Emperor Huan of Han - Late Reign: Empowerment of The Eunuchs

Late Reign: Empowerment of The Eunuchs

After Liang Ji's death, Emperor Huan created Liang Mengnü empress, but disliked her family name, and therefore ordered her to take the family name Bo (薄). Later, he found out that her original family name was actually Deng, and therefore had her family name restored.

The people had great expectations for Emperor Huan's administration after the death of Liang Ji. However, having been able to overthrow Liang Ji with the five eunuchs' help, Emperor Huan greatly rewarded them, creating them and several other eunuchs who participated in the coup d'état marquesses and further gave them governmental posts that conferred tremendous power. Further, the five eunuch-marquesses openly engaged in massive corruption and became extremely wealthy, with Emperor Huan's approval. A song written about four remaining eunuch-marquesses, after Dan's death, described them in this way:

Zuo can reverse heaven's decision. Ju sits by himself without match. Xu is a lying wolf. Tang's power is as prevalent as the falling rain.

Emperor Huan himself was also corrupt and unwilling to accept any criticism. In 159, when the honest county magistrate Li Yun (李雲) submitted a petition urging him to curb the power of the eunuchs, Emperor Huan was deeply offended that he included the phrase, "Is the emperor turning blind?" and, despite intercessions by a number of officials and even some fairly-minded eunuchs, had Li and his friend Du Zhong (杜眾) both executed.

In 161, apparently in reaction to spending due to renewed Qiang rebellions and new agrarian revolts, Emperor Huan issued an edict offering minor offices for sale—including imperial guard officer positions. (This practice set a bad precedent and would become even more prevalent and problematic under Emperor Huan's successor, Emperor Ling.) While Emperor Huan actually appeared to have a knack for finding good generals to suppress the rebellions or to persuade the rebels to surrender, the rampant corruption would cause new rebellions as soon as the old ones are quelled.

In 165, perhaps finally fed up with the eunuchs' excess, Emperor Huan demoted the only remaining of the five—Ju. Several other corrupt eunuchs were also demoted or deposed. However, soon thereafter, the eunuchs' powers were restored again. For the rest of Emperor Huan's reign, there would be a cycle of rise and fall of power of the eunuchs after conflicts with officials, but inexorably the eunuchs would return, becoming more powerful than before.

Later that year, apparently tired of Empress Deng and sick of her disputes with a favorite consort of his, Consort Guo, Emperor Huan deposed and imprisoned her. She died in anger, and several of her family members were executed. He wanted to create another consort, Tian Sheng (田聖) empress, but officials opposed on the basis that she was of lowly birth, and recommended that he create Consort Dou Miao (竇妙), the daughter of Dou Wu (竇武), a Confucian scholar and a descendant of Dou Rong (竇融), who had contributed much to the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, empress. Even though he did not favor Consort Dou, Emperor Huan gave in to pressure and created her empress.

In 166, a major public confrontation between university students and eunuchs evolved into a major incident. The governor of the capital province (modern western Henan and central Shaanxi), Li Ying, had arrested and executed a fortuneteller named Zhang Cheng (張成), who had had his son kill a man, having predicted that a general pardon was coming. Li was arrested, and 200 some university students signed a petition requesting his release—which further angered Emperor Huan, who had the students arrested. Only after about a year and Dou Wu's intercession were Li and the university students released, but all of them had their citizenship rights stripped. This incident was later known as the first Disaster of Partisan Prohibition.

In 168, Emperor Huan died without a son. Empress Dou, jealous of how he favored Consort Tian, had her immediately put to death. She conducted a survey among the members of the imperial clan, and decided on the 11-year-old Liu Hong (劉宏), the Marquess of Jieduting, who then ascended the throne as Emperor Ling.