Why do you say "the emperor loves his eldest son, but the people love him"?

In principle, the emperor is a human being, and so are the people. The emperor has the same feelings for his children as the people. The emperor has property and so do the people. Although the property is somewhat different, it should be the same in dealing with property problems and ways.

(Ancient Emperor) But why does the emperor love his eldest son and the people love him? I think it is precisely in the way of inheritance and emotion that emperors are different from ordinary people. Let's talk about property inheritance first. Does the emperor have a lot of property? Needless to say, looking around the world, it is the land of the king, leading the land, and the minister of the king? The wealth of the emperor is beyond our imagination. It stands to reason that having so much property is a happy thing. On the contrary, it is a nuisance to the emperor. We have heard the saying, "Your palms are full of meat." It means being fair and just to your children. However, in the emperor's place, it is absolutely impossible to be fair and just to children. If we talk about fairness and justice and share property equally, it means that the country is divided and wars are everywhere. So property can only be concentrated on one person, and this person is the heir to the throne, that is, the prince. So, which one should the emperor choose as the heir to the throne? According to the general understanding, it should be the most talented person. However, this problem will be very troublesome. Because who is the most talented? Different standards lead to different results. Also, some princes can disguise themselves, which is difficult to distinguish. If you let them practice in turn, you dare not. If the prince is given an internship, he may lose control if he wants to be emperor in advance.

(Ancient prince) So it is necessary to make a rule. This is the rule of primogeniture. Why choose the eldest son inheritance system? First, there is an order. The first wife is called the wife and the husband's son is called the eldest son. Sitting in a row to eat fruit, first to be king, then to be a coach, this is an established rule from ancient times to the present. Second, the eldest son, or the eldest son, because he was born early, can focus on training. The prince is the foundation of an imperial country. Only by establishing a prince as soon as possible can an imperial country be stable. So people born early have more training time. People's property is much less, and there is probably no property. In this case, people naturally want to pursue fairness. It is unfair to have less property. Isn't that asking for trouble? Besides, the son of the people can't have an army background like the prince of the emperor, and other princes dare not resist. If the people are unfair, can his sons not resist? If ordinary people have no property of their own, they should consider the issue of providing for the aged in the future. If he is unfair, which son will support him in the future? At the same time, in the tradition of China, the eldest son goes out early to set up a new home, and the task of providing for the aged is mainly completed by the last son. So people like it.

(The Change of Xuanwu Gate) Let's talk about the way of feelings. The emperor and his sons, in fact, have little affection between father and son. Why do you say that? First, the emperor has many children and little contact with them, so it is difficult to establish feelings. Second, the emperor and his sons have political contradictions. They are suspicious of each other, and neither of them trusts the other. In history, there are too many examples of emperors and sons fighting with each other. The root cause is that there is no normal emotion and trust between them. Since the emperor and his sons have little affection, the issue of inheritance is more a political consideration than his own preference. People are different. The emotion between people and children is the emotion of normal people. Between the eldest son and the youngest son. The eldest son generally lives in the period of people's entrepreneurship, because the material conditions are not rich enough in all aspects, and the contradictions between the two sides are also great. Children generally appear in the glorious period of the people, with much more material conditions and fewer contradictions. In addition, as we said before, because we live with our parents for the longest time, the people eventually need our children to support us. Therefore, the people's feelings for Yao are much deeper than those of the eldest son. (Reference:

"Research on Ancient Emperors in China")