After Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty died, Empress Yan, to maintain her power, placed Liu Yi, son of the Prince of Jibei, on the throne as a child emperor. Empress Yan then became the Empress Dowager, taking control of the court, while her brother Yan Xian was appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry, and her other brothers also received high-ranking official positions.
But the good times did not last. A few months later, the child emperor Liu Yi fell ill and died. Seizing this opportunity, the eunuch Sun Cheng secretly contacted Wang Kang and seventeen other eunuchs to welcome back the deposed Crown Prince Liu Bao, who was made emperor as Emperor Shun of Han.
After Emperor Shun of Han ascended the throne, he executed the entire Yan clan, but since he was only eleven years old, all court power fell into the hands of eunuchs led by Sun Cheng.
After seven years, Emperor Shun of Han turned 18. He appointed Lady Liang as empress, made her father a general, ordered provinces to recommend talents for imperial examinations, and Li Gu of Nanzheng ranked first, becoming a court advisor.
Li Gu, a man of unwavering integrity who loathed evil as a personal enemy, repeatedly submitted memorials to Emperor Shun of Han, exposing the eunuchs' power struggles and corruption with solid evidence. Backed by Empress Liang, his accusations led to the dismissal of over a hundred eunuchs.
The eunuch Sun Cheng and his faction harbored a deep, murderous hatred for the official Li Gu, determined to see him dead. Backed by the powerful General Liang Ji, the emperor's brother-in-law, they submitted a joint accusation to Emperor Shun of Han. They claimed that Li Gu was alienating the emperor's trusted advisors, preventing them from serving with full devotion, and that he was arrogantly abusing his authority to bully others—crimes worthy of execution.
After reviewing the text, Emperor Shun consulted Empress Liang in the palace. Fortunately, Empress Liang trusted Li Gu deeply, which spared him from disaster.
The idiom "playing the tyrant" originally meant that only a monarch could exercise rewards and punishments, wielding absolute authority. Later, it came to describe someone who is arrogantly self-important, abuses power, and acts unscrupulously.
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, "Biography of Li Gu"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "作威作福" came to describe how someone is arrogantly self-important, abuses power, and acts unscrupulously.