Chapter 62 Chapter 62: The Story of Deposing the Emperor

Although Emperor Zhao was a wise man, he passed away after only twelve years in office.He was twenty years old when he died and had no son.Then the question of the successor arose.After King Yan committed suicide, the only son of Emperor Wu left was King Yan's brother-in-law Liu Xu, King of Guangling.And this man can only lift weights, no talent to speak of. "Is it appropriate for King Guangling to ascend the throne?" He has such doubts in his heart, but he never speaks out - this is the strength of Huo Guang.He never said things by himself, but tried to let others speak first, and then added: "That's right!" Huo Guang is such a person, and he only wants to make mistakes in everything.

Although empty and brute force, King Guangling is the only living son of Emperor Wu after all.As far as blood is concerned, he is the most qualified successor. Whether you have the ability to become the Son of Heaven is the most important point.King Tai of Zhou abolished his eldest son, Tai Bo, and established his last son, Wang Ji.King Wen also abolished his eldest son and established King Wu.King Guangling was the elder brother of the late Emperor. Due to lack of conditions, Emperor Wu did not make him his successor.In other words, he has been deposed, and it is unreasonable to make him emperor now.It is indeed inappropriate for King Guangling to inherit the sacrifices of the ancestral temple.

A brave "Lang" wrote a letter like this. "Exactly!" Huo Guang gave the memorial to Prime Minister Yang Chang for review. "I also think that King Guangling is not suitable." The prime minister nodded. King Guangling's mediocrity has become the object of ridicule from all over the world. "Then, only one of the emperor's grandsons can be chosen?" Huo Guang said. The thinking of the ministers still centered on Emperor Wu.Huangsun, of course, refers to the grandson of Emperor Wu. The son of King Yan, who was ordered to commit suicide for the crime of rebellion, is naturally not eligible.Qi Wang Liu Hong has no heirs, so the throne has been deprived.

Speaking of grandsons who have no problem with the father, there is only Liu He, the son of Changyi King Liu Mao, who was born to Mrs. Li.Liu Mao died thirteen years ago, and the throne of Changyi was succeeded by Liu He. "You mean the king of Changyi...isn't it?" the prime minister asked. There was no one else besides this, so Huo Guangda could say the name directly, but he, who had become a habit of being cautious, still asked the prime minister to say the name. "I see, send envoys to Changyi!" After a while, Huo Guang said this.Changyi is today's Jinxiang County, Shandong Province.

"I haven't heard any news about Changyi King for a long time. I don't know why?" "Is it because he is still young?" In fact, Huo Guang was also a little uneasy about this.However, Liu He was only a child when he succeeded to the throne of Changyi King thirteen years ago.There is no rumor about such a young man, so it should be a natural thing. Some historical books (such as etc.) contain articles criticizing Liu He for continuing to hunt during the funeral of Emperor Wu and not wearing mourning.But Mrs. Li was favored by Emperor Wu around the age of fifty. When Emperor Wu died, his son Liu Wei was only twenty years old. According to this calculation, grandson Liu He was still learning to speak.How could such a child be able to hunt?

Whether Liu He, the king of Changyi, has the qualifications to be an emperor is still unknown. "With our assistance, there should be no problem." Young people should grow if they are taught well.The two elders - the general and the prime minister both thought so.In fact, such an idea is too naive. Although he is not yet twenty years old, Liu He is already a real little Taibao.His crimes have reached a level that no one can stop. After receiving the imperial edict in the name of the empress dowager, Liu He set off from Changyi to Beijing on the same day. ——The king of Changyi is about to become the emperor!

People in Changyi are all very excited about this.The deceased Emperor Zhao had no heirs, so the throne would naturally be inherited by either Liu Xu, the son of Emperor Wu, or Liu He, the grandson.And people have a very bad opinion of the mediocre Liu Xu.In comparison, Liu He seems more promising. Just when Changyi's retainers were looking forward to this, they received an order from the Empress Dowager to ask Liu He to go to Beijing.They thought it was a matter of course that Liu He had been selected. Liu He is a womanizer.On the important journey to Beijing, which was about to determine his own destiny, he actually plundered a woman to go with him.

"This woman is a stunner!" Teens say things that are not appropriate for their age.It was a rare beauty—that's why he had snatched her away and forced her to go with her.The person who reported the beautiful woman to Liu He was a great slave (slave leader) named Shan. The reason why he was promoted to a great slave was that he often arranged women for his master, and he thought it was an expression of loyalty to his master. But this kind of behavior is wrong in this period.This is the time when Emperor Zhao died and the world was in mourning.Shan, who grew up in the country and had no education, did not know such a thing.

The family of the robbed woman has complained to the authorities. The officials who handled the case approached the Prime Minister of Changyi to discuss with him, and asked: "How can you cause troubles about women when the world is in mourning!" Gong Sui, the man next to Liu He, Lang Zhongling (captain of the personal guard), was so surprised that he couldn't even speak.Whether he can take the throne depends on Liu He's performance in the past few days. At such an important moment, how can he cause trouble for women's affairs! "My lord, don't you want to take the throne?" Gong Sui asked Liu He.

"Of course I want to!" "With such an incident, I'm afraid the matter of the throne will be ruined." "What should I do now?" "The only way to put the responsibility on the big slave is to kill him." Gong Sui had long been very angry with the big slave who often found women for Liu He and taught Liu He to do evil. "Without him, I would be in a lot of trouble." "Then let him be spared, but because of this, the lord has to give up the idea of ​​the throne!" "That won't work!" "Do you still need to hesitate about the life of this kind of person at this time!"

Gong Sui grabbed Da Nushan's hair and handed it over to the case officer, who sentenced him to death. Liu He then went to Beijing to accept the emperor's enthronement. The biggest purpose of Liu He, a son of 袴, for the throne is to use this position to enjoy himself. "The women in the harem should be my free enjoyment—they exist for the emperor!" Liu He immediately used this privilege wantonly.He often held banquets to invite his ministers, ate and drank all night, and carnivaled to his heart's content.He summoned Zhaodi's favored female official, Meng, and enjoyed the pleasures of the boudoir with her every night. Although this is the right of the emperor, he should be more careful during the mourning period.Liu He's accession to the throne was inherited from the deceased Emperor Zhao. Although he was an uncle and nephew, from the standpoint of the national dynasty, he was regarded as the heir of Emperor Zhao. During the period of his father's funeral, he did not restrain himself from singing, dancing and joy, and even held a big banquet and committed fornication.Is such a person qualified to rule the world! Huo Guang began to worry deeply.If the world is handed over to such people, the Han Dynasty will surely collapse. "The current plan is to ask the empress dowager to abolish the new emperor." Huo Guang immediately found his friend Tian Yannian to discuss with him.Da Sinong (Minister of Agriculture) Tian Yannian is very knowledgeable. "In ancient times, there was an example of Yi Yin, the prime minister of Yin, who abolished the Yongyu Taijia and made the country safe and peaceful. What should be done now is: enumerate the crimes of the new emperor and abolish his throne." Tian Yannian said. Huo Guang nodded frequently.This time he wanted to abolish the emperor, and he succeeded in making Tian Yannian the sponsor. "The matter of abolishing the new emperor is not too difficult, as long as the two hundred retainers who came from Changyi are under control. The problem lies later... Only the descendants of King Yan are left as the grandson of Emperor Wu, but the son of King Yan cannot be taken away." Be the emperor!" "There are no grandchildren, but great-grandchildren!" "Great-grandson! Oh..." Huo Guang's eyes lit up. Prince Li Liu Ju died unexpectedly at the age of thirty-eight.Since it was the age of early marriage, he had grandchildren at that time.Prince Li's son, Shi Huangsun, had a son with Mrs. Wang.Although the family of Prince Li was killed, only the baby of Emperor Wu's great-grandson survived the disaster and escaped the catastrophe. The baby named Liu Xun was brought up in prison, and it is said that he grew up among the people. "This person should be eighteen years old this year..." Tian Yannian said. "I heard he is a very smart young man." Huo Guang also heard rumors about the great-grandson of Emperor Wu among the people. "And the knowledge is very good..." Tian Yannian had also heard of it. "Is it better than the current emperor?" Huo Guang said in a low voice. The fate of the new emperor Liu He has already been decided. The emperor has seven contending ministers, although they have no way, they will not lose the world. There is this saying in "Book of Filial Piety". "Contesting ministers" refers to retainers who dare to fight with the lord and have the courage to remonstrate with a firm attitude. When Liu He was deposed, he used this sentence as a basis to resist.Although I am stupid and ignorant of reason, as the old saying goes, with many excellent retainers by my side, I will definitely not lose the world.I have many excellent retainers headed by Gong Sui coming from Changyi, so I can manage the country well-this is his argument. Little did Liu He know that his failure lay in the group of "excellent retainers" he brought. The new emperor brought two hundred retainers from Changyi. After the funeral, the new emperor will definitely arrange his confidantes to be by his side when he conducts the great affairs of the world.At this time, wouldn't Da Sima, General Huo Guang, Prime Minister Yang Chang, and Da Si Nongtian Yannian be expelled from the political center? "I think it seems more appropriate to use the great-grandson as the emperor." Tian Yannian said. Liu Xun, the great-grandson of Emperor Wu, was born shortly after his parents were killed due to the rebellion of his grandfather, Prince Li.He has never been to the palace and has no personal connections with the court.Since he is among the people and lives as an ordinary person, of course he doesn't have half of his retainers.Therefore, when Liu Xun came to the throne, all the ministers would naturally remain in office. On this point, the interests of all the dignitaries of the court were exactly the same. Not only dignitaries are like this, but the empress dowager's position is also the same. The word "Empress Dowager" easily arouses the association of "old woman". In fact, the Shangguan family who became the Empress Dowager after the death of Emperor Zhaodi at the age of twenty did not even reach the age of two decades.Although young, she has real experience of the horrors of power struggles.Grandfather Shangguan Jie and maternal grandfather Huo Guang were like this in the past, and both grandfather and father were killed because of this.She knows better than anyone how miserable people who have lost their power are. During the period of mourning for the late emperor, the person who held absolute power was the empress dowager.Liu He, who was newly enthroned, also had to treat the empress dowager who was less than 20 years old with the courtesy to his mother.The empress dowager can depose the emperor as a mother only when she is in mourning. "After the mourning period is over, those people from Changyi will surely gain real power in the palace. At that time, I am afraid that the ministers and others will not be able to serve the Empress Dowager." Huo Guang deliberately said this in order to shake the empress dowager mentally. A group of ministers with the same interests tried to drive away the new emperor with their joint efforts, and the leader was of course Huo Guang. Liu He, who brought two hundred retainers, was too clumsy.He originally wanted to bring more subordinates, but Gong Sui advised him to stop there. The empress was shaken, and then heard many reports of the emperor's heinous crimes while in mourning. The most decisive thing was that Liu He held sacrifices to the temple of his biological father, Changyi King Liu Mao. It is generally believed that the soul of a person will come to the ancestors after the mourning period.Therefore, according to the usual practice, no ancestral temple sacrifices will be held during the mourning period.But Liu He violated this habit.Not only that, after investigation, it was found out that he claimed to be the "Heir Emperor" in the sacrificial text. As mentioned earlier, Liu He was regarded as the heir of Emperor Zhao because he had no heir.Since he called himself the emperor, he had to call Emperor Zhao his father.But he claimed to be his heir in the temple of his biological father, and at the same time he called himself the emperor.This is tantamount to emphasizing that "my biological father is the emperor", which is a rebellious act that disrupts the imperial lineage. "Such a thing is against Da Lun, and there is no such thing as a big rebellion. The Han Dynasty's ancestral temple must not be entrusted to this person!" The empress dowager is determined to abolish the new emperor. ——The reason why the new emperor dares to do this is entirely because the assistant retainers have not fulfilled their duties! Huo Guangsui drove the 200 retainers who came from Changyi out of the Golden Horse Gate, while the cavalry general Zhang Anshi led the guards to arrest them all and put them in prison. When the new emperor was brought before the empress dowager, there were not half of his retainers around him.At this time, he was completely isolated. "By the order of the Empress Dowager, you have lost your qualifications as the Son of Heaven." Huo Guang grabbed Liu He's hand, untied the emperor's seal and ribbon, and presented it to the empress dowager. Liu He was sent back to Changyi, and all the 200 retainers he brought to Chang'an were executed.They were taken out of prison, paraded through the streets and beheaded. "I really regret that I didn't kill Huo Guang at that time! Today's fate is entirely my own mistake!" Gong Sui, who was among the two hundred people, yelled so loudly at the execution ground.