Emperor Zhang of Han - Early Reign

Early Reign

Emperor Zhang continued his father's hardworking tendencies as emperor, but he was more lenient than his strict father. He sought out honest officials and promoted them, and he himself lived thriftily. He was generally humble and honored the senior officials who had served his grandfather and father faithfully in accordance.

In 76, at the suggestion of his advisor Yang Zhong (楊終) and prime minister Diwu Lun (第五倫), Emperor Zhang ordered that his father's Xiyu (modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia) campaigns be abandoned. However, one of the Han generals in Xiyu, Ban Chao, seeing the importance of maintaining Han presence in Xiyu, refused to withdraw, and Emperor Zhang eventually relented and put Ban in charge of Han's operations in Xiyu.

Being close to his Ma uncles, Emperor Zhang wanted to create them marquesses from the early start of his reign. This was initially rebuffed by Empress Dowager Ma, who found this inappropriate. In 79, however, he created them marquesses over her objection and over their requests to only be made acting marquesses.

In 77, Emperor Zhang took a daughter of his cousin, the Princess Piyang (沘陽公主), and great-granddaughter of the statesman Dou Rong (竇融), as consort. He greatly loved her, and in 78, he created Consort Dou empress.

In 79, Empress Dowager Ma, who had given him much good counsel, died. Even after her death, Emperor Zhang did not honor his birth mother Consort Jia as his mother, but merely permitted her to take on the style of an imperial prince.