In ancient society, the title of prince symbolized supreme power and statusIt is located above the five barons of duke, marquis, earl, son and baron.
In historical dramas, we often see the images of the princes who are prominent and majestic, but in fact, the differences between the princes are also extremely different, and the titles are even more complex and changeable.
Some princes are almost as princes and enjoy full authority, while others only have the name of wealth and nowhere to real power.
Among these many titles, what does the special title of "King of One Word Side by Side" mean?
What is the king of the word?
Taken literally, it seems to mean standing side by side with the Son of Heaven and conspiring with the great cause, as if it were a prominent position of a supreme minister.
However, history reminds us that the heart of the emperor cannot tolerate his peers, and "one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers", which shows the ** nature of the power center.
In the ancient imperial court, even if someone was named "one word side by side", it was impossible for the real power to compete with the king.
In ancient times, the Son of Heaven had many heirs, and disputes were inevitable, and the princes competed for the throne, and the winner became the king, and the loser either disappeared or became the king, thus giving birth to the king with the same surname.In addition to kings with the same surname, it is even rarer to have kings with different surnames.
Successive dynasties, such as the Shang Dynasty, only gave the honor of "King Wucheng", although later dynasties had a large number of kings with different surnames, but their endings were often suffocating.
During the Han Dynasty, it was common to have a one-word side by side king, and at that time there was no "one-word side by side king", only by the names of "King of Qi" and "King of Han".
For example, Han Xin, when Chu and Han were fighting, led his troops to defeat the Chu army, and then went around to conquest and make contributions, so Liu Bangci named him "King of Qi".
It was this wisp of arrogance that ignited Han Xin's personal ambitions, and his behavior gradually lost the respect he deserved for Liu Bang.
The seeds of pride took root in his heart, and Han Xin was finally demoted by Liu Bang to the title of "King of Chu", although the title of the king has not changed, but the meaning has been completely different, and Han Xin's road to self-destruction has been paved.
Xue Rengui was given the title of King of One Character in the legend of Xue Rengui's Eastern Crusade, but according to the official history, he was actually only named the Duke of Pingyang.
Measured by the title rank of "duke, marquis, earl, son, and male" in the Zhou Dynasty, he was actually only in the position of a duke, and did not seem to have gained particularly prominent power.
He was given the title of King of the Throne because of his military exploits and his relationship with the king was exaggerated.
Xue Rengui is known as the king of one word and shoulder to shoulder, if he can really mobilize troops and horses at will and ignore the authority of the king, then I am afraid that Gaozong Li Zhi will think about it day and night, and even wake up from his dream.
And Zhao Defang can give the emperor a stick when he holds the gift of the saint in his hand, which is difficult to justify in principle.
In the official system of all dynasties, there is no formal existence of the title of "one word side by side king", and if you start from the point of view of academic precision, this word seems to have no foothold.But when you look at the meaning of it, it's not completely untraceable.
Xue Rengui's title is only "Pingyang County Duke", and there is still a distance from the title of "king", let alone tied with the Tang Emperor.
It can be seen that the so-called "one-word side by side king" in ** is really exaggerated, so what is the real historical situation?
The evolution of the title system is a continuous process, and although there are differences in each era, most of them are based on the six-level feudal system of king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and man.
As for the origin of the title system, it is said that in the distant Xia and Shang periods, China had already seen its prototype.
In fact, if we trace back to the source, the title system of China's feudal society was formally formed in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
On the occasion of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the feudal nobles under the Zhou Dynasty were divided into five classes: duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male, and were rewarded according to the distance of the bloodline and the prominence of the military exploits.
At that time, the nobles were given matching fields and people at the same time as they received the title (such fiefs also existed in the later feudal period, called Shiyi), thus creating a barrier around the princes of the Zhou royal family.
In those days, the title of the supreme ruler was equal in prestige to the emperors of subsequent eras, as distinguished from the titles that were later used to reward his subjects.
In the Han Dynasty, the title system underwent a major reform, especially after Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, eradicated many kings with different surnames, and made it clear that the "Wang" title was for the exclusive use of the royal family.
At this time, the classification of "one-character king" and "two-character king" appeared, such as "one-character kings" such as King Qi, King Wu, and King Liang, as well as "two-character kings" such as King Zhongshan, King of Changsha, and King Huainan.Although at the time, there was no obvious hierarchical difference between the two categories.
The structure of the title system in the Wei and Jin dynasties was basically inherited by many subsequent dynasties, maintaining the basic structure and system, with only minor modifications.
By the Sui and Tang dynasties, the difference in rank between single-character kings and double-character kings began to become clear, and the prince fixed the use of single-character titles, while the county king habitually used double-character titles, resulting in the status of single-character kings beginning to be higher than that of double-character kings.
This system continued through the Song, Yuan, Ming and other dynasties, until the Qing Dynasty, and did not change again, which is what we know"One word side by side""The king of one word"The origin.
In fact, there are very few heroes who can really afford the title of "King of One Word and Shoulder to Shoulder", if you insist on saying that there is, then I am afraid that only Yang Xiuqing of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be regarded as one of them.
In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Yang Xiuqing was undoubtedly one of the key figures.
In 1851, he and Hong Xiuquan ignited the flame of revolution together, and since then they have fought in all directions, gradually increasing the prestige of the Taiping Army, and later became one of the "Four Heavenly Kings".
Although he is below Hong Xiuquan in the ranking, Yang Xiuqing is actually the most powerful of the four heavenly kings, and his soldiers and horses are the most powerful, with his excellent military ability and efficient organizational ability, he is deeply appreciated and trusted by Hong Xiuquan.
With the expansion of Yang Xiuqing's power, his ambition gradually replaced Hong Xiuquan's heart, which made Hong Xiuquan feel a potential threat, and the grievances between the two gradually escalated.
Although he was not officially named the "King of One Word Side by Side", his strength and influence have been almost equal, with his talent and resourcefulness, Yang Xiuqing has won the trust and actually reached the status of "King of One Word and Shoulder to Shoulder".He was eventually defeated in an internal power struggle and tragically killed himself.
In addition to the official positions that we are familiar with, there is also a system of status - honorific titles.
Such as duke, marquis, and even prince, each honorific title represents a different status and glory.
Not to mention the duke and marquis, the prince alone is second only to the ninety-five honors, which is above ten thousand people, and under one person, the rewards and benefits received by the prince far exceed those of other civil servants and military generals.
There are some outstanding people who have made significant contributions to society during their lifetimes, so after their deaths, people will give them a representative nickname based on their life deeds.These nicknames can be long or short, they can be one word or two words, and if someone makes an outstanding contribution, the court will give them the title accordingly, and the number of words in the title is eclectic.
**Wan Fan Incentive Plan During the Jin Dynasty, there were two levels of titles, one of which was the prince, that is, the "one-word king", where the "one-word king" is not the same as the "one-word side by side king" we mentioned earlier, and there are still differences between them.
In history, there is also a "two-character king", whose status is slightly lower than that of the "one-character king", which is equivalent to the status of the "county king".
In the Qing Dynasty, these powers of the princes were gradually reduced, but even so, they could still sit at the same table as the ministers of the court and participate in state decisions.
In the Qing Dynasty, there was also a "regent", which could perform the duties of the emperor.