About Chapter 22 The story is brief: Shi Hu bullied the crown prince after the death of Shi Le, the founding emperor of Later Zhao, the prince Shi Hong had a weak temperament and wanted to take the throne, but Shi Hu was afraid of public opinion, first coerced Shi Hong to succeed to the throne, and then killed Shi Hong, seeking power and usurping the throne.

This story illustrates that even though Shi Hu has monopolized power, because the nomads have already entered the Central Plains and accepted the ceremonial and cultural system of the Central Plains Dynasty. He was still very wary of seeking power and usurping the throne, but because the nomads were still in the learning stage, Shi Hu finally killed Shi Hong and sat on the throne of the emperor.

At the beginning of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, infighting in the court was extremely common, as was the case in the Han and Zhao Empires, and the Later Zhao Empire was also the same, and the Cheng Han regime, which was also partial to the Anshu region, at the same time, something similar happened. This fully shows that during this period, the nomads were still in a preliminary stage of national integration. Moreover, in the various regimes, the choice of the ruling class is still relatively vague, with the ruling class of the noble landlord class and the power of the aristocratic landlord class, so it is normal for the internal strife of the various separatist regimes to occur.

However, in the Later Zhao Empire, it was still dominated by the Shi landlord class. Shi Hu's ability to usurp power has a lot to do with his personality and the martial arts he built at the beginning of the Later Zhao Dynasty. After Shi Hu came to power, the Later Zhao Empire also maintained a brief period of stability, which was also inseparable from the efforts of the Shi landlord class.

We have also said before that in the early days of the establishment of each feudal dynasty, during the reign of the second and third emperors, there will often be political turmoil, and even abnormal changes of rulers.

The feudal dynasty in the history of our country, the first is naturally the Qin Dynasty, the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Qin II Hu Hai, itself was succeeded to the throne by the edict, and the power of the Qin Dynasty was in the hands of the eunuch Zhao Gao and Prime Minister Li Si, who had supported him, and later Zhao Gao took the opportunity to kill Li Si, completely monopolized the power, causing the chaos at the end of Qin, and finally Zhao Gao killed Qin II Hu Hai, set up Ziying as the king of Qin, and Ziying killed Zhao Gao, but at this time the Qin Dynasty has become the end of the crossbow, and the prince of Qin has been unable to return to the sky, The Qin Dynasty perished amid various contradictions.

The Western Han Dynasty that succeeded the Qin Dynasty also faced the political turmoil in the early days of the reign, after the death of Liu Bang, the cowardly Emperor Liu Ying of the Han Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, but the power of the court was all in the hands of the Empress Dowager Lu Pheasant and her family, but fortunately, at this time, the various systems of the feudal dynasty had been established, and the contradictions left over by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were also wiped out during the Chu-Han War. Outstanding ability, bringing the Western Han Dynasty on the right track.

After Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty Liu Xiu defeated the new dynasty that replaced the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty established was actually a continuation of the rule of the Western Han Dynasty, but the ruling class of the Han Dynasty was readjusted, and finally the stability of the dynasty was maintained for nearly 200 years.

The Western Jin Dynasty, which ended the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, also saw the Eight Kings Rebellion for imperial power during the reign of the second emperor Sima Zhen, which eventually triggered the great turmoil of the entire Central Plains Dynasty and opened the period of great division between the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It is also the beginning of our whole story, which will not be said here.

The Sui Dynasty that ended the Northern and Southern Dynasties also appeared in the period of the second emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, and there was also a political turmoil, and in the later years of the Sui Dynasty's founder Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui, the political instability has begun to emerge, and its crown prince Yang Guang was in the battle for succession, using conspiracy and trickery to win, and Yang Guang, who couldn't wait to ascend the throne, actually forced to death the terminally ill imperial father Yang Jian.

When Yang Guang ascended the throne and became emperor, he was eager to prove that he could become a generation of heroes who had made great achievements, and his great face project finally overwhelmed the people of the Sui Dynasty, and finally triggered the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty perished in the smoke of various contradictions.

Then the Tang Dynasty, which replaced the Sui Dynasty, also had an internal struggle around the imperial power in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Li Shimin, the king of Qin, launched a coup d'état in the capital Chang'an, killing the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, and mastered the power of the Tang Dynasty. Later generations still classified him as the Ming monarch, and Li Shimin had extremely strict control over the historical materials of the early Tang Dynasty because of his improper position, so the historical materials we see about Li Shimin today should be very different from the historical facts.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the five dynasties and ten kingdoms of the feudal towns were divided, and the five small dynasties of the Liang, Tang, Jin and Han dynasties that occupied the Central Plains changed for more than 50 years, and the ten small feudal states that were alternately divided in various places fought for more than 70 years, and the chaotic era was comparable to the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the competition for imperial power was more intense.

The Northern Song Dynasty ended the historical period of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, and reunited the world into a unified state, after the death of its founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, his younger brother Zhao Guangyi of Song Taizong took the throne, which is also a mystery, about Zhao Guangyi's ascension to the throne and the emperor, leaving a candle shadow axe in history of the eternal unsolved case. Up to now, many experts and scholars are discussing the truth about Zhao Guangyi's succession. After the shame of Jingkang, King Kang Zhao Gou favored the south of the Yangtze River and established the Southern Song Dynasty, because Zhao Gou fled all the way, went through hardships and ups and downs, and was frightened and led to infertility, and finally had to pass the throne to Zhao Yan, a descendant of Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, so that the throne of the Song Dynasty returned to the line of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

The Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the nomadic Yuan Dynasty, also at the beginning of its founding, faced with the struggle for the throne, and the struggle between the nomadic royal family was more intense, when Meng Ke Khan died in Xiangyang, his younger brother Ali Buge and Kublai Khan, around the rule of the Central Plains launched a five-year war, and finally Kublai Khan became the victor, became the Yuan Shizu who ruled the Central Plains. The determination of the name of the Yuan Dynasty is Kublai Khan, but in fact, after the death of Temujin, his fourth son Tuo Lei inherited the right to rule the Central Plains of the Great Mongol Empire, and after his death, the eldest son Meng Ge also became the Mongol Khan who ruled the Central Plains through power struggles, so Kublai Khan should be regarded as the second or third ruler of the Central Plains, but because he named the country Dayuan, and defeated the orthodox Southern Song Dynasty in China, he was called the founder of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty that drove away the Mongols, also after the death of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the succession of the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen and his uncle Yan Wang Zhu Di broke out in the battle of imperial power, which lasted four years of Jingjing, Zhu Di had the last laugh, so that the Jianwen Emperor disappeared completely, Zhu Di's cultural and martial arts also pushed the Ming Dynasty to prosperity, and he laid the foundation for the later rule of Renxuan, and became the Yongle Emperor of later generations.

The Qing Dynasty founded by the nomads, in the early days of its founding, faced the struggle for imperial power, which was also as fierce as the Great Yuan Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty was quickly integrated into the Shu landlord class, on the surface, the inheritance of the throne may be smooth sailing, but in fact there is a hidden crisis, from the founding emperor Nurhachi died of illness, Huang Taiji and his young son Fulin succeeded to the throne one after another, but the undercurrent within the dynasty, the struggle between the royal family and the clan members around the imperial power is still very serious, but with the death of the regent Dorgon, Emperor Shunzhi was in charge of the government, and the Manchurian aristocracy was integrated into the Shu landlord class, and the political situation of the Qing Dynasty gradually stabilized.

In the early days of the founding of the five unified feudal dynasties of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a fierce struggle within the ruling class around the imperial power, but because of these five dynasties, the landlord class of the Shu nationality has become the ruling class, and the officials from the Hanmen Shu nationality tried to ensure the long-term peace and stability of the feudal dynasty, and the emperors who took the throne had certain talents, so the political situation of the five feudal dynasties quickly stabilized.

In the early days of the establishment of the previous dynasties, the struggle for imperial power among the royal clansmen was not a matter of life and death, of course, the same was true of the Later Zhao Empire, so Shi Hu's usurpation was also a relatively normal historical event, because this situation appeared in all dynasties, and it cannot be used to explain that the rule of the Later Zhao Empire over the Central Plains was abnormal.

From the above historical events, we can also see that in the early days of the establishment of each feudal dynasty, because of the war before the founding of the country, many royal relatives gained great power, and the second or third ruler often because of the strength of the previous emperor, resulting in his own personality weakness. This eventually led to an abnormal change of rulers at the beginning of each feudal dynasty. But it was also because of the wisdom or mediocrity of the rulers and the resilience of the ruling class that these feudal dynasties were either strong or weak. From the perspective of the general trend of history, the struggle for imperial power in the early days of the founding of dynasties is actually a common problem of feudal dynasties and will not affect the trend of history. It was only the ruling class of the feudal dynasty that really influenced the course of history.

A feudal dynasty is like a newborn. The initial struggle for imperial power was like a newborn baby with a fever and a cold. And the ruling class of the feudal dynasty is like the body of a newborn. If the body is strong, then the newborn will also heal and become stronger. However, if the newborn is weak, then its premature death is inevitable.

As far as the Later Zhao Empire is concerned, he is the same as the Qin Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty. Because of the inherent defects of the ruling class, all kinds of contradictions within the dynasty are prominent, and the slightest internal struggle will cause the collapse of the entire dynasty. Even if Shi Hu's ruling measures were able to adapt to the chaotic situation during the Sixteen Kingdoms period at that time, the root cause of the disease was still there. It's just that the Later Zhao Empire has spent an extremely short incubation period. When the powerful Shi Hu died, it was the day of the illness of the Later Zhao Empire.