Since the early days of the dynasty, the court had been accustomed to confer certain honorary titles (such as the title of Attendant) to individuals. These men had no specific duties or official salaries but were merely a mark of honor or favor, and there was no formal limit on the number of people who could receive the title. They could enter the palace at will, accompany the emperor personally, share some power from the emperor, and gradually form a power group. This group is what history calls the inner court, and the force composed of officially appointed civil servants with official salaries is called the outer court.
If a servant is appointed by the emperor to lead a subordinate official of the Shaofu, he has the conditions to exercise his power regardless of the criticism and authority of the official official. Over time, the most powerful person in the imperial palace was not the prime minister or the general, but the minister, because he could directly meet the emperor and obtain the necessary approval for his actions. Among this group of people, Da Sima has the highest honorary title, and therefore the power he obtains is less than one person and more than ten thousand people. At this moment, Huo Guang was an official in the inner court. He had direct contact with the emperor, and he had even more terrifying power than the eldest princess and King Yan Liu Dan.
At this time, Huo Guang felt Su Wu's ambition and recalled him to Chang'an, the capital, after being detained by the Xiongnu for nineteen years, and appointed him as a vassal. The King of Yan set out to arrange the execution of Huo Guang. When he found out that Huo Guang had done such a thing, he was overjoyed and hurriedly wrote a letter to the emperor, falsely accusing Huo Guang of intending to use the Xiongnu forces. At the same time, he secretly mobilized the capital's troops to blockade the capital, with the purpose of overthrowing Emperor Zhao and establishing himself on his own. For the emperor. King Liu Dan of Yan then asked the emperor for permission to lead troops into the palace, aiming to protect the emperor and the capital from Huo Guang. Shangguan Jie planned to wait until Huo Guang was away from the court to deliver this memorial to Emperor Zhao, and then he would announce Huo Guang's "crime" according to the content of the memorial. Sang Hongyang would organize the courtiers to coerce Huo Guang to abdicate, and then depose Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty. . The letter was delivered to Emperor Zhao's desk smoothly, but they did not expect that although Emperor Zhao was not impressive in appearance and did not make any very wise moves, he was actually very smart. So when the letter of exposure came into Emperor Zhao's hands, he didn't say anything. On the one hand, he didn't believe what King Yan said; on the other hand, he also wanted to take advantage of the situation to see how loyal Huo Guang was to him. Huo Guang soon learned about this, so on the next day he deliberately did not go to court. Instead, he stood in front of the picture of "Duke Zhou becoming king on his back" presented by the late emperor to show his innocence and at the same time to ask Emperor Zhao. Show your attitude. Sure enough, Emperor Zhao saw that Huo Guang did not come to court, so he asked the court: "Why did Huo Qing's family not come to court?" Shangguan Jie took the opportunity and said: "This proves that Huo Guang is guilty. He must have known about King Liu Dan of Yan." The informant letter shows that the intelligence network is tight and His Majesty is in danger. Please punish him." Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhao was not moved at all. He summoned Huo Guang and smiled calmly: "I know that letter is You are not guilty of spreading rumors and slander. If you want to mobilize your troops, it will take less than ten days. King Liu Dan of Yan is far away, how can you know! Besides, if you really want to overthrow me, there is no need to go to war like this!"
Shangguan Jie didn't expect that this fourteen-year-old boy would expose the plan that several of his people had worked so hard on, and he couldn't help but be afraid of Emperor Zhao. When the courtiers saw that the emperor was so smart and decisive, they were filled with admiration and could not help but want to follow the emperor wholeheartedly.
If the first plan fails, a second plan will naturally arise. The conspiracy of Shangguan Jie and others was naturally defeated under the fierce eyes of Emperor Zhao. Therefore, Shangguan Jie and others decided to take risks and use the last armed means to solve the problem. Shangguan Jie proposed a plan to King Yan, asking the eldest princess to cooperate with him. He would first paralyze Huo Guang and make him lower his guard, then entertain him and kill him at the banquet. In this way, Emperor Zhao became a bird without wings and could only be slaughtered by them. However, God is not as good as man. Shangguan Jie and others never expected that the matter would happen to an official who was in charge of rice field taxation under the eldest princess's family. It was a secret. The man heard about Shangguan Jie's plan, so he reported the conspiracy of Shangguan Jie and others to Yang Chang (son-in-law of Sima Qian), the great minister. Yang Chang was an upright man and loyal to the court. However, in order to protect himself, he reported the matter to Du Yannian, the admonishing doctor. . This man specializes in doing things that others dare not do, and he told Emperor Zhao and Huo Guang about it without any scruples. As a result, the matter was revealed, and Huo Guang and the emperor decided to take a preemptive strike before the coup was launched. Emperor Zhao ordered overnight to arrest Shangguan Jie, Sang Hongyang and other ministers who were the masterminds of the coup. Shangguan Jie was killed before he could understand where the omission was. The eldest princess and King Yan Liu Dan also knew that they would not be pardoned, so they Died by suicide.
The coup launched by Shangguan Jie was crushed by Huo Guang before it could be implemented. Queen Shangguan was not deposed because she was young and Huo Guang's granddaughter. Looking at the overall situation, the possibility of Shangguan Jie and others succeeding is actually very low. First, they have no actual power in their hands; second, although King Yan is the heir of Emperor Wu, it is unjust and unjust for him to inherit the throne, because Everyone knows that Emperor Wu's edict was to establish Liu Fulin as emperor; thirdly, the emperor was lax. Launching a coup was a major crime that would destroy the nine tribes, but their arrangements were not rigorous at all. After the incident, they did not Know where the oversight is, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
From then on, Huo Guang became dominant, and the expansion of power also stimulated the growth of ambition. Huo Guang gradually transformed from a "loyal minister" to a "powerful minister".
In terms of nature, the struggle between Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie, Yan Wangdan and others was a struggle for dominance within the feudal bureaucratic group and the clan. It was also the general outbreak of the struggle for power within the clan and the long-term mutual strife between the bureaucratic groups. Although Huo Guang and others were allowed to enter and leave the palace for a long time during Emperor Wu's period, they were still unknown officials in the court. Both their actual power and wealth were difficult to compare with many famous families. What he represented was exactly the influence of small and medium-sized landowners in the society at that time. Benefit. Therefore, to a certain extent, he was bound to be suppressed by big landowners and businessmen. The dissatisfaction of the power groups represented by Shangguan Jie, the eldest princess, and Yan Wangdan towards Emperor Zhao, who was assisted by Huo Guang, shows this Condition. Judging from the results of the struggle between the two sides, the coup of Shangguan Jie, the eldest princess and Yan Wangdan was invisibly crushed, which also dealt a heavy blow to the overall interests of the big landlords and big businessmen in the middle and late Han Dynasty. From the perspective of historical materialism From this perspective, this is conducive to inhibiting the development of backward and decadent forces, thereby promoting social progress.
Since then, Huo Guangquan has been in power and at the same time worked hard to cultivate his own power, allowing his younger brother, son, son-in-law and others to hold important positions. The power of the Huo family has reached its peak. At this moment, Emperor Zhao was only fourteen years old. Later generations commented: "Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty was fourteen years old. He was able to detect Huo Guang's loyalty, know the fraud of King Yan's letter, and execute Sang Hongyang and Shangguan Jie. Gaozu, Wen, and Jing all Not as good as that.”
Seeing Emperor Zhao's great talent, Huo Guang secretly thought that if nothing unexpected happened in the future, Emperor Zhao would definitely become a wise king.
Therefore, Huo Guang decided to assist Emperor Zhao wholeheartedly. With his assistance, Emperor Zhao mainly carried out the following reforms. First, Huo Guang saw that in the last years of Emperor Wu's reign, foreign wars and various enfeoffments had caused serious losses in national power. Farmers were burdened with heavy burdens and a large number of bankruptcies, which continued to intensify domestic conflicts. Therefore, Huo Guang suggested to Emperor Zhao that he repeatedly ordered to reduce the burden on the people, eliminate redundant personnel, reduce taxes, and rest with the people. The two were related to the war with the Xiongnu. Before Emperor Zhao succeeded to the throne, Huo Guang was dissatisfied with Emperor Wu's militaristic approach. However, Huo Guang was too weak at that time and did not dare to express his feelings. Now that Huo Guang had sole power, he negotiated with Emperor Zhao to change the policy of long-term war against the Xiongnu during the reign of Emperor Wu. On the one hand, he renewed his marriage with the Xiongnu to improve the relationship between the two parties; on the other hand, he strengthened the northern defense and defeated the invading Xiongnu many times. , Wuhuan, etc., thus stopping the large-scale wars during the Emperor Wu period, which was conducive to the recovery and development of the domestic economy, and was also conducive to the stability of the internal political system of the dynasty and the consolidation of autocratic power. The three of them mainly carried out reforms in the economic aspect. Before Shangguan Jie and others were executed, Huo Guang had huge political differences with them, that is, whether to monopolize salt and iron. During the reign of Emperor Wu, the monopoly on salt and iron was implemented, which aroused discussion in the world. Therefore, soon after Emperor Zhao succeeded to the throne, Huo Guang convened the "Salt and Iron Conference" in the sixth year of the First Yuan Dynasty (81 BC) to discuss various policies during the reign of Emperor Wu. The book "On Salt and Iron" edited by Huan Kuan has a relatively detailed record of this discussion on the economic policies of the Han Dynasty. In fact, the implementation of the economic policies of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty such as salt, iron, and even wine and rice had a complex social background. At that time, Emperor Wu was fighting against the Xiongnu with all his strength, and the national finances were in a state of emptiness. These policies were to broaden financial resources and increase tax revenue. Temporary policy. However, Emperor Wu did not expect that with the extension of the state system and the prolongation of the war, the implementation of policies such as official salt and iron production, wine harvesting, and equalization of exports gradually went against Emperor Wu's original intentions, and the interests of small and medium-sized landowners were deeply damaged. , most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of big bureaucrats, big landowners and big businessmen. As a result, there emerged a situation where officials "committed adultery and sold themselves off", "peasants suffered more and women were taxed again", and "rich officials and wealthy businessmen accumulated goods to wait for emergencies, while treacherous officials took advantage of the lowly to gain the high". In this situation, big bureaucrats and big landowners are accumulating more and more wealth, while small and medium-sized landowners and ordinary people are becoming increasingly poor.
Therefore, as early as the beginning of Emperor Zhao's accession to the throne, Huo Guang followed this request to change the economic policies of salt and iron government management, wine research, and equalization. In order to prepare for the convening of the Salt and Iron Conference, in the leap twelfth month of the first year of Emperor Zhao's reign (86 BC), Huo Guang sent five people, including the then Tingwei Wang Ping, to travel to the county to inspect the virtuous, visit the people's sufferings, and collect information. Material evidence related to salt and iron policy. After debate, Emperor Zhao issued an edict to retain the salt and iron monopoly, but cancel the wine monopoly. Later, policies such as official management of salt and iron and equal distribution of output were gradually abolished, which fundamentally suppressed the interests of big landowners and big businessmen, eased social conflicts to a certain extent, adjusted class relations, and ultimately put the Han Dynasty's economy on the right track. the road to recovery and development. Overall, the strict implementation of these three measures allowed the political, economic and military conflicts left over by Emperor Wu to be basically controlled in the later period. The declining trend of the Western Han Dynasty was reversed, and the national power was enhanced. It was known in history as "the common people" Enriched, all foreigners will be convinced." Ban Gu also commented in the "Book of Han": "At the end of Emperor Wu's reign, the country was wasted and the household registration was reduced by half. Huo Guang knew the importance of current affairs, did little corvee and paid little tax, and rested with the people. At the end of the year, the Xiongnu made peace, the people were enriched, and the people were a little licentious. , Jingzhiye.”
