Some of the emperors in the ancient history of the mainland made a lot of contributions during their reigns, but they were seriously smeared in later literary works or current film and television dramas. In this article, let's take a look at the nine emperors who have been seriously smeared in history.
9. Qing Yongzheng Emperor Hu Lu
In today's film and television dramas, the romance of Emperor Yongzheng is often to tamper with Emperor Kangxi's edict to ascend the throne, and during his reign, he also made a big literary prison. However, among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng is definitely the one with the highest ability ranking.
Emperor Yongzheng was the fourth son of Kangxi, Kangxi, who was named Prince Yong when he was still alive, and was the ultimate victor in the battle for the throne in Kangxi's later years. After the death of Kangxi, Yinzhen succeeded to the throne as emperor, and in the face of Kangxi's maladministration in his later years, Yongzheng carried out a series of reforms after ascending the throne.
Yongzheng Emperor
The practice of reforming the land and returning it to the river strengthened the rule over the ethnic minorities in the southwest; abolished the system of untouchable nationality and implemented the practice of apportioning land to the mu, which lightened the economic burden of the landless and landless peasants and promoted population growth; the implementation of the practice of returning envy to the public, the establishment of a system of raising honest silver, and the implementation of the integration of officials and gentry and the payment of grain on errands and wages, thus greatly improving the finances of the Qin Dynasty. The establishment of a secret reserve system institutionalized the method of succession to the throne, and also avoided the situation of the princes of Emperor Kangxi in his later years from falling against each other to a certain extent.
A series of measures greatly improved the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, and the balance of the treasury increased several times compared with the late Kangxi, which also laid the foundation for the later Qianlong Emperor's profligacy. It plays a key role in the continuity of the prosperous Kangqian era.
8, Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
For Zhu Houzhao, what we learned is to live in the leopard room for a long time and indulge in pleasure. It is true that Ming Wuzong has this hobby, but he also has some contributions to the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhu Houzhao succeeded to the throne, he killed the great eunuch Liu Jin, and although he set up a leopard room, contemporary scholars are more inclined to think that this is his headquarters to suppress civil officials and control the dynasty. Moreover, Zhu Houzhao led his troops to resist the Mongol invasion, won the Battle of Yingzhou, and became the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty to drive the expedition in person, which was much stronger than the "God of War" Zhu Qizhen.
Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao
7, Emperor Yuan Shun Tu Timur
Emperor Yuan Shun was the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to rule the Central Plains, and is also largely considered to be the fallen king of the Yuan Dynasty. However, in view of the fact that the ability of many emperors before him was not good, the political chaos of the Yuan Dynasty led to Emperor Yuan Shun after he ascended the throne.
Emperor Yuan Shun
Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty restored the imperial examination, revered Confucianism, promulgated legal codes, strengthened clean government, solved famine, and was determined to prosper in order to save the Yuan Dynasty's ruling crisis, which was known as the "Zhizheng New Deal" in history. However, it did not solve the social contradictions and problems that had accumulated for a long time, but instead triggered a peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the face of such a situation, Emperor Yuan Shun's ambition was also eliminated, and he began to gradually become depressed, tired of political affairs, obsessed with lust, and allowed his ministers to ascend to the throne, and was finally driven to Mobei by Zhu Yuanzhang.
6, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou
Song Gaozong Zhao Gou was hacked, there was no need to sympathize with him at all, who asked him to kill Yue Fei? Just by killing Yue Fei, Zhao Gou couldn't turn over. However, Zhao Gou still did something.
Zhao Gou
At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, in the face of the Jin people's southward movement, Zhao Gou volunteered to go to the Jin camp as a hostage, and when the Jin army went south for the second time in the first year of Jingkang, Zhao Gou was ordered to send the Jin camp to seek peace, and returned halfway, stationed in Xiangzhou. Soon after the Jingkang Change, the second emperor of Huiqin and a number of royal ministers were all captured and went north, Zhao Gou escaped, ascended the throne in Nanjing Yingtianfu, established the Southern Song Dynasty, and continued the Great Song Dynasty.
It seems that this is the only thing that Zhao Gou can handle. After his reign, he always pursued peace with the Jin people and was willing to be the emperor.
5, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi
For Li Zhi's smear, it is nothing more than marrying his mother-in-law Wu Zetian and later Wu Zetian to become the emperor. But in terms of ability, Li Zhi was also ranked high among the emperors of the Tang Dynasty.
After Li Zhi succeeded to the throne, he continued the policy of Li Shimin's period and created the rule of Yonghui, and then he used the time of abolishing Wang Liwu to depose his uncle Sun Wuji, ending the control of the Guanlong aristocratic group over the imperial court for hundreds of years. Reuse Su Dingfang, Li Ji and others to destroy the Western Turks, Baekje, and Goguryeo, so that the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached the maximum.
Tang Gaozong Li Zhi
However, in the later period of his reign, Li Zhi entrusted political affairs to Empress Wu Zetian due to physical reasons, so that the power was gradually transferred to Wu Zetian's hands, and finally after Li Zhi's death, Wu Zetian successively abolished Zhongzong Li Xian and Ruizong Li Dan, and officially proclaimed himself emperor in 690, becoming the only orthodox female emperor in history.
4, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty
For Yang Guang, nine out of ten people will say that he is a faint king, he killed his father and brother to occupy his mother, and the Sui Dynasty died in his hands, but in terms of ability, Yang Guang is still relatively high among many emperors in history.
Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty
When Yang Guang was still the king of Jin, he commanded an army of 500,000 to destroy Nanchen, and after succeeding to the throne, he developed and dredged the Grand Canal, which is now in use, and the imperial examination system has also been vigorously developed during his reign, but he still has not been able to get rid of the control of the Guanlong aristocratic group over the court, so he moved the capital to Luoyang and later went to Jiangdu.
However, a series of large-scale projects, coupled with foreign conquests, made the national strength of the Sui Dynasty greatly overdrawn, and there were continuous uprisings in various places, and finally the Sui Dynasty perished at the hands of Yang Guang.
3, Liu Chan, the queen of the Shu Han Dynasty
For Liu Chan, what everyone criticizes a lot is Adou who can't be helped, and he can't think about it here, but just by virtue of the emperors of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Chan is the longest reigning emperor (up to 41 years), which shows that Liu Chan still has some ability.
Liu Chan
Although Liu Chan's ability is not very great, after succeeding to the throne, first Zhuge Liang was the auxiliary government, Liu Chan let go with all his might, trusted Zhuge Liang 100%, and fully supported Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. After Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan served as emperor for another 29 years, and listened to the words of the eunuchs in the later part of his reign, which eventually led to the demise of Shu Han. After being moved to Luoyang by Sima Zhao, he deceived Sima Zhao into enjoying his old age in peace.
2, the new emperor Mang
For Wang Mang, everyone knows that he usurped the power of the Western Han Dynasty and destroyed the Western Han Dynasty to establish the new Mang regime. But Wang Mang is a real reformer.
After Wang Mang became emperor, he carried out the reform of the ancient system and ordered the law to be changed. Wang Mang changed the nation's land to "Wang Tian" and restricted the number of individuals occupying it; slaves and maids were renamed "private belongings" and were forbidden to buy and sell; each family that exceeded the land regulations was to be distributed to the nine clans or neighbors; those who did not have land should receive land according to the standard of one husband and 100 mu; and those who disobeyed and did not comply were exiled to distant descendants. In the following year, Wang Mang issued an edict to implement the Five Equals and Six Baskets to control and monopolize industry and commerce, increase state tax revenue, and let the state operate the five industries of salt, iron, wine, coinage, and Wujun on credit, and did not allow private operations. The restoration of the fifth-rank lords, frequent changes in the official system and administrative divisions, etc.
Wang Mang
A series of reforms seemed inconceivable at the time, and were not accepted by everyone, and eventually caused a great chaos in the world, ancient historians with the concept of "orthodoxy", considered it to be a usurper "traitor", but in modern times it was praised by many historians as "the first social reformer in Chinese history".
1, Emperor Xin
For the king of Zhou, everyone knows that he is a faint king, and the punishment of wine pond meat forest and cannon branding finally led to the demise of the Shang Dynasty. However, the king is still relatively capable.
During his reign, he sent troops to conquer neighboring countries many times, expanding the territory of the Shang Dynasty. He also paid attention to cultural construction and development, popularized music, dance, painting and other art forms, and contributed to the cultural prosperity of the Shang Dynasty. In addition, the Shang Dynasty also enacted a series of laws and systems to strengthen the management and control of society.
The King of the Rings
Brief summary:
The above nine emperors, in general, most of them themselves have some stains, and it is these stains that have become the handle for them to be smeared by later generations. However, their ability during their reign cannot be ignored. It's just that most people are more interested in negative information.