The sorrow of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty

People who are familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms must be familiar with Liu Xie, the Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Whenever Xian Di is mentioned, the labels are often words like "incompetence", "puppet", "cowardice" and "the king of national subjugation". In film and television dramas, Xian Di is often portrayed as a timid and sacrificial emperor. But is this evaluation really objective? Is it appropriate for us to attribute his miserable life and years of turmoil in the late Han Dynasty to his lack of personal ability? Is the life of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty a joke of an incompetent monarch or a lamentable tragedy? Maybe we can find the answer in his sad experience.

Six years of Zhongping is a year of great significance to the Han Dynasty. Lingdi died, and Liu Bian, the eldest son who was only fourteen years old, succeeded to the throne. At this time, Liu Xie was only a nine-year-old child. The young emperor was powerless to stop the struggle between eunuchs and consorts. After the death of the late emperor, a large number of eunuchs suddenly lost their protection. In order to clean eunuchs, General He Jin called warlords who were far away from the frontier into Beijing, including Dong Zhuo of Xiliang. And this is also the beginning of decades of turmoil after the Han Dynasty.

He Jin's plan to exterminate eunuchs soon died as he was ambushed. However, the imperial edicts to the frontier warlords were indeed issued, and the eunuchs, out of fear, held the little emperor and Liu Xie hostage to escape from the palace. Desperate, all eunuchs threw themselves into the river, leaving only two brothers to find their way back to the palace in the dark. The two most noble children in the world, dressed in rags, followed the firefly and ran hastily. After several twists and turns, I met Dong Zhuo who came to meet me. Seeing Dong Zhuo, Liu Bian, the young emperor, was too busy crying to say anything. However, Liu Xie, the nine-year-old Chen Liuwang around him, was able to tell Dong Zhuo all about the palace incident. At that time, we don't know whether Liu Xie was calm or not. Maybe he was scared out of his wits by a series of coups and kidnappings, but at least his behavior was in contrast with his brother's. Liu Bian was raised in a civilian family and had no experience of being spoiled, while Liu Xie grew up in the palace, facing only service and obedience every day. But in this big change, the older Liu Bian is far less calm than his younger brother. Yes, in this case, for a 14-year-old child, we have no reason to ask too much. Liu Bian's gaffe is completely understandable. But Liu Xie, who is younger, has proved his courage to the world. This is just a trivial matter in Liu Xie's life. I dare not say that it can only prove how brave Liu Xie is, but at least, he is by no means synonymous with cowardice at this time.

According to the records of the Three Kingdoms, Dong Zhuo saw that they were so different. At that time, he was "overjoyed, but he abandoned his intention". Dong Zhuo then took this as a reason, abolishing the younger emperor Liu Bian and replacing Liu Xie as emperor. But we should see that this is just Dong Zhuo's written excuse. What can make Dong Zhuo go to great lengths to abolish the legislation is not only a few answers at that time, but also because Liu Bian's biological mother, He Taihou, is still there, which will hinder his expansion of power, and the younger the emperor, the easier it is to manipulate. In a word, under various considerations, Dong Zhuo chose Liu Xietong as the legal heir of the Han Dynasty. From then on, Liu Xie was crowned with an identity that he probably regretted most-Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty.

Since then, Dong Zhuo has gradually become the actual ruler of the DPRK, and Xian Di has since become a puppet. Under the corrosion of power, Dong Zhuo paid no attention to this emperor, "praised him for not being famous, and went to the temple with his sword". He also widely tortured and connived at disorderly laws and became a national thief among the world's population. In the second year, Dong Zhuo cruelly poisoned Liu Bian, who had been deposed, because he was worried that foreign governors would crusade against himself in the name of welcoming the abolition of the emperor. During this period, Liu Xie first boarded Dabao, but he had to worry about his own safety all day long. He doesn't know whether this Dong Zhuo will easily end his mercy, even his life, just like his brother. While Yuan Shu and Liu Yan, the warlords, were still struggling hard to put the crown on their heads, Liu Xie was trapped in the palace walls because he had the crown, and he was afraid all the time. For this man-eating troubled times, he was too young, too early to get the throne, too early to lose the shadow of his own royal family, too early to participate in a palace disaster that lasted for hundreds of years. He has no capital or channels to display his talents like Cao Pi, or to prove his responsibility as an emperor to the world. The only thing he can do is to protect himself under the tyrannical dictatorship.

Soon, another disaster quietly came to Liu Xie. Because of Dong Zhuo's various tyrannical acts, all the governors in Kanto took Yuan Shao as their ally, forming a coalition, and dispatch troops crusaded against Dong Zhuo and helped the Han Dynasty. Liu Xie should be happy to hear the news, because these people's actions let him know that there are still people who regard him as the emperor, who are willing to serve him, and who dare to challenge Dong Zhuo who is above the throne. But what he might not expect is that this is just a slogan played by various warlords in order to expand their influence. Everyone says that they are loyal to the Han Dynasty, and everyone says that they want to protect the emperor, but everyone really cares about their own interests.

under the pressure of the allied forces, Dong Zhuo made a bold decision-moving the capital. Almost in the form of kidnapping, he forced Xian Di and the officials in the DPRK and their wives to move to Chang 'an, and set the original Luoyang Palace on fire, digging tombs and looting treasures. The young Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty had to run with the mighty team. Dong Zhuo, who arrived in Chang 'an, became even more arrogant, became a self-reliant teacher, went in and out of his daily life with royal treatment, wantonly used violence, and destroyed the coin system, which led to soaring prices and poor people. At this time, Xian Di made his first resistance.

Liu He, the son of Liu Yu, a relative of the Han clan, was a servant in the DPRK at that time. Xian Di sent him to sneak out of Kanto and ask his father for help. Xian Di wanted Liu Yu to lead his troops to meet his east return to Luoyang. Unexpectedly, the emissary was detained by Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao. After several twists and turns, Liu Yu himself was killed under the calculation of Gongsun Zan. Xian Di's first attempt on the road of resistance was thus ruined in the interest struggle of Kanto governors. There was no royalist in the DPRK, and there was a dispute among the governors outside the customs. Xian Di really fell into a situation that every day should not be called and the ground was ineffective. But he still hasn't given up hope and is still looking for opportunities, hoping to break through this situation with his own weak strength.

Just then, Dong Zhuo died.

Dong Zhuo's death was not unexpected, because he accumulated too much hatred and trusted the most capricious person in the Three Kingdoms period-Lu Bu, and finally died at the hands of this person. Wang Yun, the mastermind behind the whole incident, succeeded in killing the traitor, but he himself was unable to take over the mess of the Han Dynasty. Then with the arrival of Dong Zhuo's old staff Li Jue and Guo Si, the second tragic stage of Xian Di's life came.

Guo and Li are typical frontier warlords, who advocate force and are obsessed with power, but lack strategic vision, let alone the ability to govern the country and quell chaos. In the name of Dong Zhuo's revenge, they invaded Chang 'an and defeated Wang Yun's government. Since then, Guo and Li have become the new court controllers, but to the disappointment of Xian Di and courtiers, they are not even as good as their predecessors. They showed the wild habits of the northwest frontier incisively and vividly, and their tyrannical behavior was even worse than that of Dong Zhuo.

Even in such a dilemma, Emperor Xian of Han still did not forget his duty as an emperor. After Dong Zhuo's disaster, coupled with successive years of chaos, the market price of the people soared, and a welcome grain sold for 5 thousand, and a welcome bean also cost 2 thousand. The people simply could not afford rations, countless people starved to death, and even people ate people. Seeing this, Xian Di sent responsible officials to open warehouses for disaster relief, and made porridge with national grain and distributed it to the people. But after a long time, the disaster has not been alleviated. Xian Di suspected that there was fraud, so he told people to measure Mi Dou in the temple and cook porridge face to face. Only then did I know that the relief food distributed was deducted a lot. So Xian Di sent someone to ask for accountability, and someone asked for the arrest of the responsible official, but Xian Di could not bear to be punished, and only taught him to be punished with a stick of fifty. Since then, most of the hungry people have received relief. This is also a small event in Emperor Liu Xie's career, but from it we can see the characteristics of his personality. First of all, as an emperor, he is kind and truly compassionate to the people. At the same time, he is also smart, with the acumen necessary for the incumbent. No matter what the result is, at least he is still doing things for his people with his own strength and his power that is on the verge of being overhead. At this point, his father, Emperor Han Ling, will be ashamed.

The imperial court was in chaos under the control of Li Jue and Guo Si, and then they began to fight with each other to seize benefits, which eventually turned into a robbery against the emperor. In a battle, Li Jue took Xian Di to his barracks first, while Guo Si ordered the release of arrows, and even an arrow hit Xian Di. At this time, Xian Di really became an object in the hands of the authorities, an object symbolizing the imperial power, which could be contested at will without any dignity. I don't know if Xian Di ever had a moment, hoping that Guo Si's arrow would miss a little more and directly take his life as a puppet emperor.

But we can see that Xian Di still hasn't given up hope because of this. He is still eager to return to his old capital, Luoyang, and stay away from this place of trouble. This time, there was no bet in his hand to ask for help, so he pinned his hopes on the direct request of Guo and Li. To everyone's surprise, they agreed.

Xian Di ordered people to reconcile the contradiction between Guo and Li, and the two made peace, and * * * escorted Xian Di east to Luoyang. However, on the way, the generals broke out again. Guo Si planned to hijack Xian Di and return to Chang 'an, but he was defeated. Xian Di had to sleep in the wild that night. Later, Guo Si and others pursued again, and defeated the troops escorting the emperor in one fell swoop, causing numerous casualties. After several rounds of victory and defeat, Xian Di sent someone to make peace with Guo Si and others. After all the dangers and embarrassment, Xian Di finally returned to Luoyang.

But after returning to Luoyang, Xian Di found that the once prosperous and beautiful Kyoto had been reduced to rubble under the fire of Dong Zhuo. The emperor and the officials had no food and no place to live, so they had to live among the rubble. At this time, none of the governors of the counties and counties all over the country who always shouted "help the Han Dynasty and beg for thieves for the country" were willing to meet the emperor, and no one even sent a bite of food. At this time, Xian Di was almost like a beggar. Every day, people around him starved to death or were killed by officers and men. I don't know if his heart is full of anger, injustice, sadness or helplessness at this time. You know, even then, he was only a 16-year-old boy. He has fallen into the lowest valley of his life and is facing despair. At this time, Cao Cao, the turning point of Emperor Xian's life, came.

under the strategic suggestion of Mao Jie and others, Cao Cao went to Luoyang to meet the son of heaven. Down and out, Xian Di finally felt a little warmth in this ruthless troubled times, and once again found his dignity as an emperor. Cao Cao immediately moved the capital to Xuchang and controlled Xian Di in his own territory. Cao Cao gave Xian Di food and clothing, wealth and dignity, which should be readily available in the position of emperor, but they were so precious and rare in front of Xian Di. In a sense, Xian Di should be grateful to Cao Cao, no matter for what purpose, but only he accepted himself, and only he let the crumbling court gradually return to the normal track. Since then, the third stage of Xian Di's life began.

It's true that Cao Cao is not Dong Zhuo, let alone Li Jue and Guo Si. He didn't commit violence and disorderly laws, and he didn't covet pleasure, but the corrosive effect of power still didn't let him go. With the expansion of his influence in the north, his personal prestige is also rising. Although he was still in the name of assisting the Han Dynasty, he also began to pursue personal power and status. If people like Dong Zhuo pursue personal splendor and material enjoyment, Cao Cao's ambition is even greater. What he wants is to unify the whole country. Xian Di found that his puppet emperor's career didn't end with the arrival of Cao Cao, and he was still just a tool for him to "hold the emperor to make princes". Cao Cao took office as a commonplace and was in power, but Xian Di still didn't have much say in politics.

To Xian Di's disappointment, at least for him, Cao Cao seems to have become another Dong Zhuo. The same contempt for imperial power, the same superiority over ministers, and the same monopolization of power led to the same silence of Xian Di himself. Everything, everything is so similar, touching Xian Di's painful memories. It's been four years since Cao Cao greeted the driver. Perhaps Xian Di was fed up with endless manipulation and coercion, and he decided to raise the banner of resistance again.

This was a plan to assassinate Cao Cao, which was called "Yi Dai Zhao" by later generations.

Xian Di gave this task to his father-in-law, general Dong Cheng. Xian Di secretly wrote an imperial edict in blood, ordered Cao Cao to be killed, then hid the imperial edict in his belt and gave it to Dong Cheng. A bunch of ministers, such as Wang Zifu and Wu Zilan, and later Cao Cao's arch-enemy Liu Bei were also involved in the planning. If the assassination plan is really successful, perhaps the history of China will be rewritten. However, once again, God did not care for Xian Di. In the middle of things, it leaked out, and the result was extremely tragic. All the participants, such as Dong Cheng, were put to death, and only Liu Bei escaped ahead of time. Cao Cao even insisted on killing Dong Cheng's daughter and Xian Di's concubine Dong Guiren.

I wanted to kill the traitor, but it killed the lives of many loyal ministers. Even when the woman who shared the bed with me died tragically in front of me, there was nothing I could do to stop her. Xian Di may really realize this time that it is impossible to reverse the general trend by his own strength. Even if Cao Cao falls, there will be countless Cao Cao to replace him, just like Dong Zhuo, just like Li Jue and Guo Si. The Eastern Han Dynasty was corrupted by fatuous rule for generations, leaving the emperor with a divided and turbulent China instead of a stable and prosperous world. Xian Di didn't want to be this hero, but when he was a young son, he was already overwhelmed by many huge forces, including heroes and yes men, but none of them were available to him. Admittedly, even without these objective obstacles, Xian Di's ability is difficult to bear the responsibility of a hero, but he is not a bad king, sighing only at the wrong time. Under the rule of the world, it may still be available for him to display his fists and ambitions, but in troubled times, there is no place for him.

After the Yi Dai Zhao incident, we never saw any resistance from Xian Di in the history books. We can think that he gave up, he understood the position left by this world, and he chose to compromise and compromise endlessly. Under the shadow of the Cao family, the emperor is still the emperor, still enjoying the glory he deserves, and will never be reduced to a situation where he can't eat enough and wander around. But the price paid is to become a pawn of the Cao family forever, watching this treacherous man who rose in troubled times and expanded his territory. Even if one day, the overlord's position is no longer Cao Cao, but just another person with the same ambition, and it will never be his turn to lose both political power and military power.

Xian Di lived in the towering palace walls of Xudu for twenty-five years with such awareness. During this period, Cao Cao became more and more bossy. First, he killed another woman in Xian Di, who was also the queen at that time-Fu Empress. The reason is a rebellious letter fourteen years ago. Then Cao Cao married his three daughters to Xian Di, and one of them was made a new queen, which further controlled Xian Di. In the end, Cao Cao made the boldest move, and established himself as Wang Wei, breaking the ancestral motto of Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of the Han Dynasty, that "Liu is not the king". Han, who has passed on for more than 4 years.