The famous saying of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of the ages, is: "If the meritorious ministers cannot escape unscathed, how can the Yingzheng stand in the world!" This sentence means that if the meritorious ministers cannot enjoy their old age, I, the monarch, will I don’t have the face to face the people in the world. Qin Shihuang treated the meritorious officials favorably, but the subsequent wise emperors Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Bang, Li Shimin and others punished the meritorious officials. This made these wise emperors feel strong discomfort.

1. Qin Shihuang’s 16-character promise to his heroes

As the first emperor in history, Qin Shihuang’s courage, skill, and strength are extremely powerful. After unifying the six kingdoms, he broke the tradition of "when the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden", and said the heroic words "if the heroes cannot escape intact, how can the Yingzheng stand in the world!", and facts have proved that this majestic emperor He also fulfilled his promise.

Qin Shihuang’s heroes Wang Jian, Li Xin, Meng Tian, ??Wang Bi, Li Si and others all received favorable treatment:

Li Si, who made suggestions for Yingzheng, became the Qin State The prime minister of Wang Jian was extremely famous, but in the second year of Qin Dynasty, he died due to the frame-up of Zhao Gao;

Wang Jian, who had countless military exploits, also gained countless money and lived in peace in his old age, and even his descendants were successively granted titles. Hou, the whole family was extremely prosperous;

Meng Tian, ??who fought for Yingzheng, was deeply trusted by the monarch. After unifying the world, Qin Shihuang still gave his elite soldiers to his command, sending him to fight against the Xiongnu and build Jiuzhou. Straight. After the death of Ying Zheng, Meng Tian was sentenced to death by Hu Hai.

2. Zhu Yuanzhang is the first to kill heroes

Although Zhu Yuanzhang is considerate of the people and is called a wise king by many people, he also has moody and cruel behaviors, such as killing heroes. one. Since Zhu Yuanzhang was born as a farmer, he had a deep hatred for officials, and would kill them if he was even slightly dissatisfied.

If we don’t talk about anything else, let’s just talk about the founding heroes who helped Zhu Yuanzhang conquer the world. Lan Yu, who had great military exploits, was charged with rebellion. After his death, he was skinned and implicated. More than 10,000 people lost their lives. Duke Feng Sheng of Song Dynasty, Duke Fu Youde of Ying State and others were sentenced to death just because they were jealous. There were countless other heroes who were beheaded and poisoned for no reason.

Even the resourceful Liu Bowen did not end well. He was still suspected by Zhu Yuanzhang, who sent Jin Yiwei to follow and monitor, and would not give up until Liu Bowen died.

It can be said that the heroes who followed Zhu Yuanzhang had the most tragic end.

3. Liu Bang granted 8 kings with different surnames and killed 7 of them.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, also had a rough background. Originally, he was just a pavilion chief in Surabaya. After Han Xin and Xiao He , Fan Kuai and others, Liu Bang successfully seized the country, and then rewarded according to merit. He happily awarded 8 kings with different surnames and shared the fruits of victory with his brothers.

But what? After Liu Bang secured his throne, he discovered that his former heroes had now become the biggest threats to his throne. The power in their hands was too great. If they had other ideas, their lives might be at risk. So, Liu Bang and Empress Lu raised the butcher's knife and attacked the former heroes.

Peng Yue, Han Xin and others were brutally killed one after another. Wang Yingbu of Huainan saw their tragic fate and had to rebel. However, due to his lack of strength, he could not escape death. The next seven kings with different surnames They also died tragically one after another, and only one managed to survive.

In fact, in ancient times, it was a particularly dangerous thing to have great achievements and shake up the master. Most emperors would liquidate their heroes to ensure the stability of their empire. There were too few powerful monarchs like Qin Shihuang. Too few, and his "heroes cannot escape intact, how can Yingzheng stand in the world!" It also puts countless monarchs in later generations to shame.