"Dear sage, far lesser, this ancestor is prosperous; Dear villain, far wise minister, after which Han fell into decline. When the emperor was there, whenever he discussed this matter with his courtiers, he did not sigh and hate Yu Huan and Lingye. ”
This sentence of Zhuge Liang in the "Teacher Departure Table" should be very familiar to anyone who has memorized junior high school texts or read the Three Kingdoms. This sentence directly made Huan and Ling Emperor synonymous with the Dusk Monarch, and has been passed down to this day.
The "Master Departure Table" made Huan and Ling Emperor synonymous with the Dusk Lord
It is undeniable that the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into a situation of irreparable disaster during the Huan and Ling periods. But the rise and fall of a dynasty is mostly not controlled by the emperor alone, but an emperor who ascended the throne as a teenager and has no real power for a long time.
Let's first take a look at the situation that Emperor Han Huan faced when he ascended the throne.
Han Huan Emperor Liu Zhi
This is the lineage transmission map of the Eastern Han Emperor. It can be seen that there are many times that the throne is passed on is not the traditional "father dies and the son succeeds" or the "brother dies" between brothers and brothers, which is more confusing.
Lineage transmission map of the Eastern Han Emperor
It may be related to genetic problems, and after the untimely death of the Han and Emperors, subsequent emperors also had short lifespans, which also led to the fact that the next emperor was mostly young when he ascended the throne. According to the convention, in this case, the Empress Dowager will be in the imperial court. When the Empress Dowager came to power, she would inevitably promote many relatives of her mother's family to serve as high-ranking officials in the DPRK, forming a powerful foreign clique of foreign relatives. The growth of the foreign clique led to the increasing corruption of the imperial government, and the national strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty gradually weakened.
During the internal strife in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the western Qiang also rebelled one after another, and in severe cases, they once attacked places close to Chang'an and Luoyang. By the time Emperor Huan of Han ascended the throne, the Eastern Han Dynasty had already experienced three blows of the Qiang Rebellion, but the problem of the Qiang Rebellion was still far from being resolved.
The second Qiang Rebellion in the Eastern Han Dynasty spread a large area
By the time of Emperor Shun of Han, Emperor Shun of Han made Liang Yu empress. Therefore, after Emperor Shun of Han also died young (29 years old), and Emperor Chong of Han, who was only one year old, ascended the throne, Liang Yu became the empress dowager. And this Empress Dowager Liang's brother is the famous traitor Liang Ji in history. The idiom "flying and domineering" was originally a description of him.
Emperor Chong of Han and Emperor Zhen of Han, both of whom were young and both reigned for only one year
When Liang Ji was in power, he did everything evil. He often robbed the people, wealth and women, killed innocents, and used his military power to completely control the imperial court, and anyone who entered the dynasty as an official needed to give him benefits, waiting for him to nod. Emperor Chong of Han reigned for only one year and died at the age of two. In order to continue to control the imperial government, the Liang family established the 9-year-old Emperor of Han, and the Empress Dowager continued to enter the dynasty. However, although Emperor Han was young, he could also see Liang Ji's deeds. On one occasion, he directly accused Liang Ji of being a "general of the Bow" in front of Liang Ji. Liang Ji was worried that in the future, Emperor Han would grow up against him, so he simply sent the little emperor away with poison. The matter of directly and brazenly killing the emperor has been so bold throughout the ages. After the death of Emperor Han, Empress Dowager Liang and Liang Ji chose a successor to Emperor Han Huan---- a distant uncle of Emperor Zhen.
Emperor Han pointed at Liang Ji in the face and said, "This general is also a general of Bao." ”
This was the situation that Emperor Han Huan faced when he came to the throne. At the national level, the third Qiang Rebellion was suppressed just a year ago, and in order to quell this riot, more than 100,000 soldiers died, and the Eastern Han Dynasty "suspended tens of billions of dollars." At the same time, Liang Ji and the foreign clique he represents are also constantly acting arbitrarily, and the entire country is suffering from hardship. At the internal level of the imperial court, Empress Dowager Liang remained in the dynasty (although she and Emperor Han Huan should be considered equals), and Liang Ji forcibly made another of her sisters empress of Emperor Han Huan. Emperor Han Huan's every move is under the noses of the Liang family, once he dares to do something, the body of Emperor Han is not yet cold, that will be his own result. What's more, at this time, Emperor Han Huan, who had been an idle king for many years, was only a junior high school student, and he could be said to be unprepared for this unlucky emperor (which was exactly what the Liang family hoped). This kind of hellish difficulty start is not something that anyone can handle.
But his operation can be said to be quite beautiful. In the era when the temple number and the nickname of the Eastern Han Dynasty had not been seriously devalued, the conclusion of the "Emperor Xiaohuan of Hanwei Zong" was enough to show that his ability was by no means as bad as most people thought.
"Spring and Autumn First Hegemon" Qi Huan Gong, nickname is also "Huan"
In the face of a powerful minister like Liang Ji, Emperor Han Huan could only endure at first. If you want to get rid of him, you have to wait patiently for some turnaround. That's 13 years.
In 159 AD, Emperor Huan of Han was 27 years old. In this year, Empress Liang Nuying, who was forcibly arranged by Liang Ji to her side, died. Since Empress Dowager Liang Yu had also died nine years ago, Emperor Han Huan finally had some space of his own. In the previous year, in year 158, a total solar eclipse had occurred. Tai Shi Ling Chen blamed Liang Ji's actions for this total solar eclipse. When Liang Ji heard this, he was furious, and directly threw Chen Shu into prison and quickly persecuted him to death, causing hundreds of officials to look at him. It was also in this year that Emperor Huan took a liking to Deng Mengnu and accepted her into the palace, and Liang Ji wanted to accept her as a righteous daughter and changed her to the surname Liang, so as to continue to control Emperor Huan of Han. This kind of practice has made Emperor Han Huan unbearable. After Liang Nuying's death, Emperor Huan of Han immediately began preparations to kill Liang Ji.
Empress Liang Nuying
Without Liang Nuying's control in the harem, Emperor Han Huan could finally cultivate some of his own cronies. But in the harem, in addition to women, there are only eunuchs, that is, eunuchs. Therefore, Emperor Huan of Han carefully communicated with the eunuchs, intending to find out which eunuchs were dissatisfied with Liang Ji and find a way to include them in his camp. Since Liang Ji had controlled the imperial government for more than 20 years at this time, almost all of the dynasty was Liang Ji's subordinates, so all the plans of Emperor Han Huan were not revealed to the outer dynasty, and all were secretly planned in the harem. Within a year, Emperor Huan began preparing to put the plan into action.
One day, under the pretext of going to the toilet, Emperor Huan only brought the personal eunuch Tang Heng. Communicating with Tang Heng in the toilet, he confirmed that Shan Chao, Xu Huang, Gu Yu, Zuo Yi and other eunuchs were very dissatisfied with Liang Ji. Emperor Huan then gathered five eunuchs and asked them to begin to unite all the forces they could unite, desperately trying to eliminate Liang Ji in one fell swoop.
In the name of Emperor Huan, they summoned Zhang Biao, the commander of the division subordinate, and immediately dispatched the army, personally commanded by Shan Chao, to besiege the general mansion of Liang Ji on charges of treason. Liang Ji has been in power for many years, but he has done a lot of evil, and people are forced by his pressure to resist on weekdays, and now the emperor's personal eunuchs led troops around Liang Ji's palace on behalf of the emperor, and the officials finally stopped being afraid, no longer attached to Liang Ji, and fell to the side of Emperor Han Huan. Soon, the army entered the general's mansion, and Liang Ji committed suicide with his wife in despair. After the incident, Emperor Huan of Han executed all dozens of Liang Ji's clansmen, and more than 300 of Liang Ji's former officials were deposed, and the Liang clan was wiped out. The news spread throughout the country, and the people celebrated and shouted long live.
Emperor Huan of Han thoroughly cleaned up the Liang clan and began to face the imperial government. But when he set out to govern the country, he felt a deep sense of despair. What the Liang Group has done over the years has made the Eastern Han Dynasty falter. Local officials have forcibly expropriated and violently collected, the contradictions between officials and the people have become irreconcilable, and the chaos of the central government has gradually caused the localities to gradually lose control. Also in this year, the fourth Qiang Rebellion broke out. At this time, Emperor Huan of Han simply did not have time to govern the country properly, so he immediately tried to find ways to quell the rebellion first and stabilize the northern border defenses.
In the same year that Liang Ji was killed, the Qiang Rebellion broke out again, and the Xianbei people, who had unified the grasslands, also began to invade the northern territory of the Han Dynasty
He first sent Duan Ying to fight, but it was unsuccessful. Subsequently, Huangfu Gui, a general who was reassigned to clean and honest officials, used a pacification method to remove some local corrupt officials according to the demands of the Qiang people, temporarily stabilizing the situation. But then, the Qiang people of Liangzhou, dissatisfied with the local rule, rebelled again. Emperor Huan of Han again sent Duan Ying to conquest, and after many tough suppressions, finally the western Qiang areas did not break out again until the Yellow Turban Uprising. At the same time, Emperor Huan sent the general Zhang Huan to the north to fight against the invasion of the Xianbei people, and Zhang Huan was powerful and powerful, basically ensuring stability and peace in the northern region. At this point, Emperor Han Huan stabilized the situation.
Until here, Emperor Han Huan did not show any characteristics of a dim monarch, but was an excellent emperor who could flex and stretch, had strong political skills, and had a strong military level. His ability is something we cannot deny.
But that's the end of it.
Traitors were eradicated, internal strife and external troubles were solved, and in general, a healthy state apparatus could function normally on its own. However, this was the chaotic late Eastern Han Dynasty. In the court, although the Liang family's foreign clique was purged, after more than twenty years before, Liang Ji's operation had made almost all the officials of the court gain positions through improper means, and there were few virtuous people at all. The eunuchs who had made great achievements in the eradication of Liang Ji were also knighted by Emperor Huan of Han, forming new interest groups. After years of chaos and war, the local government of the Eastern Han Dynasty had also become paralyzed, and the state apparatus was decaying. If a powerful Ming monarch emerges at this time, leading the country to carry out a deep blood exchange and strive for governance, the Eastern Han Dynasty may be able to continue. With the ability that Emperor Han Huan had shown, if he was willing to continue to work hard and shoulder this burden, he might really be able to save this empire.
However, he didn't.
Perhaps nervous under high pressure for too long, or perhaps desperate for the situation in the country, after achieving these successes, Emperor Han Huan began the second half of his lustful life. He immersed himself in the flowers and wines of the harem, allowing eunuchs to rule. When the class of sergeants and doctors of the DPRK was vying for power and profit with the eunuch clique, he listened to the false accusations made by the eunuchs, believing that Li Yi and other DPRK officials had formed a group of party with imperial students to slander the imperial court and corrupt customs, so he ordered the whole country to arrest more than 200 "party members" such as Li Yi and Chen Yin, which was also the "first party calamity" that has always been criticized by later generations. He also turned a blind eye to the situation of the empty treasury, and the palace maids who raised tens of thousands of animals were entertained all day, and when the treasury was exhausted, they began to sell official titles, further corrupting the rulers. The eight years of his reign after the destruction of Liang Ji were also the last eight years of his life. In the past eight years, his rotten attitude towards the imperial government finally made the Eastern Han Dynasty run faster and faster on the downhill road, and finally couldn't stop the car at all.
The later Han Huan Emperor was desolate in the harem
In general, Emperor Han Huan was just an ordinary "person". The ability he showed deserves everyone's recognition, and his indiscriminate behavior in the later period should also be scolded by future generations. The extremely high-pressure, controlled and head-off environment he was in in the early stage of his accession to the throne will inevitably cause a deformed psychology, and the subsequent indulgence may be difficult for any ordinary person to avoid. After trying hard to regain power, I want to show my skills, but I see that the world that belongs to me is terminally ill, and if it is you and me, I may also choose to directly rot. But he is an emperor after all, and the wealth and lives of thousands of people depend on him. In any case, his extreme irresponsibility to the world, those who disregard the lives and deaths of the people, will surely make this "faint king" hat forever on his head.