Eunuchs were an indispensable role in Chinese history, and their original position should have been those who served in the court, and their status was extremely low, but in order to compete for power between the kings and ministers, these obscure people who listened to the call of the remnants suddenly became heavyweights who held the power of the king, held the constitution of heaven, and held the power of life and death.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was the era of the first expansion of the power of Chinese eunuchs, who became the masters of the dynasty many times, and they officially came to the foreground from the backstage and seized power because of the abolition of the crown prince Liu Bao.
Liu Bao was the son of Emperor An of Han, and he was the only son, and it was reasonable to say that he was the only heir, and he did not have to do anything, did not have to go through a complicated war of conquest, did not have to form gangs, and could become emperor as long as he waited, because he was alone, and the emperor would not give him to anyone. However, such an infallible imperial throne Liu Bao actually did not keep it! Why was he deposed and put on the throne by eunuchs? It all started with his father, Emperor Han Andi.
Emperor An of Han's name was Liu Hu, and he was the grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han, but he had no relationship with Emperor Han and Emperor Han after Emperor Zhang, and he was not eligible for the throne, because his father was also the deposed prince.
Emperor An of Han's father, named Liu Qing, was originally the first crown prince during the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han, but at that time, Empress Dou, the empress of Emperor Zhang of Han, killed Liu Qing's mother Song Guiren in order to compete for the throne, so Liu Qing naturally could no longer be the crown prince, so he was directly deposed as the King of Qinghe.
Liu Hu was born after his father was deposed as the Queen of Qinghe, and according to the development trend after that, Liu Hu's only future is to inherit his father's throne of Qinghe in the future, and spend his mediocre and happy life in Qinghe from then on.
However, things did not develop in this way, after the death of Emperor Zhang of Han, Emperor Hanhe succeeded to the throne, and as he grew older, he gradually became dissatisfied with the monopoly of power of the Dou family, so he conspired with his brother Liu Qing, the deposed crown prince, to eliminate the Dou family, and Liu Qing made great contributions in this matter, so he was reused by Han and Emperor.
However, Liu Qing was well aware that he was a deposed prince and his position was embarrassing, so he was unusually low-key and took the initiative to apply to go to the fief qinghe, but he did not take his whole family with him, and the emperor's Empress Deng ordered him to keep Liu Hu.
Why did Empress Deng leave Liu Hu behind? Because han and emperor were already terminally ill at this time, most of his sons died prematurely, and only two were found in foster care, one was Liu Sheng, who was disabled, and one was Liu Long, who had just been born more than a hundred days ago. Therefore, once Emperor He died, Liu Long was bound to succeed to the throne, but whether he could feed himself was unknown, so he left Liu Hu behind in advance.
Sure enough, Emperor He died soon after, and Liu Long, who succeeded him, died less than a year after he ascended the throne, thus interrupting the succession from Emperor Guangwu. Fortunately, Empress Deng arranged it in advance, and Liu Hu, as the grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han, became the heir who most conformed to the order of succession and directly inherited the throne, so the Eastern Han Dynasty did not have turmoil because of the heir to the throne. In the first year of Yanping, Qing shi took office, and Empress Deng specially ordered emperor Qinghe to stay. In August, emperor Yan collapsed, and the empress dowager and her brother Che riding the general Deng Xiao decided to ban it. On his night, he made the emperor hold the festival, greet the emperor with Wang Qing's car, and fast in the temple. The Empress Dowager Yu Chongde Hall, hundreds of officials are in good service, the group of courtiers accompany the throne, and the emperor is introduced as the Marquis of Chang'an. Tai Wei offered the seal, that is, the emperor's throne, in the thirteenth year. The Empress Dowager is still in the dynasty. - Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Although Liu Hu became emperor, he was a puppet, and the power was completely in the hands of Empress He's current Empress Deng, and became a replica of Emperor He.
Although his status was the same as that of emperor, Liu Hu did not have the courage of his uncle and emperor at all, and he did not dare to have a little dissatisfaction with Empress Deng and the Deng family, as long as he became emperor himself, so he was safe as a puppet for more than ten years.
After Empress Deng's death, the Deng family had no patron and began to decline, and Liu Hu was able to grasp power, but he was a mediocre monarch, and after so many years as a puppet, he was not good at handling state affairs at all. Disturbed by the complicated state affairs, he had no choice but to go to his harem to find comfort.
In the harem, he had four very favored people, one was Empress Yan Ji, one was his wet mother Wang Sheng, and the other two were the eunuchs Qiu Jiangjing and Zhongchang's attendant Fan Feng.
After many years in the puppet career, surrounded by the eyes and ears of Empress Deng, he was very afraid in his heart, so he could only rely on these four people, and for a long time, he could not do without these four people, so as to obey them. So these four people in the harem turned their hands into clouds and hands for rain, all those who did not obey them, all severely cracked down, for a time the harem was extremely dangerous, for all this, Liu Hu knew it, but he did not care at all, so these four people finally pointed the spearhead at his son Liu Bao.
Liu Bao was born in the second year of the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (115), his mother was an ordinary palace maid in the palace, although the status was low, but because there was no longer a prince in the harem, including the empress, Liu Bao became the only heir of Liu Hu, so in the first year of Yongning (120), Liu Bao was made crown prince.
Although Liu Hu established Liu Bao, he had no other sons to choose from, which doomed Liu Bao's unstable status, and sure enough, under the frame of the empress and others, Liu Hu was deposed a few years later.
Why did Empress Yan and others frame and depose Liu Bao's throne, knowing that the emperor had only one son, and if he was deposed, no one would inherit him.
The reason why Empress Yan and others insisted on deposing Liu Bao was because they were afraid, and they were all afraid of Liu Bao becoming emperor.
Empress Yan was afraid because she was very jealous of Liu Bao's birth mother after Liu Bao was born, so she poisoned Liu Bao's birth mother. Liu Bao is now the legal heir to the throne, and if he becomes emperor, then he will definitely find himself to avenge this killing of his mother.
Wang Sheng, Jiang Jing, and Fan Feng were afraid because they were all favored as close associates of Emperor An of Han, and Liu Bao also had his own close associates, and the people he trusted most after his mother's death were his nursing mother Wang Nan and the kitchen supervisor Feng Ji.
Wang Sheng and others could not tolerate someone gaining favor in their own way and replicating their own success, and they would always be the emperor's most trusted person, so they directly went into the rumors and killed Wang Nan and Feng Ji. Liu Bao, who originally did not feel the affection in the palace, could only rely on the nursing mother and the kitchen supervisor, which was his only relative, but he did not expect that his last bit of affection was also deprived, and his heart was very angry.
Wang Sheng, who had killed Wang Nan Fengji, and the others had not yet played Guan Xiangqing, and found that the crown prince was seriously resentful, and if Liu Bao came to power, then there were only a thousand knives waiting for them, so they had to prevent this from happening so that Liu Bao could not inherit the throne.
As the saying goes, "three people become tigers", not to mention four people, or the four most trusted and most dependent people who kept telling them day and night, Liu Hu began to have doubts about Liu Bao, although he was only nine years old at this time, but Liu Hu thought that the empress was right, this contrarian son must not let him become emperor, he was still young, and his son would have it in the future, so he forcibly deposed Liu Bao as the King of Jiyin despite the opposition of the imperial court ministers.
Liu Bao was deposed, and the only thing that awaited him was a dark and directionless road, and he could only watch his brother ascend to the throne, and whether he was dead or alive was only known by heaven. However, he did not wait too long, because less than a year later his father died, and the ensuing turmoil helped Liu Bao, the deposed prince, to the throne he once wanted to inherit.
Liu Hu was in a very bad mood after deposing his son, coupled with the fact that state affairs were not going well, which made his emotional and physical body extremely bad. To this end, he decided to leave the lifeless Luoyang court and go outside to breathe and relax. After some preparation, he decided to go to his hometown of Zhangling and go out in the name of ancestor worship, and naturally this tour could not be less than his own empress.
The tour was relatively smooth, after running all the way to Ye County, I originally wanted to rest here, but Liu Hu never got up again, and he died directly here.
Liu Hu's sudden death surprised Empress Yan, knowing that she could have today's wealth, all depending on this emperor, and now that the emperor is dead, and she has no heirs, then what awaits her is not death? Therefore, she found her brother Yan Xian, Jiang Jing, Fan Feng and others to discuss countermeasures. After discussion, they believed that if the news of the emperor's death was announced now, then the princes and ministers in Beijing would definitely support the deposed crown prince Liu Bao, because he was Liu Hu's only son, and he had been deposed without any fault, and now that his father was dead and the succession was deserved, so it was absolutely impossible to let this happen, the news of the emperor's death could be concealed, and the top priority was to find an emperor candidate.
Although Empress Yan lived in the harem for many years, from the day she entered the palace, she saw the prestige of the titular mother-in-law Empress Deng as the regent of the dynasty, so she also wanted to emulate her mother-in-law as the de facto head of the Han Dynasty. In order to make a dynasty, they had to establish a small emperor, so they found another grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han, Liu Yi, the Marquis of Beixiang, as emperor through comparison.
After returning to Luoyang and announcing Liu Hu's death, it was not surprising that the ministers believed that the only heir was Liu Bao, but Empress Yan had already made preparations to say that Liu Bao had been deposed, and such a person could not become emperor, so she chose Liu Yi, the marquis of Beixiang, the grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han and the son of Liu Shou the Prince of Hui of Jibei, as emperor, and as the empress dowager, Yan Xian, as a che general and Yi Tongsansi, fully participated in state affairs, so Yan's foreign relatives rose.
Empress Yan's arrangement caused dissatisfaction among the ministers, who were very dissatisfied with the useless Yan clan's assumption of power, and even more dissatisfied with the emperor. It should be known that Liu Yi was Liu Hu's uncle and brother-in-law, empress Dowager Yan's younger uncle, and if there was a little uncle who became the emperor's sister-in-law as the empress, this was obviously not in accordance with the law of etiquette. Especially for Liu Bao, although he was deposed, as the son of the emperor, he was not allowed to come to worship his father, which won the sympathy of everyone except the Yan family, so the Yan family lost popularity from the beginning. The king of Jiyin was deposed, and he was not allowed to go to the temple to visit the Zi Palace in person, and he did not eat the sorrowful trumpet, and the internal and external crowds did not mourn. - Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Liu Yi, the Marquis of Beixiang, did not have the life to become emperor, and his health deteriorated rapidly after becoming emperor, and he eventually died seven months later.
When Liu Yi was critically ill, both sides were in action. Jiang Jing was well aware that everyone was dissatisfied with Yan's arbitrary behavior and opposed Liu Yi as emperor, so he persuaded Yan Xian to prepare in advance as he had done last time and choose an heir early, so as not to prevent Liu Yi's ministers from supporting Liu Bao and counterattacking after Liu Yi's death. Yan Xian agreed with this suggestion and quickly sent someone to pick up other princes into the palace to choose a new heir. The che generals Yan Xian and Jiang Jing, together with the empress dowager Liu An and Chen Da, and other empress dowagers, did not mourn, but even recruited the princes of the palace, but closed the palace gates and defended themselves. - Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Yan Xian acted, but his action was too late, and another group of people in the court also moved. The eunuch Sun Cheng and others who were in the palace also began to act, as eunuchs, they had never had a head day in their lives, but they were very envious of Jiang Jing and others, but they did not have this opportunity and still did the work of the next person in the palace. However, the inconspicuousness in the palace gave him the opportunity, they first learned the news of Liu Yi's illness and death, so they felt that this was good news, rather than waiting for other princes to come and show loyalty, it was better to support the deposed prince, which could not only win the hearts of the people, but also establish a miracle, so that the emperor would always be grateful to himself.
So Sun Cheng, Wang Kang, Wang Guo, Huang Long, Peng Kai, Meng Shu, Li Jian, Wang Cheng, Zhang Xian, Shi Xun, Ma Guo, Wang Dao, Li Yuan, Yang Tuo, Chen Yu, Zhao Feng, Li Gang, Wei Meng, Miao Guang, and nineteen other eunuchs gathered at the Deyang Hall where Liu Bao lived, and together they proclaimed Liu Bao as emperor.
Forming an alliance, they launched a dispute in the court, killed Jiang Jing and others, took control of the court, and then welcomed Liu Bao into the palace. Due to the loss of the hearts of the Yan clan and the suddenness of the incident, the Yan clan's relatives could not fight back at all, and they were soon controlled.
In this way, Liu Bao dramatically ascended from a deposed prince with no future to the throne, becoming one of the few princes who was deposed and re-ascended to the throne. In this year, Liu Bao was only ten years old, and his ascension to power was nothing more than a puppet of Sun Cheng and others, and the power of the imperial court was completely controlled by Sun Cheng and other eunuchs, and the official eunuch clique walked into the political center in a bright and upright manner and began to run the country. Liu Bao did not react to all this, just like his father, but naturally let these eunuchs hold power, so he made all nineteen eunuchs marquis, and then he was content to enjoy himself.
While reusing eunuchs, Liu Bao repeatedly promoted his empress's relatives to the center, so that the Liang clique, the longest-reigning and most harmful foreign relatives in the Eastern Han Dynasty, also appeared on the stage of history. The eunuch clique and the foreign clique began to fight for power again, and eventually the Eastern Han dynasty collapsed, and the localities were divided and self-reliant, and the masses rose up together, and finally entered the Three Kingdoms era.