Liu Bian

Prince of Hongnong ( 弘农 王 )
Family name :	Liú ( 劉 )
First name :	Biàn ( 辯 )
Posthumous title : (complete)	Prince Huai of Hongnong
Temple name :	Shizu ( 世祖 )
Reign:	189
Era names :	Zhāoníng ( 昭寧 ) 189

Liu Bian ( Chinese  劉 辯 , Pinyin Liú Biàn ), the Prince of Hongnong ( Chinese  弘農 王  /  弘农 王 , Pinyin Hóng Nóng Wáng  - "Prince of Hongnong"; * 173/76; † 190) was briefly emperor of the Han Dynasty . He is also known as Emperor Shao ("young emperor"), a name he shares with several other short-lived emperors. He came to power in 189 but was deposed by Dong Zhuo shortly afterwards and poisoned in 190.

Family background

Liu Bian, the future Prince of Hongnong, was born to Emperor Ling and his concubine He at the time . His date of birth is usually given as 176, but the story of the Later Han sometimes mentions his age at the time of being poisoned as 17, which would result in a year of birth 173. According to traditional historians, Emperor Ling had sons before him, but all of them died young. Therefore, according to the superstition of the time, he assumed that his sons would have to grow up outside the palace with foster parents . He entrusted Prince Bian to the magician Shi Zimiao. Liu Bian became known under the title of Marquise Shi , because the female title wanted to ward off the evil spirits that had carried off his older brothers. Was later born as his brother Liu Xie from the concubine Wang, he received after his foster mother Dong the title Marquess Dong .

Because she had given him his oldest surviving son, Emperor Ling made his concubine He 180 empress. However, because Emperor Ling remained superstitious and also did not appreciate his son's less solemn demeanor, he did not appoint him Crown Prince, but instead thought of Prince Xie.

When Emperor Ling died in 189, his confidante, the powerful eunuch Jian Shuo , first wanted to kill He Jin (Empress He's brother) and then install Liu Xie as emperor. However, He Jin found out and declared Prince Bian emperor on May 15, 189. Empress He became Empress Mother, and she and her brother He Jin, as commander in chief, were in power at the court. The position of the eunuchs, however, was unbroken.

Short government

Soon there was a confrontation. In the summer of 189, He Jin conspired with Yuan Shao , Yuan Shu, and several other young officers to overthrow Jian Shuo. Jian tried to get his fellow eunuch Zhao Zhong and Song Dian to his side, but the eunuch Guo Sheng prevented this. He Jin then captured Jian Shuo and had him executed. With that he had the troops under his control.

After that, the Hes had to face a new threat. Emperor Ling's mother, Emperor's grandmother Dong, and her nephew Dong Chong were dissatisfied with the Hes' seizure of power and quarreled with them. Once the Emperor's grandmother threatened to have He Jin beheaded by Dong Chong. He Jin took the initiative and had the Empress Mother He issue an edict that the Emperor's ring grandmother should be banished to Hejian (now Baoding , Hebei ) and that Dong Chong should be arrested. Dong Chong committed suicide, and the imperial ring grandmother Dong also died shortly afterwards. This made the Hes extremely unpopular with the people.

In the fall of 189, Yuan Shao proposed to General He Jin that the eunuchs be wiped out. The Empress mother He immediately refused, as did Ms. Xian and He Miao. He Jin therefore discussed an alternative plan with Yuan Shao, which later turned out to be fatal. They ordered the generals outside the capital to start riots and demand the extermination of the eunuchs in order to put the Empress Mother He under pressure. One of these generals was Dong Zhuo , who at the time commanded the experienced troops of Liang Province (now Gansu ).

As Dong Zhuo approached the capital, Empress He had to order the eunuchs to leave the palace and return to their brands . The leader of the eunuchs, Zhang Rang , pleaded with his daughter-in-law (the sister of the empress mother He) to be allowed to stay in the palace, and so the empress mother called the eunuchs back to the capital. They learned He Jin's plan and set a trap for him. He Jin was murdered by the eunuchs on September 22nd, 189. His advisers, led by Yuan Shao, surrounded the palace and the eunuchs took the Empress Mother, the young Emperor, and Prince Xie hostage, but the Empress Mother He soon escaped. In the meantime, Yuan Shao had killed the other eunuch and also killed He Miao for opposing He Jin.

Two days later the remaining eunuchs took the emperor and prince and fled with them to the Yellow River . However, because government officials Lu Zhi and Min Gong were on their heels, they released their hostages and committed suicide together in the river. When Min and Lu were bringing the emperor and prince back to the capital, Luoyang , they were arrested by Dong Zhuo's forces on September 25, 189. The emperor was so shocked that he could not properly answer Dong Zhuo's questions, but the younger Prince Xie described the events with no problem. Dong was impressed by the young prince and began to consider replacing the emperor with him. He also liked the title Marquise Dong , although he was not related to the imperial ring grandmother Dong.

Dong quickly took the capital and forced the palace guard commanders Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to flee. Then Dong Zhuo declared the young emperor deposed and made him Prince of Hongnong , and forced the empress mother He to consent. Prince Xie was put on the throne as Emperor Xian on September 28, 189 . Soon after, the Empress mother He was poisoned by Dong Zhuo and died.

death

For months, Dong Zhuo, now fully in control of the central government, seemed to ignore the former emperor. In early 190, however, a coalition of provincial officials and exiles formed against him, led by Yuan Shao. Dong thought it dangerous to keep Prince Bian alive. A few weeks after the uprising began, Dong Zhuo ordered his subordinate, Li Ru, to give the prince poisoned wine. Li Ru at least allowed the prince to say goodbye to his wife, concubine Tang, and the other concubines beforehand. He died on March 22, 190.

literature

• Rafe de Crespigny : A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007, p. 484 f.

Remarks

1. ^ Rafe de Crespigny: A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Leiden / Boston 2007, p. 484.
2. ^ Rafe de Crespigny: A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Leiden / Boston 2007, p. 485.
3. ^ Rafe de Crespigny: A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Leiden / Boston 2007, p. 485.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ling	Emperor of China 189	Xian

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Liu is the family name here, Bian is the first name.