Chapter 28 Chapter 27 Emperor Huan Liu Zhi

Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty Liu Zhi, great-grandson of Emperor Zhang, was born in Liwu (now southwest of Boye, Hebei) in the first year of Shun Emperor Yangjia (AD 132).His grandfather was Liu Kai, king of filial piety in Hejian, his father was Liu Yi, Marquis of Liwu, and his mother was Liu Yi's concubine, Ming.Because of his father's death, Liu Zhi became a marquis at a young age. He ascended the throne at the age of 15 as Emperor Huan and reigned for 21 years. According to regulations, those who are princes outside the country should not inherit the great rule.However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were frequent breakers of this regulation. The reason was that the relatives or eunuchs in power hoped to find a young and ignorant little emperor in order to continue to control the government.Emperor Huan's throne was thus lucky to come.

In the first year of Zhidi Benchu ​​(AD 146), Empress Liang Yu of Shunlie recruited Liu Zhi as empress dowager to Xiamen Pavilion in the north of Luoyang City, planning to marry her younger sister to Liu Zhi.But the wedding had not yet been held. Liang Ji, the empress dowager's elder brother who was a general, accused Zhidi of being a "dominant general" because he was only 8 years old because he was smart, and poisoned Zhidi to death.Therefore, the court has to discuss the establishment of a new emperor. At that time, Liang Ji considered that Liu Zhi was 15 years old and easy to manipulate, so he proposed to establish Liu Zhi; Taiwei Li Gu, Situ Hu Guang, and Sikong Zhao Jie proposed to welcome the older Qinghe King Liu Lian in order to weaken the Liang family.So Liang Ji summoned Sangong, Zhong Erqianshi, and Liehou to discuss the matter.As a result, Li Gu, Hu Guang, Zhao Jie, and Dahongyu Du Qiao all believed that the king of Qinghe was "famous for his virtue" and that he was the closest blood relative to Emperor Zhi (he was Zhidi's brother), so he should be established as his heir; Liang Ji couldn't find another The reasons for objection had to be announced to suspend the discussion.

The next day, the ministers met again to discuss, and Liang Ji severely forced the ministers to establish Emperor Huan.Under Liang Ji's despotic power, those ministers had no choice but to obey, but Li Gu insisted on his own opinion.In order to eliminate resistance, Liang Ji asked the Empress Dowager Liang to issue an edict to dismiss Li Gu.In this way, in the leap month of Gengyin (AD 146), Liang Ji finally held the festival, and used the princes Wang Qing to build a chariot to welcome Liu Zhi into the Nangong, that is, the emperor.In this way, Liu Zhi became emperor under the single-handed manipulation of his relatives, the Liang family.

Emperor Huan reigned for 21 years, and was basically a puppet emperor for the first 13 years.At that time, the Empress Dowager Liang was in charge of the court, and Liang Ji was in charge of the government, so he could hardly comment.Although the Empress Dowager Liang issued an edict to return to power in the first year of peace (150 AD), Liang Ji was domineering, and Emperor Huan had to rely on her.Emperor Huan's real pro-government was the last 8 years of his reign, and during these 8 years, many major events occurred, that is, "three breaks in the prison, one removal of internal affairs, and then execution of foreign officials".The so-called "three big prisons", one is to punish Liang Ji, the other is to abolish the Deng family, and the third is to imprison party members; Cheng Xuan, the prefect of Nanyang, and Liu Zhi, the prefect of Taiyuan.

After Liang Ji established Emperor Huan, his power reached its peak.He first used the "disaster" as an excuse to let the Empress Dowager Liang exempt the Taiwei Du Qiao, and then killed Li Gu and Du Qiao on charges.In addition, Emperor Huan respected him very much, entrusted him with great power in the court, and even stipulated that he could "enter the court without tending, walk on the sword, go to the palace, pay homage to him, and his etiquette is better than Xiao He"; Yu; rewarded money, slaves, colored silk, chariots and horses, clothes, Jiadi, Bihuo Guang; also named his younger brother Liang Buyi as Marquis of Yingyang, Liang Meng as Marquis of Xiping, his son Liang Yin as Marquis of Xiangyi, and his wife Sun Shou became the Lord of Xiangcheng, and he also bestowed Chifu, Princess Bichang.In this way, Liang Ji became more domineering and tyrannical.All political affairs in the court, big or small, are decided by him; the promotion, appointment and removal of hundreds of officials must first go to his home to thank him before going to the Shangshutai to go through the formalities; , and then dedicated the inferior ones to Emperor Huan.As a result, he "acts prestige inside and outside, all officials look sideways, dare not disobey orders, the emperor respects himself and cannot be intimate."In addition, both Liang Ji and his wife Sun Shou were extravagant and desperate, searched for wealth, built luxury houses, were cruel and greedy, and the people were very angry.

Emperor Huan also had resentment for Liang Ji's brutality, but because his two younger sisters were by his side, he did not dare to explode.In the second year of Yanxi, Liang Ji's second sister, Empress Liang, died, and Emperor Huan began to plan to kill the Liang family.When he went to the bathroom, he called the eunuch Tang Heng alone, and asked him who among the eunuchs was at odds with Liang Ji.Tang Heng replied that there were Shan Chao, Zuo Kui, Xu Huang and Ju Yuan.Emperor Huan conspired with the five of them, decided to kill Liang Ji, and bit Shan Chao's arm bleeding with his teeth to form an alliance.In August Ding Chou, Emperor Huan came to the front hall, called Shangshu into the hall, and announced that Liang Ji would be punished.He ordered Shangshu to order Yin Xun to lead Chenglang and below to guard the court, and to send the talisman to the province; ordered Huangmen Ling Gu Yuan to surround the residence of Liang Ji with more than 1,000 members of the Imperial Forest Army and Sili Xiaowei Zhang Biao; ordered Guang Luxun Yuan Xuchi The festival received the seal and ribbon of the general of Liang and Ji, and he was relocated to the township of Bijingdu.Liang Ji and Sun Shou committed suicide on the same day, and the Liang and Sun families all abandoned the market.Dozens of other ministers and ministers died because of their involvement, and more than 300 officials and guests were dismissed. For a while, "the court was empty", and the people all celebrated.

After Emperor Huan punished Liang and Ji, five eunuchs Shan Chao, Zuo Wei, Xu Huang, Ju Yuan, and Tang Heng were named Marquises on the same day for their meritorious service in conspiring to kill Liang and Ji.Shan Chao is the general of chariots and cavalry, the same rank as Sangong.From then on, power fell into the hands of eunuchs again.They hijacked Emperor Huan and acted indiscriminately, causing "China and foreign countries to obey and hold their breath", so that those who follow me prosper and those who oppose me perish. The arbitrariness of the eunuch Wuhou and his relatives not only opposed the upright officials in the court, but also aroused Emperor Huan's concern. Their powerful power threatened the imperial power, so they slowly began to restrict the Wuhou.Emperor Huan first used the eunuch Hou Lan and others to divide their power; then he attacked them on the grounds that they harmed the people.In the eighth year of Yanxi (AD 165), Sili Xiaowei Han played the crime of Zuo Yu, and his elder brother, the eunuch Hou Zuo of Nanxiang, said, "Please entrust the prefectures and counties, gather them as traitors, let the guests indulge, and violate the officials and people." Accurate.As a result, the Zuo brothers were forced to commit suicide.Han Yan also played Gu Ai's brother Gu Gong for embezzlement, and Emperor Huan also ordered to recruit Tingwei.Ju Ai had no choice but to return Dongwu Hou Yinshou, and went to the prison to apologize.Emperor Huan issued an imperial edict to demote him to the title of Marquis of Duxiang, and later died at home.Then, Emperor Huan issued an edict that the successors of Shanchao, Xu Huang and Tang Heng should all be reduced to township lords; those who were entrusted by their children would all be exempted from noble titles.This is the so-called "one elimination of internal pain".

Emperor Huan's suppression of the eunuchs and five princes was only to strengthen the imperial power and did not want to eliminate them, so after suppressing them a little, the power was still handed over to them.And the newly re-used eunuchs were also brutal and domineering after they came to power, and they fished the people.Zhongchang servant Hou Lan was greedy for extravagance and indulged in extravagance. He seized 118 hectares of land and 318 houses before and after, and imitated the palace to build 16 large-scale residential areas, all of which have pavilions, ponds, and gardens.On the other hand, due to the monopoly of eunuchs, their minions were placed in the central and local institutions at all levels, and the situation of false elections was even more serious.

During the time of Emperor Huan, there was another bad policy of selling officials and nobles.At that time, due to the extravagance and corruption of the ruling class, the national finances were basically exhausted.Under such circumstances, on the one hand, Emperor Huan took measures to increase the exploitation of farmers to solve financial difficulties. Reduce the salaries of hundreds of officials, borrow taxes from kings and marquises, and sell officials.Emperor Huan's sale of officials and titles began in the fourth year of Yanxi (AD 161).In this year, Lingwu Qiang and Xianling Qiang and other ethnic minorities revolted and moved to Sanfu (now the central part of Shaanxi Province). At the same time, he ordered the sale of Guannei Hou, Huben Lang, Habayashi Lang, Tiqi Yingshi, and the five doctors at different prices.Emperor Huan’s malpractice of selling officials and nobles had a very bad influence at that time. Not only did corruption become a legal act, which directly undermined the administration of officials, but also increased the burden on the people due to the raids of corrupt officials, and opened a precedent for the larger-scale selling of officials and nobles during the reign of Emperor Ling. .

Due to various maladministrations such as eunuchs in power, selling officials, etc., Hengdi's government was extremely bad.In order to maintain the Eastern Han Dynasty, and also for their own political way out, some upright officials, some imperial students and students from the prefecture and the country united to launch the "clear discussion".They discussed politics, criticized people, and slammed the eunuch group in public opinion.At the same time, some more enlightened officials also tried their best to attack the power of eunuchs within their scope of authority. In the ninth year of Yanxi, Cheng Yu arrested the rich businessman Zhang Si in Nanyang. This man relied on the power of eunuchs to run wild in the village, just when Emperor Huan announced an amnesty. Attacking the eunuchs, he ignored the amnesty, killed Zhang Si, and captured more than 200 guests of his clan, and killed them all before he played to Emperor Huan.Similarly, Liu Wangzhi arrested Zhao Jin, a xiaohuangmen colluding with eunuchs, in Runan, and tortured Zhao Jin regardless of the amnesty order.As a result, it aroused strong anger from the eunuch group.Hou Lan ordered Zhang Si's wife to file a lawsuit, and other eunuchs followed suit. Therefore, in order to ensure the central government's control of the local area and vent their anger on the slaves, Emperor Huan arrested Cheng Xuan and Liu Wangzhi and ordered the relevant departments to trial.In the end, both were abandoned.This is the so-called "punishing foreign ministers again".

Then, Emperor Heng Liu Zhi took a bigger move, launching the "party ban" incident to suppress the direct ministers who attacked the eunuchs.At that time, Li Ying, a native of Xiangcheng (now Fangfang City, Henan Province), was the leader of the struggle against the eunuch group.When he was Henan Yin, he was imprisoned for cracking down on eunuchs.Soon, Sili Xiaowei should send a letter to intercede for him, and was pardoned again, and later became Sili Xiaowei.Eunuch Zhang Rang's younger brother, Ren Ye Wang Ling, was greedy, cruel and innocent, killed pregnant women, and hid in Zhang Rang's house in fear of crime.After Li Ying knew about it, he led his officials and soldiers to Zhang Rang's house to find out his younger brother and execute him.Therefore, many eunuchs were afraid of Li Ying and dared not go out of the palace gate when they were on vacation.Li Ying dared to attack eunuchs in power, and his reputation became higher and higher. It was considered a great honor for scholar-bureaucrats to be received by him, and it was called "climbing the dragon's gate". Respected by the scholar-official class.The anti-eunuch struggle headed by Li Ying angered the eunuch group in power.In the ninth year of Yanxi, the eunuch sent people to falsely accuse Li Ying and others of making friends with college students and students from the county and country, "together for the party, slandering the imperial court, and suspicious of customs." There are more than 200 people including Li Ying and Chen Shi.Some party members fled, and Emperor Huan offered gold to buy rewards.For a time, envoys came out to look at each other, and the struggle against eunuchs suffered serious setbacks.In the second year, at the request of Dou Wu and others, Emperor Huan slightly forgave the "party members" and issued an edict to pardon the "party members" and return them to the fields.But it was stipulated that they were all imprisoned for life and could not be officials.This is the famous "Dang Gu" during Emperor Huan's time. Emperor Huan is probably the one who changed the Yuan the most times in Chinese history.He changed the Yuan seven times: in the second year of his accession to Jianhe, in three years to Heping, in only one year to Yuanjia, in three years to Yongxing, in two years to Yongshou, in four years to Yanxi, and ten years later It was changed to Yuan Yongkang. Emperor Huan not only changed the Yuan Dynasty, but also had many court ladies, and even established three empresses.Emperor Huan's life was quite decadent, and there were as many as 10,000 court ladies in the harem. Although he had accepted the suggestion of Guang Luxun and Chen Fan to release more than 500 court ladies, this was still far lower than the number of palace ladies left behind.During his 21 years in office, there were as many as a dozen nobles and countless talented women.And in addition to many concubines, he also registered three queens successively, one is Queen Liang, one is Queen Deng, and the other is Queen Dou. Empress Liang's name is Ying, the younger sister of Empress Dowager Liang.Emperor Huan was the Marquis of Liwu at the beginning, and the queen mother conquered Emperor Huan to Luoyang, planning to marry her to Emperor Huan.Before getting married, Emperor Huan was made emperor by Liang Jice.In the second year, the first year of Jianhe (147 A.D.), relevant departments reported to the Empress Dowager Liang that she should have the rules of etiquette, accept them according to the time stipulated for the wedding, and then marry the emperor with the approval of the Empress Dowager.So according to the specifications of Emperor Hui when he married Empress Zhang, he hired 20,000 catties of gold, and other gifts remained the same.In this way, Liang Ying entered the palace in June and became the queen immediately in August. After Empress Liang was established, Emperor Huan loved her very much because of her elder sister's rule of listening to the court and her elder brother's dictatorship. In March of the first year of Heping (150 AD), Empress Dowager Liang died of illness, and Emperor Huan's attitude towards her began to change and gradually decreased. with her love.However, although Empress Liang had been favored by Emperor Huan for several years, she had never had a child. Emperor Huan gradually alienated her, which also made her secretly resentful towards Emperor Huan's concubines.Because Emperor Huan was afraid of Liang Ji, he didn't dare to condemn Empress Liang for the time being, but he was even more alienated from her, and seldom loved her anymore.In the second year of Yanxi (159 A.D.), Empress Liang finally died of illness due to worry and anger. She reigned for 13 years.After his death, he was buried in Yiling, with the posthumous posthumous title of "Empress Yixian".In the same year, Emperor Huan killed Liang Ji, and after that he issued an edict to pursue the abolition of Yiling Mausoleum as a nobleman's tomb. Empress Deng, named Mengnv, is the daughter of Deng Xiang, the nephew of Empress Hexi, Deng Suicong.His mother, named Xuan, first married Deng Xiang, a doctor, and gave birth to Empress Deng. Later, because her husband died early and Deng's family was in trouble, she remarried Liang Ji's wife, Sun Shouzhi's uncle Liang Ji.Empress Deng changed her surname to Liang because she lived with her mother when she was young.When she grew up, Sun Shou saw her beautiful appearance and sent her to the palace during the Yongxing period (153-154 AD).At that time, she was a daughter-in-law and was "extremely lucky" by Emperor Huan.Therefore, in the second year, Emperor Huan named her brother Deng Yan the Marquis of Nandun.After Deng Yan's death, his son Deng Kang succeeded him.After Empress Liang died of illness, Emperor Huan punished Liang Ji and made Deng the empress.At that time, because Emperor Huan hated the Liang family, he changed Empress Deng's Liang surname to Bo's surname, and named her mother Chang'an Lord.Later, in the fourth year of Yanxi (AD 161), someone pointed out that Empress Deng was the daughter of Deng Xiang, and her surname should not be changed. Fengxuan and Kangda counties were awarded tens of thousands of rewards.Soon, his mother passed away, and Emperor Huan gave special treatment. The funeral was held according to the queen's mother's specifications, and Deng Kang's younger brother Deng Tong was named Kunyang Hou, Deng Tong was named Zongyang Hou from his elder brother Deng Hui, and Deng Tong's younger brother Deng Bing was made the Marquis of Kunyang. Yanghou, and other Deng clans are also ranked as school lieutenant, general Lang, etc. Since Empress Deng had no children, Emperor Huan's favor for her did not last long.Later, Emperor Huan favored Guo Guiren, and Empress Deng was arrogant and jealous of her position, and she and Guo Guiren slandered each other in front of Emperor Huan.This made Emperor Huan very dissatisfied with Empress Deng, and in the eighth year of Yanxi (AD 165), he issued an imperial edict to depose her and send her to the violent room for control.His brother was also punished.Empress Deng died in grief and anger. She was empress for 7 years and was buried in Beimang Mountain (now northeast of Luoyang, Henan Province) after her death. Empress Dou, whose name is Miao, is the granddaughter of Empress Zhang De's ancestor, and her father's doctor Dou Wu.In the eighth year of Yanxi, Emperor Huan abolished Empress Deng, and Empress Dou was selected into the palace and established as a nobleman.At that time, Emperor Huan was very fond of Tian Sheng, the picker girl, and wanted to make Tian Sheng the queen, but the courtiers strongly opposed it because Tian Sheng came from a humble background.Emperor Huan had no choice but to make Dou Miao the queen, and Dou Wu the Marquis of Huaili, Te Jin, and the captain of the city gate.But despite this, Emperor Huan still didn't favor Empress Dou very much, and his love was still Tian Sheng and other daughters.In the first year of Yongkang (167 A.D.), Emperor Huan was seriously ill, so he made Tian Sheng and other nine daughters nobles.Soon after Emperor Huan passed away and had no son, Empress Dou became the empress dowager, and she and her father, Dou Wu, came to court to make a decision to welcome Liu Hong, Marquis of Jieduting, as Lingdi. Because of Emperor Huan's fickleness, Empress Dou had always been angry with Tian Sheng and others, and immediately launched an attack when the imperial court listened to the order. Emperor Huan's coffin was still in the front hall, so she sent someone to kill Tian Sheng, and also wanted to kill all other nobles of Emperor Huan. Lose.Under the bitter remonstrance of Zhongchang attendants Guan Ba ​​and Su Kang, he just gave up.Soon after, Dou Wu, Chen Fan and others conspired to kill the eunuch, and Cao Jie, the Zhongchang attendant, ordered to kill Dou Wu, that is to say, the queen mother was moved to Nangong Yuntai, and her family was moved to Bijing (now southern Vietnam).Emperor Ling remembered that the Empress Dowager had helped him, so he took care of Empress Dou.On the first day of October in the fourth year of Jianning (AD 171), he led a group of officials to meet the Queen Mother and toasted her personally.Later, he followed the advice of Huang Menling Dong Meng to increase the support of the Queen Mother.But the Empress Dowager felt grief and indignation, and in the first year of Xiping (AD 172), she died of grief over her mother's death in Bijing.After his death, he was buried in Xuanling with Emperor Huan, and was given the posthumous title of "Queen Huansi". Emperor Huan had no sons, but had three daughters. The eldest daughter, Liu Hua, was granted the title of Princess Yang'an in the first year of Yanxi (AD 158).The second daughter, Liu Jian, was named the eldest princess of Yingyang in the seventh year of Yanxi.The youngest daughter, Liu Xiu, was named the eldest princess of Yangzhai in the ninth year of Yanxi. In June of the tenth year of Yanxi (168 A.D.), Emperor Huan changed the Yuan to the first year of Yongkang, hoping that by changing the Yuan, the Eastern Han Dynasty would have long-term peace and stability, and he would also make his body, which was weak due to long-term decay, healthy forever.But things backfired. Not only was the Eastern Han Dynasty on the verge of collapse, but he himself could not afford to be ill again.In December Ding Chou, Emperor Huan died in the front hall of Deyang in Luoyang Palace at the age of 36.Emperor Huan was buried in Xuanling after his death, posthumously named "Emperor Xiaohuan", and the temple name was "Weizong".