In the first year of Pingkang (1007), with the conclusion of a grand enthronement ceremony in the Qianyuan Hall, the Han Empire completed the inheritance of the throne and the transfer of power, at least legally and righteously.
When Liu Wenpeng, who had not completely gotten rid of his childishness, sat on the supreme throne and accepted the worship of the royal family, ministers and envoys from various countries, even after countless rehearsals and preparations in advance, the moment finally arrived and faced this The young man still felt awkward and nervous in his heart despite the huge scene.
If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight. At this moment, he had not truly enjoyed the supreme power and prestige of the emperor, but he felt the overwhelming weight of the country, the country, and the country on his shoulders, which made him breathless.
For the entire upper echelon of the empire, the country's lack of a king is a "novel" thing. After all, such a situation has not occurred for almost sixty years.
When Liu Wenpeng sat on the throne, almost all the ministers and ministers stared at the new king with wide eyes. Although everyone was paying attention, there was inevitably curiosity, scrutiny and even suspicion in many eyes, because no one could I don’t know what this young emperor can bring to the Han Empire, and whether he can shoulder the important task of leading the empire.
Even the distinguished officials and veterans of Yongxi were also cautious towards the young emperor. They had long been accustomed to having an authoritative and solemn emperor above their heads, whether he was strong, gentle, wise or willful, but There is always a backbone that can make the final decision.
This suddenness, if replaced by a young emperor who can't see the depth and feel the pulse, is always difficult for people to adapt to. After entering the Pingkang era, how the new monarch and his ministers get along is a subject worthy of in-depth study for both parties.
There is no doubt that in the past sixty years, the entire empire has been a process in which the power of the monarch is more important than the power of the ministers, and it has gradually reached the pinnacle of imperial power. However, it is foreseeable that this situation will change from the beginning of the new monarch's accession to the throne. .
The enthronement ceremony in the Qianyuan Palace is just a ceremony and a performance to announce the new emperor's succession to the world. Those honorable ministers and high-ranking officials of the empire who bowed to the ground and worshiped respectfully will not be right just because they kneel on the ground. The new emperor was so convinced that even Emperor Taizong failed to do so at the beginning of his succession, let alone a young man like Liu Wenpeng.
What they worship is the emperor of the empire. It is a system and consensus that includes everyone that the two generations of emperors Shizu and Taizong have constructed and perfected over the past sixty years. As long as they are in this system, as long as this mechanism is still functioning normally, then No matter who sits in that position, he will be worshiped by all ministers, otherwise he will be rejected by the entire system and national consciousness.
As both young emperors, the new emperor Liu Wenpeng is obviously much more relaxed than his grandfather, Emperor Shizu, when he succeeded to the throne. At least, he does not have to fight for power so hard, run the country without food and clothing, and does not have to worry day and night. A matter of life and death.
Under normal circumstances, he only needs to rule from the top down, and the whole world is at his feet. Even if he rules by doing nothing and ends in vain, he may still be able to gain a good reputation as a "wise" emperor.
Perhaps the most fortunate thing about Liu Wenpeng is that his father is Emperor Taizong. During his lifetime, his father spent fourteen years rectifying a series of problems in the middle and later stages of Kaibao, which greatly alleviated various social conflicts that had accumulated since the founding of the People's Republic of China. What he left to him was a country with external security and internal stability. Yangtian Dynasty.
When it comes to the inheritance of the empire, Emperor Taizong was more thoughtful and made almost all arrangements for the funeral before his death. The most important thing among them was undoubtedly the arrangement of the auxiliary ministers.
Zhang Qi Wang Liu Zhao and the three sect kings were in charge. Such an auxiliary administrative team does not require his concerted efforts. As long as they maintain unity in the general direction, it will be enough to suppress the entire court and the empire inside and outside.
Precisely because everything was guided by Taizong's edict, the imperial court maintained basic stability and relative balance before and after the new emperor ascended the throne. Instead of a lot of bad things like when Liu Yang succeeded to the throne.
At that time, after all, the situation was special. The ancestor died without leaving any edicts. More importantly, the death of the ancestor was caused by the death of Taizong. Although the world was shattered, the shock it brought to people had already caused ideological confusion, and it was also There's no comparison.
After Taizong Liu Yang persisted in correcting and improving the system for more than ten years, the politics of the Han Empire had become mature and stable enough, and tended to be rational.
From a historical perspective, the Yongxi era led by Taizong Liu Yang was a transitional period for the Han Empire and an extremely important development stage.
Under Liu Yang's hard work and hard work, the Han Empire experienced a long period of stability, peace, prosperity and strength. With the assistance of a group of famous Yongxi ministers, Emperor Taizong personally sketched a glorious historical picture of a prosperous era.
The successor to it is a great and magnificent martial arts era created by Emperor Shizu himself. The successor to it is still waiting for the young emperor Liu Wenpeng and the upper-level officials of the empire to open the door behind it. , whether what greets the people of the world will be a new round of prosperity, rule, or even troubled times, remains to be tested by time.
Time entered the Pingkang era, the emperor changed, the reign name changed, and history opened a new chapter. At the same time, the upper class of the empire has not changed, the ministers who hold the power in the political affairs hall have not changed, and the political style inherited from the Yongxi era has not changed.
It can be said at least that in the first half of the first year of Pingkang, the entire Han Empire seemed to be moving forward according to the practices of the Yongxi era except for a new emperor, relying on inertia and even instinct. Political and military, economic and people's livelihood, This is true.
Emperor Taizong is gone, but the set of rules and systems he left behind will still guide the monarchs and ministers of the new dynasty for a long time, and also restrain everyone in the system. Until someone steps forward to break this inertia and balance
The young emperor Liu Wenpeng did not have the brilliance and brilliance of Emperor Shizu and his destiny, nor was he as good as Emperor Taizong's years of accumulation and perseverance. To be honest, he did not have the ability to control the stable navigation of the great ship of the Han Empire, at least when he succeeded to the throne. At the beginning, he did not have such means and strength.
Therefore, he was unable to proactively and quickly establish his authority and inject his own will and ideas into the upper echelons of the empire like his grandfather and father.
Xiao Gui followed Cao, and ruled from the top. Being an emperor of peace is not a "broad road". However, that possibility is slim. In the autocratic monarchy system of the Han Empire, the emperor had too much dominant power, and the empire's political ecology has already been infused with the gene of "strongman politics". Even those gentle and elegant officials When Confucian scholars fought in the arena of imperial power, it was with bared teeth and claws, ferocious and terrifying.
Therefore, the peace of the Pingkang era only lasted for about half a year. During these six months, the young emperor Liu Wenpeng sat on the throne. While he was learning and trying to be an emperor, he could not fully enjoy all the power as the supreme ruler of the Han Empire. All military and state affairs were handled by Yongxi's ministers, and all national decrees were handled by Yongxi. The Political Affairs Hall announced that, in the words of those assistant ministers, the emperor was still young and needed to study clearly and understand politics. As for political affairs, there were veteran ministers who took care of them according to Taizong's edict.
Not to mention how Emperor Liu Wenpeng felt about this, the young emperor who had just succeeded to the throne and whose authority was not stable could not actually play a big role in the empire's mature mechanism. We are in a state of having empty treasures and not knowing how to use them.
The most intolerable situation of ministerial authority overriding the monarch's authority, and the one who was the first to take advantage of it, was Murong who was promoted to the Queen Mother. It was Murong who personally broke the empire that Emperor Taizong built to protect Liu Wenpeng. The power structure at the top.
In July of the first year of Pingkang, under the conspiracies of the Empress Dowager Murong and Murong Defeng, the Minister Zuocheng (actually forced by the Empress Dowager, who insisted on going her own way, Murong Defeng had no choice but to obey), a group of courtiers were gathered to discuss the issue of "conferring the king to the country" .
This proposal was made not only for Annan King Liu Wenhuan, Linyi King Liu Shu, and Andong King Liu Wenyuan, who were still staying in the capital after the funeral, but the most important ones were the two kings of Zhao and Lu who were high in Zaitang.
These two brothers and two emperor uncles, one was Zhongshu Ling for fifteen years, and the other was Taifu and participated in political affairs. They both had great influence in the military and government, especially Zhao Wang Liu Fang, who was even the Emperor Taizong. A person who was once extremely fearful, let alone Murong.
In Murong's eyes, those foreign ministers who were in power could be temporarily tolerated, but the two kings could not be allowed to stay in the center for a long time, otherwise they would be a great threat to Liu Wenpeng's throne. The reason for initiating the discussion on "national system" was because both kings had a fiefdom.
Although Liu Fang's Beiting throne was passed to his son Liu Wengong, in everyone's mind, he was still the first-generation Beiting King. That was granted by Emperor Shizu and no one could take it away. As for the fiefdoms of King Lu Liu Ai, it was in the 10th year of Yongxi Emperor Taizong's reign that he initiated enfeoffment again and enfeoffed all his disciples in the Nanhai Islands (Philippines), Bo Ni Island (Kalimantan) and other areas newly colonized by the new Nanyang merchants. .
It's just that after the land was sealed, they were not forced to go to sea to live in the country and run the business themselves. What Empress Dowager Murong wanted was obviously to implement the "national system" established by Shizu and perfected by Taizong.
As soon as this proposal came out, it naturally caused shock in the whole court. They were all supported by "legal principles", so everyone naturally had their own opinions. Although several princes who had been crowned kings long ago wanted to see the excitement in Luoyang, they could not help but bring disaster to their lives, so they said goodbye to the little emperor and left the capital in the autumn of that year.
The two kings Zhao and Lu, who were the main targets of the Queen Mother, made different choices under the pressure of public opinion in the Manchu Dynasty. Liu Fang took the initiative to bid farewell to his old age, but the king of Beiting had already given it to his eldest son, so he requested to go to Mang Mountain to guard the mausoleum of the ancestor.
King Lu Liu Ai was ill. Since he was ill, the errands and authority of the Political Affairs Hall were given up, and his feudal kingdom far away in the South China Sea Island could not go there for the time being. At this point, Empress Dowager Murong was basically satisfied.
To be fair, it is difficult for Empress Dowager Murong and Murong Defeng to completely suppress the two kings. After all, the two kings are not weak. However, in this process, many forces will end up.
The fundamental reason is that there are not a few people who are suspicious of the two kings, especially King Zhao Liu Fang. These are the "Four Princes" under the control of Emperor Shizu. This halo is shining every few years. After entering the Pingkang era, it becomes even more precious.
Such an imperial uncle with a distinguished status, outstanding achievements, profound qualifications and great reputation, working with the ministers to assist the young master, puts great pressure on others.
It was precisely because of this potential consensus that when the momentum grew, Liu Fang felt that the entire dynasty had given up. It is not Liu Fang's personality to show weakness and retreat, but he is almost sixty years old and has no intention of fighting with others. For the sake of the stability of the court, taking a step back is his choice to consider the overall situation.
In contrast, Lu Wang Liu Ai was somewhat unwilling to give up. However, after public opinion was stirred up, the fourth brother Liu Fang refused to take the lead in the attack. He also had no choice but to endure the anger for a while and hide his strength and bide his time.
Empress Dowager Murong's motive for deposing the two kings is understandable. The method was not clever, but she succeeded in the end. However, as far as the result of this matter was concerned, the little emperor did not really have power. The power of the Han Dynasty was still shared by Yongxi's ministers.
Second, it offended the clan kings headed by the two kings of Zhao and Lu. Although they were sealed far away, their roots were still in the Han Dynasty. Their surname was Liu and they were descendants of Emperor Shizu, but they were regarded as "outsiders", which obviously made people alienated easily.
As for these two results, the latter was not something Empress Dowager Murong could take into consideration, while the former prompted him to take the next step. If he succeeded in politics once, there would be a second and third time.
In the second half of the first year of Pingkang, Empress Dowager Murong, in the name of the emperor, gave a lot of rewards and promotions to some of the Murong family's children, basically based on their age and seniority. There is no doubt that this is a very crude and ugly method. .
Not to mention whether Empress Dowager Murong's placement of Murong's children and disciples in the court can truly strengthen the imperial power and consolidate Liu Wenpeng's throne. What is certain is that this kind of crude interference in politics also angered Yongxi's senior ministers. caused a lot of criticism and dissatisfaction.
This dissatisfaction reached its peak when Empress Dowager Murong planned to remove Zhang Qixian from the post of minister and promote Murong Defeng to the throne. The backlash also comes from this.
The resistance of the auxiliary ministers was also based on legal principles. The Queen Mother's actions and interference in politics were discussed separately, but her words and actions were completely challenging the auxiliary government system established by Emperor Taizong. Although Zhang Qixian's talents, prestige, and qualifications are not enough to completely convince all the ministers and veterans, he is the core of the auxiliary ministers set by Taizong. Now this mechanism has not been running for a full year, and some people want to change the core.
This is absolutely intolerable. The majesty of Emperor Taizong cannot tolerate the provocation of a mere woman! Of course, the fundamental reason is still the struggle for power.
The counterattack from the auxiliary ministers occurred in the second spring of the second year of Pingkang, when the prime minister, Shangshu Youcheng, and the most sober and talented among the Murong clan, Murong Defeng, died of illness.
During his lifetime, Murong Defeng worked hard to maintain the stability within the court and bridge the conflicts between the Queen Mother and Yongxi's ministers. However, shortly after his death, a political action was launched against the Queen Mother's interference in politics.
Of course, no matter how much criticism the Empress Dowager Murong had for her previous actions, even if she criticized a "Jiji Sichen", she was at least doing it in the name of the emperor, and her legitimacy is unquestionable. At the same time, it is a big deal for a minister to commit a crime. For Yongxi's assistant minister, this decision is not easy to make. This extremely difficult action must be initiated by a more suitable person.
Someone thought of King Zhao, but unfortunately Liu Fang ignored him. In the end, the "recovered" King of Lu, Liu Ai, led a group of ministers to go to the palace and carried out a petition (forcing) to "move the palace".
Until the second year of Pingkang, Empress Dowager Murong still lived in Kunming Hall, and the goal Liu Yan and others wanted to achieve was to ask the Empress Dowager to give up the "Phoenix Palace" so that the Central Palace (Empress Yang, Yang Ye's granddaughter) could take her rightful place. As for the Queen Mother, she moved to Ciming Hall according to established rules.
Of course, this is not just as simple as moving to a palace, but more importantly, cutting off the Queen Mother's hands in politics and severing her ties with foreign dynasties. When Lu Wang Liu Ai came forward on behalf of the clan and the public ministers and officials united, , a weak young emperor could not prevent all this from happening.
The success of moving the palace to prevent Empress Dowager Murong from interfering in the government's affairs also invisibly weakened the authority of the emperor. It is conceivable that the Queen Mother's words were of no avail, and the new Murong clan's children and disciples promoted by her were subsequently liquidated and kicked out of the court one by one.
As a result, the power of the Han Empire was completely controlled by a group of auxiliary ministers composed of Lu Wang Liu Ai and Yongxi's auxiliary ministers such as Zhang Qixian and Li Hang. This group may not be very strong, but for a period of time, they were indeed at the helm of the direction of the Han Empire. After the previous turmoil, the emperor's influence on his ministers was once close to zero.
During the entire political turmoil that occurred in the upper echelons of the empire from the autumn of the first year of Pingkang to the spring of the second year of Pingkang, the emperor Liu Wenpeng basically just watched with a cold eye and was really unable to intervene.
But at the same time, the little emperor was quietly accumulating more and more dissatisfaction in his heart. At least, the emperor's uncle and the prime ministers should not bully and force the empress dowager like that. She was his mother!
