Chapter 12 The foolish emperor is actually the king of subjugation

Ever since Emperor Ling of Han abolished Empress Song, he has been busy "naked" with the beauties in the harem, and two years later he has no intention of appointing a new empress.His courtiers quit. The Queen of the Palace is a national symbol, and there is nothing to do, so he asked him to quickly establish another one, so Emperor Ling appointed the noble He as the queen.This He family came from a humble background, she was the daughter of a pig butcher, but her appearance was extremely beautiful, her skin was like snow, and she was delicate and graceful. The lecherous Emperor Ling fell in love with her at the first sight.In addition, the He family also gave birth to the prince Liu Bian for her, the Emperor Ling loved her even more and spent the Spring Festival with her almost every night.But lecherous people tend to like the new and dislike the old, and Lingdi soon fell in love with Wang Meiren, who came from a famous family and was well-educated.After several spring breezes, Wang Meiren became pregnant.But she knew that Empress He was jealous, and she was afraid that she would harm herself because of this, so she bound her abdomen with silk every time she met the Empress, so as not to let Empress He find out that she was pregnant.But how can this kind of thing be kept hidden, Wang Meiren found an abortion pill and drank it, but after taking it many times, it didn't work, so she resigned to fate and gave birth to the child.Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty named this fateful prince Liu Xie, and loved him very much.

When Empress He learned of this, she was very angry, but the prince had already been born, so there was nothing she could do, so she poisoned his mother, Wang Meiren, to death while she was recuperating after giving birth.Emperor Han Ling was very shocked when he heard the news of Wang Meiren's sudden death, and hurried to visit. When he saw Wang Meiren's limbs were black and blue, he knew that she had died of poisoning.He couldn't help but shed tears and ordered to trace who did it.When he knew it was Empress He, Emperor Han Ling was furious immediately and planned to depose her.But Empress He spent money to bribe Cao Jie, Zhang Rang and other eunuchs to intercede for her. Emperor Ling saw that his "father" had come forward, so it was not easy to do anything to Empress He, so Empress He survived safely. This storm.But since then, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty has always missed Wang Meiren endlessly, and wrote two poems in memory of her, "Fu on Chasing Virtue" and "Ode to Lingyi", which are full of sadness and tears.Maybe it was Aiwujiwu. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty loved the prince Liu Xie who had lost his mother. He was afraid that Empress He would harm him, so he fostered him with his mother, Empress Dowager Dong.And because the child is like himself, he dotes on him even more, and the idea of ​​making him the prince came up.However, Empress He already has a prince, Liu Bian, who is the eldest son of Emperor Han Ling and the natural heir to the throne.Because Emperor Han Ling hated Empress He, he said that Liu Bian was "frivolous and lacks dignity" and did not want to establish him.It's just that at that time, both the bureaucrats of the outer court and the eunuchs of the inner court, including Emperor Ling's own relatives, all supported Liu Bian.Emperor Han Ling had no choice but to drag it down first.

The emperor is struggling to establish a prince here, and the country's situation there is already in jeopardy.Emperor Ling of the Han favored eunuchs, sold officials and nobles, searched the common people wantonly, and amassed wealth. Naturally, the common people would not have a good life.They had no food to eat, no clothes to cover their bodies, and lived a miserable and despicable life like cattle and horses. In some areas, there was even a phenomenon of cannibalism.According to historical records, in Hanoi and Henan, there were terrible incidents of women eating their husbands and husbands eating their wives.The people could no longer bear this miserable life, and finally a Yellow Turban uprising broke out.

Emperor Han Ling's violent expropriation once caused a small group of civil uprisings, but these riots were mostly spontaneous, scattered and not affiliated, and did not form a big climate, and were soon suppressed by the Eastern Han government.The Yellow Turban Uprising was a well-organized conscious action.Its guiding ideology was the Taiping Dao that prevailed at that time. Taiping Taoism is a branch of early Taoism, which was born in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was influenced by some prophecy theology in the process of spreading.In the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Jiao, a Julu man, carried it forward.He called himself a "great virtuous teacher", and he treated people's diseases through Fushui, and he didn't need money.His talisman water may be quite effective, and many people have been cured by him.So once it was passed on to ten, ten to a hundred, Zhang Jiao's reputation became bigger and bigger.Zhang Jiao didn't forget to preach while treating people, so many people who were favored by him became his disciples.So Zhang Jiao sent his brothers Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and his disciples to travel around the world, healing diseases and preaching the word at the same time.It took about ten years for Taiping Dao to spread throughout the country, and the number of believers in various places grew to hundreds of thousands. Even Zhang Rang, the "father" of Han Lingdi, had contacts with Zhang Jiao.Zhang Jiao organized hundreds of thousands of farmers in eight states across the country and divided them into thirty-six parties, with more than 10,000 people in the big party and six to seven thousand people in the small party.Taipingdao has become a force to be reckoned with.

So Zhang Jiao thought that the time for the uprising was ripe, so he made up a prophecy: "Changtian is dead, Huangtian will stand, and the age is Jiazi, and the world will be prosperous." "Changtian" refers to the regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and "Huangtian" refers to Taiping "Jiazi" refers to the fifth day of March in the first year of Zhongping (184).But these meanings are relatively obscure, and the Eastern Han government did not suspect it.They also secretly sent people to write the word "Jiazi" with white powder on the gates of temples in Luoyang and government offices in various states and counties, as a code for the uprising.But more than a month before the uprising, a traitor appeared in the uprising army and informed the Eastern Han regime, and the court immediately searched Luoyang.Zhang Jiao made a prompt decision and decided to revolt one month in advance.He called himself General Tiangong, his younger brother Zhang Bao General Digong, and Zhang Liang General Rengong.The uprising peasants in the thirty-six directions revolted at the same time as soon as they received Zhang Jiao's order.All the peasants who revolted wore yellow scarves on their heads as a symbol, so they were called "Yellow Turban Army".

The Yellow Turban Army was so powerful that in less than ten days, the whole country responded.Rebel armies from all over the country rushed to Luoyang from all directions, and emergency documents from various counties and counties also flew to Luoyang, Kyoto like snowflakes.Only then did Han Lingdi panic, but he was still clear-headed, knowing that the eunuchs who were his "parents" and those who spent a lot of money to buy officials were not so useful, so he had to use the eunuchs in the disaster of party imprisonment again. "partisan".He worshiped his relative He Jin as a general, and at the same time sent a large number of troops, led by Huangfusong, Zhu Jun, and Lu Zhi, to suppress the Yellow Turban Army in two ways.

Although the Yellow Turban Army was well-organized before the uprising, they lacked unified dispatch after the uprising and basically fought on their own.In addition, in September of that year, Zhang Jiao died of illness, and the Yellow Turban Army, which lost its leader, became even more disorganized, and was finally defeated by the officers and soldiers one by one.Although some branch troops were still fighting in the local area and persisted for more than ten years, several main forces had been wiped out, and the Yellow Turban Uprising finally failed. Although the Yellow Turban Uprising failed, the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty has also fallen apart.The literati and bureaucrats have long been disappointed with the Eastern Han court after two disasters of party imprisonment.It was only when the imperial court encountered the Yellow Turban Uprising that they thought of using them to suppress it again, but although they were allowed to contribute, all the military exploits went to the gang of eunuchs. Lu Zhi, who had repeatedly made military exploits, was framed and imprisoned by them because he refused to accept bribes from the eunuchs. .Seeing such behavior of the imperial court, the scholar-bureaucrats were even more desperate for it.Moreover, when suppressing the Yellow Turban Army, Emperor Han Ling issued an edict ordering the states and counties to recruit their own troops to deal with the Yellow Turban Army.As a result, clan aristocrats, governors of states and counties, and powerful landlords all took advantage of this to snatch territory and expand their power. The country has become torn apart, and the royal family has become an empty shelf in name only.

In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Emperor Hanling died.Before his death, he entrusted his son Liu Xie to his confidant eunuch Jian Shuo to support Liu Xie.But at this time, Empress He's elder brother, He Jin, was already a general and in charge of the imperial court. With the help of Yuan Shao, the captain of the Chinese army, he got rid of Jian Shuo and supported Empress He's son Liu Bian to succeed him as Emperor Shaodi of the Han Dynasty. .He Jin also wanted to kill all the eunuchs, but things backfired, and he was killed by the eunuchs instead.Hearing this news, Yuan Shao immediately led his army to attack the palace, killing more than 2,000 eunuchs, leaving no one behind.Then Dong Zhuo led troops to Luoyang, expelled Yuan Shao, abolished Emperor Shao, killed Empress Dowager He, and supported Liu Xie as emperor, dedicating himself to the Han Dynasty.So far, although the title of the Eastern Han Dynasty has existed for a long time, its rule has existed in name only.The next ones to appear will be the heroes of the Three Kingdoms.