How Emperor Ming Secured Eastern Han Imperial Power

After Liu Zhuang took the throne, he first had to stabilize the political order left by Emperor Guangwu.

The Yin relatives knew how to step back, and the Eastern Han succession had passed to Liu Zhuang smoothly. Yet when Liu Zhuang actually sat on the throne, the situation was not as secure as it looked.

Emperor Guangwu's Late Feng and Shan Rites

Liu Xiu was highly regarded by later generations. He could fight, he knew how to use people, and he was educated. But he also had one clear preference: he believed in prophecy texts and apocryphal writings.

These writings were popular in the Qin-Han world. Chen texts were hidden or cryptic predictions of good and bad fortune; wei texts were writings produced by Confucian scholars and attached to the classics. From a modern perspective, much of this material is unreliable. In that age, however, it was often used to explain Heaven's mandate and political legitimacy.

When Liu Xiu became emperor, he had relied in part on texts such as the Red Prostration Talisman. After taking the throne, he retained a special feeling for this kind of material.

Once, while preparing a sacrifice, Liu Xiu wanted to use prophecy texts to determine the ritual. The minister Zheng Xing said he did not understand such texts. Liu Xiu was displeased and asked whether he had a prejudice against them. Zheng Xing immediately apologized, saying only that he was lazy and had not studied them, not that he opposed the emperor's preference. That answer saved him.

Huan Tan was less fortunate. When Liu Xiu planned ritual buildings for the new court, Huan Tan argued that charts and prophecies were unreliable and urged the emperor to focus on the Five Classics instead. Liu Xiu was furious and almost killed him. Huan Tan was spared but sent out to a provincial post, and he died in gloom on the way.

In Jianwu year thirty, Liu Xiu was already sixty and traveled east to Shandong. Ministers praised his merit and urged him to perform the feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai. Liu Xiu first refused. He said the rites would burden the people, and after thirty years of his rule the people had already suffered enough.

Two years later, he read the apocryphal text Hetu Huichang Fu and saw a line about the red Liu line and Mount Tai. Calculating that he was the ninth-generation descendant of Gaozu, he decided that going to Mount Tai was Heaven's command.

So he changed his mind, prepared the rites according to Emperor Wu's precedent, went to Mount Tai in the second month, sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, and carved stone inscriptions of merit.

The change reveals Liu Xiu's late mentality. Two years earlier he had warned against urging the rites; two years later, one prophetic line made him feel that not going would violate Heaven's will. The feng and shan rites themselves were not new. Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu had performed them. But Liu Xiu's reversal showed ministers how strongly prophecy texts influenced him.

Liang Song Brought the King of Donghai Back

One detail in these rites disturbed the court.

One organizer was Liang Song, Liu Xiu's son-in-law. He was the same man who had slandered Ma Yuan. He had a bad relationship with Crown Prince Liu Zhuang and knew Liu Zhuang disliked him.

When Liu Xiu went to Mount Tai, the man accompanying him was not Crown Prince Liu Zhuang. It was the former crown prince, Liu Qiang, now King of Donghai.

The great affairs of a state are sacrifice and war. When an emperor toured for feng and shan rites, it would seem natural for the heir to accompany him. Yet the former crown prince went instead. Some people at court naturally wondered whether the succession might still change.

After the rites, through Liang Song's maneuvering, Liu Qiang also returned to Luoyang. Under Eastern Han rules, a regional king could not freely leave his fief and enter the capital. Liu Qiang's arrival in Luoyang looked to some like a signal.

Old officials from Hebei and descendants of earlier followers began gathering around Liu Qiang. Liang Song also began to feel that his chance had come.

But before he could act, Liu Xiu died.

In his final edict, Liu Xiu made Liang Song one of the ministers assisting government. Liang Song was both imperial son-in-law and General of the Tiger Guards, commanding elite palace guards. At the beginning of Liu Zhuang's reign, he was the most dangerous uncertainty.

Liu Jing Sent a Letter

After Liu Zhuang took the throne, he set the reign title Yongping, meaning lasting peace. But the new ruler had only just been established, and Liang Song had not given up.

He wanted to use the unsettled moment to remove Liu Zhuang and support someone who did not hate him. That person was still the former crown prince Liu Qiang.

To draw Liu Qiang in, Liang Song needed help. It soon appeared: Liu Jing, Liu Zhuang's full younger brother.

Liu Jing had earlier been made Duke of Shanyang, with a fief in today's Shandong area. By rule, he should not remain long in Luoyang. But Liu Xiu had died, and the princes came to the capital for the funeral, so Liu Jing stayed.

At the funeral, Liu Jing did not look deeply grieved. He and Liu Zhuang shared father and mother and had been close as children. But as adults, their status had changed. One was emperor; the other was a regional prince. Brotherhood had retreated behind ruler-subject ritual, and Liu Jing felt wronged.

Watching his elder brother sit above while he bowed below made him more uncomfortable. That gap gave Liang Song an opening.

Liang Song saw his mood and connected with him.

Liu Jing wrote Liu Qiang a letter urging him to raise troops. He warned that if the former crown prince did not move first, he might be harmed by the new emperor like Fusu under Qin.

Liu Jing was cunning. He had the messenger claim that the letter came from Guo Kuang, Liu Qiang's maternal uncle and the younger brother of deposed Empress Guo Shengtong. By kinship, Guo Kuang might seem like a natural supporter of Liu Qiang.

Liu Qiang Handed the Letter Over

When Liu Qiang received the letter, he was shocked. He was not immediately persuaded.

Guo Kuang had been treated generously by Liu Xiu. His family was so rich that people called it a "gold cave." He had no reason to risk rebellion. Moreover, Liu Qiang had just seen Guo Kuang at the late emperor's funeral and noticed nothing strange.

The more Liu Qiang thought, the more suspicious he became. He detained the messenger in his residence and quickly checked with Guo Kuang.

Guo Kuang said he had never written such a letter and had sent no messenger.

Liu Qiang realized this might be a trap or even a test by the new emperor. He immediately handed both the letter and the messenger to Emperor Ming, Liu Zhuang.

Liu Zhuang also felt wronged. He had not tested Liu Qiang. But since the matter was now before him, it had to be investigated. Under interrogation, Liu Jing and Liang Song emerged behind the letter.

Liu Zhuang stayed clear-headed. Liu Jing was resentful, but the truly dangerous man was Liang Song. Liang Song controlled palace troops and was a minister named in the final edict. At the start of a new reign, the emperor could not collide with him too rashly.

The New Emperor Looked for Helpers First

Liu Zhuang first moved Liu Jing away from the capital, sending him to live in the Henan palace. Outwardly, the matter seemed to pass.

Then he began drawing in people who could stabilize the situation.

He issued an edict saying that above him he no longer had the late emperor, and below him he lacked weighty ministers. It was like crossing a deep abyss without a boat. Deng Yu, Marquis of Gaomi, was the foremost founding minister; Liu Cang, King of Dongping, was generous, learned, and strategic. They should assist the new ruler.

So Liu Zhuang appointed Deng Yu Grand Tutor and Liu Cang General of Agile Cavalry.

Deng Yu and Liu Cang alone were not enough. Liu Zhuang also drew closer to the Dou family, which at the time had strong clan power and many men connected to the military. In a crisis, they could provide support.

Only after this did Emperor Ming have enough strength to turn back toward Liang Song and Liu Jing.

But Liu Jing and Liang Song first went to Empress Dowager Yin Lihua. Yin was Liu Zhuang and Liu Jing's mother and also Liang Song's mother-in-law. The two knelt and wept. Yin Lihua softened and pleaded for them.

Liu Zhuang could not ignore his mother. He first handled them through apparent promotion and hidden demotion. Liang Song was raised from General of the Tiger Guards to Minister Coachman. It looked like one of the Nine Ministers, but in reality it removed him from the palace guards. Liu Jing was moved and made King of Guangling, shifting his fief from Shanyang in Shandong to the Jiang-Huai region and uprooting his old local base.

Liang Song Died, and Liu Jing Offended Again

Several years later, Empress Dowager Yin died. Emperor Ming's throne was now secure, and the ministers gradually submitted to the new ruler. Liu Zhuang finally moved against Liang Song.

Liang Song was executed, and his family was exiled. The announced charge was that he had written anonymous letters slandering the court. The charge looks odd: why would such a high minister write anonymous letters attacking the court? But the government needed a public reason that could be declared.

After Liang Song died, Liu Jing should have restrained himself. He did not.

In Guangling, he invited physiognomers and said his appearance resembled the late emperor's. The late emperor had taken the throne at thirty. Liu Jing was also thirty now. Did this not mean he could raise troops?

Since the middle and late Western Han, regional kings had long lost the real power they had held in early Han. A fief could be rich, but the king himself was constrained by the kingdom chancellor, commandant, and court law. Once Liu Jing said such things, those around him knew the matter was serious.

The physiognomer was frightened and immediately reported him. Liu Jing panicked and went into prison by himself.

This time Emperor Ming did not kill him at once. He issued an edict forbidding Liu Jing from governing the officials and people of his fief. Liu Jing could only enjoy tax income, while the kingdom chancellor and commandant watched him closely.

It could have ended there, but Liu Jing still did not stop. He then used shamans to pray curses, hoping to curse the emperor to death.

In Han palace politics, this was a grave taboo. Emperor Ming ordered officials to judge Liu Jing, and the final sentence was death.

From Liu Zhuang's accession onward, the shadows brought by Liang Song, Liu Jing, and the old former-crown-prince circle slowly dispersed. Once the throne was secure, Emperor Ming had to face more than palace plots. He had to decide how to continue the state his father had left behind.