We all know that in the history of China, in addition to changing dynasties, the succession to the throne is inherited by the father in a hereditary way, and some are passed on to the elder brother or brother, but this is very rare. And today we are going to talk about a very famous emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Huan of Han. This emperor is a very rare person who is not a dragon species but inherits the throne.
He was Liu Zhi, the tenth emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Huan of Han. After his father's death, Liu Zhi inherited his father's title of Li Wuhou at a very young age.
Who is Liu Zhi? It was Empress Liang's brother-in-law, and the empress dowager's brother-in-law actually became the emperor, which became an interesting story in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
At first, Empress Liang did not consider Liu Zhi's becoming emperor, and she concentrated on a happy event - marrying her sister Liang Nuying to the fifteen-year-old Marquis Liu Zhi of Liwu.
When Liu Zhi quickly rushed from the feudal kingdom to the Xiamen Pavilion north of Luoyang City, he was immersed in the joy of being a bridegroom, but he had no idea that his fate would change drastically from that moment on, and together with this huge, decaying empire, he sank into the fate of half joy and half abyss.
Liu Zhi's access to this throne was entirely accidental. After the death of Emperor Shun of Han, a new young emperor of Han Chongdi, who was only two years old, was established, but unfortunately he died in half a year. Empress Dowager Liang and her younger brother Liang Yi created a new 8-year-old Liu Yi as Emperor of Han in order to continue to hold power, but within a year, because Emperor Han openly said that Liang Yi acted arrogantly and had no one in sight, he was later poisoned, and the emperor's throne was once again vacant.
Liang Yi's father was the great general Liang Shang, and the empress of the Han Shun Emperor was now Empress Liang, who was his sister, he was a very cruel person, doing things arbitrarily, after the death of his father, he inherited his father's position, and later the Han Shun Emperor died, he colluded with many powerful ministers in the court, taking the power of the court into his own hands, the two new emperors died one after another, and the throne at that time was vacant.
In fact, according to the rules and regulations, it was impossible for Wang Hou to succeed to the throne, but at that time, there were almost no princes, and it was not strange to say that it was not strange, perhaps this was related to the weak fertility of the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, this rule was broken many times and the prince was made a crown prince.
When the 15-year-old Liu Zhi was anxiously waiting for his bride, he did not expect that the Han Emperor was struggling on the verge of death, and the courtiers were talking about it, among which Empress Liang and Liang Yi were the most vocal -
"Sister, the Quality Emperor is gone, who will be good for the Emperor?"
Empress Liang pondered for a moment, and then said with a flash of inspiration: "The King of Qinghe is not good, now, it is better to let this brother-in-law become the emperor, on the one hand, there is this level of in-law relationship, we can intervene in the government, on the other hand, he is weaker and better controlled." ”
Liang Yi felt that it was feasible, but wanted to ask the ministers for their opinions, they were a group that could not be ignored.
At that time, there were many ministers who wanted to succeed the King of Qinghe, and the lieutenants headed by Li Gu were particularly insistent—in their opinion, Liu Garlic, the King of Qinghe, was more suitable to be emperor, because he was older and had good moral character. Liang Yi was very upset about this, and of course he did not want the King of Qinghe to take the throne, because it was difficult to control, but he could not find a rescuer.
At this moment, an important figure appeared - Cao Teng. This man was the grandfather of the later generation of Cao Cao, a tyrant, who was intelligent and had the right to speak.
Liang Yi asked, "According to the current eunuch's opinion, who can be the emperor?" "Eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty have great power, and Cao Teng is the representative of eunuchs.
This Cao Teng was a cheerful person, and he said straight to the point: "The King of Qinghe is too upright, and he is made emperor, don't say that you can't meddle in the government, even your head may not be able to keep it, so it is better to support Li Wuhou, so you can keep rich and noble for a long time." Liang Yi clapped his hands and said fast.
So in 146 AD, Liu Zhi became the new emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Huan of Han.
When he had just succeeded to the throne, Liu Zhi felt that he was completely grateful to Empress Liang and others for winning the throne. Therefore, when he first ascended to the throne, he rewarded the Liang family such as Liang Yi. Later, after the death of Empress Liang, Liu Zhi, in order to appease Liang's relatives, gave them a larger and larger reward, and the treatment was extraordinary. This further contributed to Liang Yi's lawlessness. At that time, the political affairs of the dprk were all decided by Liang Yi, and if the officials were promoted, they would first go to Liang Yi's house to thank and give gifts. Even every year when the chancellor of the Fan state paid tribute, the best had to be sent to Liang Yi's mansion first.
It can be said that Liu Zhi, the Emperor of Han Huan, was a complete puppet, his diet and living, and his life was always under the surveillance of Liang Yi. We cannot understand the sadness of being an emperor but only being a puppet. But we can imagine that the flame of hatred has grown in Liu Zhi's heart.
This situation lasted until the appearance of a woman, that is, Empress Deng. After Empress Liang's death, Liu Zhi had been sullen and unhappy, and this situation was seen by Liang Yi's wife Sun Shou, who recommended Deng Meng to Liu Zhi to bring into the palace. Empress Deng was very beautiful, and Liu Zhi soon fell in love with him, so he was very kind to Empress Deng's family, and his mother was also crowned as Chang'an Jun. At this time, Liang Yi could not sit still, he was afraid that the power of the Deng family exceeded that of his family, and sent someone to assassinate Empress Deng's mother, Chang An Jun, who had no choice but to run to Liu Zhi for help.
Liu Zhi held back for many years, and finally "rushed to the crown and became angry into a red face", determined to rise up and do a big vote. But how, with whom? - Of course, in the end he chose the eunuch.
After discussing countermeasures with the eunuchs and gangs around him, he finally came up with a way to get rid of Liang Yi and vigorously launched a plan. One day, they set a trap and grabbed Liang Wing.
In 158 AD, Liu Zhi asked Shangshu to order Yin Xun to lead troops to guard the palace official office with a rune. In addition, more than a thousand people, together with the yellow gate commander Gu Yu with the knights on the left and right, Hu Ben, Yulin, and Duhou Sword Warriors, together with the lieutenant Zhang Biao, surrounded Liang Ji's residence, and sent Guanglu Xun Yuan Xu to confiscate Liang Ji's general Yin Shou with a rune. Liang Yi, who knew that he would not be able to escape death, chose to commit suicide with his wife at home that day.
In this way, the 28-year-old Han Huan Emperor finally ended his thirteen-year-long puppet life. But what Liu Zhiwan did not expect was that the power he had painstakingly regained was finally sent to the eunuchs who helped him. Therefore, some people say that it was the woman he liked who gave him such courage and let him overthrow the foreign forces, but the Eastern Han Dynasty fell back into the chaos of officials and eunuchs.