In May of the first year of Taining (349 AD), Shi Zun succeeded Shi Le, Shi Hong, Shi Hu, and Shi Shi as the fifth emperor of the Later Zhao Empire. His mother, Zheng Shi, the mother of Shi Yi, who had once been an empress, was revered as empress dowager, and Shi Zun's wife Zhang Shi was naturally transformed from Princess Pengcheng into Empress Zhang. Shi Zun probably had no sons, so he made Shi Bin's son Shi Yan crown prince. Shi Hu's other sons were also made official titles: Shi Jian, the King of Yiyang, was made Shi Zhong and Taifu, Shi Chong the Prince of Pei was made Taibao, Shi Bao the Prince of Leping was made The Great Sima (大司馬), and Shi Kun (石琨), the King of Ruyin, was made a general. Of course, meritorious generals were also rewarded, such as Shi Min, who was made the governor of Various Chinese and foreign militaries and the general of the auxiliary state. Despite this, Shi Chong, who was guarding Jicheng (southwest of present-day Beijing), did not buy it, and said indignantly: "Shi Shi is the heir chosen by the former emperor, and Shi Zun dared to depose and kill him, which is really a terrible crime!" I'm going to go on a crusade against him myself!" So while leading 50,000 troops to the south, he passed on the generals around Yan Yan and Zhao and called for "King Qin". All localities have indeed responded one after another, and halfway through, the troops have grown to more than 100,000 people. Just as he was camping in YuanXiang (苑乡, in present-day northeastern Ren County, Hebei), he received an amnesty from Shi Zun. Shi Chong didn't know what kind of consideration, but suddenly changed his mind and said, "Cough, Shi Shi and Shi Zun are both my brothers, and since the dead can no longer be resurrected, why should we kill each other again?" "Prepare to return to Thistle City." Unfortunately, his subordinate generals were very dissatisfied with the commander's rebellion, saying: "Shi Zun killed the emperor, established himself on his own throne, and committed heinous crimes." Even if the king returns to the north, we will lead our army to the south. After pacifying the Jingshi and capturing Shi Zun alive, he will come back to meet the king. Helplessly, Shi Chong had to listen to the opinions of his subordinates and continue to march south. Seeing that a general amnesty order was useless, Shi Zun ordered Shi Min, Li Nong, and others to lead an army to meet it. As a result, in a fierce battle, Shi Chong was defeated and captured, and was forced by Shi Zun to commit suicide, and Shi Chong's soldiers were killed by more than 30,000 people. At this point, Shi Hu's sixth son died again.
Shi Zun (?) ~349)
When Shi Zun raised an army in Li Cheng, he once said to Shi Min, "Try to move forward!" After the matter is successful, I will make you crown prince. Shi Min did "try to move forward", but after "things succeeded", Shi Zun did not fulfill his promise, but established Shi Yan as the crown prince, and Shi Min naturally complained. Shi Min Xiao was brave and brave, and he had made many military achievements, so both Han and ethnic generals were afraid of him. Of course, Shi Min was also proud of his achievements, and used his authority as a military governor and a general of the auxiliary countries to cultivate his own forces. Therefore, some people advised Shi Zun to get rid of Shi Min in order to prevent future troubles. Shi Zun summoned Shi Jian, Shi Bao, Shi Kun, and others to discuss secretly in front of Empress Zheng, and everyone said, "You should kill him." Only Empress Zheng objected, saying: "When Li Cheng raised an army, there was no Shi Min, where are we today?" Although he is a little arrogant now, how can he say that he will kill and kill? However, Shi Zunwan did not expect that as soon as the secret meeting ended, his brother Shi Jian sent someone to tell Shi Min the contents of the meeting. Here Shi Zun had not yet made up his mind, and Shi Min had already made a strong move first, and sent his subordinates Su Yan and Zhou Cheng to lead three thousand soldiers into the palace and capture Shi Zun at Jinquetai. At that time, Shi Zunzheng was playing a game of "playing chess" with a beautiful woman and asked Zhou Cheng, "Who is the mastermind of the rebellion?" Zhou Cheng replied, "Shi Jian, the King of Yiyang, should inherit the throne." Of course, Shi Zun knew that the real mastermind could not be Shi Jian, and said dismissively, "I still have to encounter today's results, and the King of Yiyang can last for a few days!" Shi Zun really had a "vision", knowing that Shi Jian, who did not have much real power, was just a puppet that was used by others, and it was doomed to not last long. Unfortunately, the authorities are confused and bystanders are Clear: Since you can "wisely" foresee that Shi Jian will not have a good ending, why can't you predict your own danger and prevent it from happening? Shi Min's coup was successful, and he unceremoniously killed Shi Zun, while Empress Zheng, Empress Zhang, and "Crown Prince" Shi Yan were also killed—poor Empress Zheng had wanted to protect Shi Min, but Shi Min still did not spare her. As for Shi Zun, from the time he ascended the throne in May to his death in November, he reigned for a total of 183 days, which can barely be regarded as a year of reign in terms of "rounding up"; the fatal thing is that less than a year after Shi Hu's death, his seventh son Shi Zun was whimpering and mourning again.
Shi Zun was succeeded by Shi Hu's other son, Shi Jian. First, he himself does not have much strength and cannot completely rely on his own ability to seize the right to inherit the throne; secondly, he is the son of the old emperor Shi Hu, and according to the patriarchal system of father and son, under certain circumstances, he is hopeful to inherit the mantle of Lao Tzu. However, it is not easy to "stand out" among the brothers: the heir to the throne designated by his father is Shi Shi, not him; it is Shi Zun who is replaced by Shi Shi and not him. If he wanted to finally inherit Lao Tzu's mantle, he could only get rid of Shi Zun and replace him, which is probably why he first plotted with Shi Zun to get rid of Shi Min, and then in the blink of an eye, he told Shi Min that he wanted to get rid of Shi Zun by Shi Min's hand, and finally got his wish and became the sixth emperor of the Great Zhao Empire. It should be said that Shi Jian was still relatively clever: he knew that Shi Min's power was too strong, and if he did not get rid of him, his throne could not be consolidated, so the first thing he did after ascending the throne was to grant amnesty to the world, followed by the addition of Shi Min as a great general and promoting his title from the original "Duke of Wuxing" to "King of Wude"; another coup hero Li Nong was made the Grand Sima and made him in charge of the imperial court at the same time as Shi Min. Immediately afterward, Shi Jian ordered his brothers Shi Bao, the King of Leping, Zhongshu Ling Li Song, and the dianzhong general Zhang Cai to lead troops to attack Shi Min and Li Nong, who lived in Kunhua Hall, by night. Probably he thought that this surprise attack would be successful, but he did not expect that although the court was full of killings and chaos, it had not been able to capture the Kunhua Hall--perhaps Shi Min and Li Nong had secretly made preparations. How can this be good? The panicked Shi Jian feared shi Min's retaliation, and was anxious and wise, "a hypocrite who does not know" (Jin Shu Shi Ji Long Zai Records Attached to Shi Jian Zai). However, he also knew that if he wanted to pretend not to know about this matter, he had to kill people and kill them, so he first killed Li Song and Zhang Cai; after a while, he simply did not do anything, and even The Leping King Shi Bao was killed--don't say that this emperor was vicious enough, in fact, as an "emperor", even the brothers he wanted to rely on had to be killed, and he was pitiful enough.
Let's first introduce Shi Hu, the eighth son who died, Shi Bao, the King of Leping.
Since Shi Zun was enthroned as a great treasure, naturally he would not go to the town to guard the right side of the town, so he let The King of Leping, Shi Bao, take over from him to guard the town of Guan Right. When Shi Bao arrived at Guanyou, he prepared to lead the people of Guanyou to attack Yecheng and seize the throne of his brother Shi Zun. His subordinates Shi Guang and Cao Yao resolutely dissuaded him. Shi Bao was furious and killed Shi Guang and more than a hundred other people--I wonder if this Shi Guang was Shi Hu's son and Shi Bao's brother? Because Shi Bao was "greedy and unscrupulous", Guan Youhaojie knew that he could not succeed, so he sent emissaries to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to report the news. The Eastern Jin government sent an army to Advance toward Guanzhong, killing them all the way to a distance of two hundred miles from Chang'an, and Guanzhong Haojie killed the county guards and county orders of the Later Zhao Empire and raised troops in response. Faced with such a severe situation, Shi Bao had to dispel the idea of attacking Yecheng. However, emperor Shi Zun, in the name of resisting the Jin army, sent an elite army to Chang'an and abducted Shi Bao. The Eastern Jin army was insufficient, and when it saw that Hou Zhao had come to reinforcements, it retreated. Shi Bao returned to the capital, but he was not killed, but was abducted and brought back. After all, Shi Bao and Shi Zun and Shi Jian were brothers, and when Shi Zun plotted to kill Shi Min, he participated; when Shi Jian wanted to kill Shi Min, he also participated. Shi Zun did not succeed, and Shi Bao was safe and sound; Shi Jian did not succeed, but Shi Bao was destroyed as a substitute for the dead ghost.
(Cold in the Heights: The Emperor and His Descendants, Series No. 157)