The empress dowager liked handsome men, killed her own grandson, and put the whole country in danger.
In 364, the former Liangwen King died, and the empress was only in her thirties. The heir to the throne was Zhang Chonghua, the empress's son, and Empress Ma, who was in her thirties, became Empress Ma. Zhang Chonghua is not the eldest son, he also has an older brother above him, but this older brother Zhang Zuo is a shu out and cannot inherit the throne.
Although Zhang Zuo is a shu out, he is very talented and very shrewd. Such a person cannot become an emperor, or because it is a matter of birth, he is naturally dissatisfied and wants to take the opportunity to usurp power. He saw that his stepmother, Empress Ma, was in her thirties and was deeply lonely, so he deliberately took the opportunity to get close to Empress Ma to gain the empress's favor, but he did not expect that Empress Ma really liked this young handsome man very much.
On the other hand, he pretended to be loyal in front of his brother Zhang Chonghua, but he did not expect that his acting skills were very good, and actually deceived Zhang Chonghua to believe him very much. Even when Zhang Chonghua passed the throne to his seven-year-old son before he died of illness, he did not trust his son, and left Zhang Zuo in the capital to assist his son. The ministers all knew that Zhang Zuo was a wolf's ambition, and wanted to transfer Zhang Zuo away from the capital before Zhang Chonghua was dying, but Zhang Chonghua did not listen. Although he also transferred Zhang Zuo's sworn enemy into the capital in order to restrain Zhang Zuo, he died before the edict was issued. Zhang Zuo intercepted the edict, claiming that the edict was to make himself a general of the Fu army, and thus grasped the military and political power.
After Zhang Zuo seized the military and political power, he began to eliminate Zhang Chonghua's confidants and implement his own plan to seize power. He had people spread rumors across the country that the current emperor was too young and that older people should be allowed to become emperors. At the same time, he continued to curry favor with the empress dowager, gaining the empress's trust, and instigating the empress dowager to depose her grandson and let Zhang Zuo inherit the throne. Unexpectedly, Empress Ma actually agreed, and really deposed her grandson and let Zhang Zuo inherit the throne.
In this way, Zhang Zuo completed his plan to seize power, and empress Dowager Ma at this time was of no use to Zhang Zuo. Empress Ma was only a tool person, but Empress Ma was very annoyed when she knew that she had been used. He lian contacted the Hezhou Assassin History to fight Zhang Zuo and wanted to restore his grandson Zhang Zuoling. After Zhang Zuo learned of this news, he panicked, he had never thought of killing Zhang Zuoling before, and now it was naturally impossible to keep him with this signboard. He ordered someone to cut off Zhang Yanling's waist and bury him. However, it was Zhang Zuo's cruel practice that made him rebel against each other, and his former henchmen rushed into the palace and hacked Zhang Zuo to death, and Zhang Zuo only took more than a year from becoming emperor to death.
After Zhang Zuo's death, Empress Ma pushed Zhang Chonghua's younger son to the throne, and it was Sima Da, who was in power, but she did not expect that the empress dowager began to make fools of herself again and took the initiative to get along with Sima Da. When Sima Dai saw that the empress dowager was so active, he was naturally happy. Sima Da, believing that he was liked by the empress dowager, began to run amok and kill innocents indiscriminately, and everyone hated him to the bone. Zhang Huazhong's younger brother launched a coup d'état, and Sima Da's guards were beaten to death, forcing Sima Da to commit suicide. The empress dowager also knew that she was very humiliated, and then she lived alone in the palace and died within two years.