During the Warring States period, four princes appeared, namely Meng TianWen of the State of Qi, Zhao Sheng of the Plains of the State of Zhao, Wei Wuji of the Xinling Jun of the State of Wei, and Huang Xie of the Chunshen Jun of the State of Chu. Among these four people, Chun Shenjun Huang Xie had the worst ending, he originally had the opportunity to get the highest power, but he did not succeed, but did not get a good death, and was killed. So, what did Chun Shenjun do to make him not die well?
The matter has to start with King Chu Kaolie, the son of King Xiang of Chu, who came to qin as a hostage in 272 BC. At the same time, Huang Xie, a left disciple of the Chu state, also took hostages and stayed in the Qin state with King Chu Kaolie. The two stayed in the Qin Kingdom for ten years and established a very good relationship. In 263 BC, King Xiang of Chu was seriously ill, but the State of Qin was unwilling to let King Chu Kaolie return to China, and under Huang Xie's planning, King Chu Kaolie escaped from the State of Qin.
Qin Guo had no choice but to be a shunshui person and let Huang Xie go. After King Chu Kaolie succeeded to the throne, he immediately created Huang Xie as Ling Yin, "sealed as Chun Shen Jun, and given the twelve counties of Huaibei", and later changed to the former capital of the State of Wu. Since then, the status of Chunshen Jun Huang Xie in the Chu State can be said to be "under one person, above ten thousand people". Chun Shenjun also raised thousands of disciples, and at the same time launched a war against the outside world, destroying the State of Lu and making the State of Chu show a trend of revival.
In 242 BC, in order to deal with the threat of the Qin state, the countries formed an alliance between them, and elected king Chu Kaolie as the leader of the alliance, and ChunShenjun was fully responsible for the war. However, the Six-Nation Alliance was defeated outside Hangu Pass, and "all the princes were defeated". King Chu Kaolie was very angry and pushed the responsibility for the defeat to Huang Xie, and from then on began to alienate Chun Shenjun. Chun Shenjun followed the advice of his disciple Zhu Ying and went to his fiefdom to "do things".
At this time, there was a crisis of heirs in the Chu state, and king Chu Kaolie had no sons. Chun Shenjun found many beautiful women and offered them to the King of Chu, but still did not give birth to a prince. At this time, Li Yuan, a native of the Zhao State, came to the Chu Kingdom with his sister. Li Yuan was a very cunning person, and through a series of means, he dedicated his sister to Chun Shenjun. Soon after, Li Yuan's sister became pregnant, and Li Yuan plotted with his sister to dedicate her sister to the King of Chu through Chun Shenjun.
Li Yuan's sister persuaded Chun Shenjun, "Concubine Xingjun has not been long, sincerely with the weight of the king and concubine to the king of Chu, the king will be fortunate concubine; concubine Lai Tian has a son, is the son of the king as the king, the chu state can get as much as possible, who is the crime of being in the unpredictable?" Chun Shen Junli Ling Zhi Faint actually adopted this suggestion, "It is the female brother of Li Yuan, the king of Chu who is respectfully speaking." Later, King Chu Kao Lie made Li Yuan's sister queen and gave birth to a boy.
King Chu Kaolie was very happy and began to reuse Li Yuan, while Li Yuan secretly raised the dead and "wanted to kill Chun Shenjun to extinguish his mouth". In 238 BC, King Chu Kaolie fell ill and died, and Chunshen Jun Huang Xie ignored the persuasion of his disciple Zhu Ying, and when he came to the Thorn Gate, he was ambushed by assassins, who were Li Yuan's men. After that, Li Yuan sent people to "destroy the Chun Shenjun House". At this time, the children of Chun Shenjun and Li Yuan's sister became the new King of Chu, that is, the King of Chu You.
There is controversy as to whether King Chu You was the son of Chun Shenjun, but the matter was recorded in the Records of History. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Xu Jun summed up the life of Chunshen Jun Huang Xie with a poem, "The son of Zhongzhong Shizi (referring to the King of Chu Kao Lie) had to flee Qin and xiang guorong for more than twenty years. But he knew that he was pregnant (referring to Li Yuan's sister), and he did not use Zhu Ying for self-defense. ”
References: 1. "Records of History"; 2. "Zizhi Tongjian"