In his later years, Emperor Wu of Han was afraid of the harem interfering in politics, so he did not hesitate to kill Liu Fuling's mother, Lady Hook Yi. Although this is not clearly recorded in the historical data, historians of later generations can affirm this point according to the basis. Finally, in February of the second year of the Later Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han made Liu Fuling crown prince on his deathbed, and four days later, on Ding Di Day, Emperor Wu of Han died at the Age of Seventy at the Age of Seventy.
Soon after, Emperor Wu of Han's younger son Liu Fuling succeeded to the throne at the age of eight. After thirteen years on the throne, he died mysteriously at the age of twenty-one. There are only a few records of the death of Emperor Han Zhao in the historical records, and there is no mention of the specific details of Liu Fuling's death, which makes posterity wonder. So, did Liu Fuling die of disease? Or did he die?
For thousands of years, historians have speculated about this, but there has never been an exact conclusion, and liu Fuling's death has finally become a mystery in the field of historiography. According to historical records, Liu Fuling's physical fitness is very good, and his height has reached eight feet and two inches at the age of crowning, and he is as strong as a calf. In addition, Liu Fuling was born into an imperial family and had lived a life of gold and jade since childhood, how could he die violently at the age of twenty-one?
From this, some people speculate, saying: "In order to be able to usurp power, Huo Guang, a powerful minister, secretly murdered the young little emperor. Although the authenticity of this view is not high, the author feels that although Huo Guang did not directly murder Liu Fuling, Liu Fuling's death was still inseparable from it.
When Emperor Han Zhao succeeded to the throne, he was too young to have the ability to govern the government, so all the major affairs in the world were represented by Huo Guang, the first assistant minister. Emperor Wu of Han once gave Huo Guang a painting of "Zhou Gong's Back to become a King", just to let Huo Guang learn from the Zhou Dynasty during the Zhou Dynasty, acting as the Zhou Gong for seven years, and when King Cheng grew up, he would return power to King Cheng and bow down. However, when Liu Fuling was supposed to take over the government when he became an adult, Huo Guang still held the power tightly and had no intention of giving up power.
Power is something that people can't stop, Huo Guang is confused by power, and Liu Fuling is even more so. Liu Fuling did not want to take back power all the time, but Huo Guang's actions were all loyal to the Han Dynasty, and Huo Guang's forces were entangled in the court and very stable, and Liu Fuling's attempt to overthrow Huo Guang was nothing more than a fool's dream. In the end, Emperor Han Zhao, who knew that he could not fight Huo Guang, could only continue to be his puppet emperor, which made Liu Fuling, who had great ambitions, very aggrieved.
In addition to the power of the side, Liu Fuling's personal life was also firmly controlled by Huo Guang. When Liu Fuling was nine years old, "wearing a shower pool, a thousand steps ... It is the fate of Wen Zi for the boat, Mulan for the maple... Forget the scenery, even overnight." The little emperor who had lived in the deep palace since childhood had never been so happy, but unfortunately the good times were not long, and it was not long before Huo Guang demolished the pavilion pool on the grounds that the emperor was too extravagant to travel, so that Emperor Han Zhao could not play.
In addition to playing on weekdays, even the marriage of Emperor Han Zhao, Huo Guang had to interfere. Liu Fuling married Huo Guang's granddaughter as empress at the age of twelve, and the Shangguan clan who married Liu Fuling at this time was only six years old. Imagine a twelve-year-old child marrying a six-year-old child, the union between the two is obviously a political marriage, the initiator of this matter must be Huo Guang, which has become the reason why Liu Fuling was very cold to Empress Shangguan, and Emperor Han Zhao could only vent his dissatisfaction with Huo Guang with this silent resistance.
In order to make his granddaughter favored, he forbade other concubines to serve Liu Fuling, and Huo Guang also ordered the palace ladies to wear "poor silk". "Poor" is a kind of panties with front and back crotches and a lot of ties, which is very inconvenient to undo, in order to prevent Emperor Zhao from having an ambiguous relationship with the palace girl. Eventually, until Liu Fuling died of illness, Empress Shangguan was unable to bear children.
It can be said that Liu Fuling could not even do the things of love, and could only look at the young empress every day, and it was conceivable how bad Liu Fuling's mood was. Huo Guang, who wanted to take power, was unwilling to play, and wanted to be a concubine Huo Guang, and Liu Fuling was strictly controlled by Huo Guang in terms of authority, entertainment, and sexual desire.
As an emperor, he couldn't have fun, but the lack of power in his hands really made Liu Fuling unbearable, and even women couldn't spoil Liu Fuling. It can be said that such a living is not as good as a flat-headed people, which makes Liu Fuling how not to be wronged?
In the years of grievances, Liu Fuling finally fell ill. Historical records record that Liu Fuling fell ill when he was eighteen years old, but in the history books, there are "Empress Guanglu's favor and son, the emperor's body is uneasy, and the left and right and the doctor are all Yi", so whether Liu Fuling was really ill during this period We have no way of knowing, it is very likely that Huo Guang spread the news to the outside world and hindered Liu Fuling from spoiling other women.
Liu Fuling really fell ill in the year when he was twenty-one years old, and the Book of Han records: "At that time, Liu Fuling was too ill to get to bed, and the imperial court recruited famous doctors from all over the world to diagnose his illness. It was also this year that Liu Fuling inexplicably died violently in Weiyang Palace, and the cause of death was unknown. As a result, the cause of Liu Fuling's death was clearly revealed, and Under Huo Guang's long-term suppression, Liu Fuling was indignant and bitter, and he could not say anything, and eventually his liver was depressed and he was terminally ill.
It can be said that Emperor Han Zhao seems to have died violently, but in fact, his death was a long and painful process, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he died of depression. Counting the rulers of the past and the present, The Han Zhao Emperor can be called the most "depressed" of the emperors. At that time, Liu Fuling was ostracized and oppressed by Huo Guang for many years and became ill until he died, which should not be a secret, as for the ambiguity in the historical records about the cause of death of Emperor Han Zhao, it was probably Huo Guang instructing the historians, which was the practice of the victors in the power struggles of all dynasties.
Fortunately, the historians who have not lost their conscience still leave a few clues in the historical records, showing us Huo Guang's hegemony and Liu Fuling's grievances.
Resources:
"Ban Gu's Book of Han, Volume VII, And Emperor Zhao's Chronicle, Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 23, And Bangu's Book of Han, Huo Guangjin's Biography of Ri Ri"