How Emperor Huan Plotted in Secret to Kill Liang Ji

Liang Ji's power was so heavy that Emperor Huan had to find an extremely hidden place to plan his counterattack.

Liang Ji had already pressed the emperor, the empress dowager, and the ministers under his authority. When Emperor Huan grew older, he discovered that there was almost nowhere near the throne where he could speak safely.

Li Gu and Du Qiao Died by Liang Ji's Hand

Liu Zhi had become emperor because Liang Ji helped place him there.

But the dispute over the Prince of Qinghe had not ended. Li Gu and Du Qiao had supported Liu Suan, yet they had not joined the later plots involving Liu Wen and Liu Wei.

Liang Ji deliberately tangled the matters together. He used the confusion to accuse Li Gu and Du Qiao of conspiracy with the two Lius.

Empress Dowager Liang initially believed Du Qiao was upright and did not want to involve him. Liang Ji first targeted Li Gu.

Li Gu's reputation was too high. His students and former officials were spread across the empire. Many submitted petitions defending him, and others gathered outside palace gates.

When Empress Dowager Liang saw the outcry, she temporarily released Li Gu from prison.

The people of Luoyang cheered when they heard he was free. That public love made Liang Ji even more uneasy.

He soon decided to kill him anyway, still using the accusation of contact with the two Lius. Then he sent men to force Du Qiao to kill himself, promising that his wife and children would be spared if he died.

Du Qiao refused.

The next morning, Liang Ji's men listened at Du Qiao's gate. They heard no weeping, so they knew he had not died. Du Qiao was arrested, imprisoned, and killed in prison.

Liang Ji displayed the bodies of Li Gu and Du Qiao at the northern crossroads of Luoyang and forbade mourning.

People still risked going to pay respects.

A popular song soon spread: the straight die by the roadside, while the crooked are made marquises. Liang Ji wanted the world to see that result.

Liang Power Pressed Above the Emperor

With Li Gu and Du Qiao dead, open opposition to Liang Ji nearly disappeared.

Emperor Huan was around fifteen and should have been able to rule personally. But Empress Dowager Liang clung to power and continued to hold government.

Worse, she married another Liang sister to Emperor Huan as empress.

One of Liang Ji's sisters was empress dowager. Another was empress. The Liang family held the outer court through the General-in-Chief and the inner palace through the empress dowager and empress.

The emperor looked trapped between them.

When Empress Dowager Liang became seriously ill, she finally issued an edict returning government to Emperor Huan. A few days later she died.

Emperor Huan, in gratitude for Liang Ji's role in enthroning him, granted enormous rewards.

Liang Ji's fief eventually reached thirty thousand households. His wife Sun Shou became Lady of Xiangcheng, with an annual income of fifty million cash and ceremonial treatment like a grand princess.

Liang Ji and Sun Shou built mansions facing each other across a street and competed in luxury. Gold, silver, and jewels filled their residences. Their gardens held artificial hills, ponds, birds, and animals. They rode in hand-carried vehicles through their estates while singers and dancers served day and night.

Anyone seeking access to the Liang household had to bribe even the gatekeepers. Low clerks who passed messages could accumulate fortunes.

Liang Ji also built a Rabbit Garden west of Luoyang, stretching for dozens of li. Rabbits inside were marked by clipping a patch of hair. Anyone who hunted them could be executed.

A merchant from the Western Regions accidentally killed one rabbit. The investigation implicated more than ten people, and they died because of it.

Liang estates, gardens, clients, and private orders pressed down on both government and ordinary people.

Sun Shou and Liang Family Violence

Sun Shou was not merely Liang Ji's wife.

She was fierce, jealous, and deeply involved in family power. She had an affair with the Liang household manager Qin Gong, who rose to become Director of the Grand Granary and could freely enter her residence.

Even provincial inspectors and commandery governors, before taking office, went at night to pay respects to Qin Gong.

Sun Shou also urged Liang Ji to remove some Liang relatives from office. On the surface, this looked like humility. In reality, the open positions went to Sun family relatives.

Liang Ji was the imperial relative controlling the emperor. At home, he was pulled by his own wife's relatives.

Once Sun relatives held office, their greed and violence matched the Liang clan's. They sent private clients to counties to register women, fabricate accusations, arrest and torture them, then demand ransom from their families. Those who could not pay were often beaten to death.

The wealthy Fufeng man Shisun Fen also suffered.

Liang Ji gave him a horse and then wanted to borrow fifty million cash. Shisun Fen would lend only thirty million. Liang Ji was furious.

He sent men to falsely accuse Shisun Fen's mother of being an escaped storehouse maid from the Liang family who had stolen treasures.

Shisun Fen and his brothers were arrested, tortured, and died in prison. Their property, worth one hundred seventy million, was confiscated.

Liang Ji's clients roamed everywhere, even beyond the frontiers, searching for treasures. Wherever they went, the people hated them.

Wu Shu and Yuan Zhu

Liang Ji controlled government for more than twenty years. Large and small affairs had to pass through him.

Officials promoted to new posts were expected to visit the Liang mansion first to express thanks and take leave. Whether they went to the emperor was less important.

Wu Shu, newly appointed magistrate of Wan county, also came to take leave before assuming office. Wan was a major county in Nanyang, and Liang Ji had many clients there.

Liang Ji told Wu Shu to take care of his associates.

Wu Shu refused to his face. If petty men committed crimes, he said, they should be removed. The General-in-Chief held high office and was the empress's brother. He should honor worthy men. How could he ask a local official to protect private clients?

After taking office, Wu Shu killed dozens of Liang Ji's clients who had committed serious crimes.

Liang Ji hated him. He appeared to promote Wu Shu to inspector of Jingzhou and invited him for a farewell banquet. At the banquet, Liang Ji put poison in the wine.

Wu Shu drank and died in his carriage on the way home.

There was also Yuan Zhu, a court gentleman only nineteen years old. Seeing Liang Ji's violence, he submitted a memorial urging Emperor Huan to have the General-in-Chief retire after completing his service. Power too heavy above the ruler, he warned, would not preserve itself.

Liang Ji saw the memorial and raged. He sent men to arrest Yuan Zhu.

Yuan Zhu changed his name and fled. He pretended to be ill, then faked death and buried a body made of reeds. Liang Ji's spies still found him.

He was captured, beaten to death, and his friends and relatives were also killed.

Those who opposed Liang Ji were killed. Those who spoke were killed. Even those who might speak were eliminated.

In name, Eastern Han was still the Liu family's empire. In practice, it increasingly looked like the Liang family's world.

Emperor Huan Began to Hate Liang Ji

In his early years, Emperor Huan endured life as a puppet in order to sit on the throne. Even when Li Gu and Du Qiao were killed, he stood with Liang Ji.

But after those loyal ministers died, the emperor's own life became harder.

The outer court was held by Liang Ji. The inner palace had been controlled by Empress Dowager Liang and Empress Liang.

Empress Liang relied on her sister the empress dowager and her brother the General-in-Chief. She was arrogant, extravagant, and jealous. When other consorts gained favor or became pregnant, she often had them harmed.

Emperor Huan feared Liang Ji and did not dare act openly. He could only reduce the number of times Empress Liang attended him.

On New Year's Day of 151, officials gathered for court. Liang Ji entered the palace wearing a sword. Secretariat official Zhang Ling shouted at him, ordered guards to seize the sword, and impeached Liang Ji, asking that he be sent to the law authorities.

The time had not come. Emperor Huan only fined Liang Ji one year's salary.

Another time, after a solar eclipse, the Grand Astrologer Chen Shou submitted that the disaster was caused by General-in-Chief Liang Ji. Liang Ji instructed the magistrate of Luoyang to arrest Chen Shou, who died in prison.

Emperor Huan hated Liang Ji even more. Without the emperor's command, Liang Ji dared kill a state official. This powerful minister was no longer merely suppressing the emperor. He was issuing commands in the emperor's place.

When Empress Liang Died, the Bond Broke

In 159, Empress Liang died.

She had no son and had lived in anger after losing favor. Once she was gone, the last inner-palace bond between Emperor Huan and the Liang clan snapped.

Emperor Huan was now twenty-eight, no longer the boy Liang Ji had helped lift to the throne.

He wanted to take power back. But when he looked across the court, most high officials were controlled by the Liang family. He could not safely plot in the outer court.

So he looked to the eunuchs around him.

One day, Emperor Huan pulled the eunuch Tang Heng into a toilet room and asked in a low voice who at court was not aligned with the Liang family.

Tang Heng answered that Shan Chao, Zuo Guan, Xu Huang, Ju Yuan, and others all hated Liang arrogance.

The emperor immediately summoned them for secret discussion. The General-in-Chief Liang family, he said, controlled government inside and outside the palace. Ministers obeyed them. He wanted to remove the Liang clan. Could they do it?

Shan Chao and the others answered that the Liang family were state criminals and should long ago have been destroyed. They only feared the emperor might hesitate.

Emperor Huan replied that at this point there was nothing left to hesitate over.

Eunuchs Surrounded the Liang Mansion

At just that moment, Liang Ji created another opening.

Emperor Huan favored Consort Deng. To secure his influence, Liang Ji had adopted her as a daughter and made her take the Liang surname. But he also feared that the Deng family might rise and compete with the Liang.

He killed the husband of Consort Deng's elder sister and then planned to harm Consort Deng's mother.

Consort Deng's mother reported this to Emperor Huan.

The emperor finally acted. He ordered the five eunuchs Shan Chao, Ju Yuan, Tang Heng, Zuo Guan, and Xu Huang to lead troops, surround Liang Ji's residence, and seize the seal and cord of the General-in-Chief.

Liang Ji and Sun Shou killed themselves that same day.

The Liang and Sun families, along with relatives in the capital and provinces, were arrested and sent to imperial prison. Men, women, old, and young were taken to the marketplace and executed. Bodies were exposed in the street.

More than three hundred former students and officials attached to Liang Ji were dismissed, leaving large numbers of posts suddenly empty.

The seemingly invincible Liang clan had fallen.

In a toilet room, the emperor had made his plan. With a handful of eunuchs commanding troops, he removed the General-in-Chief who had pressed on Eastern Han for more than twenty years.

But Liang Ji's death did not automatically return government to clean order.

The Liang family left the stage. New meritorious men now stood beside the emperor.