Chapter 17 Chapter 17 The Western Han Dynasty was "declined" by relatives

The weakening of the Western Han Empire, "Han Shu" said "declined by Yuan Cheng", the "Yuan Cheng" here refers to the two emperors who reigned successively during this period: Emperor Han Yuan and Emperor Han Cheng. In 48 BC, the 43-year-old "King of Zhongxing" Emperor Xuan of Han died of illness, and his son Liu Shi came to the throne, that is, Emperor Han Yuan in the "decline in Yuan Cheng". This evaluation in history obviously means that he was responsible for the demise of the Western Han Dynasty. He has important responsibilities, but at that time, this Liu Shi was a hard-working man, and he was even known as a good man.

Liu Xi's mother was Xu Pingjun who was killed by Huo Guang. He was able to be the crown prince to a large extent because of his father's deep affection for Xu Pingjun.As the eldest son of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, in the first years of his life, it was the years when Huo Guang was in power. The only thing he could do was to accompany his father to continue to endure Huo Guang. His cowardly and gentle character.As a man, he is a good man, but as an emperor, he is a "bad thing". During Liu Xi's reign, it was a good time. The mighty Hun Khanate had surrendered to the Han Empire. He became one of the few emperors in the history of the Western Han Dynasty who did not have to worry about foreign aggression.In the Han Empire during this period, with the rapid economic development, land annexation was on the rise again. In his later years, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty adopted a series of policies to curb land annexation and eased the contradictions for a time, but with his premature death, all these His efforts came to an abrupt end.During the period of Emperor Han Yuan, it was the period when the land annexation of the Western Han Empire became more and more intense, especially his wife Wang Zhengjun, who was later the famous Wang family in the late Western Han Dynasty. Shi, basically adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards this.

Influenced by his childhood experiences, Emperor Han Yuan was very fascinated by Confucianism. Although Emperor Wu of the Han respected Confucianism exclusively, Confucianism completely dominated Chinese history since the reign of Emperor Han Yuan.When Emperor Hanyuan took office as emperor, he admired Confucianism, especially selected officials according to Confucian standards, and greatly promoted the rule of law, which made the whole country respect Confucianism.The extremes of things must be reversed. In this period of the Han Empire, the high-efficiency administrative status of the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty was changed. Officials invited favors by studying Confucianism, advocating academics and clear talks rather than practical politics. The administrative efficiency of the country was greatly reduced. Experienced nerds also entered the government.At the same time, Emperor Hanyuan trusted the eunuchs and did not deal with political affairs himself. The eunuch Shi Xian and others controlled the officials. The eunuchs' monopoly in the Han Empire began at this time.

And under these superficial misdeeds, an undercurrent is also surging.This undercurrent was not conspicuous when he was alive, but a huge fission occurred behind him-the growth of the power of the Wang family's relatives.During the reign of Emperor Han Yuan, the power of the relatives of his empress, Wang Zhengjun, expanded rapidly. They not only occupied the land and took control of the political power, but also their descendants successively entered the high-level power of the Han Empire. Emperor Han Yuan never dreamed that it was this royal family, The Western Han Empire was finally sent to the point of no return.

Of course, among many problems, Emperor Han Yuan did not do good things.The more famous one is "Zhaojun goes out of the fortress" that historians talk about, but in comparison, he at most enjoyed the achievements of the previous emperors' policies towards the Xiongnu, and he himself did not make much achievements.During his reign, despite his superficial inaction, the Western Han Empire was already full of contradictions. It was his son Liu Ao, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, who really sent the Western Han Empire to the point of no return. In Chinese history, Liu Ao is a very well-known figure, known as a faint king.In 33 B.C., Liu Shi, Emperor of the Han Yuan Dynasty who had been on the throne for 15 years, died of illness. Prince Liu Ao came to the throne and began his absurd life as an emperor.

Modern people know a lot about Liu Ao's topic, which is the gossip story about his favor and trust in Hangong Feiyan—the two sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede.His favorite sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede are famous beauties in Chinese history, and Zhao Feiyan is also a famous dancer in Chinese history.But the scheming of this pair of women is extremely incompatible with their beauty and talent - quite sinister. In the early days of Liu Ao's accession to the throne, he had a virtuous wife, Empress Xu, who was first established as a queen.When this Empress Xu was young, she was also a person with both talents. She was born in a famous family, had excellent dancing skills, and wrote good articles. She was once very favored by Liu Ao, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty.But her luck was very bad. She had been married to Liu Ao for many years and never gave birth to a child for Liu Ao.The one who really sent her to the point of no return was Zhao Feiyan who replaced her.

Zhao Feiyan is a native of Suzhou, with a humble background but a natural beauty. In the earliest days, she was just a maid in the family of Princess Yang'a, Liu Ao's sister.Once when Liu Ao was a guest at her sister’s house, Zhao Feiyan was ordered to perform a dance. The dance immediately fascinated Liu Ao, and she was “lucky” at her sister’s house. .Zhao Feiyan is a reconciled person, she is not reconciled to be subordinate to others, on the contrary she wants to make every effort to climb up, in order to consolidate her power in the harem, she also introduced her younger sister Zhao Hede to Liu Ao.This Zhao Hede is more beautiful than Zhao Feiyan, and can fascinate the heart of Emperor Han Cheng even more. When people talk about the two sisters today, they all say "Hangong Feiyan", that is, the older sister Zhao Feiyan is more famous, but at that time, she really got It was her younger sister Zhao Hede who was favored by Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty.Although Zhao Hede is handsome, his scheming is far inferior to that of his sister, and most of the time he is used by his sister as a weapon.

And the guns of the two sisters were first aimed at one person - Queen Xu. At this time, Empress Xu had lost her favor, but in the feudal era, the empress's mother was in the world, and she could not be easily abolished. To achieve the purpose of replacing her, it must be a serious crime that can put people to death.The Zhao sisters found a good ally—General Wang Feng.Wang Feng was Liu Ao's uncle, and Liu Ao's mother, Wang Zhengjun's brother, was a powerful figure at that time.As a newly-prospered family of relatives, Wang Feng naturally couldn't tolerate Empress Xu who also came from a well-known Xu family. The Zhao family sisters were from a poor family and were lonely. Of course, they became the best partners for cooperation, so they hit it off.In 18 BC, the sisters of the Zhao family falsely accused Queen Xu of practicing "witchcraft" to curse the general Wang Feng.In fact, the cause of the incident was simply that Empress Xu had no children and wanted to seek a son through witchcraft. The simplest wish of a wife was ruined by a political conspiracy.

The beneficiaries of Queen Xu's abolition were of course the two Zhao Feiyan sisters. Afterwards, with the support of the Wang family and the special favor of Liu Ao, Zhao Feiyan was established as the queen of the world.This court coup actually had another profound meaning for the entire Han Empire. The royal family behind Liu Ao's mother had reached the point where one hand covered the sky. The five brothers of the Queen Mother Wang Zhengjun all became princes. Hou, the royal clan is spread all over the court, and the "name change" of the Western Han Dynasty is not far away.

But Liu Ao himself was not aware of this, not even Liu Ao's mother, Wang Zhengjun.This Wang Zhengjun herself is actually an old queen who is loyal to the Han Empire. Including when Wang Mang usurped power at the end, she refused to hand over the jade seal of the Han Dynasty under Wang Mang's several times of coercion, and finally used the method of throwing the jade seal. Show your attitude, but by then it's too late. After Zhao Feiyan became the queen, Liu Ao also had a good time, and indulged in the enjoyment with the Zhao family sisters every day, basically herding sheep on state affairs.This period was a period when the influence of foreign relatives in the Western Han Dynasty was growing, especially land annexation, which reached a climax during this period.The land seized by the Wang family has spread all over the country, the number of landless farmers is increasing, and rebellion is also brewing. In terms of foreign aggression, this period is also full of thunder. Small-scale turmoil began to occur continuously, and the disintegration of the empire was imminent at this time.

The Zhao family sisters got their wish, but there was a problem in front of them. They could not have a son.The way the Zhao family sisters dealt with this was very simple. If I don’t give birth, no one else would want to give birth. All pregnant concubines in the palace were killed by the sisters’ designs. At that time, there was a saying that “flying swallows peck, princes fall”.Later, in order to have a child as soon as possible, the sisters even had an affair with someone in an attempt to conceive, but the problem of not being able to give birth to a child was on their own. At that time, obstetrics and gynecology were not developed, so they could not conceive , God can't help it. However, this approach of the Zhao family sisters gave opportunities to the relatives of the Wang family who were expanding their power at this time, and kept killing the children of Emperor Han Cheng. It will be further consolidated.Empress Xu was deposed, and the Xu family, which implicated Empress Xu, was exiled. The Wang family lost a powerful enemy on the road to dictatorship, and the situation of dominance continued.And the most terrible thing is that Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty was in poor health in his later years, but he was still immersed in the gentle hometown of the Zhao family sisters. In order to continue his lewd pleasures, he did not hesitate to use aphrodisiac medicines to make up for it, and he "made up" himself to death . In 7 BC, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, who was excessively indulgent, died of illness in the arms of his favorite concubine Zhao Hede, ending his life of "inaction".The death of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty aroused the wrath of his mother, Wang Zhengjun. She pushed the responsibility for her son's death onto the sisters of the Zhao family, and sent one of her nephews to inquire. As a result, Zhao Hede committed suicide in shame under the inquiry.Zhao Feiyan's situation was a little better, because she advocated that Liu Xin, king of Dingtao, should be established as emperor and ascended the throne as Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty, so she also became the empress dowager.But the empress dowager was a lonely family. Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty passed away a few years later, and Zhao Feiyan was thrown into the cold palace, and died in depression ever since. It is worth mentioning that the official who killed Zhao Hede at that time, the nephew of the Queen Mother Wang Zhengjun, will kill the entire Western Han Empire in the near future. He is the famous Wang Mang. Throughout the history of the reigns of Emperor Han Yuan and Emperor Han Cheng, the most influential thing on the entire Han Empire was the rise of the royal family. In the rise of the royal clan, the "core" figure is Wang Zhengjun, the queen of Emperor Han Yuan. Her original surname is Tian, ​​and she is a descendant of the Tian family in Qi State.During the reign of Emperor Han Yuan, although the royal family flourished, they did not enter the center of power. They really came to power during the reign of Emperor Hancheng Liu Ao. Compared with his father who favored eunuchs, Liu Ao favored his relatives very much. The mother's brothers, the Wang family really took power from then on.But it was the Zhao Feiyan sisters who really contributed to the Wang family's rise to power.For the sake of their own pets, they excluded dissidents in the harem, in fact, they helped the Wang family get rid of all kinds of enemies.In the end, with the weakening of the Liu family in the Western Han Empire, it was already logical that the Wang family would replace them.After the death of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang, a new generation of talent from the royal family, began to take power. After years of painstaking efforts, he finally abolished the Han Dynasty in January 9 AD and changed the Yuan Dynasty to the "New" Dynasty.The fortress of the Western Han Empire, which dominated the East Asian continent, was finally breached from within and the country fell.