History of Han: After Xiao Wangzhi's death, foreign relatives and eunuchs began the road to "ascension to the throne"
preface
The long ancient road does not see the long pavilion and the short pavilion, because in the years, there is no rest and settlement, only to keep going forward and looking forward. History is in the past, time is advancing, we can't look at it, we can only take a cursory look at the past.
cause
The chaos within the imperial court, the struggle for power between the representatives of foreign relatives and the Confucian disciples, the foreign relatives and eunuchs together against the Confucian protégés, and finally led to the famous Confucian disciple Xiao Wangzhi was framed, and the eunuchs and foreign relatives came to power from then on.
▲ Xiao Wangzhi (c. 114 BC – 47 BC)
outcome
Foreign relatives and eunuchs colluded with each other to empty the imperial court and reuse their own family members, resulting in chaos in the country, triggering the later usurpation of power by Wang Mang, and the Western Han Dynasty was almost destroyed.
▲ Wang Mang usurped Han
disposal
1. Xiao Wangzhi suppressed the eunuchs
Xiao Wangzhi was born into a famous family, he was xiao He's seventh grandson, but although Xiao He was famous, but it was passed down to Xiao Wangzhi's generation, it has declined, so although Xiao Wangzhi was born into a famous family, he also grew up in a family that worked in agriculture.
However, Xiao Wangzhi worked hard, loved to learn, and finally won the meritorious name by virtue of his own ability. Emperor Xuan of Han originally wanted to recommend Xiao Wangzhi to General Huo Guang, but Xiao Wangzhi was not accustomed to Huo Guang's personality and felt that he was arrogant, so Xiao Wangzhi used the Confucian knowledge he had learned to teach the prince.
After the Han Yuan Emperor ascended the throne, as a teacher of imparting knowledge, he was naturally reused, so Xiao Wang's one was also infinitely beautiful, and he also had many protégés under his own.
In the face of Xiao Wangzhi's growing power and more and more of his proud protégés, others above the court naturally would not agree, so the dispute in the imperial court began secretly.
Emperor Liu Yi of the Han Dynasty (75 BC – 8 July 33 BC)
2. Seizure of power by the Imperial Court
At that time, there was a big Sima Shigao above the imperial court, who was the representative of foreign relatives, and in the previous Han Dynasty, foreign relatives were reused, but now as Xiao Wangzhi's reputation and power increased, he would naturally be snubbed.
Therefore, Scott decided to promote a Confucian protégé first, so that he and Xiao Wangzhi would become opposed, and hoped to recruit talents for himself through this Confucian protégé.
Later, Scott colluded with the eunuchs, hoping to use their power to pull Xiao Wangzhi down.
Politically, Xiao Wangzhi did his best to assist the emperor without omission, so they could only start from other places. Xiao Wangzhi had always suppressed eunuchs, and once wrote to the emperor to ask the emperor to depose eunuchs in the imperial court, which also caused dissatisfaction among eunuchs.
Because Xiao Wangzhi believed that people above the imperial court should be talented and capable people, not eunuchs. Moreover, the emperor should listen more to the opinions of the court ministers than with the eunuchs, and since ancient times there have been rules for people who do not accept palace punishment, and the emperor has violated the system.
▲Xiao Wangzhi and Emperor Xuan
However, the emperor at that time had just ascended the throne, and he could not even change people, so he still appointed eunuchs for this reason, but Xiao Wangzhi's remarks also caused him to be killed.
Xiao Wangzhi's starting point is all for the emperor and for the imperial court, but Xiao Wangzhi also has the integrity of a Confucian literati, does not know how to be flexible, meets people he does not like, and will not be pleasant, so he has offended many people.
Among them was Zheng Peng, who originally wrote to the eunuchs together with One of Zheng Peng and Xiao Wangzhi, and Xiao Wangzhi was still close to Zheng Peng, but Zheng Peng was not decent, so Xiao Wangzhi no longer interacted with him.
For this reason, Zheng Peng also remembered xiao Wangzhi, and coupled with the efforts of eunuchs and foreign relatives, decided to deal with Xiao Wangzhi collectively.
▲ Xiao Wangzhi and his protégés
3. Resentment of suicide
They could not catch fault in politics, so they said that Xiao Wang's door was numerous, that is, they were forming a party and private sector, and in order to eliminate dissidents, they slandered the ministers.
When the emperor heard about it, he entrusted the matter to the eunuch's men, and when the opportunity for revenge came, the eunuch's relatives and others arrested Xiao Wangzhi and put him in prison.
Later, the emperor remembered Xiao Wangzhi and asked the eunuchs around him, only to learn that Xiao Wangzhi was imprisoned, but he did not want to bear the charge of hurting the master, so he scolded the eunuchs and others, and decided to release Xiao Wangzhi from prison, saying only that he would be exonerated.
Faced with such a result, Xiao Wangzhi's son was not convinced, and wrote to his father to seek revenge, which was known to the eunuchs and foreign relatives, and they once again joined forces to tell the emperor that Xiao Wangzhi did not know how to repent after his release from prison, and let his son write a letter and wanted to return to the government.
▲Portraits of Xiao He, Xiao Xi, and Xiao Wangzhi
The eunuchs and others added fuel to the fire, which made the emperor think that Xiao Wangzhi attributed his faults to the emperor, so he once again sent troops to besiege Xiao Wangzhi's mansion.
This time, Xiao Wangzhi knew that the children he taught were still biased toward eunuchs and foreign relatives, even if he had written to condemn him, he would not change, and Xiao Wangzhi, who was extremely disappointed, wanted to commit suicide, but his wife thought that the emperor did not necessarily want his life.
So Xiao Wangzhi asked the protégé for advice, and the protégé thought that Confucian people were all dignified, so Xiao Wangzhi still committed suicide.
Although Emperor Yuan of Han cried bitterly after hearing this news, he did not blame foreign eunuchs and others, which also led to the arrogance of eunuchs and others.
▲Xiao Wang's Cemetery
conclusion
The emperor's heavy use of talents, rather than listening to eunuchs and foreign relatives, would not lead to the near collapse of the Later Han Dynasty.
【References】
1. Southern Qi Book I. The First in the Book
2. Book of Liang Vol. 1. The First in the Book
3. Book of Han, Volume 78. The Biography of Xiao Wang