History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 882 Brothers and Brothers Respect
【Brotherly Friendship】

According to Gao Baorong's wishes, he certainly hoped that his son Gao Jichong would inherit his legacy, so he recommended him as the deputy envoy of Jingnan Jiedushi during the period of Chai Zongxun of the Later Zhou Dynasty. However, even he could not have imagined that he would leave in a hurry at the age of 41. His eldest son Gao Jichong was only 17 years old, at the level of a high school student.

Therefore, historical records say that because Gao Ji Chong was young, his younger brother Gao Baoxu succeeded to the throne.

According to records, since Gao Baorong, who was "old-fashioned and incompetent", succeeded to the throne, he "entrusted all political affairs to his younger brother Baoxu". Gao Baoxu was originally the actual controller of Jingnan, so Gao Baorong gave up his position to his younger brother Gao Baoxu.

Gao Baoxu reported to the Song Dynasty court, was recognized by the Song Dynasty, and was appointed as the Jiedushi of Jingnan.

In September of the second year of Jianlong (961), Gao Baoxu sent his younger brother Gao Baoyin to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin met him cordially in the side hall, and the two had a friendly and in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations.

The history books did not give the details of this conversation. They only said that after Gao Baoyin returned, he removed the natural barrier of Beihai outside Jiangling City according to Zhao Kuangyin's wishes.

Beihai was built during the Gao Baorong period, about seven miles north of Jiangling City. The Jiangling Weir was built to divert water from rivers and lakes to form a large artificial reservoir as the outer defense line of Jiangling City.

Gao Baoyin reported the work of this trip to his brother Gao Baoxu, praising Zhao Kuangyin as the true dragon emperor, saying that the reunification of the motherland was the general trend, and strongly suggested that Gao Baoxu take the initiative to lead the people back to the court, so as to preserve the prosperity and wealth of the Gao family.

Gao Baoxu flatly rejected it.

Perhaps it was precisely because of Gao Baoxu's stubbornness that the historians of the Song Dynasty criticized him verbally and in writing, leaving behind both obvious and hidden clues to disgust him.

First explain the line.

First of all, the history books say that he "has great talent in governing the country", which affirms his talent, but then say that he ignored state affairs... and in his short biography (Family History) of more than 25 words, 25% is a stylized resume of standard nonsense, 30% exposes his debauchery and immorality, about 20% introduces his death and posthumous affairs, and the remaining % ​​only records one thing, which is the above-mentioned major historical mistake of Gao Baoyin entering the court and persuading him to return, but he did not listen.

According to records, Gao Baoxu was extremely licentious, just like the fallen king Zong Yan of Former Shu. For example, he would gather a large group of prostitutes every day, and then select strong soldiers from the palace to have them perform group sex on the spot. He would then watch and comment on the performances with his concubines on both sides, behind a gauze curtain.

One of the reasons for his abnormal hobby was that he was not physically fit. According to records, he had been sickly since childhood, thin, hunchbacked, and very fragile. In addition, he was "sexually promiscuous" and was really unable to do it.

Unhealthy habits drained his body, and in just two years, Gao Baoxu became critically ill.

Secondly, Gao Baoxu also advocated luxury, and he built buildings and palaces on a large scale, regardless of cost, for his own enjoyment.

Once, a merchant from Lingnan presented Gao Baoxu with a huge longan, which was said to be 40 rounds thick and had thousands of longans on it. Gao Baoxu ordered people to build a "Langgan fence" and named it "Haizhu Cong" to protect and display the longan. Later, he gathered all his treasures here.

Third, he refused to listen to advice. His aide Sun Guangxian repeatedly advised him to do so, but he refused to listen; his brother Gao Baoyin also advised him to return to the Song Dynasty, but he refused to listen.

Let’s talk about the hidden line.

The history books repeatedly emphasize that Gao Baorong was slow and incompetent, and all military and national affairs were left to his younger brother Gao Baoxu. Before Gao Baoxu was promoted to the position of the official, he was the actual controller of the Jingnan region, similar to the existence of a regent. In addition, the history books say that he was "quite talented in governing the country", which always gives us an intuitive feeling that Gao Baoxu let himself go after he was promoted to the position of the official.

But if you look through the history books carefully, you will find a very intriguing foreshadowing: when evaluating Gao Baorong, there is such a sentence: "Baorong was slow in nature, and he had no way to control the army and govern the people, and the Gao family began to decline."

Gao Baorong had handed over all military and national affairs to Gao Baoxu, so the person who "had no law in governing the army and the people" should be Gao Baoxu. Looking at Gao Baoxu's performance after he became a regular official, it is not difficult to understand who is the culprit of "the beginning of the decline of the Gao family".

First, he said that he was the regent and the actual controller of the group, and then he said that the group was sliding into an abyss of no return during this period... Think about it carefully, think about it carefully, the literati never use dirty words when scolding others, and you may even think that they are praising him.

In November of the third year of Jianlong (962), Gao Baoxu was seriously ill. He asked General Liang Yansi, "In your opinion, who among my sons can inherit my family business?"

Liang Yansi hesitated for a moment, then said solemnly: "Don't you miss King Zhenyi (Gao Baorong)? When the late king was dying, he left his family business to you. Now, the late king's son has grown up."

Liang Yansi's voice was intentionally low, but to Gao Baoxu, it was deafening.

After a moment of silence, Gao Baoxu nodded slightly and said in a weak voice: "You are right." Then he left his nephew (Gao Baorong's eldest son) Gao Jichong to judge the internal and external military affairs, and then he passed away at the age of 39, leaving us too early. When the obituary came, Zhao Kuangyin stopped attending court for two days, posthumously awarded Gao Jichong the title of Shizhong, and appointed Gao Jichong as the prefect of Jiangling, the governor of Jingnan, and the inspector of Taibao, recognizing Gao Jichong's legal rule over the Jingnan region.

In the above “Gao Baoxu entrusted his son to the care of others”, I intentionally tampered with a word in the history book, resulting in a major change in the meaning. As usual, I will give a spoiler first and then a detailed analysis.

Many historical materials clearly record Gao Baoxu's original words, although they are slightly different, but they are surprisingly consistent in one word, that is, "among all brothers", which means that Gao Baoxu intended to continue "brotherhood succession", and let the brothers with the "Bao" generation continue to rule Jingnan. When translating, I arbitrarily changed it to "sons and daughters", which means that Gao Baoxu intended to pass the throne to his son.

Gao Baorong passed the throne to his younger brother instead of his son, which was a precedent for the younger brother to succeed the elder brother. Gao Conghui had 15 sons in total, among whom Gao Baorong was the third and Gao Baoxu was the tenth. The reason why Gao Baorong passed the throne directly to his tenth brother was because Gao Baoxu was his brother from the same mother, that is, Gao Baoxu had several older brothers before him and 5 younger brothers after him. Among these 5 younger brothers was Gao Baoyin, who had been mentioned in the previous article and paid tribute to the Song Dynasty.

Let's look at Liang Yansi's answer. Although the discussion is about successors, Liang Yansi's answer seems to be a bit off topic. But if we replace Gao Baoxu's "brothers" with "children", let's try to restore it:
Gao Baoxu: Which of my sons can inherit my family business?
Liang Yansi: Your son? Doesn't your brother have a son? Your family business? You are just managing it on behalf of your brother.

If they changed the subject, the conversation between the two would be much smoother.

Think about it again, why did Gao Baorong choose to have his younger brother inherit the throne instead of his son? It was because his eldest son, Gao Jichong, was still young, only 17 years old. Now, two years have passed, and Gao Jichong should be 19 years old, a freshman.

In two years, the little brat has grown up? This question has to go back to Gao Baoxu's original words. If he really wanted to pass the throne to his brothers, he was 39 years old at the time, his older brothers must have been over 40, and his younger brothers were almost 19 years old. In short, uncles and grandfathers are always more mature and stable than a -year-old boy.

But his son is definitely younger than Gao Ji Chong, so only if he wants to pass the throne to his son, would Liang Yansi's words be aroused. Let's go back and take a closer look at Liang Yansi's words:
"Don't you miss King Zhenyi?"

What should we study Gao Baorong's works? Let us help him to imagine:

The first meaning is that Gao Baorong obviously passed the throne to his younger brother instead of his son. You have to pay your debts. It has been two years. You should return the position.
The second meaning is, why didn't he pass it on to his son? Because his son was too young. His son was too young to inherit the business, and your son is also too young now, how can he inherit the business?
So after a moment's silence, Gao Baoxu expressed his willingness to return power to the lineage of King Zhenyi and let Gao Baorong's eldest son Gao Jichong inherit the legacy.

Under the careful whitewashing of the historians, Jingnan staged a series of touching dramas. First, the elder brother passed the artifact to his younger brother instead of his son, and then the younger brother took the initiative to return the artifact to his brother's son...

Touching the filial and brotherly families in China.

In fact, the historians had buried a bigger foreshadowing: Gao Baorong was stupid, cowardly and useless. Since he succeeded to the throne, he had handed over all military and political power to Gao Baoxu. So when Gao Baorong died, was he willing to let his younger brother take over the throne?

Thinking hard.

But why did the historians take so much trouble to write about this pair of brothers? The reason may be related to the history of the Song Dynasty. How did the great ancestor Zhao Kuangyin die? This is probably one of the most famous unsolved cases in Chinese history, "Candle Shadow and Axe Sound".

After Zhao Kuangyin's death, who succeeded to the throne? Answer: His younger brother Zhao Guangyi.

As will be mentioned later, the Zhao Guangyi group went to great lengths to prove the rationality, legitimacy, and necessity of "brother succeeds brother". This was the legal basis of the Taizong Dynasty.

After Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi died, who succeeded him? Answer: Zhao Guangyi's son. From Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi to the Northern Song Dynasty and Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou of the Southern Song Dynasty, all of them were descendants of Zhao Guangyi.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou, a dramatic scene occurred in history:
First, Zhao Gou had no heirs. Zhao Gou originally had a prince, but he died at the age of 3, and Zhao Gou lost his fertility due to excessive fright during his escape.

Secondly, the Jin emperor who destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, Jin Taizong Wanyan Wuqimai, is said to look like Zhao Kuangyin.

Finally, the folk legend of "Taizu's reincarnation" is that Zhao Guangyi killed his brother and seized power with a candle and an axe. Zhao Kuangyin was so angry that he was reborn as Wanyan Wuqimai, the Taizong of Jin. Why did the Jin Dynasty destroy the Northern Song Dynasty and stage the "Jingkang Change"? It was because Zhao Kuangyin came to Zhao Guangyi's descendants to collect debts.

This statement topped the list of hot searches in the Southern Song Dynasty, so much so that even Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou believed it to be true, so he held a nationwide audition to search for the descendants of Taizu as the successor to the throne, that is, the later Song Xiaozong Zhao Shen (the seventh-generation grandson of Zhao Kuangyin). From the "candle shadow and axe sound" in 976 to 1162, after a lapse of 186 years, the throne of the Song Dynasty returned to the lineage of Taizu.

When we understand what happened to Zhao Kuangyin and his brothers after their death, and then look at the authoritative official history book written in the Northern Song Dynasty, many problems will be solved. After all, it must be politically correct.

(End of this chapter)