Chapter 24 Chapter 23 An Emperor Liu Hu

In August of the first year of Yanping in the Han Dynasty (AD 106), Emperor Shang died prematurely.Empress Dowager Deng conspired with her elder brother Deng Zhi, the chariot general, to welcome Liu Hu, the son of Qinghe King Liu Qing.Deng Zhi went to discuss with Taifu Zhang Yu, Situ Xufang and other ministers, and after obtaining their consent, he called Liu Hu into the palace overnight on the occasion of the Queen Mother.This year, Liu Hu just turned 13 years old.It was Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Hu ascended the throne, but did not catch up with the good time.Internal and external troubles, Pepsi is difficult.The first is the Hexi Express. Countries in the Western Regions were dissatisfied with the tyranny of Ren Shang, who served as the guardian after Ban Chao, and rebelled against the Han one after another.Then came the Qiang uprising. This war lasted for 11 years and cost more than 24 billion yuan. The vitality of the Eastern Han Dynasty was greatly damaged.In the second year of Yanguang (AD 123), news came from the west that the Northern Xiongnu and Cheshi joined forces to attack the four counties in Hexi.The ministers all advocated abandoning the Western Regions and returning to Yumen Pass.Only Zhang Dang, the prefect of Dunhuang, who returned to the capital from the frontier to report the situation, resisted all opinions. Tingwei Chen Zhong also believed that the relationship between the Western Regions and the Central Plains had been long-standing, and if he gave up easily, he would lose people's hearts. Resist the invasion of the Huns.Emperor Anti adopted the opinions of Zhang Dang and Chen Zhong, and appointed Ban Yong, the son of Ban Chao, as the chief historian of the Western Regions, and led 500 soldiers out of Tunliu Zhongcheng.After Ban Yong arrived in the Western Regions, relying on the military support of the four counties in Hexi and the vassal states of the Western Regions, he repelled the Xiongnu and surrendered the Cheshi, making the traffic between the Central Plains and the Western Regions smooth again.While the frontier is troubled, disasters have been happening in the country for years, and people's hearts are fluctuating.In the year when Emperor Andi came to the throne, there were 18 county-states that had earthquakes, 41 county-states had floods, and 28 county-states were hit by storms and hail.In the third year of Yanguang (AD 124), an earthquake occurred in the capital and 23 counties, 36 counties suffered floods and hail, and the people were in great distress.

At this time, although Liu Hu was the emperor, the actual power of government affairs was still in the hands of the Empress Dowager Deng and Deng Zhi.Empress Dowager Deng relied on Cai Lun, the eunuch who suppressed the township Hou Zhengzhong and the monk Fang Ling.The courtiers saw that the government was controlled by their relatives and eunuchs, so they assembled a group of bureaucrats and officials who were also dissatisfied with this, and planned to launch a coup d'etat, killing Deng Zhi, Zheng Zhong, and Cai Lun, deposing the Queen Mother and Emperor An, and establishing Liu Sheng, the king of Pingyuan, as emperor.The news was accidentally leaked, and Empress Dowager Deng quickly counterattacked.In the first year of Yongning (AD 120), Emperor An was 26 years old.Langzhong Dugen played to the queen mother, saying that Emperor An has grown up, please let him handle government affairs independently.Empress Dowager Deng was furious when she heard that, and ordered Dugen to be covered with a cloth bag, killed with a stick, and then thrown outside the city.The Empress Dowager's younger brother, Deng Kang, the captain of the Yueqi School, also persuaded him to retire to the deep palace and stop interfering in political affairs, but the Empress Dowager Deng remained stubborn.When Deng Kang saw that the Queen Mother did not accept the advice, he said that he was ill and would not go to court.In a rage, the Empress Dowager Deng dismissed Deng Kang from office and expelled Deng Kang from his clan.

However, among several powerful foreign relative groups in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Deng's performance was relatively good.Empress Dowager Deng rewarded relevant officials, including Deng Zhi, for the merits of Emperor Li'an's decision-making, and granted 3,000 additional food towns.The Deng brothers refused to accept it, so that they hid when the envoys came, and finally had to give up.In normal times, the Deng brothers are also cautious, law-abiding, and hardworking.This is of course related to the strict requirements that Queen Mother Deng placed on her family.But even so, it cannot eliminate the sharp contradiction between the imperial power and the power of foreign relatives.

In the first year of Jianguang (AD 121), Empress Dowager Deng died, and Emperor An was in charge.At this time, a group of eunuchs headed by Wang Sheng, the nursing mother, Li Run of the Zhonghuangmen, and Jiang Jing had formed around Emperor An.Emperor Andi had long been dissatisfied with being constrained by the status of the Empress Dowager Deng, and the death of the Empress Dowager was tantamount to a political liberation for him.Soon after the Queen Mother's death, several palace people who had been punished by the Queen Mother falsely accused the Queen Mother's brothers Deng Kui, Deng Hong, and Deng Lu of plotting to abolish Emperor An and make Pingyuan King another emperor.This false accusation hit Emperor An's heart, and Deng Kui and others were sentenced to death for treason.Deng Zhi was dismissed from office and returned to the county because of ignorance, and was persecuted to death by county officials.Because Deng Zhi was innocent and killed, the ministers refused to accept it.Da Si Nong Zhu Chong and others spoke out outrightly, complaining for their grievances.In order to appease the grievances of the officials, Emperor An hypocritically condemned the state and county officials, and ordered Deng Zhi to be buried properly.

In the struggle between foreign relatives and eunuchs, the eunuch group gained power again.Emperor An made Jiangjing the Marquis of Duxiang and Li Run the Marquis of Yongxiang.Andi's nursing mother Wang Sheng and her daughter Bo Rong were even more favored, living extravagantly, taking bribes, entering and leaving the court at will, interfering in political affairs, and doing all kinds of evil.Borong once went to Ganling, and along the way he shouted and hugged, and county officials lined the road to greet him and see him off.Some sheriffs and princes even kowtowed to Bo Rong's car.

At this time, sharp conflicts also arose between the bureaucratic group and the eunuchs.The courtiers represented by Yang Zhen repeatedly asked Emperor An to restrain and punish the domineering eunuchs, but Emperor An always ignored them.The eunuchs who were exposed took the opportunity to make false accusations, and finally killed the upright Yang Zhen. At the time when internal and external troubles were rampant, a desperate struggle for the succession to the throne began again in the palace.Empress Yan of Emperor An was infertile for many years. In the first year of Yongning (120 A.D.), Liu Bao, the son of Li Shi, who established Emperor An's palace, became the crown prince.Li Shi had been poisoned by Queen Yan before that.Empress Yan was afraid that the prince would pursue the murder of his mother after he succeeded to the throne, so she made every effort to get rid of Liu Bao.Empress Yan joined forces with the eunuchs such as Fan Feng, and first sentenced the prince's nurse Wang Nan and the chef Bing Ji to death, and removed the prince's wings;Emperor An doted on Empress Yan, so he had the heart to abolish Li.The abolition of the crown prince has to be discussed by the ministers, and the general Geng Bao, adhering to the will of Queen Yan, strongly advocated the depose of Liu Bao.Taichang Huanyan and Tingwei Zhang Hao retorted: "You are less than 15 years old, and you have not done evil. I hope that your majesty will choose a teacher with high morals for the prince, and he will guide him with etiquette and righteousness. Naturally, he will behave well." Unconsciously, he deposed Liu Bao and named him King Jiyin.

In the fourth year of Yanguang (125 A.D.), Emperor An died on his southern tour. He reigned for 20 years and was 32 years old.At that time, he was buried in Gongling, with the temple name "Gongzong" and posthumous title "Andi".