Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is detailed at the end of the article.
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Preface
During the 5,000 years of China, there have been many historical celebrities who have contributed to the country.
But there are also many disturbing bastards who disregard the general interests of the nation for their own selfish interests, thus causing a catastrophic blow to the trend of history.
Who are these sinners who have brought disaster to the country and the people, and what evil things have they done?
Zhao Gao
Zhao Gao's birth year is unknown, he was born into a humble family in Zhao State, and it is rumored that his mother was sentenced to death for breaking the law, and Zhao Gao was enslaved in the Qin palace since childhood.
Zhao Gao was not only proficient in law, but also good at calligraphy and archery, and this talent allowed him to gradually rise to prominence in the palace, and eventually won the trust of Qin Shi Huang, who was appointed as the commander of the CRRC Prefecture, responsible for the management of the emperor's chariots and horses, and paperwork.
In addition, Zhao Gao also served as the teacher of Qin Shi Huang's youngest son, Hu Hai, which also laid the foundation for his later path to power.
In 210 B.C., Qin Shi Huang died suddenly of illness during his parade, leaving behind an edict to appoint his eldest son Fusu as emperor, but this edict fell to Zhao Gao, who showed his deep ambition and cunning methods in the face of the temptation of power.
He united with Prime Minister Li Si to tamper with the edict, forced Fusu to death, and supported the young and easily controllable Hu Hai to ascend the throne, that is, Qin II, this series of secret room operations not only changed the fate of the empire, but also marked the peak of Zhao Gao's personal power.
After Hu Hai ascended the throne, Zhao Gao became the de facto ruler, and he took advantage of Qin II's hedonistic mentality to exclude dissidents and brutalize Zhongliang, the most well-known of which is the allusion to "referring to a deer as a horse".
In order to test the courtiers' fear of him, Zhao Gao actually pointed to a deer as a horse above the court, and the officials who dared to speak out were eliminated one by one, leaving behind all flatterers, this incident not only exposed the arrogance of Zhao Gaoquan's tilting towards the government and the opposition, but also let the world see the absurdity and darkness of politics in the last years of the Qin Dynasty.
Under the manipulation of Zhao Gao, the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty reached an unprecedented height, he increased taxes, built a large number of buildings, and requisitioned a large number of people to build the Afang Palace and the Lishan Mausoleum, which led to the people's misery and complaints.
At the same time, he also implemented strict laws, arbitrarily implicated innocent people, created a large number of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, sharply intensified social contradictions, and frequent uprisings.
Zhao Gao's perverse actions eventually triggered the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up, the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms responded one after another, and the Daze Township Uprising was like a spark, and the rule of the Qin Dynasty was shaky.
At the time of the country's peril, Zhao Gao did not restrain himself, but further planned the death of Qin II, trying to ascend the throne himself, but failed to succeed due to the opposition of his ministers, and was finally forced to support Ziying as the king of Qin, and Ziying knew Zhao Gao's evil, and soon designed to kill Zhao Gao, ending the career of this rebel.
Zhao Gao's life can be said to be a tragedy of the expansion of the desire for power and moral degradation, he subverted the foundation of an empire with his own selfishness, so that the Qin Dynasty quickly went to extinction, leaving behind infamy, and later generations often used Zhao Gao as a typical traitor, warning future generations: if power is unchecked, it will bring endless disasters.
Sima Lun
Sima Lun Ziyi, born in the late Wei and early Jin Dynasty, is the ninth son of Emperor Xuan of the Jin Dynasty Sima Yi, in that era of fierce internal struggle within the imperial family, Sima Lun with the advantage of blood, stepped into the whirlpool of power early.
However, compared to his illustrious background, Sima Lun's political career was full of intrigue and betrayal, and his name has almost become synonymous with the lust for power and the disaster of the country and the people.
In the early years, Sima Lun was not outstanding, until the death of Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty, and after his son Emperor Hui ascended the throne, Sima Lun's opportunity came, Emperor Hui was cowardly, and the power of the court gradually fell into the hands of Empress Jia Nanfeng.
Sima Lun saw the opportunity to act, and gradually obtained an important position in the imperial court by currying favor with Jia, he was good at disguise, loyal on the surface, but in fact secretly ambitious, and weaved his own power network step by step.
In 300 AD, Empress Jia lost power due to murdering the crown prince, and Sima Lun took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état with the generals of the forbidden army, deposing and poisoning Empress Jia in the name of "Qing Jun's side", and he himself became the de facto helmsman in charge of the government.
But this was only the beginning of his ambitions, and soon after, Sima Lun staged a great drama of usurpation, forcing Emperor Hui Chan to settle in him, establish himself as emperor, and change the Yuan to "Jianshi".
After Sima Lun became emperor, the political situation in the Western Jin Dynasty fell into unprecedented chaos, and he rewarded his cronies so much that at that time, "the princes walked all over the street", and the depreciation of the title was like waste paper, which greatly undermined the order and system of the country and aggravated the dissatisfaction of the society.
What's more, Sima Lun favored the traitor Sun Xiu and others, who were rampant and domineering in the court, corrupt and oppressed the people, making the government and the opposition a miasma, and the people were miserable.
Sima Lun's rule was not only absurd, but also completely intensified the contradictions within the imperial family, and other Sima princes and kings saw this, and raised troops to fight, known as the "Eight Kings Rebellion" in history.
This civil strife, which lasted for many years, greatly weakened the national strength of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the frontier peoples took advantage of the weakness, which eventually led to the Wuhu Rebellion, a turbulent period in Chinese history that lasted for hundreds of years.
In 301 AD, Sima Yin, the king of Qi, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, and other allied forces invaded Luoyang, Sima Lun was defeated and captured, and then died, and his short and controversial life came to an end.
Mt. Anroku
An Lushan, whose real name is Rolling Mountain, is a mixture of Sogdians and Turks, born in the Chaoyang area of today's Liaoning, his life was not satisfactory when he was a teenager, but because of his burly physique, bravery, and gradually emerged in the northeast frontier army of the Tang Dynasty.
He was fluent in many Chinese, which was especially valuable in the multi-ethnic border areas, and was quickly appreciated by his superiors.
An Lushan's career turning point came when he met Zhang Shouqi, the envoy of Youzhou Jiedu at that time, under the guidance of Zhang Shouqi, An Lushan gradually rose through the ranks by virtue of his military talent and keen insight into the current situation, until he became the envoy of the three towns of Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong, and controlled the huge military power in the north of the Tang Dynasty.
At this time, he is no longer a small person on the border, but an important minister with heavy troops and a powerful side.
However, the taste of power made An Lushan's ambition swell to the extreme, and he flattered Tang Xuanzong in every way on the surface, and even recognized Yang Guifei, who was more than 20 years younger than him, as his godmother, in order to consolidate his position in the court.
But in private, he secretly accumulated strength and plotted rebellion, An Lushan used the military power in his hands to recruit troops and horses, expand the army, and at the same time, he also used his connections with Hu Shang to accumulate a lot of wealth and prepare for the rebellion.
Finally in the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755 AD), An Lushan launched the "Anshi Rebellion" that shocked the government and the opposition in the name of "Qing Jun's side", this large-scale rebellion that lasted eight years not only caused the national strength of the Tang Dynasty to suffer a heavy blow, but also made the originally prosperous and stable Central Plains instantly plunged into war, countless lives were destroyed, and the people were displaced.
An Lushan's rebels marched all the way south, conquered the city, and approached Chang'an, forcing Tang Xuanzong to flee to Sichuan for refuge, and the Tang Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline.
An Lushan's rebellion was not just a military conflict, it profoundly revealed the decline of the Tang Dynasty's centralized power and the rise of local power, especially the shortcomings of the frontier jiedu envoy system.
An Lushan's defection exposed the weakness of the imperial court's control over the frontier generals, and also directly led to the later secession of feudal towns.
As for why An Lushan was spurned by later generations, the reason is obvious, he betrayed the emperor who trusted him, betrayed the country he was loyal to, and more importantly, his actions brought great disasters to the country and the people.
During the Anshi Rebellion, the social economy was seriously damaged, the population was sharply reduced, the culture withered, and the once glorious Tang Dynasty was gone, opening a long-term turbulent period after the Tang Dynasty.
An Lushan, a former frontier hero, eventually became a sinner in history, forever bearing the infamy of bringing disaster to the country and the people.
Shi Jing-ying
Shi Jingjiao is a member of the Shatuo tribe, born in the late Tang Dynasty, when he was young, he was known for his courage and good fighting, in that era of fierce competition, Shi Jingjiao with his military talent, gradually emerged under Li Keyong, and later became the son-in-law and right-hand man of Li Siyuan of Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty.
With the temptation of power and the unstable situation, Shi Jingjiao's mind gradually became active, and with the intensification of internal contradictions in the Later Tang Dynasty, Shi Jingjiao began to plan his own road to independence.
In 936 AD, the conflict between Shi Jingjiao and Li Congke, the late emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, reached its peak, and he decided to raise troops to rebel, but in the face of the powerful Later Tang army, Shi Jingjiao felt powerless, so he made a decision that shocked the world - to ask for help from the Khitan and promised to pay for the sixteen states of Yanyun.
The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, a large area of territory in present-day northern Hebei and northern Shanxi, were a natural barrier to the Central Plains and vital to defending against invasions by northern nomads.
Shi Jingjiao's move not only means that the strategic place will be handed over to others, but also regarded as a huge betrayal of the Central Plains nation, the Khitan lord Yelude saw an opportunity, readily agreed to help, personally led the troops south, helped Shi Jingjiao defeat the Later Tang army, the establishment of the Later Jin regime.
In exchange, Shi Jingjiao fulfilled his promise to cede the sixteen states of Yanyun to the Khitan, and honored Yelu Deguang as his father, calling himself "Emperor Er".
This behavior not only made Shi Jingjiao personally infamous through the ages, but also had a far-reaching impact on later generations, the loss of the sixteen states of Yanyun, so that the Central Plains lost the barrier in the north, directly threatened the security of the Song Dynasty and even many later dynasties, and laid a hidden danger for the later ethnic strife.
Shi Jingjiao reigned for seven years, and although he took some measures to stabilize the situation and develop the economy during his reign, he could not erase the stain of his betrayal of the country and seeking glory.
His reliance on foreign power to obtain the throne and his groveling to the Khitan left a mark of shame on history, and after Shi Jingjiao's death, the Later Jin Dynasty soon perished due to civil strife and Khitan pressure, and his successor could not change the fate of the country falling apart.
Sources of information
Xin Deyong reads "Zhao Zhengshu" - details of Zhao Gao: The Zhao family has nothing to do with the Qin royal family - surging news
An Lushan - Encyclopedia of China
Shi Jingjiao cut Yanyun - the third edition of the Encyclopedia of China online edition
The Book of Jin and the Emperor Hui