How Emperor He Brought Down the Dou Clan

After the Dou clan reached the height of power, the young Emperor He began looking for a way to take authority back.

After the inscription at Yanran, Dou Xian not only washed away the crisis caused by assassinating an imperial clansman. He returned to the center of Eastern Han politics with enormous frontier merit. The power of the Dou relatives now reached its highest point.

The General-in-Chief Returned

After Dou Xian broke the Northern Xiongnu, the court had to reward him.

Eastern Han appointed him General-in-Chief and made him Marquis of Wuyang with an income of twenty thousand households. The Dou family rejoiced. The arrogance that had been pressed down soon rose again.

Among the Dou brothers, the most overbearing was Dou Jing, Bearer of the Gilded Mace. That office should have protected capital security and maintained order in Luoyang. Instead, Dou Jing's slaves and subordinates robbed in the markets, broke into prisons, seized women, and made people flee in fear.

Merchants heard that men of the Bearer of the Gilded Mace were coming and did not dare go out. Commoners scattered when they saw them. Dou Jing also requisitioned elite cavalry from frontier commanderies without authorization for his own use.

Most ministers did not dare report this. The one still willing to stand up was Situ Yuan An.

Yuan An Submitted Memorials

Yuan An saw the Dou family's lawlessness and submitted a memorial impeaching Dou Jing.

He said Dou Jing had requisitioned frontier soldiers without authorization, frightening and deceiving officials and people, and should be executed in public. The governor of Henan and other officials who flattered the imperial relatives and failed to report their crimes should also be dismissed and punished.

The memorial was set aside.

The Dou power was too heavy for the court to respond normally. Besides Yuan An, others tried to persuade the Dou family to retreat.

Le Hui memorialized that imperial relatives should not control central power. Those in high position should consider the larger principle and cut away private advantage. Those below should also be modest and withdraw. Only this way could the four imperial uncles preserve titles and lands for long, and the empress dowager would not fail the ancestral temples.

The memorial was not accepted.

Le Hui saw that the situation could not be saved and retired home on grounds of illness. Dou Xian still did not spare him. He secretly ordered provincial and commandery officials to force Le Hui to drink poison.

After this spread, ministers became even more frightened. Many watched the wind, flattered Dou Xian, and no longer dared resist lightly.

He Chang Told a Story

The Secretariat official He Chang also could not bear it.

He wrote a text for the empress dowager, using Spring and Autumn stories to advise her. In Zheng, the dowager Wu Jiang favored her younger son Gongshu Duan. In Wey, Duke Zhuang favored the lesser son Zhouxu. In both cases, indulgence without restraint raised men into sources of disorder.

He Chang slowly turned the point toward the Dou family.

He first said that after the late emperor's death, Dou Xian had once yielded high office with sincere words. Then he shifted: a year had passed, the mourning period was not yet over, and the Dou brothers already dominated the court.

Dou Xian held the state's military power. Dou Du and Dou Jing commanded palace guards. They were harsh and violent, lived extravagantly, killed the innocent for their own satisfaction, and stirred fear across the realm. People worried that disasters like Gongshu Duan and Zhouxu might repeat in Han.

He Chang's solution was to let someone within the Dou family who was willing to retreat speak up. He mentioned Dou Xi, an imperial son-in-law who had repeatedly asked to withdraw from high position in hope of restraining Dou power.

This was meant to leave room for both the empress dowager and the Dou clan.

Dou Xian was displeased. Soon he had the empress dowager transfer He Chang out of the capital so he could no longer speak at court.

The voices of opposition were pushed down layer by layer.

The Northern Xiongnu Were Defeated Again

Dou Xian's reputation at court was poor, but his military prestige was high because he truly could fight and had real achievements.

In Yongyuan year two, the Northern Xiongnu chanyu again sent envoys to the frontier, expressing willingness to submit and asking to come to the capital. At the same time, the Southern Xiongnu chanyu memorialized that Han should seize the chance to continue attacking the Northern Xiongnu and merge the two branches under Han.

The court accepted. Southern Xiongnu forces attacked and defeated the northern chanyu. Dou Xian judged that Northern Xiongnu power was weak. In Yongyuan year three, he sent Geng Kui, Ren Shang, Zhao Bo, and other generals from Juyan to pursue further.

This Han army went more than five thousand li beyond the frontier and badly defeated the Northern Xiongnu before returning. The distance was extraordinary in Han history.

The Northern Xiongnu became even less able to recover. Dou Xian's fame grew greater.

Geng Kui and Ren Shang became his military claws. Ban Gu and Fu Yi wrote texts for him. Deng Die, Guo Huang, and others became trusted insiders. Many provincial inspectors, commandery governors, and county magistrates outside the capital were recommended by Dou Xian. Around him had formed a power group with writers, generals, local officials, and followers.

Yuan An's Last Resistance

After the Northern Xiongnu declined, the court still had to decide how to handle surrender and submission.

Dou Xian proposed enfeoffing the Northern Xiongnu chanyu and sending a gentleman commander to supervise him, treating him like the Southern Xiongnu chanyu.

Yuan An firmly opposed this.

He argued that Emperor Guangwu had settled the Southern Xiongnu inside in order to use them against the Northern Xiongnu, not to let them remain comfortably in the interior forever. Now that the northern desert was pacified, the Southern Xiongnu chanyu should be sent back to the northern royal court to lead the surrendered groups. There was no need to create another Northern Chanyu and increase state expense.

The argument was fierce. Yuan An and Dou Xian nearly collided head-on. But Emperor He was still young, and the court finally accepted Dou Xian's plan.

Dou Xian hated Yuan An even more.

He gathered close followers and discussed removing him. Someone pointed out that a subordinate named Zhou Rong was important. Many of Yuan An's memorials impeaching Dou Jing and opposing the Northern Xiongnu arrangement had been drafted by Zhou Rong.

Dou Xian sent clients to threaten Zhou Rong.

The clients warned that Dou assassins were everywhere in the capital and Zhou Rong should be careful. Zhou Rong did not retreat. He told his wife that if he suddenly suffered disaster, she should not bury him quietly. She should say he had been killed by the Dou family so the court would awaken.

Seeing that threats did not work, the clients could only report back.

Before Dou Xian found another method, Yuan An died of illness. With the old minister who had most dared resist the Dou family gone, the court lost another hard bone.

The Dou group became even less restrained.

Guo Ju's Plot

Just as Dou power grew stronger, a dangerous matter arose inside the palace.

A man named Guo Ju had an ambiguous relationship with Empress Dowager Dou and could enter the harem easily. Relying on this access, he eventually conceived the idea of deposing and killing Emperor He and taking power himself.

Although Emperor He was young, he quickly sensed something wrong.

Guo Ju was a small figure. Without a greater force behind him, he would not dare go so far. Emperor He judged that the power backing him was likely General-in-Chief Dou Xian.

Another event made him feel even more endangered.

Once, he led officials to the western capital Chang'an for sacrifices and ordered Dou Xian, who was leading troops in the northwest, to come meet him. When Dou Xian arrived, someone even proposed bowing to Dou Xian and calling him "ten thousand years."

That phrase struck the emperor. "Ten thousand years" belonged to the Son of Heaven. Emperor He knew that if he did not act, he might lose the chance.

The Young Emperor Found Allies

The problem was that Emperor He was tightly surrounded by the Dou network.

Many outer-court ministers depended on Dou Xian. Palace attendants mostly watched the Dou family's face. It was extremely difficult for the emperor to contact outside ministers directly.

He had to search among the people closest to him.

After long observation, Emperor He saw that most palace eunuchs flattered the Dou family. Only Zheng Zhong did not flatter Dou Xian. The emperor began secretly discussing matters with him.

They quickly understood that an emperor and one eunuch were not enough. To remove the Dou family, they needed someone outside the palace who controlled troops.

Zheng Zhong handled outside communication and eventually brought in Ding Hong. Emperor He appointed Ding Hong to concurrently serve as Chamberlain for the Guards and act in the Grand Commandant's affairs, leading troops to garrison the northern and southern palaces. At last, the emperor had some military force he could use.

Before acting, he also needed a precedent and a justification.

Dou Xian was General-in-Chief, had great merit, and was the emperor's uncle. The emperor could not kill him without ground. Emperor He thought of Liu Qing, King of Qinghe.

Liu Qing had originally been made crown prince by Emperor Zhang, then was deposed through Empress Dou's plotting, allowing Liu Zhao to become crown prince. Yet Liu Qing and Emperor He had a good relationship. He often entered the palace and sometimes stayed overnight with his younger brother.

Emperor He wanted to consult the Book of Han's accounts of imperial relatives to find examples of removing powerful maternal clans. Fearing leaks among attendants, he had Liu Qing borrow the book privately.

The brothers studied the old stories in an inner room and waited for the right moment.

The Palace Gates Closed

In 92 CE, the opportunity came.

Emperor He personally went to the northern palace and issued an edict ordering the Bearer of the Gilded Mace and the five Northern Army colonels to lead troops into the northern and southern palaces, strengthening palace defense. Then the city gates were closed, cutting off the Dou group's movement between inside and outside.

Ding Hong led trusted troops to act inside Luoyang at the same time. Guo Huang, Guo Ju, Deng Die, Deng Lei, and other key Dou partisans were arrested and executed.

The next day, Emperor He sent ministers to take back Dou Xian's seal and ribbons as General-in-Chief and changed his title to Marquis of Guanjun. Dou Xian, Dou Du, Dou Jing, and other Dou brothers were then escorted to their own fiefs.

Because of Empress Dowager Dou, Emperor He did not publicly execute the Dou brothers in Luoyang.

Instead, he sent strict and capable chancellors to the fiefs to watch them. Soon after reaching their fiefs, Dou Xian and his brothers were forced to kill themselves.

The Dou imperial-relative group was destroyed.

Ban Gu Was Imprisoned

Many people were implicated after Dou Xian fell.

Guests and partisans who had relied on Dou Xian for office were mostly dismissed and sent back to their home commanderies. Ban Gu was also imprisoned because of his attachment to the Dou family and died in prison.

At the time, Ban Gu was still compiling the Book of Han, and it was not finished. Emperor He later ordered Ban Gu's sister Ban Zhao to continue organizing and writing, which allowed the work to be completed.

After the Dou family fell, Emperor He could finally handle government personally. But Eastern Han's power structure had also changed. This time, the emperor had relied on eunuchs such as Zheng Zhong to recover imperial authority. From now on, palace attendants would no longer be only bystanders. After the young emperor's personal rule began, Eastern Han would face new empress dowagers, new imperial relatives, and a new cycle of power.