The Prince He Incident and The Installation of Emperor Xuan
In 74 BC, Emperor Zhao died at age 21 without issue—and therefore without an heir. Even though Emperor Zhao had living older brothers, Huo considered them incompetent and unfit for the throne. After some investigation, he settled on making Liu He, Emperor Zhao's nephew and the Prince of Changyi the new emperor. Once the Prince of Changyi was installed as the emperor, however, he began to spend incessantly and otherwise act inappropriately during the period of mourning for Emperor Zhao.
In response, Huo decided to depose the new emperor—then an unprecedented action in Chinese history. Under an edict issued by Empress Dowager Shangguan—Huo's granddaughter—Prince He was deposed after just 28 days as emperor and exiled to his old principality of Changyi, but without a princely title.
There was no imperial heir in sight who fit Huo's standard of a diligent and skilled emperor. At the suggestion of another senior official Bing Ji (丙吉), Huo made a great-grandson of Emperor Wu (whose grandfather Liu Ju had been Emperor Wu's crown prince by Empress Wei but who subsequently fell out of favor and was killed in a disturbance, with his issue being removed from the imperial household), Liu Bingyi (later Liu Xun 劉詢) emperor. 27 days after Prince He was deposed, Liu Bingyi, who then was a commoner with no titles, became emperor (later known as Emperor Xuan).
Read more about this topic: Huo Guang
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