In October of the second year of the founding of the Northern Qi Emperor (561), Gao Yan was disturbed by the murder of his nephew Gao Yin, and in order to distract himself, he called a few followers to go hunting in the suburbs.
Unexpectedly, the horse was frightened and jumped on the way, Gao Yan accidentally fell directly from the horse, breaking a lot of ribs, and since falling from the horse, Gao Yan's condition has become worse and worse day by day, and he can't help but start thinking about the succession to the throne.
In 2013 "The Legend of Lu Zhen", Qiao Renliang played Gao Yan
According to the eldest son of the heir, it should be passed on to the crown prince Gao Bainian, but Gao Bainian is now just a five-year-old child, the lord Shaoguo suspects that he usurped the throne of his nephew Gao Yin, in order to protect the family, he plans to set up his younger brother Gao Zhan as the heir to the throne, and begs him to treat his wife and children well.
In November of the same year, Gao Yan died at the age of 27, nicknamed Xiaozhao.
As the third emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Yan reigned for just over a year, but he was known by many people as the only Ming lord of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
To tell the truth, the emperor who has been in power for more than a year, even if he is wise, where can he be wise?
Light and thin, diligent and compassionate. There is no selfish pet inside, and the characters are accepted outside, although the stepfather's position is also special-"Northern Qi Book, Filial Piety and Zhaoji"
At that time, the government of the Zhou State was transferred to the ministers, and the lord and general guessed each other, and it was not without danger. It is the right of the dependents, the ambition of merger, the grand plan, the real contemporary master, and the year is not eternal, why is it ?—— "Northern Qi Book, Filial Piety Zhaoji"
This is the evaluation of Emperor Xiaozhao in the history books, so at a glance, it is simply a generation of Ming Jun, but on the other hand, this Ming Jun is called "Worm Dragon".
What is a "worm dragon"? It is actually a dragon crawling on the ground.
As a symbol of the Son of Heaven, the dragon must be high above, and in mythology, the dragon either flies in the sky, or calls for wind and rain, when does it wriggle on the ground?
The Rouran people call themselves steppe wolves, and are called "worms" by the Xianbei people, who are also from the grasslands
For example, the Northern Wei Dynasty ridiculed the Rouran people as "worms", which means insects who don't understand anything, and is a contemptuous term for the Rouran people, but the historian borrowed the dream of the womb and ridiculed Gao Yan as "worm dragon":
The Queen Mother is pregnant with six boys and two girls, and they all feel dreams. Pregnant Wen Xiang dreams of a broken dragon; Pregnant Wen Xuan dreams of a big dragon, the head and tail belong to heaven and earth, opening his mouth and moving his eyes, and the situation is amazing; Pregnant Xiaozhao dreams of the worm dragon on the ground; Pregnant Wu Cheng dreams of the dragon bathing in the sea; Pregnant Wei Erhou, and dreams of the moon into his arms; Pregnant Xiangcheng, Boling two kings, dream of mice under the clothes - "Northern Qi Book · Biography · Volume 9
Wenxuan is Gao Yang, Xiaozhao is Gao Yan, Wu Cheng is Gao Zhan, these three dragons, either flying dragons in the sky, or turning over rivers and seas, but Gao Yan is a dragon wriggling on the ground.
Of course, this kind of dream before the emperor was born is basically a fabrication made up by historians in order to prove the emperor's posture, and its purpose is to use dreams to tell things, which is equivalent to the police fantasy fairy song in "Dream of Red Mansions", and tell the world in this way that the emperor is really bad.
Gao Yan is Lou Zhaojun's third son, with two talented brothers, Gao Cheng and Gao Yang, and two smart and clever younger brothers, Gao Yu and Gao Zhan.
In a multi-child family, the children caught in the middle are often not noticed, not to mention that Gao Yan is still a big fat man with a bloated body, and in a group of brothers, he is even less outstanding, and is destined to be ignored by his father Gao Huan, which causes Gao Yan to have an extremely low self-esteem.
And this inferiority complex, in turn, fuels his desire to prove himself, such as usurping the throne.
Originally, the throne was not related to him, but Gao Yang died young, and Gao Yin, who ascended the throne, was only fifteen years old, giving him the opportunity to usurp the throne.
After all, a person who has been neglected since childhood is too eager to be seen, and his desire for power has long made him forget his family affection, and no one can stop him, and he is Wang Xi, as for the reason, it is naturally revenge.
Wang Xi's elder brother is called Wang Xin, the style of Qing talk in the two Jin Dynasty still exists in the Northern Qi Dynasty, Wang Xin is one of the representative figures, on the one hand, Gao Yang does not like Wang Xin's style of Qing talk, on the other hand, he is deeply sympathetic to the tragic death of the Yuan royal family, which directly angered Gao Yang, Gao Yang did not say a word, and directly executed Wang Xin.
North Qiang Region
The tragic death of his brother, Wang Xi was powerless, but fortunately, Gao Yang also died soon after, which just gave Wang Xi the opportunity to take revenge on Gao Yang's descendants.
He saw Gao Yan's desire for the throne, and kept teasing him, and finally strengthened Gao Yan's desire to usurp the throne.
Tianbao Xiangzuo, a Hu person of the East Palace Committee, is now a man who sees thousands of opportunities and controls the heroes. If the saint is young, it is not much difficult, and he will have the right to make the cashier's edict. Although His Royal Highness wants to keep his duties as a vassal, he can also get it! If the order is successful, he will retire, and he will claim to protect the family and be a primate?—— Biography · Volume XXXI
But Gao Yan also understood that he couldn't sit on the throne on his own, so from the beginning, he planned to cooperate with Gao Zhan.
However, in the entire coup, it was Gao Zhan who played a leading role, and as for Gao Yan, he just showed his face.
Gao Guiyan's news was handed to Gao Zhan, and it was also Gao Zhan who laid out the layout to eradicate a group of disobedient old ministers, and the nobles also obeyed Gao Zhan's orders.
In other words, even if there is no Gao Yan, Gao Zhan can completely usurp the throne, and on the contrary, without Gao Zhan, Gao Yan is really nothing.
Even at the critical moment, Gao Yan actually wanted to back down, if it wasn't for Gao Zhan's insistence, Gao Yan might not have been able to succeed in the end.
And the result of the coup d'état can obviously only be Gao Zhan's profit, why is Gao Zhan willing to help?
Obviously, the so-called imperial brother could not satisfy Gao Zhan, in other words, Gao Zhan wanted more, and Gao Yan obviously underestimated this younger brother.
2013 "The Legend of Lu Zhen" Gao Zhan played by Chen Xiao
Looking at it this way, Gao Yan before usurping the throne was purely a master who was unpopular and incapable, but had greater ambitions than anyone else.
In this way, he sat on the throne he picked up, thinking that everything would be fine if he made Gao Zhan the emperor's younger brother, but he didn't know that he had already become Gao Zhan's stepping stone.
As for Wang Xi, after Gao Yan usurped the throne, he was a very popular minister, you have to say that Wang Xi was greedy for wealth and nobility, but after he gained power, he indulged in mountains and rivers and indifferent fame and fortune, as if he was just to drive Gao Yang's descendants out of power.
How did the performance behave after ascending the throne? It's hard to put into words.
As I said before, Gao Yan was a very unconfident person, and when he usurped the throne, Gao Yan made a heavy oath to treat Gao Yin well, but he was always worried that this nephew would regain the throne, and finally broke his oath and executed his eldest nephew, and his mother Lou Zhao was half dead:
The Queen Mother looked at the illness and asked Jinan (Gao Yin) where the third person was, and the emperor was wrong. The Queen Mother said angrily: "Kill the evil! No need to say anything, it is better to die" - "Northern History, Volume VII, Qi Benji Seventh"
Of course, political struggles are inherently cruel, and other emperors have not done nothing, all to stabilize the imperial power.
Lou Zhaojun gave birth to six sons, three sons were called emperors, and one son laid the foundation of Northern Qi
But after consolidating the imperial power, Gao Yan was nepotistic, excluded dissidents, and had no boundaries in his small capacity.
In Tianbao, Li Su, Lu Qiong, Cui Zhan, and Lu Yuangui were in the middle book, and they were in charge of Lunhe. Li Guang, Fan Xun, Li Delin, Lu Xunzu, and Lu Sidao are famous for their articles. The dynasty built by the emperor, often serving Wang Xi is good at its beauty. Heqing, Tiantong Zhichen, Du Taiqing, Liu Ti, and Wei Qian also refer to the edict - "Northern Qi Book · Biography · Volume 45
During the period of Gao Yang Tianbao, the stars were brilliant, even in the years of Gao Zhan Heqing and Gao Wei Tiantong, they also used their energy, but during the period of Huang Jian of Gao Yan, Wang Xi was favored alone, but what was Wang Xi doing? Every day, he feasted with everyone, and as for the major affairs of the court, they were all put aside.
Counting on Gao Yan and Wang Xi to govern the country, it is not as good as Gao Wei, especially the attitude towards Wei Shui.
Wei Shui was full of wealth, but he was regarded by Gao Yan as an old minister of the former dynasty, and he listened to the slanderous words of his favored minister Wang Xi, and tried his best to suppress it.
Later, Gao Zhan took the position, but he used talents and reused Wei Shu, compared with the two, Gao Yan lacked the degree of a king.
Portrait of Wei Shu
But someone said, according to the history books, what happened to the great increase in national strength during the founding of Emperor Gaoyan?
(At the end of the Tianbao period), there were many camps, hundreds of labors flourished, the whole country harassed, and public and private labor abuses. All the rewards, there is no limit to the complexity, and the accumulation of the treasury is empty - "The Book of Northern Qi: Emperor Wenxuan"
(During the reign of Huang Jian) at that time, the country was rich and strong, and the snow god was hated, which was intended to control Pingyang as an enterprising strategy - "Northern History, Volume 7, Qi Benji Seventh"
Looking at it this way, Gao Yan's performance is indeed good, but you must know that Gao Yan has only been in power for 20 months, and he has been in office for a year and a half.
Even if he is a genius, it will not be in just over a year to make the country rich and strong, after all, where is the objective productive force, the simplest thing is food, even if the wind and rain are smooth, it is not enough to make the empty treasury immediately full.
Unless Gao Yan is tyrannical and tyrannical, but the history books say that Gao Yan "is light and thin, diligent and compassionate", or Gao Yan will be immortal, which is impossible.
Obviously, this passage is made up by the historians again, and the purpose is probably to belittle Gao Yang and raise Gao Yang, of course, the history books are not black Gao Yang once or twice.
Gao Yan also knew that he was indeed inferior to his brother Gao Yang, so three months after ascending the throne, despite Wang Xi's dissuasion, he insisted on going out to fight against Ku Moxi.
Kumoxi
It stands to reason that he has just ascended the throne and needs to stabilize the throne, so he hurriedly went out to fight, and the rear must be unstable, but Gao Yan is strong against public opinion, obviously he has his own considerations.
It turned out that Gao Yang had conscripted Kumo Xi many times before, and Kumo Xi was frightened, Gao Yan wanted to fake the fox and fake the tiger, and used Gao Yang's name to go out to Liwei.
After all, Ku Moxi was far away from the Central Plains and didn't know that Gao Yang was dead, so Gao Yan took advantage of the time difference to make Ku Moxi think that it was still Gao Yang who led the troops to the battle, so he left the cattle and horses to flee in a panic.
Previously, Gao Yang's expedition recorded the number of enemies killed and the number of cattle and horses captured every time he came back, but this time Gao Yang's expedition only recorded the record of "winning cattle and horses", and there was no record of the number of enemies killed.
How could such a talentless and cautious king leave such a good reputation in the history books?
In fact, it was the "Book of Wei" case that ran through the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Book of Wei
After Gao Yang became emperor, he ordered Wei Shui to write the "Book of Wei" on the basis of the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the purpose of which was to promote the orthodoxy of the Northern Qi Dynasty from the perspective of public opinion, reprimand the Western Wei and Southern Wei dynasties for transgression, and promised that Wei Shui would write history truthfully, and he would not learn from Tuoba Tao to kill historians.
However, after the cultivation was completed, it was criticized by the mouth, and a large number of children of the powerful people of the Northern Qi Dynasty attacked the "Book of Wei", either thinking that Wei Shui had omitted their family's position, or saying that his family was not included in the history books, or that Wei Shui had slandered his family.
In fact, the essence of this matter is the contradiction between the selfish interests of the gate lord clan and Wei Shui, after all, when Wei Shu wrote, he involved a lot of things in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and when it came to the Northern Qi Dynasty, these children of the former dynasty were still all over the court, even if they were recorded according to the truth, it was difficult to satisfy everyone, so the "Book of Wei" was named "Filthy History".
In the face of condemnation, Gao Yang strongly supported Wei Shu, and severely punished those who slandered the "Book of Wei" and Wei Shu's scholars, including Wang Songnian, the father of Wang Shao, who later wrote the "Qi Zhi" of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and Lu Sidao, who wrote "The Rise and Fall of Zhou Qi".
When Taiyuan Wang Songnian also slandered history, and Fei and Shu were convicted, each of them was whipped with Jiafang, or died because of it, Lu Sidao also pleaded guilty - "Northern Qi Book: Wei Shu Biography"
It is conceivable what attitude these two people will have towards Gao Yang, and therefore the poor depictions of the emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty after that have been deeply influenced by the two.
The emperor who offended the scholars and historians generally did not have a good reputation in later generations
As soon as Gao Yan took the position, he overturned the case for these people, so that these stricken scholars would be grateful, and they would naturally say good things about them in the history books:
Filial piety and worship to the Yellow Gate Squire. Every time the emperor sits, and discusses political affairs, it is very good. Filial piety collapsed, and Songnian galloped to the capital to announce the edict. The speech was sluggish, and until the announcement was announced, his complexion had not changed, his words were harmonious, the announcement was mourning, he was isolated from the ground, and all the officials were mournful - "Northern Qi Book, Liebiography, Volume 35 Pei Rangzhi"
How bad Gao Yang is, how wise Gao Yan is, Gao Yan is the real master of "overturning the case" for himself:
Qi Zitianbao suffered the end, until Wuping lost the country, and outside of filial piety, there was no order for the lord - "The Rise and Fall of Zhou Qi"
As for how virtuous he was, all the praise in the Book of Northern Qi said that he had a good personal character, but there was little mention of his ability to govern.
Just like later generations, fans praise their idols for being handsome, emotionally intelligent, and popular, but they don't talk about the level of acting, guess why? Obviously, they don't meet the standard.
To be honest, Gao Yan is one of the main culprits of the decline of the real Northern Qi Dynasty.
From the Eastern Wei Dynasty, there was a struggle between the Xianbei Xungui of Jinyang and Yecheng within the imperial court, and Gao Cheng supported the civil forces of Yecheng to confront it, so that the Xianbei Xungui of Jinyang could not raise his head, if he was not suddenly assassinated, he might have succeeded.
Then Gao Yang was called the emperor, and his prestige was not as good as that of his brother, so he could only compromise and fight, but in essence, he still hit Jinyang Xungui.
But Gao Yan is good, because he has to bow to Xungui because he has to win the country, and bury all the efforts of his two elder brothers, which completely shakes the national capital of Northern Qi, and the degree of destruction is only comparable to Gao Wei in the future, but Gao Yan is still inferior to Gao Wei in terms of ability.
Northern Qi murals (tomb of Xu Xianxiu)
Although Gao Wei is said to be the king of the fallen country, he is qualified, he knows how to grasp power in his own hands, and knows how to get rid of political enemies who threaten the throne, but in the Northern Qi Dynasty from the Gao Huan period, the Xianbei nobles and Yecheng civil officials fought too frequently, and they were frequently slaughtered after the change of the throne.
directly led to the fact that after Gao Wei succeeded to the throne, there was no minister of Kuang Fu inside, and there was no minister to do his best, and there was only one way left to die in the country, of course, Gao Wei himself is also very strange, but he is still higher than Gao Yan in terms of ability.
Looking at it this way, among the emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Yan's ability is the worst, and the so-called Gao Yan is the first Ming Jun of the Northern Qi Dynasty, which is just a joke.
Resources:
The Book of Northern Qi and the Book of Filial Piety
Book of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Biography of the Lie, Volume 9
Book of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Biography of the Lie, Volume 31
Northern History, Volume 7, Qi Ben Ji No. 7
Book of the Northern Qi Dynasty and Emperor Wenxuan
The Book of Northern Qi and the Biography of Wei
Book of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Biography of the Lie, Volume 35 Pei Rangzhi
The Rise and Fall of Zhou Qi