The sudden death of Qin Shi Huang quickly brought the relatively stable Qin Dynasty to the brink of collapse. Hu Hai, the second emperor of Qin, who was jointly supported by Zhao Gao and Li Si, was far from enough to govern the entire empire, and he was actually just a plaything of Zhao Gao.
You must know that even the supreme Li Si can't resist Zhao Gao's schemes, let alone a young man who lacks rich experience.
Under Zhao Gao's misdeeds, the Qin Dynasty collapsed, and history entered a new chapter in the struggle for hegemony between Chu and Han. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang became the bright stars of that period. Their struggle is not about the process, but about the final victory, and the result is obvious, Xiang Yu became the loser, and Liu Bang was the winner who laughed to the end.
He succeeded in ascending the throne and founded the Han Empire, ushering in a new era. Looking back on this period of history, we always pay attention to the disputes in the world, as well as Liu Bang's statecraft, and explore the subtle relationship between the rise and fall of the world and personal gains and losses.
History is not only made up of big and bad events, but also many small details to add charm. Big events are the skeleton of history, while small events are the hair of history.
Without the presence of these hairs, history would be monotonous. Liu Bang's private life is a small matter that we often overlook, but it has left a profound impact on history.
It can even be said that his private life influenced the following Han and Han dynasties, with a total of 25 emperors, 10 of whom fell in love with male favorites.
In the long history, Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty was unique, favored the male pet Dong Xian, and even had the idea of ceding the throne to him, however, this male favorite who almost usurped the Han Dynasty finally ended up with a tragic end of family ruin.
Liu Bang, the founder of the country, has long been known as lustful all over the world. After capturing Xianyang, he was fascinated by the beauties, and even thought that being a king in Guanzhong was a pleasure.
Fortunately, Fan Hao and Zhang Liang reminded him in time, otherwise it is a matter of whether he can become the emperor. Looking at the beauties in Guanzhong, although Liu Bang was reluctant, in order to enjoy more beauty, he followed the advice of his courtiers, left Guanzhong, secretly developed his power, and finally launched a fierce struggle with Xiang Yu.
In battles, a gentleman often loses to a villain, because in the villain's world, victory is more important than morality. The story of Xiang Yu and Liu Bang is the best example, although Xiang Yu is a highly praised real man in history, he still lost to Liu Bang, who even ignored his own father, wife and children.
Liu Bang won, not only won the world, but also gained the right to choose beauties. However, when Liu Bang became the emperor, he began to raise male pets, which may have been tortured by Lu Pheasant for a long time, or it may be that the beauty of the harem made him lose the ability to distinguish between beauty and ugliness.
Fish begins to rot from the head. Liu Bang's behavior also influenced his descendants, whose passion for male love reached its peak, and raising male pets became a unique and striking sight in the Western Han Dynasty.
Although the male-male relationships of other emperors were inferior in front of Emperor Han Ai, because they raised male pets only for entertainment, Emperor Han Ai's love for Dong Xian was sincere.
Dong Xian came from an aristocratic family, and his father Dong Gong served as the imperial historian, so he was placed in the position of the crown prince.
This official position is the personal guard of the prince's mansion, although it does not sound decent, but it must not be underestimated. Because once the crown prince ascends the throne as emperor, these guards will rise to the top.
Dong Xian is a man, but he is beautiful, and he often enjoys himself because of his beauty. After Emperor Han Ai ascended the throne, he was particularly fond of Dong Xian, and the two were inseparable.
But Emperor Han Ai didn't care about this, Dong Xian also actively cooperated, whether Emperor Han Ai went out or returned to the palace, he accompanied him, just one month, he got a huge reward from Emperor Han Ai, and his wealth shook the entire court.
Dong Xian knew how to please Emperor Han Ai, even if Emperor Han Ai gave him a holiday, he refused to leave. Emperor Han Ai also understood Dong Xian, and directly recruited his wife, sister and other female members into the palace, realizing the reunion of the whole family.
Dong Xian's male relatives also received great favors because of his favor. In order not to alarm Dong Xian, Emperor Han even cut off his sleeves, which shows his deep affection for Dong Xian.
However, the misbehaving Emperor Han Ai eventually overdrew his own life, leaving only Dong Xian and his family to face the reality of their family being ruined. This is the idiom "broken sleeve fetish", which tells us that even if it is prosperous and rich, it cannot be maintained forever, and people will eventually die.
When the news of Emperor Han's death came, Dong Xian's heart was full of worry and sadness, as if he had foreseen his future. Under the order of the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, Wang Mang was able to enter the palace to deal with the funeral, and immediately after entering the palace, he instructed Shangshu ** Dong Xian, on the grounds that when Emperor Han Ai was sick, Dong Xian did not take care of it personally.
Although Dong Xian had a hard time arguing, he could only accept the treatment, and the result was that he was dismissed from office, and all the glory that Emperor Han Ai had once bestowed on him disappeared overnight. Dong Xian and his wife were kicked out of the palace and returned to their home, but they did not escape their fate, and under the pressure of Wang Mang, they were afraid of suffering more serious torture, so they chose to commit suicide.
Wang Mang was suspicious of Dong Xian's fake death, and even ordered an open coffin for an autopsy, only to terminate the investigation until it was confirmed that he had committed suicide. Dong Xian's death does not mean that the interests of the Dong family will disappear.
In order to prevent the Dong family from continuing to be arrogant in the court, Wang Mang belittled Dong Xian's father, younger brother, and mother, and confiscated all the wealth of the Dong family. However, when the imperial court auctioned off the Dong family's property, they were shocked to find that the Dong family's total assets were as high as 430,000 yuan.
It is unbelievable that the male pet under the feudal imperial system can not only be a marquis, but also accumulate rich wealth. However, if the emperor can be the sole favor, all this does not seem surprising.
The power and wealth are undoubtedly enormous, but greed and ambition often end up bringing devastating disasters and tragedies. Dong Xian lost his moral bottom line for the sake of temporary power, and for his own selfish interests, he lost his conscience, he lost himself and could only reap the consequences.