Zhou Bo Behind Zhou Yafu s tragic ending, the analysis of the relationship between the power struggl

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-29

It can be said that Zhou Bo and Zhou Yafu father and son were the heroes of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty. Zhou Bo was not only the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty, but also the first to pacify"The Lu Rebellion"The hero, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, adopted this virtue of Zhou Bo; And Zhou Yafu was the first to pacify"Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms"and did it. Zhou Yafu was pacified"Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms"。Although Zhou Bo and Zhou Yafu are father and son, their situation in their later years is extremely bad, why is this? Why?

Zhou Bo: Although he put down the Zhulu Rebellion, it also caused fear among Emperor Wen of Han.

Zhou Bo was a peasant in Liu Bangpei County and one of the first to follow Liu Bang in the uprising. Zhou Bo followed Liu Bang to fight in the south and the north, and his achievements were impressive. He was known as the Marquis of Weiwu and was one of the earliest heroes, and was called the Marquis of the Western Han Dynasty when he was named King of Han. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, he was named the Marquis of Jiang, and was the fourth noble marquis of the Western Han Dynasty after Zhou Bo, Xiao He, Cao Shen, and Zhang Ao. Later, he followed Liu Bang to quell the rebellion of Han Wangxin, Chen Xian, Lü Xiaobin and others, and was later appointed as a lieutenant in the Western Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang had a classic dialogue with Empress Lu before his death, namely"Sickbed courtiers", Liu Bang said:"Zhou Bo will protect Liu Hui", which shows Liu Bang's trust in Zhou Bo. After Liu Bang's death, Empress Lü controlled the government for a long time, and the Lü family held the power of the court and military power, posing a serious threat to the Liu kingdom. After Lü Fazan's death, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping teamed up to get rid of the Lü family and put Liu Heng, the governor of the capital, on the throne.

Although Zhou Bo played an important role in stabilizing the Liu kingdom and helping Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng ascend to the throne, from the emperor's point of view, Zhou Bo was actually a threat to imperial power. In fact, Zhou Bo succeeded in overthrowing the Lü family, who held military power, and deposed the young emperor Liu Hong, and he boldly promised that he would not be deposed in the future.

As for Liu Heng's fear of Zhou Bo, it can be understood from Liu Heng's cautious performance before and after he ascended the throne. When Zhou Bo and Chen Ping decided to crown Liu Heng as the acting king, they sent someone to invite Liu Heng to enter Beijing and take the throne. However, Liu Heng never dared to enter Beijing, because he was far away from Dai Guo, did not understand the situation in the capital, and did not know who was loyal and who was traitorous between the Lu family and Zhou Bo and Chen Ping.

Even if Liu Heng decided to enter Beijing in the future, he would first send his uncle Bo Zhao to the capital to have a look, and then send Song Chang to the capital to have a look, and he did not dare to summon Zhou Bo in person in front of his official position. After Liu Heng lived in the palace, he immediately stayed in the palace all night, and the forbidden troops and generals in the capital were replaced by cronies, suppressing the troubles in his heart.

Although he was afraid of Emperor Zhou Bo of the Han Dynasty, he was still promoted to prime minister and given **5,000 taels and 10,000 households. However, Zhou Bo was very arrogant, and after only a month as prime minister, he resigned because he was warned not to exceed his authority. In the second year of Emperor Wen (178 BC), Prime Minister Chen Ping died, and Emperor Wen reappointed Zhou Bo as Prime Minister.

Although in the early years of the Han Dynasty, these princes were not as much of a threat to the imperial court as the local princes, they were numerous and complex, and most of them lived in Chang'an and held high positions, which also posed a threat to the imperial power. Therefore, in the second year of Emperor Wen of Han (178 BC), Jia Yi wrote a letter suggesting that the princes be attached.

This suggestion caused a backlash from the princes, who not only refused to leave the capital, but also forced Emperor Wen of Han to demote Jia Yi to the rank of king of Changsha. Emperor Wen of Han approached Zhou Bo and asked him to return the princes to his fiefdom and said to him:"I ordered the princes to return to their own countries. "As a result, after ten months of serving as prime minister again, he was dismissed from his post as prime minister and returned to his fiefdom.

After returning to the fiefdom, Zhou Bo began to worry that he would be executed one day, so when he met the judges and captains of Hedong to inspect the counties, he often wore armor and let the servants hold weapons, almost to the point of walking on thin ice. For this reason, Zhou Bo was falsely accused of rebellion, so he was imprisoned, and even intimidated by the guards, until Zhou Bo was bribed with thousands of dollars, and the guards persuaded him to ask the daughter of Emperor Wen of Han, that is, his daughter-in-law, to testify against him.

Later, Zhou Bo made a statement to the Empress Dowager Bo through Bo Zhao (the younger brother of the Empress Dowager Bo and the uncle of Emperor Wen of Han), and the Empress Dowager Bo thought that Zhou Bo had no intention of rebellion, so she told Emperor Wen of Han: He thought that Zhou Bo had no intention of rebellion, so he said to Emperor Wen of Han:"The Marquis of Jiangzhong had the seal given to him by the emperor, and he did not rebel when he led the northern army, so how could he rebel now? "Emperor Wen of Han let him go. Emperor Wen let him go.

Although Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty took action against Zhou Bo and others who deserved it, he did not think that Zhou Bo had the intention of rebellion, otherwise it would be difficult for Zhou Bo to avoid death. From the middle of the Han Dynasty, the founding heroes of the early Han Dynasty and their descendants, including those who had served as prime ministers of vassal states and those who were related to the princes and kings, basically lost the opportunity to return to the capital, and it was even difficult to stay in the capital. Capital.

Zhou Yafu: Although he has calmed down"Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms", but became embroiled in a power struggle.

Zhou Bo's son Zhou Yafuyin"Megumi Yanagishita military parade"He was rewarded by Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and promoted to the rank of lieutenant and commanded the army in the capital. Later, when Emperor Wen of Han was seriously ill, he said to his son Liu Qi:"If there is an emergency, Zhou Yafu can indeed become a general in the army. "Therefore, after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, Zhou Yafu was promoted to general of the chariot cavalry. However, after the outbreak of the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, Zhou Yafu was not reused in the first battle of the power struggle for the rule of Wenjing.

As mentioned earlier, in order to reduce the threat to the imperial power from the military generals' meritorious groups, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty began to systematically reduce the number of meritorious groups holding important positions in the court and the central government in order to balance the power of the court, and began to reuse the Hanmen scholars, which caused a contradiction between the meritorious group among the military generals and the intellectual group among the civil ministers.

In the fourth year of Emperor Wen of Han (176 BC), Zhou Bo, Marquis of Jiang, Guan Ying, and Zhang Xiangru, Marquis of Dongyang, united and forced Emperor Wen of Han to appoint Jia Yi as the Taishou of Changsha. Tai Shi Gong said in the "Historical Records":"Filial piety and great virtue, the world is safe, to filial piety, there is no worry about returning relatives"。

In particular, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty adopted Chao wrong"A plan to cut the feudal domain", repeatedly cutting the fiefs of the princes and kings, further intensifying the contradiction between the civilian group and the military generals and heroes. After all, if today's group of generals and heroes succeeds in abolishing the fiefs of the princes and kings, who knows if they will be the next one in the future?

Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms"Later, a group of heroes seized the opportunity to rebel again, but there was no general in the palace, so Chao Cuo had to suggest that Emperor Jing personally conquer. In the end, Yuan An, the prime minister of Wu, the cronies of Shen Tujia, the secretary of the military department, and Dou Ying, a relative, entered the palace and forced Emperor Jing to choose between Wenchen and military generals.

After Chao Cuo was killed, Zhou Yafu was promoted to lieutenant and began to lead troops to quell the rebellion. However, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was forced by the situation, although he killed Chao Cuo, but hated Yuan Ang and others to force the palace, so Yuan Ang was not appointed as the prime minister after the envoy to Wu, although Dou Ying successfully quelled the rebellion, but was not appointed as the prime minister, Zhou Yafu was promoted to the prime minister by virtue of his own merits, but he was also separated by Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.

At the same time, Zhou Yafu quarreled with the emperor over the removal of the crown prince Liu Rong, the empress's brother Wang Enlaihou, and the Xiongnu's loyal generals, and humiliated the Liang king Liu Wu, causing Zhou Yafu to resign due to illness after five years as prime minister. Due to Zhou Yafu's character problems, he was never reused.

Later, Zhou Yafu's son Zhou Yang saw that Zhou Yafu was old, so he secretly bought 500 armor shields to honor him, but it was forbidden to hide armor shields privately. However, due to the prohibition of private possession of armor shields, some servants accused Zhou Yafu of rebellion. Emperor Jing of Han sent someone to investigate, but Zhou Yafu was mistaken for a gambler because he could not answer. Emperor Jing of Han was furious when he found out and sent Zhou Yafu to the judgment seat.

So there is the following very classic dialogue.

Will the prince rebel? "Zhou Yafu asked.

Zhou Yafu replied:"The funeral supplies were all bought by my son, how can it be said that it is a conspiracy? "

If you don't plot against me upstairs, I'm afraid you'll plot against me downstairs! "Dvojan said sarcastically.

When Zhou Yafu was summoned by **, he actually wanted to commit suicide, but was stopped by his wife. He was humiliated again so much that it was difficult for him, who was already outspoken, to breathe, so he went on a hunger strike**, and died five days later**.

As mentioned earlier, although Zhou Bo and Zhou Yafu father and son have made outstanding contributions, it can even be said that they have played a role"There will be times when the wind and waves will be long, and the clouds will sail into the sea"However, in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the opposition of local princes, emperors and a group of generals, it ended dismally, which is commendable.

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