Chapter 71 Empress Dowager Cheng, Empress Dowager Defeat

——Empress Dowager Hu who is shrewd, wise, indulgent and frivolous Emperor Sejong Xuanwu Yuan Ke was the son of Emperor Xiaowen.Due to the rebellion of the emperor's uncle Yuanxi, he distrusted the royal family with the Yuan surname (Tuoba surname) very much, and obeyed his uncle Gao Zhao's words.Gao Zhao married Princess Gaoping, Sejong's aunt, and his younger brother Gao Yan's daughter became Empress Sejong.Gao Zhao formed a large group of cliques, successively framed Beihai Wang Yuanxiang and Qinghe Wang Yuanyi for conspiracy and killed them, and instigated Emperor Xuanwu to take strict precautions against the royal families, defending them with heavy troops, as if they were imprisoned.Then, Gao Zhaomi sent palace servants to poison Empress Shun Yu Shi, so that the medical officer refused to treat Yu Shi's three-year-old son, causing the little prince to die young.Therefore, people in the government and the opposition hate and fear him.

In order to further establish prestige with martial arts, in the third year of Yanchang (514), Gao Zhao personally led an army to conquer Shu. Empress Dowager Hu was originally the daughter of Hu Guozhen, the governor of Hezhou, and was elected to the palace when she was a teenager.Empress Hu's aunt was a professional nun who was very good at talking about Buddhist scriptures, and she entered the palace to serve in the early years of Sejong.Within a few years, she had an intimate relationship with the officials and concubines in the palace, and asked them to tell the emperor that her niece was beautiful and smart.After Sejong learned about it, he summoned the clever and handsome girl into the inner court and named her the wife of Chenghua.

According to the old system of "the death of the son and the mother" of the prince of the Wei Dynasty, the concubines in the palace secretly prayed that they would give birth to kings and princesses, and they did not want to give birth to a prince.However, Hu's courage is extraordinary. She often said to others: "How can the emperor have no heir? I am not afraid of my own death. For the sake of the emperor's heir, it is best to give birth to a prince." When she became pregnant, people around her advised her to find a way Make the child abort, so as not to give birth to the prince himself and be killed.Since the only son of Sejong and Empress Yu died young, if Hu's son was a boy, he would definitely be the crown prince.Not only was she not afraid of this, but she swore to the Buddha in the dead of night: "I hope that I can give birth to a prince, even if I die from this, I will not hesitate!"

Since most of Sejong's sons were killed by Gao Zhao or his niece Empress Gao soon after they were born, Sejong also felt it was a pity.The emperor himself felt that his age was getting older, so he carefully protected the only prince born to the Hu family. He personally chose good people to be his son's nurse and nanny, and he did not choose a palace to raise him exclusively. Visitation. In the fourth year of Jianchang, Shizong died of illness at the age of thirty-three.Ministers Cui Guang, Yu Zhong, Wang Xian and others rushed to support Yuanxu, who was 6 years old at the time, as emperor Suzong Xiaoming.

When Empress Gao learned that Suzong had been established, she hurriedly discussed with her left and right to kill the little emperor's biological mother, Mrs. Hu.When Cui Guang, Yu Zhong and others heard the news, they immediately sent people to place Hu Guipin in a place where the Empress Dowager Gao could not find it, and sent troops to guard it strictly.For this reason, Hu Guibin was very grateful to Cui Guang and others. Because Gao Zhao had a large number of troops abroad, Cui Guang and other ministers appointed Gao Zhao to record the book affairs in the name of Empress Dowager Gao, and the little emperor was also arranged to write a letter in his own name to mourn Gao Zhao, imploring him to lead the army back to the court.After all, Gao Zhao is not qualified to be a great conspirator. When he heard that Sejong, who obeyed his advice, passed away, he was struck by thunder, and he only knew how to cry day and night. He was not prepared for any plan or contingency. On the way back, he lost a lot of weight because of grief and fear Anxious, he went to the Tai Chi Hall and cried loudly.

Gaoyang Wang Yuanyong conspired with Yu Zhong and others to ambush more than a dozen strong men outside the hall.After Gao Zhaoju's mourning ceremony, he was led into a room in Zhongshu Province.Before he could speak in the future, several big men rushed up and strangled him to death.Then, in the name of the emperor, an edict was issued to declare Gao Zhao's crimes, and said that he committed suicide, and cut off all his titles.At dusk, the eunuch sent his body back home from the side door of the palace where manure was transported. After Gao Zhao was eliminated, the ministers respected Hu Guibin as the imperial concubine, abolished the Empress Dowager Gao as a nun, and forced her to move to Yaoguang Temple, which was used as a cold palace.Not long after, the imperial concubine was respected as the empress dowager again, and the empress dowager was invited to be the emperor.

When Empress Dowager Hu came to the palace for the first time, she didn't dare to be too presumptuous. She acted according to orders but not edicts, and asked the officials to write a letter calling her Your Highness.Soon, she changed the decree to the imperial edict, and the ministers wrote a letter saying that your majesty called herself Zhen.Her first move after taking power was to make her father Hu Guozhen the Duke of Anding and serve Zhongguanjie.In order to test the reaction of the officials, she said that her only son was too young to worship the ancestors in person, and she wanted to perform the sacrifice ceremony on her behalf, so she asked the minister Cui Guang if it was feasible.Cui Guang immediately quoted the old rules of the Han Dynasty and the Empress Dowager Xi and Deng to agree.

The Empress Dowager Hu’s family loves Buddha. After Shizong built Yaoguang Temple, they built the magnificent Yongning Temple, which is extremely luxurious. Among them is a solid gold Buddha statue with a height of one foot and eight feet, and ten solid gold statues that are as big as real people. , two jade giant Buddhas.A nine-level pagoda was also built, and the ground was dug to build a foundation, which was as deep as Huangquan.The stupa is ninety feet high, and the upper temple is ten feet high.In the dead of night, the wind chimes of the Buddha fluttered, and the sound was heard ten miles away.The main Buddhist hall is as magnificent as the Taiji Hall of the imperial palace, and the south gate is as huge as the end gate of the imperial palace. There are thousands of monks' rooms in the temple, filled with pearls and jade, which is shocking.It is said in history: "Since Buddhism entered China, the height of the pagoda has never existed." Because Empress Dowager Hu respected Buddhism, many children of the people in the country became monks in monks, and fewer and fewer people were engaged in production and military service.The ministers admonished, but the Empress Dowager Hu ignored it.

In 518, Hu Guozhen, the father of Empress Dowager Hu, died within a few years of blessing.Empress Dowager Hu honored her father with all her might, and presented fake Huang Yue, Xiangguo, Grand Master, and the title Grand Duke of Qin.He also gave the deceased mother the title Taishang Qin Xiaomujun, and moved her coffin to be buried with her father.The admonishing minister believed that no empress or empress dowager's biological father in the previous life was called "Tai Shang", and that the title "Tai Shang" should not be used for ministers, and moved out the ancient saying of Confucius that "the name must be correct".After hearing the news, Queen Mother Hu summoned princes and ministers to Hu Guozhen's house to discuss the matter.The princes and ministers joined the Queen Mother one after another.Therefore, the queen mother said to Zhang Puhui, who was admonishing her: "What I do is the ambition of a filial son. What you say is the way of loyal ministers. Now that the princes and ministers have agreed, please don't make any further comments on this." The dead father specially built temples to pray for blessings, which are as magnificent and luxurious as Yongning Temple.

At this time, although the Empress Dowager Hu respected Buddhism too much and the little emperor liked to go hunting and having fun, the mother and son still listened to the advice of the ministers.In particular, admonishers like Zhang Puhui often went to the table to discuss the gains and losses of current affairs. The Queen Mother and the little emperor often invited him to the Xuanguang Hall to listen to his opinions in person, and they seldom lent money to princes and relatives who violated the law. Empress Dowager Hu got close to the eunuch Liu Teng. Although he could not read a single word, he was good at guessing the owner's intentions and was cunning and scheming.Liu Tengguang accepted bribes to help others get promoted.At this time, Empress Dowager Hu took all the power of the Wei Dynasty in her own hands, and began to do things without any scruples.The astronomical official said that there was a change in the celestial phenomena, and the death of a nobleman was needed to respond to it.Empress Dowager Hu immediately remembered her opponent, Empress Dowager Gao, and sent someone to kill her in the dark of night, and buried this generation of queens in the palace with the etiquette of burying a nun.

In order to obtain the "truth", the Empress Dowager Hu sent many envoys and monks to the desert to seek Buddhist scriptures in the Western Regions, which cost a lot of money. The Northern Wei Dynasty dominated the north for many years, and the small countries in the west continued to pay tribute, and traded with the Southern Dynasty, the treasury was full, and everything was ready.Empress Dowager Hu once visited the warehouse where the silk cloth was stored, and ordered more than 100 princes and nobles who were accompanying her to take silk at will according to their own strength.These people were full of ugly behaviors, and they tried their best to carry hundreds of horses to their homes.Shang Shu ordered Li Chong and Zhang Wu Wang Yuanrong to be the most greedy. They were carrying too much silk and fell to the ground. One injured their waist and the other injured their feet. To them, was made a laughingstock at the time.Only Cui Guang, the attendant, only took two bolts of silk. The Empress Dowager was very surprised and asked him why he took so little?Cui Guang replied: "I can only hold two horses in both hands." Everyone on the side blushed with shame. Although Cui Guang was a loyal minister, he was the kind of person who was wise and safe. He did not stop Yuan Yi's political chaos and Queen Mother Hu's indiscriminate killings. The Wei Dynasty reached its peak in the early days of Empress Hu's administration, just like a person's reflection period.At that time, the clan and noble officials of the Wei Dynasty compared each other's wealth.Yuanyong, the king of Gaoyang, was as rich as an enemy, and his palace and gardens were comparable to those of the emperor.He had six thousand servants and five hundred prostitutes. When he went out, the guards filled the road, and when he returned, he sang songs all day and night, and he ate tens of thousands of dollars for a meal.Shang Shuling Li Chong and Yuan Yong have about the same net worth, but he is stingy by nature and often tells people: "King Gaoyang's meal is enough for me to last for a thousand days." Hejian Wang Yuanchen often wants to compete with Yuan Yong for wealth.The mangers where he raises horses are all made of sterling silver; above the windows, a jade phoenix holds a bell, and a golden dragon spits out beads.When feasting with the kings, the wine vessels in Yuan Chen's house include Shuijingfeng, agate bowls, and red jade cups, all of which are exquisitely made and unique in China.Once, on a whim, he made a big show of women's music, famous horses and all kinds of rare treasures, and led the kings to look around his treasury, money, silk, silk and satin, which was dazzling and incomparable.When he was triumphant, he said to Zhang Wu Wang Yuanrong beside him: "I don't hate that I don't see Shi Chong, I hate that Shi Chong doesn't see me." Empress Dowager Hu kept building temples, endlessly.She also ordered the construction of five-level pagodas in all states, and the people's power was exhausted.In Luoyang City, the kings, nobles, eunuchs, princesses, etc. built temples and competed with each other.This magnificent woman often set up fasting parties and donated alms, moving tens of thousands of dollars, and the treasury was exhausted, but she never took any measures to benefit the people.During the reign of Emperor Sejong, the eunuch Baizheng was sent to excavate two grottoes in Longmen Mountain for Emperor Xiaowen and Empress Wen Zhaogao, both a hundred feet high.Later, the eunuch Liu Teng dug another grotto for Shizong. In 24 years, it took more than 182,000 workers, but it was still not completed.It can be seen from this that the cost of digging caves, opening mountains and building temples is huge! Compared with other empress dowagers, the queen's favored servants, eunuchs, monks or scoundrels acting as male favorites, Empress Dowager Hu is superior.Prince Qinghe of Wei State, Yuan Yi, was handsome and handsome, but Empress Dowager Hu forced him into prostitution.It is indeed an anecdote for a prince to be raped by his sister-in-law. It can be seen that this Queen Mother Hu is indeed not an ordinary person. Prince Yuan Yi was not just a little boy with low morals, he was talented, good at literature, and respected scholars, so he was very prestigious at that time.Empress Dowager Hu's brother-in-law Yuan Yi was the leading general in charge of the Forbidden Army at that time. Both he and the eunuch Liu Teng held a grudge against Yuan Yi's reprimand for showing off their officials and power.After the two conspired, they appointed Hu Ding, the eunuch who usually served the little emperor's meals, to report that Yuan Yi sent him to poison the emperor, and promised to give Hu Ding prosperity and wealth after he became emperor.The little emperor was only eleven years old at the time, so he believed it to be true.That night, Yuan Yi, the little emperor and others locked Queen Mother Hu in the gate of Yongxiang, and several people tricked Yuan Yi into the palace to secretly kill him at the age of thirty-four. Then, a group of people falsely called the imperial edict of the Empress Dowager Hu, saying that the Empress Dowager herself fell ill and returned power to the emperor.So Empress Dowager Hu was imprisoned in the Xuanguang Hall of the North Palace. The gate was closed day and night. The eunuch Liu Teng was in charge of the key himself, and the little emperor had no chance to see his mother. At this time, Empress Dowager Hu had nothing to eat and clothing, she was hungry and cold, and could only sigh: "It's people like me who raise tigers and devour people!" So Yuan Yi controlled the outside of the Wei Dynasty, and Liu Teng in the forbidden palace. Commander, the two might shake the world.Some people in the government and the opposition are promoted or become officials, and the two only depend on the amount of gifts. Even Yuan Yi's father, King Jingzhao, relied on his son's power to sell his wealth and power. , suffering from far and near. Due to the great chaos in the Wei Dynasty, Bian Jiang fled to the Southern Dynasty. In the imperial clan, Yuan Zhengde, Yuan Faseng and others conspired to rebel one after another. The townspeople Helianen, South Qinzhou Haoqiang and others rebelled. Later, the soldiers and civilians of the six frontier towns could not bear the abuse and rebelled.When Xiurong County begged for nothing to rebel, Er Zhurong, the chief of Xiurong, led his troops to seek peace, and it was this small tribal chief who later became the murderer of Queen Mother Hu. In April 523, the great eunuch Liu Teng died of illness.Yuan Yi has been in power for three or four years, and he feels that the world is completely controlled by himself, and his defense against Queen Mother Hu has gradually relaxed. Taking advantage of the opportunity of meeting the little emperor, Empress Dowager Hu resentfully said that she was going to Songshan to become a nun, and she also took the scissors to cut her own hair, her voice was stern.The officials and the emperor begged hard.Mother and son meet and take the opportunity to live together in Jiafu Hall.The mother and daughter got along for a few days, telling each other their hearts, and they both felt that Yuan Yi was hateful.The little emperor has gradually grown up and learned to act. He pretends to tell Yuan Yi about the relationship between mother and child one by one, making Yuan Yi feel that he is still deeply favored by the emperor. In February 525, the Empress Dowager Hu, the emperor's mother and son suddenly dismissed Yuan Yi from the post of commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army. A series of false titles.Yuan Yi felt at ease, always feeling that he would not be in danger of being dethroned. After all, Empress Dowager Hu is a woman, and Yuan Yi is her own brother-in-law, so she couldn't bear to punish her for a long time. After Empress Dowager Hu seized power, Yuan Shun, the imperial clan demoted by Yuan Yi, was recalled and served as an official servant.One day, he was sitting beside the Queen Mother in the hall, and suddenly pointed to the younger sister behind the Queen Mother, and said, "How can you, Your Majesty, prevent the people of the world from redressing their grievances for the sake of one of your sisters because of your sister?" Mo Yan didn't know how to answer, the officials took the opportunity to ask for forgiveness, and the emperor personally asked Queen Mother Hu to express his attitude. After hesitating again and again, Queen Mother Hu ordered Yuan Yi and his younger brother Yuan Gua to commit suicide at home. After several years of confinement, Empress Dowager Hu can carry out her ambitions again.Although she is in her mid-mature, she still likes to wear heavy makeup very much, and she keeps going out to visit relatives' homes.Minister Yuan Shunyan remonstrated: "According to ancient rituals, after the death of a husband, a woman should claim to be a widow. Jewelry should not be adorned on her head, and patterns and colors should not be embroidered on her clothes. Your Majesty's mother is about forty years old, and she is overdressed all day long. How can you set an example for future generations?" Empress Dowager Hu blushed and returned to the palace.She summoned Yuan Shun into the palace and scolded: "I recruited you to the imperial court from thousands of miles away, just to let you humiliate me in public?" Yuan Shun said bluntly: "Your Majesty is not afraid that people in the world will laugh at you. Are you ashamed of this humble minister?" Although Empress Dowager Feng is somewhat restrained, the unruly factor in her nature is still not restrained.She doted on the minister Zheng Yan, worshiped him as a doctor of advice, served in the palace day and night, and could be called a doctor of clothes.When Zheng Yan went home on vacation, the Empress Dowager often asked several eunuchs to go with him.When Dr. Zheng saw his first wife, he could only chat a few family gossips, and was immediately urged to return to the palace.In addition, Zheng Yan also colluded with a Zhongshusheren named Xu He, who controlled the inside and outside, and was called "Xu Zheng" at the time. There was a servant of the Huangmen, Li Shengui, who was rumored to have an ambiguous relationship with the Empress Dowager both inside and outside the palace.Li Shengui's father was the guy Li Xian who hurt his waist by carrying too much silk in the silk storehouse. According to the "Southern History" records, Yang Hua, the son of the general Yang Dayan of the Wei State, was brave and handsome, and was lucky to be seen by the Queen Mother Hu.Although favored by the Empress Dowager, Yang Hua was afraid of misfortune and his family would be annihilated, so he took the opportunity to run back to his hometown and led his tribe to Liang Guo in the Southern Dynasty. Empress Dowager Hu remembered this great guy so much that she wrote the lyrics of "Yang Baihua" herself: "In February and March in Yangchun, the willows make flowers together. The spring breeze enters the boudoir overnight, and the poplar flowers flutter down to the Nanjia. Zhanyi. From autumn to spring, I will return the two swallows, and I would like to bring poplar flowers into the nest." Personified by objects, the words are very sad and full of affection.She also made the ladies of the palace surround her day and night, stepping on foot and singing, remembering her lover. In this situation where the imperial court was desolate and treacherous officials were in power, the situation in Wei State was in a state of turmoil.After the rebellion in the northwest frontier town, the barbarians in Erjing and Xiying in the south also occupied the hills one after another, and then the garrison in Anzhou rebelled one after another. Qizhou, Dongqinghe County, Dongjun, Guangchuan, Chenjun and other places The soldiers and civilians responded everywhere, and the whole country was in a state of disintegration. In the process of suppressing the rebellion, Er Zhurong, a local warlord in Xiurong County, became stronger and stronger, and was named General Anbei, and the governor Hengshuo captured all the troops.He led troops through Sizhou, but the governor Wei Qingbin didn't open the city gate to greet him, so he even sent troops to attack Sizhou and set up his own governor.Wei Chao didn't dare to take care of this, and watched the snakes running rampant in one area.Later, even Xiao Baoyin, the clan of Qi State who fled to Wei State because Liang destroyed Qi, took advantage of the chaos to proclaim himself emperor, occupied Guanyou, and changed Yuan Longxu. In 528, Suzong's concubine Pan gave birth to a daughter. Empress Dowager Hu lied to the outside world that the prince was born, amnesty, and changed Yuan Wutai. Since the Empress Dowager Hu came to court again, treacherous ministers have been in power, political affairs have been chaotic, rigid discipline has been lax, kindness and power have not been established, domestic thieves have sprung up, and the borders have been tightened day by day.Emperor Suzong Xiaoming was getting older, and Empress Dowager Hu knew that women behaved differently, and she was afraid that people around her would leak it to her son. Anyone who the emperor loved and trusted would try to release and get rid of them, so that the emperor would not know about external affairs and court affairs. .Gu Shihui, the regular attendant of Sanqi, was very close to the emperor, and the two often talked with each other for a long time, so the queen mother appointed him as the governor of other states.Gu Shihui didn't want to serve outside, so the queen mother asked someone to falsely claim that he was guilty and killed him.There is also a Mido Taoist who can understand Hu, and the emperor often puts him at his left and right, and the advisers joke about it.The queen mother secretly sent someone to kill him in the south of the city, and then pretended to be a robber to kill him, and even offered a reward for the capture of the killer. All of the above, the little emperor was well aware of everything, and the rift between mother and son deepened day by day. Er Zhurong of Xiurong County was already full-fledged at this time, and he coveted the state affairs of the Wei Dynasty.He wrote to the imperial court, requesting that he be allowed to lead elite soldiers to aid Xiangzhou.Empress Dowager Feng was very vigilant and politely refused, saying that Wang Yuanhao of Beihai had already led 20,000 people to Xiangzhou, and there was no need for Er Zhurong to send troops.Er Zhurong saw that this strategy was not feasible, so he summoned the militiamen to defend Mayi in the north and Jingxing in the east, and circled a large area by himself to seek a different plan.The minister Xu He persuaded Empress Dowager Feng to give Er Zhurong's subordinates iron certificates of oath to drive a wedge between them. Er Zhurong hated Empress Dowager Feng even more when she found out. Emperor Suzong Xiaoming hated Zheng Yan and Xu He very much, but because his mother, Empress Dowager Feng, suppressed them, he was alone and could not get rid of these two.In desperation, the little emperor came up with a trick: secretly issued an edict to Er Zhurong, asking him to send his troops inward to the capital, hoping to use them to threaten the Empress Dowager to return to power. Er Zhurong was overjoyed by the imperial edict, and immediately sent Gao Huan (who later turned his family into a state and founded the foundation of the Northern Qi Dynasty) as a vanguard to kill Luoyang.When the army arrived at Shangdang, for unknown reasons, Emperor Xiaoming issued a private edict to stop Er Zhurong's army from advancing. Zheng Yan and Xu He were afraid of the imminent disaster, so they kept blowing pillow wind to the Queen Mother.Empress Dowager Hu's adulteress was so poisonous that she gritted her teeth and poisoned Emperor Xiaoming, who was only nineteen years old, to death.Tiger poison does not eat its seeds.In the past, Empress Dowager Feng of Civilization poisoned Emperor Xianwen to death, after all, she was not her own son.And Emperor Suzong Xiaoming is a piece of meat that fell out of the Empress Dowager Hu's stomach, and he is a blood relative! Empress Dowager Hu first made the princess born to Concubine Pan the emperor, but soon changed her mind, and welcomed Yuan Zhao, the son of Prince Lintao, to the throne.Yuan Zhao was only three years old at the time, and Empress Dowager Hu wanted to control the state affairs for a long time, so she coveted her young age and established her. Er Zhurong was furious when he heard the news.He said to the left and right: "Although Suzong Yanjia is nineteen years old, the people in China say that he is still a young ruler. How can it be possible to help a child who cannot speak clearly to face the world and want the country to be peaceful?" On the one hand, he sent troops to kill Luoyang, on the other hand, he himself welcomed Yuan Ziyou, the king of Changle, as emperor. Empress Dowager Hu was terrified when she heard the news of Er Zhurong's rebellion, and called the princes and ministers to discuss it. Everyone secretly hated the empress dowager's destructive act of poisoning her parents and children, and no one was willing to offer advice.Only the old lover Xu He said: "Er Zhurong, a little Hu, dares to direct his troops at the court. We will kill him for sure." Empress Dowager Hu believed it, and sent Li Shengui, the leader of the army, to resist.Li Shengui's army marched to Heqiao. When they heard that Beizhong had fallen, they were so scared that they returned to their horses and fled.Xu He Jiaozhao took ten of the best fast horses from the imperial stables overnight and headed east to Yanzhou.Zheng Yan was also so frightened that he ran away to his hometown overnight.Empress Dowager Hu was left alone, so she had no choice but to order Emperor Xiaoming's concubines to be shaved overnight, and she herself shaved her hair and shaved her head to show her willingness to make atonement for her nuns. Er Zhurong summoned all the officials and asked them to meet his new emperor Yuan Ziyou (Wei Jingzong).They also sent powerful soldiers to the palace to capture the queen mother and the little emperor.Empress Dowager Hu has lost her previous prestige, she has lost all her tongue, and told Er Zhurong the whole story, trying to explain what she did. Facing the mighty Queen Mother Hu who once ruled the world, Er Zhurong sneered and got up with a brush of clothes.Immediately, he had the Empress Dowager Hu and the three-year-old little emperor thrown into the Yellow River and drowned. While floating and sinking in the turbulent current, I don't know if the queen mother will feel that she is full of evil before she is about to choke to death?