Many emperors in Chinese history, who have a low evaluation in the so-called canonical history, have been labeled as "emperors" and "tyrants".
Take a look at the history books of Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han Ling
Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty (157– 13 May 189) was born in the Hejian State of Jizhou (冀州; present-day Shenzhou, Hebei). The twelfth emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (reigned 168-189), the grandson of Liu Zhao, the Emperor of Han Zhang.
In his early years, Liu Hong was hereditary Marquis of Xieduting. In December of the first year of Yongkang (167), Liu Zhi, the Emperor huan of Han, died, and Liu Hong was selected by his cousin Dou Shi as the heir to the throne, and took the throne in the first month of the first year of Jianning (168).
For most of Liu Hong's reign, he practiced party and eunuch politics. He also set up the West Garden, set up a clever name to loot money, and even sold the official knighthood for his own pleasure. In the late reign, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, and Liangzhou and other places were also in constant turmoil. In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Liu Hong died, and was buried in Wenling.
This is an introduction to Liu Hong, "chaos without damaging the spirit", the spirit word is certainly not a good word. Some strange things about him, coupled with the evaluation of him by some historical celebrities, have even beaten him into the ranks of the dark lord.
Selling the official
In the first year of Guanghe (178), Liu Hong, instigated by his mother Empress Dong and his attendants, tried to betray the official. The imperial court openly announced that it could spend money to buy positions from the Marquis of Guannei to the subordinates of Guangluxun, Such as Hu Ben and Yulin; the rules for selling officials were: local officials were priced twice as high as the imperial officials, and county officials had different prices; and officials must also be paid according to the price for promotion. Those who seek office can be evaluated for bidding, and the highest bidder can win the bid.
The inner court amused
Liu Hong himself lived deep in the inner palace, hollowing out his mind to try new tricks for fun. There are no donkeys in the inner palace, and a small yellow door that is good at greeting has carefully selected four donkeys from other places to enter the palace. After Liu Hong saw it, his love was like a treasure, and he drove a small car to play in the palace every day. At first, I also found a driver to drive, and a few days later, I simply took care of it myself. The news of the emperor driving a donkey cart came out of the inner palace, and many bureaucrats and doctors in the capital competed to imitate it, thinking that it was fashionable, and the price of donkeys in the folk rose sharply.
Palace Market
Liu Hong, Liu Hong, imitated street markets, markets, various shops, and vendors in the harem, so that some of the palace concubines dressed as various merchants were shouting and selling, and the other part dressed as guests who bought things, and some dressed up as singers and monkeys. He himself, dressed as a merchant in merchant clothes, walked around the man-made bazaar, drank in a hotel, or quarreled, fought, and fought with shopkeepers and customers. Liu Hong wandered here and had a lot of fun.
A museum of naked tours
In the third year of Zhongping (186), Liu Hong built a thousand houses in the West Garden. Green mosses were collected to cover the steps, and the water of the canal was drawn around the various thresholds, circulating everywhere. The canal water is planted with lotus flowers from the southern country. In this fairyland garden, Liu Hong ordered the palace ladies to strip naked and play and chase. Sometimes he himself was happy and took off his clothes to mingle with them. Therefore, he gave the garden the name "Naked Pavilion".
Some historical celebrities have commented on the Han Ling Emperor
Dong Zhuo: The Lord of the World, It is advisable to be wise, and every time you read the Spirit Emperor, it is infuriating!
Gai Xun: I still see the upper, the upper is very clever, but it is covered in the left and right ears.
Zhuge Liang: Pro-Xianchen, Far Little Man, this ancestor Han so Xinglong also; pro-Little Man, Far Sage Chen, after that Han so decadent also. When the former emperor was there, whenever he discussed this matter with his subjects, he did not hesitate to sigh and hate Huan and Lingye.
After reading all this, everyone thought that the Han Ling Emperor was a rare emperor, and he had to bear the main responsibility for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Was the Han Ling Emperor really so absurd and shameless, faint and incompetent?
This has to start from the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty by relying on the power of powerful landlords, who were generally a large family of princes for generations, who owned private estates and also owned a large number of subordinates. In order to win them over, Liu Xiu appointed them in large numbers, gave them generous knighthoods to their senior executives, and formed a family with powerful landlords.
Powerful landlords gradually became the ruling pillar of the Eastern Han government, and powerful landlords can be regarded as the predecessors of the family clan. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu Zhao, the emperors who succeeded to the throne were generally very young, so they gradually gained real power through the family clan (foreign relatives) who married the imperial family.
The family has gained the power to serve in the central and local governments, and some families have been officials for generations and have held huge power in their hands. A big reason for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty was that the family clan was too powerful, causing the imperial power to fall into the dust.
When Liu Hong succeeded to the throne:
Politically, foreign relatives and families control power and are politically corrupt. Economically, land annexation is serious, self-employed farmers are bankrupt, displaced people are everywhere, the state cannot receive any money, and the national treasury is empty. On the border, ethnic minorities continued to harass, and Xianbei began to rise.
In the first year of Yongkang (167), Liu Zhi, the Emperor Huan of Han, died, and Empress Dou Miao came to the court to ask for government. Emperor Huan was childless and dou miao consulted with his father Dou Wu and others, and finally chose Liu Hong to inherit the throne. Dou Miao sent Hisashi (侍御史), Shouguanglu (守光禄大夫) Liu Yan (儵), and Cao Jie (曹節), the governor of Fengche, to the Hejian Kingdom to welcome Liu Hong to the throne.
Why should Liu Hong be chosen, because Liu Hong's father died early, and his mother's family was not strong. Liu Hong was 12 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and they thought it was easy to control. At the age of 12, I have not graduated from elementary school, so what can I do.
How liu Hong was willing to be a puppet, he took advantage of the contradiction between eunuchs and foreign relatives, and used eunuchs to launch the "September Xinhai Coup". Dou Wu, Chen Fan, and others were exterminated, and those who were not executed were exiled to Jiaozhou. Empress Dowager Dou was relocated to Nangong Yuntai to live.
Most of the important ministers of the Eastern Han Dynasty came from the family clan. The queen concubines were from their families. Imperial power is limited by the family to death, and there is not much autonomy.
The only thing Liu Hong could rely on was the eunuch clique. Eunuchs mostly came from poor families, and without the support of powerful families, they could only rely on imperial power to gain power. Eunuchs were just royal household slaves, and without the emperor, they were nothing. Liu Hong used eunuchs to constantly attack the power of the family and gradually gained real power.
In the first year of Guanghe (178), Liu Hong set up the Hongdu Gate. The students of Hongdu Gate School, mostly from the Cold Gate, have no intricate connection with the family clan, are easy to control, and they are dependent on the emperor and loyal to the emperor. Liu Hong reused students from the Hongdu Gate School, who served as Assassins, Shangshu, Shizhong, and even Marquis. Liu Hong promoted Liu's sons to become officials in the imperial court to oppose foreign relatives and eunuchs.
Liu Hong made his brother-in-law He Jin a great general to minimize the threat of foreign relatives. Formed a powerful West Garden Army, and also established its own pro-army.
Until Liu Hong's death, he still held state power.
What if the country has no money. The Han Ling Emperor who was on the throne, Liu Hong, who was a teenager and came from the people, knew that no matter what the world did, it was inseparable from money! But where does the money come from? Taxing below? How much money can the forced civilians who have no foothold charge? Collect money from the family? Oh, I'm afraid that as soon as he brings it up, he will die violently. So only selling officials, yes, selling officials is drinking to quench thirst, but if you don't drink this country will soon be finished.
Don't think that the money of the Han Ling Emperor to sell officials is taken to enjoy himself, how did the world's strongest West Garden Army form? How is Xiliang calmed down? Who gave the money to form the Xiliang Group, which shook the world?
As far as the finances of the Eastern Han Dynasty were concerned, did they take the money? At that time, the Government of the Eastern Han Dynasty could not even send out the officials' salaries, and all the money was obtained from the sale of officials by the Han Ling Emperor. All this was squeezed back from the hand of the door valve by the Han Ling Emperor with all the filth in his body.
Liu Hong had a huge espionage organization in his hands.
He knew the development of the Taiping Dao, he knew that he could not solve the problem of land annexation, and he could not fight against the family that had accumulated hundreds of years of strength. He wanted to support the Taiping Dao and use the power of the peasant uprising to eradicate the family power. However, it was not played well, and it was perceived by the family. The Taiping Dao hastily revolted, did not destroy the shijia, and also made the shijia grow and grasp the local real power when suppressing the Yellow Turban Army. He also had to change to a state pastor and form a clan power.
The building will fall, and it will be difficult to support it alone. The Han Dynasty was difficult to return, and the efforts of the Han Ling Emperor could not save the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty did not die at the ling emperor, but at the age of the family. Liu Hong is a lonely emperor and a tragic hero. Because of the blow to the family, he died in his thirties, and when he died, he was also called the Spirit Emperor.
Liu Hong liked words and wrote a total of fifty chapters of the Imperial Xi. He later pitied the crown prince Liu Xie for having no mother at an early age, and remembered Wang Meiren (王荣), so he created "Chasing Virtue Fu" and "Ling Yi Song". The "Han Poems" also contains one of his works: "Merchant Song".