The Nine Cauldrons: Wang Liqun talks about Historical Records

Lecture 1 Historian Singing

Voiceover: After more than 2,000 years ago, a literati suffered a heavy load of humiliation and completed a great historical work with the heart and flesh. In the next few thousand years, this great work is like a dazzling pearl and a towering monument standing in the long river of Chinese literature and history. The posterity cannot be surpassed and difficult to reach. This person is Sima Qian. This historical work is "Historical Records". "Historical Records" is the first of twenty-four history. It records the history of about 2,000 years from Huangdi to Hanwu Emperor. Among the traditional Chinese studies, only "Historical Records" is an unparalleled "encyclopedia" . Mr. Lu Xun called "Historical Records" a "historical sing, no rhyme of Lisao", such a great work, its author Sima Qian is an ordinary historian in the Western Han Dynasty, there is no such thing It's special, but why Sima Qian was able to write such a great historical work such as "Historical Records" and what changed Sima Qian's life trajectory. Professor Wang Liqun of Henan University led us through the history of thousands of years and entered the heart of Sima Qian The world, reading a great book on general history, the historian Wang Liqun, a large-scale program of "Hundred Schools of Lectures," reads "Historical Records".

Hello everyone, starting today, we will start reading "Historical Records". "Historical Records" created a precedent for Chinese historical literature. Prior to "Historical Records", there were only two types of Chinese history books. One type was chronology, which records history according to age. The most famous of these is "Spring and Autumn", like "Zuo Zhuan", this is chronological; the other is country history, which records history in accordance with the country, such as "Korean Language", like "Warring States Policy." There is no general history of Biography. The so-called "Chronicle" is to describe history based on the character. "Historical Records" is the first general history of Chronicle in China. This has a great impact on later generations. Therefore, since the "Historical Records", all the positive history in China, that is, the twenty-four history we often say, are chronicles. However, "Historical Records" is the general history of the Ji Bi style, the other histories are the chronological history of the chronicles, that is, the history of one dynasty.

Historical Records and other historical books, although both are twenty-four, are very different.

The first point is that "History" is full of love and hate, which is not available in other historical books. Originally, a historian described history only objectively and fairly in requirements, not requirements. However, when chronicling the characters in Historical Records, the author often bears the strong love and hatred of the author himself. He especially wrote some tragic characters, such as Xiang Yu's "Xian Yu Benji", and "Li Li's Biography" wrote Li Guang. For these characters, "Historical Records" can be said to write tragedy generously, which is very moving.

The second feature of "Historical Records" is that the description of the characters is integrated with many literary methods. For example, "Hongmen Banquet", "Hongmen Banquet" has been selected as our traditional textbook for high school Chinese textbooks for more than half a century. "Hongmen Banquet" is simply a novel.

Third, the "Historical Records" has also filled the gaps in the history of many Chinese characters in the history of the Chinese nation. In other words, if there were no "Historical Records", we would not have known many great people of the Chinese nation today. For example, Confucius, the author of The Analects, Sima Qian wrote a "Confucius Family" in the middle of "Historical Records", which for the first time outlined the life of Confucius. This is by far the first and most authoritative biography of Confucius. "Historical Records" also incorporates the author's criticism of the feudal emperor, which is even more simple. We can cite two examples. Sima Qian criticized the two most acutely in the "Historical Records". One was the founding emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, and the second was the contemporary emperor Han Wudi, who lived in Sima Qian. It is remarkable that a historian dares to criticize the founding emperor and his own boss. Dare not to write without guts. Sima Qian wrote both his deeds of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and his great achievements, and also wrote Liu Bang's narrow-minded, killing heroes, vulgar language, and wrote many of his bad records. As for the revelation of Emperor Hanwu, this is the spirit of the historical record and the critical spirit of the "Historical Records". Who wrote this great historical work? Sima Qian.

Sima Qian ’s life experience is not special. He is a family of historians, who has traveled thousands of miles, read thousands of books, and has studied under some of the famous teachers of the time. This is what some ordinary historians had at the time. of. So what event caused Sima Qian to complete a great change from an ordinary historian to a great historian? It is destiny.

Voiceover: In 145 BC, Sima Qian was born into an ordinary family of historians. His father, Sima Tan, was a historian during the Emperor Hanwu period. After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian inherited his father's position and continued to serve as a historian in the Han Dynasty. In this case, Sima Qian read a large number of palace collections, which all prepared for the writing of the Historical Records. However, it is not surprising that historians with such family experience and experience have such conditions in Chinese feudal society. At best, Sima Qian is just an ordinary historian. So what event made Sima Qian complete the transformation from an ordinary historian to a great historian?

During the Han Wudi period in 99 BC, due to the failure of diplomacy, Sino-Hungarian relations became tense again. The war between the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu resumed. However, this war with the Huns caused a change in Sima Qian's fate. So what happened during the battle with the Huns changed Sima Qian's destiny? This incident occurred in the second year of Emperor Hanwu ’s Heavenly Han Dynasty, that is, 99 BC. This year, Emperor Hanwu sent a general named Li Guangli, who was the eldest brother of Mrs. Li, one of Emperor Hanwu ’s most beloved concubines. It was his elder brother-in-law, Mrs. Li, who let Li Guangli lead the army to attack the Huns. Of course, the subjective purpose of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was to make Li Guangli seal the army by military merit. At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth running of Li Guangli's army, Emperor Hanwu asked a famous general at that time to be Li Ling, and asked Li Ling to provide logistical support for Li Guangli. The record in the historical records is called "Jiang Zhong", which is to provide logistical support. However, Li Ling was unwilling to do so. Li Ling publicly proposed that he was willing to take his 5,000 infantry soldiers on a separate expedition to disperse the Xiongnu's military pressure on Li Guangli. This incident made Han Wudi very dissatisfied. Emperor Wu felt that Li Ling was too shameless, so he told Li Ling that I had no extra cavalry for you. The implication is that if you want to go out, take your 5,000 infantry. In this case, Li Ling went out with his 5,000 infantry. Of course, Li Ling's expedition started smoothly without any resistance. Moreover, Li Ling immediately sent someone back, drew a map, and returned to the Emperor Han Wu to report the smooth progress of the march. The Emperor Wu was also very happy.

But the situation changed drastically later, because Li Ling's 5,000 infantrymen met the main force of the 30,000 Huns led by the Huns. Li Ling is indeed capable of fighting. Li Ling's 5,000 infantry killed thousands of troops from Dadanyu. Although Da Danyu ’s strength is six times that of Li Ling, but he ca n’t take advantage of it, so the Huns of the Huns think that Li Ling ’s infantry is too simple, and he is furious because he thinks that my 30,000 people will not beat your 5,000. People, can't get over my heart. In an emergency, he transferred the right and left kings to 80,000 troops, plus Dadanyu's army was a total of 110,000 cavalry to deal with Li Ling's 5,000 infantry. Under this circumstance, Li Ling fought and retreated, and the more he fought, the more he fought, and the big single who finally hit the Huns felt that this battle could not be fought. Da Danyu was about to withdraw his troops, but at this time, an unexpected incident occurred. This incident was that Li Ling had a subordinate who was insulted by his superiors. The man was furious and took refuge in the Huns. Shan Yu, defected, and then reported two important top secret conditions of the army, Li Ling. First, Li Ling does not have a backup force. You can rest assured that he does not have a backup. Secondly, the reason why Li Ling's infantry was able to fight was mainly because he had a kind of bow and arrow that could be fired repeatedly, called a crossbow machine. It is an upgraded version of a bow and arrow. This arrow is fired with a machine and can be fired in succession. It said that his arrow of the crossbow machine is about to run out. In this way, the hunger ’s Shan Yu felt hopeful and did not withdraw his troops, and then concentrated his army to launch a general attack on Li Ling. Moreover, Li Ling's army was marching in the valley at the time. This single army, the Xiongnu army, was on the mountain on both sides, throwing this big stone into the valley, so the remaining 3,000 soldiers of Li Ling suffered heavy casualties. This battle was fought. Can't go down, and the arrow is gone, so in this case, Li Ling felt that he couldn't go on, and scattered the breakout. When he broke through, only 400 of his 3,000 soldiers fled. Li Ling's deputy was killed and Li Ling was captured and surrendered. This is the very famous Li Ling incident in history.

When the news of Li Lingbing's defeat and surrender reached the ears of Emperor Hanwu, Emperor Hanwu was angry and very angry. The ministers saw the emperor angry. The public opinion was one-sided, and the requirements officials severely punished Li Ling. It was at this time that Emperor Han Wu saw Sima Qian next to him, because Sima Qian was going to participate in the Taishiling dynasty, and he asked Sima Qian what he thought. Sima Qian saw that Emperor Wu was very angry. In order to relax the heart of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Sima Qian said three points: First, Li Ling was a scholar. Guoshi is the best person in a country. He is called Guoshi, and Li Ling is a Guoshi. What he is thinking about is serving the country. This is the first point. In the second point, Li Ling fought with the Huns for more than ten days with 5,000 infantry soldiers, and he fought back and retreated. The enemies he killed far exceeded the number of his 5,000 infantry soldiers, and his credit was enough to comfort the world. Third, Sima Qian believes that Sima Qian is not a real drop but a false drop. If Li Ling had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely find an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty.

Sima Qian said these words in order to relax Han Wudi ’s heart and make some excuses for Li Ling, but he never thought that this sentence had just landed. Emperor Hanwu was angry at Long Yan and immediately moved Sima Qian. When he went to prison, he was set up as a prisoner, who was framed by the emperor. This is a very serious crime, the decision to deal with the crime, the death penalty. Sima Qian was immediately sentenced to death because of Li Ling's misfortune.

According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, people sentenced to death have three choices: first, to suffer death by law, just to be executed; second, to redeem their lives with money, that is, to hand over 500,000 yuan to avoid death; Third, to accept torture, which is the castration of a man's reproductive organs. This is called torture. At this time, Sima Qian had begun to write "Historical Records". If he accepted the death penalty at this time, "Historical Records" would be finished and "Historical Records" would not be written. In this case, Sima Qian cannot accept the death penalty, so there are two ways to accept the death penalty. First, bring money, and second, accept torture. Although Sima Qian, an official, is often near the emperor, but belongs to the middle and low income, Sima Qian has no money at home, can't afford 500,000, and only one way left. You don't want to die, you have no money, and there is only one way left-torture. So Sima Qian finally accepted the imprisonment in order to complete the "Historical Records". This matter is what we call the biggest incident that affected Sima Qian and changed Sima Qian's life—the Li Ling incident. Voice-over: Li Ma's misfortune is undoubtedly a major blow to Sima Qian. Sima Qian chose torture in despair. Torture is not only a cruel corporal punishment, but also a brutal trampling of spirit and dignity. In the Western Han Dynasty, many people were willing to die and were not willing to accept torture. So what does the choice of torture mean for Sima Qian? What will happen to his life? The Li Ling incident had a great impact on Sima Qian.

First, identity is different. Sima Qian's original identity was originally an official of the central government. After accepting torture, he became an **** who was not an eunuch. This was too much for Sima Qian because his identity changed. First, it became a man's alternative, he was not a man. Second, he became an alternative to scholar-officials and he could not be accepted by scholar-classes. Third, he became an alternative to a cultural person, which means that Sima Qian was originally a cultural person, a scholar-official, and a scholar. But now, the group he originally belonged to expelled him, did not recognize him as a man, did not recognize him as a cultural person, did not recognize him as a scholar-official. This blow to Sima Qian is very big, this is the first point.

Second, lifelong shame. Sima Qian said a few very painful words when he said that he was suffering from torture. He said that it is better to be ugly than to be humiliated, but to be better than torture. It is said that the biggest wrong thing you can do if you live alone is to insult your ancestors. Saying that one lives in society, the biggest fault you are accused of is that you have received a torture. So Sima Qian later mentioned that he wrote a well-known letter called "Report of Ren Ren'an", also known as "Report of Ren Shaoqing". In this letter, he talked about the pain after accepting torture. He said it was "a bowel nine times a day," and said that the bowel did not know how many times a day. "Home is flickering, and if you die, you don't know what you want to do when you go out," he said, sitting at home and feeling stunned. After going out, he didn't know where to go. "Every time I feel stigma, I do n’t even know how to sweat." When I remembered the pain of being tortured, the cold sweat on my spine immediately leaked out, soaking his clothes and the clothes on his back. Already. So he felt that this shame was accompanied by his life after accepting torture. So Sima Qian felt that this shame was too great. This is the second point.

Third, it ’s against life. Sima Qian is a very talented person, but this fate of Li Ling's misfortune has caused his talent to have a sharp conflict with his own life. So he said to himself, even if he was easy-going, if he walked, it means that I was carrying such talents as He Shizhang, Sui Houzhu, even if I was like the ancient wise men Xu You and Boyi, so noble Coats, but how do others see me? Treat me as worthless. "You can't be proud of it eventually." The reason is simple, because man is a social animal, and human sociality is a fundamental difference between humans and animals. As a social person, he must be recognized by society. After Sima Qian accepted the torture, the biggest point was that he was not recognized by this society. Therefore, the price of Sima Qian's preservation of his life is the dignity of being a person, which is a painful price. Therefore, after accepting torture, Sima Qian, a man, died, and Sima Qian, a feudal scholar, also died, but the Tai Shigong who had promoted the text in the "Historical Records" was reborn. This is a historic change for Sima Qian.

Voiceover: In the Western Han Dynasty, torture was a kind of cruel mental and physical punishment. The inmates were humiliated throughout their lives, and their lives were not as good as death. Even a strong-minded and ambitious person like Sima Qian, whenever he thought of his torture. Disgrace is sweating. It can be imagined how cruel punishment is. Sima Qian, who has been subjected to torture, is forty-seven years old, and the writing of "Historical Records" has been going on for some time. After receiving the dual torture of spirit and body, Sima Qian, who is about to enter a year of destiny, has a destiny for life and society. What kind of understanding?

After accepting torture, Sima Qian was forced to treat people, life and history from the lowest social status in a society that people looked down upon. So his evaluation of historical figures and before he received torture, and twenty-four The evaluation of characters by other historians of history has undergone a fundamental change. Then we can talk about this change from several aspects.

First, Sima Qian's outlook on life and death was changed. We all know that Sima Qian has said a few very famous words, saying that "a person inherently dies, death is more important than Taishan, or lighter than Hongmao." Sima Qian's view of life and death has undergone a fundamental change before and after Li Ling's misfortune. For example, if we look at "Historical Records", there is an article in the middle of "Historical Records" called "Biography of Ji Bu Lie", and a general under Xiang Yu is called Ji Bu. This man is a fierce general under Xiang Yu, who defeated Liu Bang many times, so Liu Bang hated him. After Xiang Yu committed suicide, then Liu Bang has wanted Jibu, and he ordered that the tribe should hide Jibu. Ji Bu had no choice but to take refuge in a man's house, and then he was resold to the house of a heroic Guo family (should be the Zhu family) at that time. The Guo family knew that the slave he bought was Ji Bu, and then the Guo family (Zhu family) went to Beijing to find Liu Bang's most trusted elder servant, namely Xia Houying and Teng Gong, the driver who drove Liu Bang. Then I told Teng Gong that after you Liu Bang became the monarch, could you kill all the subordinates of Xiang Yu? Impossible, and you have just won the monarch, in order to report your own personal grudges, you have to kill Ji Bu. If you really rush Ji Bu, then either he fled north to the Huns, or he ran south to South Vietnam, don't you mean a strong man to help your enemy? After saying this, Teng Gong was convinced and believed the words of the Guo family (Zhu family). He used these words to persuade Liu Bang. After listening to the persuasion, Liu Bang pardoned Ji Bu. Ji Bu became a Langzhong in the dynasty of Liu Bang. When he arrived in Huidi Dynasty, Ji Bu became a lieutenant general. When he arrived in Wendi Dynasty, Ji Bu became an eunuch. Ji Bu later became the founding minister of the Western Han Dynasty. Sima Qian was very emotional when he finally talked about Ji Bu. Ji Bu was such a general when Xiang Yu was alive. He could end up being a slave to others with such humiliation. He did n’t feel ashamed of being a slave, because he felt himself Talented, this can not be wasted in vain, so he survived with humiliation. We see Sima Qian's understanding of Jibu and his evaluation of Jibu is actually after he experienced the disaster of Li Ling, he only knew Jibu and he was able to evaluate Jibu correctly. So we read history books, we read "Historical Records", and to really understand "Historical Records", we must understand life and society. The more we understand life and society, the more we can understand the "Historical Records".

Furthermore, there is a very important reason why Sima Qian accepted the torture is that the family has no money. Why should Sima Qian be rich if he has money? Therefore, after the Li Ling incident, Sima Qian had a new perspective on money. Therefore, Sima Qian felt that it is human nature to pursue wealth, as long as it is proper. Therefore, Sima Qian wrote a special article in the "Historical Records" called "Biography of Buddhism", and in the "Biography of Buddhism" he fully affirmed people's pursuit of rich legitimacy. So Sima Qian gave a lot of examples, the most famous of which is a paragraph, he said, "The world is bustling, all are benefiting; the world is bustling, all are benefiting." Why do people all over the world bustling around for what? All for a "profit". He said that from the princely king to the households, people are pursuing profit. It is not wrong to pursue profit itself, what is wrong is only your improper means of pursuing profit. And this view was also summed up by Sima Qian from his miserable lessons. Therefore, Sima Qian realized that the legitimacy of people's pursuit of material interests is very remarkable. We should thank Sima Qian and the Historical Records.

Furthermore, Li Ling's misfortune also completely changed Sima Qian's evaluation of historical figures. Therefore, Shiji's evaluation of many characters is particularly sharp and profound. We can give an example. There is an article in Shiji called "Xiao Xiangguo Family", and a heavy minister under Liu Bang is called Xiao He. Xiao He is Liu Bang's most trusted minister, but during the ten-year rebellion of Chen Gao by Han Gaozu, Lu Hou said that Han Xin colluded with Chen Huan and killed Han Xin. When Liu Bang learned that Lu Hou had killed Han Xin, Liu Bang immediately sealed Xiao He, sealed 5,000 households, and sent Xiao He five hundred li soldiers. Xiao He was very happy and feasted on civil and military officials. But at this time, there was a person called Zhao Ping. He went to Xiao He's banquet to beat him up and mourn for him. It is said that the emperor did not make any special contribution to the rebellion. The reason why he sealed you is that the emperor did not trust you after the incident of Han Xin. After this seal, the emperor will surely clean up you when he comes back. Xiao He will not drink after listening to it. He drove all the guests away and couldn't find a way. This person helped him figure out a way to say what should you do? If you want to resolve this crisis, then you have nothing to do, you donate all the property in your home. Xiao He had no choice but to bear all his donations to Liu Bang as military expenditure. When Xiao He sent this piece of donation from all his family wealth to Liu Bang, Sima Qian wrote five words "Gao Di Nai Xi". Han Gaozu Liu Bang was very happy to see Xiao He's playing. These five words were hard-won. These five profoundly exposed the suspicion of a founding emperor to the founding heroes. Liu Bang can doubt anyone, but Liu Bang should not doubt Xiao He. Xiao He was in a county with Liu Bang. When Xiao He was a deputy county-level cadre, Liu Bang was still the head of the Surabaya Pavilion. Xiao He took care of him at that time. After Liu Bang started his army, Xiao He followed Liu Bang. And Xiao He is not alone, he is with the whole family to follow Liu Bang to fight the world. Therefore, after Liu Bang hit the world, he should discuss rewards for merit. The ministers all advocated that Cao Shen should be credited first, and Cao Shen should be sealed first. Liu Bang was not right, Xiao He should be sealed first. Liu Bang also gave a famous example at the time. He said that you saw that hunter? When hunting, there are hunters and hunting dogs, and that hunting dog hunts for prey. All of your generals who are siege outside the city must not be the hunting dogs, so you are called merit dogs. And Xiao He is the hunter who made the hunting dog chase his prey. Liu Bang mentioned such a theory, saying that Xiao He is a meritorious person, and Cao Shen and these people are all meritorious dogs. Whose dog has more credit than humans? Of course, people's credit is great. So Xiao He came first, Cao Shen came second. Such a Xiao He, Liu Bang was jealous of him in his later years, and Sima Qian revealed this Liu Bang's suspicion of the heroes. After reading through twenty-four, no historian can analyze the secrets of the founding emperor so clearly and profoundly as Sima Qian. One of the most important reasons is that after the Li Ling incident, Sima Qian had a new understanding of the autocracy and cruelty of the emperor. Emperor Han Wu killed Sima Qian through the Li Ling incident, and he also changed the trajectory of Sima Qian's life. At the same time, the actions of Emperor Han Wu also created a great historian and a great historical work "Historical Records". So, when we read the "Shi Ji" from the next lecture, we start with the Emperor Han Wu, who has the closest relationship with Sima Qian's life. What kind of person is Emperor Han Wu and how he reached the peak of power, please see the next episode "Palace of the Palace".

Lesson 2 Palace Contest

Voiceover: Emperor Han Wu is the last emperor recorded in "Historical Records" and the emperor who has the closest relationship with Sima Qian. Because of Emperor Han Wu, Sima Qian's life changed significantly. So, what is Sima Qian's view on this controversial Emperor Han Wu? How exactly does he record and evaluate his top boss in The Record of History? For future generations, how should we evaluate Emperor Hanwu? Starting today, Professor Wang Liqun of Henan University will lead us to clear away the fog of history. Starting from Emperor Han Wu recorded in Sima Qian's "Historical Records", read "Historical Records", a general historical book, and carefully taste Sima Qian's distinctive characters.

From today, let ’s talk about Emperor Han Wu. Emperor Hanwu was a very important figure among the characters of the Han Dynasty. He created six firsts in Chinese history. First, he was the first emperor to unify Chinese thought and culture with Confucianism; second, he was the first emperor to establish Taixue and cultivate talents; third, he was the first to vigorously expand China's territory Fourth, he was the first emperor to open the Western Regions; fifth, he was the first emperor to use the emperor's title to era; sixth, he was the first to criticize me in the form of sin. emperor. Therefore, Emperor Han Wu Emperor was an important figure in the history of feudal emperors in China for more than two thousand years.

We talked about his six firsts above. These six firsts, especially his dismissal of one hundred schools, used Confucianism as the ruling thought of the country, affecting more than two thousand years. To this day, our society is still deeply influenced by Confucianism. The founder is Emperor Han Wu. Because he has been in office for a long time, he has created so many firsts, and people's evaluations of him are very different. Some people say that he has a rough mind, and some people say that he is poor, and some people say that he has made great contributions, and some people say that he is extremely dictatorial. What kind of monarch is he? What kind of emperor is this Emperor Hanwu who has been inexhaustible for more than two thousand years? We spoke to him slowly.

The birth of Emperor Han Wu was born in the first year before Emperor Han Jing. When Emperor Han Jing, as I said just now, it was the first time Emperor Han Wu used the emperor's year to date. Before Emperor Han Wu, the emperor's year number was not used, and the emperor did not have a year number, so when Emperor Han Jing did not have a year number. So today we read the history book and recorded how many years Han Jingdi said before, how many years, how many years after, according to the front, middle and back. In the first year of Emperor Han Jing, that is, in 156 BC, the son of Emperor Jing Jing's tenth year was born, named Liu and Liu Ye. Liu Ye ranked tenth among Emperor Jingde's sons, and he belongs to the ten sons of the emperor. We know that Emperor Han Jing was a prolific emperor. He had 14 sons in total, much more than Liu Bang's eight sons. Fourteen sons came from six concubines and were born to six mothers. Among them, Wang Meiren, the mother of Emperor Hanwu, had one. Tang Ji, a concubine named Tang, gave birth to two. Mrs. Jia gave birth to two, one of which we will continue to refer to him later. Mrs. Jia gave birth to two sons and one of them was named King Zhongtong of Jingtong, namely Liu Sheng, King of Zhongshan. As you all know from the Three Kingdoms, Liu Beiyi said that it was Uncle Liu Huang. Where did he go after he traced his royal bloodline? He chased King Jing Zhongshan, the son of Emperor Han Jing. You know how many sons Zhongshan Jing has, and Jingshan Zhongshan has more than 120 sons. We don't know now which of Liu Bei's sons is King Zhongshan. But that's it, this uncle Liu Huang gave Han Jingdi the son Zhongshan Jing Wang to climb relatives. So it is said that the Shu Han regime emphasized its orthodoxy. In fact, we said that Emperor Han Jing was prolific enough. Fourteen sons, his King of Zhongshan Jing Jing, his son was even more powerful and gave birth to more than 120 sons. There are also two concubines, Li Ji and Cheng Ji each having three sons. Finally, there is the mother of Emperor Hanwu. She has a younger sister named Wang Erzhen, who is also sent to Tai *. Both of them are the concubines of King Emperor. She gave birth to four sons. So in this way, Emperor Han Jing had fourteen sons. Among these fourteen sons, Emperor Hanwu was not ranked high. The ten sons of the emperor, in the ancient Chinese feudal society, the succession system of emperors, we all know two principles. . One is called Li Ye, and the other is Li Chang. This obvious Liu Ye is not among them. How did he jump from the tenth son of the emperor to become the emperor? There are five women involved in this. His change from the tenth prince to the crown prince was the final result of five women competing against each other. So who are these five women and how do they compete for this princely position, we will introduce them one by one below.

Voiceover: In the inheritance system of emperors in ancient Chinese feudal society, Li Xun and Li Chang were usually Princes. Liu Xie, ranked 10th, would not be his Prince anyway. Since the prince can't be regarded as an emperor, let alone the emperor, but history can also make a joke, Liu Xun became an emperor. So why is fate favored by the tenth-ranked Liu Ye? Are all the nine elder brothers above Liu Yi willing to give up the Prince automatically? In Mr. Wang Liqun's many years of research on "Historical Records", who do he think has pushed the young man Liu Ye to the throne of the emperor? How did Sima Qian record this complicated process in "Historical Records-Foreign Family".

The first woman, the thin queen, was also the first queen of Emperor Han Jing. Queen Bo was appointed by his grandmother when Emperor Han Jing was the prince.

Who is his grandmother? His grandmother is Queen Mother Bo. This queen mother turned out to be a concubine of the King Wei Bao of Wei and one of his concubines. Later, Wei Bao was defeated by Liu Bang, and Wei Bao was finally killed in Liyang. After Wei Bao was killed, his concubine Bo Ji was taken over by Liu Bang. However, when Liu Bang just accepted her, her position was very low, and she was a female worker, an ordinary female worker. Later, in a very unexpected incident, Liu Bang found out that the female worker, Bo Ji, was still very beautiful, so she picked her out of the ranks of female workers and selected her for her own harem. After being elected to the harem, Liu Bang did not spoil the Bo Ji, because Liu Bang had more women in the harem, and two of them were Bo Ji's close friends. The two women laughed at Bo Ji while chatting together. Because the three of them were very good when they were young, they said that no matter who was favored by the emperor in the future, don't forget the other two partners. As a result, both of her were spoiled by Liu Bang, so she and the two were laughing at each other when talking about Bo Ji. Liu Bang had just heard this, and when Liu Bang heard it, he asked what was going on, and the two concubines explained this. After speaking, Liu Bang sympathized with this Bo Ji. I think three people are very good, and two are spoiled. As long as this Bo Ji is still in the harem, she is summoned to ask her to accompany her to sleep. This Bo Ji had always been unknown in the harem. With such an opportunity, she was also a very despised person. However, after seeing Liu Bang that night, she was very talkative. She said that I dreamed of Canglong's belly belly last night, just dreaming of a dragon on my stomach. Liu Bang had called her because she had pity on her. As a result, she met Liu Bang and said these things. We don't know if Bo Ji's is really fake. But after these words, Liu Bang was very happy. Because of this night stand, this Bo Ji was very lucky. She became pregnant. She was born Liu Bang, the fourth son of Gao Zu's eight sons. This was her first luck.

Where is the second lucky place? Even when Liu Bang was alive, Liu Bang had never called this Bo Ji except to call her this time, so Lu Hou knew that among the many concubines and concubines in Liu Bang's harem, this Bo Ji was the most unloved person. Upon her death, Lu Hou came to power, and she confined all the concubines and concubines that Liu Bang had favored in the palace. None of them were allowed to come out, but she was let away by this Bo Ji. She felt that she was an insignificant person, so she let her go, and where did she go? She lived with her son, Liu Heng, her second generation. This was her second luck.

The third lucky point is that when Hou Lv persecuted the princes surnamed Liu in the second year of high school, Liu Heng escaped a disaster, which we have talked about in the "Lou Hou" series. Of course, Liu Heng hid and Bo Ji hid, this was the third lucky.

Fortunately, we said in the episode of "Dangling the Lus" that Qi Wang Liu Xiang raised his soldiers, Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, and Liu Zhang were in the palace and destroyed all the Lus in Beijing. Who was the one who killed Lu Ligong the most? It was Qi Wang Liu Xiang and his brother Liu Zhangli who contributed the most, but in the end, the ministers were unwilling to establish Liu Xiang and Liu Zhang. Because Liu Xiang and Liu Zhang were the sons of Liu Fei, the two were small and capable, and the ministers found it difficult to control them after taking office. And the obscure acting king Liu Heng, the ministers thought he was very honest and easy to control, so he made Liu Hengli the successor emperor. He was the Emperor Hanwen. So the fourth lucky place is that the son of Bo Ji, when others are fighting in the blood, fighting in the blood, he is resting on the ground. When Zhu Lu was removed, he was greeted and returned as emperor.

This Bo Ji was very fortunate to be the Empress Dowager, but when she became the Empress Dowager Bo Ji began to change. The first thing she thought of was to make her family rich. At this point, she committed almost the same problems as Lu Hou. Her son, who she couldn't control anymore, she considered her grandson, her grandson, her grandson was the prince at that time, when Emperor Han Jing was the prince, the queen mother chose a prince for her grandson Concubine, the granddaughter of their Bo family was chosen. What is the future for the Crown Prince? The prince's succession will be the emperor in the future, and the prince's consort will be the queen for granted in the future. Even if she had been a queen, she knew that the queen was very honorable. She also wanted her queen's granddaughter to be a queen as well, and committed the same problem as Lv Queen. Lv Queen did not give that name to the special Liu family. Liu Lupai. This is also the case for this queen queen. She picked out her granddaughter from her family to do this Liu Bopei. In fact, Emperor Han Jing didn't like the princess that her grandmother had chosen for him, but there was no way, this was the old lady. In the middle of that era, if he did not obey, he might lose the position of prince and accept it. After Emperor Han Jing's succession, the princess naturally became a queen, and this was the thin queen. This thin queen is indeed a fate. Because of this thin queen, she gave Emperor Han Jing as a concubine, and she had no children until she was promoted to queen. We have just introduced that Emperor Han Jing was fourteen sons from six concubines. Only the genuine queen had no sons. A genuine queen does not have a prince, and six concubines gave birth to fourteen sons, which brought a very complicated situation, which formed a situation in the middle of the palace of the Emperor Han Jing, the queen had no children, and other The six concubines gave birth to fourteen sons. Can this queen's position be maintained for a long time. After all, Emperor Han Jing had to establish a prince after he succeeded to the throne, so the dispute over the palace was triggered by the thin queen's lack of sons.

Voiceover: Mr. Wang Liqun just said that during the period of Emperor Jingjing, because Emperor Jingjing did not like the thin queen assigned by his grandmother, the thin queen had no pets and sons. As a result, all 14 of King Jing's sons were established Prince Edward's possible. Mr. Wang Liqun believes that according to the feudal emperor inheritance system, the establishment of the crown prince is generally established by the **** and eunuch. Who will be the second woman that affects the fate of juvenile Liu Xun?

The second woman, Wang Ye. Wang Ye, the birth mother of Emperor Han Wu, is a very important woman who influenced Han Wu Emperor to take the throne. This woman's experience is also unusual.

We want to talk about Wang Xi, starting with Wang Xi's mother. Wang Ye ’s mother was Zang Er, and the historical records are called Zang Er. Who is Zang Er? When Zang Er was the princely king of the Eighteenth Road, he once named a king of Yan Zang Tu, and the king of Zang Tu was Xiang Yufeng. One of the eighteenth princes, he later surrendered to the Han Dynasty. In the five years of the Han Dynasty, Zang Tu rebelled again and was settled by Liu Bang, so the family of Zang Tu died out. Zang Er is the granddaughter of Yan Zang Tu, the granddaughter of Yan Wang. Her family had a remarkable past. Moreover, Zang Er's marriage experience was also very bumpy. Zang Er's first husband was married to a family named Wang. This person was called Wang Zhong and married to Wang Zhong's house. After Zang Er married Wang Zhong, he had three children, a boy Wang Xin, two daughters, Wang Ye and Wang Erye. Wang Xi was the biological mother of Emperor Hanwu who we mentioned later, but after giving birth to one son and two daughters, it was very unfortunate that Zang's husband Wang Zhong died. Bereavement of husband, this caused Zang Er to remarry. Whom will Zang Er marry after remarriage, to Tian family, a family name of Tian. Upon arriving at the Tian family, she gave birth to two more sons, Tian Ying and Tian Sheng. Everyone who reads the story of "The Emperor Hanwu" knows that there is a prime minister Tian Tian, ​​this is Tian Tian. He gave birth to two sons, Tian Tian and Tian Sheng. Zang Er married twice and had five children. We can see from the remarriage of Zang'er that the customs of the Han Dynasty were relatively easy for women's marriage, and women remarried casually. This bereavement, divorce, and remarriage are very common things, and Zang Er's concept of marriage has affected her guidance on her daughter's marriage and her daughter's grasp on marriage.

In the early years, under the auspices of her mother, Wang Xun was married. Where did she marry? Marry a surname of Jin, the family of King Jin Sun. Married to the Golden King's family and had a daughter. When Wang Yan gave birth to her first daughter, her mother calculated a hexagram. The calculus told Zang Er, four words, two daughters. Danggui, say your two daughters will be rich and rich in the future. Zang Er believes in this hexagram very much. To what extent does she believe that her younger daughter is not married yet, her eldest daughter is already married and has a child. Zang Er decides to take Wang Ye from Jin Wangsun's house, and this Things, the history books did not record how she did it, I think it is difficult to handle this matter. Where is this difficult for her? Because her daughter has been married, everyone knows that people have a kind of inertia, especially girls, wives, mothers, have been married with children, she has a life inertia, you It's hard for her to come out of it again. At that time, Zang Er made a decision based on this hexagram, and asked Wang Ji to come out, and then Wang Zi was seized. Moreover, the King of the Suns did not agree. The King of Kings had a long time in trouble, but this matter was finally unsettled, and finally came out. After coming out, Zang Er not only took her daughter out of King Jin Sun's house, but also sent her daughter to the Prince's Palace (Han Jingdi). This is incredible to us today. For a married person who already has a child (into the palace), I think she would never dare to reveal her previous marriage history. She would never say that if she has been married and has a child, Send it to Tai * again, I don't think the Prince (Han Jingdi) will accept it. This must have concealed this marriage history. Then it was delivered to Tai *, and it was delivered very unexpectedly.

Voiceover: Zang Er, who once had a glorious family history, was unwilling to be poor and ruined in her family. She bet on her daughter. She risked extermination and bullying, and forced a daughter with a marriage history. In the palace. As the saying goes, the entrance to Houmen is as deep as the sea. Can her daughter Wang Yan be crowned with the prince like Zang Er imagined? Can Zanger win?

From Wang Xi ’s marrying Jin Wang Sun ’s mother, she took her out, and then sent her to Tai *. There are at least these points on Wang Xi ’s body:

First, cold. If you think about it, as a mother, she can cut off the relationship between mother and daughter, and resolutely comes out. When she came out, she was not sure that she would be able to enter Tai *. She faced many variables. First, can she enter too *. Secondly, the hexagram that counts is ineffective in the end. These are all unknowns. If you send them to Tai *, you won't be able to get the favor of the prince. These are not known. In this regard, after listening to her mother's statement, the Wang Xi came out resolutely. This tells me that this woman is at least very cold-hearted.

Second, ambitious. Wang Ye is a very ambitious person, and she is not satisfied with living such an ordinary life at Sun King's family. She wants to have a bright future.

Third, Wang Yan is adventurous. You see how much risk she takes. In case her marriage history is reported, what will be the result? I'm afraid I can't stand it anymore, and the Golden King's family won't ask for it again. In this way, she went to the Prince's palace. Her mother Zang Er not only sent Wang Ye to the palace, but also Wang Ye's unmarried sister Wang Erjie to the palace, which means that she sent both her daughters to the Crown Prince of the Han Dynasty (Han King Jing), to serve this prince, this prince was later Han King. So Zang Er, we are not here to focus on Zang Er, but Zang Er is not easy. In terms of our insurance today, she has two insurances. Because if her two daughters are favored, she will be the winner in the future. If both daughters are flattered, she is a big winner. This is a bold move by her mother. After I was sent to Tai * zhong, did I get favored? Let ’s see the result. After Wang Di sent to the palace, she gave birth to three dragons and three phoenixes. She was a prince and three princesses. He had four princes, so among the fourteen sons of Emperor Han Jing, the two daughters of Zanger gave birth to five princes. Of course, there is a condition here, which is not mentioned in the history books, but I think there is a necessary condition here, that her two daughters must be very beautiful, which is probably a self-evident condition. If you think about that Wang Xi married, gave birth to a child, took her out, and sent her to Tai *, and was favored by the Prince, and gave birth to another dragon and three phoenixes. If Wang Ye and her sister gave birth to four, she also gave birth to four. If the two daughters did not look very beautiful, I am afraid it would be difficult to achieve this step. Of course, Zang Er dared to bet on this one, and she bet this treasure where she bet on the beauty of her two daughters. This bet was successful.

Voiceover: Zang'er's adventures finally succeeded. Her two daughters successfully entered Tai *, and they both gave birth to a prince. Emperor Han Wu was born under such circumstances. There are different versions of legends about the birth of Emperor Wu. There was a lot of mystery to the emperor. So how did Sima Qian record the birth of the emperor in Historical Records?

Wang Ye became pregnant soon after entering the palace. During pregnancy, Wang Ye told the prince that she had a dream. What was this dream? Calling Nissinqihuai, she dreamed that a Sun Star fell into her belly. This dream is very strange. In ancient China, like other nations in the world, our ancestors have always worshiped Sun Star. To this day, we still use Sun Star as a metaphor for the emperor, so she told the prince the dream of "into her arms", and the prince said at the time that this expensive sign was also a very precious sign. However, the dream of "sunny in its arms", I think it may have three kinds of possibilities: one is Wang Xi's self-death. We rarely encounter any pregnant person in our society who dreams of Sun Star falling into their stomachs, because now there is no such thing as saying that they can become emperors, and everyone will not dream of this Sun Star. So I think that her dream Sun Star is probably Wang Yan, she is a child of her own god, and she wants to deify her son herself. Because her son would later become emperor. Another one, it is possible that the posterity deified Liu Xun. Because later her son became emperor, future generations will attach to her and say that she will be in her arms. Again, both are possible. There is both the deification of Wang Xi and the deification of future generations. And when we talked about Xiang Yu and Lu Hou earlier, I didn't mention Ye Shi. However, there are two wild histories of Emperor Hanwu: the Hanwu story and the biography of Hanwu Emperor. This "Biography of Emperor Hanwu" speaks more magically. What is it? He said that Emperor Han Jing had a dream and dreamed that a goddess took a Sun Star and sent it to Wang Ye, which is in the mouth of Wang Meiren. The beauty swallowed this Sun Star. After swallowing Sun Star, she became pregnant for fourteen months and gave birth to a child. Of course, the "Hanwu Emperor's Biography" is unreliable. It is true that "Riruqihuai" is recorded in the "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" and "The Biography of Foreigners". But I think this really has something to do with Wang Ye's own momentum.

Liu Ye was born under such a background, and her mother was such an extraordinary woman. So when Liu Ye was four years old, four years before Emperor Han Jing, Liu Ye was established as the King of Jiaodong. At the same time that Liu Ye was named King of the Jiaodong Emperor, Emperor Han Jing closed his eldest son Liu Rong as the Crown Prince. Wang Xi's first goal in the palace was achieved. She entered the palace, gave birth to a dragon, and was banned from the king. But Wang Yuan ’s ambitions did not end here, because after all, the gap between King Jiaodong and the Crown Prince was still too large, and the gap was still large. In this way, we introduced two women above, one woman is a thin queen and one woman is Wang Yan. Among these two women, the thin queen was childless and petless, and after Wang Xi was sent to the palace, she was both petted and gave birth to a prince. In this way, two of the five women have already played, so there are three women below that we have not introduced. How will these three women affect the way Liu Jue became the crown prince, please see the next episode "Li Chu storm".