Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun (Liu Yiji), the tenth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the great-grandson of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, and the grandson of Liu Zhao, the Crown Prince of Han, created the "Reign of Filial Piety" and completed Emperor Wu's unfinished business of completely defeating the Xiongnu and making the Xiongnu submit, and the territory of the Han Dynasty reached its peak in his hands, and he was a monarch whose great talent was rare in ancient and modern times. In terms of merit, Emperor Xuan of Han should be no less than Liu Bang and Liu Che.
In terms of the way of governing the country, the Southern Song Dynasty Chen Pu's "Yong Shi Shi XuanDi" said that the Han Xuan Emperor's way of governing the country was broken, "Do not make the law the Spring and Autumn, and henan is imprisoned by several countries." Mo Daohan's miscellaneous kings and kings are very shang martingale and half a week", thinking that Emperor Xuan of Han treated the law as the "Spring and Autumn" of the governing classic, which led to "several prisoners of the country", so don't think that Emperor Xuan is a Confucian and a mixed juggler, he was originally a full legalist, but left some room for Confucianism to decorate the façade.
A prince of great talent, a prince who pays attention to the Fa, but when choosing an heir, it is surprising, choosing the incompetent Han Yuan Emperor who is "gentle and good", not other sons, why?
Emperor Xuan of Han had six sons, namely Liu Yi (shi), Liu Qin, Liu Huan, Liu Yu, Liu Jing, and King Guantao, of whom The king of Guantao was unknown, or died prematurely, or was omitted from the history books, or did not exist.
Liu Yi was the eldest son of the emperor, a prince with great artistic talent, multi-talented, good at history books, and tonal rhythms, but he was less good at Confucianism and was a soft coward, and at the age of eight he was made crown prince by Emperor Xuan of Han.
The Book of Han records that Emperor Xuan of Han emphasized the use of legal scholars and punished his subordinates with punishment at every turn, but Liu Yi did not think so. Once, Liu Yi gently persuaded Emperor Xuan of Han that "His Majesty's punishment is too deep, and it is advisable to use Confucianism.", Emperor Xuan of Han listened to the sudden change in his face and sternly warned Liu Yi: The Han Dynasty had a Han Dynasty system, which was originally a 'royal way' and 'hegemony' and used it at the same time, how can we simply use the Zhou Dynasty's "moral government"? What's more, the common Confucians cannot see the changes in the world, and they are most fond of the past and the present, so how can they entrust them with the major affairs of the state? After saying these words, Emperor Xuan of Han sighed again and said, "Those who mess with my family, the prince also!" ”
Sure enough, after Liu Yi became emperor, he soon abolished his martial arts and allowed the eunuchs Honggong and Shi Xian to force Xiao Wangzhi, one of the three auxiliary ministers, to die. Xiao Wangzhi was forced to die, and Emperor Yuan of Han was so shocked that he wept bitterly and verbally blamed Honggong and Shi Xian, but only this did not make the next move, and afterwards he favored them as before.
What is more serious is that after the Han Yuan Emperor handed over the power to the eunuch Shi Xian, no matter how big or small, it was all reported and decided by Shi Xian, so Shi Xian seemed to have a word, "heavy foot trace", although the Han Yuan Emperor was the son of heaven, but the power was in Shi Xian's hands, everything was Shi Xian's decision. Subsequently, Shi Xian and the court eunuchs formed an "internal party", and colluded with foreign relatives to win over the ministers who saw the wind and made the rudder, and the three echoed inside and outside, stirring up the wind and waves, the party was in the same way, expelling the different parties, killing upright officials, and the imperial court was engaged in a miasma of black smoke.
Emperor Yuan of Han knew nothing about Shi Xian's unauthorized power and chaos, and Sima Guang commented: "Even so, filial piety is a king, easy to deceive and difficult to understand. To put it simply, Emperor Yuan of Han was so foolish that he let Shi Xian play between his palms. Historically, the Han Yuan Emperor missed Wang Zhaojun, one of the four beauties, and the reason may be that Shi Xian is here.
From the beginning of the Han Yuan Emperor, the Western Han Emperor has been in power, and the Han Cheng Emperor after the Han Yuan Emperor was deserted with wine, resulting in foreign relatives being in charge of the government, and almost all of the great politics were controlled by the Wang clan of the Empress Dowager, laying the foundation for Wang Mang's usurpation of Han and the demise of the Western Han Dynasty. The wang mang family in history originated in the period of the Han Yuan Emperor, and the Han Cheng Emperor grew to an uncontrollable point during the Han Cheng Emperor period.
It can be said that Emperor Yuan of Han was an out-and-out faint and incompetent king.
Emperor Xuan of Han had a total of six sons, and since Liu Yi was useless, why did Emperor Xuan of Han insist on passing on the throne to Emperor Yuan of Han because the other princes were worse?
Liu Qin was the second son of the emperor, and his mother was Zhang Jieyu, who was the most favored by Emperor Xuan of Han, so liu Qin was also deeply favored by Emperor Xuan of Han. Moreover, Liu Qin was strong and tall, liked to write scriptures and laws, was intelligent and talented, and coupled with the fact that the crown prince Liu Yi was generous and benevolent, and liked Confucianism, in contrast to the two, Emperor Xuan of Han often sighed to Liu Qin, "True my son!" It can be seen that whether it is the idea of governing the country and the figure of a person, Liu Qin is more in line with the candidate for the crown prince imagined by Emperor Xuan of Han, and the feeling of "true my son" also shows that Emperor Xuan of Han wants to establish Liu Qin as the crown prince.
Liu Hu was the third son of the emperor, and there are not many records of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, but Liu Xiao, the emperor of Hancheng, had an evaluation of him: "King Huan of Chu has been filial and benevolent, and for more than twenty years since the country, he has not heard of his faults." Therefore, Liu Hu should be a very good king of the clan.
Liu Yu was the fourth son of the emperor, liu was actually the fifth son of the emperor, these two people have few historical records, there should be nothing outstanding, plus the mother is favored, and the age is young, it is almost impossible to become a candidate for the throne.
In general, there are at least Liu Qin and Liu Huan who are better than Liu Yi and are suitable for age. Since Emperor Xuan of Han prophesied that "those who mess with my family will also be crown princes", why not abolish Liu Yi and make Liu Qin or Liu Hu crown princes?
Emperor Xuan of Han's insistence on passing on the throne to Liu Yi was actually full of irrationality, rooted in a woman he loved deeply.
In terms of the emperor's lineage in history, there may be no one more miserable and legendary than Emperor Xuan of Han. Emperor Xuan of Han was the grandson of Liu Zhi, the crown prince of Han, whose original name was Liu Yi, who was imprisoned in his infancy, and Emperor Wu of Han was also preparing to execute him before his death, but thanks to Bingji's reasoning, he made Emperor Wu of Han change his mind, and Liu Yi had escaped a disaster and then fled to the people for more than ten years, tasting all the bittersweet and bittersweet in the world.
At that time, Xu Guanghan had a daughter named Xu Pingjun, who was supposed to be the daughter-in-law of the Ouhou clan of the inner ruler, but when he was married, the son of the Ouhou clan died, and there was no "Kefu" at that time. Xu Pingjun's mother asked for someone to divinate, saying that Xu Pingjun would be very expensive. After hearing about Ituya's order Zhang He (Zhang Tang's son, who had been a household official of Liu Yi's grandfather Liu Zhao), he used his family wealth as a dowry to arrange a wedding for Liu Yi and marry Xu Pingjun, and the couple often traveled to Sanfu, although the feelings of poverty were very good, and the two gave birth to a son, Liu Yi.
Emperor Zhao of Han died without heirs, and Huo Guang welcomed Liu He the Prince of Changyi as emperor, but Liu He was absurd and promiscuous, and was deposed after reigning for 27 days, and on the recommendation of Bingji and others, Huo Guang welcomed Liu Yi as emperor and made Xu Pingjun a concubine. At that time, the chancellor asked Huo Chengjun, the daughter of Huo Guang, to be made empress, and Emperor Xuan of Han issued an edict saying that he would seek an old sword from his poor time, so Xu Pingjun was made empress, which is the source of the allusion of "the love of the sword".
However, Huo Guang's wife had always wanted Huo Chengjun to be empress, and finally found an opportunity three years later, when Empress Xu became pregnant again and fell ill during childbirth, Huo Guang's wife ordered someone to throw poison into the tonic soup medicine, killing Xu Pingjun, and Huo Chengjun became the empress as she wished. Later, after Liu Yi was made crown prince, Huo Guang's wife repeatedly instructed Huo Chengjun to poison the crown prince, and Liu Yi escaped from death many times. Of course, after Huo Guang's death, the Huo family plotted a rebellion and was eradicated by Emperor Xuan of Han, and this period of enmity was declared over.
Therefore, Emperor Xuan of Han insisted on passing on the throne to Liu Yi because the crown prince Liu Yi was from a humble origin, Emperor Xuan of Han was poor and relied on Xu Shi when he was young, and when he became emperor, Xu Pingjun was killed again, and the crown prince Liu Yi lost his mother at an early age, in view of his gratitude and retribution for the late Empress Xu, Emperor Xuan of Han could not bear to depose Liu Yi. But this irrationality has buried endless hidden dangers for the Western Han Dynasty.
References: Book of Han, etc