The Hanping Emperor Liu Yan [kàn] was the fourteenth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the grandson of the Han Yuan Emperor Liu Yi [shì], the nephew of the Han Cheng Emperor Liu Xiao, and the cousin of the Han Emperor Liu Xin. In 1 BC, the 9-year-old Liu Yan became emperor and died of illness in 6 AD [another theory is that he was poisoned by Wang Mang]. Because Liu Yan was young, the foreign relatives of the Wang clan, led by the empress dowager Wang Zhengjun, successfully seized power, resulting in the fall of the imperial power of Liu surname, and the general policy was basically from Wang Mang, so Liu Yan, who died of illness at the age of 14, basically left no trace in history.
Emperor Liu of Hanping
Relationship diagram of the four emperors of Han Yuan, Cheng, Lai and Ping
In 1 BC, on the second day of the fifth lunar month, the Han Emperor, who had a premonition that his limit was approaching, appointed Dong Xian [the protagonist of the habit of breaking his sleeves] as the Great Sima (大司馬), The Minister Kong Guang (孔光) as the Grand Si Tu and Peng Xuan (彭宣) as the Grand Sikong (大司空), personally speculating that the reorganization of the cabinet would pave the way for the next generation of successors, at least to protect his lover Dong Xian.
★ Grab power ★
In 1 BC, on the 26th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the Han Emperor died in Weiyang Palace. Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun personally went to Weiyang Palace to collect the emperor's jade seal, met with and asked Dong Xianhan how the funeral of Emperor Wu was arranged. Dong Xian was afraid that he could not answer because of the loss of the han emperor's patron. On the grounds that Wang Mang had served as the Grand Sima and presided over the funeral of Emperor Xian, the empress dowager asked Wang Mang to assist Dong Xian in handling the funeral of Emperor Ai of Han, and ordered Wang Mang to take charge of the army in the capital and control hundreds of officials. Wang Mang then arranged for someone to impeach Dong Xian [reason for impeachment: When the Han Emperor was seriously ill, Dong Xian did not personally serve the soup medicine before the sickbed] and restricted his freedom. On June 27, the empress dowager issued an edict: "Grand Sima Dongxian is young, has no management experience, is not in line with the people's will, and dismisses Grand Sima from his post." Dong Xian and his wife committed suicide that day, and their families quietly buried them. Wang Mang suspected dong xian of cheating his death and ordered someone to excavate Dong Xian's coffin for verification. The empress dowager issued an edict: "Recommend candidates who can hold the position of Grand Sima ( Grand Sima Inc.' Both the Grand Situ Kong Guang and the Wenwu Officials elected Wang Mang as the Grand Sima (大司馬), but the left general Gongsun Lu disagreed with the former general He Wu. Gongsun Lu had a good relationship with He Wu, and their reason for opposing Wang Mang's appointment as Grand Sima was that Emperor Hui of Han [Liu Ying, the second emperor of the Western Han Dynasty], and Emperor Zhao of Han [Liu Fuling, the eighth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty], were in power when they were young, and their foreign relatives Lü Shi [Lü Yan], Huo Shi [Huo Guang], and Shangguan Shi [Shangguan Jie] had abused their power to the point that Liu Shi's Jiangshan was not safe, and now that Emperor Hancheng and Emperor Ai of Han had no heirs for generations, they should appoint people close to the emperor to assist the young lord, and let foreign ministers with different surnames take power to the detriment of Liu's Jiangshan. Therefore, He Wu elected Gongsun Lu to be the Grand Sima and Gongsun Lu recommended He Wu to serve as the Grand Sima (大司馬). The next day, the empress dowager appointed Wang Mang as the Grand Sima (大司馬).
★ Cut out the others ★
On the pretext of monopolizing the exclusive favor of other beautiful women from entering the palace and mutilating and exterminating the heirs of Emperor Hancheng, Emperor Hancheng's lover Zhao Feiyan was forced to die [committing suicide after being degraded to a shuren by Wang Mang]; on the grounds of arbitrariness and wantonness and plot against him, he stripped Emperor Han Yuan's lover Fu Zhaoyi [who was dug up by Wang Mang] in one vein, Emperor Han's mother Ding Ji yimai, and Emperor Han'ai's lover Empress Fu [committed suicide after being demoted to a shuren by Wang Mang]; on the grounds of arrogance and indulgence and extravagance, he raided all the foreign relatives of The Han Emperor's male favorite Dong Xian. Zhu Xu, a good friend who helped Dong Xian buy a coffin to collect the body, was killed by Wang Mang on the charge of weaving].
★ Fight dissidents ★
The grand master Kong Guang was a confucian, and he served as a minister of the three dynasties, and the empress dowager also respected him more, and Wang Mang promoted Kong Guang's son-in-law to win Kong Guang over. For the ministers who needed to be impeached, Wang Mang wrote a draft of the impeachment recital and handed it to Kong Guang, and the empress dowager put pressure on Kong Guang, who officially went to the impeachment recital to act as Wang Mang's vanguard. He Wu and Gongsun Lu were deposed and removed from their posts for the crime of electing Sima Da for the crime of electing each other [He Wu was killed by Wang Mang two years later on charges of weaving]. In August, the Great Sikong Peng Xuan was hated by Wang Mang for retiring from the letter without permission, and Wang Mang gave Peng Xuan small shoes in retirement benefits. Wang Mang's power gradually increased, the great situ Kong Guang was worried that he would be infringed, and took the initiative to retire, Wang Mang arranged for Kong Guang to serve as the teacher of the HanPing Emperor, although he had no actual power, he enjoyed a rise in reputation and economic treatment remained unchanged. On the first day of September, the 9-year-old Hanping Emperor took the throne.
After the operation of empress dowager and Wang Mang, the foreign relatives of the three emperors of Han Yuan, Cheng, and Ai were all abolished, and the officials of Sima And Situ, Sikong, and key positions were all replaced by supporters of Wang Mang. The empress dowager was in charge of the government, Wang Mang controlled the state administration, and the civil and military officials performed their duties to listen to Wang Mang's decision, and the Hanping Emperor, who was still a child, had become Wang Mang's puppet. At this time, Wang Mang should already have the ambition to usurp han and establish himself, but the time is not yet ripe, and he is waiting for the opportunity to come.
★ ★ Deception
In the Zizhi Tongjian Han Ji 27, Wang Mang commented: "Both flattering the people and wanting to be arbitrary [Translation: Having already pleasing the officials and the people, and wanting to act arbitrarily]. Wang Mang resigned the title of "Duke of An Han" four times, claiming that the merits of the Han Ping Emperor were the merits of the courtiers, and that it was enough to reward all the civil and military officials, and he did not accept any rewards, and even expressed his heart by saying that he was ill and could not go to the court. After the Wenwu hundred officials accepted the reward, they wrote together to recommend Wang Mang to accept the title, and Wang Mang gladly accepted it at this time, becoming the only "An Han Duke" in the history of the Han Dynasty. Wang Mang only accepted the title of "Duke of An Han", and the fiefdoms, money, and subjects corresponding to the titles all firmly refused [Reason: Wait until the people of the whole country have reached the level of moderate prosperity before accepting].
Wang Mang, starting from filial piety, suggested that the empress dowager should not preside over heavy daily work on the grounds that the empress dowager was old, but only manage major events such as knighthood. In order to eliminate the threat of the foreign forces of Emperor Hanping's grandmother Feng and his mother Wei, Wang Mang restricted the scope of activities of the Feng and Wei clans, could not hold important positions, and did not get Jing to meet with Emperor Hanping, and the mother and son were separated.
In the year 2 AD, a major drought and locust plague occurred in Shandong, and the people were displaced. Wang Mang donated money, land, and temporary shelters out of his own pocket. Whenever there was a natural disaster, Wang Mang ate vegetarian food to show his determination to tide over the difficulties with the victims, and the courtiers followed suit, and the people were grateful.
Although Wang Mang acted arbitrarily and independently, he knew that his authority came from the empress dowager to a certain extent, and he tried every means to confuse, flatter, and please the empress dowager, add officials to the Wang clan, and bribe the people around the empress dowager, and all the people around the empress dowager praised Wang Mang.
★ Marry the daughter as the queen ★
In order to consolidate his power, Wang Mang wanted to marry his daughter to the 12-year-old Hanping Emperor as empress. The empress dowager was entrusted to the competent authorities to preside over the open selection of empresses, and the daughters of the Wang family were mostly selected [the officials who presided over the selection were patted well]. Wang Mang was worried that his daughter would lose the battle for the empress with many daughters of the Wang family, and the empress dowager said that her daughter was ugly and had low qualifications, was not qualified to be an empress, and could not run for empress like other Wang women. After the empress dowager, Wang Mang was sincerely modest and sincere, and issued an edict: All the empress dowager's mother's family, Wang women are not allowed to participate in the selection of the empress [this step micro-operation will eliminate all the most threatening competitors within the legal scope]. Wang Mang's daughter was not among the candidates, and the group of ministers jointly wrote a letter requesting that Wang Mang's daughter be made empress, and Wang Mang at this time arranged for people to persuade the Wenwu officials one by one not to appoint his daughter as empress. After the news spread, officials and scholars at all levels felt that Wang Mang's character was good and his moral sentiments were noble, and they more strongly recommended Wang Mang's daughter as empress.
★ Poisoning parents ★
In 3 AD, Wang Mang wanted to further expand his power and forbade Emperor Hanping to meet with his mother Wei Ji (this incident caused irreconcilable contradictions between Emperor Hanping and Wang Mang, and Emperor Hanping would inevitably liquidate Wang Mang when he grew up, so Wang Mang could only usurp Han and establish a way to go black]. Wang Mang's eldest son, Wang Yu, in order to avoid persecuting Wang Mang's family after the future Hanping Emperor took power, disapproved of Wang Mang's approach [which shows the fierceness of the struggle at that time, and Wang Mang's sons did not have the confidence to think that his father could laugh to the end]. Wang Yu's teacher Wu Zhang believed that Wang Mang did not like to follow the advice of others and believed in ghosts and gods, and could use ghosts and gods to scare him, and then took advantage of the situation to persuade Wang Mang to hand over power to the Wei family. On a dark and windy night in the month, Wang Yu asked his brother-in-law Lü Kuan to sprinkle dog blood on the door of Wang Mang's mansion, but was unexpectedly discovered by the security guards guarding the door that "small people can also affect the course of history and may change the direction of historical development." Wang Mang arrested his son Wang Yu and put him to death with poisoned wine, and his daughter-in-law Lü Yan was thrown into prison because she was pregnant, and then killed after giving birth to a child [The empress dowager fully praised Wang Mang's feat of being loyal to the country and destroying his relatives with great righteousness]. Lü Kuan was exterminated, Wu Zhang was beheaded and his body was cut off, and the Wei family except Wei Ji was all wiped out. Wang Mang used the Lü Kuan case [The Dog Blood Gate Incident] to wantonly purge dissidents and massacre more than 100 officials, including Emperor Yuandi's sister [who was closely related to the Fu and Ding clans] and his uncle Wang Li (王立), who opposed Wang Mang's abuse of power.
★ Poison the Emperor ★
As emperor HanPing grew older, the contradiction between the emperor and Wang Mang escalated, ostensibly resenting Wang Mang for forcibly separating their mother and son, but in fact it was a struggle for imperial power, a dead end in which neither side had a way to retreat. In the 5th month of the AD, Wang Mang offered pepper wine to the Hanping Emperor, who was poisoned and sick; in early 6 AD, the Hanping Emperor died of illness. Although the Hanping Emperor was poisoned by Wang Mang is controversial, Wang Mang's motives and ambitions to poison the emperor. Wang Mang could poison his own son for the sake of power, why couldn't he poison his son-in-law? From the moment Wang Mang forcibly separated Emperor Hanping's mother and son and killed emperor Hanping's mother, the Wei clan, he could not avoid going to war with Emperor Hanping. After the death of Emperor Hanping, Wugong County dug up the stone that "proclaimed Wang Mang the Duke of AnHan as emperor", and Wang Mang instructed the Wenwu officials to report the matter to the empress dowager, and should openly act as emperor in accordance with providence. The empress dowager finally opposed her nephew Wang Mang for the first time, she said: "This is deceiving the world, it cannot be carried out", Wang Shun advised the empress dowager, saying: "The matter has come to this point, there is no choice, you want to stop it, but the strength cannot be reached", forcing the empress dowager to issue an edict: Because the Hanping Emperor has no heirs, Wang Mang will temporarily act as emperor.
The Zizhi Tongjian commentary on the Han Dynasty 27 emperor of the Han Dynasty: The emperor saw Xiaocheng's Shilu go to the royal family, and took the throne, repeatedly reprimanding the ministers, wanting to strengthen the lord's power to Zewu and Xuan. However, favoring the slanderous, hating the disease and being loyal, Han Yeyu was in decline [Translation: The Han Emperor witnessed the separation of the regime from the royal family in the era of Emperor Hancheng, and to the point of ascending to the extreme, he repeatedly killed his ministers, hoping to emulate Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han and strengthen the prestige of the monarch. However, he favored the traitors, listened to rumors, and hated loyal ministers, and the great cause of the Han Dynasty declined from then on. Sima Guang believed that the decline of the Han Dynasty had laid the foundation for Wang Mang's usurpation of Han from the beginning when Emperor Cheng of Han allowed his foreign relatives to abuse power. The Han Emperor wanted to reverse the situation of foreign relatives interfering in politics, emulating Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han to strengthen the centralization of power, but due to his limited personal ability, he was at the level of "one look will be destroyed, and once you do it", it will end in failure.
The life of the Hanping Emperor was firmly controlled by his father-in-law Wang Mang, who became emperor at the age of 9 without warning and died inexplicably at the age of 14, and it is indeed sad that as an emperor, he could not grasp his own fate.