……

How many heroes have lost their lives because of the phrase “too much merit to frighten the master”?

Just as Yue Fei and other famous generals were feeling sorry for Lanling King’s fate, the video performance on the sky curtain suddenly changed.

……

[How troublesome it is for a man to be too handsome. He is the only man in Chinese history who was inferior because of his handsomeness. Although he has an extraordinary appearance, he has lofty ambitions in his heart. During the years of war, he was the bravest among the three armies and won every battle. However, he was laughed at by the enemy because of his handsome appearance. Since then, he would wear a hideous mask every time he went to war, becoming a nightmare in the hearts of the enemies.]

[He was too handsome to show his true face on the battlefield, which became the biggest regret of his life.]

……

Without Tianmu’s reminder, Li Jing, Yue Fei, Yu Qian and many civil and military officials who had read the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties all knew that Tianmu was talking about Lanling King.

In the dynasties after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, even many illiterate people had heard of King Lanling.

After all, this person is so famous that he is good material that many storytellers cannot avoid.

As for the dynasties before the Northern Qi Dynasty, after hearing Tianmu’s introduction and combining it with the information Tianmu had previously told them about the Gao family of the Northern Qi Dynasty, most of them had some vague guesses in their minds.

……

[He is Lanling King Gao Changgong, one of the four most handsome men in China. ]

——A perfect male protagonist in a cool novel!

——Lanling Wang: I often seem out of place because I am not perverted enough

——One of the few normal people in the Gao family.

——If Lanling Wang had become the emperor, Northern Qi would not have been destroyed and the dynasty could have continued for many more years. Unfortunately…

——In a world of filth, innocence became an outlier. In that beastly dynasty, his kindness, benevolence, and concern for the people seemed out of place.

The phrase “state affairs are family affairs” became his death warrant. When he said this, he must not have known that being loyal and serving the country wholeheartedly was actually his greatest sin.

——What if I directly rebel against the tyrant emperor!
——Such a perfect person was turned into an old bastard in the Canyon of Kings thousands of years later!
——I play Xiao Qiao, and I get excited when I see Lanling King. Many Lanling Kings have died at my hands, so the main thing is to pay attention to positioning (hehe).

……

“I didn’t expect that I would be so famous in the future…”

Lanling King Gao Changgong looked at the barrage on the sky with a smile on his face, feeling both gratified and bitter in his heart.

I am glad that it will be remembered by future generations, but I am also bitter because I saw the sentence “When filth is everywhere, innocence becomes an alternative.”

I am devoted to the country, but I am not tolerated by the king. How sad!

“But what does this old bitch mean…and what is a king?”

After calming down a little, Lanling Wang looked at the comment strangely. As for Xiao Qiao who was standing behind him getting excited when she saw him, he was even more confused.

If I remember correctly, the so-called Xiao Qiao in the sky curtain should be a character from the Three Kingdoms period, right?
They are not from the same dynasty, so why would this woman feel excited when she sees him?

“Could it be… this girl is afraid of my beauty?”

“Because I am more beautiful than her, she wants to kill me!”

Lanling Wang widened his eyes, thinking that he might have found the truth.

I didn’t expect Xiao Qiao to be so jealous. She was still thinking about killing me even though I was already dead!

……

“How could my beloved wife have a relationship with a man from the Northern and Southern Dynasties of later generations!”

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhou Yu frowned, not understanding what was going on!
……

[Prince Lanling was born in 541 AD. His name was Gao Changgong. His grandfather was Gao Huan, a powerful official in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.]

[Originally, Lanling Wang was also a true emperor, but because his father Gao Cheng was assassinated on the eve of usurping the throne, his uncle Gao Yang enjoyed the fruits of victory and became the founding emperor of Northern Qi. ]

[Although he was born into an imperial family, Lanling Wang had a difficult upbringing. His mother was a woman who left no records and did not even have a surname.]

[The mother of Lanling Wang’s fifth brother, Gao Yanzong, was originally a prostitute in a royal palace of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Even so, her identity was recorded, which shows that Gao Changgong’s mother was not even as good as this. She might have been a slave or a captive of the enemy country.]

[In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when status was extremely important, Gao Changgong was not well-received, probably because of his mother’s low status, and lived on the edge of the Northern Qi royal family for a long time.]

[When his brothers were all crowned kings long ago, Gao Changgong was already quite old when he was crowned a minister of imperial cavalry. It was only after Emperor Gao Yin ascended the throne that he was crowned the King of Lanling.]

……

“I was born into an aristocratic family. I didn’t expect that people in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties still valued one’s origin so much!”

Thinking of the aristocratic families that Tianmu had mentioned earlier, Liu Bei sighed.

In this age where one’s family background is very important, it is really difficult to achieve great success! …

[Although many people in the Gao family are mentally unstable, they have good genes and have produced many handsome men. Gao Huan is very handsome.]

[Gao Cheng was also a handsome man, and Lanling Prince Gao Changgong was even more so.]

[Historical records show that Chang Gong had a gentle appearance, a strong heart, and a beautiful voice. Not only did he look as fair as a woman, but his voice was also magnetic, gentle and pleasant.]

[The Northern Qi Dynasty, where Lanling Wang lived, was later called the Beast Dynasty. It was politically very chaotic. Lanling Wang was not killed in the political struggle, but grew up slowly. He was familiar with the Art of War, practiced martial arts, and was valued step by step, becoming a general of the Northern Qi Dynasty.]

[In 563 AD, the Northern Zhou and the Turks joined forces and attacked the Northern Qi from Hengzhou. They captured more than cities in a row and marched straight to Jinyang. The situation was precarious.]

[Northern Qi sent General Duan Shao to resist the coalition forces. Duan Shao ordered the army to stay put and ignore the provocation of the Northern Zhou coalition forces. Gao Changgong was as calm as Duan Shao. The weather was getting colder and colder, and the situation took a turn for the better. The Northern Zhou coalition forces could not withstand the severe cold weather and prepared to retreat.]

[At this time, the Northern Qi army, which had been suppressed for a long time, was mobilized to attack the coalition forces. The army led by Gao Changgong rushed into the enemy camp, charging back and forth, and was unstoppable.]

[No one would have thought that Gao Changgong, who looked gentle, fought so bravely. In this battle, all the soldiers fought hard and the Northern Zhou coalition was defeated. Gao Changgong also became famous in this battle.]

[Afterwards, Gao Changgong felt that his beauty lacked authority, so he asked a craftsman to make a hideous mask. Whenever he went into battle, he would cover his face with the mask, turning himself into a demon.]

[In 564 AD, Yuwen Hu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty recruited elite soldiers to attack Qi. Luoyang was besieged. Gao Changgong led cavalrymen to break through the encirclement of the Northern Zhou army and rushed to the city of Jinyong, where he asked the defenders in the city to provide support.]

[But Gao Changgong and his five hundred cavalrymen were wearing heavy armor, with only their eyes exposed. Their identities were unknown, so how could the defenders easily believe them? Gao Changgong had no choice but to take off his armor.]

[When the soldiers in the city saw Lanling King take off his mask and reveal his stunning appearance, they knew that rescue had arrived. Their morale was boosted, and they fired thousands of arrows at once, successfully rescuing Jin Yong. The Northern Zhou army abandoned the rescue and fled.]

[The thirty-li river and marshland from Mangshan to Gushui were filled with weapons and baggage discarded by the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Gao Changgong became famous in the Battle of Mangshan, and the soldiers composed “Lanling King’s Battle Song” to praise his heroic performance – a song and dance that imitated Lanling King wearing a mask and charging into battle.]

[“Prince Lanling’s March into Battle” was once a popular cultural treasure in the history of Chinese drama and the source of Peking Opera masks, but it was lost in my country during the Tang Dynasty.]

……

“How could the “Prince Lanling’s March into Battle” be lost in the Tang Dynasty?”

How could what Tianmu mentioned be a trivial matter? Even if Li Shimin did not understand the importance of “Song of Prince Lanling’s March into Battle” to future generations, as soon as Tianmu mentioned it, he immediately ordered someone to find “Song of Prince Lanling’s March into Battle”.

It is carefully cared for and passed down by dedicated personnel.

……

[Stories of people who are too successful to be respected have been around since ancient times. The greater a person’s achievements, the more dangerous his situation will be.]

[Several emperors of Northern Qi were suspicious by nature. When talking with his cousin, Gao Wei, the last emperor of Northern Qi, the emperor suspected Lanling Wang of rebellion just because he said “state affairs are family affairs”.]

[Gao Changgong also sensed the danger, and in order to avoid suspicion, he even went so far as to corrupt himself. His friend Wei Xiangyuan knew Gao Changgong’s intentions and advised him to just pretend to be sick.]

[However, Gao Changgong’s claim of illness could not escape suspicion, nor could he escape the emperor’s butcher knife.]

[In 573 AD, the last emperor Gao Wei sent someone to bring poisoned wine to Lanling King, who drank it and committed suicide at the age of 33.]

[After losing Lanling King Gao Changgong, Northern Qi was conquered by Northern Zhou four years later. The Northern Qi Empire, which existed for only 28 years, was lost in the mist of history.]

……

“Dig your own grave.”

Liu Che snorted coldly.

As an emperor, being afraid of being too successful and thus endangering the sovereignty of the ruler only shows, in Liu Che’s view, that this emperor is incompetent.

It was extremely foolish of Gao Wei to destroy his own Great Wall when the court was facing internal and external troubles!
……

[Lanling Wang’s life was not tolerated in the dark era of Northern Qi. His uncle and brothers were extremely licentious, but Lanling Wang kept himself clean and did not covet women.]

[In recognition of Lanling King’s contribution in the Battle of Mangshan, Emperor Wucheng Gao Zhan gave Lanling King 20 beauties, but he only took one away symbolically.]

[Prince Lanling was devoted to his wife, Zheng, and he lived with her all his life. He was not greedy for money. Before drinking the poisoned wine, he burned all the deeds of the Lanling fiefdom, exempting the common people from paying the imperial grain.]

[He was kind and generous. When he was serving in a local government in his early years, Yang Shishen, a military officer, falsely accused Lanling Wang of corruption, which led to his dismissal.]

[Later, when he led the troops to fight, Yang Shishen was under Gao Changgong’s command, but he did not take revenge with personal grudges. Yang Shishen did not even believe that he would be let off so easily. Looking at the frightened Yang Shishen, Gao Changgong had to beat him with 20 military sticks to calm him down, and the matter was dropped.]

[He loved his soldiers like his own sons, and shared the joys and sorrows with them. Even if he only got some fruits, he would share them with his soldiers.]

[Such a nearly perfect person, but with a tragic fate, like a shooting star that instantly slips down the night sky, like an orchid that withers in its short blooming period.]

……

“I think that Lanling Wang had the spirit of a heroic leader and the appearance of a wise ruler, but it is a pity that he ended up like this.”

Cao Cao sighed, it was really unfortunate for King Lanling to be born in such an era.

If he had been born in the late Han Dynasty or the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Mengde might have been able to subdue this man and add another great general!
…(End of chapter)