During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, since Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang forced Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei to take the throne in 550 AD and established Northern Qi as emperor, most of the emperors have been absurd, perverted, incestuous, cruel and vicious, one by one like crazy people, known as the "Beast Dynasty" in history.
Among the successive emperors of Northern Qi, only Gao Huan's sixth son, The Third Emperor of Northern Qi, Emperor Xiaozhao, died of fright, although he only served as emperor for two years and died of fright, after succeeding to the throne, he chose to use his talents and exerted great efforts to govern, making Northern Qi the most powerful separatist regime during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Even so, it could not save the rapid decline of Northern Qi, and only sixteen years later, the once powerful Northern Qi Dynasty came to an end.
Takaaki Tei High Performance
Although the short-lived tragedy of Northern Qi is related to the fainting and brutality of previous emperors and the chaos of the dynasty, but looking at the turning point and decline history of Northern Qi from prosperity to decline, it has a lot to do with Gao Yan, who is known as the only normal emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who laid the groundwork for the rapid decline of Northern Qi, or gao Yan was a gravedigger who accelerated the demise of Northern Qi.
Why?
The usurpation of the throne and the killing of nephews set a bad precedent for the Northern Qi royal family to kill and win in internal struggle. Father death and son succession, is the feudal society for thousands of years to follow the imperial succession system, although there is no lack of brothers and brothers and the phenomenon of succession in history, but most of them are because the children are young, the emperor in order to avoid political turmoil, had to do it. However, when Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang died, the crown prince Gao Yin who succeeded to the throne was already fifteen years old, and in ancient times, this age was not a small age, even if he could not govern completely independently, there were a group of famous ministers such as Yang Yan, Yan Zixian, and Song Qindao.
High performance
Moreover, Gao Yin was intelligent and studious from an early age, read a lot of books, and had a generous and benevolent personality; after taking the throne, with the assistance of Yang Yan and other old ministers, he exerted great efforts to govern and implemented a series of reform measures such as rectifying the rule of officials, selecting the best and appointing the able, caring for the people's livelihood, reducing military service, and reforming the military system.
However, Gao Yan has long had the intention of usurping the throne. Before Gao Yang was born, he saw that Gao Yan had ambitions, so before he died, he specially confessed to Gao Yan: "If you want to seize the throne in the future, please don't kill my son." "Gao Yan was scared out of a cold sweat and denied it repeatedly." Because emperor Zhao (Gao Yan) said: "Seize the time but seize, be careful not to kill also". (History of the North)
As soon as Gao Yang died, Gao Yan began to cultivate his own forces, preparing for the right time to seize the throne. Gao Yan's unobservant heart, Yang Yan and other auxiliary ministers are very clear. In order to eliminate the threat, it was suggested that Gao Yin send the two imperial uncles Gao Yan and Gao Zhan to the field to serve as assassins.
Gao Huan's wife Lou Taijun
However, Gao Yin could not bear it, and finally decided that the two imperial uncles would stay in the capital city alone and one of them would leave the capital to take up their posts. However, when the news leaked, Gao Yan and Gao Zhan, furious, and on the pretext of accepting the appointment, with the support of the empress dowager Lou Zhaojun, set up a banquet to arrest and kill Yang Yan and others, and deposed Gao Yin and Gao Yan took the throne. The following year, he sent someone to kill Gao Yin.
Since killing his nephew Gao Yin, Gao Yan often had nightmares, and God did not keep his house. During a horseback hunting trip, the mount was startled by a rabbit, fell and fell, and then became mentally confused, did not eat or drink, and died soon after.
Gao Yan reigned for less than two years, and although he had achieved remarkable results in his administration, he set a precedent for usurping the throne and killing his nephew, which brought about a bad impact. Before Gao Yan died, he thought of his own brutal killing of his nephew, worried that after his son Gao Bainian ascended the throne, he would also suffer the same fate, and he was too frightened to let the crown prince take the throne, but directly passed the throne to his younger brother Gao Zhan. "Sent the envoy to pursue King Changguang (Gao Zhan) into the unification. He also wrote to Yun: 'It is advisable to put my wife in a good position, and not to learn from her predecessors'. (Book of Northern Qi) - Wrote a handwritten letter to Gao Zhan, asking him to properly place his wife and not kill his nephew like he did in the first place.
Gao Yang and Empress Li
However, the calculation of heaven is not as good as that of people, and the evil deeds of usurping the throne and killing nephews have not only received retribution for themselves, but also caused more cannibalism. After his death, Gao Zhan first forcibly captured Gao Yang's wife, Empress Li. Because the courtiers were not convinced by Gao Zhan's ascension to the throne, his son Gao Bainian also felt that Gao Zhan had seized his throne, and had always been dissatisfied, and later Gao Zhan's murder was accused of treason. In order to eliminate the threat, Gao Zhan also successively killed Gao Shaode, son of Gao Yang, Gao Xiaoyu, and Gao Xiaohuan, son of Gao Cheng, causing everyone in the imperial family and nobles to endanger themselves.
The elimination of noh subjects led to the rampage of traitors and villains, and the government became darker. Historical experience shows that the prosperity of a dynasty, in addition to the outstanding ability of the rulers and the political enlightenment, is inseparable from the civilian and military generals who have the talent of civil rule and martial arts. From Gao Huan's founding of the Foundation of Northern Qi to Gao Yang's founding of the state, the prosperity and development of Northern Qi gathered a large number of famous ministers and officials. For example, Yang Yan, Yan Zixian, Song Qindao, Huo Luguang, Ke Zhu Hun Tianhe and so on.
Tyrants are superb
However, at the time of Gao Yan's usurpation of the throne, in order to eliminate the threat, Yang Yan, Yan Zixian, Song Qindao, Ke Zhu Hun Tianhe and other meritorious generals were all exterminated. In particular, the prime minister Yang Yan, who was brilliant and prestigious, was highly valued by Gao Huan before his death, and successively married two daughters to Yang Yan. In his later years, Gao Yang was cruel and tyrannical, ignoring political affairs, causing people to panic, and entrusting political affairs to Yang Yan. Yang Yan handled it in an orderly manner. According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", "(Gao Yang) commissioned Yang Yan, the chief photographer of The Inspector General, baidu Xiu, so everyone said that the Lord was faint on the top, and the government was clean on the bottom." People at the time commented that although the monarch fainted, political affairs were taken care of by Yang Yan in a clear and orderly manner.
It was Gao Yan's indiscriminate killing of loyal and virtuous subjects that provided an opportunity for the traitorous villain to take advantage of the stage. After Emperor Wucheng ascended the throne, Gao Zhan began to favor traitors such as Shi Kai and Shi Kai. He Shikai was good at holding a mallet (a board game), often playing games with Gao Zhan and Empress Hu, and was good at flattery and flattery, so he was greatly favored, and later had an affair with Empress Hu and was constantly promoted. For the sake of dictatorship, He Shikai once persuaded Gao Zhan to have fun in time: "Since the ancient emperors, they have been ashes... His Majesty should be young and strong, and he should enjoy himself freely, and walk in all directions, that is, to live happily against the enemy for a thousand years. The minister of state affairs is divided, and he does not worry about it, and he does not do anything to be diligent and diligent. (Book of Northern Qi)
The famous general of Northern Qi, Huo Luguang
At the instigation of a group of traitorous villains, Gao Zhan, who had only been emperor for a few years, gave the throne to his son Gao Wei in advance, and became the Emperor Taishang himself, concentrating on making fun. After Gao Zhan's death, the later lord Gao Wei continued to favor the traitorous Yu and listen to the rumors, and successively killed the royal relatives such as Gao Yu the King of Langya, Gao Changgong the King of Lanling, and the general Huo Luguang, and the government was completely controlled by Lu Lingxuan's mother and son, He Shikai, Han Changluan, Gao Anaqiu and other traitors.
In particular, after the wrongful killing of the famous general Huo Luguang, Northern Qi even destroyed the Great Wall, and yuwen Yong, the Emperor wu of Northern Zhou, who had been defeated by Hu Luguang many times, heard the news of Huo Luguang's murder and happily ordered a pardon for all criminals in his country to celebrate. After attacking Northern Qi, Yuwen Yong said with emotion, "If Huo Luguang is still alive, how can I capture Yecheng?" "Ordered to posthumously award Huo Luguang the title of Shangzhu Guo and Chongguo Gong." Emperor Wu of Zhou heard of the death, rejoiced, and pardoned his territory. Later, he entered the ye and posthumously presented the Shangzhu Kingdom and the Chongguo Duke. The edict says, 'If this man is here, how can he reach the throne'! (Book of Northern Qi)
Emperor Yuwen of the Northern Zhou Dynasty
Although there are profound and complex social and historical reasons behind northern Qi's decline and decline, it is not difficult to see through the history of Northern Qi's decline that the rulers are faint, the frequent changes of monarchs, and the treacherous dictatorship are all catalysts for accelerating its decline.
Although Gao Yan was the only normal emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, from the perspective of his ability to govern, he could also be regarded as a famous monarch with outstanding ability, but he broke the rules of the imperial throne, usurped power and seized the throne, killed each other, and indiscriminately killed Zhongliang,000, which laid hidden dangers for the political turmoil in Northern Qi in the later period, the unscrupulous royal family, and the indiscriminate killing of civilian and military generals. The decadent rule made the Northern Qi Dynasty step by step on the road of national subjugation.
If Gao Yan had not usurped the throne and killed his nephew, but had jointly assisted Gao Yin with Yang Yan and other able ministers, the Northern Qi throne would not have been able to change frequently, and Gao Zhan, Gao Wei, the tyrannical father and son, and a number of traitors and villains under their command, would not necessarily have the opportunity to implement tyrannical rule and dictatorship, would Northern Qi have rewritten the historical trend of the Southern and Northern Dynasties? However, history has never been if, and what remains is only the sigh of posterity.
In this sense, gao yan, the only normal person in the Northern Qi royal family, was not a gravedigger who accelerated the demise of the dynasty?
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(Reference historical materials: "Book of Northern Qi", "Northern History", "Zizhi Tongjian")