Guo Wei usurped the throne and left Zhao Kuangyin a rich inheritance for the Song Dynasty to enjoy for 300 years.
In 976 AD, Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, died suddenly in the mysterious "Candle Shadow Axe" incident, and his younger brother Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne by virtue of the "Golden Alliance" and became the second emperor of the Song Dynasty, that is, Song Taizong.
Song Taizong considered himself to be extremely intelligent, and there were not many founding emperors he admired. However, for Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Song Taizong had a contemptuous attitude.
He once said to Prime Minister Lu Mengzheng: "Guo Wei is suspicious and uses villain tactics to try to seize the throne of the emperor, how can he rule the country for a long time?"
Song Taizong believed that although Guo Wei established the Later Zhou Dynasty, his actions and methods were full of intrigue and treachery, which is why the Later Zhou reign was so short.
In history, Song Taizong was not a king with great achievements, and he knew very well why the Later Zhou Dynasty fell, because he participated in the "Chenqiao Mutiny" that year.
However, even though Song Taizong was emperor, Prime Minister Lü Mengzheng still needed to respect him. When Song Taizong expressed his opinion, Lü Mengzheng could only echo and say: "In the past, although Chen Ping had made outstanding achievements in the process of assisting the Han Dynasty, he relied too much on conspiracy, and he regretted it......This implies that although Liu Bang's strategist Chen Ping was highly meritorious, he relied too much on conspiracy and was not in line with the general interests of the world.
This dialogue appears in "Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian, Volume 34", but Lü Mengzheng's remarks seem to be criticizing Guo Wei, but in fact, it is more like satirizing Song Taizong.
Historically, Guo Wei was not known for his conspiracy, but as an upright man. As a veteran of the 4th Dynasty, he was forced to rebel and become emperor. In addition, Guo Wei's political legacy was also of great benefit to the Song Dynasty.
Next, I will share the story of this troubled hero Guo Wei. Guo Wei's background has always been a mystery, and there are two very different theories. According to the "History of the New Five Dynasties", he was born in Yaoshan, Xingzhou, and his biological father Guo Jian was the Shunzhou Thorn History in the Later Jin Dynasty.
Later, Youzhou Jiedu made Liu Rengong invade Shunzhou and killed Guo Jian, Guo Wei and his mother Wang fled and planned to defect to his aunt Han. However, Wang died on the way, and Guo Wei came to Luzhou alone and was raised by his aunt Han.
Historians have different speculations about why Guo Wei's mother and aunt have different surnames, and some believe that they are not sisters, but cousins.
The History of the Old Five Dynasties records that Guo Wei's biological father's original surname was Chang, and because his father died, his mother took him to remarry Guo Jian, so he changed his surname to Guo. However, this statement is not very credible, so let's look at a similar example.
Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, lost his father when he was young, and his mother took him to remarry his stepfather Zhu Wenhan. His stepfather named him Zhu Shuo. Later, Fan Zhongyan was admitted to the Jinshi, and after learning about his life experience, he excitedly changed back to his original surname, and returned to the Fan family to worship his ancestors, so he had the name "Fan Zhongyan" that we are familiar with.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, blood inheritance was regarded as the supreme thing. Even a jinshi like Fan Zhongyan had to change back to his original surname, so it is highly unlikely that Guo Wei said that the emperor did not change his surname "Chang".
Compared to other emperors, Guo Wei's origins were more controversial, which made his status even more special. Guo Wei's upbringing was full of turmoil and unrest, the Tang Dynasty had fallen when he was three years old, and China had entered the period of "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms".
Guo Wei lost his parents at an early age, and although he grew up in his aunt's house, he still lacked love, which also led to his formation of a very fiery personality. According to historical records, Guo Wei often fought, gambled, and drank heavily when he was a child, and tattooed a sparrow on his neck, known as "Guo Queer".
In 921 AD, Li Keyong's grandson Li Jitao went to Luzhou to recruit soldiers, and Li Jitao saw that Guo Wei was powerful, so he recruited him as a personal guard. At that time, Zhu Wen had already established the "Later Liang", and although the Tang Dynasty fell, Li Jitao still used the Tang Dynasty era name, so Guo Wei could also be regarded as a courtier of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Jitao's trust in Guo Wei is overwhelming, even if Guo Wei is occasionally in the army, Li Jitao never blames him. At the end of that year, Li Jitao led the army to garrison Shangdang, and there was a butcher in the city, who was very arrogant and domineering on weekdays, bullying the people, and even forcibly occupying the people's daughters.
After Guo Wei learned about this, he decided to teach him a lesson. One day, after Guo Wei finished drinking, he pretended to buy meat and asked the butcher to cut the meat for him himself, and said that he cut it unprofessionally.
The butcher realized that the big man in front of him was looking for fault, so he picked up a knife and challenged Guo Wei. The final result was that Guo Wei cut open the butcher's belly, and someone wanted to hand him over to the government, and Li Jitao hid Guo Wei out of love for talents.
This story was later adapted and became the prototype of "Lu Zhishen's punch to the town of Guanxi" in "Water Margin", which was widely praised by later generations.
In 923 AD, Li Jitao's uncle Li Cunqiao founded the Later Tang Dynasty, however, Li Jitao tried to launch a mutiny, and finally failed and was executed by Li Cunqing, so Guo Wei was incorporated by Li Cunqiao and became the bodyguard of the Later Tang Emperor.
Li Cunmiao is the eldest son of Li Keyong, although he established the Later Tang Dynasty, expanded the territory, and established immortal achievements, but he was also addicted to wine and was not good at the governance of the country.
Therefore, in 926 AD, Li Cunmiao's righteous brother Li Siyuan launched a mutiny, Li Cunmiao was killed in the rebellion, and Li Siyuan succeeded him and became Tang Mingzong. After Li Siyuan succeeded to the throne, he did two things, the first thing was to dismiss all Li Cunqiao's cronies, and Guo Wei was among them.
The second thing was to dismiss all the palace maids and nobles in Li Cunmiao's period, among which there was a palace maid who later became Guo Wei's wife, she was Chai.
Chai, born in a wealthy family, entered the palace as a palace person. On the way back to her hometown, she met the tall Guo Wei, fell in love with Guo Wei at first sight, and decided to make a personal promise. Guo Wei was unemployed at this time, had nothing, and was very depressed.
Chai loved Guo Wei deeply and gave him all his huge fortune, hoping that he would have a career. The world was in turmoil, Guo Wei wandered around, and finally decided to defect to Shi Jingjiao.
Shi Jingjiao is Li Siyuan's son-in-law and has not yet been proclaimed emperor. Guo Wei was reused in Shi Jingjiao's army, and ten years later, Shi Jingjiao rebelled and established the Later Jin Dynasty, and Guo Wei became a general.
However, Guo Wei is not directly under the management of Shi Jingjiao, and his immediate boss is Liu Zhiyuan, a close confidant of Shi Jingjiao and a famous general of the later Jin Dynasty.
Shi Jingjiao is the scum of the Chinese nation, he calls himself the "child emperor" and takes the initiative to sacrifice the sixteen states of Yanyun. However, after Shi Jingjiao's death, the Liao State waved its army south and destroyed the Later Jin, but the Liao people were not good at managing the Central Plains, and then retreated north, leaving a large vacuum.
Liu Zhiyuan saw an opportunity, and his subordinates instigated Liu Zhiyuan to establish his own country, Liu Zhiyuan pretended to resign, and later decided to be the emperor and establish the Later Han Dynasty. Guo Wei became the founder of the country, serving as the deputy privy envoy and the inspector of the school.
This position is equivalent to a military commander, and it can be said that it is below one person and above ten thousand. Guo Wei joined the army at the age of 18, and went through Li Jitao (Tang), Li Cunqiao (Later Tang), Shi Jingjiao (Later Jin), Liu Zhiyuan (Later Han), Guo Wei at this time was 45 years old.
After four dynasties, and each dynasty can be reused, Guo Wei is not simple. 3. I am a loyal minister, and I have no choice but to rebel Guo Wei has made great achievements in politics, but I also have regrets.
For example, when he was down, his wife Chai, who had always supported him, died of illness, which made Guo Wei very heartbroken. Because the Chai family did not give birth to a son for Guo Wei, Guo Wei missed Chai's affection, and succeeded Chai's maiden nephew Chai Rong, renamed Guo Rong, and regarded it as his own.
Not only that, Guo Wei later became the emperor, but he did not set up a queen.
In 948, Liu Zhiyuan died at the age of 54 after reigning for only one year. Before his death, he summoned four important ministers and entrusted them with assisting his young son, Liu Chengyou.
These four auxiliary ministers are Guo Wei, Hong Zhao, Wang Zhang and Su Fengji. Since ancient times, most of the fate of ministers has not been good, because as the new emperor grows, these ministers tend to become a stumbling block to the growth of the new emperor.
For example, before the death of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, he also left four ministers to Kangxi, but when Kangxi grew up, if he wanted to monopolize the government, he had to eliminate Ao Bai and others. Similarly, although Liu Chengyou was young, he did not like to be suppressed by these ministers, so he decided to get rid of them.
Hezhong Jiedu made Li Shouzhen rebel, Liu Chengyou sent Guo Wei to quell the rebellion, if he could not win, Liu Chengyou planned to kill Guo Wei with ineffective counterinsurgency. Guo Wei unexpectedly defeated the rebels.
Liu Chengyou saw that Guo Wei's prestige was increasing day by day, and took advantage of Guo Wei's foreign campaign to raid Hongzhao and Wang Zhang, two ministers who took care of their lives, and exterminated their families. He also ordered two generals, Guo Chong and Li Hongyi, to kill Guo Wei on the road.
Li Hongyi had a close relationship with Guo Wei and secretly told Wang Jun, who immediately informed Guo Wei. Guo Wei was leading the army outside, and when he heard that the emperor was going to kill him, he couldn't decide for a while.
Guo Wei's henchmen advised him to rebel and overthrow the ungrateful Liu Chengyou, but Guo Wei refused. He thought that there were traitors around the emperor and that he should persuade the emperor, so he returned to the capital in the name of "Qingjun's side" and prepared to get rid of the traitors.
The History of the Old Five Dynasties records: Guo Wei hopes to enter Beijing, personally wash away grievances, eliminate the wicked people around the emperor, and jointly maintain the peace of the world. Even in a difficult situation, Guo Wei still did not consider rebellion.
On the way to the capital, Guo Wei was worried that Liu Chengyou would misunderstand his intentions, so he deliberately wrote a touching recital. He expressed that he came from a humble background, but he was appreciated and promoted by Liu Zhiyuan, and he was loyal to the Later Han Dynasty.
He begged Liu Chengyou to give him a reasonable explanation, and if the emperor still wanted to kill him, he was willing to tie himself to his horse and wait for the emperor's orders. Guo Wei's words did not move Liu Chengyou, but caused Liu Chengyou to order the killing of all Guo Wei's family members left in the capital.
Liu Chengyou sent a large army to attack Guo Wei, but Guo Wei led his subordinates to resist, and finally Liu Chengyou was defeated and fled. On the way, Guo Wei saw Liu Chengyou's Son of Heaven Banner and wanted to get off the horse and bow down, but Liu Chengyou had already run away.
Although Guo Wei was cornered, he still wanted to explain his innocence to Liu Chengyou, showing that he did not want to rebel.
Guo Wei did not take the initiative to rebel, but was forced by the times. Liu Chengyou was killed by his cronies, Guo Wei lost his allegiance, and he was in a dilemma. He entered Beijing to see Empress Dowager Li and suggested that Empress Dowager Li choose a member of the clan as emperor, but the Khitan army invaded south, and Guo Wei was forced to lead his army north.
When passing through Lanzhou, Guo Wei's subordinates put on a yellow robe for him and ascended the throne as emperor, so far, he has no way out. Guo Wei was originally a loyal minister, but he was forced into a desperate situation, and in the end he could only announce the establishment of the Later Zhou, replace the Later Han, and become the Taizu of the Later Zhou.
First of all, Guo Wei advocates thrift and cares for the people. He immediately repealed the annual offering of treasures to the imperial court, and his frugality was heartfelt, and it was not until one time that he smashed the treasures offered below in front of the crowd, that people really realized this.
Guo Wei respects Confucianism and advocates governing the world with culture. Guo Wei personally went to Qufu, Shandong Province to pay homage to Confucius, expressing his admiration for the sage, and also emphasizing that future generations should take Confucianism as the guiding ideology for governing the country.
He believes that only when Wenchen has the right to speak in the country can the people truly live a stable life.
Fifth, the merit is in the future, and some historians believe that Guo Wei, as the Son of Heaven, may have carried out his reforms lightly. In fact, in any era, reform means touching the interests of a certain number of people, and even the emperor cannot do it lightly.
Therefore, Guo Wei's seemingly simple approach actually requires great determination. Standing on the river of history and looking against the current, in the chaotic era at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Guo Wei's series of behaviors had a profound impact on later generations.
The famous historian Fan Wenlan once said: Guo Wei's reform is a re-examination of the barbaric rule of the Shatuo people in the late Tang Dynasty.
Guo Wei is great, however, the time left by God is too short, in 954 AD, 51-year-old Guo Wei died, only reigning for 5 years. After his death, he passed the throne to his nephew Chai Rong, and throughout the annals of history, Guo Wei was the only one who passed the throne to the founding emperor of a foreign surname.
This can also be seen in his extraordinary mind. It turns out that Guo Wei's vision is very unique, and Chai Rong is a very good successor, but unfortunately he died young. In the year of Guo Wei's death, a general named Zhao Kuangyin was serving as the envoy of the Kaifeng Prefecture Ma Zhijun, and many years later, he followed Guo Wei's "yellow robe and body", replaced the Later Zhou, and established the Song Dynasty.
Guo Wei did not just leave behind a national regime, the system he created deeply influenced later generations, especially the Song Dynasty established by Zhao Kuangyin. These systems, including emphasizing literature over military force, ruling the world together with scholars and doctors, attaching importance to Confucianism, enshrined Confucius's descendants as Shenggong, and the development of private commerce, all began to sprout and gradually developed during the Guo Wei period.
From the perspective of historical development, Guo Wei is undoubtedly a positive figure with far-reaching influence, and the political legacy he left behind has been enjoyed by the Song Dynasty for more than 300 years. Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi's accusation was only because he didn't realize that his problems were more serious than others.