Chen Houzhu

Chen Shubao

Empress Chen Shubao

From November 553 to November 604, Huang Nu was born in Changcheng County, Wuxing county (now Changxing County, Zhejiang Province). The last emperor of the Southern Dynasty (582-589) was the eldest son of Chen Xu, the emperor of Chen Xuan, whose mother was empress Liu Jingyan.

In the first year of Tiankang (566), he was granted the title of Ningyuan general and moved to the prince's concubine and servant. In the first year of Taijian (569), it was named the crown prince. Taijian 14 years (582), officially ascended the throne. During his reign, he abandoned the government, indulged in wine and lust, and devoted himself to poetry and music. In 589, the Sui army went south to conquer Jiankang and destroy the Chen Dynasty. They were exiled to Chang'an and granted the title of great wall county magistrate. They were given the residence by Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty Yang Jian. They were still drunk and dreamt of death.

In 604, the fourth year of Renshou in the Sui Dynasty, Chen Shubao died of illness in Luoyang. At the age of 52, he was awarded to the general with the posthumous title of Yang and buried in Mangshan, Luoyang.

(overview of the picture, source: Empress Chen Zhu in the painting of emperors by Yan Liben of Tang Dynasty)

Life of the characters

Early experience

Chen Shubao was born in Jiangling in November 553, the second year of Liang Chengsheng in the Southern Dynasty. He is the eldest son of Chen Xu, Emperor Chen Xuan, and his mother is empress Liu Jingyan. When he was born, Chen Baxian had mastered the real power of Liang in the Southern Dynasty and became the overlord. In order to control Chen Baxian, Xiao Yi, the emperor of Liang Yuan, made his sons and nephews live in Jiangling, including Chen Xu and his wife and concubines. The following year, the Western Wei Dynasty invaded the South and captured Jiangling. Chen Xu was abducted to Chang'an by the Wei army. Chen Shubao, his mother Liu's family, and his brother Chen Shuling were taken hostage and detained in Chencheng (now Deng County, Henan Province). In October of the second year of Taiping (557), Chen Baxian replaced Liang Jianchen. After Emperor Wen Chen Qian ascended the throne, he ordered Zhou Hongzheng to send an envoy to the Northern Dynasty. In the third year of Tianjia (562), he welcomed back Chen Xu and others. Chen Shubao and his mother and brother were also among them, and they were returned to the Southern Dynasty. After Chen Xu returned to China, he was granted the title of king an Cheng, and Chen Shubao became the son of king an Cheng. Chen Shubao is ten years old. Chen Shubao grew up in a deep palace when he was young. He didn't know the difficulty of farming. Although he was "afraid of danger at the beginning, he had many pitiful edicts. Later, he collected a little and began to indulge in extravagance. All the guests are devoted to wine and culture. They are close to each other and small in size. They are all entrusted with "balance axis". Although he stayed in the Northern Dynasties for many years, he was always rich and superior in life. In addition, he was separated from his father when he was young and raised by his mother. In the process of growing up, the lack of paternal love also had a profound impact on his future growth. After Chen Xu returned to the south in the Northern Dynasty, he gradually took over the power of the Southern Dynasty, and Chen Shubao became an important member of the southern Chen royal family. In the first year of Emperor Wen's Tiankang (566), Chen Shubao was 14 years old. He was granted the official title of Ningyuan general and set up the left history. Thus his official career began. In the first year of China Everbright University (567), he served as the common son of the crown prince and was soon promoted to serve in the imperial court. In the first month of the first year of Taijian (569), he was made the crown prince. In December of the ninth year of emperor Chen Xuan's Taijian (577), the East Palace was completed, and Chen Shubao officially entered the east palace. During this period, he studied Confucian classics such as the Analects of Confucius and the book of filial piety from Zhou Hongzheng, and explained the Taixue in person for many times. In addition, Chen Shubao was particularly fond of literature and art, and a large number of literati became his subordinates in the eastern palace, and began to hold literary banquets. During this period, the literati group gathered around Chen Shubao was the literati group in the East Palace of empress Chen. The main members of Chen Shubao's literary group are Jiang Zong, Yao Cha, Gu yewang, Chu Yu, Lu Yu, Xie Shen and Chen Shuda.

Ascend the throne for the Emperor

Although Chen Shubao was the crown prince, his throne was not easy. Chen Xu's second son, Chen Shuling, who is Chen Shubao's second younger brother, has been planning to assassinate Chen Shubao with the intention of usurping the throne. In the first month of the 14th year of Taijian (the second year of kaihuang of Sui Dynasty, 582), Emperor Chen Xu was seriously ill. Prince Chen Shubao, together with Chen Shuling, king of Shixing, and Chen Shujian, king of Changsha, attended Emperor Xuan. Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, secretly harbors a strange ambition and orders the officials in charge of decocting herbs to sharpen their swords and prepare to assassinate Chen Shubao. After the death of emperor Chen Xuan, in a hurry, Chen Shuling ordered his courtiers to go outside to get the sword. The left and right courtiers didn't understand him, so they took the wooden sword from the previous dynasty and gave it to Chen Shuling. Chen Shuling was very angry. Chen Shujian, king of Changsha, is nearby. He hears Chen Shuling's words and is afraid that something will happen. He peeps into Chen Shuling's actions. Prince Chen Shubao cries in front of Emperor Xuan's coffin. Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, takes the opportunity to strike Chen Shubao with a medicine knife and hit him in the neck. With the help of empress Liu and his mother Wu, Chen Shubao escapes and sends General Xiao Mohe to fight against Chen Shuling. At last, Chen Shuling is killed and his sons are given death. After Chen Shuling was killed, Chen Shubao was the emperor and the empress of Chen. After that, Chen Shujian, king of Changsha, was the general of Hushi, the third division of Kaifu Yitong, and the governor of Yangzhou; Xiao Mohe was the general of cavalry, and the governor of Southern Xuzhou, and was granted the title of Duke Suiyuan. Chen Shuling, the king of Shixing, had tens of thousands of money in his family, which was awarded to Chen Shujian and Xiao Maha. Taking Sima Shen as the official of Zhongshu. When Chen Shuling assassinated the empress dowager, the Empress Dowager's neck was cut and injured, and he was cured in Chengxiang hall. All the affairs of the court were entrusted to the Empress Dowager. Besides, she left her concubine Zhang Lihua with her. After the Lord recovered from illness, he was more fortunate to Princess Zhang. Chen Shuyan was king of Xunyang, Chen Shushen was king of Yueyang, Chen Shuda was king of Yiyang, Chen shuneng was king of Bashan, and Chen Shuyu was king of Wuchang. Soon after, Chen Yin was officially appointed prince. Since the founding of Chen Baxian, the furnishings of the inner court were very simple. Chen Shubao thought that his residence was too simple to be used as a golden house for her to hide. So in front of Lin Guang hall, there were three pavilions, Linchun, Jieqi and Wangxian. The height of the pavilion is ten feet, and it stretches for dozens of rooms. The poor buildings are extremely ingenious. The windows, walls and sills are all made of heavy sandalwood and decorated with gold, jade, pearls and emeralds. There is a pearl curtain hanging at the door with a treasure bed and a treasure tent inside. The clothes are rare and the utensils are magnificent, which are all unprecedented in ancient times. You accumulate stones for the mountain, water for the pool, and plant strange trees and famous flowers. Whenever the breeze blows, the fragrance smells for tens of miles. Chen Shubao lived in Linchun Pavilion, Zhang Guifei lived in Jieqi Pavilion, Gong and Kong guipin lived in Wangxian Pavilion, in which there was a connection of Fudao. Wang and Ji, Zhang and Xue ershuyuan, Yuan Zhaoyi, he Jieyu and Jiang Xiurong, all of them were lucky with their talent. They took turns to call them and had to swim on them. Zhang Lihua used to dress up in the pavilion. Sometimes she sat alone in the pavilion, sometimes she leaned on the fence and looked into the distance. Everyone who saw her thought that the fairy was Linfan. In the ethereal sky, it was beyond our expectation.

Abandoning the government

In the first month of the first year of Zhide (the third year of kaihuang reign of Sui Dynasty, 583), Chen Shujian was appointed as king of Changsha. At the beginning, after the LORD was stabbed, he could not execute the political affairs himself, so the political affairs were decided by Chen Shujian, king of Changsha. The imperial power of Changsha was tilted to the imperial court, so it became more and more arrogant, so the empress Chen became more and more afraid of Chen Shujian. As a result, both Duguan Shangshu Shanyin Kongfan and Zhongshu Sheriff Shi Wenqing felt uneasy because Chen Shujian was believed by his later master. They searched for the mistakes around the king of Changsha every day and slandered him. Therefore, empress Chen still retained the title of General Chen Shujian, king of Changsha, and continued to use the instrument of the third division, but his external appointment was the governor of Jiangzhou. The general manager Jiang of the ancestral temple department was the Minister of the official department. In the same month, Chen Shen, the son and Prince of Zhang Lihua, was appointed king Shi'an. In September, empress Chen granted his brother the title of vassal, established his brother Chen Shuping as the king of eastern Hunan, Chen shuao as the king of Linhe, Chen Shuxuan as the king of Yangshan, and Chen Shumu as the king of Xiyang. Before long, Chen Shujian, the emperor's younger brother, was appointed king of Annan, Chen Shucheng king of Nanjun, Chen Shuxing king of Yuanling, Chen Shushao king of Yueshan, and Chen Shuchun king of Xinxing. When Chen Shubao succeeded to the throne, it was at the beginning of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. Emperor Wen had the ambition to flatten the four seas, so the officials of Sui Dynasty urged Emperor Wen to attack Chen. At the end of the second year of Zhenming Dynasty (588), Emperor Wen issued an imperial edict and wrote 200000 pieces of imperial edicts. Some people advised Emperor Wen to say that the army should be kept secret, so there was no need to make such publicity. Emperor Wen said, "if he is afraid and changes, what can I ask for? I'm going to show that heaven will punish you. Why keep secrets? " So many warships were built, and Yang Guang, king of Jin, Yang Jun, king of Qin, and Yang Su, Duke of Qinghe, were appointed marshals of the marching army. Han Qinhu, he ruobi and other generals led 510000 troops to the south of the Yangtze River. The Sui army was connected with Canghai in the East and Bashu in the West. Banners and boats crossed thousands of miles. They all fought bravely to defeat the Chen Dynasty. Chen Shubao, however, lives in a high-ranking cabinet and spends all his time drinking and drinking, not listening to foreign affairs. He ordered the construction of the great emperor's temple, in which a seven level floating chart was built. The work was not finished, and it was burned by the fire. The frontier prefectures reported the news of the invasion of Sui soldiers to the DPRK. But the whole court didn't like it. Only the servant shot yuan Xian and asked him to send troops to resist, but the later Lord didn't listen. With the deepening of the Sui army, the prefectures were in urgent need one after another. The later master Shubao still played music and wine, wrote poems and said to his servants with a smile: "the soldiers of Qi came three times, and the division of Zhou came again, and all of them were defeated. What is that Kongfan said: "the Yangtze River moat was limited in ancient times and separated the north from the south. How can the Sui army fly across today? Bian Jiang wants to take credit for it, but he talks rashly about urgency. Every time an officer is inferior to him, if a prisoner crosses the river, he will be appointed as Taiwei Gong. " It was rumored that many horses of the northern army died on the road. Kong Fan said: "unfortunately, this is my horse. Why die?" After listening to this, the empress laughed and thought that the threat of national subjugation did not exist.

Lien Chan lost in succession

In the first month of the third year of Zhenming (589), Sui soldiers crossed the Yangtze River from Guangling. He ruobi used the strategy of "never tired of deceit". He first bought Chen Dynasty warships to hide, and then bought 50 or 60 broken ships to put in the small branch of the Yangtze River. He deliberately gave Chen Dynasty the illusion that there was no water army in the Sui Dynasty. He also let the troops along the river gather in Guangling when they were changing defense. Chen Army thought that the enemy would launch an attack and prepared in a hurry

Chinese PinYin : Chen Hou Zhu