The Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD - 220 AD) from the founding of the Guangwu Emperor to the reign of Emperor Chan, a total of nearly two hundred years, can be roughly divided into four stages: the rule of the three emperors, the government of the four empresses, the chaotic administration of eunuchs and the dictatorship of warlords.
I. Reign of the Three Emperors (25-88 AD)
Holders of power:
Liu Xiu (Emperor Guangwu): 25 AD - 27 AD , Liu Zhuang (Ming Emperor) 57 AD - 75 AD , Liu Wei (Emperor Zhang) AD 75 AD - 88 AD
(1) Guangwu Zhongxing (25 AD - 57 AD)
After Wang Mang usurped power and established the new dynasty, he adopted a series of reform measures that did not conform to social reality, so that the people in society could not make a living, and peasant uprisings rose one after another. At this time, Liu Xiu, a descendant of Emperor Jing, under the banner of the Zhongxing Han Dynasty, threw himself into the green forest, participated in the peasant uprising, overthrew Wang Mang's regime after many years of war, established the state in 23 AD, reformed the Yuan and Jianwu, and established the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Liu Xiu (Emperor Guangwu of Han)
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu did not in fact unify the whole country, and after eleven years of efforts, he successively eliminated dozens of separatist forces entrenched in Guanzhong , Longyou, and Western Shu to unify the whole country. Later, with the concept of "judo governing the country", he rectified the rule of officials, strengthened the centralization of power, and attached importance to the development of production, so that the productive forces of the Eastern Han Dynasty were quickly restored after the war, and the history is called "Guangwu Zhongxing".
(2) The Reign of Ming Zhang (57-88 AD)
In 57, after Liu Xiu's death, his fourth son Liu Zhuang ascended the throne as Emperor Ming of Han. During the reign of Emperor Ming, he inherited his father's legacy, sent Dou Gu to attack the Northern Xiongnu, sent Ban Chao to pacify the Western Regions, set up the Western Regions Protectorate, annexed the southwestern state of Sorrow, and expanded the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty. From Tianzhu (India) introduced Buddhism into China, built water conservancy and people's livelihood internally, and continued the Qingming policy after his son Emperor Zhang came to the throne, and made great achievements in cultural and martial arts, so that the Eastern Han Dynasty entered a heyday, known in history as the "Reign of Mingzhang".
Liu Zhuang (Emperor Ming) Liu Wei (Emperor Zhang)
2. Fourth Later Intervention (88 A.D. - 159 A.D.)
After Emperor Zhang, most of the Eastern Han emperors ascended the throne at a young age, and most of them died young before they were pro-government or within a few years of pro-government, so during this period of rule, the following eight people alternately held power, including four empress dowagers, three emperors and one courtier. Among them, the Empress Dowager is the mainstream, and the feature of the Empress Dowager's rule is that she uses her own clan forces to control the imperial government, which has a fierce contradiction with the imperial power, so this period is mainly a contest between the emperor and the empress dowager.
Rulers: Dou (Empress Zhang): 88 - 92 AD, Liu Zhao (Emperor He) 92 AD - 106 AD, Deng (Empress He): 106 AD - 121 AD, Liu Hu (Emperor An): 121 AD - 125 AD, Yan (Empress An) 125 AD Liu Bao (Emperor Shun): 125 AD - 144 AD Liang (Empress Shun): 144 AD - 150 AD, Liang Ji (Foreign Qi Quanchen): 150 AD - 159 AD
(1) Empress Dowager Dou's Contest with Emperor He (88 A.D. - 106 A.D.)
In 88 AD, Emperor Zhang died, because Emperor He was young, it was ruled by the Empress Dowager Dou's Lin Dynasty, and during the reign of Dou, he reused Dou's foreign relatives, and sent Dou Xian to break the Northern Xiongnu, achieving the battle merit of "Le Shi Yanran", and then the development of Dou's power became more and more large, causing dissatisfaction with Emperor He, and in 92, he was annihilated by Emperor He's coup d'état, and Empress Dowager Dou was also imprisoned. After the emperor came to power, he sent troops to destroy the Xiongnu, defeated the Kushan Empire, conquered more than 50 countries in the Western Regions, and made the West Asian countries Tiaozhi, rest and coastal countries 40,000 miles away in Luoyang translated Nagon, known in history as "Yongyuan Zhilong".
Empress Dowager Dou Liu Zhao (Emperor He)
(2) Empress Dowager Deng (106 AD - 121 AD)
In 106 AD, Emperor He died, and Empress Dowager Deng first supported the death of Emperor Liu Long (and Emperor Zi), who was less than a full moon, and then welcomed Emperor An (Emperor Zhang) to the throne, and the Lindynasty ruled for sixteen years, during which she militarily conquered Wuhuan, Xianbei, Southern Xiongnu and other external troubles, set up a deputy lieutenant of the Western Regions, and restored the Eastern Han Dynasty's fettered rule over the Western Regions; And include the Yelang barbarians outside Jiuzhen County into the territory. At the level of people's livelihood science and technology, he practiced thrift to overcome natural disasters, funded Cai Lun, Zhang Heng and others to develop and manufacture paper technology and geokinetic instruments, and ordered Xu Shen and others to correct characters in Dongguan, and promoted the publication of the world's first dictionary "Shuowen Xie Zi", which was praised as the "crown of the queen" by later historians.
Empress Hexi Deng Sui (Empress Dowager Deng)
(3) Emperor An's pro-government and Empress Yan's chaotic government (121-125 AD)
In 121 AD, Empress Dowager Deng died, and after Emperor An came to power, he made achievements in stabilizing the Western Regions and subduing Goguryeo, but favored the nursing mother Wang Sheng and the empress Yan clan, and gradually formed a group of eunuchs represented by the nursing mother Wang Sheng and a foreign qi group represented by the empress. Because the crown prince (Liu Bao's) biological mother and nursing mother were killed by the empress and Wang Sheng, the empress was afraid that the crown prince would be guilty after he ascended the throne, so she persuaded Emperor An to depose the crown prince. In 125 AD, Emperor An died, and Empress Yan took the throne, destroying the eunuch clique represented by Wang Sheng, and supporting Liu Yi (Emperor Zhang) as emperor, and reusing the Yan clan to control the dynasty. Soon after Liu Yi died of illness, the eunuch Sun Cheng staged a coup d'état to destroy Yan's foreign relatives, and installed the former crown prince Liu Bao as emperor, for Emperor Shun, Empress Dowager Yan was imprisoned and died soon after.
Liu Hu (Emperor An) Yan (Empress of Emperor An)
(4) Emperor Shun's Prince and Liang's Dictatorship (125 A.D. 1-159 A.D.)
After Emperor Shun came to the throne, he diligently managed the country's affairs and disciplined the four sides to bring peace to the world, and at the same time severely punished the eunuchs and their henchmen, which caused the Eastern Han court to have a situation of Zhongxing, but during his reign, the Empress Liang Yan family was reused, so that the power of the Liang family continued to expand. In 144 AD, Emperor Shun died, and Empress Dowager Liang came to the throne, and Liang successively supported Emperor Chong, Emperor Xuan, and Emperor Huan. Empress Dowager Liang was thrifty and diligent in governing the country, but connived at the dictatorship of her brother Liang Ji. In 150 CE , Empress Dowager Liang returned to the throne and died shortly after Emperor Huan, and Liang Ji continued to rule until 159 AD, when Emperor Huan and the eunuchs destroyed it, at which point Qi's power declined and the eunuch power gained the upper hand.
Liu Bao (Emperor Shun) Liang Yan (Empress Shunlie) Liang Ji (Foreign Qi)
III. Eunuchs Disorderly Government (159-189 AD)
In the process of eradicating Liang Ji's foreign forces, Emperor Huan relied on the power of eunuchs, so in the subsequent Huanling dynasties, the power of eunuchs rose and interfered in imperial politics.
Rulers: Liu Zhi (Emperor Huan): 159-168 AD, Liu Hong (Ling Emperor): 168 A.D.-189 AD
Liu Zhi (Huan Di) Liu Hong (Ling Di)
During the reign of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, foreign qi and eunuch forces alternately held power, and some nobles and scholars, dissatisfied with the eunuchs' chaotic government, had two party disasters, both of which ended in two failed against the eunuchs. Since then, due to the expansion of the eunuch clique, the struggle between the foreign clan and the eunuchs has become increasingly acute, and the bureaucracy has continued to corrupt, coupled with natural disasters that have led to the Yellow Turban Uprising. The Yellow Turban Uprising greatly consumed national strength, and the imperial court allowed local armies to be organized to suppress the rebels, which also led to the rise of local separatist forces, laying the groundwork for future warlord chaos.
Fourth, the dictatorship of warlords
Ruler: Dong Zhuo (Quan Chen): 189 AD - 192 AD, Cao Cao (Quan Chen): 192 AD - 220 AD
Dong Zhuo Cao Cao
In 189 AD, Emperor Ling died, and the conflict between eunuchs and foreign relatives broke out in full force, and after a round of fire and merger, Shi Dongzhuo of Western Liang took control of the court, so the deposed emperor established Emperor Xian to the throne. However, its status was not recognized by the princes everywhere, and the Eastern Han Dynasty entered the stage of warlord chaos. Soon under the leadership of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, the princes of eighteen towns gathered to expel Dong Zhuo from Luoyang to Chang'an, after which Dong Zhuo was killed, and Cao Cao welcomed the emperor Yu Xuchang, took the princes of Tianzi to order the princes, attacked the forces of the towns, and finally unified the north. In 220, Cao Cao died, and his son Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate and changed his name to emperor, thus officially ending the Eastern Han Dynasty.