Scholars in ancient times cherished feathers and took reputation very seriously. Especially some famous scholars are afraid of leaving any stain on the history books after their death.

However, there are some people who don't care much about their reputation after death. Most of them are emperors who shocked the past and the present.

In today’s terms: What can you do to me?

Of course, not all emperors are like this. For example, Wu Zetian knew that she had a lot of stains during her lifetime, so she simply left a wordless monument for future generations to evaluate her merits and demerits.

On the other hand, there are some extreme examples among emperors, and some even break the rules. For example, King Louis XV of France famously said: After I die, there will be no floods.

This sentence actually needs to be vindicated. It was not said by Louis XV, but by his lover Madame Pompadour. And the meaning has been misinterpreted. This sentence is actually a prophecy or a curse.

The original meaning is: After we die, there will be floods.

One word becomes a prophecy. After the deaths of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, Louis XVI ushered in the French Revolution by mistake and went to the guillotine.

Although this sentence has been vindicated, Louis XV was indeed a corrupt emperor who indulged in wine and sex, and was a very unpopular emperor.

Talking about the protagonist of this article, the image of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the history books is wise and powerful. But it was only the first half of his reign. In his old age, the entire empire was shrouded in terror.

Moreover, it is related to a famous saying of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: Anyone who offends the power of our great Han Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away he is.

This sentence takes the heroic image of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to another level. But in fact, this sentence was not what he said.

When this sentence was spoken, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had been dead for about forty years. It was actually said by Chen Tang, a general during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty.

After Chen Tang defeated the Xiongnu Zhizhi Chanyu in the north, he wrote a letter to Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty. The original words were: "It is appropriate to hang among the barbarians' mansions on Touji Street to show the thousands of miles away. Those who invade the strong Han Dynasty will be killed. "You will be killed even if you are far away!"

It means hanging the enemy's head in the barbarian land to make the Huns fearful. To show that as long as they offend my big man, they will be destroyed no matter how far away they are.

As for why this sentence was placed on Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it may be traced back to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's achievements in attacking the Xiongnu in the north.

Although Zhaojun's departure from the fortress was a good talk, making peace with the Huns was a humiliating move in history. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was the first emperor to not make peace with the Xiongnu, and proposed to make the northern nomads surrender to the Central Plains Dynasty.

This vision alone is enough to propel it to the position of emperor through the ages. However, Zhaojun's departure from the fortress is a story that emerged many years after his death.

During the same period in history, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing attacked the Huns from the north many times and achieved great results, so that they were famous in history.

But in fact, although the northern attack on the Xiongnu solved the threat from the north to a large extent, the Han Dynasty did not take much advantage in terms of the results.

According to historical records, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched twelve wars against the Huns in the north. The Han Dynasty mobilized about 200,000 troops, countless civilians, and the Huns had about 300,000 troops. After many wars, the Huns in the north were completely defeated and it was difficult to form a group threat.

According to the final statistics of the results of the war, the Han Dynasty lost about 100,000 people, and the civilians were not included in the count; the Huns suffered nearly 200,000 casualties, and some tribes were almost exterminated.

However, since then, the Han Dynasty frequently sent troops, which consumed huge military expenditures. In addition, in the final stage, it repeatedly suffered huge losses in its northern attacks on the Xiongnu, so it did not send troops again in the later years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Two thousand years have passed since the Han Dynasty. Later generations’ evaluations of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty are mostly based on the overall historical situation, and most of them praise Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for his role in promoting the general trend of China.

So how did the historians of the Han Dynasty evaluate the northern attack on the Huns?

During the period of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, there was a scholar named Xia Housheng. He was upright and would not bend for the powerful. He even risked his life to evaluate Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

At that time, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty wanted to build a temple for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to praise his life achievements.

However, Xia Housheng wrote a letter saying this: Although Emperor Wu had the merit of conquering the vast territory of the four barbarians, he killed many soldiers, exhausted the people's financial resources, lived in luxury and prosperity, and the world was wasted and the people were displaced. Things are half old. Locusts swarmed and the land was bare for thousands of miles. Some people ate each other, and the livestock accumulation has not been restored to this day. It is not appropriate to establish temples and enjoy music if virtue is lost to the people.

Xia Housheng said this at the risk of beheading, so he could not just talk nonsense. It can be seen that the people's life during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was indeed very bad. The many wars against the Huns in the north caused huge consumption at home and long-lasting destructive effects on people's lives.

However, the "Book of Han" compiled by Ban Gu, a famous historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, only mentioned the civil affairs of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty throughout his life, and praised his talents and strategies. But he didn't mention a word about "martial arts". The most he said was "waste at home, and the household registration will be halved."

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu in the north, which was of great significance to the Han nation. Why didn't Ban Gu mention it?

It may be because Xia Housheng said that although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had outstanding achievements in martial arts, he did too much damage to people's livelihood and could be called a model of military force. Ban Gu did not dare to write it into the Han Dynasty.

In the early days of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty was indeed at its peak. But in his later years, his dim-witted and cruel side was revealed.

According to historical records, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not only a talented and strategic emperor through the ages, but also a romantic and dissolute emperor.

He said to himself: I can live without food for three days, but I cannot live without a wife for one day.

In the later years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the number of women in the palace reached more than 18,000. Many concubines never saw Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty until their death.

There are many outstanding people among them, but none of them ended well.

For example, Ban Gu recorded the story of "The Beauty Hidden in the Golden House" in "The Story of Han Wu".

The eldest princess (the aunt of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty) pointed to her daughter Chen Ajiao and asked: How is Ajiao?

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty smiled and said: If I get Gillian as a wife, I will treat her as a gold house.

This is the origin of the idiom "Golden House Hidden Beauty".

Chen Ajiao was established as a queen at the age of 17 and had a deep relationship with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, she never gave birth to an heir and was ignored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty over time.

At the same time, Wei Zifu appeared on the stage and was favored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Queen Gillian was unwilling to fall out of favor and used the method of a witch to curse Wei Zifu. Unfortunately, the matter was exposed and he was thrown into the cold palace by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, where he died in claustrophobia.

But in fact, there is no precise record of whether Queen Gillian really used witches to curse her.

However, Wei Zifu, who was favored, fell into a deeper trap because of the same voodoo incident. A tragic end. Wei Zifu was favored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, gave birth to three daughters and one son, and was made queen.

But later, someone reported that the prince was practicing voodoo in the palace, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also had a terrible dream. In the end, the prince was forced to hang himself, and the queen Wei Zifu committed suicide in the palace.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's anger did not subside, and he ordered the three Wei clans to be annihilated. Tens of thousands of people were massacred, and as many as hundreds of thousands were implicated. It is known as the plague of witchcraft in history.

Regardless of whether the prince was involved in voodoo or not, this was an outright political incident. At the peak of his power, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty still showed his cruel and indifferent side.

In addition, there is also the famous Mrs. Gou Yi.

His son was made the prince, but Mrs. Gou Yi was sentenced to death. This is the famous story of the son who killed his mother. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was afraid that another Empress Lu would appear. In order to avoid the situation where the mother was young and the mother was young, Mrs. Gou Yi died unjustly.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was buried in Maoling after his death. According to historical records, the construction of this mausoleum took 53 years and cost one-third of the national tax. Moreover, 20,000 people were buried in the entire mausoleum. According to research, the victims were not the concubines of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but the craftsmen who built the tomb.

It must be said that since Qin Shihuang, this is an extremely shocking number of burials. However, the craftsmen who died in Maoling were probably killed to avoid leaking secrets, so they were not buried in the strict sense.

Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once said: Taking history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs.

The Xuanwumen Incident has left a stain on the history books. Therefore, no one was allowed to bury Emperor Taizong before his death. This cruel system did not appear again in the Tang Dynasty.