"Zen Rang" means to give up the position of "leader" to others, and the earliest story seen in the classics is "Yao Shun". Later, many similar stories were staged in history. However, these stories are less "needed to govern the country" and more "helpless".
Emperor Xian of Han was the "Son of Heaven" who was "held hostage" by Cao Cao, and he almost did not enjoy the life of "being the master of his own affairs" when he sat in the position of emperor. First, Dong Zhuo "dominated" the government, and then, became the "spoils of war" contested by Li Dai and Guo Feng, and then ran to Luoyang, encountered Cao Cao being "coerced" by him, and finally, was forced to "Zen" cao Pi.
Therefore, in the eyes of posterity, this is really a "nest" emperor. But in fact, Emperor Xian of Han was extremely wise, but he was born in the wrong era. Sometimes, fate likes to trick people, a bold "protector", so that he will never recover from now on.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the eunuchs in the rear court were quite arrogant, and after the death of the old emperor, the foreign relatives and eunuchs fought fiercely. By the time Dong Zhuo received the news and rushed to the capital to "assist", the eunuchs had been wiped out, and the foreign forces had been lost for the most part.
Since then, the declining Han Dynasty has "survived" among the warlords.
The first time Liu Xie and Dong Zhuo met was during this period of chaos.
He and the Young Emperor Liu Braid escaped from the palace and ran head-on with Dong Zhuo, who was leading an army of 100,000. Where has the little emperor seen this formation? Already frightened, the other followers did not dare to speak, for fear of losing their lives if they were not careful. But he was bold and asked Dong Zhuo directly: "Are you here to save the car?" Or to hijack the car? ”
Dong Zhuo did not expect that a child would ask him so rationally and boldly, and was stunned: "Of course, I came to save the car!" He still shouted, "Since you said so, why didn't you worship the emperor when you saw him?" Then, he pointed to the little emperor next to him: "This is the son of heaven today, don't you kneel?" At that time, Liu Xie was only nine years old, which showed his adaptability and courage.
It was this time that he showed his "wisdom" to the world, but also pushed himself into a hopeless path, and he became the later Emperor Xian of Han. According to the "Tanfa", "Wisdom and wisdom are dedicated."
After taking a Dong Zhuo, he jumped out of the "Li Guo Scuffle", making Emperor Xian of Han become a "fragrant bun" in the eyes of these warlords. For his own freedom, the emperor did really hard, constantly "exile". After tossing and turning for a year or two, he finally returned to the capital city of Luoyang with his "civil and military officials". I thought I could take a breather, but the story wasn't over.
Although he was only a child in his early teens, he already had a plan in his heart, and began to build up his own strength, and "rewarded the merits" of the ministers who followed him. Due to the years of war, Luoyang City is equivalent to "ruins", and the material conditions are very poor. But he didn't mind, and went out of the city with his officials to find food, dig wild vegetables, and pick wild fruits.
Because, in his opinion, as long as this most difficult period is passed, everything will return to beauty. However, at this time, a powerful cadre, Cao Cao, jumped out, and his political dream was once again disappointed.
Although Liu Xie was young, unlike those "young lords" in history, he had wisdom and ideas.
In 194, when there was a great drought in the world, he ordered the attendant Houwen to open a warehouse to help the people, but there were still a large number of starving deaths. Subsequently, he suspected that the official was "cheating" and personally examined it. Weighed 5 liters of rice and beans each, boiled porridge in the main hall, and actually filled two large pots, which is very different from the usual number. At that time, "Gu Yihu was worth 300,000 yuan"
In this way, it is very simple and clear to find out that this official is "pretending to be public and private." After that, he not only punished the official, but also used all the illegal gains to help the victims. Therefore, some historians commented that he was not a bad emperor. The reason why the country ended in his hands was because he only had the title of "emperor".
In fact, it is not that he has not fought against fate, but he has not succeeded. The "Edict of the Belt" is a famous incident of his rebellion against Cao Cao. In 199, when he was 18 years old, he appointed his foreign relative Dong Cheng as a cheqi general, and privately gave him the "Edict of Cloth belt", hoping to reunite the officials of the Han Dynasty through him and jointly overthrow Cao Cao.
However, such a "confidential" event could actually be "learned" by Cao Cao. Therefore, before the operation could begin, these "assistants" of his were eliminated by Cao Cao one by one. He thought that as long as his strength was strong enough, he could win back a round. However, he did not see the "strength" of his opponent, but instead lost his own strength.
Although he very much wanted to revitalize the Han Room again, and wanted to be the real master of the world, the environment at that time had deprived him of this possibility. Throughout, he never really shook hands with "power", leaving him empty of ambitions. Therefore, what he did was only according to the settings of others, step by step.
In the end, even the "Zen position" became a performance.
In 220, Cao Cao died of illness, and Cao Pi inherited the title. In Liu Xie's view, the biggest opponent was gone, he could be the master of the family, and changed the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an to the first year of Yankang. But it turned out to be just wishful thinking on his part. Because Cao Pi was not an unambitious person, his father Cao Cao had already created such good conditions, how could he not use it?
The first thing, he had people spread all kinds of rumors, saying that the Han Dynasty was no longer working, and that "according to Providence" should be replaced by "Wei". It can be seen that Cao Pi wants the voice of public opinion to open the way for himself.
The second thing, he directly sent people to the door to coerce Emperor Xian to step down and give up the emperor's position. Even the edict of "abdication" was drawn up for the emperor, as long as it was promulgated by Liu Xie's hand.
So, what could Emperor Xian of Han do?
He could only agree vaguely, and sent The Imperial Master Zhang Yin to send the edict to Cao Pi.
In this regard, Cao Pi was overjoyed in his heart, but on the face he showed great modesty, and also "said that he could not accept it, back and forth several times. It can be seen that this superficial effort has also been done enough. At this time, Cao Pi's ministers began to "persuade" their masters to "ascend the throne", and at the same time, they also put pressure on Emperor Xian of Han to hand over the Imperial Jade Seal.
Thus, a "Zen position" was staged.
It is said that the scene is very spectacular, and the zen altar has three floors, which is very tall. At that time, Liu Xie held the jade seal in both hands and "invited" Cao Pi to "receive Zen". There were more than 400 officials, large and small, as well as 300,000 forbidden troops. At this point, the Han Dynasty, which had lasted for more than 400 years, ended its life. Cao Pi could not suppress the pride in his heart, and afterwards he said this: "Shunyu is zen, I know it now." ”
In fact, "Zen Rang" has always been regarded by Confucian thought as the "way to govern the country", believing that the superior should be the "virtuous person" of the world, that is, the so-called "sage politics", and the ruler should be "perfect" in morality. However, throughout history, it is a world in which "hegemony" has the final say. Because the strength of the country and the peace depend on military strength.
Although, in the dictionary of the strong, Hengqiang is stronger, but to govern the world, only "force" is respected, which will only bring poor soldiers and bring disasters to the country, and there are too many such stories in history. However, what does a country without "strength" rely on to protect its people? Isn't the story of Emperor Xiandi of Han the best proof?
Therefore, as a ruler, "morality" and "hegemony" cannot be less.
Resources:
[Later Han Dynasty Book of Filial Piety emperor chronicles, Three Kingdoms Chronicles, Wei Shu, Emperor Wu's First Chronicle, Three Kingdoms Chronicles, Wei Shu, Emperor Wen's Chronicles]