The History of China - #52 - 16K 5: The Two Caligulas Of China

Episode Date: January 11, 2015

Following the death of Emperor Shi Le, Later Zhao will swiftly succumb to the bloody revenge of Shi Hu. But it's his heir, Shi Sui, who is the true terror of this episode... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Again, sign up for your free 30-day trial with free audiobook of your choice at audibletrial.com. Hello, and welcome to the History of China. Episode 50, The Two Caligulas of China Last time, we left poor old General Shi Hu to simmer in his spiteful juices following his distant uncle, Shi Le's, formal ascension to the imperial throne of later Zhao, and the perceived snubbing of his highly successful nephew. This time, we will get to watch that pot boil over into a roaring rampage of revenge that will turn the entire order of later Zhao on its head, followed by the rise of an heir apparent that so outdid his father in terms of cruelty and psychotic bloodlust that he would have made even John Wayne Gacy blush.

First, though, a little background on Shi Hu and where he came from. Shi Hu was the grandson of Shi Le's uncle, which technically makes them second cousins once removed, but that's splitting hairs, isn't it? They were of the same clan, but had about as much streak of youthful rebellion that involved ignoring orders, going hunting instead when he had other duties to perform, and, oh yeah, slinging stones at members of his uncle's armies for kicks. Gee, sounds pretty much like every teenager ever. Nevertheless, as complaints from his army mounted against young Shi Hu, Uncle Shula's hand was only stayed

by his wife, who advised, quote, Before a fast bull grows up, it often breaks the wagons it pulls. Endure him a little longer. End quote. By the by, the Lady Wang was right, and by 18, Shi Hu's reputation had been transformed from stone-slinging slacker to a fearsome archer and horseman, respected and feared by all. But that tendency toward capricious cruelty would be one trait that Shi Hu would never quite outgrow.

Two of his wives would meet their ends at his hands, at the urging of his favored and jealous concubine, Zheng. So too was his attitude toward his own soldiers. Having outgrown stone-throwing, Shi Hu graduated to frequently executing officers who dared disagree with his strategies and routinely ordered the slaughter of entire civilian populations upon the capture of an enemy city. Both, much to Shilla's chagrin, who time and again castigated his nephew, but to little effect. This wanton cruel streak was, however, balanced out by his undeniable successes and fearless battlefield leadership, where Shihu would often be at the head of his column

leading his men into the charge. For this, Shi Hu was swiftly promoted and became one of Shile's most trusted lieutenants. In 319, when Shile declared his independence from Han Zhao and its emperor Liu Yao, he named Shi Hu the Duke of Zhongshan and came to rely on the 20-something almost exclusively in the preceding years of battle. In 320, Shi Hu captured the governor of Ji province, one of the last pockets of Jin Dynasty resistance north of the Huai River. In 321, he captured Governor Duan of Yeo Province, the modern areas around Beijing, Tianjin, and northern Hebei, yet another Jin holdout. In 323, he stormed Shandong Peninsula and seized its capital as well as the semi-independent flip-flopper-in-chief, warlord Cao Ni.

In a chilling display of his cruelty, following the siege and capture of Cao Ni's capital city, Shi Hu ordered the entire population put to death. When the later Zhao governor of the region protested the action, stating that he could not be a governor of a region with no one left to govern. Shi Hu ironically honored the governor's wishes by leaving about 700 people alive in the city to be governed, while ordering the remaining hundreds of thousands put to the sword. As covered last week, 325 saw Shi Hu rise even further to prominence with his capture of the Prince of Zhongshan, one of the Han Zhao Emperor's key military leaders, as well as a defecting general.

It was the following year, however, 326, that saw the first signs of enmity between the famously victorious general and the imperial court of later Zhao. Two of Emperor Shilla's closest advisors, named Cheng Xia and Xu Guang, had come to view the brash, arrogant, and cruel Shi Hu as a potential threat to their lord. Privately, Shi Hu had confided in Xu Guang, saying, The crown prince is too soft. He is very unlike a son of a commander. Xu Guang replied, The appearance of omnipotent power is necessary to take the throne, but passes after one generation, after which such brutality is unnecessary and can give way to enlightened rule. This is the path laid out

by heaven." Though this seemed to placate Shi Hu for the time being, the two advisors jointly concluded that the young general's personal ambition would not likely be sated by anything other than absolute power, and began privately urging the emperor to rein in his nephew and curb his growing power before disaster struck. Urging him, quote, The Prince of Zhongshan is brave and cunning. No official can be compared to him. Watching his aspirations, it is clear that except for you, sire, he looks at everybody

with contempt. In addition, for many years, he has headed military expeditions and shook the earth with his power, both within our country and beyond its limits. End quote. Emperor Shoule took these warnings under consideration. This was the uncle, after all, who had seriously considered having this same nephew offed little more than a decade prior. Later that year, he acted on Minister Cheng's advice and had his eldest living son and eventual crown prince, Shi Hong, who was then only 13 years old, take over the command of defensive fortifications of Ye City in Henan, which had long served as a military headquarters and a seat of power for whomever held it. Shi Hu was forced to move his family out of the city towers to make way for the young prince.

But there was little doubt as to who was actually behind this deeply embarrassing setback, and Shehu was not one to let such things slide. Planning to exact his revenge on the advisor who had cost him his position within Ye, General She ordered a squadron of his soldiers to dress themselves as bandits and conduct a night raid on Cheng Xia's household. The soldiers struck late at night, raping the women of the household at sword point and robbing them of all of their clothing, before disappearing back into the darkness. The animosity between Shi Hu and the imperial court would only continue to grow, however, and where we left off last episode was Shehu rankling at the fact that he'd merely been named the imperial prince of Zhongshan,

rather than either of the titles he'd felt he'd rightfully earned, the crowned prince and the Grand Chanyu. As Emperor Shoula approached the end of his life in 332, he once again attempted to blunt the now-prince Shi Hu's insatiable ambition by having both the crown prince and a court eunuch begin to review and approve or revise decisions that had previously been Shi Hu's to make alone as the head of the state chancellery. Far from dissuading the incorrigible Shi Hu, however, it only made him more certain that his budding plot to take over the empire that should rightfully be his, was both necessary and just.

As the 59-year-old emperor descended into terminal illness through 333, Shehu set the gears of his plot into motion. Under the guise of serving the emperor in his time of illness and need, Shehu made his way to the capital and into the imperial palace. Within, he was able to cut off the ailing monarch from direct contact with the outside world, and begin issuing decrees and edicts using the imperial seal. Among them were two official summons sent to the newly ascended Grand Chanyu Shi Hong, who was Shila's third son, confusingly named Homophonusli with his elder brother, the crowned prince, and to the ailing emperor's adopted son, Shikhan.

Upon their arrival at the imperial palace, ostensibly to visit their ill father, they were both detained and imprisoned by Shahu's troops. Though he was increasingly at the mercy of both his failing body and his upstart nephew, Emperor Shola was still of sufficient mind to issue a deathbed edict, stating, quote, meet. The generals with punitive functions, the pastoral officials of the provinces, and district governors should not leave their stations to attend the funeral. I should be laid in a coffin in ordinary clothes. The coffin should be laid on an ordinary cart. Do not place gold, jewels, utensils, or trinkets in the grave. I am afraid that the crown prince will not be able to

successfully implement my plans. All offices, starting with those reporting to the prince of End quote. relations. The prince of Zhongshan should deeply reflect, and at once, on the behavior of the Zhou state, and should not create grounds for hearsay. End quote. In the fall of 333, the emperor of later Zhao at last gave up the ghost, and with this passing, Shi Hu duly ignored the deathbed edict and immediately had the crown prince taken into custody as well. His next act was to arrest and order the deaths of the advisors who had strove for much of their careers to avoid this very outcome, Cheng Xia and Xu Guang. Rightly fearing for his life, Crown Prince Shi Hong offered to cede his claim to the imperial throne to Shi Hu. I mean, that's what you wanted, right? That's what this whole thing is about, isn't it? But Shehu turned the offer down,

stating sarcastically, quote, After the death of the ruler to the throne ascends his crowned son. I do not dare to disturb that established order. When Prince Shehong persisted, Shehu grew impatient and exclaimed, If you are unable to take the throne,

then naturally the Imperium should discuss this question. But why do you talk about it prematurely? End quote. Thus, the 20-year-old was forced to take the throne and named Shehu as his prime minister. Now, this refusal to take the top job might seem surprising, even self-defeating. After all, who wants a prime ministership

when you're being offered the entire empire? But as we all know by now, these kinds of imperial political machinations all have a certain theatricality to them. And if you're looking to usurp an imperial throne, you can't very well just take it outright, even if it's offered up. Especially if it's offered up.

And, more practically, seizing the throne without first shoring up your own support within the court is a sure ticket to swift overthrow. Just ask Wang Meng. So, instead, and with a deft eye towards China's own historical precedence, Shehu forced the new emperor to name him the Prince of Wei, a direct parallel to the title held by the late Great Cao Cao in his run-up to overt usurpation, and of course, conferred upon Shi Hu the infamous Nine Bestowments, granting him in effect limitless power over the empire. Those officials who had not been among those purged following Shi Le's death found themselves swiftly demoted to positions of little power or influence,

while Shi Hu's own trusted cronies were promoted often well past their stations into positions of critical importance. None of these moves went unnoticed by the Imperial Court, of course. I mean, how obvious can one be? And they weren't about to take this lying down. Among those prepared to resist Shi Hu's blatant power grab, the Empress Dowager Liu, wife of the late Emperor Shi Le, was best positioned to do so. Along with her adopted son Shi Kan, who we mentioned a minute ago had been imprisoned within the Imperial Palace

prior to the former Emperor's death, the two planned to incite rebellions against Shi Hu's prime ministership. Their plan was to have Shi Kan slip out of the palace in peasant's dress and the capital Xiangguo itself, then capture the city of Linqiu to the near south and use that city as a staging point for further resistance against Prime Minister Shi Hu's coup d'etat. The first part of the plan went off without a hitch, and Shihuan was able to abscond from Xiangguo undetected. It was phase two of the plan in which it all fell apart. Shihuan proved unable to seize Linqiu, and once alerted to the prince's flight and attempt to take the neighboring

city, Shihu immediately ordered his general to ride down upon Shikhan and capture the would-be rebel. As punishment, he was ordered to be roasted alive over a fire. Shortly thereafter, the Empress Dowager's role in the rebellion was also discovered, and she was likewise deposed and put to death. The remainder of 333 saw a number of other rebellions pop up against Shi Hu. One from Chang'an, another from Luoyang, both of whose leaders sought out aid from the Jin Dynasty in the south, and still another from the chieftain of the Di tribe, who likewise sought out assistance,

but they from the governor of former Liang to the far west. Though the fighting would claim the life of one of Shi Hu's sons, by early 334, all major resistance to his rule had been crushed. Hi everyone, this is Scott. If you want to learn about the world's oldest civilizations, find out how they were rediscovered. Follow the story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra's descendants over ten generations, or take a deep dive into the Iron Age or the Hellenistic era, then check out the Ancient World Podcast. Available on all podcasting platforms, or go to ancientworldpodcast.com. That's the Ancient World Podcast.

Knowing what was surely to come for him and his family, once Shi Hu felt established enough in his own right to dispense with this pretense of merely being the Prime Minister, Emperor Shi Hong wrapped up his imperial seals and personally visited Shi Hu. He offered his Prime Minister the seals and the throne, and announced his intention to abdicate. Once again, however, Shi Hu mockingly dismissed the by this point tearful and despondent emperor, saying, This is an issue for heaven itself to decide, don't you think? There's no reason for you and I to be discussing it. Upon returning to his palace, the emperor tearfully told his mother that,

Truly, my late father will have no descendants. My prime minister will see to that. And soon enough, the emperor was proved right. Shi Hu dispatched his chief assistant to the imperial palace, equipped with the badge of authority, and with a proclamation demoting Shi Hong to the prince of Haiyang, and ordering him and his family placed under house arrest in an outlying palace. By this point, more or less accepting his fate, Zhehong did not resist, but merely turned to his

shocked officials and declared, quote, I was not able to retain the throne I inherited, and am ashamed. But it is the will of heaven. What more is there to say? End quote. Shortly after arriving at their palatial prison, Shehu finally had enough of toying with his prey and ordered the deaths of the former emperor and his family. It was obvious to all at this point that Shehu was the law of the land, and, wanting to preserve their own positions within this new order, not to mention their heads,

the imperial officials collectively urged their new lord to take up the imperial mantle for himself. But Shehu, with an infuriating measure of both predictability and cynicism, once again demurred. He wrote, quote, The imperial house is experiencing numerous difficulties. The late prince of Haiyang willfully vacated the throne, and as our great nation is in a period of turmoil, therefore humbly bowing my head I yield to the pressure exerted on me. It is said that someone who acts in accordance with the law of heaven and earth is called Huang, and the one whose virtues are in accordance with the wishes

of the spirits and people is called Di, but I dare not hear about the title Huang Di, and for now I can only accept the title of Regent Heavenly Prince of Zhao, ruling the Zhao possessions by the will of heaven to satisfy the desires of heaven and the people. End quote. Yeah, that was a real nice speech to be sure, but it was unlikely to have fooled anyone. In 335, the regent, Heavenly Prince, decided that with this changing of the guard, so too should there be a changing of the capital. Xiang Guo was, after all, so last dynasty. Instead, he set his sights on Ye City,

which would remain the capital of later Zhao for the rest of its political existence. But once situated in Ye, having achieved everything he'd set out to do, Zhihu devolved from conquering soldier-king into, as had so often been the case, a prodigal hedonist. He ordered a number of massive palaces constructed within both the new and old capitals, the largest of which, called Tai Wu Palace, purportedly had a base almost five meters high and with a basement with enough space to house some 500 troops. The brickwork was covered with paint, and the roofs and buttresses were adorned with gold, and the tops of its columns silver. Into the window screens were inlaid pearls, and the walls were constructed from jade.

The imperial bedchambers of Taibu Palace apparently had a bed frame constructed entirely from white jade and with comforters embroidered with lotus flowers made of gold. Of course, he'd need people to fill these opulent palaces, specifically, girls. From both commoner and official families alike, he chose the most beautiful girls across Zhao, and housed them within his numerous palace complexes. According to the Book of Jin, these concubines would eventually number more than 10,000. Interestingly, Soviet historian V.S. Taskin noted in his The Huns in Chinese Annals, a synopsis of Eastern Hun history, that Shi Hu, quote, inherited a state numbering 3 million people, with an even split of 1.5 million of Chinese

and Hunnic Circle nomads. The nomadic tradition of raising children on the horse, irrespectively of the gender, was definitely inherited by the Turkic Huns and Dis, and might have penetrated the originally Mongol, Tungus, and Tibetan tribes blended with the Huns. Thus, about half of the 10,000 girls were brought up in the saddle and from their childhood trained in archery. The other half, from the sedentary Chinese households, grew up in the tradition of utter gender gender submission and must have been in stark contrast with the assertive and capable nomadic girls. The Chinese analysts noted a dazzling fact that Shi Hu was not satisfied with the subservient elegancy of the culturally Chinese concubines and tried to improve them by teaching them nomadic skills of reading stars so necessary in the wide-open steppe and archery.

In what was to the ethnically Han Chinese a startling break with their starkly patriarchal traditions, Shi Hu gave the title of Grand Astrologer to a woman, while simultaneously banning the practice of fortune-telling, divination, and star-reading in all localities and provinces except for the capital itself. Both edicts, again according to Taskin, Chinese culture did not know of female literacy or a female role outside of the strictly female household functions, which included hard labor. To the contrary, the Turkic nomadic society not only did not have gender discrimination,

but was still maternalistic. In the Turkic nomadic society, fortune-telling and healing was as much a female talent as male, if not even more. Shihu had good reason not to trust the Chinese astrologers and fortune-tellers, legendary for erroneous predictions and probably suspected of disloyalty, and equally good reasons to trust the time-tested Hunnic traditional female fortune-tellers. The superstition penetrated the Turkic etiology to the last bone. In the atmosphere of superstition, the role of the fortune-telling astrologer was of supreme importance for the state and personally.

End quote. Continuing on, he writes, A ban on freelance fortune-telling seems to be a first historical attempt to control the mass media. In the framework of the Turkic tradition, the people's fortune is concentrated in the persona of the leader, selected and opposed by the will of heaven. Bad luck for the people indicates the will of Tangzhi, which is Turkic for sky or heaven, to change the ruling monarch. The deposition normally follows, with accompanied loss of life. A started rumor that blames the monarch's missteps for the

country's misfortunes might spread like a wildfire, and a ban on uncontrolled fortune-telling may be the only device at the monarch's disposal to preserve his life and the throne. This ban flies in the face of the people's beliefs, mentality, and traditions, since the good and bad omens are so ingrained into the Turkic nomadic daily life. That Shi Hu felt compelled to enact such a ban on this uncontrollable system of beliefs is evidence of the paranoid psyche of a usurper. A ban on fortune-telling is in essence a global gag order. End quote.

In addition, Shi Hu is also credited with founding an all-female honor guard corps, though this seems likely to have been a long-standing tradition within the peoples of Asia. As again, Taskin notes, In the Bulgarian tradition of a bride-to-be combat wrestling with a pretender for marriage that outlived Islam, and in the general Turkic nomadic tradition of women fighting in the ranks of the warriors, it is much likelier that the roots of Shehu's female guard troops must have come from the older traditions. End quote. In 337, Shehu dispensed with the regent portion of his title and became the heavenly prince in his own right, appointing his son, Shi Sui, as his crowned prince and issuing a general pardon of all convicts. Now crowned prince, Shi Sui took the wanton cruelty of his father and turned the dial up to eleven.

He was put in charge of all government affairs, but routinely ignored his responsibilities to instead go out at night and engage with all but public affairs with the wives of his servants. One of his favorite pastimes, horrifyingly enough, was to have a palace servant girl dressed up in finery, only to behead her and display the trussed-up corpse on a tray for all to see. Likewise, he would begin a series of affairs, and by that I mean rape, with an order of Buddhist mendicant nuns, and would, quote, enter into a carnal connection with them, and then would kill them, cook their meat, mix it with lamb and beef, and eat it, and also distributed that meat to the courtiers, demanding that they taste of it, end quote.

So there you have it. The crown prince of later Zhao. A mass-murdering cannibal serial rapist. You know what? Forget the title. This guy makes Caligula look mild by comparison. Horrifying as his crimes were, they were not to be Prince Xie Shui's undoing, however, because of course they weren't.

Cannibalism, mass murder, and defilement and slaughter of holy women, all forgivable, or at least overlookable. But plotting against your father, on the other hand, now that was crossing a line. This is not to say that Shehu was father of the year or anything. Mired in overdrinking and indulging in the pleasures of the flesh that his ten thousand concubines provided, he had become increasingly angered by being disturbed with reports of all but the most critical information about his empire. Prince Shusui then only reported what he deemed absolutely necessary, since even then his father would often berate him with shouts of, "'Why do you find it necessary to report to me about such trifles?'

On the other hand, if Shisui remained silent, he was equally likely to be shouted with a belligerent, why haven't you reported? According to the histories, at a minimum of seven times a month, he was subject to being cursed out and beaten with sticks by his father. At one point, he said to his attendants, the leader of whom was named Liyan, quote, The emperor is hard to please. I want to do as did Bator. Will you follow me? End quote. Bator, you may recall, was the ancient founding Chanyu of the Xiongnu kingdom in the 4th century BCE,

who came to power by killing his own father. At this statement, Liyan and the rest of his attendants dumbly prostrated themselves before the crown prince, since they dared not reply. In 337, restless and tired of the ceaselessly dull affairs of state, Crown Prince Xuesui, claiming illness, ceased governing the empire and with his personal horse archer guard of five hundred riders, crashed a party at the house of his attendant, Li Yan. Storming into the house, he proclaimed that he was off to kill Prince Shi Xuan, his younger half-brother who had somehow managed to rub him the wrong way. He then demanded that everyone in attendance follow him or be beheaded,

though the party reluctantly joined the expedition, after only a few kilometers of riding, they virtually to a man, fled into the night. At which point, the blind drunk crowned prince was finally convinced to stand down and return to the capital. Afterwards, when his mother sent a eunuch to him bearing a reproachful message for his conduct, Xuesui did what we've all been warned not to do, and literally killed the messenger. This would almost be repeated soon thereafter when his father, the emperor, having apparently only now received word that his son had quote-unquote taken ill, dispatched a favored female servant of his, who served as the department chief of the state

chancellery, so no small potato, to see how the crown prince was doing. But upon arriving, Shusui beckoned the woman over to hold a conversation with her, and when she approached, seemingly out of nowhere, drew his sword and hacked her to death. Because, you know, psycho. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with Emperor Shihu. Like, not at all. Flying into a rage, he ordered the crown prince's staff arrested and brought in for questioning. Under torture, Lian told the entire tale of murder, cannibalism, and most disconcertingly, treachery.

Shi Hu then ordered the entire group, more than thirty in all, including Liyan, executed at once and let Crown Prince Shusui be imprisoned within the Eastern Palace. Soon after, however, the Emperor pardoned his homicidal, psychotic son and summoned him to the Taiwu Palace, where he demanded nothing more than an apology for the Prince's behavior. Shusui, however, fatefully refused to apologize, and essentially walked out. Enraged at this willful public defiance of his imperial order, Shehu stripped Shesui of his nobility and imperial titles, demoting him to a mere commoner

and ordering his arrest. Then, that same night, proving once and for all that the rotten apple indeed falls close to the rotten tree, Shi Hu had his son killed, along with his wife and the couple's 26 children. Gee, thanks, Grandpa. The whole lot of them were then buried in an unmarked mass grave. But the slaughter, it turned out, wasn't nearly over. Shi Hu then ordered the methodical execution of more than 200 of Shi Sui's court attendants for the crime of faithfully doing their jobs. It's hard to know exactly what to make of this brutal purge. Yes, on the one hand, Shi Hu absolutely just killed 26 of his grandkids and 200 people who did nothing more than show up to work every day.

But on the other hand, he did get rid of Shesui. Because seriously, can you imagine what life under an Emperor Shesui would have been like? He was bad enough as the heir, but with no one to step in and say no more? Yikes. At least Rome had a Senate capable of assassinating emperors who went off the deep end. Regardless, in the wake of this massive purge, Emperor Shi Hu found he was in need of a new heir, and consequentially, a new empress. Thus, he demoted his current empress, Shi Shui's mother, and replaced her with the mother of his second son, the previously mentioned Prince Shi Xuan, who he named the new crown prince of later

Zhao. We're going to leave off there today, because though the bloody reign of Emperor Shi Hu of Later Zhao isn't nearly over, his cannibal heir's welcome death provides a decent jumping-off point. Next time, the latter half of Shi Hu's reign, replete with yet more backstabbing, horrific torture, massive familial bloodletting, and oh yeah, the total destruction of later Zhao. Thank you for listening. spirit of the season, you feel like we've earned it. Please feel free to head over to thehistoryofchina.wordpress.com and click either of our donation links to PayPal or Patreon. Thanks again, and see you next time. 400 years ago, a trio of tiny kingdoms were perched on some damp islands off the coast of Europe. Within three short centuries, these islands would become the centre of an empire

which ruled a quarter of the globe and on which the sun never set. I'm Samuel Hume, a historian of the British Empire, and my podcast Pax Britannica follows the people and events that built that empire into a global superpower. Learn the history of the British Empire by listening to Pax Britannica everywhere you find your podcasts, or go to pod.link slash pax.