Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

In the fall of the second year of Han Yuanshou (AD 1), a 9-year-old child ascended the throne of the emperor in the front hall of Weiyang. This is the eleventh generation emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Hanping Emperor Liu Jin. Liu Jin is the son of Liu Xing, the filial king of Zhongshan, and the grandson of Emperor Han Yuan.Emperor Yuan had three sons: Liu Ao, Liu Kang, and Liu Xing.Liu Ao was born to Queen Wang Zhengjun, who succeeded him as Emperor Cheng; Liu Kang, born to Fu Zhaoyi, whose son Liu Xin succeeded him as Emperor; Liu Xing was born to Feng Zhaoyi.The Feng family is the daughter of Feng Fengshi, a Shangdang member.In the second year of Emperor Yuan's accession to the throne, Mrs. Feng was selected into the palace and worshiped as a beauty a few months later.In the second year of Yongguang (42 BC), Feng Mei gave birth to a son, Liu Xing, who was named Jieyu.In the second year of Jianzhao (37 BC), the prince Liu Xing was 5 years old and was named the king of Xindu. 14 years later, he was renamed King of Zhongshan.

Liu Xing had been king for many years and had no children, so Emperor Cheng ordered Wei Zihao's daughter to be Liu Xingji.In the fourth year of Emperor Cheng Yuanyan (9 BC), Wei Ji gave birth to a son, named Jizi.In the following year, Liu Xing died, and Jizi succeeded him as king.At that time, Jizi was under one year old and suffered from severe liver disease. In the second year of Yuanshou (1st AD), Emperor AI Liu Xin died.He had no sons, and Jizi, who was closest to him by blood, was "naturally" the heir to the throne.In the autumn of that year, the Empress Dowager sent General Wang Shun on chariots and Da Honglu Zuo Xian, who was in charge of foreign affairs, to Zhongshan to welcome Jizi on festivals.Two months later, in the sound of "Long live" from all the officials, Jizi ascended the throne of God.Because the nickname "Jizi" was a crude utensil, Emperor Ping issued an edict in the second year of Yuanshi (2) to change the name to "衎", which means "harmony".

As early as the day Ai Emperor Liu Xin died, because he had no heirs and no heir was appointed, his grandmother, the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, seized the power in time.Then, she single-handedly manipulated her nephew Wang Mang's entry into the palace and other affairs.After Emperor Ping succeeded to the throne, because he was young and sick, the Empress Dowager, who was more than a few years old, came to the court and appointed Wang Mang.Wang Mang is domineering and domineering, Wei Fu judges himself, and Emperor Ping, who sits on the supreme seat, is just a doll of this powerful minister.

Originally, Jizi was the heir to the throne, and his mother, Wei Ji, was the queen mother.But Wang Mang was afraid that Wei's relatives would divide his power, so he made Liu Cheng the king of Zhongshan and worshiped Wei Ji as the queen of Xiao Wang of Zhongshan. She stayed in Zhongshan and did not allow her to go to Chang'an, the capital.Not only that, Wang Mang also carefully planned to marry a wife for Emperor Ping in order to firmly control the government for a long time. In the third year of Yuanshi (3 AD), Emperor Ping turned 11 years old.Wang Mang planned to marry his daughter to Emperor Ping as the queen, using his nepotism to further consolidate his position.For this reason, he sent a high-sounding memorial to the empress dowager, saying that the country was plagued by disasters and turmoil in the past, mostly because the emperor had no heirs, and the empress he married lacked the character and dignity of the mother of the world.Now the marriage etiquette should be defined according to the definition of the "Five Classics", and a lady should be selected as the queen among the descendants of famous families.The Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun ordered the lady's name to be presented for her to choose.Wang Mang was worried that his daughter would lose the election and let someone else's daughter be the queen, so he wrote a letter saying that he had no virtue and his daughter was not talented, so he was not worthy of the election.The Empress Dowager greatly praised Wang Mang's "sincerity" and issued an edict not to choose Wang Mang's daughter.Unexpectedly, with the Queen Mother's edict, common people, Confucian scholars, and hundreds of officials wrote letters one after another, singing praises for Wang Mang and his daughter. Facing those cumbersome memorials, the Empress Dowager had no choice but to agree to their request.

According to the traditional wedding, the Empress Dowager sent Xiahoufan of Changle Shaofu who was in charge of the affairs of the queen and the prince, Zongzheng Liu Hong who was in charge of royal affairs, and Shangshu Lingpingyan who was in charge of national documents, and others to Wang Mang's house for a "blind date".As a result, those who had been coerced and lured by Wang Mang all told back that Wang Mang's daughter was virtuous, benevolent, graceful and dignified, and she was very suitable to be a queen.The Empress Dowager sent Situ Magong, who was in charge of the national education work, and Sikong Zhenfeng, who was in charge of the country's water and soil, to predict whether the marriage would be auspicious.They first went to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices and pray, and then divination, and the result was naturally "good luck".Finally, in the spring of the following year, Emperor Ping married the daughter of Wang Mang, who was 3 years older than him, and was immediately named queen.

However, as he grew older, Emperor Ping became increasingly dissatisfied with Wang Mang's domineering power, especially for Wang Mang's refusal to let his mother Wei Ji enter the capital. Wang Mang was afraid and wanted to get rid of Emperor Ping first.In the winter of the fifth year of Yuanshi (AD 5), Emperor Ping's old illness relapsed.Wang Mang showed great hospitality to Emperor Ping who was ill, pretended to be heartbroken, and went to Taiyuan (the place where the Western Han Dynasty worshiped heaven) to plead for orders, vowing to replace Emperor Ping's illness with his own body.At the same time, he secretly watched the opportunity and prepared to attack Emperor Ping.On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Mang put poison in the wine in the name of paying tribute to pepper wine. Emperor Ping died after drinking the birthday wine sent by his father-in-law at the age of 13.Buried in Kangling, posthumously "Emperor Xiaoping".