How Empress Dowager Deng Stabilized Eastern Han Politics

With young emperors on the throne, Empress Dowager Deng had to hold Eastern Han order together under pressure from many sides.

After the Dou clan collapsed, Emperor He finally took government back from overmighty relatives. For a moment, Eastern Han politics seemed to have escaped the old trap.

But the young emperor did not have much time. The palace soon moved into another transfer of power, and this time the central figure was Deng Sui.

Emperor He Ruled for Himself

Once Emperor He removed the Dou clan, he began to handle affairs personally.

He was still young, but he worked hard. He attended court early, reviewed memorials late into the night, and did not treat government as an ornament of the throne.

Ban Chao's great achievements in the Western Regions belonged to this period. Several frontier disturbances were also brought under control during Emperor He's personal rule.

Inside the empire, he leaned toward leniency. He relieved disaster victims, reduced taxes, settled displaced people, and appointed Chen Chong to oversee legal cases with a lighter hand.

When locusts struck Luoyang in 96, the court read the disaster as a warning from Heaven. Emperor He issued an edict blaming himself, saying that if the people suffered, the ruler had failed in his duty.

He also issued repeated calls for worthy officials. That gesture showed both ambition and anxiety. The emperor wanted better government, but the bureaucracy was already showing strain.

The Old Case of Consort Liang

After Empress Dowager Dou died, Emperor He learned the truth about his birth.

The woman he had long served as mother was not his birth mother. His real mother was Consort Liang, who had been persecuted by Empress Dowager Dou. The Liang family had been dragged down with her.

When Emperor He was young, the Dou court had tightly controlled palace information. No one was allowed to tell him where he came from.

At first, senior officials only told him that Consort Liang was his mother. They suggested that she be honored after death and that his maternal uncles be found and restored to proper status.

Then Consort Liang's elder sister submitted a memorial. She described how their father had died unjustly in prison, how his body had not even been properly buried, and how their elderly mother and younger brother were still scattered far away.

Only after Emperor He summoned his aunt did he hear the full story.

Officials then asked him to strip Empress Dowager Dou of her title and deny her burial beside the former emperor. Emperor He thought for several days and refused.

The Dou clan had broken the law, he said, but Empress Dowager Dou had raised him and placed him on the throne. As a son, he could not bear to separate her spirit from the former emperor.

So Dou was buried with full empress dowager rites. Consort Liang was then honored as empress dowager after death, and the Liang family received the status it had been denied.

The Liang family rose from this old injustice. Later, that same family name would return to Eastern Han politics in a far more dangerous form.

Empress Yin Fell

Emperor He was generous toward the woman who had raised him. He was much harsher toward his first empress, Empress Yin.

Empress Yin came from a strong family. She was descended from the clan of Yin Lihua, Emperor Guangwu's beloved empress. As a girl, she was intelligent and skilled in calligraphy, and she quickly won favor in the palace.

After she became empress, however, suspicion consumed her. Emperor He had many consorts, and he could not belong to her alone.

She was physically small and deeply insecure. The more she watched the other women, the more she imagined them as threats.

In 102, she summoned her maternal grandmother into the palace and complained. The older woman urged her to use witchcraft to curse rival consorts.

Empress Yin agreed. The matter soon leaked.

Witchcraft was one of the most dangerous accusations in the Han palace. Emperor He ordered an investigation, and officials quickly charged Empress Yin and her grandmother with grave rebellion.

Members of the Yin and Deng families were implicated. Some died under interrogation.

In the sixth month, Empress Yin was deposed and moved into confinement. She later died in isolation.

Deng Sui Entered the Center

With Empress Yin gone, Deng Sui moved closer to the empty position.

Deng Sui came from a famous house. She was a descendant of Deng Yu, one of the great founding ministers remembered at Cloud Terrace.

As a child, she was filial and fond of books. By day she learned women's work; by night she read the Confucian classics. Her family called her the "female student."

After she entered the palace as a consort, Deng Sui behaved with deliberate humility. She served Empress Yin without competing for attention. Around other consorts, she often lowered herself.

She also treated palace maids and attendants with kindness. People inside the palace noticed, and Emperor He valued her all the more.

Once, when Deng Sui became ill, Emperor He allowed her mother and brothers to enter the palace to care for her with no time limit. Deng Sui asked that they be sent out.

The palace was a forbidden space, she said. If imperial in-laws stayed too long, the emperor would be mocked for favoring private relatives, and she herself would be criticized for not knowing restraint.

Emperor He was surprised, but he accepted her request.

At palace banquets, other consorts competed in clothing and decoration. Deng Sui kept her dress plain. If her clothing resembled the empress's, she changed it at once. If she appeared with the empress, she let the empress speak first.

When Empress Yin made mistakes in public, attendants sometimes laughed in private. Deng Sui covered for her and looked anxious, as if the fault were her own.

After Empress Yin lost favor, Emperor He often summoned Deng Sui. She repeatedly excused herself on grounds of illness and even recommended other women to him, saying the imperial line needed more sons.

Deng Sui had no child of her own, but she made herself appear as someone who cared about the dynasty before herself.

When Empress Yin was accused of witchcraft, Deng Sui even pleaded for her. Emperor He did not accept the plea, but Deng Sui's reputation rose further.

In the winter of 102, officials submitted that the empress's position should be filled by a woman of virtue. Emperor He issued the edict appointing Deng Sui as empress.

Emperor He Died Young

Deng Sui did not enjoy a long calm after becoming empress.

In 105, Emperor He died at only twenty-six. He had only recently taken power back from the Dou clan. Now that power moved into the hands of his empress.

He left two young sons: Liu Sheng and Liu Long.

Liu Sheng was older, about ten, but he suffered from a chronic illness. Liu Long had been born only a little more than one hundred days earlier.

Deng Sui had no son of her own. She did not choose the older Liu Sheng. Instead, she adopted the infant Liu Long, made him crown prince, and enthroned him that very night.

He is remembered as Emperor Shang.

After Liu Long became emperor, Deng Sui was honored as empress dowager and began to govern as regent.

Emperor Shang Died in Infancy

Emperor Shang was barely one hundred days old when he took the throne. He could not speak, much less rule.

In theory, if the child lived, Deng Sui could govern for him and one day return authority to the grown emperor.

That did not happen.

In the eighth month of 106, Emperor Shang died before reaching his first birthday. His reign had barely begun.

The throne was empty again.

Emperor He's only remaining biological son was Liu Sheng. Many officials leaned toward him. He was ill, but illness might be treated, and he was still the direct son of the late emperor.

Deng Sui disagreed.

She had passed over Liu Sheng once. If she now enthroned him and he survived into adulthood, he might never forget that earlier choice. To keep the court under control, she needed another successor.

Liu Hu Was Brought In

In Luoyang there was a young imperial relative named Liu Hu.

He was the son of Liu Qing, Prince of Qinghe. Liu Qing had once been crown prince, but he had been displaced because Empress Dowager Dou adopted the future Emperor He.

Emperor He and Liu Qing had maintained a decent brotherly relationship, and Liu Qing had continued to behave as a loyal subject.

After Emperor He's burial, the princes were supposed to return to their fiefs. Deng Sui deliberately kept Liu Qing's thirteen-year-old son Liu Hu in Luoyang.

For Liu Qing, this looked like a restraint. For Deng Sui, it was also a reserve heir.

When Emperor Shang died, Deng Sui selected Liu Hu. The leading figures at court were already aligned with her, so the order moved quickly. Liu Hu was adopted into Emperor He's line and enthroned as emperor.

He is remembered as Emperor An.

Emperor An was still young, so Deng Sui continued to govern from behind the throne. Eastern Han politics had again entered a period of rule by an empress dowager, supported by her own relatives.

Deng Sui's rise did not immediately throw the court into chaos. But to hold this structure together, she would have to rely on the Deng family.

The Deng relatives now stepped into the most visible positions in the empire. Their rise would begin with caution, but it would not end there.