Liu Cong (Han Zhao) - Late Reign

Late Reign

In 314, Liu Cong made his son Liu Can the prime minister, with paramount powers. This brought fear in the heart of his brother, the crown prince Liu Ai, whose associates subsequently suggested in 315 that he start a coup and overthrow Liu Cong. Liu Ai did not agree to the plot, but news leaked anyway. Liu Cong put Liu Ai under house arrest.

Later in 315, Liu Cong took two of his general Jin Zhun's daughters, Jin Yueguang (靳月光) and Jin Yuehua (靳月華) into his palace, and created three empresses—Jin Yueguang as Upper Empress, Jin Yuehua as Right Empress, and Consort Liu (might have been Liu Yin's granddaughter) Left Empress—against the custom that an emperor should only be one empress for the emperor at one time. Later that year, Chen Yuanda revealed to him that the Upper Empress had been committing adultery, and Liu Cong felt compelled to depose her; she committed suicide in shame, and Liu Cong, missing her beauty, greatly resented Chen for revealing her adultery.

In fall 315, Liu Cong, to appease the ever growing power of Shi Le, commissioned Shi with imperial powers in the eastern empire (which Shi controlled in any case).

Around this time, he also became extremely trusting of the eunuchs Wang Chen (王沈), Xuan Huai (宣懷), and the servant Guo Yi (郭猗), entrusting all government matters to them and cancelling regular meetings with officials, letting Wang, Xuan, and Guo serve as communicators between him and the officials. This led to Wang, Xuan, and Guo becoming free to act at their whim, and they became greatly corrupt, in cooperation with Jin Zhun. A number of officials who dared to speak out against these men were executed. Both Guo and Jin had prior grudges against Crown Prince Ai, and they persuaded Liu Can into believing that Crown Prince Ai would try to depose Liu Cong and kill him, presenting Liu Can with false evidence of such a plot. Liu Can therefore began to plot how to remove his uncle.

In fall 316, Liu Cong sent Liu Yao to attack Chang'an, and Liu Yao captured it and the Jin emperor, sending him to Pingyang, thus ending the so-called Western Jin Dynasty (although Jin would not actually end, as its Prince of Langye, Sima Rui, then safely south of the Yangtze River at Jiankang would claim the title "Prince of Jin" in 317 and declare himself emperor in 318, thus continuing Jin as the so-called Eastern Jin Dynasty). Liu Cong created the former Jin emperor the Marquess of Huai'an, and he created Liu Yao the Prince of Qin and put him in charge of the western empire.

Around the new year of 317, Shi Le defeated Liu Kun and took over his domain of Jin's Bing Province. While this finally ended a former threat against Han Zhao, Shi's power became even stronger and independent of Liu Cong's.

In spring 317, Liu Can finally readied his plan to eliminate his uncle Crown Prince Ai. He falsely informed Crown Prince Ai that Pingyang was under attack and that his subordinates should arm themselves to prepare for the attack. Then, Liu Can informed his father that Crown Prince Ai was ready to attack—and when Liu Cong's messengers then saw Crown Prince's associates armed, they believed Liu Can's accusations and reported back to Liu Cong. Liu Can then further interrogated Crown Prince Ai's subordinate Di and Qiang chiefs (whom Crown Prince Ai commanded, based on his secondary title of Grand Chanyu) under torture, and the Di and Qiang chiefs were forced to falsely confess to a plot. Crown Prince Ai's associates and troops were all massacred—estimated at the cost of 15,000 men—and Crown Prince Ai was deposed and subsequently assassinated by Jin. When Di and Qiang tribes subsequently revolted due to the treatment of their chiefs, Liu Cong sent Jin to suppress them, and Jin was successful. In fall 317, Liu Cong created Liu Can crown prince.

In early 318, at a feast, Liu Cong had the former Jin emperor, the Marquess of Huai'an serve as butler, and a number of former Jin officials could not control themselves and cried outloud at their former emperor's humiliation. Further, around this time, there were a number of uprisings against Han Zhao, each claiming to want to capture Liu Can to exchange him for the former Jin emperor. Liu Can therefore reocommended that Sima Ye be executed, and Liu Cong agreed, executing him after receiving Liu Can's report.

In summer 318, an imperial meeting hall in Pingyang was destroyed by a great fire, and it killed 21 people, including Liu Cong's son Liu Kang (劉康) the Prince of Kuaiji. Liu Cong was said to have greatly mourned his son, and this appeared to have a terrible effect on his health. He summoned Liu Yao and Shi Le to the capital to serve as regents, but both Liu Yao and Shi declined. He died soon after, and Liu Can became emperor. Later that year, however, Liu Can would be murdered by Jin, who would then massacre the imperial clan. Liu Yao and Shi defeated Jin and Liu Yao became emperor, but Liu Yao and Shi subsequently had a falling out, leading to Shi declaring independent and creating Later Zhao. The empire that Liu Cong built was torn into halves.