Chapter 5 (Part 5) Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty

In the court, Emperor Xuan valued the officials who actually contacted the people more than the officials around him.At that time, the officials and the cruel officials were very active.Zhengping litigation is exactly the political ideal of Emperor Xuan.Local officials with outstanding achievements are often rewarded and awarded official titles. 【There is Gu Qi in the palace】 Like Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the founders of dynasties often came from the people.Among the emperors who inherited the imperial lineage of the great dynasty, the only one who came from the people came from Han Xuandi Liu Xun.

Liu Xun was renamed Xun when he was in power, and his real name was Bingji.This may be because he was sick when he was born, and his family hoped that he would recover quickly, so he was named so.It is said that after he came to the throne, he changed his name because it was too mean.Despicable means a bit rustic, a bit vulgar.The emperor wanted a more elegant name, so he chose Xun.His courtesy name is Ciqing, and his posthumous title is Emperor Xuan.According to the law of posthumous posthumous title, Xuan is the posthumous name given to the emperor who is holy and well-known. The word "sickness" in Xuandi's real name means that not only was he physically sick when he was born, but even his circumstances were called sickness.He spent his early childhood in prison, then grew up among the people, and remained a commoner until he came to the throne.It is unavoidable for a commoner to suddenly become the emperor, so it is an unusual case for the empress dowager to confer on him as Marquis of Yangwu first and then ascend the throne.

Why did Emperor Xuan have to be imprisoned when he was a baby?Before explaining this point, it is necessary to mention an incident eighteen years ago.Emperor Xuan was eighteen years old when he was welcomed back to the throne, and the incident happened in the year he was born.That is, the second year of Emperor Wu's Zhenghe (91 BC). The world called this event the Witch Gu Rebellion. Witchcraft is to bury dolls in the ground to curse people and slowly kill people. It can be called heresy and should be a serious crime.There was also a long house king in Japan who was ordered to commit suicide for learning heresy.This is what Fujiwara planned from it.They first buried dolls in the ground, and then reported that this was evidence, so the evidence was easily established.This is the most effective way to frame people.

Emperor Wu, who was praised as the Sun King, was also sixty-six years old at that time.He had six sons, but at first he had no heirs, and Wei Zifu, a songstress in the palace, led her husband to give birth to a boy, which made him very happy. When the child was seven years old, he became the crown prince, and Wei Zifu also become queen.The crown prince is famous and has a stable personality.The Crown Prince was also thirty-nine years old at the time. Empress Wei's younger brother, Wei Qing, was a great general and had made great contributions in the crusade against the Huns, but he passed away fifteen years ago.Huo Qubing, the son of Wei Qing's second sister, also made military exploits at a young age, but he was ten years earlier than Wei Qing, and died at the age of twenty-four.Empress Wei's side became deserted, and Emperor Wu's favor had shifted to young women.

Emperor Wu was also dissatisfied with the crown prince.Because he was too kind, he gave advice when his father wanted to raise troops.At that time Emperor Wu said: How about I work hard and leave you with ease? Then he expressed dissatisfaction with his cronies: The prince is not like me.Some ministers believed that the emperor planned to replace the crown prince. The incident began with the misconduct of Gongsun Jingsheng, the son of Empress Wei's elder sister.He deserved the death penalty for embezzling military funds, but he was spared because his father and grandson He made great contributions and asked for atonement.Gongsun He is the prime minister, as a civil servant, he cannot make military exploits like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.

At that time, there was a triad leader named Zhu Anshi who could not be arrested, which became the biggest problem in public security.So Gongsun He asked Emperor Wu for permission to arrest Zhu Anshi.Finally he caught Zhu Anshi.Zhu Anshi didn't seem to be particularly hiding.There's a reason he never got caught. Although casting witchcraft is a capital offense, people continue to do it because people believe in its efficacy.It is said that witchcraft can not only slowly kill people, but also achieve their own wishes.Just five years before this incident, Prime Minister Gongsun Ao was also killed because his wife cast witchcraft.I don't know why, but it's often women who cast witchcraft.Women can't dig and bury dolls themselves, and it can't be done in public, so it's the gangsters who contract the work.As the leader of the underworld, Zhu Anshi knows everything, so no one can arrest him.

Someone buried a doll somewhere. As long as he confesses and really digs up the doll from somewhere, someone will be sentenced to death.Who that person is depends on Zhu Anshi's pleasure.No one would dare to provoke this terrifying man.In order to save his son, the doting Gongsun He arrested the terrible Zhu Anshi, and the whole family was killed as a result. The prime minister's misfortune spread to the royal family! Zhu Anshi said.He confessed that Gongsun He's family were all related to witchcraft, and the evidence was also found according to the confession. Gongsun He's wife was the eldest sister of Queen Wei, but her husband and son were still killed.Empress Wei's two daughters, the crown prince's sister, were also killed.They are noble princesses and the daughters of Emperor Wu, but they are not exempt from the crime of witchcraft.

This is the prelude to the Witch Gu Rebellion. Then the protagonist is a demon named Jiang Chong.Jiang Chong was promoted to Captain Shuiheng (the official name in charge of the Li Palace), a character that Emperor Wu had never encountered before.He has an unusual desire for power.Except for the emperor, outsiders are not allowed to pass the passage leading to the Li Palace.The crown prince's envoy was accused by Jiang Chong for passing by in a horse-drawn carriage.The crown prince sent someone to beg him to keep a low profile, but Jiang Chong refused.Since Chidao is the shortest route, people connected to the royal family usually take advantage of it.The previous Captain Shui Heng always turned a blind eye, but Jiang Chong didn't allow it.Maybe Emperor Wu admired his strictness!Perhaps Emperor Wu was thinking hard about lower-level officials avoiding the royal family and nobles.

The crown prince was punished for the Chi Dao incident, and Jiang Chong was hated by the crown prince for this, so he thought of this method.Emperor Wu is old and may die at any time. Once the crown prince takes the throne, he may be killed.He wanted to destroy the crown prince while Emperor Wu was still alive, and he used witchcraft.It happened that Emperor Wu fell ill. There is Gu Qi in the palace. Jiang Chong asked a shaman named Tanhe, who was born in the Huns, to play.A great search was carried out, and dolls were pulled from all over.It is said that tens of thousands of innocent people were killed as a result.Jiang Chong's target was the crown prince. After digging in the palace, he took out many dolls.

The benevolent crown prince finally made up his mind to arrest Jiang Chong while Emperor Wu stayed in Ganquan Palace, and ordered him to cut his neck in front of him.Then Tan He was burned to death in Shanglinyuan. Hearing that there was a change in Chang'an in Ganquan Palace, Emperor Wu immediately ordered to suppress it.Street fighting broke out in Chang'an, which was unprecedented since the founding of the Han Dynasty.Thousands of people are said to have died. Crown Prince Liu Ju fled to the east of the city and hid in Quanjiu in Hu County. He was found soon after, and because the house where he was hiding was surrounded, he hanged himself.The prince had two sons, who were also killed together with the crown princess.Queen Wei had died before that.

The forty-year-old crown prince was married at sixteen, and by this time already had a grandson, born shortly before the riots.The infant grandson of the crown prince, who was spared death because he was the great-grandson of the crown prince, was imprisoned and breast-fed by female prisoners.This child is the future Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. 【Huo Guang wastes Liu He】 In the following year, it soon became clear that the witchcraft in the palace was fabricated by Jiang Chong.But the crown prince could no longer come back to life.Emperor Wu lamented, and built a womb of thinking in Hu County where the crown prince died.Jiang Chong's family was ransacked and executed, and his party members were also purged. Here we see the tragedy of the old dictator.When Emperor Wu heard the news of the crown prince's rebellion, he immediately mobilized the army. His decisiveness and execution ability to clearly order the suppression had not aged; Four years after Emperor Wu died in the witchcraft rebellion.Among his successors, he chose Fuling, who was the youngest, only eight years old.The position of crown prince was vacant until the death of Emperor Wu.Fu Ling's mother was the Zhao family from a humble family background, and the Zhao family had died at that time.It is said that Emperor Wu ordered his death. Emperor Wu hoped that the system created by himself could be maintained after his death, so he chose the young emperor and let his staff assist him, thinking that this was the best policy.And the young emperor has no relatives.Among the six sons of Emperor Wu, the crown prince Liu Ju died tragically, and the Qi Wang Liu Hong, born to Mrs. Wang, passed away without leaving any heirs.And Liu Wei, the king of Changyi, who was born to Mrs. Li, has also died. He has an heir named He.Li Ji's sons Liu Dan, King of Yan, and Liu Xu, King of Guangling, were already in their prime, and they governed with their staff in the enfeoffed states.If they are allowed to succeed, they will definitely bring trusted staff into the palace, which will definitely destroy Emperor Wu's system. Huo Guang, Jin Rixun, and Shangguan Jie assisted the young emperor according to the will.They were all people whom Emperor Wu personally trusted.Huo Guang is the half-brother of Huo Qubing who was loved by Emperor Wu; Jin Ridun was born in the Huns, and he is a very sincere person.Shangguan Jie was a man of strange strength who was born as a guard officer and served as Emperor Wu's personal bodyguard. The young emperor Fuling was Emperor Zhao.Shangguan Jie's son married Huo Guang's daughter, and their daughter later became a queen.People called her Empress Shangguan by her maiden name.Empress Shangguan did not have any children.Emperor Zhao died at the age of twenty-one. Emperor Zhao reigned for only fourteen years, and these fourteen years can be said to be the era when the Great Sima General Huo Guang established his dictatorship.The three-person group that Emperor Wu had favored at the beginning turned into a confrontation between Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie because of Jin Rixun's early death.Because he was a Hun, Jin Rixun acted cautiously and was good at handling interpersonal relationships harmoniously.Perhaps Emperor Wu just hoped that his personality could become the lubricating oil between Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie. Emperor Zhao's half-brother, Liu Dan, the king of Yan who was over forty years old, thought that after the death of the prince Liu Ju, he thought that he, the eldest, would take the throne.Unexpectedly, the throne was taken away by the eight-year-old Fu Ling, so he felt very upset.Huo Guang's political enemy Shangguan Jie contacted King Yan in an attempt to seize power, but failed and was killed.At that time, Sang Hongyang, an economic official who was in charge of the government, was also killed.Huo Guang established a dictatorial regime in the court and became weak administratively. Emperor Zhao had no heirs when he died. At this time, Emperor Wu's only son was Liu Xu, the king of Guangling.However, he and Liu Dan, the king of Yan, who committed suicide after failing to fight for power with Huo Guang, were the same mother and brother, so Huo Guang would not let such a person take the throne. It is recorded in the history books that Liu Xu was brave by nature and could kill beasts with his bare hands, but he had a very violent temper, which was most hated by Emperor Wu.However, maybe the real reason is that he and Huo Guang don't get along! Since King Guangling is not suitable, let Liu He, the son of Changyi King Liu Mao who died earlier than Emperor Wu, be the successor to the throne of Changyi King. Liu He was called to Chang'an to preside over Emperor Zhao's funeral.This is of course predicated on enthronement.The enthronement ceremony was indeed held, but Liu He was abolished before worshiping the temple of Gaozu (the ceremony ended). Liu He should have ascended the throne as the prince of Emperor Zhaodi, but the seventeen-year-old empress dowager can abolish my son.According to the "Hanshu" records, Liu He drank and sang at the place where Emperor Zhao stopped, and had fornication with palace people. Liu He asked 200 retainers brought by the feudal city to stay outside the gate of Weiyang Palace, and went to meet the Empress Dowager alone.But when he had an audience with the queen mother, Huo Guang arrested these two hundred people, and then killed them all except three of them on the grounds that they did not assist the king and fell into great evil. Perhaps Liu He knew that even if he became emperor, it would be nothing more than a decoration under Huo Guang's control, so he planned to rebel.He brought 200 elites from the country, but it was possible that there were three informers, which made the deeds come to light.Liu He's lack of reason is undoubtedly a reason fabricated after the fact. If Liu He also loses his qualifications, who will inherit the throne of the Han Dynasty?What Huo Guang chose was the grandson of the crown prince Liu Shi who was murdered by Jiang Chong and died wrongly. 【Turn off the white light first】 To write about Emperor Xuan, you must first spend half of the space in the period before he came to the throne.It is impossible to talk about him without this previous period. According to the innocence of the Crown Prince Liu, his innocence was confirmed, and he was able to leave the prison due to illness (he should have no memory of his own). Finally, Zongzheng (official name, one of the nine ministers, in charge of the affairs of the royal family) was registered as a naturalized royal family, but the title There are no official positions, and the treatment is the same as that of ordinary common people. Ill grew up among the people after being released from prison.Grandmother (Crown Princess Shi Liangdi)'s natal family seems to have regarded illness as a burden.He lived in an alley named Shangguanli in Chang'an. He was enlightened by the "Book of Songs" by Runzhong Weng who was born in Donghai. He was a child who could read well; Ordinary street boy.Because of his passion for traveling, he traveled all over Kinai starting from Zhuling on the outskirts of Chang'an.At that time, he had already married the daughter of Xu Guanghan, a violent miser (official in the palace women's shelter), and when he came to the throne at the age of eighteen, he was already the father of a child. Needless to say, no emperor other than the founder Liu Bang had such experience. For Huo Guang, probably no emperor was so easy to manipulate.Liu He brought 200 rebel officials from Changyi, but Bingji had no background.The grandmother's natal Shi family was a declining gentry family, and the wife's natal family was nothing more than guards in a women's prison.The mother's natal family, the Wang family, did not seem to be such a powerful family either. For the newly enthroned Emperor Xuan (perhaps Huo Guang thought he was the one who let him take the throne), Huo Guang claimed that he would put his head on the ground and return the power to the emperor respectfully, to show that he had no ambitions. Emperor Xuan did not extend his hand happily.Perhaps this is the wisdom he gained from experiences such as competing for territory with his fellow teenagers in the alley. Everything should be closed to Bai (Huo) Guang first, and then played to the imperial court. Here is his answer.It means that it is better for Huo Guang to take full power as before. The regent Taizheng minister who had to read all the memorials before the emperor of Japan was called Guanbai, which originated from the words of Emperor Xuan. However, as soon as Huo Guang realized that Huo Guang was going to make his daughter Chengjun his queen, Emperor Xuan immediately made Xu Shi, the daughter of the prison guard and his own wife, as queen.Since she is a wife, of course she must be made a queen, he seemed a little silly and said.But this can be seen as a silent challenge to Emperor Xuan. In the year following Emperor Xuan's accession to the throne (73 BC), Yuan was changed to the origin.In the first month of the first three years (71 BC), Empress Xu became pregnant, but died after eating a pill offered by the female doctor Chunyuyan.It is said that Huo Guang's wife asked the female doctor to poison the queen.Emperor Xuan gritted his teeth and endured. As a result, he could not help marrying Huo Guang's daughter as his queen.But Emperor Xuan delayed the matter until after the death anniversary of his wife.This is the ethics in the hutong society.Huo Shi was established as the queen in March of the first four years. In March of the second year of Dijie (68 BC), Huo Guang died.Emperor Xuan visited Huo Guang himself when he was ill.Huo Guang, who was ill in bed, requested that Huo Shan, the grandson of his elder brother Huo Qubing, be listed as a marquis so that he could continue to worship Huo Qubing. Emperor Xuan appointed Huo Yu, the son of Huo Guang, as the general on the right, and let Huo Shan command the Shangshu.On the surface, although he agreed with Huo Guang's last wish on the sickbed, he also dispersed Huo Guang's authority. Later, Emperor Xuan made the son of Empress Xu the crown prince. It is said that Huo Guang's widow vomited blood because of extreme anger.Some people said that she once persuaded her queen's daughter to poison the prince, but after Queen Xu was poisoned, Emperor Xuan was already very cautious, so there should be no chance to do it! When Emperor Xuan was eighteen years old, he ascended the throne as the prince of Emperor Zhao who died at the age of twenty-one.Emperor Zhao's widow, Empress Shangguan, was one year younger than Emperor Xuan, and she was Huo Guang's granddaughter.Huo Chengjun, the queen of Emperor Xuan, is Huo Guang's daughter.As a result, a strange relationship was formed in which the empress dowager was one generation younger than the empress. They may be the same age, but the daughter of a nobleman raised in a deep boudoir is no match for Emperor Xuan who grew up in the alleys.Including the harem, the entire court has been completely controlled by Emperor Xuan. Huo Guang held the military power as Da Sima, and handled all documents as Shangshu.But after his death, Emperor Xuan handed over the military power to Huo Yu and the Shangshu to Huo Shan, and the power was divided into two.Moreover, among the officials, there are those who want to make a performance, and it is said that they can directly refer to the internal speech.In Huo Guang's time, any documents that were unfavorable to him could be shredded. Now if there is no need to go through the Shangshu, this situation will not happen again. Toil the common people for a long time is not the reason to sue the world. Soon, Emperor Xuan used this sentence to reduce the army and disbanded the army of General You and General Cheqi.Although Huo Yu, the right general, was conferred the same title of Grand Sima as his late father, he had no army to command.The ingenuity of Emperor Xuan's move was that he also disbanded the army of the chariot general Zhang Anshi, who was not a Huo family faction, to show fairness.But soon after, Zhang Anshi was transferred to General Wei and took real power.Of course, this is an army that has nothing to do with the Huo family. Then Emperor Xuan asked the relatives of the Huo family in the various armies to be gradually transferred out of the army, and sent them to remote areas such as Shu County (Sichuan) and Wuyi (Fujian) to serve as the chiefs. Take over the vacancy.As a result, Emperor Xuan completely regained his military power. In the end, he killed all the Huo family on the charge of treason.The Huo family had planned to kill Emperor Xuan and support Huo Yu, but was later reported by Zhang Zhang.This may be just a fabricated thing, or it may be forced to rebel.The Huo family, who doesn't have an army, will hardly succeed even if they start a rebellion. Ban Gu, the author of "Hanshu", used one sentence to evaluate the rule of Emperor Xuan, that is, rewards must be punished.For this rebellion, even Huo Guang's widow was beheaded and abandoned.Queen Huo was of course abolished.Emperor Xuan avenged his wife, Empress Xu, who was brutally poisoned to death. It was the fourth year of Dijie (66 BC), and it was only two years since Huo Guang passed away.The deposed Empress Huo committed suicide twelve years later, and finally all the fireworks in the family were cut off.Sima Guang, a historian of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote "Zizhi Tongjian". In the section about the demise of the Huo family, he believed that the Huo family was arrogant and rebellious, and should have been exterminated. , so the comment says: Xiaoxuan (called the dead as filial piety) also Shaoen (lack of kindness). [Zhengping Litigation] Clever and resolute, he knows the sufferings of the people. Even Sima Guang, who criticized his lack of kindness, gave such admiration to Emperor Xuan's aptitude. Emperor Xuan not only knew the sufferings of the people conceptually, but also felt them personally. Shortly after killing the Huo family, he categorically lowered the price of salt.Salt is a commodity monopolized by the government, and it is also a necessity of life, so even if the price rises, it will not fail to sell.The government can easily raise prices.How the price of salt directly threatened life, Emperor Xuan, who grew up among the people, deeply understood this situation. In addition, people are ordered to report the origin of the deceased in each hell, whether there is any illness or torture, etc.Because he knows that the common people are always abused by those arrogant officials. After searching and investigating, even if a son conceals the sin of his parents, or a wife conceals the sin of her husband, because it is in nature, he orders that no one should be punished.But in turn, if a parent conceals the sin of a child or if a husband conceals the sin of his wife, he is guilty.This is based on Confucian ethics, but he also issued an edict that if such a situation occurs, it should not be punished immediately, but should be reported to the superior anyway.Emperor Xuan issued such an edict because he understood that the families of the common people were different from the indifferent family relationships of the court and the upper class. They depended on each other for a living. Whenever there is auspiciousness, such as the appearance of a phoenix, the release of nectar from the palace, or the arrival of tens of thousands of colorful birds, he will issue a decree of grace, giving meat, wine, silk, etc. to the people.In that era, Ruixiang seemed to appear frequently. In addition to the price of salt, land rent and taxation are also reduced.The so-called oral tax in the Han Dynasty was to impose a poll tax on people between the ages of seven and fourteen as supplementary fees for military horses.As for husband's service, he also issued an edict so that those who are in mourning can be exempted. In the court, Emperor Xuan valued the officials who actually contacted the people more than the officials around him.At that time, Xunli (officials who were familiar with the law and were honest and fair) and cruel officials (officials who enforced the law strictly and were not tolerant) were very active. "Hanshu.Xun Li Biography records the following passage of Emperor Xuan: The reason why the common people die in peace in their fields (without) sighing with sorrow and hatred is also because of political fairness and litigation (political fairness and reasonable litigation).Those who share this with me are only as good as two thousand stones! Zhengping Litigation is the political philosophy of Emperor Xuan. This passage means that it is not the ministers or bureaucrats in the court, but the local officials who will realize this ideal step by step with him.At that time, the annual salary of the prefect of the county was two thousand stones, so the local governor was called Liang two thousand stones.Local officials with outstanding achievements are often rewarded and awarded official titles. The Xiongnu problem that plagued the wise and active great-grandfather Emperor Wudi all his life was also resolved in the generation of Emperor Xuan.This may be Emperor Xuan's luck.Because of internal strife among the Huns, they were torn apart. The reason for the internal strife is the succession dispute.At one time, five names stood side by side in Yu (the leader of the Huns).Needless to say, the power of the Huns declined.Emperor Xuan may also have divorced, and the abnormal climate outside the Great Wall, the froze to death of cattle and sheep, which reduced the overall national power of the Xiongnu is also one of the reasons!In addition, Wusun, who was allied with the Han Dynasty, also threatened the Xiongnu from the side, which can be said to be a diplomatic victory. In the fourth year of Wufeng (54 BC), the Xiongnu Shanyu proclaimed himself a vassal and sent his younger brother King Guli to Chang'an, which was actually a surrender.Even the Xiongnu did not need to use force to seize the supplies of the Han, but obtained the assistance of the Han only by surrendering.Therefore, the border became more stable, and the defenders on the border were able to reduce their personnel by 20%. The land outside the Great Wall suffered from food shortage, but the Han territory had abundant harvests year after year, so the phenomenon of cheap grain hurting farmers occurred.In the year when King Guli of the Xiongnu entered the court, the price of grain was as high as one stone and five renminbi.The Changping warehouse proposed by Geng Shouchang, the chief minister of farming, was built in this year.The drastic changes in grain prices have hurt farmers, and this system means that when the price of grain plummets, the government buys and stores grain at a price higher than the current price, and then sells it at a price lower than the current price when the price of grain rises.Because its purpose is to keep the grain price constantly stable, it is named as a regular position. Hu Hanxie Shanyu of the Huns came to Chang'an in person in the first month of the third year of Ganlu (51 BC).Emperor Xuan ascended the Wei Bridge to greet him, and the people shouted long live.From now on, there will be no bitter battles on the border. The surrender of the Huns was by no means luck that fell from the sky.Years of bumper harvests have left the country without hungry people. The peaceful scene of family reunion in the Han Dynasty is also a reflection of prosperity in the view of the Xiongnu's values. Although Emperor Xuan tried his best to avoid military actions, he would not hesitate to mobilize the army when necessary.In the third year of Dijie (67 BC), Cheshi State, whose sphere of influence ranged from Urumqi to Turpan today, rebelled, and Emperor Xuan sent Zheng Ji to attack and surrender it.This is because Wusun, a friendly country who intermarried with Han, was afraid that the road between Han and Han would be blocked by Che Shi, and Han could not turn his back on his friendly country.In the first year of Shenjue (61 BC), the veteran Zhao Chongguo attacked first and zeroed.Xianling is a branch of the Tibetans. If they link up with the Xiongnu, they will block the road from Han to the Western Regions. So the Huns came to surrender because they learned about the courageous side of Emperor Xuan. In the first year of Huanglong (49 BC), Hu Hanxie came to the court again and returned to China in February.Emperor Xuan passed away in December of this year.Reigned for twenty-six years and died at the age of forty-three. At that time, Crown Prince Shi was already twenty-seven years old, and he also had a grandson.Shi is the emperor of Yuan Dynasty, he is generous, respectful, thrifty and gentle. In his later years, Emperor Xuan liked the theory of immortals, and also showed a tendency to waste.It is said that the court has begun to corrupt, but it is really a rare example that a famous monarch of folk origin can sit on the throne for more than 20 years. As mentioned above, Emperor Xuan's rule of the world was an era of active officials and cruel officials, all of whom were legalists.Crown Prince Shi once suggested that Confucian scholars should be appointed, but Emperor Xuan did not accept it.He said: The vulgar Confucianism is out of date. He disliked the dogmatism of Confucianism.When he was a boy, he loved being a knight-errant, and he also had a habit of wandering. He has traveled all over the world, and he has always believed that the maintenance of law and order should be prioritized over everything else.Therefore, as Ban Gu said, in the era of Emperor Xuan, if one can sum it up in one sentence, it is that rewards must be punished, and punishment must be the key point.The crown prince, who was influenced by Confucianism, repeatedly stated that strict punishment should be relaxed and Confucianism should be regarded as the basis of politics.To this, Emperor Xuan replied: The Han family has its own system, which is based on hegemony and kingship Domineering and kingly way are properly mixed together, which is the practice of the Han Dynasty, if only Confucianism is followed, the country will not be able to function.Emperor Xuan, with a practical style, believed that the Confucian attitude, which is ancient but not modern, is nothing more than a conceptual theory. The prince who messes with my family is also. Emperor Xuan once said with a sigh.This is recorded in "Han Shu".He feared that it was this conceptual dogmatism that would destroy the Han Dynasty. After Empress Huo was abolished, Emperor Xuan appointed Wang as queen, but Zhang was his favorite.Wang Qin of Huaiyang, the son of the Zhang family, was good at studying law and was intelligent. Emperor Xuan seemed to have intended to replace the crown prince.According to "Hanshu."Yuan Di Ji", the reason why Emperor Xuan did not abolish Shi was because he was the son of Xu's wife who died tragically. In this way, on the one hand, Emperor Xuan knew that the Han Dynasty was in danger of perishing, and on the other hand, he did not replace the prince because he was the son of the Xu family. It can be seen that he cannot be regarded as a pure Legalist.His character is also a mixture of domineering and domineering. Emperor Yuan finally stopped the monopoly of salt and iron in the spirit of Confucianism.This is an idealism that the king should not compete for the business of the common people. However, the country's finances were so embarrassing that it had to revive the salt and iron monopoly a few years later. Although it was not feasible, it is said that at one time there was a plan to stop the monetary economy and return to the ancient way of bartering.During the period of Emperor Yuan, due to successive years of poor harvests, there were constant famines.The tragic situation was far beyond what Emperor Xuan could have imagined during the period of one stone and five coins.This is not the relationship between the weather, but a man-made disaster.So the "Hanshu" commented like this: The emperor (Emperor Yuan) restrained Wenyi (Confucianism dogma), continued to enjoy traveling, and the career of filial piety and propaganda declined. When Emperor Xuan died, the empress dowager Shangguan, the mother of the emperor, was still alive.Although she is a mother, she is one year younger than Emperor Xuan. As soon as Emperor Yuan came to the throne, she became the Empress Dowager.His grandfather, Shangguanjie, was killed by his grandfather, Huo Guang, and his family was all killed by his son, Emperor Xuan.In the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Yuan, what did the Empress Dowager Shangguan, who was seated at the head, think? Emperor Yuan's queen was Wang, and the next emperor, Chengdi, was three years old when he came to the throne.In the era of Emperor Yuan, relatives were even more domineering.Wang Mang, the concubine of the Empress Yuan, soon destroyed the Han Dynasty, just as Emperor Xuan expected.