First Disaster of Partisan Prohibitions
The root of the first Disaster of Partisan Prohbitions came perhaps in 159, when, with the support of five powerful eunuchs, Emperor Huan was able to overthrow the yoke of the domineering Liang Ji, the brother of both his former regent Empress Dowager Liang and his wife Empress Liang Nüying, in a coup d'état. He put the five eunuchs and their associates into powerful positions, and these eunuchs and their supporters became extremely corrupt. As a result, a number of Confucian officials who served in the imperial administration began a conscious effort to form a coalition to drive out the influence of the eunuchs. Public opinion-wise, they were supported by university students in the capital, who admired them greatly and adored them as heroes against eunuch domination. For several years, there was somewhat of balance and counterbalance of power at court; at times the officials would successfully accuse the eunuchs of wrongdoing, and those accused eunuchs would lose power; at times the officials would be unsuccessful and instead be driven out of government by the eunuchs.
The matter came to a head in 166 over a murder case. Zhang Cheng (張成), a fortuneteller in Luoyang, had foretold that a general pardon would be forthcoming, and he therefore instructed his son to commit a murder. Li Ying (李膺), one of the foremost Confucian scholars in government who was serving as the governor of the capital province, arrested the Zhangs, but indeed at this time a general pardon was issued. Li, in anger, disregarded the pardon and executed the Zhangs anyway. However, Li did not anticipate that eunuchs friendly to Zhang would then accuse Li and the other officials of encouraging university students to criticize government and the emperor. Emperor Huan became extremely enraged, and while Chen Fan, who was then the commander of the armed forces, opposed drastic actions, Emperor Huan disregarded his opposition and went ahead and arrested Li and two ministers, Du Mi (杜密) and Chen Xiang (陳翔), as well as some 200 university students. Emperor Huan also issued an arrest order for other university students—and it was this arrest order that coined the term "the partisans." Chen Fan continued to protest, and was removed from his post.
The next year (167), Dou Wu submitted a humble petition requesting leniency for the partisans and tendering his resignation. Another official, Huo Xu (霍謣), also submitted a similar petition. Further, the eunuchs became concerned that the university students' interrogation logs often mentioned their own younger family members, and therefore also wanted to investigation to end. Therefore, under their urging, Li, Du, Chen, and the university students were released and exiled back to their original home commanderies. Their civil liberties were stripped for life.
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