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[Historical knowledge of the emperor who could not be helped but got a good deal, Liu Xuan of the Han Dynasty]

He chased after the pie and got the emperor's limited-time experience card. However, he did not cherish it at all. He lived a life of luxury and dissoluteness, ignored state affairs, and let the experience card expire in less than three years.

Not only did he destroy the Gengshi regime, he also ruined his own life, and made Xuanhan an embarrassing pseudo-regime between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty.

He is the only emperor of Xuanhan, also known as Emperor Liu Xuan.

Liu Xuan was a descendant of the royal family of the Han Dynasty. He and Liu Xiu were direct descendants of Liu Fa, the son of Emperor Jing of Han and the King of Changsha. They had lived in Chongling for generations. After Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the status of the Liu royal family plummeted and they were oppressed by county officials.

Once, the court president of Caiyang State Court got drunk and insulted Liu Xuan's father Liu Ziren, who killed the court president in anger. More than 10 years later, the court president's son killed Liu Xuan's brother Liu Hui to avenge his father.

Liu Xuan began to make friends with the guests, intending to avenge his brother. Later, because the guests broke the law, Liu Xuan avoided being arrested by the government and ran from Chongling to Pinglin.

The government arrested Liu Xuan's father, Liu Ziren, so Liu Xuan faked his death and sent his coffin back to Chongling. The government then released Liu Ziren, and Liu Xuan hid in Pinglin, waiting for an opportunity to act.

Soon after the Western Han Dynasty took over, famine continued and the people were living in dire straits. Wang Feng, Wang Kuang and others gathered tens of thousands of people in Lulin Mountain and rose up, calling themselves the Lulin Army. Liu Xuan saw that the world was in chaos, and as a fugitive, he took the opportunity to join the Lulin Army in order to save his life.

Liu Xuan had a good family background and was a descendant of the Han Dynasty, which made him stand out among the civilian generals. He was appointed as Anji Yue, which was equivalent to the political commissar of the army.

At the same time, Liu Xuan's brother Liu Xiu also raised the banner of reviving the Han Dynasty and formed a Chongling Army of 7,000 to 8,000 people to fight together with the Green Forest Army. The coalition forces worked together to fight against the government army, and won victory after victory.

Liu Xuan's status also rose with the times and he was honored as General Gengshi.

The coalition forces were leaderless and unable to unify their commands, so in order to overthrow Wang Mang's new dynasty, they wanted to nominate one person to become emperor.

Originally, Liu Xiu had the highest prestige, the strongest ability, and the greatest military achievements, but the generals of the Green Forest Army believed that Liu Xiu was difficult to control and Liu Xuan was cowardly, so it would naturally be beneficial to them if they nominated him as emperor.

Liu Xuan thus got a great advantage. In 23 AD, Liu Xuan proclaimed himself emperor and named the reign Gengshi. He was known in history as Emperor Gengshi. Liu Xuan's army quickly captured Chang'an and killed Wang Mang. The Xin Dynasty was thus overthrown by Xuan Han.

However, Liu Xiu's repeated military exploits and his growing prestige in the Han court aroused Liu Xuan's suspicion, so Liu Xuan executed Liu Xiu on the pretext of something.

When Liu Xiu learned of the death of his brother Liu Xuan, he suppressed his grief and kept a low profile in order to protect himself. In public, he attributed his military achievements entirely to the correct leadership of Emperor Gengshi, humbled himself to apologize to Emperor Gengshi, and buried the seeds of hatred deep in his heart.

But Liu Xuan was not fit to be an emperor. After moving the capital to Chang'an, he married Zhao Meng's daughter and doted on her. To please his wife, he simply entrusted the government affairs to his father-in-law Zhao Meng and became a hands-off manager.

When the ministers had important military and political matters to attend to, they needed to meet Liu Xuan, but Liu Xuan was often too drunk to meet them. When he could not avoid it, Liu Xuan would be clever and let Shizhong sit behind a curtain to pretend to be him and talk to the ministers.

The old ministers could tell that the voice coming from behind the curtain was not Liu Xuan's. After leaving the court, they were all resentful and condemned the emperor for being so self-indulgent. As a result, the ministers became discouraged and passive.

Liu Xuan's favorite concubine, Lady Han, was also an alcoholic and often drank with Emperor Gengshi until late at night.

Sometimes, when he was drinking happily, he would see an attendant who was not aware of the current situation and came forward to report something. He would then slam the desk and angrily scold: "Are you blind? The emperor is drinking with me, why did you choose to come and report something at this time?"

Because she used too much force, the desk was broken by her fist. The attendants were terrified, and Liu Xuan just watched the fun without saying a word, allowing Madam Han to do whatever she wanted.

Liu Xuan's father-in-law, Zhao Meng, was a tyrant who did whatever he wanted and abused his power, which led to widespread complaints. An upright minister tried his best to expose Zhao Meng's arbitrary behavior. Liu Xuan was biased towards his father-in-law. He was very angry when he heard the man's words and drew his sword to stab him.

From then on, no one spoke ill of Zhao Meng anymore. Zhao Meng once took a minister out of the palace to vent his anger, intending to kill him publicly, but his father-in-law flatly refused and watched the minister being killed by Zhao Meng.

When the top beam is crooked, the bottom beams will be crooked too. Liu Xuan's cronies also exercised tyranny in the local area.

They either sold official positions and titles, or used nepotism to grant official positions and titles to people without any moral standards, or even to cooks.

These people even wore women's gold jackets and laughed and cursed on the street, which was so shameful that the citizens wrote ballads to ridicule them: "Raised under the stove, the General of the Central Army; rotten sheep stomach, the Cavalry Commandant; rotten sheep head, the Marquis of Guannei; General of the Golden Army."

Yuzhang Li Shu could no longer bear it and was deeply distressed. The Secretary of State listed all the mistakes of Emperor Gengshi and advised him to be close to the wise and stay away from the treacherous, and to rectify the government. In a rage, Emperor Gengshi imprisoned him. This foolish act of self-deception eventually led to the estrangement of everyone.

Seeing the Gengshi regime in such a bad shape, the Red Eyebrow Army felt that they had every chance of winning, so they decided to attack Liu Xuan. In 15 AD, the Red Eyebrow Army approached Chang'an, and the Green Forest Army generals, who were beaten to the point of doubting their lives, planned to return east.

Liu Xuan held on to Chang'an, and the Green Forest Army, led by Zhang Ang, fought with Liu Xuan. Liu Xuan became suspicious and executed many Green Forest generals who had helped him establish his kingdom at the beginning of his career.

The entire Gengshi regime was in chaos. Zhang Ang and others took the opportunity to surrender and joined the Chimei Army. Liu Xiu, who was previously sent to Hebei by Liu Xuan, had already established a firm foothold and developed his own power, and turned around to attack Liu Xuan. The Gengshi regime collapsed under the attack of the two forces.

Unable to hold out any longer, Liu Xuan received a letter from the Chimei Army, saying that if he surrendered, he would be made the King of Changsha. So Liu Xuan quickly surrendered, handed over the imperial seal, and became the King of Changsha as he wished.

However, Zhang Ang, who surrendered, could not sit still. He was worried that Liu Xuan might turn the tables, so he persuaded the Chimei Army to kill Liu Xuan. Liu Xuan eventually died at the hands of the Chimei Army, and Liu Xiu eventually established the Eastern Han Dynasty, truly supporting the Han Dynasty. But he was always unwilling to recognize the legitimacy of Xuan Han.

[Cai Yong, the almighty male god of the Eastern Han Dynasty who lost his life because of a sigh. Historical trivia: Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty]

He was born in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was not only from a famous family, but also very talented. He had maxed out his calligraphy, music, and literature skills. He created the "Feibai" script, made the Jiaowei Qin, and created the first Chinese poetry collection "Xiping Shijing". He was also known as the last Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty.

He was respected as a master by Cao Cao, and valued by Dong Zhuo and Li Jue. However, this all-round male god had a rough life. He died at the age of 60 because of a sigh. He was the father of the talented woman Cai Wenji and the famous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong.

Cai Yong, courtesy name Boqi, was a native of Yu County, Chenliu Prefecture, Eastern Han Dynasty. Cai Yong was born into a family of civil servants, several generations of whom had served in the court for 200 years, including many important officials.

His father, Cai Leng, was once the magistrate of Xincai County. His family resources and cultural heritage provided Cai Yong with excellent conditions.

When children of the same age were trying to find rice in the soup, he was already sitting in a pile of books, "chewing on words". As Cai Yong grew up, his father contacted Hu Guang, a veteran of the Six Dynasties of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the current Taifu, and asked him to be his son's mentor.

Under the guidance of famous teachers, Cai Yong became knowledgeable and not only interested in literature, academics, and astronomy, but also had musical skills.

His reputation reached the ears of Emperor Huan of Han, so he was summoned to the palace to play the qin for him. However, Cai Yong knew that Emperor Huan was a tyrant and arrogant, and he was unwilling to be associated with him. When he arrived at Yanshi, near the capital, he lied that he was sick and ran back home.

After returning home, in order to avoid getting involved in the political turmoil in the court, Cai Yong stayed at home, refused all social activities, and began a reclusive life like an otaku.

During this period, he was inspired by Dongfang Shuo, Yang Xiong, Ban Gu, Cui Yan and others. He absorbed the opinions of hundreds of schools of thought, affirmed the correct statements, denied the wrong statements, and created "Duduan" in the form of question and answer.

In 171 AD, Cai Yong, who had lived in seclusion for many years, finally became an official at the age of 38. He was recruited by Qiao Xuan, a famous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Qiao Xuan was a man of both civil and military talents, and he was an honest official with no flaws.

Cai Yong accepted the call and became Qiao Xuan's advisor, and was appreciated by Qiao Xuan. Later, he was appointed as the chief of Heping, doctor, and counselor.

Cai Yong also met Cao Cao in the officialdom. Although the two were 20 years apart in age, they became close friends. Cao Cao respected Cai Yong as his teacher and often ate and drank at Cai Yong's house and studied calligraphy.

In the Dongguan School Room of the Eastern Han Dynasty Royal Library, Cai Yong discovered that there were many books in the collection, and due to their age, a lot of the knowledge had been distorted.

So in 175 AD, with the authorization of Emperor Ling of Han, Cai Yong led a group of top Confucian scholars of the Eastern Han Dynasty to proofread Confucian books. They proofread "The Book of Changes", "The Book of History", "The Book of Songs", "The Book of Rites", "The Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals" and "The Analects of Confucius".

Cai Yong first copied the sorted and revised classics onto a stone tablet with cinnabar, and then ordered the craftsmen to process it according to the drawing. Each completed piece was placed at the gate of the Imperial College.

These 46 stone tablets were later called "Xiping Stone Classics", and they are also the earliest official Confucian stone classics in China. When the Xiping Stone Classics came out, they caused a sensation in Luoyang, the capital, and even the whole country. The gate of the Imperial College became a popular check-in spot for students. Countless people came to watch by car, and even caused traffic jams.

In 176 AD, natural disasters such as floods occurred frequently, so Emperor Ling of Han convened an emergency meeting and asked his ministers to put forward suggestions for governing the country.

At that time, Cai Yong's official position was Yilang, that is, the emperor's adviser. He fully utilized his job responsibilities and wrote a letter in one breath, reporting several unscrupulous colleagues, saying that they bribed eunuchs and committed corruption and abuse of power.

Unfortunately, the memorial was secretly seen by the eunuch Cao Jie, and Cai Yong was exposed all of a sudden. All the people he reported were filled with hatred and prepared to retaliate against him.

Later, the eunuch Wang Fu took the opportunity to frame Cai Yong and his uncle Cai Zhi. Cai Yong's family was exiled to Shuofang County, and Wang Fu's son-in-law sent assassins to hunt down Cai Yong.

However, Cai Yong was already famous at that time, so the killer refused to kill him, so Cai Yong escaped. Later, when Cai Yong wanted to return home due to national affairs, he was falsely accused of slandering the government, so he fled from home for another 12 years.

Cai Yong's Jiaowei Qin was also made during this escape.

One day, Cai Yong heard someone burning paulownia wood. He judged from the sound that it was a good piece of wood, so he rescued the half-burned wood and made a zither. As expected, the sound of the zither was beautiful, even better than the famous zithers in the palace.

As there are traces of burning on the tail of the zither, it is called "the charred-tail zither" and is listed as one of the four famous zithers in ancient China.

When Emperor Ling of Han died, Dong Zhuo took power. He had always heard of Cai Yong's reputation, so he wanted to recruit him again, but Cai Yong used the same old excuse that he was ill and could not go.

Dong Zhuo was so upset by the rejection that he threatened to exterminate Cai Yong's entire clan. Cai Yong had no choice but to return to work. Dong Zhuo attached great importance to Cai Yong and promoted him in a short period of time.

In 192 AD, Dong Zhuo was overthrown by Wang Yun and Lu Bu. When Dong Zhuo was killed, Cai Yong was a guest at the home of Prime Minister Wang Yun. Hearing that Dong Zhuo was killed, Cai Yong couldn't help but sigh, but Wang Yun caught him.

Wang Yun arrested him and planned to execute him. Cai Yong asked to save his life so that he could complete the "Book of Han", and the Grand Commandant Ma Ritian and others pleaded for him.

However, Wang Yun called Cai Yong a "flatterer" and believed that if he wrote history books, it would not only be unhelpful to the emperor's virtue, but would also make Wang Yun ridiculed in the future. As a result, the 60-year-old Cai Yong died in prison.

After Cai Yong died, his daughter Cai Wenji was exiled to the frontier and was presented to the Xiongnu Zuoxian King. Cao Cao, a good friend of Cai Yong, even redeemed Cai Wenji with 2200 gold and a pair of white jades.

Although Cai Yong died in vain, his talent is still praised by later generations. The "flying white" style of calligraphy he created was praised by book critics as "exquisite and incomparable, with divine power in both movement and movement".

His achievements in poetry and prose also earned him the reputation of "the last Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty". The unfinished "Book of Han" may be the biggest regret of his life.

[Little knowledge about the history of the cursed general Li Guang]

When it comes to "Feng Tang is easy to grow old, Li Guang is hard to be granted a title", people often think of great achievements being not rewarded and having a bad fate.

If Feng Tang is a synonym for being talented but not appreciated and being born at the wrong time, then the fate of the family of Li Guang, the Han Flying General who made the Huns tremble in fear, cannot be summed up by the simple phrase "born at the wrong time."

Li Guang was from Chengji, Longxi, and his ancestor was Li Xin, a famous general of the Qin Dynasty. Li Guang's family had been practicing archery for generations, and he showed extraordinary riding and archery skills since he was a child. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, he was named Zhonglang for his merits.

Li Guang fought countless battles with the Huns throughout his life and made many military achievements, for which he was called "Flying General" by the Huns. However, he was never granted a title of nobility until his death, leaving behind the regret that "Li Guang was hard to be granted a title of nobility".

Li Guang's tragic end was not the end of his family's misfortune. Only 20 years after his death, his son and grandson also died at the hands of their own people, and the entire Li family disappeared from then on.

Although Li Guang's cousin Li Cai was promoted to prime minister, he committed suicide for occupying the mausoleum of Emperor Jing; his son Li Gan was shot dead by Huo Qubing for offending General Wei Qing; his grandson Li Ling was defeated and surrendered to the Huns, and his entire family was exterminated by Emperor Wu of Han.

Sima Qian gave a complete record of the tragedy of Li Guang's family in "Records of the Grand Historian", and believed that the tragedy of Li Guang's family was not only the product of personal character and factors of the times, but also related to Emperor Wu of Han's personnel system and military merit system.