Preface
In 195 BC, the talented and wise Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang died of illness. At the age of fifteen, Emperor Hui of Han Liu Ying succeeded to the throne and became the second monarch of the Western Han Empire. Because of Liu Ying's young age, the power fell into the hands of his mother Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi was the first queen and empress dowager recorded in history. She was very good at power and tricks and vicious. She started to promote shortly after Liu Bang's death. In order to control power, she appointed her confidants, excluded the loyal ministers who were loyal to Liu Bang, and killed the threatening Liu clan clan.
replaced by the Lu family's foreign relatives group fully controlled the Historical regime. The Lu family's foreign relatives and the Liu family became the mainstream of the struggle for ruling power in the early Han Dynasty, and Lü family was at an absolute overwhelming advantage for a long time.
However, after Empress Lu died of illness in 180 BC, the Lü family, who held authority, was reversed and uprooted. The Lü family, as the first dictatorial relative in Chinese history, ended.
The storm of fighting for the throne, the political game between the forces of the Lü family and Liu Bang
The rise of the Lü family's foreign relatives group will start with the core figure Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi was born in a big landlord's family in Pei County, but her birth date is unknown. Her father Lu Gong has a very good relationship with the magistrate of Pei County.
When the Lu family moved to the house, the chief clerk Xiao He , the later founding prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, was responsible for arranging the number of guests. At this banquet, Lu Gong fell in love with Liu Bang, who was the head of the Sishui Pavilion, and regardless of family opposition, he married Lu Zhi, who was less than 20 years old to Liu Bang, who was 15 years older than her.
Although Liu Bang was nearly forty years old, he had an unmarried son, namely King Qi Liu Fei .
Lu Zhi was called a virtuous woman in her early years. Liu Bang couldn't socialize at home all day, and Lu Zhi not only managed the family in an orderly manner, but also gave birth to a son and a daughter for Liu Bang, which was later Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying and Princess Lu Yuan.
In 209 BC, Liu Bang raised an army in Pei County to rebel against Qin. During the three-year war, Lu Zhi and her children stayed in Pei County, and the servants tried to serve him.
In 206 BC, the Chu-Han War broke out. Pei County where Lu Zhi was located was under the control of Xiang Yu. In the subsequent Battle of Pengcheng , Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu, and Lu Zhi and other Liu Bang's family members were captured by the Chu army. It was not until the Chu-Han peace talks were held in 203 BC that Lu Zhi was released.
However, things have changed for six years. When Lu Zhi and Liu Bang reunited, they found that Liu Bang had a beautiful and young Concubine Qi , and Liu Bang favored her very much. What's more important is that Concubine Qi has given birth to Liu Ruyi .
Although Liu Ying was made the crown prince as early as 205 BC, Lu Zhi has deeply felt that the status of herself and her son is no longer stable.
, especially in 202 BC, , Liu Bang became emperor, and often used the reason Liu Yingren was weak and "not like me" to change Liu Ruyi as the crown prince. In addition, Concubine Qi often accompanied Liu Bang, crying day and night, and persuaded Liu Bang to make her son the crown prince. Lu Zhi felt the urgency of the situation even more.
Lu Zhi knew very well that political struggle was a life-and-death war. Once it failed, it would be broken. She must take action and a battle to fight for the throne officially began.
Although Concubine Qi relies on Liu Bang and seems aggressive, Lu Zhi is still better in terms of influence.
Lu Zhi has long been the butler of Liu Bang's rear, and has been intimate with founding fathers of Pei County, including Xiao He, Zhoubo , Fan Kuai and Xiahou Ying .
Especially Fan Kuai married Lu Zhi's sister Lu Wei, and his relationship was even more extraordinary, so it is no exaggeration to say that Lu Zhi is an important member of the Pei County Political Group. As the minister at that time Li Ji said:
" Gaodi and Empress Lü together to determine the world."
Moreover, the inheritance system of the eldest son is in line with the traditional Confucian concept of the time, so on the issue of the prince, the elders and Confucian scholars and court officials in Pei County firmly opposed the abolition of the eldest son and the establishment of the young.
This means that Liu Bang and Concubine Qi are facing not only Lu Zhi, but the entire court. The issue of deposing the crown prince for a while has become a tug-of-war.
In 195 BC, Liu Bang was injured in the deadly arrow in the quelling of Yingbu rebellion. In addition, he had a long-term bumpy battle. At this time, Liu Bang had a premonition that his life had come to an end, so his desire to depose the crown prince was even stronger.
Under the crisis, Lu Zhi asked his brother Jiancheng Hou Lu Shizhi to find Zhang Liang to ask for good strategies. At Zhang Liang's suggestion, Lu Zhi invited , which Liu Bang valued very much and could not invite many times, and specially asked these four old men to appear next to Liu Ying at the banquet, deliberately letting Liu Bang see it.
At this time, Liu Bang already understood that the prince's wings had been formed and his status could no longer be shaken. What's more important is that the power of Lu Zhi behind him is deeply rooted. Liu Bang had no choice but to accept his fate and never mention the deposed prince. In this political struggle, Lu Zhi won the final victory.
slaughtered meritorious officials and attacked the royal family. The Lu family almost seized the country of the Western Han Dynasty
While Lu Zhi was playing the game of the prince issue, he also established his own authority by participating in the government affairs. At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Lu Zhi had become a member of the decision-making group.
However, what really made Lu Zhi share Liu Bang's supreme power was to deal with princes and kings of different surnames.
In 196 BC, Lu Zhi took advantage of Liu Bang's battle outside and used a trick to kill Han Xin with Xiao He. Soon after, he successfully coaxed the deposed Liang Wang , who had been Peng Yue back to Xianyang , and persuaded Liu Bang to kill him.
Lu Zhi established her authority by killing people and successfully shocked other heroes. In short, during the eight years of Liu Bang's reign as emperor,Lu Zhi successfully cracked down on separatist forces by killing Han Xin and Peng Yue, eliminated political threats, and laid a political foundation for her future power.
In April 195 BC, Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu of Han, who had fought for his whole life, passed away with regret. Liu Ying, who was only fifteen years old, succeeded to the throne and was Emperor Hui of Han. Lu Zhi walked on the front stage and began to take power alone.
In order to consolidate power, Lu Zhi waved her butcher knife at the descendants of Liu Bang's royal family, and Liu Ruyi was the first to bear the brunt.
In 194 BC, Lu Zhi designed to trick Liu Ruyi, who had gone to Zhao, back to the capital, and killed Liu Ruyi with poisonous wine in December of that year. After getting rid of Liu Ruyi, Lu Zhi then attacked the imprisoned Concubine Qi.
First cut off Concubine Qi's hands and feet, then dig off her eyes, deaf ears, drink dumb pills, and throw her into the toilet, which is called a human slut. Because of her cruel methods, Liu Ying was frightened and could not go to court to govern the government.
Liu Bang's eldest son Liu Fei was the King of Qi. He only escaped after giving one of his own county to Princess Lu Yuan.
In 192 BC, Lu Zhi made Princess Lu Yuan's daughter, Zhang, who was only eleven years old, the niece of Liu Ying, the niece, the niece of Liu Ying, the to further consolidate her power.
Under the strong and distorted intervention of Lu Zhi, Liu Ying died of depression in 188 BC at the age of twenty-five. However, Lu Zhi, who lost her own son, did not intend to give up.
She first made the crown prince Liu Gong the emperor, and she ruled the dynasty and performed the emperor's power. Then she killed King Zhao Liu You, forcing King Liang Liu Hui to commit suicide, and deposed and excluded Prime Ministers who were loyal to Liu's family, Wang Ling , Chen Ping , and General Zhou Bo and others.
also appointed his confidant Shen Shiqi as prime minister, and all major affairs of the court were discussed by him and Lu Zhi.
In 187 BC, Lu Zhi broke Liu Bang's "non-King" oath, and named his nephew Lu Tai as King Lu, Lu Chan as King Liang, Lu Lu as King Zhao, nieces and grandson Lu Tong as King Yan, and even his sister Lu Xi was named Marquis of Linguang.
Under the control of Lu Zhi, more than a dozen people from the Lu family were named kings and princes, and the relatives of the Lu family rose in full swing to control the government.
and Shaodi Liu Gong was deposed and assassinated by Lu Zhi, and Changshan King Liu Yi (later changed to Liu Hong ) was the emperor. At this point, all the orders of the court came from Lu Zhi.
Before Lu Zhi died of illness in 180 BC, King Zhao Lu Lu became the general, commanding the Northern Army and controlling the palace, King Lu Chan of Lu served as prime minister, commanding the Southern Army and controlling the court, and the entire Western Han Dynasty was firmly controlled by the Lu family's foreign relatives group, and the power of the royal family was completely suppressed.
blood stained the palace, the Lu family group was eradicated in one fell swoop
Lu Zhi died, Han Dynasty The supreme power temporarily appeared, the internal contradictions of the ruling class began to intensify, and the relationship between the Lu family group and the royal family forces became increasingly tense.
Lu Lu and Lv Chan were preparing to brew mutiny, but were afraid that Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, Guanying and and other veterans had never dared to take further action. However, the plan of the rebellion was leaked into the ears of Liu Zhang, and Liu Zhang decided to take the initiative.
on the one hand informed the King of Qi Liu Xiang , signaling him to raise his troops to attack Zhu Lu, and on the other hand discussed with Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others. However, although Zhou Bo was the Grand Marshal, he had no military power in his hands and could not shake Zhu Lu.
At this time, Chen Ping gave a suggestion, first kidnapped Li Ji's father, Li Shang , who had always been friends with Lu Lu, and then asked Li Ji to deceive Lu Lu, and asked him to hand over the Northern Army and return to his fiefdom in exchange for the King of Qi to retreat.
In this way, the Lü family can still enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth without risking the extermination of the clan and causing bloody conflicts.
Lu Lu relied on the support of his aunt Lu Zhi to a high position, and had no political strategy at all. Facing the rise of King Qi and the group of tiger and wolf ministers under Liu Bang, he had no courage to take risks.
So he followed Li Ji's advice and handed over the military power of the Northern Army. As soon as Lu Lu left, Zhou Bo entered the Northern Army and said to the soldiers:
"The right arm of the Lu family, the left arm of the Liu family!"
all the soldiers in the army exposed their left arms, and Zhou Bo obtained the command of the Northern Army in this way. At this time, Lu Chan didn't know that Lu Lu had lost his military power, so Zhou Bo and others decided to take the initiative.
immediately assigned Liu Zhang a thousand troops to Weiyang Palace to arrest Lu Chan. Lu Chan was unprepared and fled to see this. Liu Zhang captured and killed him. At this point, all the armies of the north and south returned to the hands of the royal family, and Zhu Lu, who had lost his army, could only be slaughtered by fish on the chopping board.
Soon Zhou Bo sent someone to arrest all the Lü families separately, and all the young and old were executed. Lu Lu and Lu Tong, who had already been in the vassal, were not spared and were both killed.
In this bloody struggle between the Liu family royal group and the Lu family foreign relative group, the royal group ended with the victory of the royal group.
In this power struggle that lasted for nearly twenty years, although Lu Zhi always took the initiative and even absolutely suppressed it, in the environment at that time, Lu Zhi was only considered the guardian of the Liu family's country and did not become a political force independent of the Liu Bang group.
. The other Zhu Lu became the throne with their status as relatives and lacked political foundations, so it was difficult to compete with the founding fathers. Therefore, once Lu Zhi died, Zhu Lu lost the strongest protection, and it was only a matter of time before he died.
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