Text: Illness (Reading History Columnist)
Although Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, was the son of Liu Bang, he had a miserable life.
Liu Chang's mother Zhao Ji was originally a concubine of Liu Bang's son-in-law Zhang Ao, and once Liu Bang went to Zhang Ao, Zhang Ao knew that this old man was lustful, so he let the beautiful Zhao Ji serve Liu Bang and thus became pregnant.
It is a good thing to be pregnant with a dragon species. Zhao Ji went to look for Liu Bang, but lü Yan knew about it and put Zhao Ji in prison.
Later, Zhao Ji gave birth to Liu Chang and committed suicide in resentment. Liu Chang was carried to Liu Bang by the jailer, and they all became emperors, and many sons were good, so Liu Bang let Lü Hou raise him from an early age.
Therefore, Liu Chang escaped the disaster during the years when Lü Hou was in power. After Lü Hou's death and the rebellion of Zhu Lü was put down, Liu Bang's sons were left with only Liu Chang the Prince of Huainan and Liu Heng the Acting King.
In this year, Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, was eighteen years old and Liu Heng was twenty-three years old. Such a similar age, coupled with the fact that ben is a half-brother, so the relationship between the two is also easy to get closer.
But what Liu Chang did not expect was that this brother, who looked gentle and elegant on the outside, thought in his heart that he could not see through at all.
01
Liu Heng went to Daidi to become the DaiWang at the age of eight, and although Liu Chang was also named the King of Huainan, he was only two years old at this time. Liu Heng stayed in Daidi for fifteen years.
According to historical records, Liu Chang should have gone to his fiefdom at a very young age, but there is no exact record of when he went. Because unlike Liu Heng, who has a mother to take care of, he should go late.
Just like this, two people, one fiefdom in the north, one fiefdom in the south, it can be said that they have not met much since childhood, there should be no feelings, just the same blood of Liu Bang.
In order to show his benevolence and filial piety, Emperor Liu Heng of Han tried his best to show his tolerance and love for his younger brother Liu Chang in front of the people of the world.
But Emperor Wendi of Han didn't think so in his heart. In the face of Zhou Bo, who had made great achievements, Emperor Wen of Han was able to quietly bring Zhou Bo tossing and turning to death.
And in the face of his own brother who also has the power to inherit the throne, can Liu Heng rest assured of him so easily?
02
During the third year of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Chang entered the capital to meet Liu Heng. Brothers and sisters are hard to meet, always have to find some fun, right? So the two of them went hunting together in the garden.
The "Chronicle of History" records this hunt: with the same car, often referred to as the "big brother". That is to say, Liu Heng let Liu Chang ride in the same car as himself, and Liu Chang was not polite, and those who opened their mouths and closed their mouths called Liu Heng "big brother". But Liu Heng didn't blame him at all.
When Liu Chang saw it, he thought that this brother was indeed a loyal and honest man worthy of the name, and indeed he was still the brother's closest. Then another thing happened immediately after that—The murder of Liu Changdang in the street.
Liu Chang, because he had a grudge against Judge Qi since he was a child, believed that he had killed his mother, so he took a few guards to see Him. As soon as the two of them met, Liu Chang directly took the hammer in his sleeve and hammered him to death, then cut off his head, and quickly ran to the palace gate, "Chi away, Tan Meat Xie Yue", listed the three major crimes of interrogating him, and then requested punishment.
However, Liu Heng pardoned him because of his ambition for revenge and his status as a relative of the emperor and the state. This made Liu Chang more and more unscrupulous. I killed the emperor's brother on the street when he didn't see it, so what else did I dare not do?
After returning to the feudal state, he began to spoil Liu Heng's favor, did not adopt the laws of the Han Dynasty, designated his own laws, and the scale of entry and exit was getting bigger and bigger, comparable to the Son of Heaven.
But Liu Heng was still silent, as if he hadn't seen it. At this time, Yuan Ang couldn't look at it anymore and said to Liu Heng: "You take care of it, you see what you are used to him, so sooner or later it will cause chaos." ”
Even if someone advised him in this way, Liu Heng still turned a deaf ear.
03
Before this, there was another thing that happened to Liu Heng, which was not a big deal, but we can also compare it.
Liu Heng had a favored concubine named Lady Shen, how much did this Lady Shen have to be pampered? In the palace, he often dared to sit on the same table as the queen. Zhonglang couldn't look down on Yuan Ang, and once when Lady Shen, the Empress, and Liu Heng went to Yuan Ang's house together, Yuan Ang arranged Lady Shen's seat at the bottom. This made Liu Heng very unhappy, and he directly waved his sleeve and left.
Yuan Ang quickly caught up and said, "Now that you have been created empress, you are still so accustomed to Lady Shen." This way of pampering Lady Shen now will just hurt her, have you forgotten the tragedy of 'Ren Yan'? ”
Liu Heng woke up and gave Yuan An a lot of rewards.
This incident shows that Liu Heng knows what will happen to those who are overly arrogant! However, Emperor Wen of Han was still so coddled with Liu Chang, which was a little strange no matter how it looked.
04
After that, Liu Chang saw that Emperor Wen of Han did not care, and was even more unscrupulous, so he directly expelled all the officials appointed by the imperial court, and then wrote to Liu Heng that he wanted to appoint xiangguo and two thousand stones of officials himself, and you should not worry about these things in the future.
According to normal thinking, these things that Liu Chang did were basically no different from plotting rebellion, and if he really loved him, he should be advised to restrain himself a little.
However, Liu Heng agreed without hesitation, if it were not for Emperor Wen of Han's deep love for Liu Chang, it would mean that all this was deliberately done by Emperor Wen of Han.
After that, Liu Chang was even more addicted, not only taking in the most wanted criminals of various princely states, but also giving people the title of marquis without authorization, and the highest even sealed to the Marquis of Guannei. In his own feudal country, he is like a small emperor, and his own fiefdom is a small imperial court.
The ministers in the imperial court could not look at it anymore, and Emperor Wen of Han may also feel that the time is ripe--he does not care, and the ministers below should also lift the lid of the pot. He asked his uncle Bo Zhao to write a letter to advise Liu Chang.
But Liu Chang was very angry after reading the letter. Usually how I play, you haven't managed me, how can you start to manage me this time? Like a spitting bear child.
Moreover, this bear child was also particularly capable of making a fuss, and directly began to contact the Xiongnu and South Vietnam, preparing for rebellion.
It can be said that Emperor Wen of Han's plan to "raise clams" for Liu Chang proceeded very smoothly.
Then, before Liu Chang's plan could be implemented, he was captured by Emperor Wen of Han and sent to Chang'an.
05
Then, the chancellor, the pawn, the imperial master, Zong Zheng, the court lieutenant, and the lieutenant of the thief began to jointly write to Emperor Wen of Han, detailing Liu Chang's many crimes and believing that he should be beheaded immediately.
However, Emperor Wen of Han showed his "benevolent" side: "I can't bear it, so you should discuss it with the ministers yourself." ”
What else is there to discuss? The evidence has been conclusive, why didn't you see you when facing the rebellion of Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei, and couldn't bear to be brought to justice? That was one of the heroes who personally sent Emperor Wen of Han to the throne.
It was nothing more than Emperor Wen of Han who was worried that his benevolent filial piety's "human design" was wrong.
In one day, Emperor Wen of Han's heart had to hang, after all, he had stepped on Lü's corpse to ascend to the throne. Liu Chang's relationship with Lü Hou since he was a child was very good, and he was regarded as his own by Lü Hou.
However, he could not bear the charge of killing his brother, so he played with Liu Chang with a hand of "Zheng Boke Duan YuYan".
Then Liu Chang was deposed and sent to Shu County. Liu Heng also very intimately gave Liu Chang five pounds of meat per day, two buckets of wine per day, and dozens of beautiful women accompanied him on the road.
However, the people who transmitted Liu Chang in various counties did not dare to open the car door, and the so-called wine and meat beauties were all decorations, and Liu Chang was starved to death.
Who would dare to starve the princes to death without opening the car door? Moreover, Emperor Wen of Han also gave Liu Chang so much wine and meat, who in the counties dared to disobey the emperor's will and not let Liu Chang eat?
That can only be Emperor Wendi of Han's own meaning.
Moreover, Yuan Ang also had a conversation with Emperor Wen of Han before that.
When Liu Chang was escorted away, Yuan Ang found Emperor Wen of Han and said, "The subject fears that (Liu Chang) died of illness at wulu. Your Majesty has the name of killing his brother, why not! ”
How did Emperor Wen of Han answer? Emperor Wen of Han said, "The ear of Wu Te Bitterness." "I'm agonizing over this too!"
Why didn't Liu Chang just leave, and Yuan Ang and Emperor Wen of Han had already predicted that Liu Chang was going to die?
After that, Emperor Wen of Han quickly arrested the officials who did not open the door for Liu Chang along the way, and put them all to death. It seems to be a breath for Liu, in fact, who knows? Maybe it's to kill people and kill people, to prevent the news of their own killing of their brothers from leaking out.
However, there is no impermeable wall in the world, and in the twelfth year of Emperor Wen of Han, a song and ballad came out of nowhere: "A foot of cloth, still can be sewn; a bucket of millet, still can be scooped." The two brothers are incompatible. ”
Emperor Wen of Han really deserved to be the emperor who created the "rule of Wenjing", and the means of playing with people's hearts and minds with this hand and wanting to capture the old and indulgent was something that many emperors in later generations could not learn.