Chapter 19 The peaceful and prosperous era
Section 2 Treat Laochen well
As time goes by, Emperor Xiaowen does become more mature and wiser. In this, there are the peace and charity factors mentioned by the Empress Dowager, and the principles of dealing with the world that he obtained after many ups and downs. For example, being calm in encountering things, being good at observing, speculating on people's hearts, being at silenced, leaving room for words and doing things, etc. And these are crucial to being a good emperor, protecting one's own country, and even saving one's life at critical moments. These things that have been learned from long-term cultivation belong only to him and must not be shared with anyone. As long as something happens, he knows what to do.
Emperor Xiaowen has been very filial to the Empress Dowager over the years, and no one in the court has questioned this, so that the posthumous title "Emperor Xiaowen" he received after his death was to take the two major characteristics of his filial piety and his civilized rule. And his filial piety comes from his speculation about the Empress Dowager. He was always thinking, what was the Empress Dowager doing at this time? What are you thinking? When encountering all the things, no matter big or trivial matters, he would first think about what the Empress Dowager would think and do, and then think about what he should do. This is a fixed mindset that he gradually developed over the years after he succeeded to the throne. He cannot think about his own views first, think from his own perspective, and think according to his own habitual model, because he is just a steward in the court, and he is not the final decisive person. His mission is to turn the Queen Mother’s thinking into action. Although he knew that over the years, the Empress Dowager had already believed in him and relied on him very much. Many things, even many major things, were asked to stand in front and directly control the situation and directly order the world. Others may not know the mystery of this, but the emperor himself knows the best, that is, the emperor is good at speculation, he knows the Empress Dowager's thoughts very clearly, and his thought rhythm can be directly matched with the Empress Dowager's thoughts every time. If Emperor Xiaowen could not do this, the Empress Dowager would never be able to let go. He also knew very well that although the Empress Dowager let him do it, there would be ten thousand eyes behind him looking at him. Since he can let him do it, he can take his power at any time and let what he has no one do.
Of course, over the years, Emperor Xiaowen has been doing his best to be loyal to the Empress Dowager Tai and do things according to her constitution. Another most important reason is that the Empress Dowager Tai is upright and thinks far ahead of major issues, which is beneficial to the country and the people. He couldn't find a reason to go against her.
The Empress Dowager of the Taihuang always respected the respected old ministers. Before implementing the salary system, Emperor Xiaowen issued an edict to appoint Dongyang King Tuoba Pi HTML as the Taiwei, Shangshu Zuo Pushe Chen Jian as the Situ, and was granted the title of King of Wei County, and several Shangshu were called Sikong and King of Hedong. The three of them were recognized by the court as the Three Dukes. King Tuoba Pi of Dongyang, King Tuoba Pi of Hedong, plus King Huainan, King Tuoba He and King Huainyin, Yuchi Yuan were both treated well by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, and were called the Four Nobles of the Court. The four old ministers were of great military achievements and majestic nature. They were tall and sturdy, and they were so old that they were gray-bearded. Whenever they participated in important activities, they could go directly into the palace by car. After getting off the car, everyone rushed forward and supported them to the front to take a seat. They always spoke boldly, chatted and laughed, and were loved and respected by people. Among these old ministers, the oldest and most qualified one is Tuoba Pi. He has kindness to several emperors, including the Empress Dowager. Therefore, when he gets old, his status and aura are the strongest, so strong that the Empress Dowager is tolerant of him repeatedly. As long as there is nothing out of order, he will not violate Tuoba Pi's dignity.The Empress Dowager built a royal palace for the King of Dongyang. On the day the palace was completed, she personally came to congratulate her. She also brought her more than 300 chapters of "Song of Admonition" to this occasion and met with civil servants and generals for the first time and distributed them to everyone to share. This shows how high the Empress Dowager attached great importance to and treated Tuoba Pi like kind-hearted ministers and old ministers. When the Empress Dowager passed away, Tuoba Pi was still alive, and he was already in his nineties at that time.
Of course, the Empress Dowager is not only for Xianbei nobles. She also loves Han officials like Gaoyun and Gaolu , and also gives very generous treatment. Gao Yun is an iconic figure of all Han ministers. He still served in the court in his 90s. He made several requests to retire and ignore political affairs, but he was not approved. Emperor Xiaowen issued an edict to use the emperor's carriage to take Lao Linggong back from Huaizhou , and became the general of the army and was in charge of the Central Secretariat. Gao Yun still refused, and Emperor Xiaowen gave Gao Yun a high treatment for taking a car into the hall, and he kept him strongly. The reason is that this great Confucian flag of Han cannot disappear in the court. So far, no one can surpass his prestige. Whether Gao Yun is in the court or not is not his personal matter, but the entire Wei Dynasty. If Gao Yun is allowed to withdraw from politics, it means that the Han ministers speak significantly lower than the Xianbei nobles in the court, which means whether the entire restructuring plan of the Empress Dowager can be supported by most ministers. Besides, the Empress Dowager did not want Gao Yun to do anything specific. She just wanted to give Gao Yun a suitable seat and let him sit there. All the officials of Han Chen had flags, aura, and an absolute proportion of political participation. Because Gao Yun is a recognized great scholar of the generation, only Tuoba Pi can compare with his prestige in the court. As long as Tuoba Pi is in power for one day, Gao Yun's status will not be replaced by other Han officials. Emperor Xiaowen knew very well that the Empress Dowager played political chess and arranged a restructuring game. She could not disrupt her entire layout because of one person or one piece.
After Gao Yun was in his 90s, he wrote an article specifically to warn officials to drink moderately. At first glance, it looks like a small article, but in fact he listed many lessons such as King Zhou of Shang Drunk and destroyed the country. He advised all officials to put the country first and not to be greedy for alcohol, sex, and money. At that time, it will not only destroy the great cause of the court, but also destroy their own future. The Empress Dowager was extremely excited after reading it. She said: "Ling Gong's article has extremely important admonition to all officials and even the emperor, and to the Ai family. The Ai family decided to send the Ai family's "Emperor of the Emperor" and Ling Gong's "Wine Training" to everyone as a must-read classic for civil and military officials in the court."
Emperor Xiaowen personally placed these two sets of classic books on his copywriting and read them carefully whenever he had free time. He also rewarded Gao Yun with a lot of gold, silver, treasures, silk, cattle and sheep, and ordered the Palace Yuefu to go to Gao Yunling Gongfu to perform music for him every five days. There is no other person in this special treatment in the court. He knew that Lao Linggong always regarded wealth very indifferently, but cared very much about spiritual enjoyment, so he could enjoy it. He also often asked the imperial chef to make some delicious dishes for Gao Yun and deliver them to Gao Mansion. The Gao Mansion is usually a place where children and literary masters gather. How can Gao Linggong enjoy the delicious food and wine sent by the emperor alone? In the joyful atmosphere of chanting poems and paintings and chatting, everyone raises their glasses together and enjoys them together.
However, Gao Yun eventually died before Tuoba Pi. Late one night, he suddenly saw the gods coming and said to him, you have already enjoyed a long life, you have tasted all the ups and downs of the world, and there is no need to live until you are a hundred years old. He was about to argue with that god, why can't I live to be a hundred years old? The Empress Dowager invited me to live in the capital. The imperial court still had many major issues to discuss with me. But the god disappeared after he finished speaking. Gao Yun was scared and sweated coldly before he realized that it was a dream. A few days later, the great scholar Gao Yun of a generation died of peace and ended his perfect life at the age of 98.
Gao Linggong's funeral, the Empress Dowager, Emperor Xiaowen and the civil and military officials of the court saw him off. The specifications are no less than those of the emperor's funeral. The Empress Dowager praised Gao Yun's virtue, talent and integrity, like the moonlight and the spring breeze. The Wei court and even the entire China would praise Ling Gong.
The Empress Dowager's praise to Gao Linggong was for the officials in the court, for the people of the world, and of course for the emperor to see it. Under the influence of the Empress Dowager Xiaowen became a unique emperor. First of all, he is good at enduring, observing, and dealing with things calmly. He is one of the rare rational emperors. Secondly, in life, he did not pursue luxury, form, or boastful talk. He was a pragmatic emperor. Furthermore, in governing the country, he focused on thinking, reform, and civil governance. He was an emperor who valued the stability of the people and the country. But from some small things in life, he saw that he was different from the previous emperors. He did not like swords, guns, swords and halberds, fought, killed, and even hunted. Later, after the incident of Wang Rui's retreat from the tiger in Beiyuan, he simply stopped hunting in Beiyuan and issued an edict to all prefectures and counties not to hunt or hunt, and to stop offering strange birds and beasts to the court. He took the lead and stopped killing animals. These things are precisely activities that the Xianbei people, which have always been characterized by fighting and generousness, are very passionate about. As the emperor of the Xianbei people, he no longer likes these things. It can be seen that his specialness has changed from the bottom of his heart.
Author Profile
Ren Yong, member of the Chinese Writers Association , chairman of the Datong Writers Association, Shanxi Writers Association , consultant of the Datong Traditional Culture Promotion Association, has been engaged in literary creation for a long time, has published the essay collection "Not necessarily travel", the essay collection "One leaf Bodhi" and "Family Family", the long biography literature "Biography of Empress Dowager Feng", the novel "Yellow Flower Woman" was adapted into a movie of the same name and filmed and launched online, and the series of historical essay collections "This Is Northern Wei" was published by Business International Co., Ltd.
