In May of the sixth year of the founding of Emperor Wu of Han, Empress Dowager Dou died, which was a major event for both the Han Dynasty and Emperor Wu of Han. This is not only because Empress Dou was the grandmother of Emperor Wu of Han, but the main reason is that in the first six years of Emperor Wu of Han's reign, that is, the six years of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, Empress Dou was the de facto controller of the Western Han Dynasty, and now she is dying, which not only represents that a generation of male lords of Han Wudi can finally really appear, but also represents that the Western Han Dynasty is finally about to usher in that great change.
In June of the sixth year of Jianyuan, less than a month after Empress Dou's death, Emperor Wu of Han deposed Xu Chang, the chancellor supported by his grandmother, and made his own uncle Tian Yu the post of chancellor. In the second year of Empress Dou's death, Emperor Wu of Han should be the first year of Yuan Guang, and he wanted the world to remember that the era of the First Emperor of the Ages really came from this year.
During the six years when Empress Dou was still alive, Emperor Wu of Han also tried to be pro-government, but all his efforts ended in failure. Emperor Wu of Han finally understood that she who had just stepped on the stage did not have the strength to compete with her grandmother, Empress Dou was a strong woman, and in the era of her son Emperor Jingdi of Han, she had intervened in many major events of the Han Dynasty many times, and most of the events she intervened in the end were the result of the compromise of Emperor Jingdi of Han.
Empress Dowager Dou had wanted to arrange for her younger son Liu Wu (劉武) the Prince of Liang to succeed Emperor Jing of Han, but the ministers objected, and finally acquiesced to Emperor Wu of Han's ascension to the throne under the compromised choice. In fact, the deposing of the former crown prince Liu Rong and the acquisition of the throne by Emperor Wu of Han were the result of Empress Dou's intervention in the han jing emperor's succession.
In the sixth year of Jianyuan, Emperor Wu of Han, the ambitious Emperor of the Ancients, did nothing all day, and he was so bored that every day he sneaked out of the palace gate in the middle of the night with Huo Goyi and others to hunt or play near Chang'an ("Han Wu Story"), and did not sneak back to the palace until the next morning. He also left several counties near Chang'an vacant and built a huge amusement park for himself to pass the time of boredom.
In the first year of jianyuan, he tried to respect Confucianism alone.
The first year of Jianyuan was the first year of emperor Wudi's reign, and he was ambitious and wanted to establish a more glorious and great cause than his ancestors. Therefore, in the first month of his official reign, he issued an edict asking officials everywhere to nominate "virtuous and righteous people" and send these talents to the imperial palace, so that they could discuss the way to govern the country with themselves.
Among these talents, the most appreciated by Emperor Wudi of Han was Dong Zhongshu, who suggested that Emperor Wudi of Han build Confucian schools on a large scale, cultivate Confucian talents, and depose hundreds of schools of Confucianism. Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the emperors of the Han Dynasty used Huang Lao Daoists, and Taoists and Confucians looked down on each other. Taoists feel that Confucianism is only literary, too idealistic, and has no practical work; Confucianism feels that Taoism is too Buddhist, theory is loose, and does not do practical things.
In general, the Taoists emphasized that the emperor and the local government were too conservative and did not rule, and that power was shelved and scattered, allowing the economy to develop freely without much interference; Confucianism emphasized strengthening governance and concentrating power in the hands of the emperor.
If Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty wanted to establish a great cause, he necessarily needed to grasp power, he did not want to consult with the ministers, he wanted to decide on his own, of course, he was more inclined to Confucianism. However, before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty had adopted Taoist theory for more than sixty years, the country had become extremely wealthy, and The Taoist theory had brought great success. At this time, the empress dowager Dou Shi was also a staunch supporter of Taoism.
Emperor Wu of Han did not seem to realize that his thinking had deviated from Empress Dou's, and he could not wait to do a big job, so he immediately promoted a large number of Confucian scholars, among whom Empress Dou's nephew Dou Bao and his uncle Tian Yu were both biased toward Confucianism, and one of them became a chancellor and the other a lieutenant. By the summer of that year, all the ministers of the Han Dynasty had been replaced by Confucian scholars.
This was a major blood change, and Emperor Wu of Han did not seem to have consulted too much with Empress Dou, and he did so many big things without authorization, which was dissatisfied by Empress Dou. Perhaps Empress Dou had a contradictory response to some of Emperor Wu of Han's practices, and at the beginning of the second year of Jianyuan, Zhao Xuan, the newly promoted imperial master, went so far as to openly demand that "the decision-making of future political affairs should not be discussed with Empress Dou."
This provoked the anger of Empress Dowager Dou, who used the matter to make a big fuss and collected the evil deeds of some Confucian ministers and used this evidence to blame Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu of Han had to personally apologize for his sins and depose all those who had just been promoted, and the Han Dynasty adopted the Huang Lao Daoist again.
From then on, until Empress Dou's death, Emperor Wu of Han no longer dared to make any great achievements, and lived in peace every day, just hoping not to provoke Empress Dou.
The marriage with Chen Ajiao broke down.
Emperor Wu of Han's marriage was also interfered with by Empress Dou, and his empress Dowager Chen was the daughter of Empress Dowager Dou's own daughter, Lord Dou. When Lord Dou Chang (that was Princess Gaichang) wanted to seek family affairs for her daughter and tried everything to make her daughter the next empress, she found Liu Rong, the crown prince at the time, and wanted to marry her daughter to him.
Because of the personal grudge between Dou Chang lord and Liu Rong's mother Li Ji, this marriage was finally yellow, and Li Ji's eyes were inches away, and she could not see the value that this marriage brought to Liu Rong, and finally Liu Rong, who was harmed by this, lost the crown prince position.
Lord Dou found Liu Che again, and Liu Che's mother, Lady Wang, was very far-sighted and immediately agreed to this family affair. Finally, with the efforts of Lord Dou Chang, Emperor Jing of Han deposed Liu Rong and made Liu Che crown prince instead.
Because Empress Dou wanted her younger son Liu Wu to inherit Emperor Jing of Han, she indifferently watched Liu Rong being unjustly deposed, and later Empress Dou's plan failed, and she also acquiesced to the fact that Liu Che was made crown prince.
(Liu Che and Liu Rong were sons of Emperor Jingdi of Han, and Liu Wu was the younger brother of Emperor Jingdi of Han.)
After Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, Chen Ajiao naturally became an empress, but she grew up as a noble and developed an arrogant character. Chen Ajiao was unable to give birth to an heir, nor did she allow Emperor Wu of Han to favor other concubines, and this was how the marital conflict broke out.
Later, Emperor Wu of Han couldn't bear it any longer, so he told his mother Empress Wang that he was going to depose Chen Ajiao, and Empress Wang advised him: "Before Zhao Xuan's affairs had already offended Empress Dou, now you want to offend Lord Dou again?" I'm afraid your throne will not be secured!" ”
Emperor Wu of Han felt that his mother's words were reasonable, so he had to choose to swallow his anger, although he was already extremely disgusted with Chen Ajiao in his heart, he was still pampered on the surface, and coaxed Chen Ajiao to be very happy every day.
Not long after Empress Dou's death, Emperor Wu of Han, who had endured for several years, finally couldn't bear it anymore and beat Chen Ajiao into the cold palace.
History can always break your cognition, if you don't read the history books, how will you know that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also experienced such a period of "nesting". Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very wise, and when the situation was not good, he would taoguang and cultivate obscurity, and when the situation came, he would do a big job, and finally established a great cause and became an emperor in history.