Throughout the history of China, almost all of the Ming Emperors have encountered the problem of succession, as if they collectively suffered from the "inheritance disorder", the change of the sand dunes of Qin Shi Huang, the scourge of Wu Wu of Han, the rebellion of Li Chengqian of Tang Taizong, the difficulty of Zhu Dijing after Zhu Yuanzhang, and the Nine Dragons of the Kangxi Emperor... These have long been well-known to women and children, so Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was jokingly called "the son of the face" by netizens, what story did he have in the choice of succession?
Emperor Guangwu had eleven sons, namely Liu Qi, Liu Fu, Liu Kang, Liu Zhuang, Liu Yan, Liu Yan, Liu Ying, Liu Cang, Liu Jing, Liu Heng, and Liu Jing. Miraculously, except for the death of the tenth son Liu Heng at an early age, everyone else grew up smoothly, which was very rare in ancient society and added a touch of mystery to the legend of Liu Xiu.
Liu Yi was the eldest son of the Emperor and his mother was Empress Guo Shengtong, so Liu Yi was the eldest son of Zheng'er Bajing, who was made crown prince in 26 AD and died the year after emperor Guangwu's death. Liu Zhuang (Emperor Ming of Han) was the fourth son, and his mother was a famous beauty in history, Yin Lihua.
Since Liu Yi was the eldest son of Concubine, and he did not die young, why did Liu Xiu still pass on to the fourth son Liu Zhuang? If Prince Liu Yi was incompetent and deposed, why didn't Liu Xiu pass on the throne as the second and third sons... And the fourth son of the succession, Liu Zhuang?
Liu Xiu had two important concubines, Guo Shengtong and Yin Lihua. If you want to understand the mystery of Liu Xiu's succession, you must first understand the status of these two concubines in Liu Xiu's eyes.
In 23 AD, with the support of the Green Forest Army, Liu Xiu's brother Liu Xuan was called emperor, and the history was called "More First Emperor". However, in the process of overthrowing Wang Mang's new dynasty, Liu Xiugong was highly shocked, which made Liu Xuan jealous, but because the world was undecided, all the states and counties north of the Yellow River were holding a wait-and-see attitude, and they had not yet been annexed to the genger regime, and the Chimei army was gaining momentum in Shandong, especially whether it could pacify Hebei (north of the Yellow River, not today's Hebei), which was related to the fate of the more primitive regime. Liu Xuan was embarrassed and did not let Liu Xiu caress Hebei, and the others were likely to do a bad job, thus threatening the regime; letting Liu Xiu go to Hebei would make Liu Xiugong high. In the end, after some persuasion from The Chancellor Cao, Liu Xuan agreed to send Liu Xiu to Hebei.
However, the situation in Hebei was very complicated, and in addition to some counties, Hebei also had three kings, namely King Miao of Zhao, King Guangyang, and King Zhending (the seventh grandson of Liu Qi, Emperor Jing of Han). Among them, a man named Wang Lang was proclaimed emperor in Handan, and not only was he supported by Liu Lin, the son of King Zhao Miao of the Western Han Dynasty, but also Liu Jie, the son of King Guangyang, who also raised an army against Liu Lin. For a time, Liu Xiu's situation was quite difficult, and he even had the heart to return to the south to escape from Hebei, but fortunately he was supported by the counties of Shanggu and Yuyang.
Therefore, if Liu Xiu wanted to reverse the situation in Hebei as soon as possible, he had to get the support of King Zhending. Liu Xiu's method is very simple, that is, marriage. In order to win over Liu Yang, the King of Zhending, and promote an alliance with Liu Yang, the King of Zhending, Liu Xiu personally went to the Palace of Zhending and married Liu Yang's niece, Guo Shengtong, with solemn etiquette, so it was a standard political marriage.
Guo Shengtong was the daughter of Guo Chang, the Marquis of Yangkangsi, a descendant of the ancient Guo Kingdom, and the niece of Liu Yang the Prince of Zhending, and the Guo family was a famous and prestigious family of the Marquis of Zhending, so it helped Liu Xiu a lot. Subsequently, with the help of the Guo family and Liu Yang, the king of Zhending, Liu Xiu won the victory of Nanluan, attacked Handan, and killed Wang Lang and others.
In 25 AD, Liu Xiu, who was already "trans-state and with a million", declared himself emperor in Xingtai, Hebei. It can be said that the reason why Liu Xiu was able to cross Hebei was of course related to his personal ability, but Guo Shengtong helped a lot. Without Guo Shengtong, Liu Xiu might be able to unify Hebei, but it should be delayed for at least a few years.
Yin Lihua, after the Spring and Autumn Name Guan Zhong, the rich family of Nanyang Xinye. Liu Xiu's brother-in-law is named Deng Chen, who lives in Xinye, Nanyang, and Deng Chen is related to the Yin clan, and with the help of this relationship, Liu Xiu came into contact with Yin Lihua when he was young, and yin Lihua's beauty left a deep impression on him at that time. After that, Liu Xiuchang'an studied, and once saw Zhi Jinwu leading an army to travel, the grand scene shocked Liu Xiu, just like Liu Bang and Xiang Yu saw Qin Shi Huang on a tour two hundred years ago, Liu Xiu also issued a similar sigh: "Shi Eunuch is treated as a Jinwu, and his wife should be Yin Lihua." ”
However, although Liu Xiu had the status of a clan at that time, he was always a poor boy, and his status was far from that of Yin Lihua. After the Battle of Kunyang, Liu Xiu made great contributions, and was later made the Marquis of Wuxin by the first emperor Liu Xuan, and then married Yin Lihua in Wancheng.
Only three months after the new marriage of Yan'er, Liu Xiu received an order from Zhenfu Hebei, so Liu Xiu sent Yin Lihua back to Xinye's family, went to Hebei himself, and married Guo Shengtong in Hebei and embarked on the road to becoming emperor.
In October 25, Liu Xiu entered Luoyang, established the Eastern Han Dynasty, and simultaneously crowned Guo Shengtong and Yin Lihua as "nobles". However, Liu Xiu's treatment of the two was obviously different, such as sealing his brother Yin Zhi as the Marquis of Yinxiang, making Yin Lihua's mother's family's political title higher than Guo Shengtong's mother's family.
A year later, Liu Xiu's regime gradually stabilized, and the selection of the post of Zhonggong was also put on the agenda. Liu Xiu used Yin Lihua as "elegant and generous, with the beauty of motherhood", hoping to be able to establish the original Yin Lihua queen. However, Yin Lihua felt that she was not qualified to resign, "after stubborn resignation, with Guo's son, he finally refused to be", so Liu Xiu established Guo Shengtong as empress. In the same year, Liu Xiuzhi made Liu Yi, the son of Guo Shengtong, crown prince.
Objectively speaking, guo Shengtong was made empress by all, for four reasons: First, Guo Shengtong was of great importance to Liu Xiu's unification of Hebei; second, Guo Shengtong and Liu Xiu had suffered hardships together, and the two had feelings of distress; third, at that time, Guo Shengtong and Liu Xiu already had a son, and the mother was precious; fourth, Guo Shengtong was good at etiquette and frugality, and had the virtue of motherly etiquette.
However, Liu Xiu's favorite woman is not Guo Shengtong, but Yin Lihua. In the depths of Liu Xiu's heart, he always wanted to push Yin Lihua to the empress throne.
In 39 AD, Liu Xiu,in order to increase the taxation of the land, was strongly rebetted by local tycoons, and even the county surname resisted by force. The following year, thieves were everywhere, the prefectures and counties were in turmoil, the toes were rebellious, and the eclipse of the sky appeared, which led to the turmoil in the court, and the nascent Eastern Han Dynasty ushered in a major crisis. In the face of the warning of the celestial signs, the fear caused by Du Tian (measuring the land), and the heart of the Guangwu Emperor for many years, were finally pressed on Guo Shengtong, who was the empress.
In 41 AD, despite the opposition of many ministers, Liu Xiu abolished the position of Empress Guo Shengtong and established Yin Lihua as empress dowager on the grounds that "he acted in the style of Lü Huo, and could not be entrusted with the title of young orphan and condescending to the throne". After the historian ridiculed Liu Xiu's abolition, he pointed out: Emperor Guangwu could tolerate meritorious servants, but he could not tolerate a wife, and the act of abolishing the queen was all out of selfishness.
Perhaps, Liu Xiu felt guilty about Guo Shengtong, and after deposing Empress Guo Shengtong, he immediately made Guo Shengtong's second son Liu Fu the King of Zhongshan, and after the abolition, Guo Shi was made the Empress Dowager of Zhongshan, and Changshan County was assigned to the Zhongshan Kingdom, and guo Shengtong was given the guo clan with the second county, so that Guo Shengtong became the woman who was named "Empress Dowager" by the third emperor of the Two Han Dynasties without dying. At the same time, Liu Xiu also appeased Guo Shengtong's mother's family, and his brother Guo Quan, his cousin Guo Jing, his cousin Guo Kuang, and the Guo family's foreign son-in-law Nanyang Chen Mao were all enfeoffed.
As Guo Shengtong's eldest son, Liu Yi was very clever, and since his mother had deposed the Middle Palace, his position was in jeopardy, so he repeatedly requested to abdicate as the king of the domain, but Liu Xiu refused. Two years later, the imperial court was surging undercurrents, and Liu Qi was even more dangerous, so he once again wrote to plead for "inducing him to retire", voluntarily resigned from the position of prince, and finally got Liu Xiu's consent, and then was named the King of the East Sea, becoming one of the few princes in Chinese history who took the initiative to retire to the throne and get a good death.
Liu Yi resigned as crown prince, but there were two older than Liu Zhuang, so why did Liu Xiu pass on the fourth son, Liu Zhuang? The reason is very simple, the other two are born to Guo Shengtong, and Guo Shengtong and Liu Xiu have five sons, and Yin Lihua and Liu Xiu also have five sons, of which Liu Zhuang is Yin Lihua's first son. Moreover, Liu Zhuang "ten years old can pass the Spring and Autumn, Guangwu Qizhi", and has performed extraordinaryly since childhood, so Liu Xiu made Liu Zhuang the crown prince after Liu Yi resigned, that is, the later Emperor Ming of Han.
The historical Liu Zhuang is a generation of Ming Jun, and during the reign of his son Liu Zhangdi of Han, history is called "the rule of Ming Zhang", and the legend of Ban Chao occurred in this period.
In general, Liu Xiu deposed Guo Liyin and replaced the heir to the throne in disguise, essentially out of selfishness, but unexpectedly selected a good emperor for the Eastern Han Dynasty, perhaps this is the invincible luck of the "son of the face".
References: Book of the Later Han Dynasty, etc