Late Reign
After the coup d'état against the Dous, Emperor He appeared actually take power, and Empress Dowager Dou lost all power, although he continued to honor her as his mother, apparently having some inkling but not knowing for sure that she was not his birth mother. Prince Qing became a trusted advisor of his, as did Zheng—which started an escalating trend of eunuchs being involved with government matters, lasting for the rest of the Eastern Han Dynasty; in fact, in 102, Zheng was created marquess, in an unprecedented action. In the aftermaths of the coup d'état, innumerable officials accused of being the Dous' associates were arrested or removed from their posts. The chief among them were the historian Ban Gu, who was a chief assistant of Dou Xian and who had apparently been complicit in Dou's autocracy, as well as the commander of the armed forces Song You (宋由), although Ban Gu's brother Ban Chao was not affected and continued to enjoy imperial support in his Xiyu (modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia) campaigns. In 97, Ban Chao would send his assistant Gan Ying (甘英) on a mission to the Roman Empire—but Gan would turn back after reaching an unnamed shore, which might have been the shore of the Persian Gulf or the Mediterranean Sea—without reaching Rome. In 102, after Ban Chao's retirement, however, mismanagement would lead to the Xiyu kingdoms to rebel against Han authority, and the suzerainty over Xiyu was lost.
The reign of Emperor He was generally one free of major corruption, and the young emperor was himself humble and unassuming. He also appeared to genuinely care for the people. However, he was also undistinguished as an emperor, as he appeared to lack the abilities of his father and grandfather in actively doing what is good for the people.
In 97, Empress Dowager Dou died. It was only at this time that officials revealed to Emperor He that he was born of Consort Liang. He sought out her brothers and honored them with powerful posts—and from this point on, the Liang clan would become one of the most powerful in the Eastern Han aristocracy. He also posthumously rewarded her with an empress title. However, he rejected a suggestion that Empress Dowager Dou be posthumously demoted, and he buried her with full imperial honors with his father Emperor Zhang. (He also posthumously honored his brother Prince Qing's mother with lesser honors and awarded her brothers with minor posts.)
Read more about this topic: Emperor He Of Han
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