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The life of Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty can be described as ups and downs, and there are many controversies. From the idle local marquis to the emperor of the central dynasty, from the puppet emperor to the imperial power, is it angry to rush to the crown for the red face, or is it a scheming step by step?

Relying on women to ascend the throne, sealing the eunuch as the wait, and finally stepping onto the dragon throne, the historical Han Huan Emperor Liu Zhi is a mediocre and unscrupulous emperor who sells his official position for wealth or a legendary emperor who is iron-blooded and proficient in the art of war?

Zhuge Liang, the Marquis of Zhongwu, who was regarded as the head of the wise men by later generations, criticized Liu Zhi by name in the "Teacher Table" as "pro-villain, far virtuous minister", and pointed out that the Han Dynasty was going to perish, and Liu Zhi, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, could not escape the blame!

(Zhuge Liang's teacher table)

1. Rely on his wife to ascend to the throne and serve as CEO to marry Bai Fumei

Speaking of the inheritance history of the Eastern Han Dynasty royal family, it is really an endless large-scale family ethics drama. Ding Xingwang of other dynasties has a long line of heirs, but the Eastern Han Dynasty not only has thin heirs but also does not live long, so most of them rely on succession descendants.

(Relationship map of some emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty)

And it was a pure coincidence that Emperor Liu Zhineng of the Han Huan Emperor became the emperor, because his identity was 108,000 miles away from inheriting the throne, and his original destiny was to be a local marquis in a remote area. So where was the turning point in the fate of Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty? Then we have to start with Liang Yan, the empress of Emperor Liu Bao of the Han Shun Dynasty.

It can be said that the throne of Emperor Huan of Han was shackled by Liang Yan and her brother Liang Ji for half of his life.

(Emperor Liu Bao of the Eastern Han Dynasty)

Emperor Shun of Han had only one son, and this child was Emperor Liu Bing of Han Chong, because he was only two years old when he succeeded to the throne, so his mother Empress Dowager Liang and his uncle General Liang Ji became the actual rulers, but unfortunately this little emperor died a year after ascending the throne.

So according to the inheritance system at that time, the Empress Dowager Liang passed on the child of her husband's eldest brother to herself as a son, and this child was Liu Zhen, Emperor Liu Zhang.

(Emperor Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty)

Han Emperor Liu Zhang was only eight years old, but he didn't expect to be smart since he was a child, he was still a backbone, and he couldn't get used to seeing the queen mother and her brother in the dynasty, so he called Liang Ji "this domineering general" in public at a court meeting, which made Liang Ji, who was used to being domineering in the court, lose face and hold a grudge, and was afraid that this son would grow out of his control, so he poisoned and killed Liu Zhang, the emperor of Han Dynasty.

The puppet is dead, so I have to find another one! So I went around and chose Liu Zhi.

(Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty Liu Zhi)

But there are two problems in front of us: one is how to firmly control the new emperor in his own hands, and the other is the issue of generation. It stands to reason that Liu Zhi and Emperor Shun of Han, that is, Empress Dowager Liang and her husband are of the same generation, so Empress Dowager Liang is his sister-in-law, and she can't be a mother!

So the Liang family thought of a way to marry the Empress Dowager Liang and the sister of the general Liang Ji to Liu Zhi as the queen, anyway, the main harem is the world of the Liang family, as long as you Liu Zhi marries the woman of the Liang family, this throne is yours!

This is a matter of great luck from heaven, and Liu Zhi has no choice, so he was half-pushed and half-pushed to the throne by the Liang family, and began his career as a puppet emperor for many years.

(Picture and text are not related)

2. Reuse eunuchs, form alliances with toilets, and steal the enemy's base camp

Since there is the puppet emperor of Emperor Huan of Han, the power of the general Liang Ji has also reached its peak, and it can be said that "those who follow me prosper and those who oppose me die" in the court.

At that time, Confucianism was admired in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a group of upright officials headed by Li Gu, Du Qiao and others in the court fought with Liang Ji in full swing.

In November of the first year of Jianhe (147), Liang Ji seized the opportunity to falsely accuse a group of officials who opposed him, including Li and Du, of rebellion, and ignored the persuasion of the Empress Dowager Liang, and executed the two and exposed their bodies to the public. At this point, no one in the court dared to provoke this "domineering general".

(General Liang Ji)

And what is our puppet emperor doing?

In the sneak development.

In the first year of Yuanjia (151), he first used the "technique of killing" to send money and gifts to Liang Ji to give women, chariots and horses, and even pretended to give him the title of king, so as to raise Liang Ji's appetite, and at the same time let him relax his vigilance against himself, the puppet emperor;

In the first year of Yanxi (158), a solar eclipse phenomenon, Chen Zhu's conclusion made the court and the central government in an uproar, and even embarrassed Liang Ji in public.

Liu Zhi, the emperor of Han Huan, who felt that the time was about the same, decided to fight back, took advantage of the kung fu to avoid Liang Ji's eyeliner, and asked the eunuch Tang Heng around him if there was anyone who was incompatible with Liang Ji, so he harvested the eunuch corps including Shan Chao, Zuo Yi, Xu Huang, Gu Ying and Tang Heng, and formed an alliance in the toilet to set a big plan to punish Liang Ji.

(Portrait of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty)

First, he detained Zhang Yun, the eyeliner sent by Liang Ji to look at the wind, so that Liang Ji would not find out about his actions, and then summoned his own people who were placed in various posts, that is, the scholars who were suppressed by Liang Ji, to conspire and take all the runes and seals in his own hands.

After thoroughly grasping the authority to issue orders, Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty asked Gu Ying to lead Hu Ben and others to firmly surround Liang Ji's mansion, and then asked Yuan Xuan to confiscate Liang Ji's general seal, and finally issued an order to demote Liang Ji to a remote area.

(Toilet coup)

Everything happened too fast, and it really caught Liang Ji off guard. When Liang Ji came back to his senses, there was no room for things to turn around, and Liang Ji, who knew that he was powerless to return to the sky, finally chose to cut himself. At this point, the puppet emperor who had endured for several years finally recovered all the imperial power.

Third, in the battle between the party and the government, the emperor is rotten, and the eunuchs are in charge

Originally, until the fall of the Liang family, the precarious Eastern Han Dynasty was temporarily stabilized. But he couldn't bear the fact that Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty attached too much importance to affection, and he would have unloaded the mill and killed the donkey a long time ago, but Liu Zhinian had made meritorious contributions to the construction of his eunuch corps, and actually gave Shan Chao, Zuo Yi, Xu Huang, Gu Ying, and Tang Heng five people as marquises, and rewarded 10,000 households each.

As the first merit, Shan Chao not only ate more than 10,000 households, but was also named the general of the chariot and cavalry, which is the same as the "Three Princes".

(Eunuch Tosei)

But in this way, those Confucianism scholars in the court have quit, and even if these five people have the merit of following the dragon, they are eunuchs and eunuchs after all! How can they have real power to interfere in politics?

In addition, these five people began to accumulate wealth and harm the people when they had power, so these officials united to oppose it, and this faction was called the "Shiren Party" by the eunuch corps, also known as the "Party People", and since then the "Five Marquis" has started an endless battle in the open and in the dark.

And Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, is in a dilemma, on the one hand, he is the right-hand man who helps me to take power, and on the other hand, he is the mainstay above the court, and he can only muddy the waters and hold a bad attitude. It wasn't until Li Ying, a member of the "Shiren Party", killed a Diao Min who was friendly with the eunuchs regardless of Liu Zhi's face, which angered Emperor Huan of Han.

(Portrait of Li Ying)

Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty then ordered the arrest of the relevant personnel of the "Shiren Party" and threw them into prison for reform, which arrested more than 200 people, which is the notorious "disaster of the party".

Although in the end, it was just a show, but no one in the entire court questioned the status of the "five marquis" in the heart of Emperor Huan of Han, and Emperor Liu Zhi of Han Huan also fell into the infamy of reusing eunuchs and "pro-villains and distant virtuous ministers".

(The Scourge of the Party)

Fourth, how to evaluate the merits of life, who knows who has a social record

In fact, although the withering of the Han Dynasty is inseparable from Liu Zhi, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, it is true that he was wronged to say that he died because of him. From some points of view, Emperor Huan of Han can be said to be a good emperor who cares about the people, but he was born at the wrong time.

First of all, from the beginning of the throne, he had to rely on the most inconspicuous eunuchs around him to achieve great things, which was not what he wanted.

(Emperor 汉桓)

Second, after overthrowing the great general Liang Ji, all the property obtained by the search for his family was sold and put into the state treasury, which is about how much? According to the current conversion, it is about 6 billion yuan! With this money, when the state treasury was full, Liu Zhi immediately ordered that the national tax should be reduced by half! and all the fields circled by Liang Ji were distributed to the common people for cultivation.

On this point alone, I have to say that he is a good emperor who really benefits the people.

Moreover, the "five marquis" at the beginning were only extravagant and fornicatory, and did not harm the people, until their relatives did bad things, causing resentment among the people, and Emperor Huan of Han no longer turned a blind eye, demoted the "five marquis" to the township marquis, reduced income and recovered the title and fief. It can be regarded as exhausting the friendship and merit with Emperor Han Huan.

(Conniving Eunuchs)

Of course, the merits and demerits do not offset each other. The biggest mistake of Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty was that as an emperor, he failed to make a decision, making the eunuchs the second Liang Ji. However, it did not prevent his merits from outweighing his mistakes, and he was forced to take over a country full of holes and crumbling, and strive to "turn the tide and help the building to fall";

The country was uprooted, and the income from the search benefited the people of the world, and Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty sent Duan Ying to pacify the Xiqiang and end the century-long war between the Han and Qiang in the case of internal and external troubles. With such a lifetime of achievements, how can you be sorry for the word "Huan" of "opening up territory and respecting the diligent people"?

Resources:

Du Linyuan, Yang Ge.The image of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty in the historical commentary of the six dynasties of Han and Wei[J].Qin and Han Studies,2023,(02):1-18.)

Qiao Aolong.On the growth and decline of public opinion and corruption in the Eastern Han Dynasty Party Incident[N].Shanxi Economic Daily,2016-09-27(007).