The Han Dynasty (202 BC ~ 220 AD) is a unified dynasty after the Qin Dynasty, divided into the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties, with a total of 29 emperors and 407 years of the country. For the 29 emperors in the history of the Han Dynasty, many are familiar to people, such as Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, Liu Che, the Emperor of Han, Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han, and so on. Of course, there are also some emperors that are ignored by many people. Among these neglected emperors, there were four Han Shao Emperors. On this basis, there were four "Han Shao Emperors" in the Han Dynasty: either died young or died of death!
1. Former Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty
First of all, according to the records of historical materials such as the "Records of History" and the "Book of Han", the Young Emperor of the Former Han Dynasty (?) –June 15, 184 BC), courtesy name Liu (劉氏), whose name is unknown, was the third emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, reigning from the seventh year of Emperor Hui of Han (188 BC) to the fourth year after Han Gao (184 BC). The eldest son of Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Yingshu. As we all know, after the death of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, although Emperor Hui of Han took the throne, the power of the Western Han Dynasty was held by Empress Lü.
Under Lü Hou's arrangement, the Former Young Emperor of Han was made crown prince by Emperor Hui of Han. In 188 BC, after the death of Emperor Hui of Han, the Young Emperor of Han ascended the throne. Because the birth mother of the Young Emperor of The Han Dynasty was killed, this led to his resentment towards Lü Hou. Therefore, in order to avoid trouble, Lü Hou not only deposed the emperor, but also secretly killed him.
Because of the short reign, the name of the former young emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the date of birth and other information, there is no clear statement. Of course, through the title of Shaodi, this means that the former Shaodi of the Western Han Dynasty was probably killed by Lü Hou before he became an adult.
2. The Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty
Liu Hong , the Young Emperor of the Han Dynasty ( − – November 14, 180 BC ), formerly known as Liu Shan , was the son of Liu Ying , the Han Hui Emperor , and the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty , who reigned from June 15, 184 BC to November 14, 180 BC.
According to historical records such as the "History of History, Volume 9, And Empress Lü's Ninth Chronicle", four years after Han Gao (184 BC), the Former Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty was killed. On May 11 of the same year (June 15, 184 BC), Liu Hong succeeded to the throne and married Lü Lu's daughter as empress. In this regard, in the author's opinion, after the Western Han Dynasty, the Young Emperor still did not have any real power, which can be called a puppet emperor.
On August 1, 180 BC (September 180 BC), Lü Hou died of illness. For the Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the death of Lü Hou was an opportunity for him to take power. However, for the Western Han Dynasty at that time, many ministers who were dissatisfied with Empress Lü took the opportunity to attack, which made the end of the Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty even more bleak. After the efforts of Zhou Bo and Chen Pingren, the Lü Hou family basically bid farewell to the big stage of the history of the Western Han Dynasty.
In this context, the imperial court ministers Liu Hong, Liu Tai the Prince of Jichuan, Liu Wu the Prince of Huaiyang, and Liu Chao the Prince of Changshan were not the sons of Emperor Hui of Han and should be deposed. Therefore, for the Young Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, he lost the emperor's throne. Moreover, after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, Emperor Shao of the Western Han Dynasty was killed on November 14, the eighth year of Han Gao (180 BC), which can naturally be called death.
3. Former Young Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In the history of the Western Han Dynasty, there were two young emperors before and after. As far as the Eastern Han Dynasty is concerned, there are also two young emperors. On the one hand, according to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and other historical records, Liu Yi (?), the former young emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Yi (?) –125 CE), male, a calf, grandson of Emperor Liu Zhao of Han, son of Liu Shou, Prince Hui of Jibei, and the seventh emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In March of the fourth year of Yanguang (125), Emperor An of Han died, and Empress Yan, in order to continue the imperial government, with the support of her brother Yan Xian, welcomed Liu Yi as emperor.
On May 18, 125 AD, the Former Young Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty officially ascended the throne. At that time, the Yan Xian brothers controlled the government and acted as a blessing. In October of the same year, Liu Yi died of illness, after which the eunuch Sun Cheng and others conspired to kill Yan Xian's brothers and Jiang Jing, and to make Liu Bao the Prince of Jiyin emperor, emperor for Emperor Shun of Han. For the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was relatively common for foreign relatives and eunuchs to interfere in the affairs of the dynasty. Therefore, for the former Young Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he experienced a fierce contest between foreign relatives and eunuchs, which may be an important reason for his untimely death. It was precisely because he was young and young when he died of illness that Liu Yi was called the Young Emperor.
4. The Young Emperor after the Eastern Han Dynasty
Liu Jie (176 AD – March 6, 190 CE) was the eldest son of Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han, and Empress He. For Liu Wei, the young emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was generally called the Young Emperor of Han. Because of the experience of Dong Zhuo's rebellion, coupled with the brotherhood relationship with Emperor Xian of Han, this prompted the popularity of Liu Jie, the young emperor of Han, to be much higher than that of the previous few young emperors.
According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and other historical sources, in 189 AD, the Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong died. Immediately afterward, The Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei took the throne. Like the previous Han Shao Emperors, Liu Wei was young at the time, so the power of the imperial court was controlled by his mother Empress He and his uncle the general He Jin. In this regard, in the view of many historians, after the influence of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the ascension of the Han Shao Emperor to the throne, the Eastern Han Court has already existed in name only. For the Eastern Han Court at that time, it was not only difficult to restrain the assassins and Taishou in various places, but also within the imperial court, there was an outbreak of rebellion between foreign relatives and eunuchs. Eventually, after both the foreign relatives and eunuchs were defeated, Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to come to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and usurped the power of the imperial court.
For Dong Zhuo, in order to shock the world, he chose to depose the young emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xie, and establish Liu Xie as emperor, which was Emperor Xian of Han. Liu Wei committed suicide under dong Zhuo's coercion at the age of fifteen (eighteen), and after the Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei was forced to commit suicide, Emperor Xian of Han posthumously honored him as the King of Huai. In this regard, in the author's opinion, after the death of the Han Shao Emperor Liu Jie, Dong Zhuo was even more unscrupulous, which also prompted Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and other princes to rebel against Dong Zhuo, thus opening up the situation of the division of the princes at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Therefore, it is very obvious that the end of the young emperor Liu Wei after the Eastern Han Dynasty was also killed. In general, for the four Han Shao Emperors in the history of the Han Dynasty, the ending cannot be said to be perfect. Of course, throughout ancient history, young emperors ascended the throne, and most of them did not achieve a good ending. What do you think about that?