highest position of privy seal.
Even if Guo Wei was able to win successive victories and win battle merits in suppressing the rebellion this time, for Emperor Hanyin, he could no longer give Guo Wei higher power and status.
However, if Guo Wei failed to suppress the rebellion or refused to lead the army under the pretext of pretext, he would definitely be framed by the traitor, and his life would most likely be lost.
In the end, for the sake of the righteousness of his family and country, Guo Wei resolutely took over the heavy responsibility and led the army to fight.
Fortunately, Guo Weibao's knife was not old, and he successfully suppressed the rebellion and stabilized the Houhan Jiangshan.
After Ban Shi returned to the dynasty, he politely resigned the rich reward of the Hanyin Emperor, and advised the Hanyin Emperor to reward the soldiers and the ministers who stabilized the dynasty.
For a time, the righteous people in the DPRK could see that although Guo Wei held power, he was not a person who coveted power, and everyone in the government and the public praised him for his high morality and respect as a pillar of protecting the country.
Unfortunately, the emperor at this time was no longer Liu Zhiyuan, who trusted Guo Wei in the past, but the reckless, unassertive and unlearned Emperor Hanyin, who began to mutilate Zhongliang at the instigation of his traitors.
Soon, Guo Wei, who was far away in the capital, was also affected.
His family members who remained in the capital were brutally killed, and Emperor Hanyin even issued a secret edict ordering people to kill Guo Wei who was in Yecheng.
Fortunately, Guo Wei got the news in advance and survived.
However, at this moment, he is also facing a difficult choice, as a human subject, the king wants the subject to die, the minister has to die, how can he fight a way out of this death?
In the end, Guo Wei chose to accept the advice of his entourage, and provoked the soldiers of the army who followed him with "Emperor Ling Guo Wei to kill the soldiers", and sent troops to the capital in the name of "eliminating the evil on the side of the king".
At this moment, only the initiative can break the current deadlock.
With the strength and prestige of Guo Wei's "Minister Tuogu" and his extraordinary military strength, the outcome can be imagined, and in the end, Emperor Hanyin was killed by his entourage.
However, the resourceful Guo Wei did not immediately proclaim himself emperor, but asked the empress dowager to help Liu Zhiyuan's adopted son become emperor.
Guo Wei relied on the strategy of delaying the army to make sufficient preparations for his successful proclamation as emperor.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month of the first year of Guangshun, with the support of his subordinates, Guo Wei officially added a yellow robe and became the founding king of Later Zhou.
With Guo Wei's strength at that time, he could already be called emperor after Emperor Hanyin was killed, but he clearly knew that even if he was called "Qing Jun's side", it was inevitable that calling him emperor when the situation was initially determined would fall into practice.
Therefore, Guo Wei chose to first help Liu Zhiyuan's adopted son to become emperor, and then replace him when the turmoil subsided and the time came.
Eliminate the accumulated evils, the country is rich and the people are strong, and the wife and nephew are not in love with the throne
Guo Wei, step by step from the chaotic world, from an ordinary sergeant to the peak of life, what will be the change?
Guo Wei, who had experienced hardships since childhood and knew the sufferings of the people, continued to maintain his usual frugal style after becoming emperor, and was not carried away by the praises of his subordinates.
Faced with the courtier's absurd proposal to build a palace, he flatly refused.
He believes that he grew up from poverty and hardship, knows the suffering of the people, and now has the honor of becoming the lord of the world, and he should save the people from fire and water, rather than exacerbate the difficulties of the people with his own hands.
In order to be considerate of the people, Guo Wei vigorously promoted reforms, exempted or alleviated the harsh taxes left over from many previous dynasties, reduced the pressure on the people, abolished the ban on trade with foreign merchants, and encouraged the people to do business.
Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, monasteries have had a large number of landed laborers, but the imperial court could not require them to pay taxes to provide labor, which not only affected the state's tax revenue, but also indirectly became a destabilizing factor for the country.
After Guo Wei ascended the throne, he decisively abolished the monasteries in the capital and limited the power of the monasteries.
In this way, not only the country's fiscal revenue has been increased, but also the unstable factors that threaten the country's stability have been eliminated to a certain extent.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the land of China was in a state of great division, and in such a chaotic world, the law was almost useless.
As the saying goes, troubled times use heavy codes, and previous generations of dynasties have all chosen to use harsh punishments to manage the country.
However, severe punishment was destined to spawn a group of ruthless officials, coupled with social unrest, corrupt officials rampant, and the enforcement of laws became arbitrary, and the image of court officials deteriorated in the minds of the people.
Therefore, Guo Wei was determined to rectify the country's law.
He re-promulgated criminal laws, rectified the judiciary, and re-established the majestic image of the country's judicial system in the minds of the people.
After a series of reforms after the accession of Zhou Taizu Guo Wei, Later Zhou gradually showed a prosperous scene.
However, the legend will eventually come to an end.
When Guo Wei was seriously ill, he still did not forget to tell the people around him: his funeral should not be too luxurious, and the mausoleum should be as simple as possible, and should not stop for too long, labor and money.
A generation of emperors, who are still working for the country at the end of their lives, are really Ming monarchs.
And from the successor he chose for Hou Zhou, it was clear that he did not covet the position of the Supreme of the Ninth Five.
Guo Wei had a deep relationship with his original wife Chai, but Chai died early, and his stepwife was killed by Emperor Yin of Han along with his two sons.
Therefore, after succeeding to the throne, he adopted Chai Rong, the nephew of his original wife, and devoted himself to cultivating his adopted son, and finally handed over the rivers and mountains he personally laid down to his adopted son.
It turns out that Guo Wei did not look at the wrong person, Chai Rong was a very qualified emperor, he inherited his adoptive father's legacy and governed the country very well.
The chaotic times of five generations and ten countries have made Guo Wei's legend.
He fought horses and horses all his life, made great achievements in battle, was a pawn in the army, and gradually grew into the founding king of Later Zhou.
Under Guo Wei's rule, social contradictions gradually eased and the economy was restored, and the chaotic situation from the late Tang Dynasty to the Later Zhou for more than a hundred years was finally alleviated and restored in Guo Wei's dynasty.
Troubled times create heroes, Guo Wei stood out from the troubled times of five generations and ten countries, and gradually grew from a military pawn to a generation of emperors, and troubled times provided Guo Wei with opportunities, and he also seized the opportunities.
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An Shuzhen "The Life of Later Zhou Emperor Guo Wei"
Wang Shaotang "Guo Wei - A Hero of the Early Times"