Liu Xiu—a name that sounded so exceptionally outstanding the moment you heard it—probably didn't leave much of an impression on most people.
Even though he was also from the Eastern Han.
He wasn't as roguish as Liu Bang, the scoundrel emperor, nor did he have the Han Emperor Wu's boldness—the kind that said he'd crush you and then did. And he wasn't like that Han Emperor Wen who loved to play Daddy... Oh, right, that was Liu Xiu's son. As for Emperor Ling of Han and Emperor Xian of Han?
Emmmm, actually, Emperor Ling was pretty impressive. He'd risen from a butcher's family, starting out as a child, then used the eunuchs to eliminate the Relatives of the Empress and fought his way to adulthood.
By comparison, his son was rather embarrassing.
So when Emperor Ling, against all reason, took a woman from a butcher's family as his empress, and she bore him the future Emperor Shao of Han, and then he made a butcher a general-in-chief, it was hard to say that he hadn't been trying to "weaken the power of the Relatives of the Empress."
Unfortunately... for a butcher who'd become general-in-chief to turn into a power of the Relatives of the Empress was genuinely a tough problem.
Although, strictly speaking, the Aristocratic Families had been fanning the flames the whole time.
In short, countless dynasties had risen throughout history, and it was through their succession that society had made progress and developed. Every dynasty had countless rulers, among whom there was no shortage of capable leaders. Yet there was only one who could be called the finest ruler in history: Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu, the ruler of the Eastern Han, was hailed by later generations as the finest ruler in history because he governed well and treated