Chapter 39 12. The Mystery of Gao Cheng's Death
Gao Cheng's method was learned from Nanchao, but it was simplified.The usurpation of the throne by powerful officials in the Southern Dynasties is generally divided into four steps: 1. Add special rituals;The three dynasties since Song, Qi, and Liang were all like this.Gao Cheng's one-step Jin Wangjue and Jia Shuli are a combination of the first three steps.It can be seen that although the Gao family is a Han Chinese who was transformed into Xianbei, and Gao Cheng himself was called "Xianbei child" by Hou Jingmi, he was still deeply influenced by Han culture in some aspects.
It stands to reason that the next step is to prepare to be the emperor.But at this juncture, something unexpected happened.
Before telling the story of the changes, we must first talk about Gao Cheng's actions during the Eastern Wei Dynasty.
Gao Cheng is very disapproving of the inheritance left by his father.Gao Huan has four important ministers that no one dares to mess with, Sun Teng, Sima Ziru, Gao Yue, and Gao Longzhi. The first two are Gao Huan's old friends and best friends, and the latter two are Gao Huan's relatives.These four worked in the Communist Party of China, and they were called "four nobles" (it was considered fashionable to gather "four nobles" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the late Liu Song Dynasty, there were "four nobles" headed by Xiao Dao. The "good name" of being the Four Great Evil Men was also learned during the Eastern Wei Dynasty), power was poured into the government and the public, doing evil, taking money and perverting the law, needless to say.Gao Cheng couldn't understand these people, but he wasn't jealous, it was just out of his desire to be domineering and not allow others to be domineering.Gao Huan lived in Jinyang in his later years, and handed over the government affairs to Gao Cheng in Yecheng. Gao Cheng was the first to vent his anger on his grandson.Once when Sun Teng came to see Gao Cheng, because of his bad attitude and lack of etiquette, Gao Cheng immediately ordered his left and right attendants to grab old man Sun from the sitting bed (that is, Hu bed, small bench, also called Mazha), and held the knife ring violently. Knocked on the head, and then pushed outside the gate to stand for punishment.Gao Huan didn't teach his son a lesson, but said to his ministers: "My son has grown up and has a bad temper. Please stay away, gentlemen."
Gao Cheng became even more arrogant. He reused his confidant Cui Xian and appointed him as Lieutenant Yushi to thoroughly investigate and impeach corrupt officials.Cui Xian is a villain who is good at flattering the boss. When Gao Zhongmi rebelled, he had the "credit" for instigating and framing him; as a lieutenant in the imperial history, he specially picked out the dignitaries who made Gao Cheng unhappy, for example, he impeached Sima Zi many times Such as.Sima Ziru was embezzled and accepted bribes, and his personal morals were very poor. Cui Xian added fuel to the charge and sent him to prison.How could Sima Zi have seen such a posture before, his hair turned gray overnight.Sima Ziru wrote to Gao Huan in prison: "Since I, Sima Ziru, have followed the king, the king gave me a car and a calf. Now that the calf is dead, I still keep the horns. Other things I got it from someone else." Gao Huan thought of his old friend, and wrote a letter to Gao Cheng to plead, saying: "If Sima Zi is my old friend, you have to treat him leniently." Gao Cheng then decided to pardon Sima. Ziru was responsible for the crime, but he didn't let him go. Instead, he rode a big horse, took him to the street, and took off the shackles. Sima Ziru was so scared that he almost peed, and he muttered: "Do you want to kill him?" Kill me?" I didn't expect to be released on the spot, of course, the officer has nothing to do.
After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng not only excluded the old minister's clan, but also bullied the emperor.
Gao Huan can never forget the great humiliation brought to him by Emperor Xiaowu fleeing west to Chang'an, fearing that Emperor Xiaojing would become Emperor Xiaowu's second, so although he is an extremely human minister, he respects Emperor Xiaojing on the surface, obediently obeys every detail, and cares about every detail. Report to Emperor Xiaojing (whether Emperor Xiaojing is qualified to speak is another matter); whenever he had a meal with the emperor, he bent down to celebrate his birthday; Hold your breath and bend over, watch your words and expressions, and behave cautiously.In a word, as long as it doesn't touch on the principle of his own power, he will put on the appearance of a minister serving the emperor in front of Emperor Xiaojing.As for Emperor Xiaojing, who was still young, he also let Gao Huan take charge of major affairs of the court, and the monarch and his ministers got along relatively "harmoniously".
As soon as Gao Cheng came to power, he placed Cui Jishu (Cui Jishu, the same clan as Cui Xian, older than Cui Xian) who joined the army, and placed him next to Emperor Xiaojing, and regularly corresponded with Cui Jishu, calling Emperor Xiaojing a fool: "How is the fool recently? Has the level of dementia changed?"
Emperor Xiaojing was already a twenty-five-year-old adult at this time. According to historical records, he was fond of literature, good at poetry and prose, dignified, powerful, and shot every shot. He was quite the legacy of his great-grandfather, Emperor Wei Xiaowen.Gao Huan is a generation older than him, equivalent to an elder, and he can accept his emotions and reason. Now Gao Cheng is a young man who is about his age, so special "guardianship" for 24 hours a day, How can he bear it, conflicts are inevitable.
One day, Emperor Xiaojing and Gao Cheng went hunting in the eastern suburbs of Yecheng.Emperor Xiaojing became very excited, he rode his horse and whipped his whip, and chased the wild beasts. Suddenly, he heard the supervisor behind him shout: "Son, don't run the horse so fast! The general is going to be angry!" The fire was suffocated in my heart but I didn't dare to attack it.
A few days later, Emperor Xiaojing and Gao Cheng had a banquet.Gao Cheng was a little drunk, he walked carelessly in front of Emperor Xiaojing with his wine glass in his hand, and toasted: "I would like to persuade Your Majesty to drink."
With the smell of alcohol on his face, Emperor Xiaojing said angrily: "Since ancient times, there has been no country that will not perish. What is the point of my life?"
Gao Chengxin said that you, the "dog emperor", will not eat or drink fine wine when toasting, and immediately cursed with the strength of the wine: "Zhen? Zhen? Dog-footed Zhen! Huh!" As he said, he asked Cui Jishu to come forward and "boom, boom, boom!" He beat Emperor Xiaojing three times so badly that his nose was blue and his face was swollen, and he couldn't move.Gao Cheng flicked his sleeves and walked away.
Unbearable to be humiliated, Emperor Xiaojing returned to the palace and secretly recited a poem written by Liu Song poet Xie Lingyun:
This is a poem written by Xie Lingyun after being impeached by local officials to satirize the past and aspire to avenge his shame, but it was understood by Xun Ji, the constant attendant next to Emperor Xiaojing.Xun Ji was originally a minister under Emperor Wu of Liang. Because he wrote a letter against Buddhism, he was punished by Emperor Wu of Liang and fled to the Eastern Wei Dynasty.Xun Ji saw through Emperor Xiaojing's mind, so he went to find Yuanjin, the minister of the ancestral hall, Liu Siyi, Changqiu Qing, and several other members of the Yuan clan to plot to kill Gao Cheng and rescue Emperor Xiaojing.Under Xun Ji's planning, a group of people dug tunnels to the north of the city under the pretext of piling up mountains of earth in the palace.Things were going well, and it was about to dig to the north city gate. The soldiers guarding the gate felt that there was movement underground, and became suspicious. After checking, someone was digging a secret passage, and immediately reported to Gao Cheng.
Gao Cheng immediately led the troops into the palace, and after seeing Emperor Xiaojing, he didn't kneel down to worship him, and he said at the beginning: "Why did your majesty rebel? (what nonsense) Your father and son have done so much to cover the country, when will you lose to your majesty? This matter must be left and right concubines." Concubine's evil idea!" With a wave of his hand, the left and right soldiers grabbed Emperor Xiaojing's two concubines and were about to execute them.
Emperor Xiaojing was really forced into the end of it, his face darkened, and he reprimanded: "Since ancient times, I have only heard that ministers rebelled against the emperor, but I have never heard that there are emperors who rebelled against ministers. King Gao himself wants to rebel, why do you still blame me? I If you kill you, the country will be peaceful, but if you don’t kill you, the country will perish sooner or later! I am not afraid of death, let alone a few concubines? If you make up your mind to rebel against regicide, it’s up to you when to do it!” He stared at Gao Cheng without fear.
Gao Cheng was overwhelmed by the sudden impassionedness of Emperor Xiaojing, but couldn't say a word, kowtowed on the ground, crying and apologizing.The monarchs and ministers "talked happily" with wine until late at night.
Gao Cheng was cruel and merciless, turning his face faster than turning a book, he ordered soldiers to be sent to the palace as soon as he left the palace, and Emperor Xiaojing was imprisoned.He sent someone to arrest Xun Ji and asked him, "Why did Duke Xun rebel?"
Xun Ji replied: "What is rebellion if you punish the rebels by order?" Gao Cheng cooked Xun Ji's people alive in a big pot.
After Gao Cheng eliminated his dissidents and stabilized his position, he began to prepare for the abdication.On the eighth day of August in the seventh year of Wuding (549 A.D.), Gao Cheng summoned Chen Yuankang, the regular servant of Sanqi, Yang Min, the official secretary, and Cui Jishu, the servant of the Huangmen, to Dongbaitang, his residence in Yecheng, to discuss the abdication of civil and military officials. personnel arrangements.Gao Cheng recently doted on Gaoyang Wang Yuanbin's younger sister, Princess Langya, and for the sake of convenience, sent out all the guards.Gao Cheng discussed the matter confidentially, and also dismissed his left and right cronies.
The four of them were having a lively conversation, when suddenly a cook came in with a plate of food in his hand.Gao Cheng dismissed the cook, and said to Chen Yuankang and the others: "Last night I dreamed that this servant cut me down, and I have to kill him later."
Right at this point, the cook came in again.Gao Cheng said angrily, "I didn't ask for food, why are you here again!"
The cook sneered, pulled out the dagger from under the tray, waved it in his hand and said, "I'll kill you!"
Gao Cheng was startled, kicked away, and was chopped by the cook.He hurriedly scrambled under the sitting bed, but the cook threw him to the sitting bed and hacked him to death.
Chen Yuankang covered Gao Cheng with his body, but was hacked by the cook so that his intestines flowed out, and he died of his injuries that night.Yang Min and Cui Jishu reacted quickly and ran away, only to escape by chance.
This is the assassination of Gao Cheng that shocked the Eastern Wei Dynasty.Gao Cheng died in Huangquan at the last moment of his conspiracy to usurp the throne.However, according to the analysis of the cause and effect of this matter, there are many strange things in it, which makes it difficult to see the truth behind the scenes.As for the murderer, at least three clear possibilities can be listed.
According to official historians such as "Book of Northern Qi" and "Northern History", it is said that the killing of Gao Cheng was entirely on the cook's own initiative.The name of this desperate cook is Lan Jing, the son of Lan Qin, a famous general of Liang State (Lan Qin recovered the Hanzhong area when the Northern Wei Dynasty split, and was a well-known general of Liang State at the same time as Chen Qingzhi). was captured.Gao Cheng took him as a slave and imposed physical punishment on him many times, even threatening to execute him.Lan Jing hated it to the bone, so he planned trouble together with Gao Cheng's other servants.
This statement hit the curiosity of the gossip reporter, and it seemed suspicious.We searched all over the historical materials, but apart from the assassination incident, we couldn't find any other historical materials about Lan Jing. "Liang Shu" only mentions one of Lan Qin's sons, Lan Xiali.During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, names were extremely heavy on genealogical rankings, and brothers and even contemporaries paid attention to the neatness and symmetry of names; judging from the names alone, it is very unlikely that Lan Jing and Lan Xiali are brothers, and his true identity is more like a mystery.In addition, although there were many favorable factors before and after the incident, it was still difficult for Lan Jing alone to instigate many accomplices and successfully assassinate Gao Cheng.
We thought of the second possibility—Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.Emperor Xiaojing was soft on the outside and strong on the inside, but unfortunately he was born at the wrong time, and was destined to be a puppet.His reluctance is obvious, it is inevitable for him to hate Gao Cheng, and he has sufficient and sufficient reasons to kill Gao Cheng and regain the imperial power.However, after Xun Ji and others were cooked, Emperor Xiaojing was basically effectively placed under house arrest by Gao Cheng, with few opportunities to communicate with the outside world.If Emperor Xiaojing is related to the mastermind behind the scenes, it means that the royalists still have considerable strength in the court, but judging from various signs afterwards, this does not seem to be the truth.There is a possibility that Emperor Xiaojing was related to the assassination, but it is unlikely.
Thus, a third level of speculation naturally arose. The culprit behind the scenes, who could not be called out after a long time, might be Gao Yang, Gao Cheng's second brother, nicknamed "child prodigy" (also known as "crazy child").