The Book of Han records that Liu He, the deposed emperor of the Han Dynasty, "for twenty-seven days since his acceptance of the seal, the emissaries were at noon, and the officials who held the edict of the festival were requisitioned and issued, and all one hundred and twenty-seven things were done." Confused, fearful of danger. ”
How the emperor of the 27 days did 1127 bad things
As a famous emperor in history, Liu He, known in history as the Deposed Emperor of Han and the grandson of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, he inherited the throne at the age of 5, and was suddenly put on the throne, but he was deposed after only 27 days on the throne, which was the shortest reigning emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Next, let's take a look at how Liu He was put on the throne and how he was abolished.
At the time of the death of Emperor Zhao of Han, he had no heirs, and his brother had only one Guangling king, Liu Xu, but because of his misconduct, he could not be orthodox, and his son was impossible. Among the grandchildren left by Emperor Wu of Han, the son of the crown prince Liu Zhao had become a commoner, and only Liu He, who was closest to Emperor Zhao' blood relations, was left.
Therefore, the great general Huo Guang quickly invited Liu He, the king of Changyi, to the throne, and Liu He, who was only 18 years old at the time, became emperor in a daze. But unexpectedly, when Liu He was not yet accustomed to sitting on the throne of the emperor, he was demoted to Nanchang as the Marquis of Haixia.
From the emperor to the little marquis, the gap is not small, not only that, Huo Guang also listed 1127 crimes committed by Liu He during the 27 days of emperorhood. That is to say, on average, Liu He has to do three or four bad things every hour. Therefore, the history books will record Liu He as a fainting emperor. But is that really the case?
Liu He's tomb was unearthed, and the burial products shocked everyone
The western Han tombs are generally designed according to the life scenes of the tomb owner before his death, and the funerary products after death are the most favorite things of the tomb owner before he dies, and he will not be buried with the things he hates.
In March 2011, a large ancient tomb was excavated in the southwest window of Jiangxi, and after several appraisals by archaeologists, the tomb was confirmed to be the tomb of Liu He. The excavation of funerary products in the tomb has subverted people's previous views on Liu He.
More than 10,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics have been excavated from the ancient tomb, including bronze, gold and silver, jade, ceramics, bamboo, wood and other cultural relics. These precious cultural relics firstly reproduce the luxurious life of the nobles in the Western Han Dynasty, and second, they glimpse the unknown side of Liu He from these cultural relics.
A large number of musical instruments have been excavated from the tomb, such as chimes, chimes, pianos, sergeants, flutes, sheng, etc., as well as many chessboards, which undoubtedly show the wide interest of the tomb owner, and are an important proof of Liu He's love of music.
In addition, on the west side of the main rafter room, there is also a screen painted with the statue of the sage Confucius, as well as a large number of bamboo and wooden tablets. This does not show that Liu He was a person who loved to read books and admired Confucius very much, so from this point of view, Liu He's cultural cultivation should not be low.
In fact, in the history books, there are only a few words that record the scene of Liu He's life.
The Book of Han records that after Liu He was deposed, he once received the junshou at his home, when he was "holding a pen and a pen to go to the guru". This means that he had a pen on his head and a jian mu in his hand, and when he came too guarded, he got up and walked forward quickly to make a salute.
Judging from this description, it should be that Liu He was reading at home at that time, and it happened that at this time the county guard came to visit, and he was in a hurry to receive it, so it was too late to clean up. And such a situation should be Liu He's living state, not a situation once or twice.
The image of the Emperor is nothing more than a drama in a power struggle
From this point of view, Huo Guang's absurd evaluation of Liu He should be that there is a lot of moisture. So the question is, not only did Huo Guang single-handedly help him to the throne, but for what purpose did he pull him off the throne and create such a faint image?
Huo Guang was the half-brother of the famous Western Han general Huo Zhiyi, he was very cautious, coupled with Huo's relationship with Huo Zhiyi, he was very trusted by Emperor Wu of Han, and finally he could be entrusted with the edict to assist the government. As early as the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han, he had already excluded dissidents— Sang Hongyang, Shangguan Jie, and others— to take charge of the government.
Huo Guang thought that Liu He was just an idle nobleman, and only wanted him to be a puppet emperor, but after Liu He took the throne, he still did some actions to maintain his imperial power, such as promoting a group of his own cronies to important positions in various departments.
This move precisely touched the interests of the Huo Group, which naturally caused Huo Guang's vigilance and dissatisfaction. Therefore, in the end, Huo Guanghui used Liu He's absurdity as an excuse to join forces with Empress Shangguan and Qunchen to depose Liu He.
Therefore, fundamentally, Liu He's ouster was only the result of a power struggle. And in this process, Huo Guang's personal power is basically dominant. Huo Guang first conspired privately with the che general Zhang Anshi to abolish the establishment, and then held a meeting of the courtiers at Weiyang Palace.
According to historical records, when Huo Guang proposed to depose the emperor, even if the incident happened suddenly, no one dared to take a stand, but at this time, Huo Guang's close confidant Tian Yannian stood up and said: "Today's matter must be decided immediately, and whoever does not hurry to express his position will behead him!" The ministers then bowed their heads one after another, indicating that they all obeyed the arrangements of the general.
From here, at that time, Huo Guang already had a lot of power in his hands, and even covered the sky with one hand. Liu He had just become emperor, and finally he was young and vigorous, did not understand Taoguang and obscurity, and eventually not only stepped down, but also was arraigned with thousands of crimes and misunderstood for thousands of years.
brief summary
There are many emperors in history, and Liu He, the Marquis of Haidu, has always been considered one of them, but this recognition is incomplete, and archaeological discoveries have revealed another side of this famous emperor in front of the eyes of posterity. It can be seen that the evaluation of the ancients cannot be based solely on the records in the history books, but also requires multi-faceted examination.
Reference: Book of Han