In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Jinghe, Hexun.com launched a grand poll for the "Top Ten Emperors of All Time" spanning five thousand years of history.
The top three finishers would lead to the filming of a historical drama, spearheaded by Hexun.com.
The total investment would be no less than one billion.
As soon as the news broke, major online platforms erupted in discussions. People from all circles flocked to the Hexun.com homepage, casting their votes for the emperors they deemed worthy of the title.
After voting, many left comments,
explaining their choices,
and not forgetting to disparage other emperors.
The fervor was comparable to the intense fan rivalries, back-and-forth bickering, and even outright insults seen among the top ten trending male and female stars in the entertainment industry.
While fan wars in entertainment typically involved two or at most three groups clashing, the "emperors' fans" in this poll were no less passionate. In fact, in terms of national recognition, they likely surpassed many of those trending celebrities.
Consequently, the discussion generated by this poll reached an extraordinary level of heat.
Hexun.com crashed three times overnight. They added over a dozen servers, barely managing to stabilize the website.
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[Frankly, our nation's history is only five thousand years long, and the concept of "emperor" only began with the First Emperor. In total, that's less than 2,300 years of imperial rule. If we can pick ten "emperors of all time" from just 2,300 years, doesn't that make the title "emperor of all time" rather cheap? On average, it's not even a full millennium per emperor.
Each emperor gets less than 230 years at most.]
[So what then? Should we just pick two "emperors of all time" and then some 0.3 "emperors of all time"? Oh, wait, less than 0.3, is it 0.2 something "emperors of all time"?]
[Some people are just sick. What's the point of nitpicking like that? What does "emperor of all time" have to do with time?
Doesn't it represent their significant contributions?]
[No, is there something wrong with this poll? How come after only a short while, that Empress Feng Luan has already ranked first? While her contributions were indeed immense, they couldn't possibly be enough for first place.
The First Emperor is the undisputed number one!
The First Emperor represented the transition from zero to one; others can at most be considered extensions of that.]
[First Emperor fans above, can you stop obsessing over one aspect and blowing it out of proportion? The First Emperor was indeed formidable, but he depleted the legacy of how many generations of his ancestors? Moreover, his so-called Great Qin Empire didn't even last twenty years.
Among so many "emperors of all time," his reign was the only one where a "prosperous era" did not appear.
Therefore, even though he undertook many pioneering deeds,
he cannot absolutely claim the first position.]
[Exactly. An emperor whose empire never experienced a prosperous era, how can he dare to contend for the title of "emperor of all time"? Empress Feng Luan was not only the first empress in the long river of history, but also the first ruler of a prosperous era with a population exceeding tens of millions.
She was also the first to completely eradicate aristocratic families.
She established the imperial examination system.
The systems established by other emperors have largely been buried in the river of history, but the imperial examination system has endured to this day. Although it has undergone changes, its core essence remains the same.]
[So, all students who have suffered from exams should know who to blame, right? Come and criticize the Empress!
Even though criticizing won't stop the exams,
at least it can vent some anger!]
[Let me speak impartially. I think the current ranking, especially with Empress Feng Luan in first place, is absolutely well-deserved. If she weren't ranked first, it would mean she was being suppressed.
Among the "emperors of all time" you've nominated,
which of them didn't cause some trouble in their later years?
For example, the First Emperor, in his later years, sought immortality and consumed elixirs, and his education of his descendants was a complete mess. And that so-called Emperor Wu, while he won many battles, how many people died? He squandered the fortune accumulated by his father and grandfather. In his later years, he also sought longevity and even forced his son to commit suicide and his wife to die.
Later, Emperor Li Tai Zong also died from consuming elixirs.
Li Xuanzong is even more absurd, with later generations evaluating him as being excellent in all aspects, except that he lived too long. If he had died twenty years earlier, he would undoubtedly have been a wise ruler.
Among the many emperors nominated as "emperors of all time," only Empress Feng Luan has virtually no major flaws. She neither consumed elixirs, nor consulted oracles, nor clung to power relentlessly, causing succession disputes.
Instead, she abdicated early to her daughter. Furthermore, her education of her successors was unparalleled in history.
During her reign, the empire prospered, and her daughter's reign also saw prosperity, and even her granddaughter's reign was a period of continued prosperity.
Among the prosperous eras throughout history, the Feng Luan Prosperity, initiated by Empress Feng Luan, was the longest-lasting.
It lasted for 170 years.
Unlike other emperors, whose prosperous eras lasted less than a century, some even less than forty years.
Not to mention how many scholars and renowned generals emerged during her reign. Among China's top 100 famous ministers in ancient times, at least thirty came from the 170-year Feng Luan Prosperity. Do these facts not sufficiently prove Empress Feng Luan's sagacity?]
[Oh, and she is also the most legendary wise ruler.
She held the titles of noble lady, empress, empress dowager, and even princess before finally becoming emperor, and then Grand Empress Dowager. How legendary is that!]
[Furthermore, historical records clearly state that the 170-year Feng Luan Prosperity was also known as the second era of "A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend." The foundational basis for over 90% of university disciplines today originated from the Feng Luan Prosperity. Even now, much of the academic content from that era still exists in textbooks for various disciplines.
And it's considered essential foundational knowledge.
Aren't these the accomplishments of Empress Feng Luan?
Even if they aren't entirely her achievements, she certainly contributed. If she had also imposed Confucianism as the sole ideology, would there have been a second era of "A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend"?
My goodness, the more I enumerate, the more I feel that
the other nominated "emperors of all time"
are simply not worthy of being placed in the same league as Empress Feng Luan!]
[Is it that exaggerated?]
[Could the Empress Feng Luan fans below please exercise some restraint? No matter how great her contributions, many were not truly groundbreaking. There had already been an era of "A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend" before her. What significant meaning was there in her replicating it? This is clearly forcing credit onto her.
Initiation is the most difficult, isn't it!]
[Please, initiation is difficult, but becoming a synthesizer is also very important. When you study history and professional courses, haven't you learned about "originators" and "synthesizers"?
And generally speaking, it's the synthesizer who is truly well-known and even more famous.]
[The Empress fan above is too disgusting.
They only mention the good things and not a single bad one. They only talk about how great Empress Feng Luan was. Then why don't they mention how many wars occurred during Empress Feng Luan's reign, and how many purges of aristocratic families were carried out internally? How many people were killed in the process?
How many people were exiled?
Several wars resulted in the destruction of nations.
Don't forget, many unofficial histories refer to her as the "Bloody Empress." You know, official histories can be falsified, while unofficial histories are often more truthful!]
[Honestly, I even suspect the person above might be a remnant of an aristocratic family or a descendant of one of the small states annihilated a thousand years ago.
Who wrote those unofficial histories calling Empress Feng Luan the "Bloody Empress"? Everyone knows it was written secretly by remnants of those aristocratic families and survivors of annihilated small states. The fact that they survived and weren't completely eradicated,
and were even allowed to write books without facing literary inquisition,
is sufficient proof that Empress Feng Luan was compassionate enough and cannot be called the "Bloody Empress."]
[Yes, those aristocratic families had been draining the blood of ordinary people for hundreds of years, maintaining their supreme rule, and even wanted to continue doing so. It was only because the Empress was compassionate that she didn't exterminate them all. Most were merely exiled. If it were me, I would have left none behind, wiped them out completely.]
[It's a pity that the Empress's reign only lasted for four generations. The fourth Empress died quite early, directly leading to the fifth Empress Yu Xiang, a love-struck fool, making decisions that no one could stop. Not only did she violate past traditions by having her daughter take her imperial husband's surname,
but she even had her imperial husband attend court for her.
Within a few years, her imperial husband began to usurp power, even colluding with remnants of aristocratic families, eventually leading to the famous Yu Xiang Palace Coup.
Although it was suppressed by the then-female prime minister,
it still damaged the empire's foundation.
Ultimately, the empire only lasted for less than another 180 years before a dynasty change and its fall.]
[But regardless, Empress Feng Luan's ideology was passed down. Before Empress Feng Luan, women had no inheritance rights. Later, even after the entire Dugu imperial family perished, women's right to inheritance remained unchanged. Although it was suppressed by others at times, it ultimately endured.]
[Oh my god, this section has practically turned into a special feature for Empress Feng Luan. What happened? Are the other "emperors of all time" not worthy of a name? No matter how much you revere Empress Feng Luan, you can't just praise one person endlessly. What about her own daughter, Empress De Hui, isn't she an "emperor of all time"?
What about her granddaughter, or in the traditional sense, her maternal granddaughter, Empress He De? Isn't she also an "emperor of all time"? You can't attribute the achievements of the latter two empresses to Empress Feng Luan; that's unfair.
And Empress Shun Wa, if she hadn't died young, she probably would have earned the title of "emperor of all time."]
[I've always suspected that Empress Shun Wa died young because her chosen title was too grand. Combining Shun, one of the Three Sovereigns, and Wa, one of the Five Emperors, the title overlapped. Her virtues certainly couldn't bear it.]
[Why are you above so superstitious?
My name is Haotian too, and nothing has happened to me. My two sons are named Dijun and Taiyi, and my daughter is Xihe. They are all alive and well!]
[You guys are taking this thread way too far.
We're supposed to be selecting "emperors of all time," why has this turned into a naming forum? And Dijun, Taiyi? If you keep naming them like this, you'll run out of names from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.]
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