In the first year of Later Zhou Xiande (954), Later Zhou Taizu Guo Wei was seriously ill, and before his death, he summoned his adopted son Chai Rong, and after some instructions, Guo Wei passed the throne to his adopted son, and ordered his nephew Li Chongjin and others to give Chai Rong a great gift to Chai Rong, which was regarded as determining Chai Rong's status, and the supreme power of Hou Zhou was handed over in such a calm manner.
After Guo Wei died, he was buried in Songling, the temple name was Taizu, and Chai Rong ascended the throne in front of the spirit, that is, Zhou Shizong.
As the pioneer of the Later Zhou regime, Guo Wei's life can be regarded as magnificent, but he has become an emperor, why did he not pass on the throne to his own family, but to a foreign surname?
Later Zhou Taizu Guo Wei
Guo Wei is a native of Hebei, can be regarded as a second-generation official, his father Guo Jian is the Shunzhou assassin, but when Guo Wei was two years old, Guo Jian died in the war, and the young Guo Wei was adopted by his aunt.
When Guo Wei was eighteen years old, he was recruited into the army and became a small personal soldier of Li Jitao, who was deliberately cultivated by Li Jitao, and Guo Wei soon became a young general who was familiar with the art of war and understood actual combat.
However, during the remnants of the Tang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, the world was in turmoil, Li Jitao was eliminated, and his subordinates were incorporated by Li Cunmiao, the Later Tang Zhuangzong, and Guo Wei also became a pro-army of Li Cunmiao.
In 926 A.D., Li Cunmiao died in the Xingjiaomen Change, and Li Siyuan, who succeeded to the throne of the Later Tang Mingzong, dismissed all the concubines in the palace, including a concubine Li Cunmiao, whose maiden name was Chai, whose ancestral home was Hebei, and was also dismissed, and returned to his hometown with his parents with the gold, silver and jewelry that he had saved over the years.
On the way home, Chai and his parents were stranded in a post house along the Yellow River because of the continuous heavy rain. In a dignified manner, he ordered the sergeant to be called in.
This sergeant is Guo Wei, Guo Wei at this time, is still just a small soldier, after talking with Chai, he found that this person must not be a thing in the pool, and immediately decided to marry this little-known soldier.
And Chai's parents were very dissatisfied with this, and said to their daughter: "Even if you remarry, you must marry at least one festival envoy, how can you marry this little soldier?"
But Chai's will is firm, if Guo Wei does not marry, his parents have no choice but to agree to this family business, and Guo Wei got a beautiful daughter-in-law out of thin air, so he is naturally extremely willing.
That night, Guo Wei and Chai got married in the post house. After the husband and wife got married, their relationship has been very good. With the support of his wife's gold, silver and jewelry, Guo Wei gradually started his ascent from a small soldier and became a general in the Later Tang Dynasty.
After tossing and turning many times, Guo Wei defected to the command of Liu Zhiyuan, the general of the Later Jin Dynasty. In 947 AD, Liu Zhiyuan proclaimed himself emperor in Taiyuan and established the Later Han regime, and Guo Wei, who was deeply trusted by Liu Zhiyuan, also became a privy envoy who held military power.
But Liu Zhiyuan was a short-lived emperor, only one year, he died of serious illness, Guo Wei became the minister of Tuogu, and assisted Liu Zhiyuan's second son Liu Chengyou to ascend the throne.
After ascending the throne, Liu Chengyou, favored the prime minister Su Fengji, and intended to get rid of several auxiliary ministers left by his father, in November 950, Wang Zhang, Shi Hongzhao and other three of the four auxiliary ministers of the Later Han Dynasty were killed by Liu Chengyou in the main hall, and then Liu Chengyou was ready to attack Guo Wei.
The news of the killing of Guo Wei was sent to the army, and Guo Wei, who was going north to resist Liao, took the opportunity to kill back to Kaifeng in the name of "Qingjun side", and Liu Chengyou, who learned that Guo Wei had rebelled, did not stop doing two things, and killed all Guo Wei's family members in Kaifeng, including Guo Wei's two sons, at that time, only one of Guo Wei's daughters survived.
In this way, Liu Chengyou Deng Yu cut off the back road of Guo Wei, and also cut off his own back road, Guo Wei led the troops back to Kaifeng Bianliang, Liu Chengyou lost in the resistance and was killed in the chaos.
After Guo Wei, who won the victory, returned to Kaifeng, he invited the then Empress Dowager Li, that is, Liu Chengyou's mother, to come to the prison to listen to the government. Soon after, that is, in January 951, the Liao soldiers attacked, Guo Wei was ordered by the Empress Dowager Li to go to the expedition, on the way, there was a mutiny, the soldiers put a yellow robe on Guo Wei's body, the mountain shouted "Long live", imploring Guo Wei to be the emperor.
On the fifth day of the first month of 951 AD, Guo Wei officially called the emperor in Bianjing, the founding name of the Great Zhou, changed to Yuan Guangshun, known as the Later Zhou in history, Guo Wei is the Taizu of the Later Zhou.
When Guo Wei ascended the throne, Chai had died, and Chai had a nephew Chai Rong, when Guo Wei did not have children, he took him in, since he was a child, he grew up in Guo's family, in Guo Wei's southern expedition to the north, Chai Rong has always been a saddle before and after the horse, under Guo Wei's words and deeds, Chai Rong's ability to deal with things and strategy have been greatly improved, won Guo Wei's appreciation.
After Liu Chengyou killed Guo Wei's family, Guo Wei basically had no relatives, the only ones who were, except for Chai Rong's adopted son, were Guo Wei's son-in-law Zhang Yongde and Guo Wei's nephew Li Chongjin.
Only Guo Wei's daughter escaped from Liu Chengyou's hands that year, that is, the later Princess Shouning, after Guo Wei became emperor, Princess Shouning got married and married Zhang Yongde under Guo Wei.
And nephew Li Chongjin is the son of Guo Wei's sister Princess Fuqing, Liu Chengyou was spared when he killed Guo Jiamanmen because Li Chongjin followed Guo Wei in the army.
Therefore, after Guo Wei ascended the throne, considering the centennial time, there were only these three people left for him.
Among the three people, in terms of blood relationship, Li Chongjin is the closest and is Guo Wei's nephew; in terms of fame, it is his son-in-law Zhang Yongde who is the closest, and a son-in-law is half a son; but in terms of feelings and talents, it is the adopted son Guo Rong who has the most obvious advantages.
In 951 AD, Guo Wei first granted Chai Rong the status of the prince, so that he could not be subservient to the throne and let him have the qualification to inherit the throne.
Immediately afterwards, Chai Rong was named the king of Jin, in the period of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, he was named the king of Jin, which means that he is the prince of the country, because this was a conventional rule at that time, at the same time, Guo Wei added his nephew Li Chongjin as the commander of the palace, and his son-in-law Zhang Yongde was waiting for the palace in front of the palace, and handed over the palace army to his only two juniors, and also let them protect Chai Rong.
As said at the beginning of the article, before Guo Wei died, he asked his nephew Li Chongjin to give Chai Rong a great salute in front of him, which was also a declaration to the world that the new emperor had been decided, so that they would be exempted from the title dispute.
After everything was explained, in the first month of the first year of Xiande (954), Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, died of illness in Bianjing, and Chai Rong, the king of Jin, ascended the throne in front of the Ling, which was for Zhou Shizong.
Why did Guo Wei firmly choose his nephew Chai Rong among the three candidates? In addition to Chai Rong's own outstanding ability, I personally think there are two other reasons:
1, Guo Wei's feelings for Queen Chai
When Guo Wei was unknown, Queen Chai did not hesitate to deign to marry him, it was to see that Guo Wei must have a great achievement in the future, although Queen Chai did not live to the day when Guo Wei ascended the throne and became emperor, but it did not affect her status in Guo Wei's heart at all.
Love House and Wu, Chai Rong, the nephew of Queen Chai, this child who has followed Guo Wei since he was a child, was also looked at by Guo Weigao, because from him, Guo Wei saw the beautiful woman who did not marry him back then, plus Chai Rong has followed Guo Wei for more than 20 years, and he has a certain emotional foundation.
2. In troubled times, the country needs a strong controller
During the period of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, the entire Central Plains was a pot of porridge, and if you want to survive in this troubled world, you need a strong person to control it, Guo Wei was in his forties when he became the emperor, and he was actually fully capable of giving birth to a child, but he did not do so.
Because he knows that if there is another one, although it is a prince who is a serious prince, but there is no guarantee that he will pass on the country, maybe there will be a character similar to himself in the future, and then there will be a "yellow robe and body", the foundation that is easy to laid, and give it away, why bother?
Therefore, among several choices, Guo Wei finally chose Chai Rong, and it was precisely because he liked Chai Rong's ability that he was relieved to hand over the power to him.
Whether it is Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, or Chai Rong of Zhou Shizong, both of them are rare good emperors in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, under their governance, the national strength of the Later Zhou Dynasty is gradually thriving, and the situation is very good, but it is a pity that the efforts of the two generations are all for Zhao Kuangyin in the end, so that Zhao Kuangyin picked up a ready-made, to a certain extent, the Later Zhou Dynasty is the founder, the pioneer, and the Northern Song Dynasty, but it is a somewhat shameless harvester, including the process of Zhao Kuangyin's ascension to the throne and the emperor, which is exactly the same as Guo Wei.