Why did the Han Dynasty have the exclusive rights of consorts many times? What caused it?
0 1. During the Han Dynasty, because most emperors died short-lived and early, or were fatuous and cowardly, "the Queen Mother came to Korea and consorts assisted the government" became the norm, which provided opportunities for consorts to monopolize power. Most emperors in the Han Dynasty were greedy for pleasure, dissolute, and gave birth to children in groups before reaching adulthood, which led to insufficient blood gas's birth, weak body and short life. For example, the birthday of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty is 48, that of Emperor Zhang is 33, that of Emperor He is 27, that of Emperor Shang is 2, that of Emperor An is 32, that of Emperor Shun is 30, that of Emperor Chong is 3, that of Emperor Zhi is 9, that of Emperor Huan is 36, that of Emperor Ling is 34 and so on. Basically, it is considered a long life to live beyond the age of 40.
The most direct consequence of the emperor's lack of longevity is that he left no children, or the emperor who succeeded him was too young to take power. During this period of imperial power, the emperor's mother, the empress dowager, usually took charge of the government. The Empress Dowager is a woman, most of whom have no political experience. She must find some reliable helpers to help her deal with political affairs. Then, when it comes to military and personal life, is there anyone more reliable than family? So, the queen mother got the word alone, and a group of consorts went to heaven.
However, once the consorts hold real power and occupy high positions, they will try their best to stay rich and strong forever. For example, after the death of the first emperor, when choosing an heir, he deliberately made a young one instead of a long one, because when the young emperor came of age, the queen mother had to be ruled by the emperor. For example, after the death of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, Lu's consorts first made the young one a little emperor, but when he was a little older, he abolished it and changed the young Changshan King into the emperor. Therefore, the power of state affairs is always in the hands of Lu's consorts.
Another situation is that the emperor himself is weak and incompetent, or because the first emperor had no children, came from a foreign vassal and had no foundation in the DPRK. In order to keep his throne, they had to rely on the queen mother and consorts, and of course they had to entrust politics to them. For example, Emperor Ai and Emperor Ping in the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor An, Emperor Zhi, Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
02. "Han inherited the Qin system", the empress dowager's autocracy and consorts assisted the Qin dynasty, which had a great influence on the political ecology of the Han dynasty. In fact, there are precedents for the empress dowager's authoritarian power and consorts' assistance in the Qin Dynasty. For example, the famous Empress Xuan's authoritarian power in the Qin State opened the history of the empress dowager's administration: "Less, the Empress Xuan is autonomous and Wei Ren is appointed." (Biography of Historical Records) While the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, concubines followed suit, and finally carried forward the system of the empress dowager's autocratic power and consorts' auxiliary government.
03. Emperor's Reuse In order to consolidate feudal centralization and prevent excessive expansion of one party's power, the emperor always takes measures to check and balance it. Of course, the emperor is more willing to trust his wife's family than a courtier who is not related by blood or an imperial clan who threatens his throne.
Because of the special relationship between the queen, consorts and the royal family, the power, interests and even fate of consorts are closely linked with the emperor. Not only will they not pose a serious threat to the imperial power, on the contrary, they will spare no effort to safeguard and strengthen the imperial power in order to safeguard their vested interests. Therefore, the emperor of Han Dynasty attached great importance to consorts and entrusted them with important tasks, which objectively promoted their development.
Not only the Emperor Huan of Han Dynasty and the Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, but also the talented Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty failed to avoid customs. Wei Zifu, her younger brother Wei Qing, and Wei Qing's nephew Huo Qubing were all highly valued by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and finally made great achievements and went down in history.
Emperor Wu is a wise monarch. In order to put an end to the national chaos and the exclusive rights of consorts caused by "the strong mother and the young", he announced that "all sons born to Emperor Wu, regardless of gender, will be put to death" (Historical Records). In order to prevent mistress and consorts from interfering in politics, it is cruel to directly grant the mother the death penalty. The fatuous and cowardly kings such as Huan and Ling, without the two brushes of Emperor Wu, can only make their consorts sit up.
04. In the Han Dynasty, the consorts made it a custom to establish a Hou with nepotism, and eventually formed a powerful political and economic group, and then monopolized the power of the state affairs, laying a political and power foundation. In order to support her maiden power, she ignored the original knighthood system in the Han Dynasty and changed it to the knighthood standard based on blood, making the Lushi family either princes or princes. Although Lu's consorts were finally eradicated, the practice of sealing Hou through nepotism was continued by the emperor of the Han Dynasty. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the consorts had been legalized.
In the Han dynasty, as long as someone became a concubine in the harem, the family was not far from sealing the marquis. However, once the consorts were blocked, the sharp rise in political status and treatment stimulated their greed, and they began to try to gain greater power and status, so they gradually grew into a consort group with strong political and economic strength. Once the imperial power declines, they will occupy the power of state affairs.
For example, Dou Ying, the uncle of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, was named Wei Qihou, and Tian Ya, the mother-in-law of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, was named Hou Wu 'an. These consorts gradually developed into the most powerful dignitaries at that time and took charge of state affairs one after another.
Conclusion: To sum up, the phenomenon of consorts' autocracy in the Han Dynasty has been repeatedly banned and emerged endlessly, mainly because most of the emperors in the Han Dynasty were young or weak, which led to the normalization of "the queen mother came to Korea and consorts assisted the government", thus providing an opportunity for consorts' autocracy. In addition, the influence of the former dynasty, the reuse of the emperor and the legalization of the marquis of consorts all had an important impact on the exclusive rights of consorts.