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Assassinations had always been part of the political scene in the history of China. This article provides a brief survey at history of assassinations in relation to emperors of Chinese dynasties.
Until the founding of the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, there were numerous accounts of rulers being victims of political assassinations. During the pre-Qin era, the Central Plains was composed of numerous feudal states, most of them vassals to the King of Zhou. There was no formal centralization of government, and in each state, the balance of power constantly shifted between the nobles and their rulers.
This was an era of instability as the old tradition of respecting orthodoxy broke down. Rulers and vassals began contravening their duties to each other. The powers of rulers of feudal states were not absolute, but depended on support from their vassals. There were numerous instances of vassals murdering their lieges, thinking to increase their power, only to be faced with universal condemnation for regicide and forced to flee or pay the ultimate punishment.
The lessons from these foolish men were not lost on subsequent generations, and ambitious men learnt it was necessary to make careful advanced preparations if they were to stage a takeover and survive the consequences of their schemes. Rulers too, learnt their station was insufficient to awe underlings from making personal attacks, and began tightening their security.
One of the most successful of these attempts was by Prince Guang from the State of Wu. He laid careful plans to install himself king, and then deployed his assassin, Zhuan Zhu. Zhuan Zhu bypassed the tight security around King Liao of Wu by taking the guise of a cook. Prince Guang invited the king to a banquet. Zhuan Zhu hid a sharp dagger in the belly of a fish in the dish he was presenting, which fooled the king’s security checks. Their successful attempt might well have inspired Jing Ke to do the same against Qin Shihuang three centuries later.
The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, was no stranger to assassination attempts. Even before unification, the rulers of the State of Qin had already established very strict rules to protect themselves from being killed in their own court. According to some accounts, the door at the entrance to the Qin court was made of strong magnetic metal, which would make it the world's earliest known metal detecting security measure.
Not only were courtiers attending the court disallowed any weapons, they were forbidden to go on the dais where the Qin ruler sat. Even the armed guards could not enter the court without expressed orders.
These measures actually worked against the Qin ruler during one particular assassination attempt, that by Jing Ke, acting on behalf of Crown Prince Dan of the State of Yan. Jing Ke presented to the court of Qin the head of the Qin renegade general, Fan YüQi, and a strategic map of Yan's territories as a symbol of Yan's supposed submission to Qi.
Allowed to personally present the map to the Qin ruler, Jing Ke unrolled the map and revealed a small dagger hidden within. According to recorded accounts, he tried to take the Qin ruler hostage, but the Qin ruler managed to run, leading both to a merry chase around the dais. The strict rules prevented any of the Qin courtiers from intervening, and the Qin ruler could not summon his guard while evading the assassin. The Qin ruler finally managed to pull out his own sword and fight back, resulting in Jing Ke's being crippled, and then put to death.
This was by no means the only account of Qin Shihuang being a target of assassination. After unification, he often conducted tours of the empire in person, to awe the conquered populace and to see the greatest empire ever known in China's history.
During one tour, while passing through an area known as Bo Lang, an assassin hidden in the brushes was waiting for his carriage to pass. The assassin was a strong man who could fling a heavy mace from a distance to utterly destroy a carriage, killing all within. Fortunately for the Qin ruler, his security precautions included adding a series of decoy carriages. The assassin, acting on the behest of Zhang Liang, a deposed noble from the conquered State of Han, picked a carriage at random and chose the wrong target.
Both the plots of Crown Prince Dan and Zhang Liang were motivated by far more than just to avenge the (near) demise of their respective states. They had hoped that by killing Qin Shihuang, they would destabilise the Qin state and provide a chance to revive their own native states. Crown Prince Dan paid for his failure with his life when the Qin army arrived.
Zhang Liang, however, managed to flee and hide, learning his lesson and realising that such a single action, even if successful, would do his native state no good. The remnants of the State of Han had nothing then to stage a comeback even if the Qin ruler was killed. Zhang Liang decided to abide his time while remaining in hiding and reading up on strategies. After the death of Qin Shihuang, mismanagement by his heir led to widespread rebellion. Zhang Liang offered his talents to the rebel leaders, and was eventually one of the men instrumental in bringing down the Qin and establishing the successor dynasty - Han.
Though Qin Shihuang escaped being assassinated, his successor, Hu Hai, was not so fortunate. Hu Hai was not the designated heir. The Crown Prince was Fu Su, who had offended the emperor, and as a result, assigned to the Great Wall construction project at the frontiers. Hu Hai accompanied Qin Shihuang during the latter’s last inspection tour. When the first emperor died unexpectedly, Hu Hai’s tutor, the eunuch Zhao Gao, convinced the Prime Minister Li Si to keep the death a secret until they return to the capital, and then forge the late emperor’s will to appoint Hu Hai as heir and to sentence Fu Su to death. As Fu Su was known to be hostile towards Li Si, the Prime Minister agreed to the conspiracy.
Hu Hai was a weakling and easily influenced by Zhao Gao. In fact, he depended on Zhao Gao so much that he was a de facto puppet emperor. Zhao Gao consolidated his hold on the court by steadily removing all oppositions. Li Si mistakenly fancied himself safe as a fellow conspirator and only realized the error moments before being put to death.
Zhao Gao was skilled in politicking, but he had no ability to govern, nor install able ministers to handle state affairs. As a result, widespread rebellions broke out, but Zhao Gao kept the news from the emperor. As the situation turned critical, Zhao Gao became more determined to secure his position the court and carried out an experiment to determine the extent of his influence. He had a deer presented at the court, claiming it was a fine horse. Hu Hai thought it was a joke and asked his officials for their opinions. Some loyal officials refused to be cowed into agreeing with Zhao Gao, but most sided with the eunuch. Feeling secure, Zhao Gao had those who disagreed with him eliminated, before he proceeded to have the emperor killed in 207 BC. Zhao Gao thought to continue dominated the court by installing Hu Hai’s son, Zi Ying, as the ruler. But Zi Ying turned tables and had Zhao Gao killed instead.
There would be two more regicides before the founding of the next stable dynasty, the Han. When he realised the situation was lost, Zi Ying led his court out to surrender to the rebel leader Liu Bang. Though Liu Bang accepted the surrender, he had to give up custody of Zi Ying to the strongest rebel leader – Xiang Yü. Many rebel leaders, including Liu Bang and Xiang Yü, fought under the banner of the previously defunct State of Chu. The State of Chu had been the most populous state during the Warring States era. When anti-Qin rebellion broke out, its former citizens had discovered a surviving scion of the royal house of Chu, and rallied under his banner to rise against the Qin. The scion was conferred upon as King Huai of Chu. King Huai had promised to make the rebel leader who captured the Qin heartlands as ruler of the territory. When Liu Bang beat Xiang Yü in capturing the Qin homeland, he incurred great displeasure from the latter. Greatly outnumbered by Xiang Yü, Liu Bang only managed to pacify the warlord by surrendering all the gains of the Qin heartlands, including Zi Ying.
Xiang Yü promptly had Zi Ying executed. Before long, he made himself overlord of all the rebel leaders, rendering King Huai a mere nominal superior. Shortly afterwards, he had King Huai killed.
One factor that Hu Hai, Zi Ying and King Huai had in common was none of them was actually ever in control. Hu Hai had willingly delegated his authority to Zhao Gao. The situation was hopeless by the time Zi Ying managed to kill Zhao Gao and regain control of the Qin court. He suffered the fate common to all kings who lose their kingdoms. And King Huai was a mere child shepherd when he was discovered by the rebels to be a scion of the Chu royal house. He had never had any authority, and all decisions were made by his nominal subjects, mostly former courtiers and generals of the Chu State before it was conquered by Qin.
The next dynasty after Qin was the Han. The founder, Liu Bang, continued numerous measures originally implemented by the Qin to create a strong central government rather than dividing the empire into feudal states. In the beginning, he had to gain support of other rebel leaders by granting them autonomous fiefdoms covering nearly half the empire. As he consolidated his power, he eliminated them one by one, usually replacing them with his own relatives and sons to secure the empire for his dynasty. The result was a strong central government where it was impossible for a usurper to seize power by assassinating the ruling emperor. Whoever wanted to sit on the throne must stage a rebellion, not just kill the person wearing the crown.
That did not prevent some courtiers from contemplating though. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, an assassination attempt was foiled the minister Jin Ridi. The conspirators had been pet nobles of the emperor who feared for their future when they lost favour.
During the declining years of the Han Dynasty, a series of young emperors ascended the throne, some barely out of toddlerhood. Power was in the hands of regents, usually the emperors’ maternal uncles. One such regent-uncle, Liang Ji, was so arrogant that even the child Emperor Zhi of Han realised the situation was not right. Unfortunately, the intelligent emperor was not wise enough to keep quiet and blurted out his observations. As a result, he was poisoned to death by Liang Ji.
In AD 220, the Han Dynasty ended and the era of the Three Kingdoms began. The last Han emperor was made to give up the Imperial Seal to the Cao family who founded the Wei Dynasty. But after a couple of generations, the Cao clan also lost control of the court to the Sima clan.
The fourth Wei ruler, Cao Mao, tried to stage a coup against the Sima clan, only to be killed in the process. The Sima clan’s warrior, Cheng Ji, who did the killing, was executed for regicide in order to maintain appearances.
It was the Jin Dynasty, founded by the Sima clan after deposing the Cao clan rulers, that reunited the empire in AD 280. However, a poor choice of heir led to the moronic Sima Zhong made the second ruler. He became a puppet of a series of rivalling ‘regents’, including his own wife, Empress Jia. Sima Zhong was poisoned to death. His successor, Sima Chi, was also a puppet for one of the ambitious imperial princes. Meanwhile, the empire was losing territories with numerous warlords declaring breakaway states. China entered into an Age of Fragmentation which lasted AD 589. During this era, many warlords proclaimed themselves as emperors with the backing of their armies, and were just as often, deposed by rival warlords as by members of their own faction through the use of violence, including assassination.
Reunification came in AD 589 when the Sui Dynasty from the north conquered the Chen Dynasty of the south. Despite official records that the founder Emperor Wen died of illness, it was widely suspected that he was murdered by his son, Yang Guang, in order to seize the throne. Yang Guang had already successfully blackened name of the original heir, and had himself made the Crown Prince. He deceived his parents by cultivating the external image of a thrifty and well-behaved gentleman. But he was secretly a lustful man and rumours had it that he had affairs with his father’s concubine. By the time Emperor Wen discovered it and tried to change the situation, Yang Guang had already installed his supporters around the ill ruler, and effectively isolated Emperor Wen, making him easy prey.
Yang Guang eventually lost the empire through mismanagement and in its place was established the Tang Dynasty in AD 618. Yang Guang himself was murdered by his own guards. His murderers tried to establish their own state amidst all the rebellions, but were eventually killed amidst the chaos.
The first assassination of the Tang emperor occurred in AD 710.
The first two rulers of the Tang Dynasty were generally able monarchs, but the third ruler Emperor Gaozong came under the influence of his second empress, who was known in history as Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian’s son, Li Xian, succeeded the throne for a couple of months before being deposed by his mother. Li Xian’s brother, Li Dan, was placed on the throne next, only to suffer the same fate shortly. Wu held the reins of power until old age forced her to retire, allowing her son Li Xian to resume the throne.
Li Xian (Emperor Zhongzong)
No emperor, who was in control, of a major Chinese dynasty was ever assassinated. Such a bold claim might be hard to believe, given that there are more than 3,000 years of recorded history of dynasties in China, beginning from the Shang Dynasty until the end of the Qing Dynasty. That is more than three milleniums of near-constant political intrigues and warfare.
Compared to European rulers, emperors in ancient China lived in far bigger palaces and protected by units of imperial guards which are equivalent in headcount to European royal armies. Anyone approaching the emperor underwent stringent physical checks. No weapons were allowed in the monarch's presence except a few who were especially conferred the privilige as a sign of favour. An emperor was never left alone. All his food were specially prepared and tested for poisons.
But the claim rests on two significant disclaimers mentioned :
(1) it refers only to major dynasties, and
(2) only to emperors who were actually in control.
The first disclaimer reduced the period of Chinese history applicable to the claim considerably. A major dynasty here refers to one which controlled the Central Plains (northern half) and south of the Long River (southern half), eras which traditional Chinese historians refer to periods of unification.
The first unified dynasty was the Qin which conquered all her rival states by 221 BC. Hence, rulers from more then 1,000 years of the preceding Zhou and Shang Dynasties were excluded from this claim. The last dynasty was the Qing which ended in 1911.
In between the Qin and Qing dynasties, there were two major Ages of Fragmentation.
The first Age of Fragmentation began with the Three Kingdoms era circa AD 220, and ended with Sui Dynasty's conquest of the Chen Dynasty in AD 589, concluding the Northern-Southern Dynasties era. There was a brief period of unification in between from AD 280-317 under Western Jin.
The second Age of Fragmentation was the period known as Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms which lasted from AD 907 when the Tang Dynasty was replaced by the Later Liang Dynasty, until AD 979 when the Song Dynasty conquered the Northern Han Kingdom.
Together, these Ages of Fragmentation lasted more than 400 years. During these eras, numerous rival states contended for power, and many rulers rose, and fell, through the use of violence. The lack of long-term stability rendered the question of the personal safety of a ruler moot.
The second disclaimer excludes the inclusion of rulers in Chinese history who were not actually in control. There was no shortage of emperors in Chinese history who were little more than figureheads.
During these times, power was either in the hands of powerful ministers, or the hands of imperial-in-laws in the form of maternal relatives of the emperors, or the hands of eunuchs. Some emperors found themselves in the situation as they were enthroned when they were minors, with actual powers handled by their regents. Others lost control when they showed more interest in personal pleasures, leaving the state affairs to their ministers.
The reason for excluding them in the survey was the premise that a political assassination's purpose was a power-grab attempt - significance is lost when power was already out of the hands of the victims. The nominal authority of these rulers were never sufficient to guarantee their safety in the first place.
Jin mi di - preventing assassination on Emperor Wu
Sui Wen Di - killed by his son, moot?
Empress Wei killing her husband
Song Tai Zu - killed by his brother?
