In the more than two thousand years from qin shi huang's unification of China to the qing dynasty's announcement of abdication, there were 408 emperors, most of whom died, and a small number of emperors died of death, or committed suicide, such as the Chongzhen Emperor; or were poisoned, such as Li Yu, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who was poisoned by Song Taizong with lead drugs; or tortured to death, such as Song Qinzong playing polo in the Jin Kingdom and trampled to death by horses, and so on. However, like ordinary prisoners, there are only four emperors who have been publicly beheaded and paraded in public, and Xiaobian will introduce these four emperors who have been publicly beheaded today.
1. Ran Min, the Emperor of Ran Wei
Ran Min was the adopted grandson of The Later Zhao Emperor Shi Hu, nicknamed Thorn Nu, eight feet tall, brave and strategic, repeatedly made military achievements, was deeply loved by Shi Hu, was named The Marquis of Xiucheng, and successively served as a general of Later Zhao Jianjie and a guerrilla general. In 338, Shi Hu led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Murong Xianbei, and was defeated by Murong Hao at Thorn City, and all the soldiers and horses fled in the wilderness, suffering heavy losses, only the three thousand Han troops led by Ran Min returned with a full division, and their reputation was greatly enhanced, and later they quelled the rebellion of Liang Li, and their prestige was further enhanced, and many Hu and Han generals in Later Zhao were afraid of Ran Min. Because Shi Huli's two princes were going to rebel and murder him, after abolishing the killing of Shi Xuan, it was decided to make his younger son Shi Shi the crown prince, because Shi Shi was not yet ten years old and could not rebel, and when he grew up, he might already be dead. This seemed to be a good idea, but after Shi Hu's death, Shi Shi was too young to control the power at all, and only thirty-three days after ascending the throne, the ninth son Shi Zun abolished Shi Shi with the support of Ran Min and others and became emperor. When Shi Zun first began the rebellion, in order to gain Ran Min's support, he said to Ran Min, "Work hard, after the matter is completed, you will be made crown prince!" However, after becoming emperor, he made his own son the crown prince, and he wanted to kill Ran Min five times. Ran Min had no choice but to join forces with Li Nong, the leader of the Beggar Army, to kill Shi Zun, and to make Shi Jian, the third son of Shi Hu, emperor, and Ran Min became a great general and the King of Wude with the merits of Yong li. As a result, Shi Jian wanted to get rid of Ran Min again, and Ran Min killed Shi Jian again, declared himself emperor, and established the Ran Wei regime. Because Ran Min was a Han Chinese, many Hu people in Later Zhao did not obey Ran Min's orders, and in order to consolidate his rule, Ran Min issued a "kill Hu order" and killed more than 200,000 Hu people. Ran Min claimed the title of empress, the north was in chaos, and the remnants of Ran Min and Later Zhao attacked each other, each with victory and defeat. Under the leadership of Murong Jun, Murong Jun, who was entrenched in the Liaodong region, raised an army to invade the Central Plains, successfully occupied Youzhou and Jizhou, and continued south to Reach Jizhou. Ran Min led a large army north to resist, but unfortunately the soldiers were defeated and captured. Murong Jun saw Ran Min scolding and said, "Why should you pretend to be emperor?" Ran Min counterattacked, "The world is in chaos, and the like of Ercao Yidi is called an emperor, but I am a hero in Middle-earth, so why should I not be called an emperor!" Murong Jun was furious and ordered three hundred whips to be sent to the Public Place of Dragon City to behead Ran Min. Ran Min became the first emperor to be publicly beheaded.
Ran Wei Territory Map (Source Network)
2. Murong Chao, Emperor of Southern Yan
Murong Chao was the second emperor of Southern Yan and was the nephew of Murong Bide, the founder of Southern Yan. After Later Yan was destroyed by Northern Wei Tuoba Jue, Murong Chui's younger brother Murong De the Prince of Fanyang Commandery led 40,000 households to move south to Shuitai, and later invaded Qingzhou and occupied the eastern region of present-day Shandong, with the capital Guanggu as the capital, and ascended the throne as emperor, known as Southern Yan in history. Under Murong De's meticulous governance, Southern Yan was once very stable and strong, with 53,000 cavalry, 370,000 infantry, and 15,000 chariots, which was very powerful. When Former Qin fell to Former Yan, Murong De, his brother Murong Na, and his wife were all captured in Chang'an, and Murong Jian appointed Murong Na as the Taishou of Guangwu, and a few years later Murong Na resigned and lived in seclusion in Zhangye. In 383, Murong De accompanied the army on his southern expedition to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and when he left, he left a golden sword for his mother, Gongsun Shi, as a souvenir for future encounters. After the defeat at the Battle of Shuishui, Former Qin collapsed, and Murong De's brother Murong Chui raised an army to establish Later Yan, and Former Qin captured and killed murong Na and Murong De's sons, because Murong De's mother was old and Murong De's wife Duan shi was pregnant. Later, Gongsun and Duan fled to Qiangdi with the help of one of Murong De's former subordinates, Hu Yanping, and Duan gave birth to Murong Chao. When Murong Chao was ten years old, Murong De's mother Gongsun Shi died, and before his death, he gave the golden sword to Murong Chao and instructed him to return the golden sword to his uncle Murong De. Murong Chao knew that Murong De was emperor and decided to defect east to Murong De. After all the hardships and dangers, Murong De arrived in Guanggu, showed Murong De the golden sword, and told Murong De what his grandmother said when she was dying, and Murong De stroked the golden sword and cried bitterly. Murong Chao was majestic and eight feet tall, and Murong De liked it very much after seeing it, and immediately made him the King of Beihai. Since Murong De's sons were all killed in Former Qin, Murong De, after an inspection, made Murong Chao crown prince. Murong De died in 405, and Murong Chao succeeded him as emperor. However, after Murong Chao became emperor, he liked to hunt, extravagant, and did not like to manage political affairs, favoring the fifth floor of Gongsun and abusing the ministers of the clan, causing people's hearts to be scattered, and many of the clan ministers defected. Later, he plundered the people on the border of the Eastern Jin Dynasty for no reason, which angered Liu Yu. In 409, Liu Yu led an army on the Northern Expedition, entering Surabaya from Huaishui, and then quickly broke through the important southern Yan pass of Da Dae and besieged Guanggu City. Murong Chao insisted on defending Guanggu and vowed not to surrender, and finally his troops were defeated and captured, and Southern Yan perished. Murong Chao was escorted to health and beheaded in public in a street market.
Map of southern Yan territory (source network)
3. Later Qin Emperor Yao Hong
Yao Hong was the third emperor of Later Qin. After the death of The founder of Later Qin, Yao Cang, his son Yao Xing succeeded to the throne, defeated Former Qin's Gongdeng, occupied Chang'an and Guanzhong, and later successively surrendered the regimes of Western Qin, Later Liang, Western Liang, Southern Liang, and Qiuchi, and conquered the land west of the Yellow River in Western Yan to the east, and encroached on a large number of prefectures and counties in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, making the Later Qin territory "south to Hanchuan, east to Ruying, west to Xihe, and north to Shoushang County", becoming a presence second only to Later Yan in national strength at that time. At this time, the Xianbei Tuoba clan in the north began to rise under the leadership of Tuoba Jue, constantly attacking the northern region of Later Qin, and in 401 AD, Yao Xing decided to go north to Tuoba Jue. In May 401, Yao Xing sent Yao Ping and Di Bozhi to lead 40,000 infantry as forwards, leading a large army of 47,000 as a follow-up, and attacked Tuoba Jue in a large scale, but Tuoba Jue was defeated at Chaibi, Yao Ping committed suicide, Di Bozhi was captured, and 20,000 troops were captured, killing and wounding countless people, greatly weakening the national strength, and thus losing the strength to compete with Former Yan and Tuoba Jue. After the weakening of Later Qin's strength, The Tribes of Western Qin, Qiuchi, and other tribes that were originally subordinate to Later Qin also rebelled, and Later Qin's forces withdrew from the Hexi region. In 407, the Xiongnu Helian Bobo established the Xia kingdom in the north of Later Qin, constantly attacking Later Qin from the north, further weakening Later Qin. At the same time, Yao Xing began to advocate Buddhism, Daxing Buddhist temple, resulting in many Buddhist temples in China, most of them became monks, chang'an alone has more than 5,000 monks, the largest number of places ten rooms and nine people engaged in Buddhist affairs, greatly hindering the development of the economy. In 416, Yao Xing died, leaving the mess to the crown prince Yao Hong. Yao Hong was the eldest son of Yao Xing's concubine, and was made crown prince very early, but his personality was relatively weak and he lacked the ability to govern the country, so after succeeding to the throne, later Qin rebelled one after another, and Qiu Chi and Helian Xia continued to attack, making Yao Hong helpless. Seeing that the political situation in Later Qin was chaotic and the people rebelled and left, Liu Yu, the eastern Jin Dynasty lieutenant, decided to cut down Qin. In 417, Liu Yu led Wang Zhenxi, Tan Daoji, Shen Linzi and others to attack Later Qin, many of Later Qin's generals surrendered, at this juncture, a rebellion broke out yao Yi and others, and soon the Eastern Jin Dynasty surrounded Chang'an, and under the situation of internal and external difficulties, only one year when Emperor Yao Hong led more than a hundred of his clan disciples to surrender, Liu Yu executed all of his clan and sent Yao Hong to health in the city for public execution.
Map of the Later Qin Territory (Source Network)
4. Emperor Zhu Yousong of the Southern Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yousong was the first emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the grandson of Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty, and the eldest son of Zhu Changxun the Prince of Fuzhong, who was in Luoyang. In 1641, Li Zicheng attacked Luoyang, Zhu Changxun and Zhu Yousong escaped from the city with a rope, Zhu Changxun was captured and killed by the rebel army, and Zhu Yousong successfully escaped to Huaiqing for refuge. In 1643, Zhu Yousong succeeded to the throne of Fu Wang. In 1644, Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself on the coal mountain, and a peasant army appeared in Huaiqing, and Zhu Yousong continued to flee south to Huai'an. After Chongzhen's death, the southern provinces remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and various factions began to choose to support the emperor, and among the various candidates, Zhu Yousong's bloodline was the most recent, becoming the first candidate, but it was opposed by Donglin Dangkefa and others. Zhu Yousong, with the help of the eunuch Lu Jiude, obtained the support of the three towns of Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong, and Gao Jie, who were dominating the north of the river, and finally ascended the throne on May 15, 1644, at the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, known as Nanming. After the three towns of Jiangbei supported Zhu Yousong, they became the "benefactors of the Son of Heaven", and from then on, they flew high and low, and were no longer subject to the control of the imperial court. Zhu Yousong was also immersed in wine, and Ma Shiying and others who held the power of the imperial court were also drunk and dreamed of death, and the entire imperial court presented a state of subjugation. On June 6, 1644, the Qing Dynasty outside Guanwai moved its capital to Beijing after defeating Li Zicheng, beginning the process of unifying the country. In April 1645, the Qing army besieged Yangzhou, Shi Kefa asked the imperial court for help, the surrounding towns all held a wait-and-see attitude, refused to rescue, Yangzhou fell, Shi Kefa martyred. On the fifth day of May 1645, the Qing army captured Nanjing, captured Zhu Yousong, and moved to Beijing to live. In 1646, Zhu Yousong, who lived in Beijing, was accused of plotting rebellion and was publicly beheaded by the Qing Dynasty at Caishikou.
Map of the Southern Ming Territory (Source Network)