When talking about the history of the Western Han Dynasty, we must talk about a powerful courtier, that is, Huo Guang. As the most powerful minister of the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Guang assisted four generations of emperors in his lifetime, namely Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, Liu Fuling of the Han Zhao Emperor, Liu He of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Qing, the Emperor of Han Xuan.
These four generations of emperors basically carry the most important history of the entire Western Han Dynasty, up to 40 years of auxiliary political process, in addition to Emperor Wu of Han, the next three generations of emperors are relying on Huo Guang to preside over the government, which shows that Huo Guang is a very outstanding politician.
However, during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, after Huo Guang's death, Huo Jiaman was beheaded by Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Qing, and why was this? Did his career as a ruler lead to the family's woes? This occupies the main reason.
The power in Huo Guang's hands was not ordinary.
When Emperor Wu of Han was old, Huo Guang had been carefully serving around him, so although Huo Guang was an inconspicuous lieutenant of light vehicles, he took over the position of assistant chancellor before Emperor Wu of Han died, because Emperor Wu of Han could only trust Huo Guang.
Huo Guang
Being able to gain the trust of Emperor Wu of Han shows that Huo Guang's life as a human being is definitely not simple. After Huo Guang came to power, the Han Zhao Emperor Liu Fuling was basically a decoration, from the age of 8 to his death at the age of 21, for 13 years, Huo Guang has been presiding over the government and is the most powerful person in the Western Han Dynasty.
In other words, he is the equivalent of the prime minister of a constitutional monarchy, a figure of real power. Unfortunately, Emperor Han Zhao died too early, so Huo Guang had to choose a new emperor to assist him. Therefore, among the nephews of Emperor Zhao of Han, liu he the prince of Changyi was chosen. Liu He was a more thoughtful emperor, and after he came to power, all kinds of absurd things were done, which could not help but make Huo Guang have the idea of abolishing the emperor.
Since ancient times, no powerful courtier has dared to abolish the emperor easily. Chen Ping and Zhou Bo abolished the Later Shao Emperor, because he had the blood of the Lü family on him, and he had to be abolished and killed. And Liu He was the grandson of Emperor Zheng'er Bajing of the Han Dynasty, and there was not enough reason, of course, it could not be abolished.
The reason Huo Guang gave was simple, absurd. Liu He was emperor for only 28 days before he was ousted. After Liu He stepped down, Huo Guang screened the emperor again, and finally chose Liu Qing, the Emperor xuan of Han. Liu Que was the great-grandson of Emperor Wu of Han, the nephew of Emperor Zhao of Han, and the nephew of Emperor Wu of Han, so it was reasonable for Liu Que to be emperor.
Liu Inquiry
That is to say, after the death of Emperor Han Zhao, Huo Guang held the power to depose the emperor. This was equivalent to no one in the DPRK who could stop Huo Guang from doing anything. Power is so great that it is very rare.
The killing of Huo Guang's entire family was the result of a political game between Huo Guang and Emperor Xuan of Han.
Emperor Xuan of Han was a bitter man, because his grandfather Liu Zhao, the crown prince of Han, had offended Emperor Wu of Han, and as a result, the whole family was killed, leaving Liu Yuan alone. Liu Qian's original name was Liu Yiji, and he had been locked up in a large prison, and even if he was released, he lost the treatment of an aristocrat and became an ordinary citizen.
Therefore, Liu Xiang married Xu Pingjun, the daughter of xu Guanghan, the cell boss, as a wife, and when Liu Ping became emperor, he made Xu Pingjun an empress. Huo Guang's daughter-in-law Huo Xian, hoped that his daughter Huo Chengjun would become empress, so he poisoned Xu Pingjun when she came to the basin.
Xu Pingjun
As a result, the liangzi between Emperor Xuan of Han and Huo Guang was completely knotted. Emperor Xuan of Han had no power in his hands, so he did not dare to speak out, not only did not investigate the truth of the matter, but instead made Huo Chengjun an empress, giving Huo Guang enough face.
After Huo Guang knew about Huo Xian's poisoning and killing of Empress Xu, although he was scared out of a cold sweat, he did not report his wife, which showed that Huo Guang finally acquiesced to this matter.
Huo Guang knew that as long as he held power, there would be no problems in their family. Looking at The Han Xuan Emperor Liu Qian, he was always so respectful and courteous to himself, and never had the intention of harming, so Huo Guang thought that Han Xuan Emperor was really a simple and simple person.
In fact, Emperor Xuan of Han hid very deeply, and he had been waiting for the opportunity to take revenge. Huo Guang's power was so great that he could not shake it, but Huo Guang always died, and once Huo Guang died, then Emperor Xuan of Han had the opportunity to take revenge.
Emperor Xuan of Han survived until Huo Guang's death, when Huo Guang's son Huo Yu planned to take over the post of general, but Emperor Xuan of Han flatly refused. Emperor Xuan of Han had his own power, and he had already won the support of some ministers, so he was able to compete with the Huo family.
In the end, in the course of the confrontation, Emperor Xuan of Han won the victory and the Huo Guang family was completely destroyed. Because Huo Chengjun was always forced by his mother Huo Xian to attack the crown prince Liu Yi, the matter was exposed and he had to declare a rebellion. In addition to Huo Chengjun, thousands of members of the Huo family were all killed, and Huo Chengjun himself was also beaten into the Cold Palace, and soon after he committed suicide.
The Huo family suffered heavy losses, and it was a struggle between imperial power and xiang power.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the great general Huo Guang was equivalent to the chancellor of the dynasty, and he was a powerful vassal above ten thousand people under one person. And the Han Xuan Emperor Liu Qing was the Son of Heaven, the emperor, and the king of a country.
The chancellor is in charge of the hundred officials, and the emperor is the one who governs the hundred officials. Why are there two people with real power above a hundred officials? So these two people often have power struggles.
Liu Fuling
The emperor is a family, and the chancellor stands out from thousands of families. Being able to be an emperor means that you are born well, which does not mean that you have great ability, but if you can be a minister, you can't do it without ability. Therefore, emperors with mediocre qualifications cannot fight at all.
Liu Fuling, the Emperor of Han Zhao, and Liu He, the deposed emperor of Han, obviously could not fight Huo Guang. Although Emperor Xuan of Han achieved the final victory, he also won a narrow victory. Because when Huo Guang was alive, he couldn't move his opponent at all, and it was only after the death of the opponent's main force that he had a slight strength to fight back.
Therefore, the struggle between imperial power and phase power has never stopped. Later, various dynasties began to weaken the power of the chancellor, and strengthened the imperial power in disguise.
Until the time of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang completely abolished the Chancellor, and he believed that if the Chancellor was abolished, then the imperial power was supreme. In fact, the later cabinet chief assistant basically served as all the powers of the prime minister.
Zhu Yuanzhang
Many people believed that if Huo Guang retired early when he was old, he would return the power to Emperor Xuan of Han. Maybe it can escape the disaster, at least not so tragically.
People who think like this are naïve. Because Huo Guang once deposed the emperor, then his authority was greater than that of the emperor, such a person, Emperor Xuan of Han would keep well? Once power was surrendered, then Emperor Xuan of Han would inevitably eliminate Huo Guang. Therefore, since Huo Guang abolished Liu He, he has no way back to go.
Liu He was disobedient, not very easy to control, and even planned to seize power, so Huo Guang had to depose him. For this reason, Huo Guang could only grit his teeth and go forward, and after his death, the struggle of Huo Yu and others was actually a manifestation of the difficulty of riding a tiger. If you don't have the power to protect your own life, that's the most terrible thing.