What does the rural saying "The emperor loves the eldest son, and the people love the youngest son" mean?

We all know that proverbs come from the masses, are created by the masses, and are full of profound truths. These proverbs have often passed the test of time. Most of them have been eliminated as useless, while many thought-provoking proverbs have remained.

Spoken sayings are generally circulated in the spoken language of the masses and are popular. A sentence that often seems simple and clear can be rich in meaningful truths. Moreover, the sayings can also reflect the life experiences and conditions of the people. The proverbs in some places are full of interest and rich in local characteristics.

The editor will tell you about this saying, which is often said by rural elders: The emperor loves the eldest son, and the people love the youngest. So what does this sentence mean? The editor will tell you one by one below to see if you feel the same way.

In fact, it can be seen from this sentence that different families have different attitudes towards their children. The attitudes towards children of ancient royal families and ordinary people in ancient times were very different. The emperor preferred the eldest son, while the common people preferred the youngest son.

So why does the emperor like the eldest son? The reason is very simple. It starts from the ancient inheritance system that "establishes the direct descendants but not the elders, and establishes the elders but not the younger ones." The emperor gave birth to many sons, so who should succeed to the throne is a big issue. How can we be fair and selfless? Therefore, the emergence of the system of "establishing direct descendants without establishing elders, establishing elders without establishing young ones" perfectly solved this problem and prevented brothers from fighting for power and turning into enemies.

Of course there are some exceptions. There are many examples in history of brothers killing each other for the throne, such as Li Shimin's Xuanwu Gate Incident, which killed the prince Li Jiancheng and forced his father Li Yuan to abdicate. There are also examples of uncles and nephews fighting each other. For example, Zhu Di mobilized the Qing emperor to oust Zhu Yunqi from the throne. In the Qing Dynasty, because the Qing court did not pay attention to the system of establishing direct descendants rather than establishing eldest sons, the "Nine Sons Seizing the Direct Sons" incident later occurred.

So, the emperor’s eldest son is usually the one who will ascend the throne in the future, so the emperor will invest a lot of manpower and material resources to cultivate the eldest son. After getting along for a long time, they will naturally establish a deep relationship, and those other sons and the emperor We rarely see each other, and naturally our feelings are average, not as good as those of the eldest son. Just like Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely fond of the prince Zhu Biao, and he also made his grandson Zhu Yunwen the emperor in Aiwujiwu.

Why do people like younger sons? Ordinary people became parents for the first time and did not know how to take care of children. They had to cross the river by feeling the stones. In addition, there was a lack of labor force in ancient times. They wished they could have more sons, so that there would be a lot of labor force.

The younger son who is born later does not need to be expected to do a lot of work. Anyway, there are a few older brothers or sisters to help with the work, so the younger son can play sometimes, and the parents also have free time to take care of the younger son. , parents and their youngest son have been together for a long time, so their relationship is relatively strong.

Of course, the palms and backs of the hands are full of flesh. There is no parent who does not love their children. If you are too entangled in which child you like, you will fall behind and be unattractive.