100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 97 3 Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty believed people's words and killed Chao Cuo

Chapter 103 Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty Believed in People's Words and Killed Chao Cuo——Don't take excuses lightly
Excuses are an excuse for others to shirk their responsibilities and should not be easily believed.

During the time of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, the king of the same surname was very powerful and had a lot of land. For example, Qi State had more than 70 cities, Wu State had more than 50 cities, and Chu State had more than 40 cities.Some princes are not bound by the court, especially Wu Wang Liu Bi, who is even more arrogant.His feudal country is close to the sea, and there are copper mines. He cooks salt and mines copper by himself, and is as rich as the emperor.He himself never came to Chang'an to meet the emperor, almost making Wu an independent kingdom.

At that time, Chao Cuo, the official censor, saw that the power of the vassal states was very powerful, which was not conducive to consolidating the centralization of power, so he said to Emperor Han Jing: "King Wu has not come to court, and he should have been punished by reason. The first emperor (referring to Emperor Wen) was alive He was very lenient to him, but he became more and more arrogant. He even opened Tongshan privately to make money, boiled sea water to produce salt, recruited soldiers, and prepared to rebel. It is better to reduce their fiefs as soon as possible." Han Jingdi hesitated and said: "Okay That’s right, I’m afraid cutting the land will provoke them to rebel.”

Chao Cuo said: "If the princes intend to rebel, they will rebel if they cut the land, and they will rebel if they don't cut the land. Now the rebellion is not a big disaster. In the future, when they are powerful, they will rebel and it will be difficult to deal with it."

Emperor Jing felt that Chao Cuo's words were very reasonable, so he decided to reduce the princes' fiefs.Most of the princes are either licentious or lawless. It is too easy to seize their braids as a reason to cut the fief!After a while, some princes and kings were cut off by one county, and some were cut off by several counties.

When Chao Cuo's father heard the news, he rushed to Chang'an from his hometown.He said to Chao Cuo: "You have become a doctor of imperial history, and your status is high enough. Why don't you keep your law and keep your own business? Think about it, the princes and kings are all close relatives of the royal family. You can control them? Your fief has been cut, which one of them doesn't hate you, why are you doing this?"

Chao Cuo said: "If you don't do this, the emperor will not be able to exercise his power, and the country will definitely be in chaos."

His father sighed and said, "If you do this, the world of the Liu family will be stable, but our Chao family will be in danger. I'm old, and I don't want to see catastrophe approaching."

Chao Cuo persuaded his father for a while.But the old man couldn't understand Chao Cuo's intentions, and when he returned to his hometown, he committed suicide by taking poison.

Chao Cuo was negotiating with Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty to cut Wu Wangbi's fief. When Wu Wang heard the news, he rebelled first.Under the guise of "Zhu Chao Cuo, the Qing emperor's side", he incited other princes to rebel together.

In 154 BC, seven princes including Wu, Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zichuan, and Jinan launched a rebellion, which was known as the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" in history.

The rebel army was very powerful, and Emperor Han Jing was a little scared.He remembered his father, Emperor Wenwen's deathbed instructions, and worshiped Zhou Yafu, who was good at governing the army, as Taiwei, and led 36 generals to crusade against the rebels.

At that time, some people in the court said that the Seven Kingdoms sent troops was completely caused by Chao Cuo.Emperor Han Jing said: "As long as you agree to the request of the Seven Kingdoms, kill Chao Cuo, save the princes from the crime of raising troops, and restore their original fiefs, they will withdraw their troops."

Emperor Jing believed this and said: "If they can really withdraw their troops, why should I be reluctant to leave Chao Cuo alone."

Then, another group of ministers issued a memorial to impeach Chao Cuo, saying that he was rebellious and should be cut in half.In order to keep his throne, Emperor Han Jing cruelly approved this memorial.

One day, the court lieutenant in charge of punishment came to Chao Cuo's house and conveyed the emperor's order, asking him to go to court to discuss matters.Chao Cuo was still completely in the dark, so he immediately put on his court clothes, followed the lieutenant into the car and left.

As the chariots and horses passed by the east city of Chang'an, the lieutenant suddenly took out an imperial edict, asking Chao Cuo to get out of the car and listen to the imperial edict.As soon as the lieutenant finished announcing Emperor Han Jing's order, a group of warriors rushed forward and tied Chao Cuo up.Chao Cuo was beheaded in half.

Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty killed Chao Cuo and sent an edict ordering the Seven Kingdoms to withdraw their troops.At this time, Liu Bi, the king of Wu, had already won several battles and won many territories.When he heard that he was asked to accept the edict of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, he sneered and said, "Now I am also an emperor, why should I bow down?" The Han army sent people to Chang'an to report the military situation to Emperor Jing.Emperor Han Jing asked him: "You came from the barracks, do you know that Chao Cuo is dead? Will Wu Chu retreat?"

The visitor replied: "The King of Wu has been preparing for decades to rebel. This time, he borrowed the land-cutting troops to send troops. How could it be for Chao Cuo? His Majesty killed Chao Cuo by mistake. I am afraid that no one will dare to replace him in the future." The imperial court has an idea."

Only then did Emperor Han Jing realize that he had done something wrong, but it was too late to regret.Fortunately, Zhou Yafu was good at using troops, and it took a lot of effort to defeat the rebels and put down the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion.

Wisdom Interpretation:

"Zhu Chao is wrong, the Qing emperor is on the side", this is an excuse for the rebels of the Seven Kingdoms.Under the pressure of the rebel army and the impeachment of his ministers, Emperor Han Jing was dizzy for a while and killed Huang Cuo. The excuse for the rebellion was gone, but the rebellion did not stop.Yes, how could the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion happen because of Chao Cuo?

In life, we also encounter all kinds of excuses.At this time, we must adopt a skeptical attitude, and we must not believe in one-sided words.

(End of this chapter)