Chapter 184 Chapter 183 Empress Gaowei

In April of the first year of Tiantong (AD 565), Gao Wei, who was only 10 years old, came to the throne.The violent and extravagant vices of the ancestors have been "carried forward" in him. Gao Wei had a nurse named Lu Lingxuan when he was a child.Her husband was sentenced to death for treason, and Lu Lingxuan became a palace maid, responsible for feeding Gao Wei.Lu Lingxuan is clever and cunning, and is good at flattery, so she is favored by Queen Mother Hu and forms a clique for personal gain.After Gao Wei came to power, Lu Lingxuan was appointed as a maid.Lu Lingxuan and other sycophants took control of the government, seduced relatives, bribed public officials, unfair prison lawsuits, and abused by officials and nobles. All of a sudden, slaves, eunuchs, advocates and others were promoted to officials and nobles.There are more than 1,000 officials in the post of Kaifu in the world, and Yitong's official position is innumerable.The number of leaders alone increased to 20. Due to the large number of personnel and unclear powers, the edicts and documents issued by the central government, the 20 leaders only wrote the word "Yi" on the documents and threw them aside, and no one carried them out.

Gao Wei, who grew up in an environment of treacherous officials who exercised power and extravagance and tyranny, has long believed that the emperor should be like this.There are 500 court ladies in the palace, and Gao Wei made each of them a county official.Every court lady is rewarded with a dress worth tens of thousands of dollars and a mirror platform worth a lot of money.In addition to the large-scale civil engineering in Yecheng, the capital, he also built 12 palaces in Jinyang.The treasures in the palace are often loved in the morning, and they are treated like a shoe at night and thrown away at will.Gao Wei once carved two giant Buddhas on two mountains in Jinyang, and asked the craftsmen to work day and night and use oil as fuel at night. Tens of thousands of boxes of oil were burned at the same time overnight, and the light was as bright as day for dozens of miles.The status of the cattle, horses, dogs, and chickens raised by Gaowei is the same as that of the ministers. His beloved horses are named Chi Biao Yitong, Xiaoyao Junjun, and Lingxiao Junjun.

The governor of Dingzhou, Nanyang Wang Gaochuo, was brutal and vicious.Once, he saw a woman walking on the road with a child in her arms, and in a fit of beastliness, she snatched the child from the woman's arms and threw it to the dogs to eat it alive.The woman was crying, but Gao Chuo became furious. He smeared the child's blood on the woman, and then ordered the wolfhound to bite the woman.Gao Chuo complacently said to the attendants beside him: "I am learning from Wen Xuanbo (Gao Yang)"!After Gao Wei learned of this, he ordered Gao Chuo to be brought to the court.The prison officer thought Gao Chuo was going to be punished, so he took Gao Chuo to the capital in a prison car.Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at Yexia, Gao Wei warmly entertained him. During the banquet, Gao Wei asked Gao Chuo: "What is the happiest thing you do in other places?" Gao Chuo said, "Watching people fight with scorpions is the most enjoyable." Wei immediately sent people to catch the scorpions overnight. At dawn the next day, the servants who had been busy all night managed to catch two or three buckets of scorpions. Gao Wei put the scorpions in a big and deep basin, and then asked a servant to be naked. Walk into the basin naked.The scorpions swarmed up, and the wailing of the slaves moved the sky.The more people screamed, the happier Gao Wei was, and at the same time he blamed Gao Chuo: "Why didn't you tell me about such a happy thing!" Because Gao Chuo had made meritorious service in recommending "human and scorpion fights", Gao Wei named him a general, day and night. Accompany Gao Wei to have fun in the palace.

From the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Gaowei period, the government was chaotic, the power of the people was exhausted, the corvee was heavy, and the national power was empty.Gao Wei didn't take all these things to heart at all. He often composed music, calling himself the "Son of No Worry", playing and singing by himself with a zipa.Nearly a thousand eunuchs and servants in the palace sang together, and the whole palace was filled with singing, creating a scene of peace and prosperity. In October of the seventh year of Wuping (576 A.D.), Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty personally led three armies to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty.The first goal was Jinzhou (now Linfen, Shanxi), an important military town where the Yellow River entered the bank of the Northern Qi Dynasty. An army of 100,000 surrounded Jinzhou tightly. Hou Ziqin and Cui Jingsong, the guards of Jinzhou, saw the army pressing down on the city. They were terrified and surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty.Although the soldiers in Jinzhou City fought bloody and hard under the command of Xingtai servant Shewei Xianggui, they were outnumbered after all.Early the next morning, General Duan Wenzhen of the Northern Zhou Dynasty led a dozen people to climb the battlements first, and then the soldiers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty rushed into Jinzhou like ants.Wei Xianggui and more than 8,000 soldiers were captured, and Jinzhou fell.

At the same time, Gao Wei and his new favorite concubine Feng Shu are hunting in the outskirts of Yexia.Jinzhou’s urgent documents came in an endless stream from morning to noon. Prime Minister Gao Ana raised his hand and threw the documents aside, saying nonchalantly, “The emperor is on his way. Fighting troops at the border is a trivial matter, so why make a fuss about it!” The envoy brought bad news: Jinzhou fell.Gao Wei was a little flustered and wanted to go back to the palace immediately. Concubine Feng Shu acted like a baby and asked Gao Wei to play with her for a while, Gao Wei readily agreed and put the national crisis behind him for the time being.

Facing a powerful enemy, the army is still fighting bravely, but Gao Wei wants to escape, and An Tugen and other generals firmly oppose it.The eunuchs urged Gao Wei to fill up the moat and fight to the death with the Northern Zhou army.Gao Wei followed this plan and ordered the Northern Qi army to launch a counterattack against Northern Zhou.Northern Zhou resisted with all their strength, and the Northern Qi army retreated half a mile.At this time, the battle had not yet been decided, and Gao Wei and Concubine Feng Shu watched the battle on horseback.When Concubine Feng Shu saw the soldiers retreating, she became frightened, and said to Gao Wei: "We are defeated, run away!" "Advancing and retreating is a military technique. Now our whole army has not been harmed. Your Majesty should stay and supervise the battle. If His Majesty moves his horse's hooves, the morale of the army will be like a mountain, and it will be out of control. Please think twice, Your Majesty." All the ministers on the front line begged Gao Wei puts state affairs first, don't run away from the battlefield.Mutipo touched Gao Wei's elbow, and said quietly: "This is unbelievable, Your Majesty should leave early." Gao Wei, who is as timid as a chicken, has already lost eight points of his soul at this time, so he still has no state affairs to worry about Hearing what Mu Dipo said, she made up her mind and fled north in a hurry.When the Northern Qi soldiers saw that the emperor had fled, they were immediately defeated.Gao Wei was about to flee that night, but was advised by his officials. The next day, he really didn't dare to stay in the front line, so he broke through the city gate and ran away at night.

After Gao Wei fled, Ande Wang Gao Yanzong established himself as emperor in Jinyang.Zhou Jun moved to attack Ye, and Gao Wei, who fled back to Ye, was fidgeting in the city and asked the ministers what to do.Everyone said that the soldiers should be rewarded heavily to boost morale.Gao Wei immediately issued a reward edict, but he didn't reward anything at all.Minister Hu Lu Xiaoqing asked Gao Wei to appease the soldiers in person, and wrote a speech for him, telling Gao Wei to speak generously and tragically, with tears in his voice, so as to boost morale.Gao Wei walked out of the palace, was about to speak, but couldn't remember what to say, just smiled foolishly, and the attendants on the left and right laughed too.Seeing that Gao Wei was so stupid and frivolous, the soldiers' hearts were half cold: "The emperor is not in a hurry when the country is in crisis, why should we be in a hurry"!The morale of the Northern Qi Dynasty was completely sluggish.

Seeing that the situation was over, Gao Wei also wanted to evade responsibility. Following his father Gao Zhan's example, he hastily gave the Zen throne to his 8-year-old eldest son Gao Heng in the first month of the first year of Chengguang (577 AD). Gao Wei claimed to be the Supreme Emperor.A few days after Gao Weichan abdicated the throne, Emperor Wu of Zhou launched an attack on Yexia.In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, arson set fire to the city gate, and 100,000 troops rushed into Yecheng like a flood.Yecheng fell. When Gao Wei and his son heard that the capital had fallen, they were terrified.Gao Heng didn't dare to be the emperor anymore, he hastily announced the throne of Zen to the prime minister, Gao Xie, who claimed to be the Heavenly King of the Shouguo, and Gao Wei called the Supreme Emperor.Gao Wei sent his servant Zhong Hulu Xiaoqing to give Zen texts and seals to Gao Xie who was far away in Yingzhou (now Hejian, Hebei).Hulu Xiaoqing had already seen through the stupidity of Gao's regime. Instead of giving these precious things to Gaoxie, he gave them to Emperor Wu of Zhou as a meeting gift.

After occupying Yexia in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, they immediately went east to pursue Gao Wei and his son.Gao Wei and his son fled to Qingzhou (now Yidu, Shandong).On the third day, the Northern Zhou troops rushed to Qingzhou, and more than 10 people including Gao Wei and his son were captured.The Northern Qi dynasty since Gao Huan's founding ended in this way. In April of the first year of Chengguang, Emperor Wu of Zhou held a grand recommendation ceremony in front of the Taimiao, and presented Gao Wei and his son, together with the captive chariots, flags and utensils, to the ancestors.After the ceremony, the Northern Zhou Dynasty held a large-scale celebration banquet.In order to add a lively atmosphere to the festival, Emperor Wu of Zhou asked Gao Wei and his son to dance and share the joy.For the sake of Gou's safety, Gao Wei endured the humiliation and obeyed his orders.

Six months later, Emperor Wu of Zhou killed Gao Wei, Gao Heng, and others on the pretext that Gao Wei and his son wanted to conspire against the remnants of the Northern Qi Dynasty.