Speaking of Lü Yan, many people will think of a vicious and ugly woman image, remembering her cruel act of torturing Lady Qi, the pet concubine of Han Gaozu's ancestor Liu Bang, and considering her to be the best representative of the snake and scorpion heart, and deeply resenting the first empress in Chinese history. However, we find that Sima Qian, a generation of historians, had a very high evaluation of her, saying in the "History of Lü Hou Benji" that during her reign, "the government did not leave the house, and the world was in a state of tranquility; Punishment is rare, and sinners are Hee; The people's livelihood is nourished, and the food and clothing are nourished." So, what kind of person is Lü Yan? What happened to her life? What made her so fierce? Let's follow the history one by one.
Lü Yan (吕雉), also known as Empress Han Gaohou, Lü Hou ( Lü Hou ) , was born in 241 BC in ShanFu County , Shandong ( present-day Shan County , Shandong Province ) . Lü Hou's father, surnamed Lü Mingwen (吕名文), was a native of Shan County, Shandong Province, and was known as "Lü Gong". According to the "Records of History" on Lü Gong's home Pei County, "Pei ZhongHaojie officials heard that there were heavy guests, and all went to congratulate" It can be seen that Lü Gong was not an ordinary guest, but a heavy guest, but also a heavy guest of the county order, and the county order came to such a guest, and Hao Jie of Pei County and the officials all went to congratulate. In ancient times, having money did not mean being noble, and it was impossible for local haojie and officials to rush to make friends, so it can be seen that the Lu family is not a small household, at least in Pei County. Therefore, Lu Yan can be said to be a recognized big girl. Then Lü Yan's marriage to Liu Bang is a typical "next marriage".
First of all, Liu Bang was born as a farmer, and he was lazy and lazy or a drunkard; Secondly, Liu Bang's position at that time was very small, according to historical records, he was only a village official in Pei County of the Qin Dynasty, and his position was the chief of Surabaya Pavilion, that is, a policeman in charge of public security in the village; Third, Liu Bang was born in 256 BC, and Lü Yan was born in 241 BC, and Liu Bang was a full 15 years older than Lü Yan. That is to say, a prodigal son of a disciple in his 30s who has not been doing his job all day and spending a lot of time and wine has married a noble and beautiful woman like a flower, which is difficult to imagine today.
So, how did the liu and Lu families, who did not have the right door, get married? This must start with a wild remark from Liu Bang's mouth.
It is said that at that time, Haojie and officials of Pei County heard that the county ordered that there were distinguished guests at home, and they came to drink and congratulate. Xiao He, who was responsible for receiving gift money, informed everyone that those who gave gift money less than a thousand yuan could not drink in the hall. What was the concept of a thousand dollars at that time? According to records, a county in the Qin Dynasty ordered only a few thousand yuan a year, and eating wine once was equivalent to eating a county grandfather's salary for several months. It was a veritable high-priced meal, and it once again proved that Lu Gong's family was not an ordinary family. Liu Bang, a drunkard, heard that the county ordered a noble guest to come to his house, and he also ran to eat wine upside down, and also reported to himself: "I will send ten thousand!" A small pavilion chief, whose salary for ten years added up to less than ten thousand, actually released such a bold statement, who believes it? Just as the rich people in the hall were laughing loudly, Lü Gong, who had seen the world, secretly thought that this little official was not ordinary, and dared to lie in public, and waited for me to go out to see.
At this look, Lü Gong was particularly shocked. The person in front of him was seven feet and eight inches long, which was equivalent to one meter and eight meters today according to the size of the Qin Dynasty. Lü Pingshi liked to show people a face, and thought to himself, this person looks very angry, long neck, high nose, beautiful hair fluttering, but not the appearance of ordinary people, quickly welcomed into the hall, and also let Liu Bang sit on the seat of a powerful person. After all the guests in the room had left, Lü Gong even pulled Liu Bang aside and said, "I have a daughter who wants to promise you a wife, and I hope you will not abandon it." When Liu Bang heard this, he thought that there was such a good thing, and quickly agreed to it.
Although Mrs. Lü did not agree to this improper family affair, in ancient times, it was the father and husband who had the final say, so Lü Yan and Liu Bang soon got married.
The unsympathetic transformation from a big lady to a prisoner of the order
Since Miss Gui Lü Yan married Liu Bang, not long after, she gave birth to a son and a daughter for Liu Bang. As the head of the pavilion, Liu Bang, except for the occasional leave of absence to visit home, lived in the Surabaya Pavilion most of the time. Moreover, after marriage, Liu Bang was still the same as before, often drinking and partying with three friends and four friends, and when he was bored, he also made a bamboo hat to hang around, and he could not see people at both ends for three days. However, at that time, Liu Bang's family had already been separated, and he only got a few acres of thin land, and his salary as a pavilion chief was not enough for him to eat and drink alone. However, the rich woman Lu Lu did not make as noisy and noisy as the average little woman, or even divorced. Although there are usually some help from the mother's family, it is not a solution for a long time. So Lü Yan took his two children and personally went down to the field to cultivate the land, raise silkworms and weave cloth, serve his in-laws, and painstakingly run his own small family.
However, I did not expect that there were unexpected storms in the sky, and people had bad luck and bad luck. At that time, Liu Bang, who was the head of the Surabaya Pavilion, although he usually did not have a proper shape, he had to do something practical with the salary of a small village official.
In 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang began to build his own huge and magnificent tomb at the foot of Lishan Mountain, south of Liyi. Until the first year of Qin II, that is, in 209 BC, the imperial court still issued an edict to send sinners to Lishan to build the tomb of the first emperor. One of the main tasks of the pavilion chief was to escort local laborers to Lishan, so Liu Bang and a group of prisoners set out for Lishan. However, as for the reason why the laborers ran away, some books say that it was because Liu Bang himself was drunk. The laws of the Qin Dynasty were already harsh, and if so many people escaped on the way, the others would inevitably die even if they arrived at Lishan Mountain. Liu Bang thought to himself, anyway, they all ran away, and the horizontal and vertical were all dead, so it was better to let everyone go, and maybe they could make a living. Seeing this move of Liu Bang, some laborers were very moved, thinking that the dead horse would be a live horse doctor, anyway, they would not be able to live a peaceful life anywhere, it was better to follow this extraordinary-looking pavilion chief, maybe they could still mix a famous hall. As a result, some of the prisoners fled with Liu Bang to Mount Mangzhong (present-day Yongcheng, Henan Province) and fell into the grass.
As the saying goes, a monk who could run could not run the temple, and Liu Bang himself escaped, but poor Lü Yan sat on the crime of husband and was arrested and imprisoned. The big lady of that year was now in prison, and she had no money to do anything, so the jailers in the prison were bullying, often insulting and mocking Lü Yan, and scolding very ugly. Fortunately, there was a jailer named Ren Ao in the prison at that time, and he and Liu Bang were iron brothers, and after knowing that his brother's wife was in prison, he was very concerned about her. But then again, the days in prison are still very hard, and Lu Yan still has to worry about his two children, in-laws and her husband, not knowing where they are now and how they are.
After a while, Xiao He, who was the Duke of Pei County, went to intercede for Lü Yan, saying that Lü Lu was a woman and a Taoist family, and that she did not know anything about her husband's work, it was all Liu Bang's fault, and now, it was not appropriate for her to let a woman bear the sins of men. Moreover, she is old and young, and everyone is counting on her to take care of her. Why don't we let her go, and still show your compassion for the people, generosity and benevolence. When the county order heard it, it was in line with his heart, thinking that the Lü family had originally made friends with him, although he had told Lü Gong that the media asked him to marry Lü Yan to himself, he did not agree, but he and Lü Gong were also brothers who had been friends for many years, and now that the brother's daughter had entered his own prison, he should still take care of it. So the county order readily agreed, and Lü Yan was released and returned home.
When Lü Yan, who was a big lady, married Liu Bang, not only did not have the temper of a proud and arrogant young lady, but "married a chicken with a chicken, married a dog with a dog", strictly observed the woman's way, diligently managed the family, filial piety to the in-laws, and raised a pair of children, really counted as virtuous and virtuous, is a rare good wife.
In the midst of turmoil and displacement, love and resentment are formed
Marrying Liu Bang, Lü Yan's life was destined to be unstable.
In 205 BC, the Han army led by Liu Bang took advantage of Xiang Yu's inability to extricate himself from Qi and easily captured the Chu capital Pengcheng. At that time, all the elite soldiers of Pengcheng went with Xiang Yu to attack the State of Qi, and there were only a few defenders left in the whole Pengcheng and a few thousand old, weak, and sick remnants, so when Liu Bang led hundreds of thousands of Han troops to attack, he entered the empty city and immediately occupied the city. Liu Bang was particularly pleased, because this was the first time he had blatantly killed Emperor Yi in Jiangzhong with Xiang Yu, and he was rebellious, and he was righteous and obedient to Xiang Yu. He proudly touched his beard, walked around the city, and saw that the beautiful women in Xiang Yu's palace were like clouds, which was simply heartbroken. So Liu Bang lined up for a feast every day, embracing the left and right, and singing at night and wine, so unhappy.
Who knows, as soon as Xiang Yu heard it, the little boy Liu Bang dared to openly confront himself, and also occupied his beautiful jewelry and palace, jumping like thunder, and immediately led 30,000 special forces to kill back, unstoppable. Where the Han army was the opponent of the fierce Chu army, before the battle was a few rounds, the army broke up and fled for its life. Liu Bang, the king of Han, saw it and immediately beat his horse and fled, fortunately the horse ran fast, running for dozens of miles in the blink of an eye. By this time it was already dark, and in the woods ahead, he finally saw a glimmer of light. Liu Bang came to the hut and knocked on the door, and the old man who opened the door saw Liu Bang's appearance and knew that he was not an ordinary person, so he politely let him enter the door and called his daughter to quickly provide wine and food. The girl took a short while to bring the meal up, Liu Bang took a big bite, ate almost, looked up, although the two or eight beautiful people in front of her were wearing coarse cloth clothes, they looked clear and clear, ChuChu was pitiful, but a rare big beauty. The old man of the Qi family, who was a poor slave, looked at Liu Bang's expression and thought to himself, this person must have done great things in the future, simply marry his daughter to him, and maybe climb to riches. So that night, after coming and going, the two entered the cave room.
Early the next morning, Liu Bang was afraid of the pursuit of the soldiers, so he hurried on the road and reluctantly bid farewell to Qi Gong's father and daughter. Fortunately, just after getting on the road, Liu Bang met Xiahou Bao and his party, and naturally changed their cars. He saw a man and a woman among the refugees running along the way, as if they were his own children. Xiahou Bao quickly carried the two children who had fled for their lives to the car. It turned out that after the Battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang's parents, wives and children fled outside the country and wanted to find Liu Bang, but in the process of fleeing, the two children were scattered by the rebels and separated from their grandparents. As the two children spoke, they began to cry, where did they know that the father who was looking for him was still alone last night. During the conversation, Chu Bing chased after him, and Liu Bang was shocked and shouted, "Run!"
The horse ran hard, and Chu Bing chased after it, and it seemed that it was about to catch up. Liu Bang was in a hurry and quickly kicked the two children off the car. Xiahou Baby saw it, quickly picked up the two children, and put them in the car again. Liu Bang immediately threw the child out again, and Xiahou Baby came in again, repeating it several times in a row, and the two children were overly frightened and cried. Liu Bang couldn't help it, and scolded: "You didn't see that the current situation is extremely critical, where can you manage two children, looking for death!" Xiahou Baby still held the two children in his arms, and Liu Bang pulled out his sword, pointed at Xiahou Baby, and said, "If you hold them again, you will not be polite to you." So he ordered the coachman to run away in a carriage. Xiahou Baby quickly got on the horse with the two children in her arms, ran together, and finally escaped.
However, Taigong and Lü Hou were not so lucky, and they were both captured by the Chu army, and other family members were scattered. At that time, there was also a servant named ZhenQi who did not want to leave, and was captured in the Chu army together and kept as a hostage by Xiang Yu. It was not until September 203 BC that the Chu and Han sides negotiated peace, and Taigong and Lü Hou were released. However, Lü Yan, who returned to Liu Bang's side, was nearly thirty years old at this time, and her beauty was gradually declining, and her husband was very cold to himself. Originally thought that her husband must have been fighting and negotiating with Xiang Yu every day in the past two years, always looking forward to saving herself out, where did she know that her husband had almost forgotten the vows he had made, and he had already been accompanied by others. So Lu Lu, who was nearly thirty years old, could only watch her husband and another young and beautiful woman go in and out. Coupled with listening to the children's stories, she thought that Liu Bang would not even care about his own flesh and bones at a time of crisis, and it would be better for the domestic slaves to interrogate him and risk his life to accompany her through such a difficult two years of hostage time. Perhaps she also heard about Liu Fei, the illegitimate son of Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bang's affair with herself after cao shi. The more Lu Yan thought about it, the more sad she became, she cried fiercely for a night, and her psychology changed, slowly becoming invincible and fierce.
Swallow your breath and sharpen your sword for ten years
In June 205 BC, Liu Bang had already made Lü Yan's son Liu Ying crown prince, but after receiving the Qi clan of Dingtao, it was not long before Lady Qi also gave birth to a son, named Ruyi. This Lady Qi is also not a fuel-saving lamp, in addition to the peach face willow waist, exquisite figure, singing and dancing everything, and usually love to learn some poetry and song, which makes Liu Bang eager to hold it in the palm of his hand every day. In fact, Lady Qi is deeply loved by Liu Bang, and the author speculates that there are the following three reasons. First, Lady Qi and Liu Bang are similar in origin, and compared with Lü Hou's boudoir and childhood, liu Bang naturally feels more distressed, and there are more common topics; Second, after Lü Hou experienced a turbulent and displaced life, she looked down on love, and perhaps she would also be like modern women after experiencing negative men, shouting out the slogan of "don't talk to me about feelings, talk about money for me", and concentrate on her career and political status, which sets off Mrs. Qi's gentle and considerate woman charm; Third, Lady Qi gave birth to a wise and lovely son to Liu Bang, who looked and temperamentally like Liu Bang and was deeply loved by Liu Bang.
After Liu Bang ascended the throne as emperor, Lady Qi was even more exclusive of the harem, pestering Liu Bang day and night to make her son the crown prince. Lady Qi pestered Liu Bang all day long to cry and make trouble, and finally Liu Bang could not withstand the repeated tosses of the beauty, so she prepared to make Lady Qi's son Ruyi the crown prince. Lu Hou, who heard this news, was particularly anxious. She didn't care who Liu Bang loved, who she let accompany her every day, and who had children with her, she could endure The arrogance of Lady Qi's exclusive favor, and even occasionally she could lose a smile, but no one could move the political status she had painstakingly managed. Lü Yan, who was already an empress, knew that if her son Liu Ying was deposed, then her position as empress was about to be lost, and she had lost her husband's heart, so she absolutely could not lose the glory she had worked hard to endure for many years. So Lü Hou began to worry about it day and night, to prevent him from changing, and sometimes looking at Lady Qi's mother and son, she simply hated to itch her teeth, and hated that she could not strangle him immediately. It's just a pity that he is not as young as Qi Ji, and he will have so many flattering tricks, he can't often accompany Liu Bang' side, and seeing that his son's status will be unsafe, Lü Yan's heart will be scorched.
Liu Bang was unable to withstand Qi Ji's ear and decided to depose the crown prince above the court. Finally, the day that made Lu Yan tremble with fear came. That night, Lü Yan didn't fall asleep when she turned over and over, and she had already received the news that Liu Bang was planning to depose Liu Ying in the court tomorrow, and her heart was pounding, and she was about to jump out of her throat. She was anxious and angry, thinking, what to do, the results of her painstaking management for so long, is it going to fall short? No, absolutely not! She had to act. So early the next morning, Lu Hou quietly hid inside the East Wing Gate and quietly listened to the movement above the hall. If the Qunchen had not persuaded Liu Bang, she would have personally come forward, played a bitter love card of "the wife of the chaff cannot be abandoned", and tearfully told her and Liu Bang's marital feelings, all these years of hard work for this family, she did not ask for anything, Liu Bang can also continue to spoil Lady Qi, as long as he still let Liu Ying be the prince, she is even willing to sit on an equal footing with Lady Qi. It was also the worst case scenario for her last trump card.
Ascension. Lü Yan heard a voice of opposition above the court and finally felt some relief. According to the ancient etiquette system, it is absolutely impossible to abolish the long and young, and this is also something that has never been done before. However, Liu Bang loved Ji and wanted to fight for Lady Qi's mother and son, so he ordered his secretary to start drafting documents. Lü Hou's palms were sweating, and just as she was about to break into the courtroom, she heard a man stand up and say loudly, "No! No...... Yes!" This man was none other than Zhou Chang, the Marquis of Fenyin. Liu Bang knew that Zhou Chang was stuttering, so he deliberately asked Zhou Chang: "Then you hurry up and talk about why you can't see it." When Zhou Chang heard this, he was even more anxious, his face turned purple, and finally he said, "I... though...... Stupid, but I know... Abolish the long and young... 'with the right thing' is not enough. Your Majesty...... want...... Depose the Prince, I... 'With the right thing to do' the ground... Not commanded. Hearing that Zhou Chang was in a hurry and mispronounced the word "absolute", the court, which was originally very serious and was about to fall apart, suddenly burst into laughter. Liu Bang couldn't help it either, and burst out laughing. At this time, Liu Bang and the ministers fought for half a day, and they were tired, so they said: "Let's retreat to the DPRK first, and we will talk about this matter later." Finally, The worried Lu Yan breathed a long sigh of relief. But from then on, Lü Yan simply hated Lady Qi, and she did things again and again, cautiously and carefully, thinking of danger in times of peace, and using all kinds of means to quickly consolidate the position of Crown Prince Liu Ying and herself, and she was more convinced that only "I am a knife trick" and firmly grasp the political power in her own hands can she grasp her own destiny.
Call the dictatorship, take revenge
In June 195 BC, at the age of 53, Gaozu Liu Bang fell ill and died in Changle Palace. At this time, Lü Yan was no longer the little woman she used to be, and now Lü Yan, with her wings full of wings, held great power, leaned up and down, and cursed dissidents.
Naturally, the tragic days of The Woman That Lü Yan hated the most in his life, Lady Qi, began. In fact, Lady Qi was not a stupid person, she knew that Lü Yan was vicious in her heart, if Liu Bang did not make his son the crown prince, then after Liu Bang died, she and her son would definitely die without a place to bury, so she repeatedly went to Liu Bang to cry. "Parents love their children, and they have far-reaching plans." Unfortunately, Liu Bangzhi loved Lady Qi, but did not love her far-reachingly, except for the only time he proposed the abolition of the prince in the court, he did not find another perfect strategy for Lady Qi's mother and son to protect themselves. Lady Qi did not think of any other way except to know that she had changed her position to a prince, so she could only cry sadly and had no choice. It can be seen from this that Lady Qi is not as good as Lü Yan in politics, and although she has foresight, she is not shrewd and capable enough, resourceful, and does not have Lü Yan's fierce strength to not give up until she reaches her goal.
In July of the same year, the crown prince Liu Ying ascended the throne, honoring Liu Bang as Emperor Gao and Honoring Lü Yan as empress dowager, and lü yan began to rule. The first big hatred that Lü Yan wanted to clean up was, of course, Lady Qi. So she immediately issued an order to imprison Lady Qi, and then thought of the article in the criminal law of "tongs as slaves", and ordered it to be implemented immediately. What does it mean to have a mustache? It is to wear iron tongs to do coolies. In this way, the poor generation of beauties was plucked out of Yingying's hair, trapped in Yong Lane, scooping rice day and night. In her grief, she made up another "Song of Songs", to the effect that, Son, you are thousands of miles away, and you don't know that your mother is giving people slave rice and suffering to the end! As soon as this song was sung, it was immediately reported to Lü Yan's ears. Lu Yan thought to himself, you are a, still singing, and thinking that one day your son will come to save you, ahem, This Niangniang wants you to send a white-haired person to a black-haired person, and you want to cry without tears! In the "History of Empress Lü Benji", it is recorded: "Friends take the daughters of Lü as the queen, and love and love him." The lü women were jealous, angry, and hungry for the empress, falsely accused of sin, and said, 'King Ande of the Lü clan!' After the Empress dowager is a hundred years old, I will strike at it. The empress dowager was furious and summoned the king of Zhao for this reason. This passage probably means that Lü Hou listened to the rumors of Zhu Lü's daughter before summoning King Ruyi of Zhao into the palace. Then the author believes that since Lü Yan stepped onto the political stage, he has become more aware of the principle of cutting grass and rooting out the roots, and he has actively helped Liu Bang eradicate the king with a different surname, and now that he is in power, of course, he must put an end to future troubles. Therefore, she tried her best to trick Lady Qi's son, King Ruyi of Zhao, into the palace.
Lü Yan's heart was fierce, but Emperor Hui's Liu Ying was very kind and benevolent. He saw that Lady Qi, the favorite concubine of the former emperor Liu Bang, had been stripped of her hair day and night, and he already felt that the revenge of empress dowager Lü Yan was a little too much. When King Ruyi of Zhao arrived in the capital, he quickly took Ruyi to his palace and slept and ate together every morning and evening, so as not to be poisoned by the empress dowager. However, Emperor Hui was young after all, and he didn't know how powerful it was. Time passes easily, and winter is in the blink of an eye. Emperor Hui, Liu Ying, took advantage of the cold winter and prepared to go out hunting, but when he left, he saw that his brother Ruyi was sleeping sweetly and could not bear to wake up, so he went out alone. When the hunt came back, Ruyi had already bled seven holes and was screaming for his life! He had to cry with Ruyi's corpse in his arms, and from then on he hated Empress Dowager Lü Even more.
However, Lü Yan's retaliation did not stop. Just after killing Lady Qi's son Ruyi, Lü Yan actually cut off Lady Qi's hands and feet, gouge out her eyes, smoked deaf ears, poisoned her throat, and threw her into the toilet. He also created a new word "Ren Yan", which not only let all the palace people watch, but also let people take Liu Ying to watch. Lü Hou's poisonous and spicy is really tragic, and it is unprecedented in ancient times.
In the first half of Lü Yan's life, it can be said that she was still virtuous and kind, taught her husband and son, and worked hard to restrain herself. Even after her titularity reached the pinnacle of power, she treated her courtiers or powerful veterans with great care and used her shrewd and capable political acumen to manage the country in an orderly manner. However, Lü Yan was fierce in his heart against dissidents or political enemies, especially the means of dealing with his love enemy Qi's wife, which was simply extremely hot and shocking to the hearers.