According to the Book of Later Han and other historical sources, on August 25, the sixth year of Zhongping (189), the general He Jin and Yuan Shao, a lieutenant colonel, tried to get rid of the eunuchs, but Empress He did not comply. Therefore, the imperial court recruited Dong Zhuo to lead an army to the Beijing Division, preparing to coerce Empress He. Before Dong Zhuo arrived, the general He Jin had already been murdered by the eunuchs. Angry soldiers attacked and killed the eunuchs. He Jinbu combined Wu Kuang and others with Dong Min (Dong Zhuo's younger brother, then Fengche Du) to attack and kill the Che general He Miao. Zhongchang Shi Duan Jue and others kidnapped the Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei and fled.
At the foot of the Northern Mang Mountain, the terrified Liu Wei saw Dong Zhuojun galloping forward and cried in fright. Dong Zhuo finally greeted the emperor in Northern Mang, and then returned to the palace. On September 1 of the same year, in the Chongde Front Hall, Shang Shuding Palace presided over the abolition ceremony, and the taifu Yuan Kui helped Liu Jie to the throne, lifted the jade seal and handed it over to Liu Xie, and then helped Liu Xie to officially ascend the throne, in order to "dedicate the emperor". In this regard, in the eyes of many people, whether it is Liu Xie, the young emperor of Han, or Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, they are all young emperors, so dong Zhuo does not need to depose the emperor. So, the question is, after Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, why did he depose The Han Shao Emperor Liu Xie and establish Liu Xie as the Han Xian Emperor?
One
First of all, after coming to the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo deposed the emperor because the reasons were mainly divided into the following points. On the one hand, Liu Xie ,181 – 21 April 234), emperor of the Han Dynasty, was a native of Luoyang, Henan. The last emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (reigned 189-220), the second son of Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han, and the half-brother of Emperor Shao of Han, his mother was Empress Wang Rong of Linghuai. For Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, he was raised by Empress Dong in his early years and behaved demurely, then known as "Dong Hou". Although there was no blood relationship between Empress Dong and Dong Zhuo. However, because it was the same surname, Dong Zhuo was still closer to Liu Xie, who was raised by Empress Dong, and even Dong Zhuo himself could play the role of a foreign relative of Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian.
At the same time, Liu Xie's mother, Wang Meiren (王美人), courtesy name Wang Rong (later posthumously known as "Empress Linghuai"), was the granddaughter of Wang Bao, the daughter of Wang Zhang, a former general of the Five Senses, who was born into a famous family, with elegant manners, and good looks, and was deeply favored by Liu Hong, the Emperor of Hanling. However, at that time, Empress He (the biological mother of Emperor Liu Jie of Han) was very jealous of Wang Meiren. In the end, Wang Meiren was killed, so Liu Xie was raised by Empress Dong. In this regard, in the author's opinion, this means that Liu Xie does not have a strong foreign force around him. Correspondingly, although the general He Jin was killed, there were still many of He Jin's subordinates, and as for Empress He, the biological mother of Emperor Liu Jie of Han, she also had a certain power. Therefore, from Dong Zhuo's point of view, if he continued to let the Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei reign, it was obviously not conducive to his own power in the Eastern Han Court. On this basis, the establishment of Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, as emperor would facilitate Dong Zhuo's usurpation of power.
Two
On the other hand, after Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he chose to change the emperor, naturally for the sake of establishing wei. According to the Book of Later Han and other historical records, in 189 AD, Emperor Ling of Han fell seriously ill and sent an edict to Dong Zhuo as a state pastor, and his subordinate soldiers and horses were transferred to Emperor Fusong. Dong Zhuo accepted the appointment, but refused to hand over the soldiers and horses, and wrote a letter of defense: "I have been in charge of the army for ten years, and the relationship between the soldiers and me is too good, they all have to fight for me, and I beg to take these soldiers to the state and serve the side." Emperor Fuli persuaded Emperor Fusong to take the opportunity to get rid of Dong Zhuo, but Emperor Fusong did not comply, but only sent Dong Zhuo's refusal to hand over his military power to the imperial court. As a result, the Han Ling Emperor rebuked Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo resented Emperor Fusong even more.
In this regard, in the author's opinion, before usurping power, Dong Zhuo could only be said to be a small and powerful military general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, not to mention compared with the great general He Jinbi, that is, compared with Yuan Shao, who was serving as a lieutenant at that time, Dong Zhuo's status was not much higher. In other words, Dong Zhuo only seized the opportunity of the great general He Jin and the eunuch to lose both, which enabled him to hold the Eastern Han court hostage.
Therefore, for Wang Yun and other civilian generals, they were very unconvinced of Dong Zhuo at first. In this context, Dong Zhuo chose to depose the Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei and establish Liu Xie as emperor instead, in order to establish his prestige in the imperial court, first, to deter other civilian and military generals, and second, to obtain more generals to defect. In other words, Dong Zhuo showed his strength by deposing the emperor, so as to recruit soldiers from all over the world and continue to grow his strength.
Three
In 189 AD, after Dong Zhuo led a large army to the capital, he first met Liu Jue, and then reached out to hold Liu Xie, the king of Chen Liu, from Min Gong's arms, but Liu Xie refused, and Dong Zhuo had to go with Min Gong and enter the city together. Dong Zhuo asked Liu Xie about the incident, and Liu Xie's words were incoherent, but Liu Xie could clearly express it. In this regard, in the author's opinion, compared with the Han Shao Emperor Liu Xie, the Han Xiandi Liu Xie has a little bit of initiative and courage, and also appropriately gives Dong Zhuo the words of "thinking about the Jiangshan Society". After all, Dong Zhuo's abolition of the emperor also needed to find an excuse. Now, the performance of Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, is indeed higher than that of Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Shao, which allows Dong Zhuo to use the reasons for Jiangshan Sheji, thus deposing Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Shao, and establishing Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian.
It is worth noting that Dong Zhuo not only deposed the Han Shao Emperor Liu Jie, but also directly cut the grass and roots of the emperor. In the first month of the second year after Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao of Han (Chuping Yuan, 190 AD), Assassin Shi, Zhou Mu, and Taishou from all over Shandong rebelled against Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was afraid that they would crusade against themselves in the name of deposing Emperor Hongnong and restoring him to the throne, so he simply killed King Hongnong. Dong Zhuo placed King Hongnong on the cabinet and sent LangZhongzhong to order Li Rujin to offer poisoned wine to King Hongnong on the twelfth day of the first month of the first year of Chuping (March 6, 190 AD). In the end, for Liu Wei, he died of poisoned wine at the age of fifteen (eighteen). In addition, in February of the first year of Chuping (190 AD), Emperor Xian of Han ordered his brother King Hongnong to be buried in the tomb of the late Zhongchang servant Zhao Zhong.
Four
In the end, although Dong Zhuo deposed the emperor, he was attacked by Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, Sun Jian and others. However, after Dong Zhuo held the Han Emperor Liu Xie move the capital to Chang'an, these Kwantung princes could not continue to threaten Dong Zhuo because of their seemingly sympathetic relationship. Of course, in the face of Dong Zhuo, who deposed the emperor, many ministers still had the intention of getting rid of this powerful minister. Among them, Wang Yun successfully rebelled against Dong Zhuo's general Lü Bu.
In the early morning of April 23, the third year of Chuping (192), Dong Zhuo rode to the imperial palace to plan to participate in the emperor's celebration, and Lü Bu accompanied him. When Dong Zhuo's motorcade reached the outside of the Beiye Gate, Li Su and the others rushed out with long halberds and stabbed Dong Zhuo, who wore armor inside his imperial clothes, so he did not hurt the point. However, what Dong Zhuo did not expect was that Lü Bu, who he trusted a lot, actually betrayed himself. Moreover, Lü Bu led the crowd forward to kill Dong Zhuo on the spot.
In the end, for Dong Zhuo, although he realized his ambition to usurp power by deposing the emperor. However, Dong Zhuo's career as a powerful minister lasted less than three years before it ended. Of course, for Liu Xie, the Han Xian emperor who Dong Zhuo re-established, he never got rid of the hostage-holding of his powerful subjects. After Dong Zhuo was killed, the Han Xian emperor Liu Xie was first held hostage by Li Yu and Guo Feng, and then Cao Cao blackmailed Tianzi to order the princes, and after Cao Pi ascended the throne, the Han Xian emperor Liu Xie was forced to give up the emperor's throne and was renamed the Duke of Shanyang.