In the history of China, there have been 83 dynasties and separatist regimes of all sizes, and there have been 559 recorded emperors, of which 397 are called emperors and 162 are called kings. It is reasonable to say that the emperor enjoyed the greatest privilege in the world, both the living environment and the medical level were the best at that time, however, the unexpected average life expectancy of Chinese emperors was less than 40 years old. Emperor Wen of Han lived for 46 years, and Emperor Jing of Han lived for 47 years, which has exceeded the average life expectancy of emperors, and it should be said that it is not a short life.
The Western Han Dynasty lived a total of twelve emperors, of which Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, lived 62 years, Liu Ying, the Emperor hui of Han, lived 23 years, Liu Che, the Emperor of Han, lived 70 years, Liu Fuling, the Emperor of Han Zhao, lived for 21 years, Emperor Xuan of Han lived for 43 years, Emperor Liu Yi of Han Yuan lived for 42 years, and Emperor Liu Xiao of Hancheng lived for 44 years... It can be seen from this that the life span of the Second Emperor Wenjing actually ranked third or fourth among the Twelve Emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, which was not short-lived at all.
Limited by the level of social productivity and medical care at that time, the average life expectancy of the Han Dynasty was about 25 years old, and the imperial group was naturally higher than it was, but it was not as high as people imagined, such as Qin Shi Huang, Tang Taizong, Song Taizu, Huang Taiji, Yongzheng Emperor and other Ming emperors the life expectancy was around fifty years old.
As for why the very well-known Ming Jun, the Second Emperor Wenjing, did not live to be sixty or seventy years old like Liu Bang and Liu Che, Tianya Jun thought that there were two reasons.
01 The social ills and social contradictions caused by the tyranny of the late Qin Dynasty and the "lühou dictatorship" have not yet eased, and the ruling task of the Second Emperor Wenjing is still very arduous.
After the baptism of the peasant revolt at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the struggle for hegemony between Chu and Han, the people's livelihood was almost unsustainable, the displacement of the people was the norm, and the farce of the drunken dreams and deaths of the old and new nobles was staged every day, it can be said that the life of the ordinary people in this period was worse than that of the Warring States. It was not easy for the Han Dynasty to be established, the four seas of Xianyang, the Haiyan River Qing, but after Liu Bang's death, Muji Sichen, Lü Shi came to power, the Han Dynasty and the noble ministers launched a deadly struggle with the Lü clan, the city gate was on fire, it was inevitable that the pond fish would be affected, the people were innocently affected, and the class antagonism became more and more obvious.
After Lü Hou's death, Zhu Lü was cursed, and the imperial power returned to the hands of Liu's descendants, and Emperor Wen of Han was appointed to the world in danger, and he had both the opportunity to show his talents and the need to face a frightening court career. He faced three major problems: First, the heroes who eradicated Zhu Lü, such as Zhou Bo and others, were proud of their merits, and their behavior was increasingly arrogant, and it was difficult to reflect the emperor's authority without suppressing them; second, the power of the princes of the Liu clan had endangered the imperial power, but after all, they were bloodline relatives, the foundation of the Han Dynasty, and it took a lot of brains to deal with it; third, the people's lives were miserable, the social economy continued to be sluggish, and the stability of the country and mountains did not match the name.
Emperor Wen of Han was worthy of being a man of the Ying Dynasty, and during his 24-year career as emperor, he solved these three problems almost perfectly.
In the face of the heroes who helped him ascend to the throne, he resolutely suppressed and never showed mercy, especially for the well-behaved Zhou Bo, Emperor Wen of Han dismissed him from the position of chancellor on the grounds that the marquis had to return to the fiefdom, and when Zhou Bo was arrested because he was falsely accused of hiding weapons at home and preparing to plot against him, Emperor Wen of Han, after investigation, believed that there was no such thing, and released him magnanimously, so that Zhou Bo was convinced. At the same time, the rest of the important ministers were also shocked by Emperor Wen's means, and they had no second thoughts.
In the face of the princes who threatened his imperial power, Emperor Wen of Han did not have any softness, and it could be said that he was a killer when he struck. In 177 BC, Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei, rebelled, setting a precedent for armed rebellion against the imperial court by princely states. Emperor Wen sent troops to suppress it, the rebel army collapsed in an instant, and Liu Xingju committed suicide after being captured. Three years later, Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, attempted to rebel again, but before he could act, he was discovered by the imperial court. Emperor Wen sent someone to summon Liu Chang to the capital, stripped him of his title, and sent him to Shu Commandery (蜀郡), where Liu Chang, who had no ambition, went on hunger strike and died. The two rebellions were suppressed by Emperor Wen of Han's thunderous means, after which he accepted Jia Yi's suggestion to "build up the princes and kings with less strength", weakening the power of the princes and greatly strengthening the centralization of power.
For the people, Emperor Wen of Han had another pragmatic attitude, reflecting the benevolent side of Ming Jun. He adopted Jia Yi's suggestion of "the way of the herdsmen, the work of peace", reduced the rent of the people, revitalized the people, reduced the servitude, released the enthusiasm of the people's production, liberated more labor, and laid a solid foundation for the further development of the economy. At the same time, Emperor Wen of Han himself practiced frugality, usually wearing only clothes made of black silk, and during his 24-year reign, the items of carriage and riding clothes were not added.
It can be said that after 24 years of hard work, Emperor Wen of Han finally stabilized the Han Dynasty. Although his son Liu Qi, the Emperor of Hanjing, was highly evaluated in history, his merits were actually much worse than those of his father, Emperor Wen of Han, and it can even be said that Emperor Jingdi of Han was a emperor, so much so that Sima Qian's "Records of History" only accounted for a short page, while the "Gaozu Benji", "Lü Hou Benji" and "Xiaowen Ji" recorded much more.
The greatest achievement of the Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi's life was to quell the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms", in addition, there were no bright spots, but his performance in quelling the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" was not impeccable.
The initiator of the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" was Liu Hao, the king of Wu, who was fierce in temperament and deeply ambitious, and privately minted copper coins in the state of Wu, boiled seawater for salt, and became increasingly wealthy. When Liu Bang, Lü Hou, and Emperor Wen of Han were alive, he thought to himself that these were all male lords and did not dare to rebel. But after Liu Qi took the throne, he saw an opportunity. why? Because he knew Liu Qi too well, he knew that this guy was just a mediocre talent, and at this time, Liu Hao, the king of Wu, had to rebel, because there was no reason for him, but he had a feud with Emperor Jingdi of Han.
It turned out that during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Xian's son Liu Xian entered the capital, and accompanied Liu Qi, who was still the crown prince at the time, to play chess, and the two competed because of the chess path, Liu Qi grabbed the chessboard and smashed it at Liu Xian, and actually killed him. Emperor Wen of Han spoiled his son and with a wave of his hand, he sent Liu Xian's body back to the State of Wu. Liu Haoqiang endured the pain of losing his son and said to the messenger, "The whole world is from the Liu family, and since my son died in Chang'an, why should he send him back to Wu for burial?" So he sent his son's body back to Chang'an for burial. This matter was insignificant and trivial to Emperor Wen of Han's father and son, but to Liu Hao, it was a great revenge for killing his son, "Your son is a baby, and my son is a damned person?" With this grudge in mind, Liu Hao was bent on avenging his son and hating himself, and finally launched the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" shortly after emperor Jing of Han ascended the throne.
It can be seen from this that Liu Qi, the Emperor of The Han Dynasty, was not only grumpy, but also a standard clumsy disciple, the lord who caused trouble for Lao Tzu.
Emperor Jing of Han continued Emperor Wen's policy toward the princes and wanted to weaken their power, so he accepted Chao's suggestion and ordered "cutting the domain", finally giving Liu Hao and other princes an excuse to rebel. Emperor Jingdi of Han saw the wolf smoke rising and the rogue nature exposed, and even killed Chao to please the rebels, but how could the rebellious kings be so foolish? So he still attacked the city everywhere. However, they were first pinned down by the Liang army led by Emperor Jing's brother Liu Wu the Prince of Liang, and then caught Zhou Yafu's strategy of attacking the east and the west, and were finally pacified one after another.
Although the Han Jing Emperor was not good, he had the help of nobles at the critical time, which not only quelled the rebellion, but also took this opportunity to weaken the power of the princes and kings, laying the foundation for subsequent economic prosperity. However, Emperor Jingdi of Han insisted on his own poor man-made design, "using people to face forward, not people to face backward", Zhou Yafu had the merit of recreating the Han Dynasty, and it is reasonable to say that even if he did not give him a great reward, it would be enough, but later listened to rumors, causing him to commit suicide unjustly.
Emperor Wen of Han was busy developing the people's livelihood economy, Emperor Jing of Han was busy quelling the rebellion, and the father and son had great troubles with the Xiongnu outside, and there were many contradictions inside, and they broke their hearts for the protection of imperial power, and their natural life expectancy was difficult to last long.
02 The reason that really led to the short life of Emperor Wenjing was that they were all very lustful and overindulged
The Twelve Emperors of the Western Han Dynasty were mostly lustful people, who played with women and spoiled men, which was dirtier and messier than the open-minded Tang Dynasty. Like what:
The male favorite of Han Gaozu's ancestor Liu Bang was a child.
Emperor Huidi of Han's male favorite was Hong Wei (闳孺).
Emperor Wen of Han had three main male favorites: the eunuch Zhao Tong, the Uncle of the Northern Palace, and the scholar Deng Tong.
Emperor Jingdi of Han had only one male favorite, that is, Langzhong Ling Zhou Wenren.
Emperor Wu of Han's male favorites were Li Yannian and Han Yan.
Emperor Zhao's male favorite was the Golden Reward of the Duke of Tuoma.
Emperor Xuan of Han's male favorite was the general Zhang Pengzu (張彭祖), the general of the Zhonglang (侍中郎).
Emperor Yuan's male favorites were the eunuchs Honggong and Shi Xian.
Emperor Hancheng's favorite male favorites were Zhang Fang and Chun Yuchang.
The male favorite of the Han Emperor was Dong Xian.
Emperor Wenjing was energetic, and while dealing with heavy state affairs, he also had to deal with his male pets and women, and he was very busy. Before Emperor Wen ascended the throne, there were 4 sons who could be traced, but because they were born to the former empress Dowager Lü, as a quid pro quo for Emperor Wen and Zhou Bo, who eradicated Zhu Lü, these 4 sons were all killed on the eve of his ascension to the throne. Emperor Wen then gave birth to 4 sons, lived for more than 40 years, reigned for 24 years, gave birth to 8 sons and 2 daughters, which is a challenge for any man's physical strength.
However, Emperor Wen's record was not maintained for long before it was broken by Emperor Jing. Emperor Jing, whose life expectancy was comparable to that of his father, had a total of 14 sons and 3 daughters, and according to his 16-year reign, he had almost one a year, and the advantage of many heirs was that the descendants of the descendants who discussed the family tree could often be summarized in one sentence: "I am the grandson of Emperor Xiaojing, after king so-and-so...", such as Liu Bei, who founded the Shu kingdom, he was a descendant of Liu Sheng, the ninth son of Emperor Jing, and there was a more famous Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, who was the fifth grandson of Liu Fa, the sixth son of Emperor Jing.
summary:
It is undeniable that regardless of the character of the people, the Second Emperor Wenjing can be regarded as a diligent emperor, and it is their diligence, coupled with the favorable time and place, that has created a 40-year-long and dazzling "rule of Wenjing".