The change of imperial power in ancient my country has long followed the principle of " primogeniture ", that is, the first child born to the emperor and the queen will often be named the prince and become the most legitimate successor to the throne. However, due to various reasons, many emperors were not actually the eldest sons. There were even cases like Song Lizong that had little connection with the throne, but were later chosen by chance to become princes and eventually ascended the throne as emperors. By.
Precisely because the eldest son inheritance system only cares about blood and does not consider ability, many outstanding emperors were not the eldest son. For example, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin ranked second among Li Yuan's sons. It is worth mentioning that many emperors who were ranked fourth among brothers in the history of our country were quite outstanding. So, which emperors were the "four princes"?
Since Qin Shihuang unified China and coined the title "Emperor", the first four princes to become emperor was the fourth son of Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang, who created the "Reign of Wen and Jing" Emperor Wen of Han Liu Heng. After Liu Bang's death, Empress Lu controlled the government, and Liu Ruyi, Liu You and other princes were executed by him one after another. Fortunately, since his mother Bo Ji was not very favored and Liu Heng himself kept a low profile, the mother and son were not persecuted by Empress Lu.
After Empress Lu died, Liu Heng, as the most suitable one among Liu Bang's remaining disciples, was supported as the new king by Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and other ministers. After taking office, he took into account the social unrest caused by the Lu family's dictatorship and advocated using Huang Lao's learning to govern the world in order to restore production and live and work in peace and contentment with the people. Thanks to his diligent governance, Western Han society showed a prosperous atmosphere. After that, his son Han Jing Emperor Xiao Gui Cao followed, and the two jointly created the "Government of Wen and Jing".
After the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu reunified the world and completed the ZTE. After the death of Emperor Guangwu, his son Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty Liu Zhuang created the " Mingzhang rule". He was also a fourth prince. It can be seen from the posthumous title of "Ming" that Liu Zhuang performed very well overall during his reign. He continued the general framework set by his father and through his own governance allowed the world to further recover from the turmoil in the late Western Han Dynasty. Liu Zhuang's grandson Hanhe Emperor Liu Zhao also ranked fourth among the brothers. Although he died young at the age of twenty-seven, he was diligent in political affairs during his reign and even sent Ban Chao as an envoy to Daqin . It is generally believed that Liu Zhao pushed the national power of the Eastern Han Dynasty to its peak, and was known in history as "Yongyuan Zhilong".
For a long time after that, the four princes failed to get hold of the throne until the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. At the beginning of the 13th century, the leader of the Mongolian tribe Temujin, also known as Genghis Khan, fought in the north and south and established the vast Mongolian kingdom. After his death, one of the three great Khans, Wo Kuotai, Guiyou , and Meng Ge , died of excessive drinking, one died young, and the other was shot dead by the Song army at the foot of Diaoyu City. Subsequently, Kublai Khan won the throne and established the Yuan Dynasty, and then conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and unified China.
After becoming the emperor, Kublai Khan honored his father Tuo Lei who had served as the supervisor of the country as Yuan Ruizong. As the fourth son of Tuo Lei, although he was the actual first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty , he could also He could barely be regarded as the fourth prince. Coincidentally, Tuo Lei is also the fourth son of Temujin, who is revered as Yuan Taizu. It seems that there is no big problem in saying that he was once the fourth prince.
Just a few decades after the death of Kublai Khan, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a farmer, pacified the south, went north to eliminate the Yuan Dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the throne was passed to the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen . Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son, King Yan Zhu Di , who was quite dissatisfied with this, immediately launched the Jingnan Campaign and took the throne from his nephew. As the founder of the "Yongle Shengshi ", Zhu Di made five Northern Expeditions during his reign, sent Zheng He to the Western Seas, and ordered the compilation of the "Yongle Dadian ", which can be said to have outstanding achievements in civil and martial arts.
By the Qing Dynasty , the fourth prince became the emperor more frequently. The controversial "Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties" were jointly created by three generations of emperors: Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. Among them, Emperor Yongzheng was the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi, and Emperor Qianlong was among the sons of Emperor Yongzheng. Also ranked fourth. Needless to say, Emperor Yongzheng was famous for his diligence, and many of the policies he implemented during his reign were praised. Compared with his widely praised father, Emperor Qianlong was criticized for many aspects, but some of his achievements cannot be ignored. .
After the "Kangxi and Qianlong Dynasties", the shortcomings of the decadent Qing Dynasty that had been barely concealed until now emerged one by one. Coupled with the impact of the Western powers that rose rapidly after the completion of modernization, foreign troubles came one after another for a while. When the building was about to collapse, Emperor Daoguang's fourth son, Emperor Xianfeng, stepped onto the stage of history. Although he did not have the strong ability and luck to turn the tide, as the last emperor with actual ruling power in the history of our country, Emperor Xianfeng A series of efforts have still been made to maintain governance.
For example, he reused Zeng Guofan and other officials with practical capabilities. He also tried to eliminate bad governance and forge ahead. It is a pity that on the one hand, the Qing government was already poor and weak at that time, and on the other hand, he died of illness at the age of thirty-one. After that, the power was taken over by Empress Dowager Cixi, and the Qing Dynasty completely fell into the abyss of destruction.
To sum up, there are many emperors who ranked fourth in the history of our country, including Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty who pioneered the rule of the world, Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Ming Dynasty, Emperor Liu Zhao of the Han Dynasty who pushed the Eastern Han Dynasty to its peak, and Emperor Liu Zhao who created the prosperous age. Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Di, Emperor Yongzheng, Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Xianfeng who was unable to save his life, and the more special Yuan Ruizhong Tuo Lei and Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan. From this point of view, it seems that all the emperors born as the "fourth" are indeed extraordinary, and their "success rate" can be said to be very high.
