The Consequences of Drunken Jokes: Lessons and Reflections in History
A few glasses of wine, how much to drink, is also a common joke. However, a casual joke in a drunken state can often lead to serious consequences.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Liukou Zhu Cang gathered an army of 100,000 and began to ravage the Huai River Valley. Zhu Mian's army was extremely barbaric, did not farm, and only lived by plundering. When the grain is finished, they eat human flesh. Such people are naturally opposed. Zhu Cang was defeated and surrendered to Li Yuan. Li Yuan's forces were mainly in the Chang'an area, and naturally he also wanted to gain power in the Huai River valley. Therefore, Li Yuan sent Duan Zhen, the imperial historian, to Zhu Can's headquarters to express his condolences and praise him. Zhu Mian also entertained Duan Zhen and invited him to eat good wine and meat. Duan Zhen was drunk, and some of his inappropriate remarks made Zhu Chun very unhappy. Duan Zhen asked: Zhu Chun replied with a smile"I've heard that you like to eat human flesh. Eating a drunkard's meat is like eating wine pork. Of course, Duan Yu knew that this was scolding himself, so he hit it and swore it:'You madman, although you have submitted to our court, but you are only a serf, how can you still eat human flesh? Zhu Quan is a grasshopper, this ** can be stopped, no, Duan Zhen and dozens of ** are all cooking, and the man is adding rice.
Zhu Quan realized that his relationship with Li Yuan was over, so he directly surrendered to Wang Shichong in Luoyang.
Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sima Yao, was an alcoholic since he was a child, and courtiers rarely saw him because he was drunk more often than when he was sober. His queen Wang Fahui was also an alcoholic and died young at the age of 20. After the death of Empress Wang, Emperor Xiaowu could no longer establish a queen, so he could only give priority to the noble lady Wang as the queen. This noble Zhang also likes to drink, and lives a drunken life with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the harem. On this day, Emperor Xiaowu drank too much again, so he joked with Zhang Guiren:"You're old and you don't have children, so I'll replace you tomorrow and find a younger woman. This noble lady also drank too much, and she was jealous in her heart, and took Emperor Xiaowu's drunken jokes seriously. If you are rude, blame me for being dishonest.
Zhang Guiren drunk all the people around Emperor Xiaowu, and then covered the sleeping Emperor Xiaowu with a quilt.
Dou Yifang, the empress of Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, had two sons, one was Emperor Jing of Han and the other was Emperor Wu of Liang. After Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was full, he said to King Wu of Liang at a banquet:"When I am a hundred years old, I will pass on the throne to you. "Empress Dowager Dou was very happy to hear this, because she especially liked her youngest son Liu Wu. But at this time, Dou Ying couldn't sit still downstairs, because she realized that this was Emperor Han Jing's drunken words, but even a joke was too much, so she hurriedly got up and toasted Emperor Han Jing, saying that she was the Empress Gaozu of the world, and the throne had always been passed from father to son, how could Your Majesty pass the throne to King Liang without authorization? Dou Ying's words angered the Empress Dowager Dou. Empress Dowager Dou directly removed his name from the family tree. But the effects of Emperor Hanjing's drunken words did not end there. When Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty established the crown prince, the Empress Dowager Dou repeatedly asked Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty to establish the King of Liang. Under the persuasion of Yuan Ang and others, Emperor Jing of Han finally made his son the crown prince. King Liang hated Yuan Ang and others and sent someone to assassinate Yuan Ang.
After this incident, Emperor Jing of Han was furious, but he could not get rid of King Liang, and could only watch as the friendship between the two brothers gradually disappeared.
Bibliography 01 Book of the Old Tang Dynasty -- Selected from the Book of the Tang Dynasty Volume 6 02 Book of Jin -- Selected from Chapter 29 03 Historical Records -- Selected from The Biography of Wei Qiwu An Hou Lie.