preface
Guo Wei, Zi Que'er, was born into a military family. His father died early, and he followed his mother to live a life of poverty. When he was a teenager, Guo Wei was tall, with slender and powerful limbs, and a radiant look, like a towering tree. He has a flying sparrow tattoo on his neck, hence the nickname "Guo Que'er".
Elm into a scene Young into black pine
In 938, at the age of 18, Guo Wei joined Li Jitao and became his personal soldier. Li Jitao valued Guo Wei's courage and was tolerant of his temper and small mistakes. Guo Wei has a straightforward personality, is jealous like a hatred, and likes to fight grievances. Once, Guo Wei heard that a local butcher bullied the market and oppressed the people, and his heart was very uneven. He decided to teach the butcher a lesson, so he pretended to buy meat and went to the butcher's shop.
Guo Wei handed over the meat money and asked the butcher to cut the meat for him. The butcher cut several times, but Guo Wei was not satisfied and deliberately looked for ballast. The two soon quarreled. The butcher saw that Guo Wei was tall and powerful, and did not dare to really provoke him, so he could only ridicule: "If you have one, you will stab me in the stomach!"
Guo Wei was already angry, and he was even more angry when he heard this. As soon as he picked up the butcher's knife, he stabbed the butcher in the abdomen, and when he saw that the knife was about to be stabbed, the butcher wanted to hide but it was too late, and the tip of the knife pierced directly into the abdomen, and the butcher fell to the ground in response. Guo Wei's knife was cruel and directly stabbed the butcher to death.
Guo Wei committed murder and broke the law, and was quickly arrested by the government and imprisoned. Li Jitao was very anxious when he learned this, and he valued Guo Wei's talents, so he sent someone to rescue him from prison. This incident made Guo Wei grateful to Li Jitao and serve more faithfully. From then on, Guo Wei followed Li Jitao like a shadow and regarded him as an important benefactor.
In 946, Li Cunxuan came to attack Li Jitao, and Guo Wei joined Li Cunxuan's army. In 947, the Later Jin Dynasty was established, and Guo Wei switched to the Later Jin Dynasty. In the same year, Liu Zhiyuan established the Later Han Dynasty in Taiyuan, and Guo Wei followed Liu Zhiyuan south and assisted him in capturing Bianjing. In 948, Liu Zhiyuan died and was succeeded by his son Liu Chengyou, and Guo Wei was reused as the de facto second figure of the Later Han Dynasty.
However, the good times did not last long. Liu Chengyou had a suspicious personality, and when he entered the courtier's words, he began to fear Guo Wei's meritorious master. In the winter of 950, Liu Chengyou decided to eradicate Guo Wei and other important ministers and plotted to kill them. The strategist Li Hongyi leaked Liu Chengyou's plan to Wang Jun and Guo Wei. Guo Wei was shocked and discussed countermeasures with Wang Jun.
At this time, Guo Wei's heart was full of ashes. He was loyal to Liu Zhiyuan, and he had always been loyal to Liu Chengyou, but he did not expect to end up in this situation. He realized that he had to fight for himself, and could no longer just fight for others. The adviser Wei Renpu offered a plan to have Guo Wei forge the emperor's edict and frame Liu Chengyou for dying his courtiers in order to gain the support of other generals. Guo Wei accepted the suggestion. He forged an edict and said to his courtiers, "This is the emperor's order, let me execute you."
When the ministers heard this, they were angry. Guo Wei took the opportunity to incite them to start a rebellion and elected Guo Wei as the leader of the alliance. Guo Wei did not hesitate in his heart and immediately accepted the heavy task of leading the rebels. He is determined to turn his face with Liu Chengyou to the end and seize power. In the winter of 950, Guo Wei led an army to Kaifeng City. Liu Chengyou was shocked and immediately sent troops to defend, and also sent eunuchs to spy on Guo Wei's actions. Unexpectedly, the eunuch was captured by Guo Wei. Guo Wei asked the eunuch to repay Liu Chengyou and asked him to tie Li Ye and other henchmen to the barracks. After the eunuch told Liu Chengyou, Liu Chengyou was furious and immediately slaughtered Guo Wei's family, even the infant children.
Guo Wei was overwhelmed with grief when he learned that his family had been brutally killed. His heart was like a knife and tears flowed down his face. This incident strengthened his determination to rebel. Liu Chengyou, this tyrant, must die!
The two sides fought a decisive battle at Qilipo. Guo Wei's morale was high and he quickly defeated Liu Chengyou's army. Liu Chengyou was defeated and killed by his cronies when he fled. Guo Wei's army entered Kaifeng City, greeted the Empress Dowager, and elected Liu Yun to the throne. However, Guo Wei did not loyally support Liu Yun. In the winter of 950, Guo Wei left Kaifeng in the name of crusading against the Khitans, led his army to proclaim himself emperor, and established Later Zhou. The following year, Guo Wei led his troops back to Kaifeng, forcing Liu Yunchan to take the throne.
The road to rebellion is full of regrets
After Guo Wei's establishment of Zhou Zhou, he finally fulfilled his wish to seize power and become king. But at the same time, he could not avoid feeling guilty about the betrayal of his old lord Liu Zhiyuan. Liu Zhiyuan had a graciousness for Guo Wei and promoted him to an important general. Guo Wei was grateful for this, and once vowed to repay the Liu father and son for their kindness. However, Liu Chengyou's suspicion and tyranny made Guo Wei unable to remain loyal and had to choose to defect.
Every time he thinks of this, Guo Wei will sigh that fate has tricked people. He didn't want to hurt his mentor's son, he just wanted to serve the Liu regime, but he didn't expect to end up in the point of revenge. This made him proud to fulfill his long-cherished wish, but also felt guilty about the old master, and could not calm down for a long time. Sometimes Guo Wei would have trouble sleeping late at night, and the figure of Liu Zhiyuan's mentor was circling in his mind. Liu Zhiyuan was kind to him, but he rebelled and seized power because of Liu Chengyou's atrocities, which can be described as revenge. Thinking of this, Guo Wei couldn't help but feel ashamed for what he had done.
In 951, Guo Wei sent troops to attack the Northern Han Dynasty, intending to unify the north. This move is inevitably reminiscent of Guo Wei's former mentor Liu Zhiyuan. The Northern Han Dynasty was the regime established by Liu Zhiyuan, and Guo Wei's move was tantamount to destroying his home country. Facing the old country, Guo Wei was also hesitant in his heart. While he wanted to consolidate his emerging regime, he also thought of the kindness of Liu's father and son, and he was very difficult. In the end, he made up his mind and sent troops to attack Taiyuan. Liu Chong surrendered and Northern Han perished. While Guo Wei won the victory, he was also deeply disappointed.
Whenever he thought of the attack and destruction of the Northern Han Dynasty, Guo Wei would blame himself. The Northern Han Dynasty was a regime founded by Liu Zhiyuan, and he had a good understanding of Guo Wei. But for the sake of his ambition, he personally destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty. This made Guo Wei feel bitter and self-remorseful. In 952, Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang state, sent Chen Yu to attack Zhou. Chen Yu sang all the way and made a huge momentum. Guo Wei personally led his army to meet the battle, and fought the Southern Tang army for three days under the city of Zhen County. In this battle, Guo Wei won a great victory, captured Chen Yu, and gained the strategic initiative. But he also saw that there is still a long way to go to unify the world.
After the battle, Guo Wei stared at the corpses everywhere, and his heart was mixed. For the sake of his own ambitions, he did not hesitate to start a war and devastated the world. Thinking of this, Guo Wei couldn't help sighing, is what he did really promoting historical progress? Is the dream of unifying the world really worth such a cruel price? These doubts have always haunted Guo Wei's heart.
In 953, Guo Wei sent troops to attack the Southern Han Dynasty. The following year, Liu Zheng, the lord of the Southern Han state, personally led heavy troops to resist. In Lingnan, the two sides fought for more than 100 days, and Guo Wei finally defeated the Southern Han army and conquered Guangzhou. Guo Wei paid a huge price in this battle, and finally won the southern battlefield. However, just when Guo Wei was complacent, the northern Khitan colluded with the remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty and took advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Zhou army to march south, and attacked the Central Plains in a big way. Guo Wei had to lead his army north to meet the enemy. In the Battle of Gaoliang River, Guo Wei defeated the Khitan army and regained the initiative.
After the victory in the war, Guo Wei did not have joy in his heart. He realized that in order to unify the world, he did not hesitate to fight with the four forces for a long time, so that the people could not live in poverty, and it was difficult for him to be stable. Looking at the smoke of gunfire in the north, Guo Wei couldn't help but reflect on whether the war in his life could really create a peaceful and prosperous era? Is the dream of world domination too costly?
In 960, Guo Wei planned to capture Jiangning, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty. At this time, his son Guo Yi offered a plan, hoping that Guo Wei would personally recruit to show his determination to unify the world. Guo Wei was hesitant at first, worried that Qin Zheng would not return. However, thinking that the great cause of reunification had reached a critical moment, he finally summoned up the courage to personally go to war.
However, just the day before the expedition, Guo Wei suddenly died violently at the age of 43. Before he died, he said to his son Guo Yi: "The most regrettable thing in my life is not being able to unify the world!" Guo Wei's sudden death hastily ended the great cause of Later Zhou Unification, and it also became an eternal regret in his heart.
Before his death, Guo Wei stared at the bright moon outside the window, and his heart was mixed. It is a pity that I have taken risks in my life, and I will die before my long-cherished wish has been fulfilled. But what made him even more sad was that he did everything he could to claim the title of king and emperor, resulting in the destruction of life and the pain in his heart. Fate played with him and punished him for his ambition and indifference. Guo Wei used his last strength to say the eight words "unify the world" to his son, and he ended up with hatred.
A dream of yellow millet A hundred years of affair
In 961, Guo Wei's eldest son Guo Yi ascended the throne as Emperor Gong of Zhou. According to Guo Wei's last wish, Guo Yi actively prepared to unify the world. After years of conquest, by 968, Guo Yi's Later Zhou Dynasty finally came to the north and south. Guo Wei's dream of reunification was thus realized. In 970, Guo Yi was deposed by Prime Minister Zhao Kuangyin and died in Later Zhou. Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty founded the state. Although Guo Yi lost the throne, the Guo Wei family still influenced the political situation of the Northern Song Dynasty through their daughter's marriage to Zhao Kuangyin.
Looking back at Guo Wei's life, the dream of founding the country was finally realized, but he also suffered his own evil consequences halfway. He rebelled against the old lord to build a new dynasty, and for a while he gained ambition, but he also accumulated the troubles he deserved. Suddenly dying violently before the great cause is accomplished, it can be said that the hero's life cannot be ended. However, what is enough to go down in history is Guo Wei's lifelong promotion of the cause of reunification. Without his Northern Expedition, it might have been difficult to break the division between the North and the South. It is with the support of Guo Wei's towering tree that Zhao Kuangyin can finally successfully unify the world.
Guo Wei is like a black pine, growing from a weak sapling into a towering tree when young. He endured storms and was repeatedly struck, but he still stood tall. Although he experienced many twists and turns in his career and even betrayed his benefactor, his ambition to unify and eliminate war still inspires future generations to move forward towards their ideals.
epilogue
Guo Wei has created brilliance with his life, and it has also proved how much a person's ambition can change things. Looking back on history, we should not blame our heroes for their mistakes, but remember their spirit that inspired us to strive for progress. Everyone can push the wheel of history through their own efforts