In December of the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (105 AD), the 27-year-old Han and Emperor Liu Zhao died of illness in the front hall of Zhangde, after which a struggle for the throne began.
Originally, when Emperor Han and Emperor were alive, they gave birth to more than a dozen princes, but most of them died prematurely, and only the eldest son Liu Sheng and the youngest son Liu Long survived.
Emperor Han and Emperor suspected that the eunuch clique or foreign forces were plotting to kill his son, so he left the two surviving princes in the people to raise them.
After the death of Emperor Hanhe, Liu Sheng, as his eldest son, was originally an optimum candidate for the throne, but Emperor Hanhe's empress Deng Sui believed that Liu Sheng had suffered from a strange disease that could not be cured from childhood and was not suitable for emperor, so he supported Liu Long, the younger son of Emperor Hanhe, to ascend the throne, for Emperor Han, changed his era name to Yanping, made Liu Sheng the King of Pingyuan, and Empress Deng immediately rose to the rank of empress dowager.
However, Liu Long, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, had just passed the hundred days at that time and was still a baby in his infancy, so Empress Deng was put in charge of the government.
Empress Deng had a good impression of Ban Zhao before, and after listening to the government this time, she allowed Ban Zhao to participate in political affairs.
Empress Deng was a fierce ruler, she first promoted her brother Hu Benzhonglang to the rank of General of the Horse Rider and yi tongsan division, and then introduced a series of measures to govern the country, Ban Zhao actively cooperated with all the work of Empress Deng and conscientiously completed every thing assigned to her.
In August of the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (106 AD), the 1-year-old Emperor Han died prematurely, just over 200 days after he became emperor.
Therefore, the Han Emperor became the youngest and shortest-lived emperor in China's history.
After the death of Emperor Han, the throne was vacant again, and Liu Sheng, the prince of Pingyuan, as the only surviving prince of Emperor Hanhe and the only brother of Emperor Han, seemed to be an inevitable candidate for the throne.
However, Empress Deng was still reluctant to make Liu Sheng emperor, and after conspiring with her brother Che Qi's general And Yi Tongsan (宜同三司邓骘), she decided to make Liu Hu(劉祜), the nephew of Emperor Lihan and Emperor Xiao and son of Liu Qing the Prince of Qinghe, emperor.
In this year, Liu Hu had just turned 13 years old, and was changed to "Yongchu" for Emperor An of Han.
After Emperor Liu Hu of Han ascended the throne, Empress Deng once again came to the court to listen to the government, and Ban Zhao remained Empress Deng's confidant.
At this time, very bad news came from the Western Regions. In September of that year, because they could not bear the strict control of Ren Shang, the capital of the Western Regions, many countries in the Western Regions betrayed the Eastern Han Court and gathered heavy troops to attack the garrison of the Western Regions Capital Protector, Ren Shang also managed a lot of his subordinates in peacetime, many people were resentful, and before the battle began, some people took the opportunity to slip away, Ren Shang resisted, and urgently wrote to the imperial court for help.
It just so happened that Liang Yu, who had just been serving as a lieutenant in the Western Regions, arrived in Hexi, and the Eastern Han court ordered him to lead more than 5,000 Qiang and Hu cavalry from the four counties of Hexi, such as Dunhuang, Wuwei, Jiuquan, and Zhangye, to Rush to Shule to rescue Ren Shang.
The rebellious states in the western region saw the arrival of reinforcements from the Eastern Han Dynasty, fearing that they would suffer losses after a long battle, and after plundering, they returned to their respective countries.
However, in this war, the Eastern Han garrison in the Western Regions suffered heavy losses, so after the siege was lifted, the Eastern Han Court considered Ren Shang guilty, dismissed him from office, recalled him, and sent Duan Xi, a knight, to take over as the protector of the Western Regions.
On the way back to Luoyang, the disheartened Ren Shang recalled that 4 years ago, when he had just taken up the post of Protector of the Western Regions, Ban Chao gave him a sincere admonition and regretted it: "I heard the words of The Distant Marquis earlier, why did I have today?" ”
Due to the continuous rebellion of the Qiang tribes, Ren Shang did not pay too much tuition for this painful lesson, and after spending more than half a year at home, Empress Deng once again used Ren Shang as a lieutenant of Zhengxi and ordered him to lead an army to suppress the Qiang rebellion.
The chaos in the Western Regions worried Empress Deng, but she was very satisfied with Ban Zhao, believing that Ban Zhao could well grasp her intentions and complete all the tasks assigned to her.
In recognition of Ban Zhao's hard work, Empress Deng made her son Cao the Marquis of Guannei and the official to the position of Minister of State of Qi.
Ban Zhao was particularly grateful to Empress Deng for her kindness, and she was determined to continue to work in the imperial court, which was also considered to be working under the strong women.