In the Dynasty of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the most impressive emperor seems to be only Emperor Guangwu of Han, followed by Emperor Xian of Han, who was finally forced to give in, and the second emperor of Huanling, who was also the second emperor of Huanling, who was the one who brought calamity to the country and the people. However, the rise and fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty is not only a few emperors, but also the Hanming Emperor and the Hanzhang Emperor after the Han Wudi Emperor, who are also rare wise emperors, and even created the MingZhang dynasty. It was only because Han Guangwu's exploits were so prominent that the later emperors were covered up.
Emperor Ming of Han
The name of Emperor Ming of Han was Liu Zhuang, and as the second emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, his fame was not even as famous as his mother Yin Lihua, but he was a good emperor in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty. To be precise, Liu Zhuang belonged to the emperor of the Outer Confucian Inner Law, which on the surface looked weak and weak, but in fact belonged to the emperor with a fierce and decisive heart. Among all the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, only three emperors had temple numbers, including the Han Ming Emperor Liu Zhuang, whose temple name was Han Xianzong.
Zheng Zhuanggong
So what are the main contributions of Emperor Ming of Han? In my opinion, Emperor Ming of Han is like Zheng Zhuanggong in the Spring and Autumn Period, who is like Zheng Zhuanggong in the means of governing the country, and can eliminate threats without moving. Throughout the time of the Han Dynasty, including the Western Han Dynasty, three problems could not be rid of. The first is the foreign relative, the second is the hero, and the last is the clan. These three problems often appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, such as the problem of foreign relations, which successively appeared in the Lü family, the Dou family, and Huo Guang. The problem of merit was that there was Zhou Bo, Zhou Yafu, and so on, and finally the clan problem was the outbreak of the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms and various and small rebellions.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of Han avoided these three problems, did not liquidate the treatment of meritorious servants, and curbed the problems of foreign relatives and clans. However, because Emperor Guangwu of Han did not have a precise way of governing foreign relatives and clans, this problem was left in the hands of Emperor Ming of Han. So what did Emperor Hanming do?
Emperor Guangwu of Han
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, in order to prevent the clans from becoming strong, they adopted the honorary division of fiefs, that is, granted small fiefs, followed by the fact that these clans were kept by their side and they were not allowed to go to the fiefs to take the domain. Emperor Hanming took a very different approach, that is, to let the clan return to his fiefdom. It is not possible to subjectively judge which one is more correct, and staying around can prevent the formation of divisions between the clan, but it is also easy to cause collusion between the clan and the courtiers. Emperor HanMing knew this well, so he let the clan back to the fiefdom, but there was a trick.
For example, the princes who returned to the fiefdom did not have their own armies and troops, and the administrative team could only be appointed by Emperor Hanming himself, and at the same time, Emperor Hanming also created a supervision system, and specially assigned officials to supervise the princes. Naturally, there were also many unsatisfactory princes, such as the former crown prince Liu Jiang and Liu Jing, the younger brother of Emperor Ming of Han. When Emperor Ming of Han learned that the two were deliberately plotting rebellion, he adopted the practice of Zheng Zhuanggong's "many acts of injustice will kill himself", not only did not pursue it, but also openly spared Liu Jing and Liu Jiang.
Emperor Liu Zhuang of Hanming
Sure enough, liu Jing could not hold his breath at once, and when he returned to the fiefdom, he began to flaunt it, not to mention that Emperor Hanming was not satisfied, and even the people and courtiers of the fiefdom were dissatisfied, thinking that Liu Jing just did not know good and evil, and was not satisfied in the face of the emperor's grace. In the end, Emperor Ming of Han also sent local officials to put Liu Jing under house arrest, and Liu Jing was forced to commit suicide. The same was true of Liu Ying, the king of Chu, who was quietly eradicated by Emperor Ming of Han.
He was also unyielding in dealing with his foreign relative, Emperor Ming of Han, such as Yin Lihua's eldest nephew Yin Feng, and then the relationship between his father and his aunt wanted to become an official of the imperial court. Emperor HanMing saw that this Yinfeng did not have any great ability, so he gave a soft nail to let Yinfeng become a donkey, which showed the means of Emperor Hanming. If you want an official, I will give you an official, but I will decide what the specific official is. And what is even more excessive is that Yin Feng was originally a cousin of Emperor HanMing, and he directly became a son-in-law when he was a donkey.
Later, After Yin Feng drank, he accidentally killed the daughter of Emperor Ming of Han, that is, Yin Feng's wife. Knowing that he had made a mistake, Yin Feng rushed to take his father to find his aunt Empress Yin. Who knew that Emperor HanMing knew that he did not give any face, and directly told Yin Feng and Yin Feng's father that this matter was not discussed, and he apologized for his sins with death. It can be seen that in dealing with foreign relatives, Emperor HanMing was not only cruel enough, but also did not give any chance. Even in the face of her mother Yin Lihua, she would not give in at all. Yinfeng is only one of the cases, the Eastern Han Dynasty's Fubo general Ma Yuan is famous enough or a founding hero, in terms of relations is also the elder brother-in-law of the Han Ming Emperor, the result is still at home pension, false name is, do not want to have a position.
Therefore, Emperor Hanming was clever and decisive in consolidating imperial power, and was never tied up by private feelings, but because the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty was too vigorous, the glory of the wise emperor of Hanming was covered up. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Emperor Hanming was the first emperor to establish his own intelligence network, and there were so many eyes and ears that the courtiers did not dare to talk nonsense, and no one could guarantee that the people around him were the people of Emperor Hanming. But unfortunately, the descendants of Emperor Hanming's means were not inherited, basically after Emperor Hanming and Emperor Zhangdi of Han, the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into a cyclical struggle between foreign relatives and eunuchs.