In 227 AD, before the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang wrote a table text to the later lord Liu Chan, that is, the famous "Table of Renunciation", in which Zhuge Liang wrote: "Pro-villain, far from the sage, after that, the Han Dynasty fell into decadence." When the former emperor was there, whenever he discussed this matter with his subjects, he did not hesitate to sigh and hate Huan and Lingye. ”
We can't help but ask, how much did Zhuge Liang really despise the Second Emperor Huanling, so much so that before leaving, he specially "whipped corpses" and used them as negative teaching materials to urge Liu Chan? In fact, Zhuge Liang stood in the position of Han Cheng Xiang and despised these two emperors, after all, saying that these two emperors were "losers" did not wrongfully accuse them at all.
First of all, the Han Huan Emperor, the emperor who killed foreign relatives and seized real power through the "toilet coup", is worthy of the four words of "absurdity". After Emperor Huan of Han deposed Empress Deng with an edict, he began to recruit beautiful women on a large scale. In a very short period of time, the number of harem concubines of the Han Huan Emperor has reached a staggering number, and the emperor's "harem beauty three thousand" is just an exaggeration, but when it comes to the Han Huan Emperor, the harem beauty is not only three thousand, but five or six thousand.
Moreover, Emperor Huan of Han was not simply lustful and amorous, but perverted, and on a whim, he gathered thousands of concubines together, stripped them naked, and then let his favored subjects do the same thing with them. As for Emperor Huan himself, he sat next to him, drinking wine while admiring the "beautiful view".
In order to satisfy his own extravagant life, Emperor Huan of Han also hollowed out his mind to make money. Emperor Huan of Han not only levied taxes on the peasants, but also began to sell official titles such as Guannei Hou, Hu Benlang, Yulin Lang, Ti Riders and Five Doctors at different prices. It should be known that the bureaucratic class is the pillar of the state, but Emperor Huan has clearly marked the price of official titles, resulting in a rapid decline in the quality of the bureaucratic class, and officials have also begun to spare no effort to embezzle in order to seek higher official positions and titles. As for the purpose of buying officials, it is naturally better to be greedy for money. Therefore, the government of the Han Dynasty quickly became corrupt and degenerate, and the burden on the people increased, and there were many complaints.
In addition, in order to control real power and strengthen imperial power, Emperor Huan of Han began to reuse eunuchs, causing a miasma in the court. A number of upright officials and eunuchs protested in unison and lashed out at the eunuch clique, but the eunuchs relied on the emperor to arrest a large number of officials and eunuchs, and launched the "disaster of the party".
Curiously, although Emperor Huan of Han had numerous concubines and indulged in the harem every day, he did not have a son, which led to his death leaving no heir, so that people could only choose one from the Liu family. As a result, an emperor who was even worse than Emperor Huan, the Han Ling Emperor, was born in this way.
Although he was not the son of Emperor Huan of Han, Emperor Ling perfectly inherited all the shortcomings of Emperor Huan and carried them forward. During the reign of Emperor Ling, he was even more absurd, and with Emperor Huan's head, his absurd road was unimpeded. Indulgence, the second "disaster of the party", the betrayal of officials and lords, and the looting of the people's fat and people's ointment, all these Things the Ling Emperor did even more excessively than the Huan Emperor.
In this series of fainting measures, the Ling Emperor had a government decree that completely nailed the Eastern Han Dynasty in the coffin, and this measure was to "reset the state pastor". In the fifth year of Zhongping (188), Liu Yan of Taichang suggested that Emperor Ling "change the position of Mu Bo and choose a clear name and a heavy subject to hold his position" to replace the original history of thorns. When Emperor Ling heard this, he felt that this could indeed strengthen the power of the locality and help fight rebellion, so he agreed, after all, he had no interest in the matter of centralizing power, and eating, drinking and having fun was his favorite. As a result, this initiative caused a situation of warlord division and chaos in the world at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It can be said that even without Dong Zhuo, when Emperor Ling's move came out, the Eastern Han Dynasty had already fallen into the same situation as the late Tang Dynasty in later generations. Therefore, even Dong Zhuo said of the Ling Emperor: "Lord of the world, it is advisable to be wise, and every time you read the Ling Emperor, it is indignant!" (Book of the Later Han Dynasty)
Then, through the fainting of the Second Emperor huanling, can it be said that the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided into three parts because of them? In fact, it is not possible, objectively speaking, the Second Emperor Huanling is indeed faint, but if they defeated the Eastern Han Dynasty, they still lifted them up.
In fact, since the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there have been two problems, the expansion of the family clan and the monopoly of foreign relatives. The roots of the monopoly of foreign relatives have been planted since the time of Lü Hou, and from the Lü family, the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty do not know how many foreign relatives have emerged. Counting carefully, many emperors were put on the throne, such as Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han, of course, people are indeed wise, and the Second Emperor Huanling is far worse than them. In other words, the situation faced by the Second Emperor Huanling was different, and their power was further restricted.
Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, relied on the support of the Shijia clan to establish the Eastern Han Dynasty, and when he became emperor, he naturally had to give back to them, so at the beginning of the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of the Shijia clan has been expanding. They annexed land and controlled the court, and both the students and the people obeyed their orders.
Therefore, when Emperor Huan of Han ascended to the throne, he was completely a puppet, and his cousin Liang Ji could even command him, and for thirteen years, Emperor Huan of Han was not an emperor in front of Liang Ji, but a dog, and the clans of the family relied on Liang Ji, and the scholars could not provide any help to Emperor Huan. This made Emperor Huan's mind become distorted and sensitive, and after he seized real power, he began to enjoy his inflated power, and no longer trusted all the scholars, because there was a family behind the scholars, there was power, and Emperor Huan of Han deposed them, and he also needed to see the faces of others. But the eunuchs didn't need it, Emperor Huan gave them power, they could turn to the opposition, Emperor Huan wanted them to die, they had to die. Emperor Huan reused eunuchs in order to fight against the increasingly inflated foreign relatives and clans. Emperor Huan opened this forefront, and emperor Ling knew the taste of the marrow, and naturally reused eunuchs.
The roof leaked in the overnight rain, the Eastern Han Dynasty at that time not only fainted, but also had bad luck, the rebellion in the southwest and north did not stop for a moment, and disasters occurred one after another in various places, while the eunuchs and foreign relatives and scholars in the middle of the dynasty were still falling on each other. As a result, Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to enter Beijing, and as soon as the fire went down, the Eastern Han Dynasty completely went to the end.
Therefore, the absurdity of the Second Emperor Huanling is absolutely responsible for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty cannot be blamed only on the Second Emperor Huanling, the eunuchs and scholars in the court during this period, the warlords in the local divisions, and the successive disasters and famines are all pushers who push the Eastern Han Dynasty into the abyss. However, the image of the Second Emperor huanling in this is the ugliest.
Resources:
"The Teacher's Table"
Book of the Later Han Dynasty