[Liji Northern Tour]
History gave Zhu Wen a chance, but Zhu Wen's body did not live up to expectations. Zhu Wen dragging his sick body with him to "vigorously patrol the north", but returned without success twice.
Zhu Wen's illness has a long history. As early as July of the third year of Kaiping (909), Zhu Wen suffered from a serious illness and "sleep sickness", and he never recovered from it.
In August, his condition improved slightly, and he suffered from "superior minor disease";
In November of the fourth year of Kaiping (910), things got a little better, and "the disease recovered but was cured";
But in May, half a year later (911), it was recorded that Zhu Wen's condition could not be cured for a long time and was "extremely ill";
Just two months later, a terrifying word appeared in "The Chronicles of Taizu" - "Emperor Buyu". If you just take it literally, it doesn't seem that scary. The literal translation is "the emperor is not in good health." However, those who are familiar with history books should understand the true meaning of "buyu". If "buyu" appears in the emperor's chronicle, it can basically be regarded as "buyu". Failure is the prelude to ineffective treatment.
For example, Yizong of Tang Dynasty did not hesitate in June and died in July at the age of 41; Xizong of Tang Dynasty did not hesitate in February and died in March at the age of 27.
In April of the second year of Qianhua (912), when Zhu Wen was returning south from the Heshuo area, he was "flooded with illness and stayed" in Liyang. He was too sick to go on his way and had to stop;
After arriving in Luoyang the next month (May), Zhu Wen became "very ill" and became even more serious;
Another month passed (leap May), and "the emperor's illness worsened". At this time, Zhu Wen had already begun to explain his funeral arrangements.
Zhu Wen lay on the bed, weeping, and spoke from the bottom of his heart to his attendants, "Li Keyong in Taiyuan has great ambitions, but God wants to take away my life. How can these sons of mine be Li Cunxu's rival?" Ah! I'm afraid, I will die without a burial place!" He cried bitterly and fainted. After a long time, Fang Su recovered.
In addition to military defeats, Houliang was also shaky politically, with frequent rebellions and fires everywhere. We don’t need to list them all, we only need to highlight one - Jingnan Gao Jichang.
The grandson saw that Zhu Wen was about to die soon, so he became determined to seize the throne and expand the city in the name of resisting bandits. Later, Gao Jichang really established the "Nanping Kingdom" based on Jingnan and became one of the "Ten Kingdoms".
Military and political turmoil accelerated the deterioration of Zhu Wen's condition. In that era of superstition about the induction of heaven and man, God destroyed Zhu Wen's spiritual world more than once.
In the first month of the third year of Kaiping (909), Zhu Wen arrived in Luoyang, worshiped at the royal ancestral temple, prayed for the protection of the ancestral gods, and "had something to do in the southern suburbs" to worship the gods.
A few days later, on February 1, there was a solar eclipse. Zhu Wen felt very uncomfortable. It was in July of this year that Zhu Wen began to suffer from "sleep sickness".
On the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Kaiping (911), a solar eclipse occurred again on the first day of the new year. Zhu Wen felt even worse. In July of this year, Zhu Wen was "not hesitant".
In May of the second year of Qianhua (912), when Zhu Wen was "severely ill" and "increasingly ill", another comet appeared.
I will accompany you to watch the meteor shower fall on this earth, and let your tears fall on my shoulders.
The comet had just left, and then "the light confuses the heart". Yinghuo is Mars. Interestingly, whether in the East or the West, Mars represents war, death, and is unlucky. Especially the natural phenomenon of "Yinghuo guards the heart" or "Yinghuo offends the heart" is usually regarded as the emperor's driving force. Signs of collapse.
Relevant departments reported that His Majesty must issue an edict to punish oneself in response to divine punishment.
Since Zhu Wen fell ill, he has offered amnesty to the world more than once, banned slaughter, provided relief to the poor, asked monks to perform rituals, etc., in order to pray for blessings and peace.
In October of the first year of Qianhua (911), Zhu Wen visited Bailongtan to enjoy fish. The fishermen caught a big fish (the fishermen caught the giant fish as a sacrifice), and Zhu Wen ordered it to be released. At that time, all the subordinate officials were vying to flatter Zhu Wen, praising Zhu Wen for his kindness and compassion. On the same day, the officials reported and renamed Bailongtan "Long Live Pool".
General amnesty, ban on slaughter, release of animals, and edicts on sinners... are all Zhu Wen's psychological comfort. In recent years, although his condition has occasionally eased, it has shown an overall downward trend.
During this period of illness during the Northern Expedition, Zhu Wen was moody due to his defeat and illness, and often committed murder to vent his anger.
For example, Zhang Quanyi's nephew was killed because he was late; General Li Sian was killed because of poor hospitality and neglect of political affairs.
What is extremely ironic is that in the same month when he was watching fish in Wansuitan, Zhu Wen was conducting a military parade in the suburbs. Deng Jijun, He Lingchou, and Chen Lingxun were beheaded in public because their subordinates were "thin and thin."
Deng Jijun, a direct descendant of Zhu Wen, was Zhu Wen's subordinate during the Huangchaocao Army. When Zhang Jun was encircling Hedong, he was captured by Hedong and received preferential treatment and important use by Li Keyong. Later, when Li Cunxiao rebelled, the Shanxi and Bian armies faced each other. Deng Jiyun saw the opportunity and quickly fled into the Bian army camp, returning to Zhu Wen's arms, thus gaining Zhu Wen's trust.
He is commendable for his loyalty and conscientiousness. He has followed Zhu Wen for more than thirty years. Today, he was cut in half just because his subordinates were thin.
An old minister was cut in half for a trivial matter, but because he released a big fish, "the ministers have a heart of compassion for the emperor, and they all look at each other with joy."
In April of the second year of Qianhua (912), Zhu Wen returned to Luoyang and suddenly became interested in boating on Jiuqu Pond.
Jiuquchi, where the ghosts of the dead still linger, was the site of the "Jiuquchi Massacre" that shocked China and the world at that time, in which many princes, including King Li Yu of Germany, were killed.
There may not be ghosts and gods in the world, but there are good and evil causes and effects.
Zhu Wen was boating on the Jiuqu Pond. His boat suddenly capsized without warning and Zhu Wen fell into the water. After being rescued, Zhu Wen seemed to be severely frightened and could not calm down for a long time. (The emperor swung into the Jiuqu Pond, his boat tipped over, and the emperor fell into the pool and drowned... He was in shock for a long time)
He has a guilty conscience and a ulterior motive. Perhaps, he was seriously ill and had hallucinations. On that special occasion and strange accident, he vaguely saw the souls of the princes, Emperor Ai, and Zhaozong who were killed by him. They seemed to be slowly approaching him, and they kept saying Saying "give me my life back".
The drowning incident occurred in April. In May, Zhu Wen became "very ill", and the next month his "illness became even more severe".
If you come out to fool around, you will have to pay it back sooner or later.
[Zhu Wen was killed]
Zhu Wen had three qualified successors in his mind, the eldest son Zhu Youyu, and his nephews Zhu Youning and Zhu Youlun. It's a pity that all three of them died before Zhu Wen.
The remaining nephews are what Zhu Wen calls "pig and dog ears", none of them are successful.
Among these "pig dogs" are Bo Wang Zhu Youwen (adopted son), Ying Wang Zhu Yougui, Jun Wang Zhu Youzhen, Kang Wang Zhu Youzi, etc.
Among them, Kang Wang Zhu Youzi had the most special appearance. Historical records record that he had "eyes as heavy as pupils", which was as good as Xiang Yu's, so he always thought he could be the emperor. Apart from his special appearance, there is nothing else remarkable about him. The reason why he is famous in history is because he later conspired to assassinate the king and kill the king, but the matter was exposed and he was killed.
Jun Wang Zhu Youzhen was born to Mrs. Zhang Hui and was the eldest son of Zhu Wen. However, Zhu Wen doesn't seem to like this eldest son very much. Many historical materials can provide side evidence, which we will expand on one by one in the following article.
Zhu Yougui, King of Ying, was an illegitimate son. As I mentioned earlier, at that time, Zhu Wen raided Bozhou and summoned prostitutes to sleep with him. When Zhu Wen was about to leave, more than a month later, the prostitutes from the camp told him that they were pregnant, but Zhu Wen was notoriously afraid of his henpecks. (Zhang Hui), and because of her humble status, he did not dare to take her back, so he temporarily placed her in Bozhou. Later, she asked someone to announce the good news that she had given birth to a baby boy. Zhu Wen was very happy and immediately gave the child a nickname - Yaoxi.
It was not until Mrs. Zhang Hui died of illness a few years ago that Zhu Wen dared to take Yaoxi to his side. This Yaoxi is Zhu Yougui.
There is no doubt that although Zhu Yougui is now a "prince", he has not received a good education at all. He has lacked father's love since he was a child, and his mother is still a practitioner in a special industry. Of course, Zhu Wen was quite dissatisfied with him.
After much selection, Zhu Wen felt that only his adopted son Zhu Youwen could be a qualified successor.
Zhu Youwen, formerly known as Kang Qin, has followed Zhu Wen for many years. He has always been trusted and has been entrusted with important tasks many times. Now, he has been appointed as the stay-at-home officer in the Eastern Capital. This position is basically exclusive to the prince.
Even Zhu Wenyou himself seemed to have this strong premonition. While he was staying in Dongdu, he indulged in alcohol, ignored government affairs, completely let himself go, and raised troops to attack the "rebels" in the territory without authorization.
Being good at fighting and killing is a bottom line that no ruler can tolerate. Look at Zhu Zhen from a distance, and see Master Wang Zhong from up close. However, Zhu Youwen's hair was not injured and he did not even reprimand him. In the end, Zhu Youwen felt a little sorry, so he went to Zhu Wen's palace in person to report his work, and asked Zhu Wen to return to the palace as soon as possible.
These are the mainstream historical views and the unified caliber in existing history books.
I have always felt that the coup in Houliang was not that simple, and there must be a deeper conspiracy behind it, but it is really impossible to verify. Because this history has obviously been carefully rewritten. As for who rewrote it and why... let’s just follow the existing history books:
On June 1, Zhu Wen ordered his great counselor Jingxiang to send Zhu Yougui to Laizhou to serve as the governor of Laizhou, and asked him to set off immediately without delay. At that time, only oral instructions were transmitted, but no formal edict was issued.
Zhu Yougui was very frightened when he heard about it, because Laizhou was far away from the easternmost part of the Shandong Peninsula, far away from the center of the empire, and the practice at that time was to demote him repeatedly and commit suicide in search of favors. Previously, Zhu Yougui was whipped by Zhu Wen for making a small mistake. After receiving the news that he was released to Laizhou, he became uneasy.
At this time, Zhu Yougui's wife Zhang heard the news that Zhu Wen planned to pass the throne to his adopted son Zhu Youwen, and was preparing to send someone to the Eastern Capital to summon him to Beijing.
Zhu Yougui was greatly frightened, and his close friends advised him to act quickly and not to miss the opportunity and let others take advantage of him.
So Zhu Yougui changed his clothes, sneaked into the palace, and secretly contacted Han Qing, the general of the Forbidden Army, using threats and inducements, and the two hit it off. Later, Han Qing sent people and Zhu Yougui to sneak into the palace secretly.
At midnight, Zhu Yougui opened the door of the palace and broke into the palace. The doctors fled in all directions.
Zhu Wen woke up instantly and shouted loudly: "Who is rebelling?"
Zhu Yougui responded: "Me!"
Zhu Wen sighed regretfully and said: "I had expected you to be the thief. I only regret that I didn't kill you before. Why, do you still dare to kill your father?"
One of Zhu Yougui's cronies, Feng Ting'e, stepped forward and struck with a sword. Zhu Wen staged the King of Qin running around a pillar, while Feng Ting'e swung his sword and struck the pillar many times.
Zhu Wen had been seriously ill for a long time and was exhausted. He finally fell on the bed. Feng Ting'e caught up with him and finally stabbed Zhu Wen in the abdomen. The force was too great and he pierced Zhu Wen with his sword. The blade penetrated Zhu Wen's back and broke Zhu Wen's intestines. out.
Before Zhu Wen could die, Zhu Yougui pulled off the sheets and quilts, wrapped Zhu Wen up, dug a deep pit on the spot, and buried Zhu Wen alive.
Zhu Wen was killed by his illegitimate son.
Wrapped in sheets, he did not die. He was crying silently:
"My child, am I greedy for life and afraid of death? Am I greedy for imperial power? Isn't it just myself that I'm crying for? What I'm crying for is our Zhu family and the country of Daliang.
Li Cunxu is as good as his father in terms of literary skills and military skills, and is not even inferior to me. All of you brothers are no match for him!
I have seen that in the not-too-distant future, Li Cunxu will take over the two capitals, and Daliang will no longer exist. There is a deep hatred between our family and his family. How can you brats end up well? There are no eggs left under the overturned nest. Cut them all with swords and kill them all. Even I can't guarantee that I won't open the coffin and kill the corpse, crush the bones and scatter the ashes! "
Or maybe Zhu Wen thought of the warning from his elder brother Zhu Quanyu. He killed two emperors of the Tang Dynasty in succession and usurped the Tang Dynasty to establish itself. Zhu Quanyu scolded him and finally shouted that our Zhu family was about to face the disaster of annihilation.
With infinite remorse, regret, and unwillingness, Zhu Wen refused to rest in peace. He was 61 years old.
