A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 327: Chaos in government, alienation of monarchs and ministers

The first year of Jianguang
Sixteen years have passed since Liu Hu ascended the throne. In March, Queen Mother Deng, who had suppressed Liu Hu for sixteen years, finally passed away, and the funeral was held for Queen Mother Deng.

March 23
Liu Hu honored his father Liu Qing, the Xiao King of Qinghe, as the Xiaode Emperor, his mother Zuo Xiao'e as the Xiaode Queen, and his grandmother Song Gui as the Jingyin Queen.

He also conferred the title of Marquis of Mouping on the brothers of his aunt Geng Ji, and was subsequently promoted to Baojian, Yulin, Zuojun, Chaqi and other officials, jumping four levels in a row within a month.

At the same time, the four brothers of his grandmother Song Guiren were ennobled as marquises. There were more than ten people in the Song family who served as ministers, principals, ministers, ministers, visitors, and officials. They also conferred the titles of Yan Xian, Yan Jing, and Yan, the brothers of his wife Queen Yan. Yao Yi was granted the titles of Qing and Xiao, and was in charge of the imperial army.

Within a few months, a group of relatives closely related to Liu Hu formed and began to expel the forces of Empress Dowager Deng.

Not only that, Liu Hu also relied on his wet nurse Wang Sheng. Not only did he allow her to enter and leave the palace at will, but Wang Sheng was also extravagant and tyrannical, corrupt and bribery, incited internal and external affairs, interfered in political affairs, and committed all kinds of evil.

Even relying on her kindness in raising Liu Hu, she imprisoned a thousand-stone minister who had offended her and tortured him to death.

July
Several palace officials who had been punished by the Queen Mother falsely accused the Queen Mother's brothers Deng Kui, Deng Hong, and Deng Lu of conspiring to depose Emperor An of the Han Dynasty and install King Pingyuan as emperor.

Liu Hu immediately ordered Deng Kui and other Deng clan members to be sentenced to death for treason. However, Deng Zhi was dismissed from his official position and returned to the county because of his ignorance. However, he was forced to death by local county officials and secretly instructed by unknown forces.

Deng Zhi was innocent and was killed. The whole court was like boiling water, and the ministers were furious. Because during the days when Empress Dowager Deng was in power, courtiers and Deng's relatives formed an extremely good cooperative relationship, and many courtiers benefited from her.

In particular, Deng Zhao, as the leader of his relatives, did not rely on power but was arrogant. He was humble and courteous to his ministers. He was awarded titles by the imperial court many times, which attracted praise from both the government and the public.

Now that Deng Zhao met such a miserable end, and Liu Hu so wantonly forced and killed powerful people, the officials felt the same, as if he was the one who would be killed for no reason the next moment.

Therefore, the Grand Secretary Nong Zhu Chong took the lead, and Sikong Yuanchang, Situ Yang Zhen, and Taiwei Bai Zhi jointly signed their names. Most of the officials in the Nine Qing Dynasty also attached their names, and Shangshu said:
"Queen Hexi has saintly virtues and is the literary mother of the Han Dynasty. The Deng brothers are loyal and filial and care about the country together, and they are the dependence of the royal family. After they retired after their success, they also gave up their fiefdoms to the sages. This is a tradition in all dynasties. None of my relatives can compare with them. However, they were framed and seven people were killed, which is against the laws of nature and human ethics. They should be buried properly and the souls of the dead should be thanked."

Even the great minister Zhu Chong carried his coffin to force him because Deng Zhi had been very kind to Zhu Chong.

However, Liu Hu insisted on going his own way and did not obey. Instead, he dismissed Zhu Chong who took the lead and returned home.

However, the situation has gone beyond Liu Hu's expectation. His arbitrary actions caused panic among all the ministers. Even Yuan Chang, who had always supported him, had to advance and retreat with the ministers in order to save his life.

July 12

Incited by thoughtful people, the entire Luoyang City people gathered in front of the Nangong Gate, demanding justice for the Deng family.

The officials around Liu Hu also constantly persuaded him to put the people first and obey public opinion, otherwise they might provoke a popular uprising.

Due to internal and external pressure, Liu Hu had to bury Deng Zhi and others properly in Beimang, recall the exiled Deng descendants to Luoyang, the capital, and ordered Wang Sheng to be expelled to live outside the palace and not to enter the palace without permission.

This time she was forced to go to the palace, which made Liu Hu wary of the power of courtiers, so she relied more and more on her obedient relatives and servants in the palace, and she also appeased the main ministers among the ministers.

Frankly speaking, I was all bewitched by Wang Sheng, and I ask all my dear friends to stay loyal and not misunderstand me.

Then he secretly increased his efforts to win over the Yuan family in Runan, preparing to break up the power of the courtiers who were huddled together.

By that time, Bai Zhi had already had countermeasures for this, because the Yuan family of Bohai had just entered the dynasty, and now only held the position of Jiuqing, and could not compete with Yuan Chang at all, so he supported the Hongnong Yang family to fight against him.

The second year of Yanguang
Three years have passed since Liu Hu came to power, and the officials have completely discovered what kind of monarch Liu Hu is.

Not only did she break her promise, but in the second year of Jianguang's reign, she recalled Wang Sheng to the palace again, and even relied on her even more.

Not only that, the power of women in the inner palace also extended to the power of eunuchs. With the help of Liu Hu, Wang Sheng's daughter Wang Guang handed over all government affairs. Several eunuchs who became the regular servants often directed the government affairs of Shangshutai and relied on their power. Taking bribes and buying and selling official positions.

The entire Han Dynasty was full of chaos. Ministers could not concentrate on performing their duties and were often under pressure from the palace. This made local annexations more rampant and even colluded with eunuchs, which local officials could not control.

The ministers could do nothing about it, because Situ Yuanchang had been captured by Liu Hu, so the ministers could not unite and would always be targeted by Liu Hu.

Now Liu Hu has to build a large-scale mansion for wet nurse Wang Sheng despite the shortage of funds in the treasury. It is said that the area is as big as two Luoyangfang cities. The houses are connected one after another, and they are decorated with carvings and decorations using extremely skillful techniques and quarrying from mountains. The master craftsman in charge of the construction, Zuo Xiaobu, will cooperate with dozens of places, and the cost will reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yang Zhen, who had become a Taiwei, made repeated remonstrances, but was ignored by Liu Hu.

The chief ministers Fan Feng and Xie Yun who were responsible for the construction became even more unscrupulous when they saw that Yang Zhen's successive suggestions were not accepted by the emperor.

They even forged edicts and allocated timber from the Qiangu and Sikong Prefectures of the Simong Prefecture to build their own houses, gardens, and huts, and spent countless amounts on labor.

As a result, the already stretched treasury became increasingly empty, almost squandering all the accumulation of several years during the Emperor He period.

May
Liu Hu actually wanted to depose the prince Liu Bao on the grounds that his behavior was too evil and he was not suitable for the position of the prince. General Geng Bao followed the wishes of Queen Yan and advocated deposing Liu Bao because Liu Bao's mother was just a palace maid and died. Queen Yan was afraid that Liu Bao would take the throne and take revenge, so she strongly advocated deposing the prince.

However, they were strongly opposed by the officials headed by Yang Zhen. Taichang Huanyan and Tingwei Zhang Hao even objected: "The prince is under fifteen years old and has not yet committed any evil deeds. I hope that your majesty will choose someone with high moral character for the prince." Master, teach with etiquette and justice, and behave naturally."

Liu Hu was unwilling to obey the wishes of his officials, and even forced Yang Zhen to death under false accusations from several eunuchs whose crimes were exposed by Yang Zhen.

As soon as Yang Zhen died, the relationship between the ministers and Liu Hu dropped to a freezing point. The ministers began to try their best not to cooperate with Liu Hu-related matters, making Liu Hu need to use the emperor's authority to enforce anything he wanted to do.

Three years of Yanguang
Liu Hu forcibly passed the decree to depose the crown prince Liu Bao and named him King of Jiyin. But because there were no suitable heirs, he did not establish a prince.

Under the recommendation of Taifu Baizhi, Yuan Ke, a Bohai native and one of the Nine Qings, became the Prime Minister of Jiyin. The other ministers also recommended their proud students to become officials of the Jiyin Kingdom. There were many talents under the command of King Liu Bao of Jiyin.

Four years of Yanguang
Liu Hu didn't like the gloomy atmosphere in Luoyang, so he went south with Queen Yan and his relatives to play. In March, he arrived in Wancheng and suddenly fell ill.

When the frame arrived in Yecheng, it was already in a critical condition. He wanted to make arrangements for his funeral, but was speechless. He could only open his eyes and stare at the queen, who slowly died in the car at the age of thirty-two.

Queen Yan did not dare to announce the news of Liu Hu's death to the outside world. She served food and went about her daily life as usual, and kept it secret until she returned to the palace. The funeral was held in the evening.

When Liu Hu passed away, the ministers were most happy. Some ministers said they wanted to give Liu Hu a bad posthumous title, but they were persuaded by Situ Yuanchang and Si Kong. After all, Liu Hu did not massacre the ministers on a large scale, but he was still in power. During this period, we were extremely lucky and there were no major disasters. As a result, the treasury was squandered many times, but it was replenished by the next year's bumper harvest.

Therefore, we cannot set a precedent for maliciously granting a posthumous title, otherwise it will break the tacit understanding between the ministers and future emperors.

So after three days of discussion, it was decided to give him the posthumous title "An", which would be Emperor Xiaoan.

The original Queen Yan, who had become the Queen Mother of Yan, wanted to build a temple for Liu Hu, but was rejected by the officials. She also wanted to learn from Liu Hu, so she used her power as the Queen Mother to force her way through and successfully issued the edict, but she failed. No princes or kings responded, so the matter ended up being abandoned.

Since Liu Hu did not establish a prince, the Empress Dowager Yan came to serve as regent. Her first order was to appoint Dahong Yan Xian as the general of chariots and cavalry and the third division of Yitong.

Empress Dowager Yan wanted to monopolize the government for a long time, so she made a plan with Yan Xian and others in the palace to prepare for the appointment of Liu Yi, the Marquis of Beixiang, as the emperor.

Because Liu Bao was deposed, he was not allowed to go to the palace to attend Liu Hu's mourning hall to participate in the funeral. He wailed in the mansion and refused to eat, which made all officials inside and outside mourn.

While the Queen Mother Yan was still arguing with the officials about whether to welcome Liu Yi, the Marquis of Beixiang, as the emperor, news came that Liu Yi was seriously ill, and the Queen Mother Yan urgently ended the court meeting.

At this time, brothers Yan Xian and eunuch Jiang Jing were all serving Liu Yi, dreaming of becoming ministers of the dragon at any time. But Jiang Jing was worried about Liu Yi's health.

So Jiang Jing took Yan Xian to a deserted place and said to him: "Marquis Beixiang cannot afford to be ill, and the successor to the country should be determined in time.

Liu Bao, the King of Jiyin, was not established before. If he was established, he would definitely resent us in the future, so we must not let him find an opportunity. Therefore, why didn't we make preparations early to recruit other princes and select the person to be the emperor? "

Yan Xian thought it was very reasonable. He immediately went to the Queen Mother's Palace and said to the Queen Mother Yan: "Now that the Marquis of Beixiang is seriously ill and he may not be able to recover, it is better to recruit the princes of the King of Jibei and the King of Hejian, close the palace door tightly, and station troops. Guard yourself in case something unexpected happens.”

Queen Mother Yan agreed, but what they didn't expect was that Liu Yi died suddenly that night. They were so frightened that they had no choice but to keep the mourning secret, and urgently ordered the eunuchs Jiang Jing, Liu An, Chen Da and others to hurry up and bring back the Princes of Jibei and Hejian.

(End of this chapter)