The Regent Group And The Study Of The Political Situation In The Mid-Eastern Han Dynasty

The regent group is basically featured with empress working as an emperor.Represented by the empress dowager,the relatives of imperial comorts and various officials commonly constitute in the political group.There were four regent groups of Dou,Deng,Yan and Liang in the middle political history of the Eastern Han Dynasty.The above-mentioned regent groups developed the important assistant function on behalf of the emperor to execute rights and stabilize the political situation.However,the regent groups had the extravagance,corruption and intolerance,so as to be makers of political chaotic phenomena in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty.Actually,all of the regent groups played crucial role on the political development in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty.Making a general survey of regent groups in Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties,three regent groups in the Western Han Dynasty undoubtedly provided many important heritages for the politics of the Eastern Han Dynasty.Grand Tutor in Western Han Dynasty was founded by a regent group.The theoretical source of Grand Tutor could be traced back to the "San Kung" system of Zhou Dynasty in the political theories of Pre-Qin Confucianism.Lv regent group firstly created the "Grand Tutor of the Emperor",which had the property of the"standby prime minister",laying an important foundation that Grand Tutor was considered as an assistant minister.After Emperor Ping ascend the throne,the post of Grand Tutor showed up again and became the important assistant minister of Wang regent group represented by Empress Wang Zhengjun.During the period,the keyman of Wang regent group—Wang Mang utilized the local social ideological trend to establish his political prestige.In the end,Wang regent group was replaced by Wang Mang regent group.Grand Tutor became the important official in Wang Mang regent group and the New Dynasty.Grand Tutor in early stage of Easter Han Dynasty was only established before the emperor ascended the throne.Except for Zhuo Mao in the period of Emperor Guangwu,Grand Tutor in the period of Emperor Ming and Emperor Zhang assisted the emperor to stabilize the political situation.Since the Emperor He,the setting right of Grand Tutor was transferred to the regents.After Emperor He ascended the throne,Empress Dou established Dou regent group.the family member Dou Xian became the assistant power in the regent group.After Dou Xian got a victory in the war of Northern Hun,the regent group established the Headquarters of the general-in-chief represented by Dou Xian.By virtue of the activities in the Headquarters of the general-in-chief,Dou regent group rapidly established the power network from the central to the local.After the "Chang'an event" in the third year of Yongyuan,the conflict between the emperor and Dou Xian started to upgrade.Finally,Emperor He utilized minorities of political power including eunuchs to eradicate the power of Dou Xian,terminating Dou regent group which was continued for 4 years.Since the eunuch Zheng Zhong made contributions to eradicating Dou Xian,he became the symbol of developing eunuch influential in the middle period of Eastern Han.After Emperor Shang ascended the throne,Express Deng established Deng regent group.However,Emperor Shang suddenly passed away,so Deng regent group had no way but setup the son of seignior as an emperor.The practice that the Empress Deng abandoned Liu Sheng but supported Emperor An triggered the "Zhouzhang event" in the early years of Emperor An.After Emperor An ascended the throne,Empress Deng set up Deng Zhi as the imperator assistant and used exemption of San Kung for catastrophes to reinforce control on the dynasty.Express Deng effectively coordinated with each force in the central political pattern,thus the power pattern during the period maintained the relative stability.However,Express Deng's disappointment at Emperor An enabled Deng regent to exist all the time.Emperor An could take over the reins of government upon coming of age after Express Deng passed away.However,"Post-Regent Power" left by Express Deng still dominated the central pattern.Emperor An and followers suppressed "Post-Regent Power" to finally establish the new political pattern.During the process,the influence of Geng and Yan started to swell.Yan family eventually established regent group after Emperor An passed away.In the process of overturning Yan regent group,eunuch power represented by Sun Cheng started being the considerable power in the central pattern.Liang family assisted politics from Emperor Shun to Emperor Huan.Its regent group also stepped over three dynasties and generated a great influence on the middle-period politics in Eastern Han Dynasty.In the frequent power alternation between Emperor Chong and Emperor Zhi,the dispute of two thrones enabled to upgrade the conflict between Liang Ji and Li Gu of Liang regent group members,so that Li Gu finally was removed from a position.In early years of Emperor Huan,Liang Ji utilized "Liu Wen' an to expose King of Qinghe and Li Gu to mortal danger.Before Express Liang passed away,it was given to Emperor Huan,terminating the Liang regent group.Since then,Laing Ji and his members of a clique became the"Post-Regent Power" of Emperor Huan.Relative to Deng "Post-Regent Power",Liang Ji and other people had the greater power,thus Emperor Huan couldn't really establish the imperial power politics.After the second year of Yuanjia,Emperor Huan and "Post-Regent Power"carried out the time-consuming contest on San Kung candidates.In the end,Emperor Huan used the power of eunuchs and imperial secretariat officials to eradicate the "Post-Regent Power" represented by Liang Ji.Due to long-term operation of Liang "Post-Regent Power",after eradiating Liang Ji,it was hard for Emperor Huan to establish the new assistant power.Meanwhile,during the process,the eunuch power was further expanded to form the political group represented by"Five Candidates".At last,Emperor Huan used eunuchs as the new assistant power.Since then,politics in Eastern Han Dynasty entered into the new historical development stage.After that,a regent group was established for twice,but it was overturned by eunuch power within several months.Finally,the imperator He Jin was killed.And the eunuch group was perished in the tangled warfare of Luoyang City.After Dong Zhuo went to the capital city,the final regent group of Eastern Han Dynasty was destructed and the emperor was thoroughly overhead.And the Eastern Han Dynasty went to perish.