Text: Dazhuang Laboratory
Throughout the ages, relatives have always been deeply rooted in the rule of the dynasty, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as the "Ma, Dou, Deng, Liang" four major relatives in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
As a historical topic, the interference of relatives in politics has been in great trouble since ancient times, and in various dynasties, the interference of relatives in politics will become a thorn in the emperor's side.
The interference of foreign relatives in politics often leads to social unrest and crisis of governance, which of course also reflects the complex operation of the DPRK's political power and the importance of family relations.
For many years, the political situation in the Eastern Han Dynasty was turbulent and turbulent, and they were closely related.
Fighting hard with relatives is tantamount to snatching food from the mouth of a tiger, and the huge power group controlled by the relatives has taken root and infiltrated in the dynasty, and there are many henchmen, and the emperor is often young, and it is difficult to get rid of the forces of his relatives without enough courage and wisdom.
But there is such an emperor, who did it at the age of fourteen, and he is Emperor Hanhe, Liu Zhao. In fact, he personally dismantled the Empress Dowager Dou's family, the Dou clan, when he was not yet fourteen years old.
Liu Zhao was the child of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, and nominally, the Empress Dowager Dou was his mother, but his biological mother was not surnamed Dou, but Liang, and she was just a nobleman in the harem of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty.
Shortly after giving birth to Liu Zhao, Liang Guiren was slandered to death under the means of Empress Dowager Dou, who was still the queen, so the adoptive mother turned out to be the enemy who killed her mother, and I don't know how much shadow it left in the psychology of a child.
Why did Empress Dowager Dou kill Liang Guiren? This is also a consideration of political interests, there was such a tradition in ancient times, if the mother has nothing to do, she can take a child from the concubine and raise it under her knees, and the full house of children and grandchildren is also regarded as a symbol of the family's wealth and glory.
When the mother-in-law is unable to have children, in order to continue the incense, the family may choose to bring a child from the concubine, and the queen will bring a child, why should the biological mother be killed?
can only illustrate one problem, that is, the Dou family is not only satisfied, but only looking for a suitable son for herself, what she wants is this child, who can inherit the throne and be controlled by her.
This was also quickly verified, after adopting Liu Zhao, Empress Dou proposed to the emperor to make Liu Zhao the crown prince, you know, the emperor already had a prince at that time.
What's more dramatic is that she also relied on this trick to frame, when the prince was called Liu Qing, and Liu Qing's mother was slandered and persecuted by Queen Dou and her mother Princess Yuyang on the charge of "witchcraft".
Therefore, the original prince was abolished, Liu Zhao became the new prince, and even two harem competitors were missing, and they also supported the prince they liked, and the Dou family began to show their talents.
And after the death of Emperor Zhang's mother, Empress Dowager Ma, the original "Ma's" foreign party was soon replaced by the "Dou's" party, so why were the relatives so powerful at this time?
In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, there was the Lu group in the later period of the Lu Dynasty, and we are familiar with the Lu Hou that she was a powerful and ruthless character who could make the enemy a human being, and she also had the outstanding ability to govern.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the power of foreign relatives gradually became stronger, due to the expansion of the power of the prime minister, the contradiction between the monarch's power and the prime minister's power gradually became acute, and the emperor began to appoint people who were more close to him, and these people were often relatives with in-law relations.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty let them have political arguments with officials such as the prime minister, so as to play a role of suppression and confrontation, such as Dou Ying, the nephew of Emperor Wu of Han's grandmother, Empress Dowager Dou, and Tian Fei, the younger brother of his mother, the Empress Dowager, were appointed as prime ministers by Emperor Wu of Han.
Empress Wei Zifu's younger brother Wei Qing was promoted to the Great Sima General, and his nephew Huo Qubing was promoted to the Great Sima Mule Cavalry General.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the dictatorship of foreign relatives can be said to have reached a level of "reaching the peak", and we need to know an interesting reality, that is, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty were extremely short-lived.
Except for Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the other emperors did not live long, and the average age was about 26 years old.
It can also be seen from here that most of the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty were forced to ascend to the throne when they were young, at least when they did not have a strong enough ability to govern.
Therefore, relatives are the group that the little emperor relies on the most at this time, after all, they are their mother's relatives, and they have an inseparable kinship with themselves, and they can rest assured that they can leave things to the people around them to do.
However, such thinking often ignores a reality, that is, human nature will be eroded by interests, once it is contaminated with the taste of power, not to mention that this is still the most majestic imperial power in the world, who will be willing to let go easily?
After the death of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, ten-year-old Liu Zhao ascended the throne, and at this time, it was the beginning of the Dou family's troubles.
After the Empress Dowager Dou took power, she handed over important positions to her relatives, and all four Dou brothers entered the court to hold important positions, and her brother Dou Xian served as a servant in charge of court secrets.
The younger brother Dou Jing and Dou Huan both served as the permanent attendants, and the younger brother Dou Du served as the general of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang, commanding the emperor's guards, and then the Empress Dowager Dou began to install officials who acquiesced to her dictatorship.
She first appointed the original Taiwei Deng Biao as the secretary of the book, and then promoted her brother Dou Xian to this position on the grounds that Deng Biao had a gentle temperament and could not make a difference.
You must know that Lu Shang Shushi is equivalent to a prime minister with real power, so Dou Xian can justifiably intervene in court politics, and soon they will be able to reach the center of royal power.
Because at this time, Dou Xian has always maintained this humble posture, and many small actions are also quietly engaged, so the young Han and Emperor He are not particularly disgusted, and they are also silently compromised.
But soon, Dou Xian couldn't hold his position and began to "strike while the iron is hot", and their first knife was swung at the princes with the same surname.
"Chen Wangxian, Pengcheng Wang Gong, Lecheng Wang Dang, Xiapi Wang Yan, Liang Wang Chang, etc.", were sent back to the fiefdom by them, which was one of them.
During the mourning for Emperor Zhang, he openly plotted to assassinate Liu Chang, the marquis of the capital who came to mourn, and attributed the crime to Liu Chang's younger brother Liu Gang, which is the second.
The conspiracy was finally revealed, and Dou Xian harbored evil intentions, didn't Emperor Han He realize it at this time? No, of course he knew, but at this time, he was fledgling, and he had no chance to fight.
Empress Dowager Dou was trying her best to find a reason to defend Dou Xian, and it happened that at this time, the Xiongnu in the south asked the Han Dynasty to crusade against the Northern Xiongnu, and Dou Xian seized the opportunity, and he invited himself to attack the Xiongnu and make up for his mistakes.
Liu Zhao agreed, but the concession of the Han and the emperor this time, in exchange for Dou Xian's further expansion, Dou Xian led the army to the north, all the way to victory, Liu Zhao issued an edict commendation, Dou Xian was promoted to general, sealed Wuyang Marquis, 20,000 households.
And the crime of assassination was never mentioned again, and immediately, the Dou clan became even more rampant in the court, and they continued to promote members of their own clan, openly formed parties, co-opted all ministers who could be co-opted, and suppressed and excluded dissidents.
This is also Dou Xian's usual method, as early as the period of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, Taiwei Zheng Hong was slandered by him, and was depressed until he died.
In the stage of attacking the Xiongnu, he killed Shangshu Zhishou at that time, Le Hui and others committed suicide, and all those who impeached him and admonished him directly were all cleaned up.
It can be said that Dou Xian has established his own network of influence directly in the imperial court, and his authority is close to that of the emperor, and even disdain to cover it up.
In the third year of Yongyuan, Dou Xian followed Emperor He to Chang'an to worship his ancestors, and when the officials discussed to welcome the emperor and others, they actually said that Dou Xian could be called "Long live", and there was a second person in the world who could be called "Long live"?
A mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, a country cannot have two monarchs, the contradiction has been placed on the surface, the struggle is about to break out, is it tolerable or unbearable, seeing that Dou Xian has seen the position on his head, Liu Zhao decided to strike first.
The first helper he found was Liu Qing, the king of Qinghe, is this name very familiar? That's right, Liu Qing is the former crown prince who was deposed before, and Liu Qing and Liu Zhao's mother were both persecuted by the Empress Dowager Dou, so they have a common demand for revenge.
However, relying on their two "half-grown children", how could they possibly fight against such a huge force? They needed help.
First of all, Liu Zhao locked his eyes on Zheng Zhong, who was different from the "Dou Party", Zheng Zhong was a loyal minister and a staunch "pro-monarch party", and then, their big drama kicked off.
In the fourth year of Yongyuan, Liu Zhao deliberately rewarded Dou Xian's henchman Deng Die, in order to confuse the enemy's vision, thinking that he had succumbed to the regime of his relatives, and then he promoted a minister of the "pro-monarch party" Ding Hong.
However, the bureau has not yet been completed, things have changed, the Dou family can no longer bear it, and they want him Liu Zhao's head, Dou Xian's son-in-law Guo Ju, and another of the henchmen are plotting to kill Liu Zhao.
The plan fell into Liu Zhao's ears, and now, he can no longer wait for the rabbit and arrange it slowly, he must strike first and cut through the chaos quickly.
He asked people to find a book, "The Biography of Relatives", and tossed and turned, just to learn from the experience of destroying relatives from the previous dynasty.
And as Liu Zhao and Zheng Zhong conspired for more and more time, every time Zheng Zhong conspired with Emperor Tong in public, he would advise him to kill Dou Xian immediately, but Liu Zhao refused, he was waiting for a time.
In April of the fourth year of Yongyuan, Dou Xian and his confidant Deng Dieban returned to the court, and Liu Zhao knew that the opportunity had come, and he showed that he issued a summons to make Dahonglu meet Dou Xian in the suburbs.
Immediately afterwards, Ding Hong of the pro-monarch party exposed the reality of Dou Xian's formation of a party for personal gain, and the ministers climbed the flames and attached themselves to the power at the time of the solar eclipse, and called for "clearing the monarch's side" and consolidating the king's power to guide public opinion.
Liu Zhao personally went to the North Palace, sent Jin Wuwei and the five lieutenants to be stationed at the north and south city gates, and as soon as Dou Xian and others entered the city, they closed the city gates, invited the king to enter the urn, and arrested Dou Xian's main cronies separately, and then arrested Dou Xian and confiscated the general's seal.
At this point, the Dou family, which had been calling for wind and rain in the Han Dynasty for many years, collapsed, and the one who did all this was just a fourteen-year-old boy Tianzi.
Historically, it seems that I didn't pay much attention to this "Emperor of Han He", probably because of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which left people with the impression of "mediocre and incompetent", and almost missed this figure who broke the autocracy of his relatives at the age of fourteen.
In fact, the merits of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty are definitely among the best among the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it was he who pushed the Eastern Han Dynasty to its "heyday".
It's a pity that he didn't escape the fate of dying young, and died of hard work at the age of 27, if Liu Zhao lived for a few more decades, the fate of the Eastern Han Dynasty would definitely be different.