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Chapter 333: The famous general who swept away the rebellious ministers

Gongsun He was the brother-in-law of Wei Zifu, so the Wei family was implicated, and Wei Qing's eldest son, one of Wei Zifu's daughters, and Princess Yangshi were all killed. And these killings were just the beginning of the witchcraft disaster.

Most of the concubines at that time believed in witchcraft and placed puppets in each of their rooms. Seeing that Emperor Wu of Han punished those who cursed so severely, the concubines began to frame each other and attack each other for the crime of cursing the emperor.

As a result, there were hundreds of concubines who were accused, as well as palace maids and ministers who were implicated, and in the end none of them escaped.

Emperor Wu of Han often dreamed about puppets afterwards, which caused him to feel unwell as he was already old, and he began to suspect that he was cursed.

He had a favorite minister named Jiang Chong, who thought he was often feared by Crown Prince Liu Ju and the Queen. He was afraid that he would be killed after Emperor Wu's death, so he began to plot to frame the Crown Prince.

He claimed that the reason why Emperor Wu of Han was unwell was entirely due to witchcraft, and that as long as the person who cursed him was thoroughly investigated, the emperor would be able to sleep peacefully.

So he began to investigate the case vigorously. In order to highlight his achievements, he did not hesitate to inflict violence on innocent people and force them to confess. As a result, the people randomly pointed fingers at each other and the officials impeached each other at will, which led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the capital and the three auxiliary areas.

Afterwards, Jiang Chong began to take action against Crown Prince Liu Ju, and his investigation started from the concubines' rooms and continued to the Crown Prince's palace.

After some random digging, he claimed that he had found the most puppets in the Prince's Palace, and the crime of cursing was even more heinous. Although Liu Ju knew that Jiang Chong had deliberately framed him, he was unable to defend himself at this time and was very scared.

His teacher suggested that he first fake an imperial decree to put Jiang Chong in prison, and then let him confess his accomplices. Liu Ju had no choice but to do so, but he killed Jiang Chong without any evidence.

At that time, Emperor Wu of Han lived in Ganquan Palace for a long time, and many people did not know what was going on inside. Liu Ju thought that someone had taken advantage of Jiang Chong's behavior to cause chaos and trapped Emperor Wu, and that he might even have met with an accident.

He did not want to become the Prince Fusu who was killed by Zhao Gao, so he mobilized soldiers to guard the Prince's Mansion. However, Emperor Wu of Han, who was sitting in Ganquan Palace, heard the news that the Prince had rebelled.

He was going to send someone to bring Liu Ju back for questioning, but the envoy, fearing Liu Ju, did not go to the prince's residence, but instead went back to Ganquan Palace after a detour, claiming that the prince had already plotted a rebellion. Upon hearing this, Emperor Wu of Han was furious and ordered Prime Minister Liu Quti to encircle and suppress the prince.

Crown Prince Liu Ju only had a few soldiers and guards and was unable to fight back, so he once again falsely issued an imperial decree to pardon the prisoners in prison and incorporate them into his own team.

After that, he sent envoys to the vassal states to seek help from the Xiongnu cavalry, which is equivalent to today's mercenaries. However, this news was known to the men of Emperor Wu of Han, and the envoys were killed on the way. Liu Ju had no choice but to find Yang An of the Northern Army, but Yang An did not listen to his orders at all.

Liu Ju finally organized the people of Chang'an and formed an army of tens of thousands of prisoners to fight against the army of Prime Minister Liu Quti for five days. The death toll was countless, but Liu Ju's troops were still unable to resist the continuous reinforcement of the regular army.

In the end, Liu Ju could only flee Chang'an with his two sons. All his followers were executed, and all those who participated in the rebellion were exterminated. Empress Wei Zifu also committed suicide in the palace, and the power of the Wei family's relatives suffered a serious blow.

Just when Emperor Wu of Han sent people to hunt down Liu Ju, someone risked his life to defend the prince, believing that Liu Ju was framed by the treacherous minister Jiang Chong and that he organized the army to resist purely out of self-protection and with no other motives.

At the same time, he rebuked Emperor Wu of Han for being furious without investigating the alleged rebellion. Emperor Wu of Han then calmed down a little and reviewed the whole incident, only then did he find that there were indeed many strange things about the prince's rebellion. However, he did not issue a pardon order in time.

Liu Ju's situation was still dangerous at this time, and he could only hide in an ordinary citizen's home. In order to survive, he planned to contact a lady he once knew, hoping to get some financial support.

However, the matter was leaked and the local soldiers surrounded him. Liu Ju eventually hanged himself in his room, and his two sons were also killed.

In 90 BC, Emperor Wu of Han discovered through investigation that those who falsely accused the crown prince of witchcraft were not telling the truth and that Crown Prince Liu Ju was indeed framed by Jiang Chong.

Therefore, he ordered the execution of Jiang Chong's entire family. Anyone who had engaged in violence against the crown prince was executed. Prime Minister Liu Quti and other related figures were also killed for various reasons. This was the sensational witchcraft disaster.

According to records, the witchcraft incident implicated nearly 40 people. After the incident, Emperor Wu of Han wrote a self-criticism edict to reflect on his mistakes, and built a palace for missing the prince and a platform for returning to remember the prince.

However, the history books do not give a clear answer as to why Zhu Anshi, the instigator, was able to know that Gongsun He would face a disaster? Why was he able to write to Emperor Wu of Han in prison?

But the witchcraft incident seemed to be a premeditated political struggle. For Emperor Wu of Han, among all the relatives, Gongsun He was the most powerful.

It is very likely that Emperor Wu of Han created the character of Zhu Anshi in order to check the power of his foreign relatives, and then used the excuse of witchcraft to reduce the power of the Wei family's foreign relatives.

Jiang Chong's initiative to ask for the order may have been just a way for Emperor Wu of Han to go with the flow, but he did not expect that Jiang Chong's selfishness would implicate the crown prince, which then triggered the so-called crown prince rebellion. In the end, hundreds of thousands of people died.

[From the famous general of the Western Jin Dynasty who swept away the rebellious ministers, Tu Bo, who was deserted by his friends and relatives, it is a pity for this great general of the Western Jin Dynasty. Historical trivia and historical figures]

This man was once praised as the Han Xin and Bai Qi of his time. He never really held military power, but he was able to sweep away the heroes in troubled times. He should have become the central general of the Western Jin Dynasty, but his temperament changed drastically due to false accusations.

Under the heavy slaughter, he was given the title of "butcher", and because of his high position and power, he became complacent and gradually fell into depravity. He killed his incompetent ministers indiscriminately, which made people sigh. In this video, let's learn about the ups and downs of Gou Xi, a famous general in the Western Jin Dynasty.

Gou Xi's birth year is unknown. He was from Shanyang, Henei during the Western Jin Dynasty, which is today's Jiaozuo, Henan. In 304 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty was in the midst of the Eight Kings Rebellion, and the kings of the royal family were fighting each other.

At that time, Gou Xi was serving as a vassal of Beijun and was on the same front as Sima Yue. This year, Sima Yue led Emperor Hui of Jin to the north to attack Yecheng, but ended in failure.

As a result, Gou Xi took refuge with Sima Hu, King of Fanyang, and was appointed Governor of Yanzhou. From then on, his life trajectory of great ups and downs began.

In fact, before joining Sima Yue, Gou Xi had never led troops to fight. Initially, he served as an official in charge of supervising the capital and local areas. When he followed Sima Yue, he was just a military supervisor and had no troops at all.

Therefore, it is hard to imagine that an official who had never led troops in battle almost became a central general of the Western Jin Dynasty during the seven or eight years he served as the governor of Yanzhou.

In 305 AD, Yanzhou and its surrounding areas were in chaos, with a large number of people becoming refugees and rebel forces waiting for an opportunity to take action. As Sima Ying, who claimed to be the crown prince, was deposed, his old general Gong Shifan took the opportunity to raise an army in Hebei.

With the addition of General Mu, Ji Sang and Shi Le, the rebels became stronger, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and marched straight to Yecheng, and counties along the way fell one after another. Gou Xi thus started the first war in his life.

After a year of fighting, Gou Xi defeated and killed Gong Shifan, an important rebel general, at Bai Ma. After Gong Shifan's death, Ji Sang and Shi Le fled to Youzhou.

Here they robbed prisoners from Youzhou and bandits from Chaomu Mountain, then regrouped and formed a team of desperate criminals.

Soon after, Jinqian County Magistrate Liu Borgen gathered 307 refugees to start an army, but was defeated and killed. His chief secretary Wang Mi fled into the mountains because of the defeat. He returned in AD and attacked Sima Yue of Qingxu.

Therefore, Sima Yue sent people to attack Wang Mi, but the attack was ineffective and he was killed instead. As a result, Gou Xi led his troops to attack and defeated Wang Mi, and the two states of Qing and Xu were finally able to get out of trouble.

In the same year, Ji Sang and Shi Le again marched into Yecheng and successfully entered the city in May of that year, killing tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. After looting, they began to attack Yanzhou. Sima Yue then sent Gou Xi to lead an army to stop Shi Le.

After more than 30 battles, Gou Xi finally won, killing more than 1 enemies, and Ji Sang and Shi Le fled again. Afterwards, the court rewarded Gou Xi for his merits, and he was named General of the Western Jin Dynasty's Prefecture Army and Marquis of Dongping County, and his reputation was greatly shaken for a while.

Some people even compared him to Han Xin and Bai Qi. Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, he was able to achieve such a brilliant record in the chaotic times in just two years, and at least he deserves the title of a famous general of the Western Jin Dynasty. Moreover, he was more knowledgeable about human relationships than Han Xin and Bai Qi, and was very good at managing interpersonal relationships.

Because the struggle of the Eight Princes Rebellion was extremely cruel, the losers died, and the slightest carelessness could lead to eternal damnation. This was the fate of Emperor Ming, Emperor Min, and Zhang Hua.

Let's look at Gou Xi. He was initially favored by Sima Yue, then joined other kings, and after a lot of twists and turns, he returned to Sima Yue's side. After serving many forces, he still had nothing to worry about, which shows that Gou Xi is not an ordinary person.

When he was in Yanzhou, in order to guard against being ambushed, Gou Xi would transport all the rare items he obtained to the powerful people in Luoyang at any cost.

Therefore, he rarely encountered any obstacles from the imperial court when he was fighting. In addition, Gou Xi was very strict in managing the army, and could even be said to be impartial.

"Book of Jin" had such a record about Gou Xi: His aunt once came to Gou Xi for refuge, and Gou Xi treated her like his own mother.

One day, the aunt's son wanted Gou Xi to recognize him as a general in the army. Gou Xi agreed to his request, but warned him not to violate military law, otherwise he would never show mercy.

However, his cousin did not obey and broke the law. Gou Xi immediately ordered his execution by military law, even though his aunt knelt down and begged.

In that chaotic situation, it was not easy for Gou Xi to be so impartial. His iron-fisted management of the army was an important factor in improving the army's combat effectiveness.

However, the Western Jin Dynasty was only concerned with fighting for power and had no spirit of unity. After Sima Yue's faction won, it also suffered from internal strife.

Especially Pan Tao, who worked in Sima Yue's mansion. He instigated Sima Yue, claiming that Gou Xi was now famous and ambitious, and would not be willing to be under someone else for long.

If he served in Yanzhou for a long time, he would become a threat in the future. Sima Yue agreed with this and transferred Gou Xi to Qingzhou as the governor, and gave him promotions and rewards to appease him. Gou Xi naturally understood Sima Yue's intentions and was very dissatisfied. From then on, he had a rift with Sima Yue.

Afterwards, Gou Xi came to Qingzhou with a lot of resentment, and his mentality had changed greatly, especially in the military aspect, which was not as good as before.

Apart from attacking Liu Ming's knights in Yanzhou, he always stood idly by and watched the actions of Shi Le and Wang Mi, which allowed Shi Le to turn the tide without the suppression of a strong enemy, and he and Wang Mi echoed each other and quickly developed into a force of their own.

Gou Xi's mood also changed greatly when he was in Qingzhou.

He believed that severe laws should be used in all situations, and he used harsh criminal laws to massacre the people of Qingzhou, so he was given the title of "butcher" by people.

In 310 AD, Gou Xi was extremely angry after Pan Tao framed him again. He asked Sima Yue to kill him, but was rejected. Gou Xi broke off relations with Sima Yue and wrote to the emperor to state the crimes of Sima Yue and Pan Tao.

It just so happened that Emperor Huai of Jin was also disgusted with Sima Yue's dictatorship, so he supported Gou Xi in his crusade. Afterwards, Sima Yue's power was severely damaged by Gou Xi. Pan Tao was captured by Gou Xi in Henan. Although he escaped successfully, other core members of Sima Yue were all beheaded.

Sima Yue became ill from worry and anger and soon died of a serious illness. Gou Xi was promoted by Emperor Huai of Jin to the position of general and commander-in-chief, in charge of the military affairs of six states including Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yanzhou.

However, Gou Xi was no longer the same as before. He was complacent after reaching a high position, and began to indulge in pleasure, indulging in wine and sex every day.

The ministers who gave him advice at that time were brutally killed by Gou Xi, which eventually led to the disunity of the people and the rebellion of the generals. And God seemed to no longer favor him, and plague and famine suddenly broke out in the Qingzhou area. In addition, there was no strategic location to defend, so Gou Xi was captured by Shi Le only half a year after he replaced Sima Yue.

Shi Le originally wanted to use him, but he plotted rebellion and was discovered by an informant planted by Shi Le. He was eventually shot and killed while escaping.

——"Isn't Du Yu much better than him?"

——"He was from the founding period, much earlier than him."

——"There were still a few capable fighters in the late Western Jin Dynasty, but unfortunately, they all had rebellious hearts. Only Liu Kun remained loyal, but unfortunately, he was also unable to carry the army alone."