Huo Guang was appointed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty began to monopolize power. In the early years of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, the power of the Huo family reached its peak, seriously threatening the imperial power, and Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty was like a man on his back every time he saw Huo Guang. However, after the death of Huo Guang in the second year of Emperor Han Jie (68 years ago), Emperor Xuan of Han eradicated the Huo family in only two years, so how did Emperor Xuan of Han, who had no foundation, do all this?
In its heyday, it held military and political power. Huo Zhaoyi even succeeded in overthrowing the emperor.
The rise of the Huo family is inseparable from Huo Guang, as Huo Quai's half-brother, Huo Guang was able to enter the imperial court as an official by virtue of his connections, and for a long time he was very sympathetic to Emperor Wu of Han and worked beside Emperor Wu of Han. In the second year of the Later Yuan Dynasty (87 BC), when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was dying, Huo Qubing appointed Guang as the Great Sima and the Great General, and asked him to assist the eight-year-old Emperor Liu Fuling of the Han Zhao Emperor together with Jin Riyan, Shangguan Ji, Sang Hongyang and others, thus beginning the rise of the Huo family.
In the first year of Yuanfeng (80 BC), Sang Hongyang, Shangguan Ji, Princess Gai Chang, and Liu Dan, the king of Yan, were executed for plotting a coup d'état to get rid of Huo Guang and depose Emperor Zhao. Due to the death of Kim Il-pan six years earlier, Huo Guang became the only survivor of the four ministers, and with the full trust of Emperor Zhao, Huo Guang monopolized military and political power.
Later, before the death of Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, Huo Guang expanded his influence throughout the country by encouraging the children and colleagues of the Huo family. After Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne in the first year of Yuanping (74 BC), the Huo family's power reached its peak, and they not only firmly controlled the government but also completely controlled the military system.
Let's briefly list the power of the Huo family at the beginning of Emperor Xuan's accession to the throne:
As the core figure, Huo Guang held military and political power as the Great Sima, the Great General and the Monk;
Huo Guang's son Huo Yu and Huo Guang's nephew Huo Yun led the Jinyi Guard as Zhonglang generals;
Huo Guang's grandson, Huo Shan, was the captain of Fengche and was in charge of the Hu Yue cavalry of the Praetorian Guard;
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Fan Mingyou, was the guard captain of Weiyang Palace, and General Qu Liao was in charge of the Weiyang Palace guard;
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Deng Guanghan, is the chief guard of Changle Palace, responsible for guarding Changle Palace;
Huo Guang's son-in-law Ren Sheng served as the commander of Zhonglang Palace Feilin Wei;
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Zhao Ping, was a cavalry lieutenant and commanded the Feilin Army (i.e., the Jianzhang Palace Guard);
Huo Guang's grandson Wang Han is the Zhonglang general in charge of Jinyiwei;
Zhang Shu, the son-in-law of Huo Guang's nephew, was successively appointed as Guang's doctor and lieutenant, and participated in the discussion of court politics.
The above is not counting Huo Guang's cronies, but when Emperor Xuan of Han besieged the city, Huo Guang's children simply made him anxious, which is what Emperor Xuan of Han said every time he saw Huo Guang"If there is a thorn in the back, it is shameful"Causes. As Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, if Huo Guang's children are by his side, let alone pro-government, I am afraid it is unlikely that he will even sleep peacefully.
Faced with the powerful Huo family, Emperor Xuan of Han could only choose to retreat.
At the beginning of Emperor Xuan of Han's accession to the throne, Huo Guang expressed his desire to regain the throne, but Emperor Xuan of Han did not dare to accept it, so he had to pretend that he could not preside over the government and let Huo Guang continue to control the government. In this way, Huo Guang can continue to be in charge of the government, and the ministers must ask Huo Guang before reporting to Emperor Xuan of Han, Emperor Xuan of Han can't do anything, and even pretend to ask for help in front of Huo Guang, and his etiquette posture is much worse.
Huo Guang's wife, Huo Xian, considered appointing her own daughter as the queen in order to strengthen her control over Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, and the ministers wrote letters of support and formed an alliance with Huo Guang. Emperor Xuan of Han didn't want to give all his cushions to the Huo family, let alone mention that Xu Pingjun married him during exile, so he didn't want to disappoint him and insisted on making Xu Pingjun his queen.
Emperor Xuan's actions angered Huo Xian, and he took advantage of Xu Pingjun's work to order the imperial physician Chun Yuyan to poison Xu Pingjun. After Xu Pingjun's death, Huo Guang's youngest daughter, Huo Chengjun, entered the palace in the third year of BC (71 BC), first becoming a beauty, and officially becoming the queen in March of the following year.
Although Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty also suspected that Xu Pingjun's death was not an ordinary death, due to the situation at the time, he had no chance to pursue it, so he had to pretend to favor Empress Huo, while Huo Chengjun was favored in the harem because of the power of his mother's family, which can be understood as the dilemma of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.
Even after Huo Guang's death, Huo Xian and Huo Chengjun wanted to poison Xu Pingyun's son and make him the crown prince, which shows the arrogance of the Huo family.
After Huo Guang's death, the power of the Huo family declined, and Emperor Xuan of Han eradicated the Huo family in only two years.
Huo Guang is the core figure of the Huo family, the decline of the Huo family began with the death of Huo Guang, although Huo Guang died in the second year of the Han Emperor (68 years ago), but at that time the Huo family was strong, and the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han under his rule was not long, and it was not easy to abolish the Huo family in a short time.
However, just two years after Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan of Han returned in despair and completely destroyed the Huo family. How did Emperor Xuan of Han do this?
Step 1: Seize power from Huo Guang and return the government to the people. After Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan of Han not only held a lavish funeral for him, but also asked for a funeral close to the emperor. Later, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty named Huo Yu, Huo Yun, and Huo Shan as marquis. Although Emperor Xuan of Han dismissed Huo Yu from his position as the right general, he promoted him to the position of Great Sima and was in charge of Shangshu affairs, which meant that the power was still in the hands of the Huo family, which was actually a smokescreen used by Emperor Xuan of Han to confuse the Huo family.
Soon, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty announced that he would personally preside over the government for five days, listen to the affairs of the palace, and ordered all ** and the people to report directly to the emperor without going through Shangshu. This move is the need of the emperor's pro-government, after Huo Guang's death, of course, no one dared to object, but Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty This move is equivalent to depriving Huo Yu of the right to inspect and measure the power, making the management of Shangshu affairs an empty title.
After Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty regained the decision-making power, he began to appoint close relatives, among whom Xu, Shi, and Wang were promoted. Xu's relatives were relatives of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty's original partner Xu Pingjun, such as his father Xu Guanghan and uncles Xu Shun and Xu Yanshou. Shi's relatives were relatives of Shi Liangdi, the grandmother of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty; Shi's nephews, Shi Gao, Shi Zeng, and Shi Xuanyuan, were relatives of Emperor Xuan's biological mother; Wang's relatives were relatives of Emperor Xuan's biological mother, such as Wang Wuxing and Wang Wu. Since most of these relatives were in the inner court** and their official positions were not high, they encountered little resistance.
As a result, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty divided the forces of his relatives by stirring up the battlefield, and promoted Wei Xiang, who had old grudges with Huo Guang, to the imperial historian and the scholar; promoted Jin Ilyan's nephew Jin Anshi to Shang Shufu; Zhang Anshi, the assassin of Shazhou, who was also in charge of servant shooting, was promoted to the great Sima. Of the three, Wei Xiang and Jin Anshang were confidants of Emperor Xuan of Han, while Zhang Anshi was a member of the Huo Guang group, so there was much less resistance. Emperor Xuan of Han encouraged Wei Xiang and Jin Anshang to confront Huo Guang, while Zhang Anshi's purpose was clearly to divide Huo Guang's forces.
Step 2: Major adjustment of positions to eliminate Huo Quai's military power. Although Emperor Xuan of Han's initial personnel arrangements included military power, he only promoted a few Langzhong, and appointed Zhang Anshi's son Zhang Yanshou as Guangluxun, responsible for palace security. Although the Huo family was nervous, they didn't feel too threatened. However, it was not long before Emperor Xuan of Han suddenly took action against the Huo family's military forces, and in an extremely violent manner.
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Lieutenant Fan Minh You, was dismissed, and General Qu Liao was transferred to Guangluxun;
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Deng Guanghan, was removed from the post of guard of Changle Palace and appointed as Shaofu;
Huo Guang's son-in-law, Ren Sheng, was dismissed from his post as the supervisor of Zhonglang Gong Feilin and transferred to Anding Taishou (present-day Guyuan, Ningxia);
Zhao Ping's cavalry lieutenant was dismissed by Huo Guang's son-in-law, and he was transferred to the loose cavalry lieutenant Guanglu Doctor and went to the Guangling Military Region;
Huo Guang's grandson, Wang Han, was dismissed from his post as a lieutenant general and appointed governor of Wuwei (present-day Wuwei, Gansu);
He dismissed Huo Guang's niece, Dr. Guanglu, from her post as the Taishou of Shu County (present-day Chengdu, Sichuan);
In this way, in addition to Huo Shan and Huo Yun, the military strength of the Huo family has almost disappeared, and the power of the Huo family has also been seriously dispersed, some of them remain in the palace, and the other part is assigned to the poor areas of the border. The original positions of Hu Yue's cavalry commander, Yu Linwei and the guards of the two palaces were replaced by the two Xu clans, so that Emperor Xuan truly eliminated the threat of the Huo clan to the imperial power.
Step 3: Force the Huo family to rebel and eradicate the Huo family in one fell swoop. Emperor Xuan of Han undoubtedly angered the Huo family with two consecutive holy decrees, and when they didn't know whether to accept the truth or violently rebel, they learned that Huo Xian had poisoned Xu Pingjun at that time, which deepened their fear. They knew that if Emperor Xuan of Han knew the truth about Xu Pingjun's killing, he would definitely not let the Huo family go, so they began to actively try to rebel.
Soon, Zhao Ping's disciple Shi Xia and Huo Yun's disciple Zhang Biao suggested that Huo Qubing join forces with the Empress Dowager Shangguan (Huo Guang's granddaughter) to stage a coup d'état and depose Emperor Xuan of Han. However, after the matter was revealed, Emperor Xuan of Han did not arrest the two, but issued an edict to remove Huo Yun and Huo Shan from their official positions, ordered them to go home, and severely reprimanded Huo Guang's children for neglecting the empress dowager and repeatedly committing the official seal. Later, Huo Yun's uncle Li Jing was ** because of the princes and kings of Caoyun, which deepened the fear of the Huo family.
The situation took a turn for the worse, and the Huo family finally decided to rebel. Their plan was for the Empress Dowager Shangguan to entertain Emperor Xuan's grandmother, Bo Pingjun, and invite Xu Guanghan and Wei Xiang to accompany her. Deng Guanghan and Fan Youming killed Xu Guanghan and Wei Xiang on behalf of the Empress Dowager Shangguan, and then the Empress Dowager Shangguan issued an edict to depose Emperor Xuan of Han.
However, before the plan could be implemented, Huo Yun was appointed as the Taishou of Xuansu County, and Huo Shan was also leaked**. Huo Xian wrote a letter hoping to use the money to atone for his crimes, but Emperor Xuan of Han ignored it.
At this time, Emperor Xuan of Han announced Huo Quai's rebellion plan. Upon learning that the matter was revealed, Huo Yun, Huo Shan and Fang Youming committed suicide, Huo Xian, Huo Yu and Deng Guanghan were captured, Huo Yu was beheaded, Huo Xian and several of his daughters and brothers were executed, and Empress Huo Chengjun was imprisoned in Zhaodai County.
Therefore, from the death of Huo Guang in March of the second year of Ji (68 BC) to the destruction of the Huo clan in July of the fourth year of Ji (66 BC), Emperor Xuan of Han carried out a Jedi counterattack in a little more than two years. After that, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty vigorously eradicated the Huo family in the court, and the number of people who were imprisoned and killed by the Huo family was in the thousands.