The Chu and Huaiyang Emperor Ming was, early in his reign, known for his generosity and affection for his brothers. This, however, apparently caused some of them to engage in behavior that were considered taboo at the time and caused them to be severely punished by Emperor Ming, leading also to two major mass executions that blotted Emperor Ming's reign. The first of these incidents happened in 66–67 and was relatively bloodless. The ambitious Prince Jing of Guanglin wanted to be emperor, and he plotted with people under him to rebel. When he was informed, he confessed, and Emperor Ming initially spared him and permitted him to remain the Prince of Guanglin but stripped his political powers. However, later Prince Jing hired warlocks to curse Emperor Ming. After he was discovered, Emperor Ming initially took no action, but in 67 forced Prince Jing to commit suicide. The next incident would not be so bloodless. In 70, Prince
Ying of Chu—incidentally, the only son of Emperor Guangwu not born of either of his empresses but of Consort Xu—hired warlocks to create golden turtles and jade cranes, and carved characters calling for unusual blessings on them—a major taboo at the time. Further, he was discovered to have written revolutionary writings. Emperor Ming did not put him to death, but deposed him from his principality, exiled him, and made him a commoner (but with a small fief of 500 households). In 71, Prince Ying committed suicide in exile. However, the investigation did not end. By Emperor Ming's orders, Prince Ying's associates (but not his family) were harshly tortured and interrogated, and anyone that they named as a co-conspirator was arrested and further tortured and interrogated. The interrogators themselves used this opportunity to falsely accuse many others of conspiracy. Tens of thousands of people died, either of torture or execution, during the investigation. Only after Empress Ma's intercession and persuasive petitions by one of the interrogators, Han Lang (), did the interrogations taper off. A similar incident happened in 73, when Prince Yan of Huaiyang was informed to have hired warlocks to curse Emperor Ming. Several of Prince Yan's associates were executed, and there were also many others who were executed or exiled after Chu-style interrogations were carried out. Prince Yan himself was not executed, but was demoted from his commandery-level principality to be the Prince of Fulin, with only two counties in his principality.
Campaigns against Northern Xiongnu and reassertion of suzerainty over Xiyu In 73, annoyed at Northern Xiongnu's constant incursions against Han, Emperor Ming commissioned his generals
Geng Bing () and
Dou Gu () to lead a major expedition against Northern Xiongnu. They only had minor successes, but it demonstrated to Northern Xiongnu that Han was now in a position to strike back. Dou, as part of his campaign, sent his assistant
Ban Chao to visit the Xiyu (modern
Xinjiang and former Soviet
central Asia) kingdom of
Shanshan (on the eastern edge of the
Taklamakan Desert. (Xiyu kingdoms had long submitted to Northern Xiongnu's authority, and unable to bear the heavy taxes, had often requested that Han step in and reassert suzerainty that had been established during the Western Han Dynasty, starting with
Emperor Wu's reign. However, they had been constantly rebuffed by Emperors Guangwu and Ming, who judged Han to be not sufficiently strong to engage in a Xiyu campaign.) Initially, the king of Shanshan was very pleased and welcomed the Han ambassadors as honored guests, but eventually the welcome faded. Ban realized that Northern Xiongnu ambassadors must have arrived. He found out where the Northern Xiongnu ambassadors were, and, in a night raid, massacred the Xiongnu ambassadors. The king of Shanshan was shocked but somewhat pleased, and submitted to Han suzerainty once again. Emperor Ming promoted Ban and commissioned him to next visit
Yutian ("Khotan"), then the strongest kingdom in southern Xiyu, which had a strong alliance with Northern Xiongnu. Guangde (), the King of Yutian, trusted his chief warlock, who demanded Ban's horse. Ban agreed to give him the horse, and then, when the warlock arrived to pick up the horse, immediately executed him, and sent his head back to Guangde. Guangde was impressed and submitted to Han's suzerainty. With Yutian having submitted, the Xiyu kingdoms largely all submitted as well. In 74, Dou and Geng led a major military expedition against a major remaining ally of the Northern Xiongnu,
Cheshi (roughly modern
Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture,
Xinjiang). Cheshi submitted, and at Dou's suggestion, the office of the Protector General of Xiyu () was reinstituted. A Northern Xiongnu expedition in 75 to recapture Cheshi was repelled by Geng Gong (), one of the deputies of the protector general.
Death In 75, Emperor Ming died. His will ordered that no temple be built for him, and that he only be worshipped as part of the worship of his mother Empress Dowager Yin. (This became a systematic reform that the rest of the Eastern Han Dynasty emperors largely followed; they did not have separate temples built for themselves, but instead were worshipped along with Emperor Guangwu. This was a major saving compared to the Western Han system of building a separate temple for each emperor.) His son Crown Prince Da succeeded to the throne as
Emperor Zhang. ==Era name==