Who is Huo Guang? Who is Guo Ziyi? Friends who are familiar with history may know that both of them are well-known generals in history, and even, it can be said that they are masters of high merit. However, despite similar encounters, the two ended up completely different.
Huo Guang was exterminated, but Guo Ziyi enjoyed his old age.
So why?
The two people in history are all famous "ZTE ministers", but if you have to compare, then Guo Ziyi should be slightly better. The reason is very simple, how a person is, there is a standard for measurement, take the ancient "self-cultivation, family, governance, peace in the world", which is a very important standard for ancient scholars. However, Huo Guang lacked the standard of "Qi Family".
In the nearly thirty years of following Emperor Wu of Han, Huo Guang has always performed very well, and can be regarded as a backbone force.
In the "Curse of the Witches", the crown prince committed suicide and the crown prince disappeared, which made Emperor Wu of Han very worried. Later, Emperor Wu chose his youngest son Liu Fuling, who was young, and if he succeeded to the throne, it was inevitable that there would be turmoil in the government. At this time, a mainstay-like figure is very important. Among the many candidates, Emperor Wudi of Han chose Huo Guang because Emperor Wudi of Han thought he was credible.
After the death of Emperor Wu of Han, Huo Guang officially became Emperor Zhao's chancellor, assisting him with other ministers. Among these ministers, there was no doubt that Huo Guang's power was the greatest. In addition to Huo Guang, the Huo family also produced a well-known figure, that is, Huo Guang's disease, which was Huo Guang's half-brother. The brothers are both remarkable characters, every article and a martial artist, both are heavy subjects, which can be described as infinite scenery.
Huo Guang was loyal to Emperor Han Zhao, helping him crush many plots to seize power. However, before Huo Guang could show his skills, Emperor Han Zhao died.
However, Huo Guang's career as an assistant did not come to an end with the death of Emperor Han Zhao.
Who ever thought that a new opportunity had come, and fate really played a joke with him. The Huo family still held the highest power, which was enough to make them cheer. Later, he deposed the new emperor Liu He and made Liu Qian the new emperor, later Emperor Xuan of Han. In the nearly two decades of political careers that assisted the two emperors, he did his best to make the country stable and prosperous.
Emperor Wu of Han was a good emperor, and under his poor military strength, the national strength of the Han Dynasty began to be empty, not only did the wealth accumulated by the previous generation not increase, but also made the people still live in poverty. After Huo Guang came to power, he promulgated a series of moderate measures, giving the people enough time to rest and recuperate, so that the situation of the Han Dynasty slowly improved, and another prosperous era began to take shape, that is, "Zhaoxuan Zhongxing".
However, no matter how great Huo Guang's ability was, as a person who grew up in the traditional feudal society, he still could not jump out of the circle at that time, and Guangzong Yaozu's thoughts gradually grew from a young shoot to a big tree in his brain. Along with it, his personal power grew day by day and expanded, and he took deep root in the imperial court. At the same time, unfortunately, most of the people in the Huo clan were miscreants, which also laid the foundation for the Huo family.
Huo Guang was kind to Liu Guang, who respected Huo Guang, but was also very afraid of him, making the relationship between the monarch and the courtier very complicated. The monarch's fear of Huo Guang paved the way for his future demise, but this was not the main reason.
As the saying goes, behind every successful man, there is a woman who silently supports him. However, Huo Guang was defeated in the aspect of women, and Huo Guang's wife could be described as a woman who was flying and fierce. She was originally just a dowry maid, and later, she was adopted by Huo Guang as a concubine. After huo Guang's wife died, she was straightened out and became the head of the family.
After the change of identity, she became more aggressive and crazy. As her daughter, Huo Chengjun is exactly the same as her character. After Huo Chengjun married into the palace, he poisoned Empress Xu and became empress herself. This incident also became the fuse that later triggered the tragedy of the Huo family's extermination. The head mother of the family is still so arrogant, and I am afraid that I don't need to think much about what the retinue below her looks like.
After Huo Guang's death in 68 BC, he served as an imperial master for nearly twenty years, making immortal contributions to the Han Dynasty and completing a huge leap in his life. In order to show his respect and gratitude to Huo Guang, Emperor Xuan of Han gave him a very grand funeral, and even issued two edicts to praise him.
Unfortunately, Huo Guang's domestic slaves were more stupid, and after Huo Guang's death, they did not relent, but on the contrary, they swelled even more, encroaching on the imperial court little by little. Seeing this situation, Emperor Xuan of Han finally couldn't sit still, and now that Huo Guang was dead, he didn't have so many worries. Therefore, he decided to calculate the old account together. In the third year after Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan of Han took over the Huo family in one fell swoop, the empress was deposed, the exile should be exiled, and the one who should be killed was killed.
In short, there was no good end, and the Huo family, which was once extremely beautiful, was thus wiped out. It was not until more than ten years later that Huo Guang was mildly rehabilitated by Emperor Xuan of Han, and in 51 BC, Emperor Xuan of Han accepted the surrender of the Southern Xiongnu, recalling the past to assist meritorious ministers, and asking people to paint eleven images of heroes in the Qilin Pavilion to commemorate and praise, and ranked Huo Guang as the first.
However, because of his family rebellion after his death, he was beheaded by the door, so he did not have the full name of Huo Guang, but only honored as "Grand Sima (大司馬), Great General (大將軍), Bo Luhou (博陸侯), surnamed Huo Shi (霍氏). Since then, Huo Guang has been honored by the emperors of the Han Dynasty, and during the han dynasty, there were 100 tomb keepers. In the second year of the first year of the Hanping Emperor's reign, that is, in the second year of the Common Era, Huo Yang, the great-grandson of Huo Guang's cousin of Qianhu, was made the Marquis of Bolu and enshrined Huo Guang.
However, his reputation has never been restored.
We turn our eyes to Guo Ziyi, who has gone through seven dynasties, but he can still protect himself and retreat from the whole body, which can be described as a person with great wisdom. In times of crisis, he can stand up and defuse the crisis for the country; in peacetime, he can hand over power, obey the arrangement, and leave calmly. This style of work was relied upon by the four monarchs, and likewise, Most of Guo Ziyi's family members were also knighted.
However, unlike Huo Guang, Guo Ziyi was prepared and tried his best not to touch the forbidden area of "imperial power". Guo Ziyi closely linked his fate with datang, one glory and one loss. He did not show his sharp edge and did the best self-protection. The Huo clan is scattered by trees, but the Guo clan is very prosperous, and the story behind this has to make people think deeply.
Resources:
[Hanshu Xuandiji, Hanshu Huoguangjin Richuan Xxxviii, New Book of Tang, Guo Ziyi Biography]