"The heir of filial piety, who is walking on the path, who is performing the great cause, who is honored with honor, who is in the old ceremony, who has no concubines, who is not a concubine, who is not a concubine, who is not happy to travel to the throne, who is bent on virtue, who is quiet and self-destructive, who has won many fruitful years, and who has borne the wind near and far." - "The Century of Kings"
In 88 AD, the third emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Zhao, died, and his son Liu Zhao took the throne as Emperor He of Han.
Compared with other emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Zhao's ability was actually very strong. Some people who like to study history also call Liu Zhao the strongest emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, so do you know what political moves this person has?
Portrait of Liu Zhao, Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > ascended the throne as emperor</h1>
Liu Zhao was the fourth son of Emperor Liu Zhao of Han, and his mother, Liang Guiren, was the daughter of Liang Zhen , the Marquis of Li. She gave birth to Liu Zhao 2 years after entering the palace, and later because of Empress Dou's frame-up, Liang Guiren died early due to severe depression.
In order to show her generosity, Empress Dou not only adopted Liu Zhao, but also had been very attentive to Liu Zhao. In 82, Liu Zhao deposed the crown prince Liu Qing as the Prince of Qinghe, and then made Liu Zhao the crown prince.
Stills of Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Han Dynasty
After being crown prince for 6 years, his father Liu Zhao died, and Liu Zhao, who was 9 years old at the time, was put on the throne. At that time, because Liu Zhao was very young, Empress Dou decided to take over the imperial government and take all the government into her own hands.
At that time, in order to make her position above the court more stable, Empress Dou promoted her brother Dou Xian to be a servant, mainly in charge of imperial court secrets and responsible for issuing edicts.
Stills of Han and Emperor – he was only 9 years old when he ascended the throne
His younger brother Dou Du (窦笃) was appointed as the general of The Tiger Ben Zhonglang (虎贲中郎) to command the emperor's bodyguards; dou jing and Dou Huan were placed by Empress Dou in the position of zhongchang attendant, responsible for conveying edicts and unifying documents.
Since the political center of the country was in the hands of the Dou family, Liu Zhao's early days were like mascots, and he only needed to sit obediently on the throne. During her reign, Empress Dowager Dou was also extraordinarily arbitrary and arbitrary, forcing decision-making.
Empress Dowager Dou was like an arbitrary and arbitrary figure during her reign
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > foreign relatives interfering in politics</h1>
It is reported that during Empress Dou's reign, she insisted on the Northern Expedition against the Xiongnu in order to establish certain merits and make her prestige higher. In this regard, all the ministers went to court, and Lu Su, who was one of the three dukes at the time, even directly accused Empress Dou:
"Why abandon the lives of all men by the measure of one man?"
Unfortunately, at that time, Empress Dou and her brother Dou Xian had already made up their minds, and finally the Eastern Han Dynasty sent troops to conquest the Xiongnu.
Fortunately, after four battles, the Battle of Jiluoshan, the Battle of Yiwu, the Battle of Heyunbei, and the Battle of Jinweishan, the strength of the Northern Xiongnu was greatly reduced, and the Han army successfully won the final victory.
Dou Xian broke the offensive map of the Battle of the Northern Xiongnu
And because the Northern Xiongnu Shan Yu disappeared after the battle, his younger brother established himself as the Northern Xiongnu Shan Yu and "begged" in the Pushi Sea.
After receiving the surrender of the new Northern Xiongnu Shan Yu, Dou Xian decided to take the opportunity to "set up a northern captive, oppose his homeland, and protect the two sides". Naturally, there was some clamor over this, but with the support of Empress Dou, Dou Xian still got his wish.
Portrait of Empress Dowager Dou's brother Dou Xian
After this conquest, the Dou family was extremely powerful in the court, and the more confident Empress Dou began to reward the Dou family, which led to many of the Dou disciples began to oppress the people unscrupulously.
Over time, the arrogance of the Dou family became more and more arrogant, and even later when the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao summoned Empress Dou's brother Dou Xian in Chang'an, some officials even called Dou Xian "long live".
For Liu Zhao, who was growing up and mature, this move was undoubtedly to put his face on the ground and step on it, and it was precisely because of this that the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, after successfully taking over the government, quickly cleaned up the remnants of the Dou clan.
At the same time, he also deposed many of Dou's relatives and friends. Here we will talk about how Liu Zhao was fighting these powerful foreign relatives at that time.
Portrait of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu Zhao
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > outwit a foreign relative</h1>
Xu was because Empress Dou and others also had some place for eunuchs, so the eunuchs who remained with Emperor Liu Zhao of Han were not like the guards and ministers, who were all pawns and henchmen of the Dou clan.
At that time, among the eunuchs who accompanied Liu Zhao, there was a loyal man named Zheng Zhong, who not only had a single intention for Liu Zhao, but also had some strategy himself. Just as the Dou family was becoming more and more lawless, the two joined forces.
Eunuchs played a very important role during the Eastern Han Dynasty
When talking about the Dou clan, Zheng Zhong said very clearly to the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao: Now we can't just think of escaping the persecution of the Dou clan, we must find a way to eliminate all the forces of the Dou clan's foreign relatives.
In this regard, Han and Emperor Liu Zhao can be said to have raised their hands and feet in favor, and after discussion, the two decided to first dispose of Dou Xian, the backbone of Dou's foreign relatives. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Liu Zhao actually wanted to get Empress Dou first.
Eunuchs began to gain power from the Eastern Han Dynasty
However, considering that Empress Dou was after all her nominal mother, if she attacked Empress Dou, her reputation would definitely not be better, and instead of taking herself, it was better to choose Dou Xian, whose power was similar to Empress Dou.'s.
At this time, Dou Xian had finished fighting the Xiongnu and successfully took over the military power of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and if Dou Xian could be eliminated, then the military power was bound to be transferred.
Han and the Emperor disguised themselves and prepared to launch a coup d'état shortly thereafter
Xu was because Liu Zhao's performance in the early stage was too cowardly and harmless, which led to the Factual Family not taking Liu Zhao's eyes at all, so when Liu Zhao launched a night coup, none of the Dou family reacted.
They suffered heavy casualties under the wanton attack of Liu Zhao and the soldiers in the palace, among whom Dou Xian and other people who held a lot of real power were not killed on the spot, but they were also imprisoned and exiled.
Almost every dynasty has a coup d'état, big or small
After the coup d'état, Empress Dou seemed to be uninvolved, still sitting behind the emperor and listening to the government, but at this time she could no longer control the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In addition, Empress Dowager Dou had to be constantly wary of the new emperor she had raised. Liu Zhao, on the other hand, officially began to exert his ambitions after a successful seizure of power.
After the coup, there will always be a great reshuffle of power in the court
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > for political initiatives</h1>
It is reported that during Liu Zhao's administration, he did a lot of things that benefited the country and the people:
In the political field, Liu Zhaoxuan was able to raise his abilities and set up many eunuch positions for political leniency to strengthen the centralization of power, and it was also from this time that eunuchs began to use their power to gain power;
In terms of military affairs, Liu Zhao's stabilization of the frontier was equal to the rebellion of The Removal of The Lone Range, the Rebellion of the FengHou Shan Yu, the Rebellion of the Right Wen Yu King, the Rebellion of the Qiang People, and the Rebellion of the Wu Man.
In addition, when commenting on Liu Zhao, later generations also mentioned that "in the Yongyuan period, the martial arts were outstanding, the territory was expanded, the four Yibin were served, and the world was pacified";
In terms of society, Liu Zhao, who paid attention to moralization and loved the people, repeatedly issued edicts to straighten out unjust imprisonment, sympathize with widows and widows, be reserved and weak, and give a small endowment, and admonish officials at all levels to seriously consider the causes of natural and man-made disasters;
In terms of diplomacy, Liu Zhao, at the suggestion of Ban Zhao, ordered Gan Ying to send an envoy to the Roman Empire, and the mission set out from Guizi and passed through the states of Tiaozhi and Rest in Peace.
Although it did not make it to the Roman Empire, the mission greatly enhanced Chinese's understanding of the countries of Central Asia at that time.
After The Han and Emperor took office, they made many achievements
According to the information we can currently inquire, under the administration of Liu Zhao, the area of land reclaimed by the Eastern Han Dynasty was as high as more than 7.32 million hectares, which was the largest for the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In addition, the household registration population of the Eastern Han Dynasty during this period was also more than 53.25 million, and the overall national strength reached its peak, so later generations also called Liu Zhao's reign "Yongyuan Zhilong", and Liu Zhao himself was crowned as the "strongest emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty".
Yongyuan Zhilong was the last prosperous era of the Eastern Han Dynasty
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > drive the crane west</h1>
In 105 AD, Emperor Liu Zhao of the Han Dynasty died of illness at the zhangde front hall in Luoyang, Kyoto, at the age of 27. After Liu Zhao's death, his son Liu Long, who was born only a hundred days ago, succeeded to the throne, which is what we call Emperor Han.
Because the emperor was young, the government was put in the hands of Empress Deng at that time, and although Empress Deng also chose the pro-dynasty system like Empress Dou, she did not rule arbitrarily like Empress Dou during her reign.
Liu Zhao's second wife, Deng Sui, was also in charge of the dynasty
Although the evaluation of Empress Deng in the history books is mostly "greed for power", when we carefully understand that period of history, we will find that if it were not for Empress Deng, the Eastern Han Dynasty might have collapsed more seriously.
Moreover, the means of Empress Deng's reign during her reign were similar to those of Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, and the husband and wife had a very accurate grasp of the three forces of foreign relatives, courtiers, and eunuchs, and were able to fully balance them.
Portrait of Empress Deng of the Eastern Han Dynasty
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="46" > supplement</h1>
However, after Empress Deng's death, Liu Hu, the Emperor of Han'an, failed to maintain this balance. Four years after Emperor Han'an actually took power, he was caught in serious internal and external troubles.
And because Liu Hu himself was debauched and unethical, and he also particularly favored the eunuchs, this led to the destruction of Liu Zhao's and Empress Deng's years of hard work, which was really unbearable to sigh.
Portrait of Emperor Liu Hu of Han' Reign
Since Empress Deng was mentioned, we may as well add a little bit about Empress Deng at the end. It is reported that this Empress Deng was named Deng Sui and was the second empress of Liu Zhao.
Although Deng Sui always gave people a feeling of pampering after entering the palace, as a woman with excellent political strategy, she never gave up planning for herself.
Stills of Empress Deng of the Eastern Han Dynasty
It is also worth mentioning that Deng Sui was said to have had a dream before entering the palace, when she dreamed that she was very close to The Sky, and in the process of touching, she also saw something like a stalactite, so she looked up and sucked for a while.
In this regard, the dream interpreter said that this was "a sign before the Saint King became a good thing, and the auspiciousness is indescribable", coupled with the fact that the dream interpreter said that Deng Sui's bones were very strange and expensive, which made the Deng family very happy and has always attached great importance to Deng Sui's education.
Eastern Han Dynasty Empress Deng stills (played by Li Sheng)
Nowadays, this statement seems to be too superstitious, but the ancients were particularly convinced of the things of ghosts and gods, and they probably hoped that they could explain it with a logic acceptable to everyone: Deng Sui was just a female stream, why was he so outstanding.
In any case, Liu Zhao and his second wife, Deng Sui, are both fierce characters, but for various reasons, they are buried in history, and few people ask about it.