"Rigoku" was a special kind of figure in the court of the feudal period in China and the West, who relied on funny posture, witty language or unique talents to accompany the king and win favors and rewards. In the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty in China, there was also such a famous "rigoku", that is, Dongfang Shuo, who was known for his witty humor and erudition. Because of his eloquence, he was even worshipped as a grandfather by the cross-talk industry.
In fact, Dongfang Shuo was not only a courtier, he also advised Emperor Wu's behavior many times, and even wrote to express his ideas and ideas for the development of the country. Unfortunately, because of his status as a courtier, Emperor Wu never really paid attention to his suggestions. Before his death, Dongfang Shuo once again made a serious speech, advising Emperor Wu not to listen to the rumors, but this time he still failed to get attention. As a result, what happened a few years after his death fulfilled his advice.
In the third year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (161 BC), Dongfang Shuo was born in Pingyuan County, in the area of present-day Lingcheng District, Dezhou, Shandong. According to the "Records of History", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited a wide range of talents from all over the world at the beginning of his reign, and Dongfang Shuo seized this opportunity and wrote as many as 3,000 pieces of bamboo for self-recommendation. Such a huge amount of content, Emperor Wudi of Han read it for two months before finally finishing it. In the self-recommendation book, Dongfang Shuo said that he had lost both his parents since he was a child, and later began to read at the age of thirteen, successively studying "Poetry", "Book", and sun Wu and Wu Qi's art of war, and the reading volume reached 440,000 words.
In addition, Dongfang Shuo also described his appearance and conduct: "Nine feet and three inches long, his eyes are like hanging beads, his teeth are like weaving shells, his courage is like Meng Ben, Jie RuoQingji, Lian Ruo Bao's uncle, and xin ruo tail sheng." Such a brazen praise of his Own Dongfang Shuo did make Emperor Wu of Han slightly interested, so he was arranged to wait at the bus office to be summoned. However, because of the busy affairs, Emperor Wu quickly forgot about him, and in order to get the opportunity to meet the emperor, Dongfang Shuo did not hesitate to say to several dwarfs who raised horses for Emperor Wu, because you are not helpful for the development of the country, the emperor will soon kill you.
Upon hearing this, the dwarfs quickly ran to Emperor Wu to intercede, and Emperor Wu, who was puzzled by this, did indeed summon Dongfang Shuo to the front to rebuke him. In this way, Dongfang Shuo got the opportunity to meet with Emperor Wu and left a good impression on the latter by relying on humorous and funny conversation. Soon after, Emperor Wu of Han summoned many courtiers, including Dongfang Shuo, to play a game in the palace, and he hid a gecko in a bowl to make people guess what it was.
Just when everyone was very dazed, Dongfang Shuo stood up, he said that he had studied "Zhou Yi", and after some calculations, he guessed that the things in the bowl resembled dragons but had no horns, snakes but feet, and liked to climb on the wall, so he was a gecko. After this, Dongfang Shuo successively guessed what Emperor Wu had hidden, and for a time it was out of the limelight, which made Guo Sheren, who had long been Emperor Wu's favorite, very dissatisfied.
Driven by jealousy, Guo Sheren gave Dongfang Shuo many difficult puzzles, hoping to make it difficult for him and make him "original form exposed". However, Dongfang Shuo answered all his questions without thinking and answering them, not only did he not make a scandal, but he also made Emperor Wu Long Yan Yue and made him a regular waiter.
In the third year of Jianyuan (138 BC), Emperor Wu wanted to build a huge Shanglin Garden near the imperial palace as a royal hunting ground, but this would encroach on many fertile land and consume a lot of manpower and material resources. Seeing this situation, Dongfang Shuo advised on the example of king Huan and Shi Huang Daxing. In this regard, although Emperor Wu rewarded him with "Bai Shuo gave him a hundred pounds of gold for taizhong doctors", he eventually built the Shanglin Garden.
Around the fourth year of the first year of tai tai (93 BC), The nearly seventy-year-old Dongfang Shuo was seriously ill, and on his deathbed, he wrote to Emperor Wu: "Shiyun 'camps the flies, and ends in the flies." Gentlemen, no believers in rumors. Slander is reckless, and the four countries are confused'. His Majesty yuan qiao yu and withdrew from the rumors. "When Dongfang Shuo, who had been showing people in a comical image all his life, was dying, he seriously advised Emperor Wu, who was now sixty-four years old, to pay attention to the teachings in the Book of Poetry and not to listen to the rumors of the traitorous villains.
However, Emperor Wu was only a little surprised by Dongfang Shuo's advice, and said: "How good is Dongfang Shuo now?" "That is to say, how did Dongfang Shuo become so serious today?" Not long after, Dongfang Shuo fell seriously ill and died, and Emperor Wu did not pay attention to his deathbed advice, and soon tasted the pain.
In the second year of Zhenghe (91 BC), Emperor Wu searched the palace for the relevant personnel of the witchcraft case because he listened to Jiang Chong's rumors, and the treacherous and vicious Jiang Chong framed them in order to get rid of the prince and empress who had a conflict with him, which directly led to the forced suicide of the two. According to statistics, as many as hundreds of thousands of people were implicated in the scourge of witchcraft, including tens of thousands of people who died, and the fundamental reason for this situation was that Emperor Wudi of Han listened to Jiang Chong's rumors.