(Emperor Zhang of Han, Liu Zhao)
Zhang He II, 88 AD, February 13.
Liu Qilong, the diligent and promising Emperor of Han Zhang, rode the guests and went on a big trip.
The emperor died.
As soon as the emperor died, the crown prince Liu Zhaoma took over Laozi's class without stopping.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was vast and fertile, with tens of thousands of prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction, and the folds handed over every day could be piled up into a hill, so busy with political affairs, without the emperor, a day could not be played.
But then again, even with Liu Zhao, he can't play around, because Comrade Liu Zhao, who has just ascended the throne, is not very old, only ten years old.
Six years earlier, his mother, Liang Shi, had been imprisoned for offending Empress Dou and was finally angry to death.
And now, he has lost the father who has always been loving and kind.
The throne, how many people's eyes were hot when they turned to it, but when Liu Zhao sat on it, he felt incomparably cold.
It seems that it is not unreasonable for the emperor to claim to be a widow, and now, the young Liu Zhao, who has lost his parents, has officially become a lonely man.
Of course, it is not entirely true to say that the family is alone, because there is also the nominal mother, that is, the Dou clan, who has become the empress dowager.
It was normal for the emperor to be young and Empress Dowager Dou to rule the dynasty, because you can't expect a ten-year-old child to take on the heavy responsibility of running the entire empire.
However, Empress Dou's wanton reward for Dou's relatives was more or less unkind.
Empress Dowager Dou's brother Dou Xian (窦仙), who was given the title of Attendant (侍中), was specifically responsible for conveying the emperor's will.
To say that it is to convey is to speak on behalf of the emperor, to be the emperor's home, and to be the emperor's lord.
His younger brother Dou Du (窦笃), who was given the title of General of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang (虎贲中郎將), worked mainly as the emperor's personal security guard, responsible for monitoring and controlling the emperor 24 hours a day.
The other two clan brothers, Dou Jing and Dou Huan, were both appointed as Zhongchang Attendants, and their main job was to serve as the emperor's personal secretary, responsible for supervising and directing the emperor's daily work.
From this point of view, the little emperor can be said to be 360 degrees without dead angles and was guarded by Empress Dou.
(Empress Dou image)
If it is said that the Dou family is loyal to the king and patriotic, and seriously works for the emperor, it is understandable, but the character of these Dou relatives is really not very good.
Dou Xian, who had always wanted to establish military merit in the north and establish prestige among his subjects, launched a war and expedition against the Xiongnu.
However, at this time, the Northern Xiongnu had been hidden in the desert for many years, and every day they were honestly eating sand in the desert, which had long been no threat to the Eastern Han Regime, so if this battle was to be fought, it was actually very redundant.
First, it belongs to nothing to find trouble, and second, the expedition to the desert, the risk is very high, Dou Xian is a waiter, not a full-time general, want to imitate Wei Qing, but I estimate that there is a difference of 10,000 Huo between him and Wei Qing.
Of course, the ministers strongly opposed it, and even said this to Dou Xian fiercely:
"Why abandon the lives of ten thousand people with the plan of one man" - Book of the Later Han Dynasty
This sentence is sharp, but it is a fact.
Comrade Dou Xian's behavior is undoubtedly only to satisfy his own selfish desires, and it is not at all to defend the family and the country.
How many soldiers will die innocently on a hasty expedition, and how many soldiers will bury their bones?
But Dou Shi held great power, and no one could influence Dou Xian's decision.
(Huns)
As a result, the battle was fought, the people died, and the Huns were still not completely eliminated.
If Dou Xian is just a self-absorbed politician, then Zhongchang Dou Jing is an unashamed stinky hooligan.
It is said that the position of the middle and permanent waiter is already considered to be to get the wind and the wind, to get the rain, and it is enough to be a mighty blessing in the official arena, Dou Jing does not stop, he likes to go to the society to bully the common people.
The officials of the tangtang court blocked the road and robbed in the morning, and all the documents were received according to the order.
In the afternoon, there was still a roadblock and robbery, but there was one more content, openly flirting with women, big girls and little daughters-in-law in ten miles and eight townships, as long as Dou Jing was on the street, three or five miles away, they would look at the wind and flee.
What about Empress Dowager Dou herself? As the empress dowager, her own character can also be said to be a bad one.
As a right queen, still a familiar recipe, or a familiar taste.
Those who follow dou's foreign relatives and high-ranking officials, who dare to contradict themselves, are either expelled, exiled, or directly executed.
But it is clear that the ministers of the Eastern Han Dynasty are still very dignified.
They did not choose to keep their mouths shut and protect themselves, but they were lively and lively with Empress Dowager Dou.
According to the historical book "Zizhi Tongjian", from the first five years of the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao's ascension to the throne, the ministers frantically wrote letters, and the average day was not a problem.
(Emperor He of Han, Liu Zhao)
The attitude of the ministers is very resolute, the Dou clan is dominant, misbehaving, the empress dowager must return the government to the emperor, if you do not return the government, we will play with you.
These fierce ministers were basically over the age of ancient, they had eaten Han Lu, received the grace of the king, and were loyal to the Liu clan, and it was difficult to reconcile with the Empress Dowager Dou.
If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person who made the problem.
Who are the key people in the matter?
Han and Emperor Liu Zhao.
So how can we solve the emperor?
Empress Dowager Dou had an earth-shattering idea: kill the emperor.
The courtiers had lost patience with Empress Dowager Dou all year round, and the little emperor was getting bigger and bigger day by day, and he was no longer willing to be controlled by himself.
So who will be sent to kill the emperor? Quite simply, the Dou clan's henchmen were all over the court, and it was enough to find two people to do it.
Han and Emperor Liu Zhao were in crisis.
As an emperor, he could not personally govern, and above the court, he watched the minister of culture and military affairs creeping at his feet, and the mountain shouted long live, but he did not dare to say a word, and everywhere he had to look at Empress Dou's face.
This emperor was really too depressed.
State affairs, personnel decision-making, pile by pile, piece by piece, can not be any master by themselves.
He is the emperor, but at this moment, he is more like the mascot of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Who the hell was the Eastern Han Dynasty?
Who was the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty?
Liu Zhao had lost his dignity as an emperor, and now, he was trapped in a heavy deep palace, and even his life was seriously threatened.
Looking up, there was no one around.
The bodyguards were the minions of the Dou clan, and the ministers were the henchmen of the Dou clan.
The emperor had no one to rely on.
Destiny is the Son of Heaven, but fate is like an ant.
But the emperor did not despair, for he found that he still had a kind of person to rely on.
Who? eunuch.
For the emperor, the eunuchs lived with him day and night, and he knew them and trusted them.
As far as the eunuch comrades were concerned, they themselves were special products of the feudal dynasty, and they were also crippled, and everyone hated them wherever they went, and only by the emperor's side could they survive.
Among these comrades of eunuchs, there was a man named Deng Zhong, who was not only loyal to the emperor, but also very strategic.
(Deng Zhong image)
At the critical moment, the emperor and Deng Zhong quickly formed the "Anti-Dou Duo".
Deng Zhong believed that instead of thinking about how to escape the persecution of the Dou clan, it was better to oppose the guests and directly destroy the dou clan's foreign relatives.
This sentence can be regarded as speaking to the emperor's heart, Liu Zhao thought day and night, that is, to overthrow the Dou clan and take back sovereignty.
To catch a man is to catch a double, and to catch a thief is to catch the king first.
The first step in taking back sovereignty was to eliminate the backbone members of Dou's foreign relatives.
But it was obviously not a very good idea to take Empress Dou's operation.
In any case, he was also the emperor's nominal mother, so he could only choose another candidate.
So who are the backbone members?
Dou Xian.
(Dou Xian)
After fighting the Xiongnu before, Comrade Dou Xian of the Chicken Thief took over the military command of the entire empire and became the most powerful person in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty.
If you want to overthrow Dou, you must first get rid of Dou Xian.
But the problem was that in terms of blood relations, Dou Xian was the emperor's uncle.
Liu Zhao believed that as emperor, it was really a great act of filial piety to kill his uncle.
It seems that our comrade Liu Zhao is still too kind.
In terms of kinship, Empress Dou or your mother, or do you still want to get rid of you?
History has never been simple, and it is by no means as easy as in the drama of a TV series.
History is a shura field, and if you don't kill me, I'll kill you.
From this point of view, if the benevolent and generous Liu Zhao wanted to deal with the fierce Dou clan relatives, he would have almost no chance of winning.
But the final result was unexpected.
The contest between the emperor and the foreign forces ended in the emperor's overall victory.
There are no complicated plans, and there are no earth-shattering reversals.
There was only one reason for the failure of Dou's relatives, that is, they were too paralyzed.
Holding heavy power for many years and flaunting their might, they have fallen into a state of "nothing under the heavens", and they really can't imagine that the emperor who has always seemed silent and silent, only promises, has the courage to deal with himself.
But the truth is that the emperor not only had the courage to deal with himself, but the emperor also had the courage to gather the soldiers in the palace in the middle of the night to launch a coup d'état and destroy the entire Dou clan in one fell swoop.
Quickly cutting through the chaos and launching a coup d'état by force is indeed a good choice.
Dou Xian was imprisoned, Dou Du and Dou Jing were ordered to be executed, and everyone saw that the emperor was in charge this time, and gave full play to the concept of "the wall fell down and everyone pushed, and the drum was broken and pounded" and returned to the emperor's embrace.
The four seas are too peaceful, and the universe is finally clear.
And Empress Dou, who once dominated the emperor and set off a storm of foreign relations' monopoly, could still sit behind the emperor with dignity and authority.
However, at this time, the identities are already interchangeable.
She is no longer the female politician who listens to the government, the throne that she once had a great fascination with, which will be her eternal prison.
After thousands of years, Liu Zhao finally ascended the throne.
Since there are not many historical materials in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming, Emperor Zhuang, and the current Emperor He, there are even fewer accounts of them in the history books, so I can only use one sentence to express the emperor's ruling deeds:
Unjust imprisonment, widowhood, widowhood, weakness, and thin endowment. - Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Try unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, show compassion for the lonely and widowed, help the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled, and reduce or waive taxes on forced labor.
An era of political clarity has begun.
Lost his mother in childhood, and lost his father at a young age.
He was shackled by his foreign relatives and lost his dignity as an emperor.
He was imprisoned, and even almost died at the hands of the traitorous villain.
Now, he finally crossed all this cruel thing and finally stood in front of people.
I am the son of the Great Han.
I am the master of the world.
(Eastern Han Dynasty Imperial Palace)
Below, I would like to use a piece of data to reflect the Eastern Han Dynasty under Liu Zhao:
In the first year of Yongxing, in 105 AD, the reclamation area reached 7.32 million hectares, which is the highest record in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The registered population reached 53.25 million, which was also the peak of the population in the Two Han Dynasties.
But such an emperor is far less well-known than those so-called "emperors of all ages".
People talk a lot about the Sui Dynasty Emperor opening the keju and opening the canal, but who has talked about how many migrant workers he died of for the canal project?
People also talk about the talent of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the style of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the calligraphy achievements are even more unique, but how many people know how much the people of the Northern Song Dynasty suffered because of his playful indulgence?
The unnamed emperor is sung and praised by the people, and the real wise emperor is unknown in the corner of history.
Today, I hope that through this insignificant article, I hope that everyone can understand Liu Zhao, know Liu Zhao.
There are no more emperors in Chinese history, a total of more than 400.
But an emperor like Liu Zhao is the most lovely person.
The legend of his life is enough to make people talk about it, but loving the people like a son is the real main theme of an emperor.