What is a foolish king? To put it simply, he is an incompetent monarch. But what does it mean to be incompetent? The traditional concept is that if a king does not do his job properly and spends all day eating, drinking and having fun, he is a coward. If we start from this definition, more than 80% of the monarchs in Chinese history can be called faint kings. But "promising" emperors like Chongzhen and Zhao Gou were not faint emperors. Some people think that the king who subjugates his country must be a foolish king. Otherwise, why would the country subjugate? Although this theory seems reasonable, it cannot withstand testing. Of course, some of the kings who subjugated their countries were foolish and incompetent, but there were also some who were controlled by powerful ministers and could not help themselves. For example, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was controlled by powerful ministers throughout his life until the end of the country, but I am afraid he cannot be said to be a foolish emperor. Some monarchs kill people at every turn. For example, Qin Shihuang, Qin II, Shi Hu, Gao Yang, Xiao Baojuan and so on. Although these people may not be qualified for their duties, it is probably more appropriate to call them tyrants. There are still many monarchs who have accomplished something in the early stages. Some people can even be called Mingjun in their early years, such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and Gaozong (Qianlong) of the Qing Dynasty. I'm afraid there is something wrong with calling these people "faint kings" in general. There are also some monarchs with intellectual problems. For example, Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, Sima Zhong, was mentally retarded. Someone told him that the people had no food to eat, and he actually said, "Why don't they eat meat soup?" Such people are certainly incompetent as emperors, but they are born with disabilities. It seems unfair to classify them as a coward. Therefore, the criteria for selecting the top ten fools are as follows: 1. Those with abnormal intelligence do not count. It is reasonable for people with abnormal intelligence to do stupid things. But people with normal intelligence are out of their minds when they do stupid things. 2． Those who are wise in the early stage but dull in the later stage are not counted. The older a person gets, the more stupid he becomes. This is a natural law. It is the same whether the emperor or the common people. It's just that if a commoner develops Alzheimer's disease, he will only harm himself. If an emperor develops Alzheimer's disease, it will harm the world. 3. Tyrants don’t count. Although many tyrants are violent and incompetent at the same time, there are also many tyrants who can still do something when they are not mad or unable to be mad. Therefore, someone like Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty can be called a tyrant, but he is not qualified to be a coward. 4. Ranking is based on the impact of their actions on future generations. Although there are many monarchs who are mediocre, incompetent, dissolute and immoral, their behavior is 5. Folklore and novel characters do not count. For example, Liu Chan, the empress of Shu, has always been considered by the people as a typical example of a coward. This is mainly influenced by "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In the early days of Liu Chan's reign, Zhuge Liang was the actual ruler of Shu Han. After Zhuge Liang's death, although Liu Chan appointed Huang Hao, it did not cause chaos in the government. So he can't make the top ten. Based on the above criteria, it is believed that the following ten people can be called the top ten foolish kings in ancient China: 1. Ji Gong Nirvana (King You of Zhou Dynasty) Reason: To win a beauty, he even played tricks on the princes with beacon fire. And regardless of the political ecology at the time, he abolished the lineage and established the concubine. Eventually the Zhou Dynasty fell, triggering hundreds of years of war. 2. Liu Hong (Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty) Reason: After reigning for 22 years, he not only failed to achieve anything, but favored the ten permanent servants and killed loyal ministers, causing the second disaster of party imprisonment, and the government became increasingly declining. Finally caused the Yellow Turban Uprising, which brought the Eastern Han Dynasty to decline and chaos. 3. Xiao Yan (Emperor Wu of the Southern Liang Dynasty) Reason: During his 48-year reign, he did not want to be an emperor, but only wanted to be a monk. He sacrificed his life several times and entered Buddhist temples. He donated large amounts of money to Buddhist temples, leaving the national treasury empty. Finally, he lured the wolf into the house and recruited Hou Jing of the Northern Dynasty. Hou Jing rebelled and invaded Health. Although Hou Jing's rebellion was finally suppressed, the Southern Dynasty never recovered and could no longer compete with the Northern Dynasty. 4. Zhao Ji (Huizong of Song Dynasty) Reason: Huizong of Song Dynasty was a great master in poetry, calligraphy, painting and calligraphy, but he knew nothing about politics. The appointment of Cai Jing, Tong Guan and others to govern led to chaos in the government. He also misjudged the international situation, which led to the Jin soldiers going south. At the last moment, he actually believed the lies of the magic stick Guo Jing and asked him to lead the so-called "Six Ding Liujia" to guard Kaifeng. The result was a complete defeat. Not only was he captured, but also half of the Song Dynasty was ruined. 5. Zhao Gou (Song Gaozong) Reason: Gaozong was not a coward. Without Zhao Gou, Guo Zuo of the Song Dynasty might not have been able to survive for more than 150 years. But just killing Yue Fei is enough to make him the most foolish king in the eyes of ordinary people. 6. Tuohuan Tiemu'er (Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty) Reason: Emperor Shun was controlled by the powerful minister Boyan in the early stage, and did not say a word about Boyan's perverse behavior. But after Boyan's death, Emperor Shun did not change his tune. If Chongzhen was too "doing something" and led to the destruction of the country, Emperor Shun was too "doing nothing". And his "inaction" is simply insensitive.
So much so that when the Ming army just captured Tongzhou, they were so frightened that they fled Beijing and returned to Mongolia. Such a idiot actually ruled the world for more than 30 years. The foundation of the Yuan Dynasty was completely wiped out by this kind of "inaction". Emperor Yuan Shun's negative attitude may be related to his Lamaist belief. 8. Zhu Houcong (Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing) Reason: When he first came to the throne, he wanted to make a difference. But he soon became obsessed with the art of refining elixirs to become immortals, and ignored government affairs for more than 20 years. During this period, he also appointed the imperial minister Yan Song as his confidant. This caused great chaos in the laws and disciplines, and the Ming Dynasty fell into decline. 9. Zhu Yijun (Ming Shenzong Wanli) Reason: When he first came to the throne, he had a slight renaissance due to the assistance of Zhang Juzheng. But as soon as Zhang Juzheng died, Shenzong immediately went against the grain. Not only did he ignore government affairs for 30 years, but he also continuously sent eunuchs to various places to serve as "mine supervisors" and "tax supervisors" to plunder people's wealth and wealth. This has made the people miserable and the people are filled with resentment. All the money from the Ming Dynasty was wiped out. 10. Zhu Youjian (Sizong Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty) Reason: Unlike other faint kings, Sizong does not have the characteristics of usual faint kings. For example, he doesn't like women, doesn't like money, and he doesn't become a calligrapher or a carpenter because of playing with things, nor does he have unrealistic fantasies about becoming a fairy. His only ideal is to revive Chao Gang and go down in history as a wise king. But his ability is really poor. He is also headstrong, mean and ungrateful. For the common people, they only know how to plunder. It was clear that there was famine all over the land, but instead of providing relief, they even intensified the expropriation. It even triggered peasant uprisings everywhere. He didn't know how to adapt to foreign wars, and just wanted to eliminate Houjin in one fell swoop, but he was suspicious of talented ministers. In the end, even Yuan Chonghuan, the only one who had the ability to reverse the situation, was killed by him. In the end, he only had a group of slaves with worse abilities than him. When the rebel army finally besieged the city and he wanted to escape, there was only one eunuch, Wang Chengen, following him. The eunuch guarding the city gate refused to open the door for him. Chongzhen was probably the only one who betrayed his relatives and separated from his relatives to such an extent. In the end, he had no choice but to hang himself on the coal mountain
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