In 154 BC, the Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi encountered a crisis of the throne, and his cousin Liu Hao the Prince of Wu united with six princes surnamed Liu to launch a large-scale rebellion, known in history as the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms". At this critical juncture, a famous general emerged from the Western Han Dynasty, he was Zhou Yafu, who defeated hundreds of thousands of rebels of Wu Chu in only three months and saved the throne of Emperor Jing of Han. But who would have thought that eleven years later, Zhou Yafu would actually be killed by the Han Jing Emperor!
It happened in 143 BC, when Zhou Yafu went on a hunger strike in prison for five days and "vomited blood and died". It turned out that Zhou Yafu's son secretly stole five hundred armor shields as a funeral offering after his father's death. However, he did not pay the workers, and after the craftsman failed to collect wages, he reported the matter to the government. The smuggling of armor shields was against the laws of the time, so Zhou Yafu was arrested and imprisoned. Although Zhou Yafu explained that these armor shields were future funerary items, the official believed that "the prince does not oppose the ground, that is, he wants to oppose the underground ear."
With Zhou Yafu's merits, these sins were not major sins at all, but why did the Han Jing Emperor hold on to it and have to put Zhou Yafu to death? In fact, the reason why the Han Jing Emperor got rid of Zhou Yafu also had his political purpose. Although Zhou Yafu made great contributions, his upright personality had long been obtained by the Han Jing Emperor. In 152 BC, Zhou Yafu served as chancellor, and when Emperor Jing of Han planned to depose the crown prince Liu Rong, but was resolutely opposed by Zhou Yafu, "Emperor Jing was thus alienated" by him.
Not long after, another incident occurred, and Empress Dowager Dou suggested to Emperor Jing of Han that the empress's brother Wang Xin be made marquis. Emperor Jingdi of Han initially believed that neither his father, Emperor Wen of Han, had brothers who had been crowned mothers before he was alive, and now there was something wrong with him doing so. However, Empress Dowager Dou insisted on her opinion, and Emperor Jingdi of Han had no choice but to consult with the chancellor Zhou Yafu. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yafu directly moved out of Han Gaozu's oath, "Unless the Liu clan is not a king, unless there is merit, there is no hou." If it is not as promised, the whole world will strike together", which made the Han Jing Emperor silent.
After the first two events, the relationship between Emperor Jingdi of Han and Zhou Yafu was not eased, but became more acute. After that, the five chiefs of the Xiongnu surrendered to the Western Han. Emperor Jingdi of Han was naturally very happy, and he wanted to make these five people marquises to attract more Xiongnu to vote. Zhou Yafu once again resolutely objected, "If he betrays his lord and surrenders to His Majesty, And His Majesty Houzhi, then why should he blame his subjects for not keeping the rules?" However, Emperor Jing of Han did not insist on going his own way, so Zhou Yafu said that he was ill, and then he was dismissed from the post of chancellor.
However, after all, Zhou Yafu was a hero and had outstanding ability, and Emperor Jingdi of Han was reluctant to have such a talent, so he summoned Zhou Yafu into the palace, saying that he wanted to give a banquet, but in fact he wanted to test and test. After Zhou Yafu entered the table, there were two very two problems, the first was that the cooked meat that came up was not cut, but a whole piece; secondly, there were no chopsticks on the table. Zhou Yafu was very unhappy and asked for chopsticks from the person in charge of the banquet next to him. For everything that happened in front of him, Emperor Jingdi of Han looked at it, and he smiled and said to Zhou Yafu, "Is this not enough for the king? (Don't you think it's enough?) ）
Seeing that the emperor said this, Zhou Yafu quickly apologized for his sins. After that, the Han Jing Emperor got up, and Zhou Yafu also left the banquet and left quickly. Emperor Jing of Han looked at Zhou Yafu's back and said, "This troublemaker is not a young lord!" (This disgruntled man was definitely not a minister capable of serving the Young Lord) From this account we can see that the root cause of Zhou Yafu's death was not because his son had privately purchased a shield!
The death of Zhou Yafu was both his personal tragedy and the tragedy of the entire feudal dynasty. Because of Zhou Yafu's upright personality and lack of a city government, he was suspected by the Han Jing Emperor. In the eyes of Emperor Jingdi of Han, Zhou Yafu's behavior was to be proud of his achievements and not to take the emperor in his eyes, so that although he was capable, he was a threat to Jiangshan Sheji. What the emperor feared most was not those who were capable, but those who were both capable and untamable.
References: 1. "Records of History"; 2. "Book of Han"