The famous French emperor Napoleon once said that a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier. It aims to encourage soldiers to work hard to kill the enemy on the battlefield and strive for promotion to higher ranks. And there is also a saying in our country, called "water flows to the low place, people go to the high place", anyone should look upwards and forward, and there is no difference between an unmotivated life and a wasted time.
In the same way, a prince who does not want to be an emperor is not a good prince. As the first heir to the throne of the emperor, the position of prince has been the object of contention among princes since ancient times. After being successfully elected as the crown prince, according to the traditional concept of father and son of the monarch in China, it is often necessary to wait until the death of the former emperor before he can truly ascend the throne.
But this waiting process is quite uncertain, and those with bad luck often wait for more than ten years, or even decades, to be the prince. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan served as a crown prince for 25 years, and finally ascended the throne for only 1 month before being forced to take the throne. The same is true of Prince Charles in the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is still in good spirits at the age of 94, and his more than 60 years of crown princeship seems to be far from over.
Therefore, even if he becomes a prince, the process of waiting for the throne is quite boiling. What's more, before sitting on the throne, everything may be variable. Therefore, although the crown prince does not seem to be worried about the change of throne, he is still coveting the throne all the time.
The story to be told today is like this, as we all know, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty was Zhao Shuo, the King of Kang. He is the only bloodline of the Zhao Guangyi clan of the Northern Song Dynasty, and it is reasonable to become the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, during his term of office, there was a very headache, that is, no successor succeeded to the throne.
Due to the experience of displacement in his early years, Zhao Zhuo lost his fertility. He originally had a son, Zhao Xu, but he only lived to be 3 years old and died prematurely, and Zhao Shuo, who had no heirs under his knees, was troubled to inherit the throne.
Such a situation also occurred once in the Song Dynasty, that is, the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, also because he had no heirs. In the end, the throne was passed to his brother Zhao Guangyi, and Zhao Guangyi did not return the throne to his nephew at the time of his death, but extended it to the eldest son, and the royal family of the Song Dynasty has always been the blood of Zhao Guangyi since then.
In view of this, Zhao Shuo thought of emulating the former emperor, and in turn selected the crown prince from Zhao Kuangyin's descendants. After much consideration, Zhao Kuangyin's seventh grandson, Zhao Xun, was finally selected to inherit the throne.
However, it wasn't long before the Zhao family had no successor. The throne passed to Zhao Kuo, the grandson of Zhao Xuan, and his 9 sons all died earlier than himself without exception. Out of helplessness, Zhao Kuo could only choose a prince among his nephews.
In 1221, Zhao Kuo chose the heir of King Hui of Yijing, and in order to make him crown prince, Zhao Kuo also gave him the surname Zhao Zhu. Logically speaking, the throne of Zhao Zhu can be said to be a competitor, as long as he does not commit any great rebellious crimes, he only needs to wait quietly for Zhao Kuo's death.
Therefore, in Zhao Hu's eyes, the throne of the Southern Song Dynasty was sooner or later his own. This confidence also fostered the arrogance in his heart, and he began to run amok in the court, not taking anyone seriously.
At that time, there was a prime minister named Shi Miyuan, and his power in the DPRK and China could not be underestimated. For Zhao Zhen, Shi Miyuan was still quite respectful at first, and even patted his ass many times. However, Zhao Hu, who had no one in sight, did not buy it, and not only repeatedly harassed this powerful minister, but also publicly stated that if he ascended the throne, he must exile him to a remote area.
If he had already ascended the throne, even if he said this, Shi Miyuan would not dare to make a whole moth. However, at that time, Zhao Hu was only a prince, and he was not even a stroke of the emperor, and the space for operability was also very large. Normal people will find a way to protect themselves when they hear this sentence, not to mention Shi Yayoi, who is in power and opposition?
Therefore, Shi Miyuan joined forces with Empress Yang and frantically said bad things about Zhao Hu in front of Zhao Kuo. At that meeting in 1224, Zhao Kuo fell ill, and Shi Misheng even took the opportunity to forge the emperor's will, and established Zhao Guicheng, whom he had single-handedly planted, as the new crown prince and gave him the name Zhao Yun.
A few days later, the former emperor Zhao Kuan passed away suddenly, and Zhao Zhu, who had waited for 3 years, finally saw the dawn of his ascension to the throne. Not long after, the emissaries summoned by the palace came to the door of Zhao Hu's house to welcome the crown prince Zhao Hu to the enthronement ceremony. Full of joy, Zhao Hu jumped on the rut and prepared to go to the palace to ascend the throne.
However, this enthronement ceremony has long been laid out by Shi Yayoi. After Zhao Zhu entered the palace, he was directly brought to the coffin of Zhao Kuo. After performing the prostration ceremony, Zhao Hu also wondered why he did not hurry up and read the edict to let himself ascend the throne. As a result, when I fixed my eyes, there were already others sitting on the dragon chair in the main hall. Before he could see who it was, the eunuch began to read the edict of the enthronement, and for a time the civil and military officials prostrated themselves and celebrated the new emperor's accession to the throne.
From the edict dictated by the eunuch, Zhao Hu heard that the new emperor was not himself, but Zhao Yun. This left him confused, but he couldn't have a seizure. The result of 3 years of waiting has fulfilled others, and Zhao Hu is undoubtedly worse than eating.
In the end, he was crowned the King of Ji by Zhao Yun, but how could Zhao Hu, who was originally the crown prince, be willing. Not long after, a rebellion began, which was suppressed and finally given to death. Although he only served as crown prince for 3 years before waiting for the death of Emperor Xian, he buried the throne and his life in vain because of his own death. It can be seen how important it is for the prince to maintain a good and normal mentality.
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