In the Zizhi Tongjian, Sima Guang regards the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei, and Western Jin Dynasty as a continuation of dynastic orthodoxy, so what we call the "Three Kingdoms" actually spans the three orthodox dynasties in Sima Guang's eyes. I think that according to Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the broad sense of "Three Kingdoms" should start from Dong Zhuo's usurpation of power in 189 AD, and the whole of China is like boiling boiling water, until the fall of Eastern Wu in 280 AD, and the return of the world to Jin, which lasted 91 years. According to the division of historical periods, the Three Kingdoms period began with Cao Pi's claim to the throne in 220 and lasted 60 years from the fall of Eastern Wu in 280 and the unification of the world.
Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" made the lively history of the Three Kingdoms a household name and endured for thousands of years. However, in detail, after zhuge Liang's death in 234 AD, many people still feel strange, especially for the Eastern Wu regime south of the Yangtze River, it feels even more twisted. There are three main reasons for this:
The first is the deliberate rendering of Luo Guanzhong. Zhuge Liang, as the first protagonist of Luo Guanzhong's pen, his death seems to have gradually dimmed the glory of this history of the Three Kingdoms, causing some people to feel bored with the history behind the Three Kingdoms.
Second, the history of the late Three Kingdoms period is not exciting enough. After Zhuge Liang's death, there was no more great war between the Three Kingdoms. Several major wars mainly occurred against Sima Yi, such as the Eastern Crusade of Gongsun Yuan, which quelled several internal rebellions against Sima And none of them occurred between the Three Kingdoms. The relatively large war was the war to eliminate the Shu Han and Eastern Wu, and it just so happened that both countries ended in surrender, which lacked interest.
Third, internal political struggle has become the main theme. Regardless of the country, the internal political struggle becomes the main content of each country. Within Cao Wei, Sima Yi and Cao Shuang fought for power, Liu Chan of Shu Han was incompetent, eunuchs were in disarray, and Eastern Wu was even more chaotic.
After Sun Quan's death in 252 AD, Eastern Wu politics was chaotic, constantly cutting and rationalizing, making the melon-eating masses look tired. You think, from 241 AD, after the death of Sun Deng, the first crown prince of Eastern Wu, in just 40 years, Eastern Wu changed four emperors, Sun Quan's daughter Sun Luban stirred up the political situation and caused a dispute between the two palaces, zhuge Ke, Sun Jun, Sun Qiao (lín) and other powerful ministers chaotic government dramas were staged in turn, how to see that the second half of Eastern Wu is too screwed, how many people are willing to waste time and energy in such a messy story?
Earlier, I started from why Sun Quan of Eastern Wu caused the dispute between the two palaces in his later years, repeating the mistakes of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who deposed the crown prince and Zhuge Ke of "Lantian Shengyu", who was proud of being smart and also died of cleverness, and roughly sorted out the first part of the history of the second half of Eastern Wu. Today, as the third part of the "four-part" of the demise of Eastern Wu, we will try to start from the characteristics of Sun Hao's perverted personality and behavior and the reasons for its formation, and sort out and present the chaotic situation at the end of Eastern Wu for everyone. In order to facilitate the clarification of the relationship and understand the story behind, a sketch was specially made "Eastern Wu Imperial Family Genealogy (Partial)"
Sun Hao was the eldest son of the deposed prince Sun He, born in 243. If there is no aunt Sun Luban's stirring, Sun Quan can basically refer to Jiangshan. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, "(Sun and his wife He Ji) gave birth to a male, Quan Xi, whose name was Pengzu, that is, Haoye. That is to say, when Sun He was alive, Sun Hao liked him very much, and specially gave him a breast name "Peng Zu".
But when the other friends are carefree to see Xi Yangyang and the gray wolf's age, his father Sun He, because of his aunt Sun Luban stirring up, suddenly encountered misfortune. In 250 AD, Sun He was deposed in the Battle of the Second Palace, demoted to the post of King of the Former Emperor, and sent to present-day Anji County, Zhejiang Province. But Sun Hao's childhood nightmare has only just begun. In 252 AD, the family was moved to Changsha.
Just when they thought they could stay away from the imperial power struggle and spend the rest of their lives in peace, the clan brother Sun Jun abused his power and cruelly killed Sun He, and Sun He's wife, Concubine Zhang, also committed suicide and martyrdom. Sun Hao's mother, He Ji, said, If you are all dead, who will raise these orphans? If it were not for his mother's recklessness and humiliation, Sun Hao might have become an orphan in the chaos, and even suffered greater misfortune.
Therefore, such a childhood experience led to a distorted personality, he became independent, autistic, and had an extreme desire for power, but could not have the slightest exposure. In 258, Sun Jun supported Sun Xiu to take the throne, Eastern Wu in exchange for the fleeting Taiping, as his nephew, Sun Hao was given the title of Marquis of Wucheng, on the way to the fiefdom passed by the West Lake, a jianghu warlock showed him a picture, saying that his future prospects are unlimited, Sun Hao was secretly happy in his heart, but did not dare to show it. Before there is no supreme absolute power, he must show humility and prudence at every turn, so that everyone thinks he is a good young man.
According to the Zizhi Tongjian, in 264, when Liu Chan of the Shu Han Dynasty surrendered, Sun Xiu, the king of Wu, fell ill and, before dying, he called the then chancellor Pu Yangxing to the bedside, took his hand, and entrusted his descendants to him. However, in the chaotic political whirlpool of Eastern Wu, in the face of the complicated situation of internal and external difficulties, "the Wu people died in the early shu, crossed their toes and rebelled, feared at home, and wanted to win the changjun", and who to choose as the new emperor was quite controversial in the imperial court. Sun Hao, as the orphan of the deposed prince, became the ultimate heir to the throne.
There must be a special fate for which I think there are four main reasons:
First, the blood is pure. This nature does not need to be elaborated, the ancient selection of heirs, all pay attention to blood, Sun Hao, is the eldest son of the former crown prince Sun He, naturally qualified to become a candidate.
Second, Sun Quan's intergenerational pampering. As I said just now, Sun Quan likes Sun Hao, which makes him more favored by the judges than other candidates.
Third, the reputation is good. According to Zuo Dianjun Wan Yu (yù) in the Zizhi Tongjian, "Hao Zhicai is discerning and decisive, and the Huan King of Changsha is also the same; coupled with studiousness, he obeys the law." This means that Sun Hao is talented, good at decision-making, and has the style of Sun Ce, the King of Changsha Huan, at the same time, he loves to learn and abides by discipline and law.
Fourth, it's just right to be too old. Pu Yangxing, the head of the orphan state, mainly wanted to find a candidate with the right age and a certain amount of ruling experience, and Sun Hao at this time, just 23 years old, was not big or small, and he had been a Wucheng Hou for several years, and had a relatively rich grassroots work experience.
Based on the above four reasons, the chancellor PuYangxing went to do the work of Empress Zhu and wanted to make Sun Hao emperor, Empress Zhu was not a person who was keen on harem politics, she believed that who to choose was a matter for the consideration of the country, no matter who was chosen, as long as the country was not allowed to perish. Thus, in 264 AD, Sun Hao became the emperor of Eastern Wu.
Third, after having supreme power, begin to remove the disguise
Judging from his process of becoming emperor, he was a lucky person who was favored by heaven, just like winning the lottery, he did not even buy a lottery ticket, but someone sent a first-prize lottery ticket to his hand. However, he can become an emperor, and he also has his own hard work and forbearance.
After becoming emperor, those ministers who supported him to ascend the throne as emperor were added to the rank of knight and received rich rewards. Due to the unstable foundation, Sun Hao still needs to continue to disguise, showing that he is determined to be an outstanding "back wave" in the new era. He cared about the people's livelihood, showed compassion for the people, opened the granary to help the victims, released the palace women out of the palace, allowed them to marry, and released the rare beasts in the palace back to nature. According to the Zizhi Tongjian, in the early days of Sun Hao's reign, "at that time, he was called the Ming Lord. ”
However, it is precisely because of the misfortune of his childhood that his personality has become distorted. After truly grasping supreme power, his cruel, promiscuous nature was finally exposed. According to the Records of the Zizhi Tongjian and the Biography of Jiang Biao, "and vested ambition, rough arrogance, many taboos, good wine, big and small disappointment, Puyang Xing, Zhang Bu secretly repented." ”
His cruelty, fornication, and perversion are concentrated in the following three aspects:
First, there is no reverence for the lives of others, and they wantonly kill.
Not only did he brutally force his aunt Empress Zhu to die, but he also transferred the injustices he had suffered in his childhood to his cousins, and exiled Sun Xiu's four sons to a remote mountain city, which was not yet resentful, and the two older brothers were also hunted down and killed by him.
What is even more unkind and unjust is that Puyang Xing and Zhang Bu, the two benefactors who supported him to the throne, were also demoted to Guangzhou by him after being framed by others, and as a result, they were killed in the middle of the road.
His brother Sun Qian, who was abducted because of the rebellion of the mountain thieves, not only did Sun Hao not save him, but even Sun Qian and his birth mother, as well as another brother, Sun Jun, were killed.
It is conceivable that even elders, cousins, and benefactors can kill as long as they say, let alone those ministers?
For example, Xu Shao, who was an envoy to the State of Wei, was chased back and killed because he praised the beauty of the Central Plains when he entered the State of Wei. There were too many ministers under his hands who were brutally poisoned because of some small mistakes or even the slanders of others, whether it was the relatives of the emperor or the people of the ministers, they all had a fear of Sun Hao talking about the tiger's discoloration. Sun Hao's cousin Sun Xiu, after hearing that Sun Hao had asked He Ding to take five thousand people to his garrison to hunt, panicked and defected to the Western Jin Dynasty overnight.
Second, lustful and absurd to the extreme.
Sun Hao was to the extreme, according to the Zizhi Tongjian:
Lord Wu sent the Yellow Gate all over the prefectures and counties, and it was expected that the daughter of the general's family, the children of his two thousand stone ministers, the age of the name, the fifteenth and sixth grades of the year, the simple reading, the simple reading is not in the middle, but it is necessary to marry. The harem is in the thousands, and the choice is endless.
The harem had been beautiful for three years, and he was not satisfied, so he sent eunuchs to visit the whole country, and as long as he saw someone who looked like a water spirit, he was sent to the palace. At the same time, he also used administrative means to require all officials of more than two thousand stones, as long as there are daughters in the family, to truthfully report their names and ages every year, and to undergo inspections and physical examinations at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and to fill the harem with qualified those who are qualified, and only those who are unqualified can marry.
He originally made an empress, but as long as he liked the concubines, he was given the seal of the empress, and the hierarchy of the harem was useless and chaotic.
Sun Hao killed his benefactor Zhang Bu, but left his little daughter for pleasure, and asked her pervertedly, What about your father? The little daughter said that she was killed by you, which immediately angered Sun Hao, and she was beaten to death on the spot, and after a few days, she slandered her body, and specially let the eunuch snatch the eldest daughter who was already married, driving every day, ignoring the government.
In order to maximize his enjoyment, he spent hundreds of millions of large-scale large-scale construction of zhaoming palace, requiring all officials under two thousand stones to go into the mountains to supervise the logging of migrant workers. In order to watch the women play, he spent a lot of money to create all kinds of jewelry, so that they could wrestle with the jewelry for entertainment. The ministers led by Lu Kai advised him to be frugal, but he could not listen to them.
He missed his father Sun He, and when he invited his tablet into the temple, he also wanted his father to enjoy this happiness, and even arranged for beautiful women to dance for his father every night in the spirit hall.
Third, the personality is withdrawn and perverted.
Sun Hao has an incomprehensible problem, he hates others to look at him extremely much, as long as others look at him, he is particularly uncomfortable: what do you see! At the court meeting, no one dared to look up at him. Regarding this personality characteristic, many canonical histories, including the Zizhi Tongjian, have been recorded, and it is precisely because of this feature that Pei Songzhi said in his commentary on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "When the chinese people see that the burial is too luxurious, they all say that Hao is dead, and the person buried is also." Hao's brother-in-law He Du looked like Hao, and Yun Du stood on his behalf. "Rumors spread that the funeral held for Empress Zhang was actually sun hao, and the later Sun Hao was disguised by others, because few people in the group saw Sun Hao's true appearance. Of course, this is a bit of a suspicion of whitewashing Sun Hao, but it makes people feel that the darker it is.
He kills people like hemp, and on top of the already cruel punishment, he also creates more cruel new tricks, such as digging up people's eyes, peeling people's skins, which palace maid makes him unhappy and throws him directly into the river, just the text description is disgusting. Scattered riding Chang waiter Wang Fan drank at the liquor bureau, sent him out and called him back, Wang Fan was so frightened that the wine was awake, looking like he was not drunk, Sun Hao thought that he pretended to be drunk, and directly killed him on the wine table, which was not relieved, he also cut off Wang Fan's head and threw it into the mountain, watching the tiger and wolves scrambling to bite.
Through the previous analysis, it is not difficult for us to imagine how perverted Sun Hao is. Such personality and behavior characteristics, that is, there are objective reasons for the suffering he suffered in his childhood that he should not have experienced at that age, and there are also subjective factors that he did not receive good education and counseling in time, suppressed for a long time, and could not get out of the psychological shadow. This makes him desperate for power at the same time, in order to create a kind of decent appearance for people, he has to disguise himself more repressively.
After having the supreme absolute power, he can finally remove the disguise of many years, just as Qin II Hu Hai said, life is like a white colt crossing the gap, and the meaning of being an emperor is to enjoy it wholeheartedly. He regards the beautiful woman's body and the lives of others as tools for his indulgence and pleasure, and his cruelty and perversion are heinous.
Under the rule of such a perverted emperor, the people's hearts and minds will naturally soon collapse, during his reign, many civilian and military generals surrendered to Cao Wei and the Western Jin Dynasty, and the people in the territory revolted and rebelled, and in the face of the Western Jin Dynasty's large-scale destruction of Wu, the generals were naturally unwilling to fight for him, which accelerated the demise of Eastern Wu.
I am a high-quality historical creator of Xiaobai Reading Zizhi Tongjian and deeply cultivating the strange book "Zizhi Tongjian", if you like, please like, comment, forward and follow me. Next, we delve into the last straw of the demise of Eastern Wu and the last stubbornness of Sun Hao, ending the history of the entire Three Kingdoms period.