In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was very tolerant of the imperial court to consolidate his dominance, and one of the simplest ways was to marry the family through the royal family and the heroes, and use marriage and family relations to maintain political relations, so the imperial court at that time also chose the empress through the family of the heroes. However, Liu Xiu's practice did not play a very big role, and he was also too naïve to think that if he married, he would not rebel, but did not achieve the purpose of consolidating the imperial family, and there were more foreign forces around the emperor that threatened the imperial power.
Since the Han and emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty ascended the throne, a situation of monopoly of foreign relatives gradually arose, after which the abolition of the emperor became the influence of these imperial relatives. At that time, the empress dowager did not have much actual power, they would only pass on the real power to their fathers or entrust them to their brothers, so the relatives of these empresses, such as Deng Xiao and Liang Ji father and son, successively held the power of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Among them, the powerful minister Liang Ji (梁冀) is one of the representative figures, and his ancestor is Liang Tong. He was the Taishou of Jiuquan at the time of the Rebellion of Xinmang, and after the fall of the Daxin Dynasty, the forces in the northwest region pushed Dou Rong into the Great General of Hexi, and Liang Tong served as the Taishou of Wuwei, and then supported the army to protect himself.
When the Eastern Han Dynasty was established, Dou Rong and Liang Tong returned to the Eastern Han Dynasty along the historical current, and Liu Xiu regarded them as the founding heroes. Dou Rong was made the Marquis of Anfeng and Liang Tong the Marquis of Chengyi, and in 36 AD, Liang Tong and Dou Rong moved to Luoyang, Dou Rong was made the Grand Sikong, and Liang Tong was made the Marquis of Gaoshan, and later both of their families were married to the imperial family, and Liu Xiu married his daughter Princess Wuyin to Liang Tong's son Liang Song as his wife. As a result, the children of the Liang family obtained the later qualification of being selected as empresses.
At that time, Liang Song's brother Liang Zhen had two daughters, and was elected by the imperial court as the noble of Emperor Zhang of Han, Xiao Gui had a prince, but the Dou family did not become pregnant, coupled with the Liang family's private celebration of the son, the Dou family's fear of the Liang clan was so successful that they plotted to kill the two nobles of the Liang clan and their father Liang Zhen. After the death of Emperor Zhang of Han, Emperor Hanhe, who was only ten years old, began to ascend the throne, and Empress Dou came to the court to listen to the government, and Emperor Hanhe at that time did not know that his biological mother was of the Liang clan.
After Empress Dowager Dou died in 97 AD, the Liang family told the Dou family the truth, which caused Emperor Han and Emperor to honor their own mother as Empress Gonghuai, and Liang's children and grandchildren were all promoted to marquis. However, after the death of Emperor He of Han, there was a brief visit to the government of Empress Deng and Empress Yan. The Liang clan was also suppressed and attacked by foreign relatives such as the Dou, Tang, and Yan clans, and the Liang clan was in turmoil in the history of palace battles and eunuchs, and later regained power during the reign of Emperor Shun of Han.
Emperor HanShun began to ascend the throne at the age of eleven, and he governed state affairs at a young age like Emperor Han and Emperor He, and because Emperor Shun of Han was related to the Liang clan, he made Liang Shang, the grandson of Liang Chun, the Marquis of Chengshi. In 132 AD, Liang Shang's daughter was made empress, and since then Liang Shang's status has continued to increase, although he is already a high-powered position, he is still restrained and does not dare to be very arbitrary, so Liang Shang's reputation is not too bad. But in fact, this was arranged by Liang Shang for his son Liang Ji's monopoly of power, so that the future state power could be in the hands of the Liang family.