Huo Guang, a famous minister of the Western Han Dynasty, was also the half-brother of Huo Fuyi, a famous general who fought against the Xiongnu. Before emperor Wu of Han died, he wanted to make his 8-year-old son Liu Fuling crown prince. However, Liu Fuling was too young to be assisted by a reliable minister. In the end, Emperor Wu of Han took a fancy to Huo Guang.
The reason why Huo Guang was appreciated by Emperor Wu of Han was completely by chance. Huo Guang's father's name was Huo Zhongru, and he had an affair with Wei Shao'er, the daughter of Wei Mi, a maid in the Marquis of Pingyang. After Huo Zhongru left the Marquis of Pingyang, he had no further contact with Wei Shao'er. In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (121 BC), Huo went ill and was already an official to pay homage to the general.
Before attacking the Xiongnu, Huo Went ill and Huo Zhongru recognized him. Huo fuyi did not blame his father for abandoning himself and his mother, but gave his father a lot of land and slaves. Soon after, Huo went to visit Huo Zhongru in person and brought his half-brother Huo Guang to Chang'an, introducing him as a servant of Emperor Wu of Han.
Since Huo Guang was Huo Guang's younger brother, Emperor Wu of Han attached great importance to him and regarded him as his close confidant. After Huo Went ill and died young, Emperor Wu of Han, out of nostalgia for him, promoted Huo Guanglian to the positions of Fengche Du Wei and Guanglu Dafu, serving Emperor Wu of Han.
From the perspective of personality, Emperor Wu of Han was a mean and unkind monarch. Those who followed him were often punished, ranging from being beaten to the head. Only Huo Guang and Jin Ilju were always modest, cautious, and meticulous, so they were never punished by Emperor Wu of Han.
As Emperor Wu of Han grew old, the choice of heir became the old emperor's biggest headache. At that time, Liu Zhao, the crown prince of Jian, had already been killed by the "scourge of witchcraft", and the other two sons, Liu Dan the Prince of Yan and Liu Xu the Prince of Guangling, were very unsuccessful. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han pinned his hopes on his 8-year-old son, Liu Fuling. Liu Fuling was strong and clever, and Emperor Wu of Han considered him to be the most like his own child, enough to take on the heavy rules of maintaining the Han Empire.
However, Liu Fuling was too young, and his brothers were looking at him with great interest, so Emperor Wu of Han wanted to find a suitable minister to let him serve as his own minister. In the end, Emperor Wu of Han chose Huo Guang. So, why did Emperor Wudi of Han make such a choice?
This is because during the Shang Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han noticed that Huo Guang had a unique habit. Every time he entered and exited through the lower temple door, there was a fixed place for pause and advance. Therefore, he secretly asked the servant to secretly make a mark on the floor, and the size was indeed not bad. Seeing this, Emperor Wudi of Han was relieved. If Huo Guang did not have a proper and cautious personality, he would not be able to do this. Huo Guang was not only like this for one day, but for twenty years, every day. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han made up his mind to make Huo Guang the chief minister.
Why did Emperor Wudi of Han have to find a cautious chancellor? This was because the situation in the Han Dynasty was already very unoptimistic, and the war with the Xiongnu led to the impoverishment of the people. The people who could not survive rose up, and Liu's rule over the Han Dynasty was already crumbling.
In order to change this terrible situation, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty decided to change his ways and rest with the people, so as to stabilize the society like a boiling society. However, Emperor Wu of Han only knew that he would soon die, so he could only find a person who was "stable" to the extreme as his successor. And this person can only be Huo Guang.
In order to maintain the "stable politics" headed by Liu Fuling and Huo Guang, Emperor Wu of Han also made a cruel decision to kill Liu Fuling's birth mother, Lady Hook Yi. When Emperor Wu of Han died, Lady Hook Yi was only in her 20s, which can be described as "mother and child". After the death of Emperor Wu of Han, the foreign clique headed by Lady Hook Yi would certainly have a fierce conflict with the Tuoguo clique headed by Huo Guang. If this situation occurs, it will be difficult for Emperor Wu of Han's policy of "seeking stability" to be realized. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han killed Lady Hook Yi on the pretext of preventing the "disaster of Lü Hou".
After the death of Emperor Wu of Han, Huo Guang took on the heavy responsibility of assisting Liu Fuling and became the de facto leader of the empire. He took measures to recuperate, repeatedly pardoned the world, encouraged agriculture, and restored the national strength of the Han Dynasty to a certain extent. External relations with the Xiongnu were also eased, and further expansion in the western regions. For the sake of national stability, Huo Guang even dared to depose the unreliable Marquis Liu He of Haixia, creating a precedent for powerful subjects to depose the emperor.
In the end, Huo Guang united with his subjects and liberated the Han Dynasty from the crisis of extinction. The national strength of the Han Dynasty reached its peak in his hands, and history called it "the rule of Zhaoxuan".
After Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Yi, personally presided over the memorial and buried Huo Guang with the emperor's ceremony. However, the good times did not last long, and Huo Guang's family chose to rebel in order to compete for power, and as a result, they were beheaded by Emperor Xuan of Han. Perhaps Huo Guang could not have imagined that he had pursued "stability" all his life, and although he had stabilized the country, he had not stabilized his home in the end, and he had been wiped out by the clan.
Even so, Emperor Xuan of Han did not deny his merits, but made him the first of the eleven heroes of the Qilin Pavilion.