Three Kingdoms Minor People Chronicle 0054: The short-lived Han Emperor with mixed reputation - Emperor Huan
The author of this article is the depths of dusk, and the editor-in-chief is Sasha, if reprinted, please be sure to indicate
Emperor Huan of Han, whose name was Liu Zhi (劉志), reigned from 146 to 168 AD, was the eleventh emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the fourth to last emperor. Except for the last two puppet emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty (The Young Emperor and the Xiandi Emperor), he and the "Han Ling Emperor" we discussed earlier are the last two real-power emperors in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
All along, when later generations commented on the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Second Emperor Huanling" was often held together. The two of them are also in the eyes of most people, and they are also interpreted as the founders of the chaotic world at the end of the Han Dynasty.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Book of Shu - Biography of Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang once commented: "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. ”
In the first episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when Luo Guanzhong began to explain the general trend of the world, he also commented: "The reason for pushing it to cause chaos began with the Huan and Ling Emperors"...
Therefore, in the eyes of ordinary people, Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, like the later Emperor Liu Hong of Han Ling, was a doomsday emperor. And the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was originally relatively stable, was only after the forty or fifty years of his reign, under the desperate tossing and turning of these two emperors, that the government was chaotic, Wang Gang was not strong, and finally went to extinction...
However, Liu Zhi's nickname was "Emperor Huan", which was not a bad name. Monarchs with the character "Huan" in history also tended to have higher evaluations (such as the famous overlord Qi Huan Duke in the Spring and Autumn Period). As far as the ancient Chinese "yu number culture" is concerned, the Huan character often also represents the meaning of breaking the land and serving the far, breaking the land and the country, Wuding Sifang, and Ke Qian's success...
That is to say, since Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, was able to obtain the title of "Huan" after his death, at least it shows that his political achievements during his reign were not so bad. At least, he was much stronger than his successor, Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han Ling (Lingzi was a real "evil man").
Today, we will open the records of the history books to study the character of Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, and sort out the various deeds of his life as much as possible. In particular, we need a comprehensive and objective interpretation of his more than two decades in power. Look at the chaotic world at the end of the Han Dynasty after the rise of the crowd and the warlords, how much it has to do with him... In this way, we can give him a historical evaluation that is as fair as possible.
We know that the Eastern Han Dynasty was a dynasty known as the "Baby Emperor", and several emperors in the middle were young and died prematurely. For example, Liu Long, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, who had just been a full moon when he succeeded to the throne, died of illness after reigning for only eight months; Liu Bing, the Chong Emperor, reigned for less than a year and was only three years old when he died; Liu Long, the Quality Emperor, who succeeded to the throne at the age of 8, was poisoned by his foreign relatives at the age of 9...
Since the emperor was young and died short-lived and early, it was impossible to leave an heir and be made crown prince and become the heir to the throne. Therefore, from the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, several heirs to the imperial throne were presided over by the imperial courtiers, and the right candidates were selected from the royal family surnamed Liu to enter Beijing to inherit the throne.
And Liu Zhi, also under this model, was pushed to the throne. He was originally a great-grandson of Emperor Liu Yi of Han and the son of Liu Yi the Marquis of Liwu. Because his predecessor, Liu Miao, who was also the great-grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han, reigned for only a year or so, he died of death. Therefore, he was ushered in by Cao Teng (Cao Cao's grandfather), his cousin Liang Ji and others from other places, and as the heir to the throne, he succeeded to the throne.
What needs to be explained here is that Liang Ji, who supported Liu Zhi's ascension to the throne, was the person who poisoned and killed Emperor Han in the first place. Not only did he control the administration of the Eastern Han Dynasty for nearly 20 years as a foreign relative, but he also established three emperors (Emperor Chong, Emperor Qing, and Emperor Huan) during this period... It can be seen that a foreign relative and a powerful courtier has already monopolized power to the point where he can depose the emperor at will. How much of the prestige of the imperial family and the emperor can remain?
Yes, as far as Liu Zhi is concerned, his ascension is seriously congenitally insufficient. He was himself a puppet set up by his foreign relative Liang Ji to facilitate his continued control of the government. Not only that, Liang Ji also married his sister Liang Nuying to Liu Zhi as empress, trying to be controlled by his own people in the "harem" position. The new emperor Liu Zhi formed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree control without dead angles...
And Liu Zhi? He was only 14 years old when he was brought to the capital and ascended to the throne for the first time. Although nominally the Emperor Tianzi, it seems to be infinitely beautiful and extremely noble, but in fact it is completely a puppet set up by others. If you say that he himself has no ambition, he is willing to be a cowardly puppet, and he only wishes to enjoy the life of the emperor in fine clothes... Then in the end, it is to eat, drink and have fun and have a good ending, and be scolded by posterity as the "soft egg emperor"...
However, Liu Zhi is not willing to be a puppet, he has ambition, ideas, and a lot of courage. This is also doomed that his "experience as an emperor" will not be peaceful; at the same time, it is also doomed that he will leave a strong mark in the historical period to which he belongs...
According to historical records, Liu Zhi was indeed very low-key when he first ascended the throne. He did not take the initiative to govern, did not appoint cronies (in fact, there were no cronies available), and everything in the DPRK and China obeyed the arrangements of the Liang clan. Until the first year of peace (150 AD), when Empress Liang died and returned to Liu Zhi, he did not really go to the court and hold real power. On the contrary, it added the title of Liang Ji's "Ten Thousand Households" to the throne, which further expanded the liang family's influence...
You know, as far as the "feudal system" of the Han Dynasty is concerned, being able to get the rewards of thousands of households is already very noble. Generally, people with very great merits, who are knighted, are at most rewarded by thousands of households... And Liang Ji alone has accumulated more than 30,000 households... This number, not to mention whether it can be commensurate with his merits, in terms of this order of magnitude, is far beyond the boundaries of the Han Dynasty' feudal titles...
What is Liu Zhi preparing to do? Is it difficult for him to still be prepared to entrust all the important affairs of the DPRK to the Liang clan, and he continues to be willing to be his puppet?
The answer, of course, is no.
In fact, this was only the first step in Liu Zhi's plan to eliminate relatives and regain imperial power. He deeply understood that the liang family's power was huge and its position in the DPRK was stable, and it was by no means possible to overthrow and eradicate it overnight.
And yourself? Although nominally the Son of Heaven, in fact, he was weak and had no cronies in the DPRK. If he had ignored the strength gap, sooner or later he would have ended up with the same fate as his predecessor Emperor Han (either killed or deposed)...
Therefore, Liu Zhi chose the two-pronged strategy of "concealment and forbearance + vertical enemy".
On the one hand, he first kept a low profile in the court, so that the Liang clan was not suspicious, and secretly cultivated their own cronies; on the other hand, they left all the affairs of the court to the Liang family to preside over, and even the appointment of courtiers and feudal fiefs was left to them to toss.
Let the Liang clan further power the world, the scenery is unlimited, at the same time, it also makes them more arrogant, no one in sight...
I have to say that Liu Zhi is still very clever about Liang's set of "wanting to catch the old" strategy.
As the saying goes, the extremes of things must be reversed, and the prosperity of the poles must decline, and the more the Liang clan is in power and the opposition, and monopolize the government, then the more people under the heavens hate them and oppose them, there will inevitably be more. And these people will inevitably gradually come to Liu Zhi's side and become his people, which can be used to balance and destroy the Liang clan.
Perhaps, this is also a helpless move for Liu Zhi.
As we have already said, not only did he have the throne presided over by the Liang family, but even his empress was forcibly given to him by the Liang family. It can be said that the harem of the court is controlled by the people of the Liang family, so that he does not have any free space at all. If he wanted to cultivate a few confidants, or pull some cronies, I was afraid that he would be reported to liang in minutes...
Therefore, Liu Zhi simply cannot show any signs of daring to "stand on his own". The only thing he can use is the "potential." Only by using this most "obscure" way to create this kind of "opposition situation" that is gradually unfavorable to the foreign relatives Liang clan in both the government and the opposition, and then choosing the right time and skillfully "taking advantage of the situation", can we successfully overthrow the Liang clan.
Sure enough, in the second year of Yanxi (159 AD), Liu Zhi, who had been hiding for more than ten years, suddenly attacked, and joined forces with the eunuchs Tang Heng, Shan Chao, Xu Huang, Gu Yan, Zuo Yi and others to summon Zhang Biao, a lieutenant colonel, to lead troops into Beijing and besiege Liang Ji's general's palace on the pretext of "conspiracy to rebel".
Although the Liang clan has power over the world, the previous monopoly of government and arrogance has aroused the public indignation of the world, and the people who are dissatisfied with them on both sides of the government and the opposition have accumulated too much. Now, it was the emperor himself who ordered it to be destroyed, and the name and righteousness were also smooth, so naturally these people naturally "responded positively".
Soon, Liang Mansion was captured by an army commanded by Liu Zhi and eunuchs, and the official seal of Liang Ji was confiscated, and he committed suicide with his wife Sun Shou under the coercion of force... In addition, dozens of Liang Ji's clans, such as Wei Wei Liang Shu, Henan Yin Liang Yin, Tun Riding Colonel Liang Rang, Yue Riding Colonel Liang Zhong, and Elder Lieutenant Liang Ji, were executed in various ways.
The Liang foreign clique, which has controlled the government for more than 20 years, has been wiped out and wiped out, becoming the dust of history...
In this regard, Liu Zhizhong really regained the imperial power, and his career as emperor officially began. At this time, he was exactly 29 years old, and from the perspective of the life span of ancient people, he was the age of being rich and strong, and he could completely let go of his hands and feet and do a good job.
Let's look at the various performances during Liu Zhi's administration.
First of all, it is certain that in terms of "martial arts", Liu Zhi's performance is quite good. At least in foreign wars, the Eastern Han Dynasty, under his leadership, achieved successive victories. In particular, the Qiang rebellion in the Western Han Dynasty was a border problem that had plagued the Eastern Han Dynasty (similar to the Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty).
Liu Zhi, on the other hand, sent Duan Jiao, who had extremely outstanding military ability, to entrust him with the task of pacifying the Qiang people. As a result, after Duan Hao arrived at the frontier, Enwei and The siege of the city were carried out at the same time, and sure enough, the Qiang rebellion was successfully put down, and the scope of the war was always controlled in a limited number of border areas.
Not only that, Liu Zhi also sent Zhang Yi, who had equally excellent military ability, to lead his army north to pacify Xianbei. As a result, Zhang Yi also won several great victories, so that the Xianbei army did not dare to easily go south from then on, and the northern border of the Eastern Han Dynasty was relatively peaceful from then on...
(The Later Han Dynasty Book Of 65 Emperor Fu Zhang Duan Lie Biography 55 records: "Emperor Fan broke the Western Qiang, beheaded 23,000 people, obtained tens of thousands of mouths, 8 million horses, cattle and sheep, and more than 10,000 people.) So Dong Qiang Xi Ping. Whoever fought 180 battles, beheaded more than 38,600 ranks, obtained more than 427,500 heads of cattle, horses, sheep, mules, donkeys, camels, cost 4.4 billion, and more than 400 soldiers died)
It can be seen that during Liu Zhi's reign, his military contributions were still obvious to all. Worthy of the meaning of the word "Huan" in his nickname: defeat the enemy and serve far away, strong and powerful...
However, can we draw conclusions from this, and also classify Liu Zhi, the Emperor huan of Han, into the category of "Ming Jun"?
Of course not. Because the evaluation of an emperor must be all-round and comprehensive in all aspects. Even, we must see not only what he did during his reign, but also the impact on future generations after his death or abdication, and the role played in later history...
In fact, it can be seen from historical records that during Liu Zhi's reign, the state administration was relatively chaotic.
He spoiled eunuchs, suppressed scholars, the party, and was promiscuous and lustful... He even practiced religious superstitions in the palace.
Not only that, Liu Zhi also opened the precedent of "selling officials and knights" at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the entire state's official system was fundamentally undermined because of this...
We can try to sort out the origin and reasons for Liu Zhi's "accusations":
The first thing to mention is that the favor of eunuchs, the suppression of scholars, and the scourge of the party are the few articles. We know that eunuchs interfering in politics was a problem that the Eastern Han Dynasty had always had. From the time when The Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, at a young age, relied on the power of eunuchs to overthrow their foreign relative Dou Shi and successfully ascended to the throne, the force of the "castration party" officially stepped onto the political stage.
Since the Han And Emperor, several emperors have succeeded to the throne at a young age, and it is common for foreign relatives to control the government, and it is even more inevitable to rely on the power of eunuchs to oppose foreign relatives and maintain imperial power...
However, in fact, Liu Zhi's importance and dependence on eunuchs was obviously a little too much... At the beginning, it was the eunuchs Shan Chao, Zuo Qi, Xu Huang, Gu Yan, and Tang Heng who went out on horseback to help him plot against Liang Ji and make great contributions, and received great rewards, and was given the title of Marquis on the same day, known in history as the "Five Marquises"...
As the saying goes: those who have merit should be rewarded for their own deeds, and there is nothing wrong with this. However, after helping Liu Zhi get rid of the dominant group of the Liang clan, these eunuchs soon formed their own circle of interests. They not only held high positions in the dprk, but also took this opportunity to arrange for their relatives and cronies to join the dprk as officials, and gradually occupied various key positions in the imperial court.
It can be seen from this that the eunuch clique's desire for power is not at all under the influence of foreign relatives and scholars.
What's more, the psychology of these people who are neither male nor female will themselves be different from ordinary people to a large extent. With these people in the position of supreme controller of national power, it is difficult to guarantee that they will also govern the country in a "normal" way...
In fact, Liu Zhi also realized that the "Five Marquises" he had been appointed had once again embarked on the old road of arbitrariness. He also seems to understand that it is not a good thing to let a family dominate, and it will make himself fall by the side of the imperial power again, becoming a "tail that can't be lost". Therefore, he also promoted other people to become officials in the DPRK to balance them Shan Chao, Zuo Qi, Xu Huang and others...
However, the people who Liu Zhi promoted to suppress eunuchs were also eunuchs (eunuchs Hou Lan and others). As a result, these newly reused eunuchs were equally brutal and tyrannical after coming to power. Mixed with the old eunuch forces, sometimes as a family unanimously, sometimes the contradictions are sharp and tit-for-tat, making the entire court even more smoky.
Not only that, but as the eunuch clique grew larger and more authoritarian, they also installed their minions in the central and local institutions at all levels to seek their own interests.
In the end, even the selection system of officials in the Eastern Han Dynasty was infiltrated by the eunuch clique. When various localities "raise filial piety and honesty", who is the so-called "filial piety" and who can be elected to become an official is completely a matter of eunuchs' words, and has completely deteriorated...
There is no doubt that the unscrupulous dictatorship of eunuchs caused dissatisfaction among the people and the gentry class throughout the country. In their view, how can these purified eunuchs, at best, be considered slaves, and are slaves whose bodies are incomplete, sit on their heads and do their best? Or even monopolize the power of the DPRK and China, and let them decide all the major affairs of the country?
However, under the growing public resentment, Liu Zhi still reused eunuchs and let them serve as his imperial defenders. Although in some respects, the rights of eunuchs were suppressed and restricted, but they were still allowed to control the power and monopolize the government... As a result, the increasingly discontented group of scholars began to fight against the eunuchs in their own way, even at the expense of challenging the imperial power...
In the ninth year of Yanxi (166 AD), Cheng Yu, who was then the Taishou of Nanyang, arrested Zhang Feng, a wealthy local merchant who had good relations with eunuchs.
Although at this time, it happened that the imperial court announced a general amnesty for the world, but in order to crack down on the eunuchs, Cheng Yan ignored the laws of the imperial court and not only killed Zhang Feng himself, but also planted more than 200 people in his clan and guests...
At the same time, something similar happened in Runan. Ru Nan was too protective of Liu Jin, arrested Xiaohuangmen Zhao Jin, and then, in disregard of the imperial court's pardon, first tortured Zhao Jin to death, and then reported it to the imperial court...
However, under such a severe situation, Liu Zhi did not review his own wrongs, and reflected on his excessive use of eunuchs. On the contrary, he was furious, feeling that this was the local government below, openly confronting the imperial court. Immediately, the edict arrested Cheng Yan, Liu Qian, and others together, sent them to prison for questioning, and beheaded according to the law...
Such a rough approach, such a clear favoritism in favor of eunuchs, will undoubtedly not only fail to solve the existing problems, but will further intensify the problems and push them into a deeper abyss.
Not only that, Liu Zhi also listened to the false accusations of the eunuchs, believing that Li Bing and other famous people had raised tai students and tourists, befriended students from various counties, formed a group of parties, and slandered the imperial court. Therefore, the edict ordered the whole country to arrest and arrest more than 200 "party members" such as Li Bing and Chen Yu.
For a time, rumors spread all over the world, and many scholars, who were not originally related to this matter, were implicated, arrested, and imprisoned... Even if some people learned the news in advance and fled, they could not escape the court's bounty. It was not until the following year that Shang Shu Huochen, The City Gate Colonel Wei Dou Wu and others jointly interceded for the "party members" that the party members were able to release them and return home.
But even so, Liu Zhi still imposed "house arrest" on him, not only recording the names of the party members, but also sending people to monitor them at any time and imprisoning them for life... And this is the famous "scourge of the party" in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Next, let's talk about Liu Zhi's absurdity and lust, selling officials and knighthoods, and superstitious religion.
In fact, there is nothing to say about superstition. In order to prolong their lives, many emperors in history have tried to satisfy their dreams of "immortality" through religious doctrines (even Tang Taizong Li Shimin was not spared). And Liu Zhi's so-called superstitious religion was nothing more than sending people to Ku County (present-day eastern Luyi County, Henan Province) to sacrifice Laozi, and then sacrificing Huang Lao in the palace, with the intention of praying for a long life.
What we want to focus on here is Liu Zhi's chaotic life in the harem, and his achievements in economic and other aspects during his reign.
As we all know, the saying about "three thousand beautiful ladies in the harem" has always been used to describe the happy life of the emperor's harem... However, the so-called "Three Thousand Beauties", compared with the scale of Liu Zhi's harem, are all small witches.
According to historical records, Liu Zhi's harem animals raised tens of thousands of palace women, and the daily lascivious life could be described as luxurious and eroded.
There are even some unverified historical sources that Liu Zhi is not satisfied with enjoying himself alone, and will engage in some "group activities" at every turn. Sometimes when he first came up, he would gather thousands of concubines, strip naked and dance square dance.
He even let his pets go up naked and have the closest contact with them... Liu Zhi himself, while drinking and watching, laughed wildly from time to time...
Of course, this kind of informal wild history record is not highly credible.
Because everyone knows that Liu Zhi's favorite person is a eunuch eunuch, let these people who are neither male nor female strip naked and go up to play "intimate" games with palace women, this picture is strange, it is unlikely to be reliable to think...
However, since Ye Shidu was compiled in this way, it also roughly showed that Liu Zhi's harem life was indeed very promiscuous.
Moreover, at least in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was the first emperor to make such an exaggeration in the harem, which was a precedent for "harem fornication".
Although as an emperor, the three palaces and six courtyards and the concubine palace women are not too rare things. But Liu Zhi's point also made a very bad start in China's imperial history.
Moreover, to some extent, it also affected the later historical trend of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
We know that since the Eastern Han Dynasty emperor Liu Zhao, several emperors in a row have succeeded to the throne at a young age, and in addition to making a difference with Emperor Liu Zhao, others have either died early (Emperor Liu Long, Former Shao Emperor Liu Yi, Emperor Chong Liu Bing, And Emperor Liu Jiao), or they are power-by-power, puppet puppets (Emperor An Emperor Liu Hu, Shun Emperor Liu Bao)...
Finally arrived at Liu Zhi's place, with all kinds of thoughts, finally got rid of the foreign relatives group, so that the imperial power was reinvigorated, it should have been the time to work hard and have the opportunity to re-usher in the world of ZTE.
However, Liu Zhi spent his energy on harem life, consuming his time and body in women and sex... It is simply unbelievable, is this the same person as the previous Liu Zhi, who has been patient for more than ten years and decisively and fiercely shot?
In fact, we may be able to attribute this to Liu Zhi's "distorted" psychology. As mentioned earlier, his marriage was not free, and at first it was completely controlled by the Liang clan, and the forcible granting of his daughter to him as empress was actually a matter of surveillance and control...
That is to say, Liu Zhi's marriage is not happy at all.
Empress Dowager Liang was talentless and virtuous, and her appearance was mediocre, and she only relied on her brother Liang Ji and the huge power of the Liang family behind her to despoticize the inner palace.
It is rumored that Empress Liang not only strictly restricted Liu Zhi's private life, but also that all the concubines who were favored or pregnant were all killed by a way... Just imagine, with such a "tiger wife" around him, the young emperor Liu Zhi, can his psychology not be suppressed?
Therefore, after more than ten years of hard work and patience, and finally killed the Liang Group, Liu Zhi finally ushered in his own "sexual liberation". He not only reduced Empress Liang, who had been dead for a year, to a "nobleman" (not even sparing the dead), but also "whirled" in the harem.
Then, we saw that Liu Zhi's various adulterous deeds in the harem, and the scale of concubines' establishment continued to expand, until tens of thousands of people were orders of magnitude... This is not so much that he is absurd, but rather that he is just a sudden sexual freedom and liberation after a long period of "sexual repression"...
Let's talk about Liu Zhi's deeds in the economy and people's livelihood.
Judging from all the historical records, it is impossible to find any reform measures about Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, in terms of economy and people's livelihood. On the contrary, it has recorded a lot of deeds about his "selling officials and knights".
As we all know, since the Eastern Han Dynasty and the emperor, the imperial throne has changed frequently, and the emperor has been old and young. The turmoil in the court, the dictatorship of foreign relatives, the interference of eunuchs in politics... As a result, the entire dynasty continued to suffer internal friction, the economic situation went all the way down, and the national treasury gradually became empty. Coupled with the continuous progress of foreign wars, the overall financial situation is even worse...
And after Liu Zhi successfully ascended to the throne, what kind of way did he take to save the emptiness of the national treasury?
According to historical records, Liu Zhi issued a famous "salary reduction order" to directly reduce the number of officials of the public secretary and a hundred officials, and strengthen the burden of the central finances. At the same time, in the form of "semi-openness," he began to sell officials, so that those who wanted to become officials could directly take money to buy them. And these money obtained from selling officials entered the national treasury, and indeed, to a certain extent, alleviated the financial problems...
Of course, we all know that selling officials and lords is harmful, which is tantamount to drinking and quenching thirst. While directly corrupting the system of official governance, it has also legitimized the corruption and looting of officials at all levels, which has greatly increased the burden on the common people.
What is even more frightening is that Liu Zhi's move set a precedent for the later Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong to succeed to the throne, and a more large-scale public sale of officials and knights. It can be said that it directly led to the people's lack of livelihood and triggered the terrible results of the Yellow Turban Uprising.
That is to say, the final collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty, its foreshadowing, in fact, was already buried during the reign of Emperor Huan Liu Zhi...
Writing here, we have roughly sorted out the person of Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, his character biography, the process of ascending to the throne, and various measures taken during the reign.
How should we evaluate him, whether he is a Dark Lord or a Ming Jun?
In fact, I personally feel that there is no need for us to engage in a black and white set, using the simple word "good or bad" or the word "wise/faint" to bluntly evaluate an emperor. Moreover, as far as Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, was concerned, he had a time of wisdom and divine martial arts in his life, and he also had many faint moves and defeats. We need to look at it in two.
He was born inadequate in his ascension to the throne, and took over the stalls under the power of his foreign relatives, which was originally only a puppet. However, it is indeed very difficult to crush foreign relatives and revitalize imperial power in one fell swoop through his own desperate forbearance and unsustainable attack at key moments, and it is also evident in his tenacity of character and the strength of his strategic and political level.
After successfully taking power, he was able to remain undefeated in successive years of conquests, dispatch troops and dispatch generals to know people and do good job, and beat foreign enemies such as the Qiang people in the west and the Xianbei in the north. Maintaining the stability of the frontier and maintaining the integrity of the national territory can also be regarded as quite good results.
And during his administration, the cultural and diplomatic achievements are also obvious to all.
According to historical records, during the huan emperor's period, fu wuji, Huang Jing, Cui Yu, Bian Shao, Yan Du and other ministers successively studied history in Dongguan. They completed the "List of Princes and Heroes Enze Marquis", "Nandan Yu Biography", "Xi Qiang Biography", "Geographical Chronicle", Xiao Mu, Xiao Chong'er Emperor, Empress Shunlie, Empress Ansi and other biographies, as well as the "Hundred Officials Table" and the biographies of Sun Cheng, the hero of The Shun Emperor.
In the ninth year of Yanxi (166 AD), the ancient Roman king Of Qin, An Dun, sent emissaries to Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty to meet Liu Zhi and give gifts such as ivory to Liu Zhi. This has become a symbol of direct friendly exchanges with European countries in China's history, and at the same time marks the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and the West. Since then, the diplomatic relations between the two major empires of the East and the West have been formally established, which also represents the official beginning of the cultural relations between China and the West...
Of course, Liu Zhi's fainting point cannot be ignored. The biggest defeat during his reign was to favor the eunuch castration party, which really broke the political balance of the Eastern Han court and left it to the next generation...
It should be said that since the middle period of the Eastern Han Dynasty and after the emperor, the imperial power has always been in a state of "side-falling". Eunuchs, foreign relatives, scholars, and other groups of forces all come and go above the court, and this and the other... At this time, no matter which king ascended to the throne, he could not be like their ancestors Han Gaozu, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Guangwu and others, who were mighty and powerful, and became the only controller of power.
Since this is not possible, the best thing for a monarch to do is undoubtedly to find a way to move between the major powers, to balance their interests, and to maintain political restraint and balance. Like the liang family, which was a foreign relative before, it was because of the monopoly of power that the family became dominant, and even the emperor became a puppet.
When Liu Zhi overthrew the Liang clan and successfully took power, he went to the other extreme. He was greatly favored and valued by the eunuch clique that had helped him defeat the Liang clan. Even at the expense of devoting themselves to the tactics of "party restraint", the power suppressed the clique of scholars, favored the eunuchs and castrated parties...
Facts have proved that the harm caused by the eunuchs after they gained power is far more terrible than the interference of foreign relatives in politics and the dictatorship of the scholars. Because whether they are foreign relatives or scholars, all they want is power. While pursuing power and ascending to high positions, they do not do too much harm to the institutions and structures of the state. Eunuchs, on the other hand, are complete cancers, parasitic on the one hand, on the one hand, they are quietly and endlessly eroding the imperial power, and corroding the rules of the world and the foundation of the country!
In addition, Liu Zhi also created an unprecedented precedent for sexual immorality on the "harem music". Although this has the reason that he was suppressed by the Liang clan for more than ten years before, resulting in sexual and psychological distortion, but this alone cannot be used as a reason for posterity to forgive him...
It should be said that after the Eastern Han Dynasty experienced several young and short-lived emperors, plus foreign relatives interfering in the dictatorship of the government, it was difficult for the imperial power to return, and it was precisely when a zhongxing lord was needed. And Liu Zhi also had the opportunity to carry out various political and economic reforms after his own imperial power was established to clean up the mess he had inherited and reverse the embarrassing situation of the empty treasury of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
However, he did the opposite, ignoring the current situation of countries with domestic and foreign difficulties, as well as the problem of tight fiscal and national treasuries. On the one hand, the current situation of depletion of the national treasury has become more serious; on the other hand, through the absurd means of selling officials and knights, it has supported the continued operation of the central finances...
In the end, Liu Zhi quickly emptied his body and consumed his energy in the fornication of the harem and the extravagant desire of life. At the age of thirty-six, he died, leaving no heirs behind...
Helplessly, after his death, it was the "Dou clan", who was a foreign relative, who chose Liu Hong (Emperor Hanling), who was in the "Hejian Kingdom" and hereditary "Marquis of Xieduting", to inherit the unification... How similar is this situation to the process of Liu Zhi's succession to the throne?
Coincidentally, shortly after Liu Hong ascended the throne, there was a bloody and vicious fight between eunuchs and foreign relatives, known in history as the "September Coup". As a result, the palace battle ended in a great victory for the eunuchs. Not only did he successfully get rid of his foreign relative Dou Shi, but Liu Hong also got rid of the control of his foreign relatives (and Liu Zhi was the same).
Moreover, when Liu Hong ascended to the throne and took real power, due to the fruitlessness of several political reforms, he once again embarked on the old path of favoring eunuchs and balancing power ministers (still the same as Liu Zhi)... After his death, he Jin, as a foreign relative, supported the eldest son Liu Wei to ascend to the throne, and once again went to war with the eunuch clique (history is repeating itself)...
Only this time, the two major groups of eunuchs and foreign relatives directly fought each other and lost both. The eunuchs summoned He into the palace in the name of the empress dowager and secretly poisoned him. And the commanders of the He Jin clique, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, and so on, directly led their troops into the imperial palace and wantonly slaughtered the eunuch party, and finally completely eradicated the eunuch clique that had been in trouble for a hundred years...
However, what happened later, everyone knows. Even if the eunuchs were destroyed, the Qi number of the Eastern Han Dynasty was almost over... Especially with the simultaneous downfall and demise of the two major forces by foreign relatives and eunuchs, the newly succeeded Tianzi Shaodi Liu Wei was weak and incompetent, so a great power vacuum appeared in the center of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the end, Dong Zhuo, who cleverly seized this opportunity and led his troops into Luoyang, took control of the imperial court...
Later, with the abolition of Dong Zhuo and the establishment of a new one, the capital was moved to Chang'an; the princes of the Kwantung formed a coalition and marched west to discuss Dong... The prestige of the Eastern Han Dynasty was swept away, and the world also entered a moment of disintegration. Since then, the royal family has declined, the masses have been divided, the warlords have been fighting, and the conquests have been endless... And all this is just the prelude to the beginning of the chaotic world...
Objectively speaking, we can't put everything that happened later on Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan (the later Emperor Liu Hong of Han Ling was more responsible). However, he definitely has some responsibility!
PS: In fact, under the general premise of the Eastern Han Emperor's small and small, small and small, Liu Zhi was able to achieve this level, which is already quite good. After all, he won a great victory in the internal struggle for power and counter-rebellion, and he also made great contributions to the external conquests, so it was worthy of the name to be able to be called "Huan" after his death.
However, the word "Huan" as a nickname, in fact, there is another layer of bad meaning, that is, after the establishment of the merit, but embarked on an arbitrary, even faint and brutal crooked road, and finally left a legacy for future generations...
For example, the Duke of Qi Huan, who created the hegemonic system, reused Guan Bao, strengthened the army and enriched the people, the Three Guizhitai, the Jiuhe Princes, the Three Ping Jin Rebellion, the Restoration of the Wei Kingdom, and the expulsion of Rong Di... It can be said that the merit is outstanding, and the history books are amazing. However, in his later years, he did not listen to Guan Zhong's advice when he was dying, and preferred to listen to partial beliefs and favoritism and adultery... As a result, after his death, the Prince of Qi was in civil unrest, and even his own body was rotten for dozens of days without being buried...
As for the reason why Emperor Huan of Han called him "Huan", it is estimated that he also referred to the fact that he seized power and ascended to the throne, and conquered the four sides and made immortal merits. However, he did not understand the balance of the court and the eunuch clique, and favored the eunuch clique, but instead suppressed the clique of scholars who really had the ability and the ability to govern the country.
What consequences will eventually be brought about, everyone can also see...
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