Chai Rong did his best and had no regrets
In 954 AD, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Taizu Guo Wei, was extremely weak and faced the last moment of his life. As he nears death, the biggest headache for him is that he doesn't know who to entrust this huge country to.
Although he knew that life and death were inevitable, he was still worried about what was behind him. In "Mencius Lilou Shang", there is a sentence that says: "There are three unfilial pieties, and no queen is the greatest", ordinary people who have no children will be talked about by people, and if the emperor has no descendants, the governance of the country will also be affected.
However, Taizu Guo Wei did not have a son, which made him deeply worried. He didn't want to plunge the country into chaos, but he didn't know how to solve it.
The old emperor was not childless, and his two sons were sent to the west four years earlier. Comrade Guo Wei was originally a subordinate general of Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of the Later Han Dynasty, and after the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty, Guo Wei made great achievements for the Later Han Dynasty, and Liu Zhiyuan arranged for him to be the envoy of Weizhou Jiedu, with full responsibility for military, political and civilian affairs.
On the occasion of his death, Liu Zhiyuan arranged Guo Wei as the minister of the new emperor Liu Chengyou, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, hoping that he could assist his son and miss the old relationship between the monarchs and ministers in the past.
Guo Wei's loyalty and kindness have been proven by history. He worked seriously in Weizhou and fought for the future of the Liu royal family. However, the new emperor, Liu Chengyou, was not at ease with him.
Although Guo Wei has no second thoughts, Liu Chengyou is still worried that he will betray him. Therefore, he personally selected his men and planned to kill Guo Wei in Weizhou. In order to completely eliminate Guo Wei's power, he also ordered the execution of Guo Wei's family in Jingshi, including his two sons.
Guo Wei was forced to rebel, and Liu Chengyou's military defeat led to his own death. Guo Wei entered Kaifeng City, changed the Yuan to be the emperor, established the Later Zhou Dynasty, and became the Later Zhou Taizu in history.
Although he is not very well-known, his story is remembered by posterity.
Although not well-known, it cannot be denied that he was a good monarch. During Guo Wei's reign, he treated people generously, was benevolent and frugal, and was a rare good emperor during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
He had a very clear view of life, but unlike most emperors who only passed on their relatives and did not pass on their virtues, he chose to pass the throne to his nephew Chai Rong. Although he was able to produce an heir within three years, he did not do so.
Before his death, he passed the throne to Chai Rong, who was the nephew of his empress Chai. Guo Wei's death marked the establishment of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
The new emperor Chai Rong took over the scepter of leadership and became the new leader of this vast empire, and was revered by later generations as Later Zhou Shizong. However, the country is easy to change, and the nature is difficult to change.
The old neighbor of the Northern Han regime did not rein in because of the new emperor's ascension, but took this opportunity to provoke a war. Liu Chong, the ancestor of the Northern Han Dynasty, a cunning politician, led an army of 30,000 to conquer in person, and also colluded with the Khitans on the northern plains to invade together.
They attempted to take advantage of Chai Rongchu's lack of political and battlefield experience to eradicate the Later Zhou regime in one fell swoop. However, Liu Chong obviously overestimated Chai Rong. His predecessor Guo Wei is not a simple leader, how could he easily give up the country to a wine bag and rice bag?
Faced with the threat of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan, Chai Rong, who had just ascended the throne, showed extraordinary calmness and courage. He immediately organized the army, personally led the troops to meet the battle, and countered the invasion of the Northern Han and Khitan with practical actions.
On the frontal battlefield, he showed his strength and defeated the Northern Han infantry and Khitan cavalry, making Liu Chong and the Khitans lose their armor and cry for their fathers and mothers, almost defeating the Northern Han Dynasty.
In this self-defense counterattack, a young general named Zhao Kuangyin emerged and gradually became an important role in the political arena of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Chai Rong's leadership and decisiveness not only defended the Later Zhou Dynasty, but also laid the foundation for later politicians such as Zhao Kuangyin.
Chai Rong: The division of the heroes is just a showcase, why should I get used to them? So he fought in the West and Houshu in the west and the Khitan in the north, and was a military wizard on the battlefield, and he was invincible in five dynasties and ten countries.
However, in the sixth year of Xiande, in June, he personally went into battle and personally conquered Liao, showing amazing combat effectiveness and commanding talent.
Zhou Shizong Chai Rong knew that the real opponent was not the pretentious people around him, but the Liao Dynasty from the grassland. The Liao Dynasty mastered the sixteen states of Yanyun and posed a great threat to the Central Plains regime.
Chai Rong decided to gather heavy troops, first capture Youzhou (Beijing), and then go all the way north to achieve the grand goal of restoring the sixteen states of Yanyun. After a few days of the army's long journey, they passed through Waqiao Pass and stopped to rest for a while.
Even if you have grand ambitions, you occasionally need to stop and enjoy the beauty of life. If life can be compared to a job, then I want to tell you that work is never-ending, because the world is much bigger than we think.
Crossing this mountain, wanting to climb over another mountain, conquering this city, and thinking about the next city. The work is endless, but life needs to go on. So, the emperor and his soldiers began to light a fire at Waqiao Pass to cook and enjoy the pleasure of food.
Waqiao Pass, according to Shi Tukao, is about in the area of Zhuo County, Hebei Province. The emperor sat in the military tent, and listened to the news from the sentry cavalry that the Liao people heard that you were driving in person, and they were panicked, and the general trend had gone. The emperor is happy, this is a sign of meritorious service, and victory is in sight.
Fate had no choice but to play a joke with Chai Rong, when the army was about to start, Chai Rong suddenly contracted a serious illness and had difficulty walking, so he had to return to the court to recuperate. Although the feudal imperial system preaches the imperial power and the deification of the emperor, after all, people are not gods, and they also need to experience wind, frost, snow and rain, eat grains, experience joys, sorrows, and deaths.
Chai Rong came early this day to reform the rule of officials, select and appoint talents, revise the criminal law, rectify the army, conquer the Quartet, repair the border defense, reduce or reduce taxes, build water conservancy, expand the transportation of water, and develop culture, showing the demeanor of the monarch.
The grand plan is unmatched, and there is much help for the righteous and little help for the unjust. However, Chai Rong, the Later Zhou Shizong who was so obedient to the people, died forever at the age of thirty-nine due to a sudden and unable illness.
It seems that God did not favor Chai Rong.
In 959 A.D., six years of Xiande, a generation of British lords after Zhou Shizong Chai Rong died in the Kaifeng City Long Live Palace, which was the end of an era and the beginning of a new era.
However, no matter how the times change, Chai Rong has become a thing of the past. At the age of thirty-nine, his ambition has not been fulfilled, and his ideals and ambitions have not yet been realized, but helplessly, there is no ifs in this world, the country is still the country, and the people are still people.
The story of Hou Zhou is over, and the glory of the five dynasties has also passed away with the wind. Although Chai Rong is gone, his spirit and demeanor will always remain in people's hearts.