han14

漢

EMPEROR SHUN & HUAN 

125 – 144 Hàn Jìngzōng Xiào Shùn-huángdì Liú Bǎo (漢 敬宗 孝 順皇帝 劉 保), Twenty-Fifth Emperor of Han, the Obedient Emperor. Born in 115, his mother was killed by the Empress shortly thereafter, but he was appointed Heir in 120, only to be demoted to be King of Jìyīn (濟陰王) in 124 for alleged conspiracy. No new Heir was appointed, which meant that when his father died in 125 the Empress was allowed to chose the new Emperor. Hoping to rule as Regent, she picked an infant cousin, who soon died, at which point the eunuch Sūn Chéng (孫 程) led a coup which overthrew the Empress and placed Shùndì on the throne. Aged only ten, there was no one entitled to act as his Regent, so power devolved on the clique of bureaucrats, nobles and eunuchs which had supported his bid for power. He was soon in control of matters, but proved indecisive, wavering between the hardline Confucianist faction and the pragmatists. The Empire continued to suffer from severe financial woes and struggled to attract enough bureaucrats (Perhaps because it could not afford to pay them sufficiently). There was also the cost of resettling the territories which had been abandoned during the Great Qiang Rebellion of the previous reign. Increasingly extreme measures were taken to raise revenue; convicts were allowed to buy their way out of gaol, stipends were reduced, brewing of rice wine was forbidden and nobles were forced to give loans to the government. The Empire continued to be plagued by natural disasters, which required the government to remit taxes, distribute emergency rations and improve infrastructure. It increasingly proved more efficient to devolve these tasks to the local level. The Empire was also plagued by pirates, bandits, the rebellions of vassal states and the raids of the nomadic Xianbei. These last now controlled most of the northern steppe and had become a serious threat; raiding throughout the northeast, bringing the other nomads onto their side. In 140, even the vassalised Xiongnu rebelled, with support of the Wuhuan and Qiang (The Second Qiang Rebellion), and threatened Chángān itself. The Chinese reestablished control in 144, but the northern territories were permanently abandoned and the Xiongnu vassal kingdom, which had been a useful way to indirectly administer the nomadic north, completely collapsed. The public blamed the disasters on the Emperor; he was, they said, inappropriately influenced by eunuchs and his in-laws of the Liáng family. The Emperor knew these in-laws were a problem, but he could not really control them and after his death they held supreme power over the Empire. He died in 144 and received the posthumous title of Jìngzōng (敬宗), the Reverent Patriarch, but was stripped of this title in 190 when he was judged to have displaying insufficient virtue.

He married Shùnliè Liáng-huángtàihòu Nà (順烈 梁皇太后 妠). She became Empress in 132 and her family was rewarded: first her father Liáng Shāng (梁 商), and then her brother Liáng Jì Bózhuō (梁 冀 伯卓) were appointed Grand General. She became Empress Dowager and Regent for her infant stepson following the Emperor's death in 144. Her brother, Liáng Jì, became de facto head of the government. Her stepson died after only a year; she selected a distant cousin to succeed him, but he died, suspisciously, after revealing an independent streak. Another cousin had already been betrothed to a member of the Liáng clan and duely succeeded as the new puppet. She finally gave up power to the now adult Emperor in 150 and died shortly thereafter. 

He took as a concubine (first) Liáng-guìrén (梁貴人), aunt of the Empress, and her protector when she first entered the harem. 

He took as a concubine (second) Dòu-guìrén (窦貴人), daughter of the scholar, Dòu Zhāng Bóxiàng (窦 章 伯向), she was a talented writer and was soon promoted to an Honoured Lady, but she had a fierce rivalry with the future Empress Liáng, and died mysteriously before 125. 

He took as a concubine (third) Yú-Měirén (虞美人), in 135. She bore the Emperor a daughter, and his only son, who briefly succeeded to the throne. During this period, she received only the title of Mistress. Finally, in 175, she received the title of Honoured Lady (貴人) .

144 – 145 Hàn Xiào Chōng-huángdì Liú Bǐng (漢 孝 沖皇帝 劉 炳), Twenty-Sixth Emperor of Han, the Washed Away Emperor. Born in 143, he became Heir in 144 and succeeded to the throne a few months later. His stepmother the Empress Dowager Liáng, along with her brother Liáng Jì Bózhuō (梁 冀 伯卓) were in charge of the state. He died a few months after taking the throne, in early 145.

145 – 146 Hàn Xiào Zhì-huángdì Liú Zuǎn (漢 孝 質皇帝 劉 纘), Twenty-Seventh Emperor of Han, the Substantial Emperor. Born a bastard in 138, the great-great grandson of Zhāngdì, Twentieth Emperor of Han, he was chosen to be Emperor by the Empress Dowager Liang in 145. He was presumably chosen because his youth and lack of influential matrilineal relatives made him a convenient puppet. It was not to be; though only seven, he was very conscious that his power was being constrained and complained bitterly and publically. In 146 he died of food poisoning; the de facto Regent and brother of the Empress Dowager, Liáng Jì Bózhuō (梁 冀 伯卓), is believed to have been responsible. He already had a new puppet lined up.

146 – 167 Hàn Wēizōng Xiào Huán-huángdì Liú Zhì (漢 威宗 孝 桓皇帝 劉 志), Twenty-Eighth Emperor of Han, the Soapberry Emperor. Born in 132, the great-grandson of Zhāngdì, Twentieth Emperor of Han, he was chosen as Emperor by the Empress Dowager Liang sometime before his predeccessor's death in 146. He was only fourteen, so the Empress Dowager ruled as Regent, de facto power resting with her brother Grand General Liáng Jì Bózhuō (梁 冀 伯卓). They were mostly concerned with the reconstruction of the Empire, which had been ravaged by two massive rebellions in the north and another in the southwest. They also tried to fight corruption by forcing all officials' sons to attend the Imperial university and reintroducing the official examination system which had been in use in the Former Han Dynasty. But the situation continued to deteriorate - the reign saw the first rumblings of messianic anti-government Huang-Lao and Daoist movements; there were two rebellions in 148, one led by a man claiming to be the son of the legendary Yellow Emperor and another styling himself "the Perfect Man" (Meeting him must have been a disappointment). The government would try, unsuccessfully, to harness these movements in the 160s but this only served to alienate loyal Confucians; ultimately they would destroy the dynasty. 

The Emperor reached adulthood and assumed power for himself in 150, shortly before the Empress Dowager's death. However, his Empress, also a Liáng, dominated him and Liáng Jì continued to hold de facto power. The Empire was plagued by locusts, famine (even in the Capital region) and banditry. In 157 there was a major rebellion in Vietnam which saw the southernmost provinces fall away until it was finally suppressed in 165. Through everything, officials continued to enrich themselves at the Empire's expense; sumptuary laws were repeatedly promulgated, which implies that they were largely ignored. Outspoken critics said that the corruption went all the way to the top: Liáng Jì himself. His power was increasingly shaky, his sister the Empress died in 159, leaving him with no emotional hold over the Emperor, who began to favour another lady in his harem. Liáng Jì harrassed this new favourite, attempting to prevent her clan from gaining control. This succeeded in terrifying the Emperor, who, with a group of eunuchs, planned and executed a coup, overthrew Liáng Jì and finally took power for himself. 

Fearing that the high officials retained residual loyalty to the Liáng clan, he favoured the eunuchs, who had after all brought him to power. In essence, though, he thereby subverted the bureaucracy - the greatest strength of the Empire. Anyone who wanted access to the Emperor now had to go through the eunuchs. They rose to claim their share of the profits of Empire, proving no less inclined to corruption than the Confucian scholar-officials, with whom they frequently clashed; by the end of the reign, Confucians were subject to proscription. Domestically, the Emperor's direct rule was no better for the Empire's finances than that of the Liángs; if anything, his extravagent plans and lifestyle made things worse. His enormous harem, which allegedly contained over six thousand women, attracted the disapproval of scholars, as did several large building projects, such as the vast Garden of the Shining Dragon at the Northern Palace for Daoist and Huang-Lao worship. To pay for all these expenses, he began to cut officials' salaries, princes' pensions, and sell positions. In 165 he instituted a heavy land tax in coin, rather than kind. Ordinary farmers would not have had coin to pay such a tax but owners of large estates would; so this new tax indicates a new reality in which nobles held vast estates worked by serfs. He received embassies from distant states, including Northern India, Manchuria and even, in 166, from the Roman Empire. Closer to home, things were less peaceful. On taking control of the Empire in 159, the Emperor had replaced officials throughout the Empire, including the Protector of the Northwest. This proved a serious mistake; the new Protector attempted to take a strict line with the nomads, and succeeded only in being cruel. This inspired the Qiang nomads, quiet for the preceding decade, to return to raiding. This became a Third Qiang Rebellion in 161, and control of the north was completely lost, again, in 164. The Western Qiang were pacified in 167 by the General Zhang Huan, but simultaneously the Eastern Qiang raided deep into China, heading for Luoyang - the capital. They were blocked at the beginning of 168, but remained an active threat. At this junction the Emperor died. He received the posthumous title of Wēizōng (威宗), the Mighty Patriarch, but was stripped of this title in 190 on the grounds that he did not deserve it.

In 147 he married (first) Yìxiàn Liáng-huánghòu Nǚyíng (懿獻 梁皇后 女瑩), sister of the Regent and Empress Dowager, she dominated her husband, ensuring that the Liáng clan's control of the court survived the Empress Dowager's death in 150; she died in 159 and her clan was eliminated shortly thereafter. 

He married (second) Huándì Dèng-huánghòu Měngnǚ (桓帝 鄧皇后 猛女), his favourite after the death of his first Empress. The Liáng clan perceived her as a threat and had her mother attacked and her brother-in-law killed, which backfired, causing the Emperor to fear for his safety and organise a coup. She became Empress in 159, but failed to conceive a son and, accused of black magic, was demoted in 165. She died, shortly thereafter, in the harem prison. 

He took as a concubine (first) Tián-guìrén Shèng (田貴人 聖), his favourite after 165, he used to have relations with her and eight others at a time, in the hope that the lucky number of nine would lead to the conception of a male child. He promoted her to Guìrén, but as soon as the Emperor was dead, in 167, the Empress Dòu killed her. 

 He took as a concubine (second) Féng-guìrén (馮貴人), whose tomb was robbed shortly after her death. 

He married (third) Huánsī Dòu-huángtàihòu Miào (桓思 竇皇太后 妙), a noble lady, in whom he showed absolutely no interest. At his death, however, she became Empress Dowager and selected one of his cousins as the new Emperor. Almost immediately she squabbled with her father, who hoped to eliminate the power of the eunuchs; he led a military coup, which was defeated, and she was placed under house arrest, dying in 172. 

 He took as a concubine (third) Kòu (寇).