Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven Cheng Emperor Liu Ao

Liu Ao, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, styled Taisun, was born in Chang'an in the third year of Ganlu (51 BC).When he was born, his grandfather Emperor Xuan was on the throne, his father Liu Shi was the crown prince, and his mother Wang Zhengjun was the crown prince.Because he was the eldest son of the prince, Emperor Xuan loved him very much. He not only played with him from time to time, but also named him himself.When Liu Ao was 3 years old, Emperor Xuan died. His father succeeded him as Emperor Yuan.In the first year of Jingning (33 BC), he succeeded to the throne and reigned for 27 years.

Because he was deeply loved by his grandfather Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, Liu Ao's position as the crown prince has always been relatively stable. The Emperor Yuan also specially appointed his son-in-law, Duwei, and his servant Shi Dan to take care of the crown prince.But in the later years of Emperor Yuan, there was a crisis.The first reason is that Liu Ao lived too comfortably when he grew up, "Lucky wine, happy Yanle", Emperor Yuan believed that being a crown prince should not be so enjoyable; second, Emperor Yuan had a preference for his other son Dingtao King Liu Kang.Emperor Cheng has two half-brothers, one is the younger brother Zhongshan Wang Liu Xing, born to Feng Zhaoyi, and the other is Liu Kang.Liu Kang was the son of Fu Zhaoyi, the favorite concubine of Emperor Yuan at that time. He was "multi-talented", so Emperor Yuan liked him very much.In the first year of Jingning (33 BC), Emperor Yuan was seriously ill. Fu Zhaoyi and King Dingtao were diligent in serving him, and the crown prince rarely came to see him. He plans to follow the example of Emperor Jing by abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones, and changing Dingtao to be the crown prince.The queen, Emperor Cheng and his uncle Wei Wei waiter Wang Feng and others were extremely worried, but they didn't know what to do.In the end, fortunately, it was Shi Dan who went directly to Emperor Yuan's sickbed to express his feelings for the prince, and because Emperor Yuan considered that Emperor Xuan loved the grandson very much, so Emperor Cheng's status as prince was preserved, and there were no twists and turns in the future.Soon, Emperor Yuan died, and Emperor Cheng succeeded to the throne at the age of 19.In the second year of Emperor Cheng's succession, the year name was changed to "Jianshi", and five years later, it was changed to "Heping". After that, the year name was changed every four years, successively "Yangshuo", "Hongjia", "Yongshi", "Yuanyan", "Suihe".He died in the second year of Suihe (7 BC) and reigned for 27 years.

Emperor Cheng was gentle and introverted, cautious, more than humble, but not forthright.Once, Emperor Yuan wanted to call him to see him urgently. If he bought time, he could cross the "road" that the emperor walked alone and arrive at the palace soon, but he took a detour cautiously and arrived very late.Chengdi's "broad and cautious" character had a great influence on his subsequent rule.After he succeeded to the throne, he tried to strengthen the imperial power, but failed to weaken the power of his relatives, which is not unrelated. Like his father and ancestors, Liu Ao began to read scriptures since he was a child under the trend of "respecting only Confucianism".When he was a teenager, he admired the Confucian classics even more, especially the "Poetry", and he was quite proficient.Perhaps it is precisely because of this that technology and culture have made great progress during the Chengdi period.During this period, the famous agricultural book "Book of Fansheng" appeared, which summarized the agricultural production technology in the north, especially in the Guanzhong area.In the first year of Heping (28 BC), there was the earliest record of sunspots recognized in the world.In addition, it also left the most detailed observation record of Halley's Comet in ancient my country.

In terms of culture, a large-scale collection and arrangement of books was carried out during the reign of Emperor Cheng.Ancient Chinese cultural classics used to be quite rich, but many of them were burned or lost due to the "burning of books and burying Confucianism" in the Qin Dynasty and the burning of Xianyang by Chu.In the early Han Dynasty, the "law of holding books" was abolished, and a large number of books appeared among the people.For this reason, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once formulated a book collection policy, appointed officials who wrote books, collected various books, and stored them in the secret mansion, but there are still many lost.When he became emperor, he issued an imperial edict to carry out the earliest large-scale collection of books in my country.This work was specifically in charge of by Liu Xiang, a famous scholar at that time, Doctor Guanglu.But Liu Xiang passed away, and his son Liu Xin continued to complete it when he was Emperor Ai, compiling the earliest catalog of books in my country, "Seven Strategies".

Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty indulged in sensuality and extravagance, and his life was quite decadent.As early as when he was the prince, Emperor Cheng was "excellent in wine".After succeeding to the throne, there were many absurd things.In the later period of his reign, he was good at traveling in secret, and he often took more than 10 attendants in and out of the city in casual clothes.He also set up private land among the people, and kept private slaves, chariots and horses in Beigong.Even many ministers feel sad and disappointed by this.Gu Yong and others made several admonitions, but Emperor Cheng insisted on going his own way and did not listen at all.

Emperor Cheng established two empresses: one is Empress Xu and the other is Empress Zhao.Empress Xu was the daughter of Xu Jia, the Marquis of Pingen, the Great Sima Chariot Rider during the reign of Emperor Yuan.When Emperor Cheng became the prince, he was chosen by Emperor Yuan to marry him.Concubine Xu once gave birth to a son who died young.Not long after Emperor Cheng came to the throne, the Xu family was established as the queen, gave birth to a daughter, and died young.This Empress Xu is intelligent and good at history books, and has been favored by Emperor Cheng for a long time.In order to enable Emperor Cheng to have an heir as soon as possible, the Queen Mother and the uncles of the Wang family expressed more and more dissatisfaction with her exclusive favor, and took the opportunity to belittle her, making her gradually fall out of favor.In the third year of Hongjia (18 B.C.), the queen's sister Xu Ye, as a flatterer, cursed the pregnant Wang Meiren and the emperor's uncle Wang Feng in the harem. After the incident was discovered, the queen Xu was implicated and was abolished in Zhaotai Palace. 15 years.

After Empress Xu was abolished, Empress Zhao succeeded to the throne.Empress Zhao was named "Feiyan", originally from Chang'an Palace, and later a dancer of Princess Yang'a's family. Because she was light and good at dancing, she was named "Feiyan".Emperor Cheng traveled slightly to Princess Yang'a's home, and was attracted by her graceful dancing skills, so he was called into the palace.Later, when they heard that her younger sister was beautiful, she called her into the palace. Both of them were conferred the title of Jieyu, and they were all in the harem.At this time, Empress Xu had fallen out of favor. In order to ascend the throne of empress, the Zhao sisters participated in the frame-up of Empress Xu.Empress Xu was deposed, Feiyan was made empress, and her sister was made Zhaoyi.The Queen Zhao sisters were always favored by Emperor Cheng for the next 10 years, but they never had children.In order to maintain their special favor, they tortured the concubines who had children in the harem to the extent that "those who gave birth to children were killed frequently, and those who had abortions were countless."After the death of Emperor Cheng, Empress Zhao was honored as Empress Dowager.Although the ministers at the time demanded that the Zhao family be deposed, because Empress Zhao had strongly advocated making Emperor Ai the crown prince and had a personal favor with Emperor Ai, she only forced her sister Zhao Zhaoyi to commit suicide, and Emperor Ai still respected her as the empress dowager.It was not until Emperor Ai's death and Wang Mang was in power that he abolished Empress Zhao as a commoner in the name of the Empress Dowager, and the Zhao family was forced to commit suicide.

During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, his political achievements were mediocre.Its commendable achievements are reducing money, prohibiting extravagance and strengthening imperial power.The former was implemented in the second year of Jianshi (31 BC).In this year, Emperor Cheng set up the southern and northern suburbs of Chang'an. In order to seek auspiciousness, he issued an edict to reduce the money of the world, and the number of people was 40.According to the system in the Han Dynasty, the calculation of fu was 120 per person, but now it is reduced to 40. Although the number is limited, it is still a blessing to the vast number of farmers who are burdened heavily.Luxury was banned in the fourth year of Yongshi (13 BC).At this time, the ruler has become increasingly decadent, sensual and sensual, and strives for luxury.For example, the five lords of the Wang family, the foreign relatives, according to historical records, "the five lords compete for luxury, and those who give away treasures come from all directions; there are dozens of concubines in the back court, and thousands of child slaves. Zheng Nu advocates excellence, and dogs and horses gallop around; overhaul the house, build up earth and hills, and gradually build up terraces, caves, high corridors, pavilions and roads, in a continuous line." For the long-term interests of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Cheng issued an edict to prohibit extravagance this year.Although this did not have much utility at the time, it also made some sense.

As for Emperor Cheng's strengthening of imperial power, he mainly set up Shangshu and Sangong.The Shangshu was set up in the fourth year of Jianshi (28 BC).At the beginning of this year, Emperor Cheng appointed 5 ministers, one of whom was called "Shangshu Pushe"; the four were divided into four Caos: Chang Shi Cao, who was in charge of the affairs of the ministers; Cao is in charge of the affairs of the officials and the people; Kecao is in charge of the affairs of ethnic minorities and foreign exchanges.The Shangshu has a wide range of powers and is actually the emperor's secretarial agency.Its setting signifies the emperor's increased control over court affairs.The implementation of the Sangong system was in the first year of Suihe (8 BC).In this year, Emperor Cheng issued an edict to dismiss the generals and officials, and made General Da Sima Hushi as Da Sima, and Doctor Yushi as Da Sikong.Because Da Sima and Da Sikong have the same authority and status as the prime minister, they are collectively called "three gongs" together with the prime minister.The establishment of the three metric system was the product of the strengthening of imperial power and the further development of contradictions with relative power at that time.On the surface, Emperor Cheng's setting up the three princes was just to change one prime minister into three prime ministers, but in fact, the power of the prime minister was divided into three, and the three princes did not rule each other, which would inevitably strengthen the emperor's autocracy.

However, Emperor Cheng's character determined that his strengthening of imperial power was nothing more than a system, and in fact it had little effect.After Emperor Cheng succeeded to the throne, he honored his mother as the empress dowager, and his uncle Yangping Hou Wangfeng was the chief secretary of the great general Sima, who held the real power in the court.Emperor Cheng was cowardly by nature, and Wang Feng was his uncle, so he was more humble to Wang Feng in government affairs.Once, Emperor Cheng wanted to appoint Liu Xin, a talented scholar, as a regular servant, but he didn't tell Wang Feng.The government at that time was basically in the hands of the foreign relative Wang.They are domineering and domineering, forming a party for personal gain, and throwing the whole country into chaos.The so-called "Gongqing sees (Wang) Feng, and looks sideways, and the governors of the counties and states all come out of his door."

During the 27 years of Emperor Cheng's reign, his relatives, the Wang family, always held the power in the court.Out of loyalty to the Han Dynasty, dissatisfaction with the Wang family's monopoly, and anxiety about their personal future, many insightful people from the landlord class have clamored for the dismissal of the Wang family.Jingzhaoyin Wangzhang was famous for his uprightness in the court. At that time, Wang Feng was in power and "all political affairs, big or small, came from Feng." Xian instead.There are three reasons: one is that the solar eclipse symbolizes "ministership", which originally refers to the monopoly of Wang Feng, but Wang Feng pushed it to Liu Kang, the king of Dingtao, and forced Liu Kang to become a vassal; second, the former prime minister Wang Shang He belonged to the late emperor's family, and he was upright. He was framed because he refused to join Wang Feng, and the officials and people in the court felt wronged for him. Then sent to the harem, but on the pretext of his strong fertility, dedicated to the emperor, for his own personal gain.Emperor Cheng was very dissatisfied with Wang Feng's forcing Tao Wang to rule the country and dismiss Wang Shang. After reading Wang Zhang's letter, he decided to dismiss Wang Feng.But the news was leaked. After Wang Feng knew about it, he preemptively threatened to resign, saying that he was ill and threatened to resign. His sister, the Queen Mother, also shed tears and went on a hunger strike to put pressure on Emperor Cheng.As a result, not only was Wang Feng not dismissed, but Wang Zhang was convicted, arrested and imprisoned, where he died. His wife and children were moved to Hepu (northeast of Hepu, Guangle today).The clan of the Western Han Dynasty, the king of Chu, Liu Xiang, also appealed to Emperor Cheng many times to dismiss the Wang family. Although Emperor Cheng believed that Liu Xiang was right, he did not seize the power of the Wang family in the end. Emperor Cheng had his own considerations in handing over the power to the Wang family all the time.He knows that scholars are not reliable, because most of them will form cliques for personal gain when they are in power;In Emperor Cheng's view, the most reliable ones were relatives.Because he was able to ascend the throne of the emperor, his relatives made great efforts.Of course, he is not without concerns about his relatives.He was well aware of Zhulu's rebellion in the early Han Dynasty, and he was also very aware of the continuous letters against the Wang family by the ministers of the court, so he also suspected Wang's family.However, under the influence of various pressures and speeches defending Wang, coupled with his cowardly nature, he still had illusions about the blood relationship between his mother and uncle. After repeated hesitation, he finally dispelled his doubts about Wang.Therefore, in the reign of Emperor Cheng, although there were many voices against the Wang family's monopoly, the Wang family always held the power in the court because of the support of Emperor Cheng.So much so that when Wang Mang arrived, he finally established another dynasty and replaced it with the Liu family. Emperor Cheng had always been childless, and he was sick at the end of his reign. Realizing that he would not have any more sons, he ordered the court to discuss the vassal king as the prince in the fourth year of Yuanyan (9 BC).One of the candidates at that time was his younger brother Zhongshan King Liu Xing, and the other was his nephew Dingtao King Liu Xin (son of Liu Kang).Kong Guang, the official censor, according to the "Shangshu" that the succession to the throne of the Yin Dynasty was brother and brother, believed that the king of Zhongshan was the son of Emperor Yuan and could be the prince; while the family Wang and Queen Zhao believed that the Han family system was father-son succession, and Dingtao king He is the nephew of Emperor Cheng and should be the prince.In the end, Emperor Cheng ruled: Brothers do not enter the temple together, and King Zhongshan is not talented, but King Tao is more talented, and King Tao is appointed as the prince.In the second year, that is, the first year of Suihe, the executive Jinwu was appointed as Hongshou Dahonghe, and Tao Wang was appointed as the crown prince with the festival, and Guanglu Xun Shidan was the grand master.Emperor Cheng died in the second year of the establishment of the prince, and the prince succeeded to the throne, namely Emperor Ai. In March of the second year of Suihe (7 BC), Emperor Cheng died of illness suddenly in Chang'an Palace at the age of 46.After his death, he was buried in Yanling, with the posthumous title of "Emperor Xiaocheng".When Wang Mang was in power, the name of the temple was "Tongzong".