Why was the system of killing sons and mothers pioneered by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty inherited by the Northern Wei Dynasty four hundred years later?
Speaking of the ancient system that was against human ethics,"Mothericide"Undoubtedly one of them. So-called"Mothericide", which means that the crown prince must execute his mother before ascending the throne. Although this system was pioneered by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, it was not adopted by the Western Han Dynasty and was inherited by the Northern Wei Dynasty four hundred years later.
In the early years of the Han Dynasty, widows interfered in politics, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented it"The stator kills the mother"System.
Since the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, starting from the first widow Lu Qiang, the situation of widows interfering in politics has been more serious. This is related to the political model of the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, and is also closely related to the promotion of filial piety, which was seriously affected in the early years of Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and was also practiced in his later years"Mother and son kill each other"institutional reasons.
Needless to say, Empress Lu Pheasant of the Han Dynasty began to intervene in political affairs, because during the empress period, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, monopolized power for a long time after his death, and was in charge of the government for 14 years.
In the Han Wen Emperor Liu Heng's"The Zhulu Rebellion"In order to reduce the threat of meritorious officials to the imperial power, he set a precedent that relatives could enter the court as officials when the mechanism for selecting officials had not yet been determined. Therefore, his mother Bo Ji's family was treated favorably, and Queen Dou Yifang's family also had many officials.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, the policy of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was continued, and not only the clan of his mother Empress Dowager Dou remained in the palace, but also the relatives of his favorite concubine Wang You began to enter the palace.
Due to the accumulation of the previous dynasty, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che ascended the throne, Empress Dou Yifang and Empress Dowager Wang Wan were extremely powerful relatives, resulting in many restrictions on Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
At the beginning of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he wanted to carry out reforms, but Empress Dowager Dou insisted on the method of Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty, which not only led to the assassination of Emperor Wu of Han by Zhao Gou and Wang Zang, but also the deposition of Tian and Dou Ying, the relatives of Emperor Wu of Han, and even threatened the throne of Emperor Wu of Han.
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty later deposed Dou, Wang and other relatives, and Wei Qing reappointed Huo Qubing as the leader of his relatives on the grounds of military action against the Xiongnu, Huo Qubing and Wei Qing could not get rid of the entanglement of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the relatives had already formed a huge network of power due to their long-term activities.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty broke out in his later years"Whip of the Witch", the intention of eradicating the Wei faction may be to pave the way for the crown prince to ascend the throne in the future, but to a certain extent, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not think that although the affairs of the Wei faction were basically eradicated, the results of his own arrangement after the death of the crown prince Liu Ju led to the emergence of loopholes.
When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to establish the crown prince, due to the death of the crown prince Liu Ju, several other princes were also eliminated, and the young Liu Fuling could only be chosen. Based on his own experience, he decided to execute Liu Fuling's biological mother, Mrs. Gou Yi, to avoid appearing"The young mother is in power"situation.
Emperor Wu of Han explained:"Cao is not the son of a fool. "In the past, the country was in turmoil, and even the mother monarch lost power. The arrogant hostess lives alone and is full of ** to herself, and she cannot be forbidden. Haven't you heard of Empress Lu's evil deeds! So she had to go first"。("Zizhi Tongjian").
Tuoba was formalized"Killing mother and child"This is because of the power of the matrilineal family.
Although"The stator kills the mother"The system was implemented by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but due to the shortcomings of the two Han Dynasty election system, the foreign relatives were extremely important political forces, and after the Three Kingdoms, with the rise of the warlord system, the power of the foreign relatives was severely limited, and in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Dynasties, this system did not continue.
Before the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Tuoba tribe was extremely backward and had just entered the patriarchal clan society, and the status of women was very high at that time"The Celestial Maiden", the Xianbei tribe even maintained it at that time"Mother before father"traditions. The Xianbei tribe was still retained at that time"Mother before father"traditions.
At that time, the Tuoba family faced it for a long time"Mothers are more expensive than children"The new ruler usually relied on the power of his maternal uncle's family to stabilize his position, so only the prince with a strong maternal uncle could become a ruler. The founding emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Jue, relied on the support of his maternal uncle Helan to establish power.
As an ambitious master, Tuoba rose to the throne with the help of his uncles, but he himself was suspicious of his children because of the restrictions of outsiders, and he wanted to really realize it"Father and son in the same house"**, also need a deep-rooted"Matriarchy"。First, the entrenched must be addressed"Matriarchy"Issue.
Therefore, in the process of rising and expanding, Tuoba not only defeated his uncle Helan and his wife Duhu, but also killed Duhu's biological mother Liu when he decided to make his eldest son Tuoba Jue the crown prince.
When Tuoba told Liu Fuling about his son's death, he told Tuoba He's son the real reason, although he publicly revealed that the reason was Tuoba clan"The son dies and the mother succeeds"The lineage system:"Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty set up Liu Fuling, and in order to prevent the interference of his relatives, he killed his mother, Mrs. Gouyi. You deserve to be the heir to the throne, and I am also doing this to emulate Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and think for you in the long run. "
Tuoba not only killed the Liu family, but also continued this system in the form of a patrilineal system, that is, killing multiple wives in order to have children, such as"Daowu Xuanmu Empress Liu, later born Mingyuan. ", again"Empress Wen Chengyuan Li Shi, worship Wen. "。The old prince", again"Empress Wen Chengyuan Li Shi, worship Wen. The story of the later prince", for example:"Empress Xiaowen Zhen Lin, Xun ...After giving birth to a prince, he was still a prince"Such records abound in the Book of Wei - The Biography of the Empress.
Under this system, concubines seem reluctant to have children for fear of being killed, even at the cost of the physical pain of their own abortions. This made it difficult for Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke to find an heir during his reign, but later, in order to continue to kill the heir, the Hu family gave birth to a son Yuan Yan regardless of life and death, and the Hu family was also named Chunhua Jun by Jin.
In October of the first year of Yanchang (512), Yuan Xu was made the crown prince. According to the old system, his biological mother Hu should actually be executed, but due to the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, the threat to imperial power from the forces of foreign relatives was not great, and under the advice of ministers such as Liu Teng, Yu Zhong, and Cui Guang, Hu was spared death"Sealed to the mother and son"The system was also abolished by Emperor Xuan Yuangong.
However, unexpectedly, after Emperor Xiaomingyuan ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Hu intervened in court politics. Empress Dowager Hu not only monopolized the government and intervened in state affairs, but also mixed into the palace with her sister-in-law Qinghe Wang Yuanyi and others, and finally conspired with others to capture her son Emperor Xiaoming.