Dynasties of ChinaEastern HanEastern Han lineage
Guangxi · Zhaoning · Reign 189
Emperor Ling's legitimate son was deposed by Dong Zhuo five months after taking the throne and was poisoned the following year.
Liu Bian was born to Emperor Ling and Hehuanghou. He was fostered in the Taoist family of Shi Zixiao after his birth, so he was named "Shihou". Emperor Ling died in April 189. He Jin proclaimed the fourteen-year-old emperor as emperor, and Hetaihou came to the court and changed his name to Yuan Guangxi. In August, He Jin plotted to kill the eunuch and was killed. The eunuch kidnapped him and his brother Chenliu, Wang Liu Xie, and fled. Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to enter the capital. In the winter of September, he was deposed as King Hongnong and promoted to Liu Xie. In the spring of the following year (one says the first month, the other says March), he was poisoned with poisonous wine. He was only fifteen years old.
PoliticsAccession to the throne and eunuch rebellion
Emperor Ling passed away in April, He Jin made Liu Bian emperor, and Hetaihou came to the court. In August, He Jin was killed by the eunuchs. Yuan Shao and others stormed the palace and killed more than 2,000 eunuchs. Zhang Rang and others took the Young Emperor hostage and fled Luoyang.
PoliticsDong Zhuo abolishes the establishment
After Dong Zhuo welcomed the Young Emperor back to Beijing, he intimidated the ministers in the court and deposed Liu Bian as King Hongnong on the grounds that he was "too weak to serve in the ancestral temple" and replaced him with Liu Xie, the nine-year-old King of Chenliu. Hetaihou was forced to agree.
PeopleBeing poisoned
Guandong Prefecture raised troops to attack Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was afraid that someone supported King Hongnong, so he sent Li Ru to send poisoned wine and make him drink it. He bid farewell to Concubine Tang, composed a tragic song and drank medicine before dying at the age of fifteen.
The Young Emperor's uncle, Emperor Ling, supported the Young Emperor after his death. He planned to kill the eunuchs and summoned foreign troops to the capital. He was trapped and killed by the eunuch Zhang Rang and others, which caused chaos in the capital and Dong Zhuo was able to enter the capital.
A native of Lintao, Longxi Province, he led the Xiliang army into Luoyang in 189, deposed the Young Emperor, established the Emperor Xian, and appointed himself prime minister. He was autocratic and cruel. In 190, he took the Emperor Xian and moved the capital to Chang'an. In 192, he was killed by Wang Yun and Lu Bu.
A native of Ruyang in Runan, he was born in the fourth generation and the third prince. In 189, he led his troops into the palace to kill the eunuchs. Because he opposed Dong Zhuo's abolition of the throne, he fled to Jizhou and was promoted to the leader of the alliance against Dong the following year.