Emperor He of Han - The Coup D'etat Against The Dous

The Coup D'etat Against The Dous

In 92, however, the Dous would suddenly fall as the result of a coup d'etat. The details are unclear now, but it appeared that Emperor He, perhaps encouraged by his brother Prince Qing (whose mother had died at the Dous' hand and whose status as crown prince had been stripped away by their machinations) and the eunuch Zheng Zhong (鄭眾).

Based on the traditional historical accounts, some of the Dous' relatives (but not the Dous themselves) had considered murdering the emperor. (The utter lack of motive, however, has led modern historians to generally discredit this assertion.) Emperor He, fearful of being murdered, planned along with Zheng and Liu Qing to destroy the Dous' power. They received some help—in the form of historical accounts that would inspire them as to what to do—from another brother of the emperor, Liu Kang (劉伉), the Prince of Qiancheng.

In the summer, Emperor He made a sudden move, issuing an edict ordering the imperial guards to go on alert and to close the gates of the capital Luoyang. The Dous' relatives who were accused of plotting to murder the emperor were executed. An imperial messenger was sent to seize Dou Xian's seal as the commander of the armed forces. All of the empress dowager's brothers were sent back to their march but under close guard—the emperor wanted to execute them but did not want to do so publicly, so once they returned to their marches, he ordered all of them, except for the more humble Dou Gui, to commit suicide.

Read more about this topic:  Emperor He Of Han