Diqin Designer

Chapter 261 Four Emperors Can't Find a Crown Prince
"As many as hundreds of thousands of people were harmed by witchcraft, which is known in history as the 'Witchcraft Disaster'. Emperor Wu actually loved his crown prince very much and appointed him as the crown prince very early on. Emperor Wu also devoted all his efforts to training him. However, due to his superstition about ghosts and witchcraft in his later years, the crown prince was forced to raise an army, and the father and son turned against each other!"

"Even if Emperor Wu later came to his senses, cultivated his uterus, and built a platform for his return, it was useless. Once a person dies, he will never come back to life. There is a joke in later generations that four emperors cannot make a complete prince..."

This statement aroused Ying Zheng's great interest, but he couldn't be one of the four great emperors of all time. Could the other three be Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Hongwu of Ming?
The First Emperor was very happy that he was regarded as the greatest emperor of all time by later generations. However, he did not like this joke. How could it be said that four greatest emperors of all time could not make a complete prince?
Nonsense, he never appointed a crown prince at all. Although Fusu was the eldest son and the most likely prince to become the crown prince, he was not officially appointed as the crown prince. How could he be counted among them?
Li Nian said: "The four emperors of all time are Your Majesty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty. This statement makes sense. Your Majesty did not appoint a crown prince, Emperor Wu's crown prince committed suicide after his defeat, Emperor Taizong's crown prince was demoted to a commoner, and Emperor Hongwu's crown prince died of illness."

After hearing what Li Nian said, Ying Zheng felt particularly relieved. Although my Fusu was dead, the others were not much better. Only the prince of Emperor Hongwu was better. He had already heard about the story of the prince of Emperor Wu. As for the prince of Emperor Taizong of Tang who was demoted to a commoner, it sounded like a story. When he had time, he would let this kid Li Nian tell him about it.

After telling this joke, Li Nian continued: "In his later years, Emperor Wu also realized his mistakes. He dismissed the alchemists and stopped seeking immortality. His policy of governing the country changed from 'valuing merit' to 'maintaining culture'. He stopped going to war and encouraged people to rest and recuperate. However, Emperor Wu had already reached the end of his life!"

"In the second year of Houyuan, this great Han emperor who had reigned for half a century and had both merits and faults passed away, and his son Liu Fuling succeeded him."

Hearing Li Nian say that Emperor Wu had passed away, Meng Tian and the other two felt quite sad, as if they had really seen an old emperor walking into the dust of history. Time is ruthless, and even the most powerful and wise emperor will grow old and be buried by time.

Ying Zheng thought that he would also pass away one day, but by then, how would future generations comment on him?

"Liu Fuling was the youngest son of Emperor Wu, and was only eight years old when he succeeded to the throne!"

Ying Zheng frowned and said, "Except for the crown prince and this child, Emperor Wu has no other offspring?"

Let an eight-year-old child be the emperor. Aren't you afraid of something going wrong, like being sidelined by powerful officials or being poisoned? Emperor Wu should not have made such a choice with his wisdom.

Li Nian said, "Yes, but Emperor Wu did not choose them. Emperor Wu did not have many sons. He appointed a crown prince very early and devoted all his efforts to training him. He hardly considered training other sons. After the crown prince raised an army and committed suicide, Emperor Wu suddenly found that he had no crown prince. By then, Emperor Wu was old, and it was too late to train a qualified crown prince from scratch."

"Among the few sons of Emperor Wu who were still alive, Prince Changyi Liu Bo was kicked out of the list of crown princes because of the Liu Quti incident. Prince Yan Liu Dan and Prince Guangling Liu Xu could have been crown princes, but they were too eager to become crown princes and even took the initiative to recommend themselves."

"And this kind of thing is considered rude in the eyes of Emperor Wu. He can give it, but his sons cannot take the initiative to ask for it. Moreover, Emperor Wu may also feel that these two sons are forcing him, thinking that now that the crown prince is dead, Emperor Wu has no choice but them. He can't choose his younger brother Liu Fuling, right?"

"In addition, Emperor Wu felt that these two 'did not look like human rulers', and handed the Han Dynasty over to them, what would happen?" "So Emperor Wu made Liu Fuling the crown prince, and appointed Huo Guang, Jin Midi, Shangguan Jie, and Sang Hongyang as ministers to assist the young emperor Liu Fuling until he was older and took over the government. In order to prevent Liu Fuling from experiencing the harem meddling in politics that he had experienced after ascending the throne, Emperor Wu killed Liu Fuling's biological mother, Concubine Zhao!"

"During the Han Dynasty, the harem had interfered in government affairs many times, such as Empress Lü, Empress Dowager Dou, the mother of Emperor Jing, and Empress Dowager Wang, the mother of Emperor Wu. When Emperor Wu first ascended the throne, he was also troubled by the interference of the harem in government affairs, so he killed Liu Fuling's biological mother before his death to eliminate future troubles."

This is a fine tradition passed down from Pei Gong. He has no women in his heart and is a natural god in governing the country. He eliminated the one who "disrupted my family, and that is the prince". Don't you think so, Liu Bingyi?
"Although Liu Fuling was the emperor, he was too young, and the power of the court was actually held by four ministers who were entrusted with the care of the orphan. However, Jin Midi died of illness first, and after Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang were eliminated, Huo Guang took over the power alone, and all political affairs in the court were decided by General Huo Guang."

Huo Guang was a powerful official, so he would not want to usurp the throne later, right? However, the Han Dynasty had another emperor after Liu Fuling, so if Huo Guang wanted to rebel, he would not succeed.

"Huo Guang was Huo Qubing's half brother and was highly regarded by Emperor Wu. Due to the many wars during Emperor Wu's reign and the turmoil in his later years, the Han Dynasty was weakened and people's livelihood was in decline. Huo Guang and Liu Fuling adopted the policies of Emperors Wen and Jing, reducing taxes and levies, giving people a rest, and the Han Dynasty began to recover its national strength."

"During this period, the Han and Xiongnu also made peace. It was a relatively peaceful and tranquil time."

Emperor Wu was already dead, but the Huns were still there, as if they could not be defeated no matter how hard they were fought. It was really difficult for Meng Tian to connect this Huns with the Huns that had now established diplomatic relations with the Qin Dynasty.

"However, before Liu Fuling could take power, he died of illness at the age of 21. He ascended the throne at the age of eight and reigned for 13 years. Although he was an emperor, he did not achieve many achievements, but he also did not make any major mistakes."

"Therefore, he was listed by some people in later generations as one of the seven wise emperors of the Han Dynasty. After his death, he was posthumously named 'Emperor Xiao Zhao' and was called Emperor Zhao of Han."

Ying Zheng, Meng Tian and Meng Yi finally understood that the selection of the seven consecutive wise emperors of the Han Dynasty was quite loose. Among them, there were indeed emperors with great achievements such as Emperor Gaozu of Han, Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Wu of Han, but there were also emperors like Liu Fuling who were a bit watery.

According to this standard, the Qin Dynasty can be said to have produced several generations of wise kings. Were the kings after King Huiwen not wise? If they were not wise, would the Qin Dynasty be what it is today?
"Emperor Zhao of Han died at the age of 21, and his empress was only 14 or 15, leaving no offspring. However, the country could not be without a ruler for a day, so Huo Guang welcomed Emperor Wu's grandson, Prince of Changyi Liu He, as emperor."

This Huo Guang didn't take the throne himself, but instead welcomed a new emperor?
This was not the time when Empress Lü passed away. Many Liu kings were still alive and had considerable strength. It was impossible for Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others to usurp the throne.

At this time, the Liu kings had been greatly weakened by Emperor Wu, and their strength was no longer what it used to be. Moreover, Huo Guang had been in charge of government for more than ten years, and his followers must have been spread all over the country, so it should not be difficult for him to usurp the throne. Could it be that Huo Guang wanted to welcome a young emperor and then try to take the throne?
(End of this chapter)