Do you really know the story of Zhu Yougui? Today, the history encyclopedia editor brings you a brand new interpretation~
The most ruthless imperial family “. In ancient feudal society, imperial families were the least filial and only focused on power. It was not uncommon for fathers to kill sons and sons to kill their fathers. In ancient times, there was a most unlucky emperor who had just killed his biological father and usurped the throne, but was killed by his own son and grandson.
Zhu Yougui, also known as Zhu Youqiu, was born in 884. In the second year of Qianhua (912 AD), he pardoned his father and ascended to the throne as emperor, becoming the second emperor of Later Liang. Throughout history, there have been instances of sibling and father son conflicts, but pardoning his father’s usurpation of the throne still leaves him with an unkind evaluation.
But after ascending to the throne, if he could be diligent in politics and consider the people, later generations would still consider this emperor a wise ruler, but Zhu Yougui was not a good emperor after ascending to the throne.
This leads to the founding emperor of Later Liang, Emperor Taizu of Liang, Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen was the biological father of Zhu Yougui. In the second year of Qianfu (875 AD), he joined the peasant uprising army and captured Luoyang, Chang’an and other places with his own abilities. However, internal conflicts within the peasant uprising army were rampant, and Zhu Wen’s trusted generals advised him to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. After weighing the pros and cons, Zhu Wen also defected to the Tang Dynasty.
After joining the Tang army, Zhu Wen suppressed the peasant uprising army, and Tang Xizong specially gave him the name “Zhu Quanzhong”. Zhu Wen was also conferred the title of Prince Liang. However, Zhu Wen did not want to become a famous general or minister of the Tang Dynasty. His goal had always been the throne, so he gradually controlled the central government of the Tang Dynasty.
In 907 AD, Zhu Wen forced Emperor Ai of Tang to abdicate, and Zhu Wen ascended to the throne as emperor with the founding title of “Liang”, known as the Later Liang in history. Although Zhu Wen had strong abilities, his killings were extremely heavy, and indiscriminate killings were rare in history. Any battlefield that Zhu Wen passed through would inevitably turn into a dead silence.
In addition, Zhu Wen had a virtuous wife, Empress Zhang Hui, who also prevented Zhu Wen from committing many unjust acts. However, after Empress Zhang’s death in 904, Zhu Wen became extremely absurd. His sons fought outside one by one, while he secretly mixed with his daughter-in-law in the palace. It is surprising that Zhu Wen’s sons did not feel ashamed and even used their wives to please their father, so that Zhu Wen could pass on the throne to them. This is truly an ancient scandal.
As the saying goes, a family has a great influence on its children. With a father like Zhu Wen, the quality of his sons can be imagined. Moreover, Zhu Wen’s biological sons are increasingly incapable. Therefore, after falling ill, Zhu Wen began to ponder who to pass on the throne to. His eldest son died early, and other sons were unable to take on the great responsibility. In the end, he chose to pass on the throne to his adopted son Zhu Youwen.
But Zhu Yougui’s ambition was like that of Zhu Wen in the past. He was very dissatisfied that his biological father had passed the throne to an adopted son who was not related by blood. So he disguised himself and came to Zhu Wen, who was lying sick in bed. He then killed Zhu Wen and ascended to the throne.
However, in the second year of Zhu Yougui’s reign, his brothers, sons, grandsons, ministers, and others planned a coup. Zhu Yougui had nowhere to escape and had his servant Feng Tinghe kill him and the empress. After Zhu Yougui’s death, Zhu Wen’s third son Zhu Youzhen ascended to the throne, and Zhu Youzhen deposed Zhu Yougui as a commoner. However, Zhu Youzhen was also an incompetent emperor, so he became the last emperor of Later Liang.
The Later Liang Dynasty lasted for three generations of emperors, with only 16 years left for future generations, leaving only father son conflict. In the end, Zhu Youzhen also betrayed his family and died with tears in his eyes.
