If you give a score to women in history, lü yan and Wu Zetian should be almost the same in terms of political talent. If it were not for Lü Yan being too cruel to Qi Ji and letting herself bear the insults of eternity, some of her deeds would still be remarkable and would not be deliberately diluted. Although Lü Yan and Wu Zetian also suppressed the children of the imperial family in order to consolidate their power, they could see the obvious thickness from the evaluation of posterity.
In fact, after some people scolded Lü, they felt that she had set a precedent for Chinese foreign relatives to interfere in politics, which led to this trend not stopping, especially in the two Han Dynasties. But in fact, before Lü Hou, there were already cases of matriarchal meddling in the government of china before Lü Hou, just look at a very existential historical figure - Empress Dowager Mi of Huayang.
At that time, Empress Huayang had no sons, so she adopted King Xiang of Qin zhuang as her heir, that is, the father of Qin Shi Huang, at the urging of Lü Buwei. But why is it that the people are firmly convinced that Yingzheng and Lü Buwei are related by blood, because the people do not believe that Lü Buwei is just a simple political investment. However, Empress Huayang managed government affairs only because the emperor was too young and was only 13 years old when Yingzheng took the throne, and at this time, Yingzheng's great and majestic strategy would also be limited by age and insight. Later, Qin Guoneng's dominance over the world and Empress Huayang's assistance could not be separated.
However, Lü Hou is different, she can go to the step of weighing, to a certain extent, It is Liu Bang's "connivance".
This has to start with Liu Ying, the son of Lü Shi and Liu Bang.
Later, why did Liu Bang have the idea of changing the crown prince, was Liu Ying bad?
In fact, he is too good, his personality is very generous, although the people of the world all hope to have a "benevolent king", but Liu Bang's heart is very clear, without the wrist of the emperor, is not able to manage a country. Among liu bang's so many sons, he only favored one, that is, his youngest son Liu Ruyi.
However, the abolition of the prince was not a trivial matter, the imperial court was opposed, and Lü Shi was also anxious in his heart. Therefore, Lü Hou asked Zhang Liang for advice, and Zhang Liang really said a solution. If you think about this matter carefully, can Liu Bang not know? Perhaps, Liu Bang also wanted to take this matter to test, Liu Ying's personality was cowardly, if Lü Shi had the ability to protect him, this big Han's Jiangshan could still be maintained.
However, Liu Bang ignored one point, that is, a woman who has hatred in her heart is not inferior to a boy when she does things.
Lü Clan hated Qi Ji's mother and son, which was actually caused by Liu Bang.
Therefore, as soon as Liu Bang left on his front foot, Lü Shi started to do something to Qi Ji. Although Liu Ying had the heart to protect Liu Ruyi, he knew his mother's thoughts too well. However, Lü Shi did not care about his son's emotions at all, and poisoning Liu Ruyi caused great psychological trauma to Liu Ying. Since then, Liu Ying has not cared about the government and died within a few years.
After that, Lü had to appoint Liu Ying's son as emperor, but he was just a doll. As a result, in order to consolidate power, the Lü clan has been supporting the Lü clan, which is often called the "post-party" by later people. As a result, three forces were basically formed in the imperial court, the scholar class (there was no imperial examination system at that time), the princes, and the Lü family. When Lü Hou was there, the three forces were basically balanced, but the Lü clan did not attack the Liu royal family less. Later, as soon as the Lü clan died, the other two forces immediately joined forces to exterminate the Lü clan.
In fact, lü shi yimen has such a result, which should be directly caused by lü shi. She claimed that the emperor was young, so as to interfere in the affairs of the dynasty, and then, while cultivating the Lü family's power, she suppressed the Liu royal family. In this regard, anyone who sees Lü's practice will seriously doubt Lü's true intentions: is she for the good of the Liu family, or does she want to steal the Liu family's Jiangshan?
During this period, the Western Han Dynasty continued its previous policies, such as peace with the Xiongnu, and the common people continued to be able to reduce taxes, but political turmoil affected the peaceful development of the country. In fact, Lü's approach is quite dangerous, and there are cases in history soon after. Look at Wang Mang, you know, the same is the empress dowager to intervene in politics, but the result is that the nephew became the emperor.
However, at that time, there were still people who understood, and they were waiting for the opportunity, as long as Lü Shi died, many things could be shot. Just as Liu Bang did not expect, the Lü clan would treat his sons like that, and the Lü clan did not expect that the Lü clan would be uprooted as soon as she died. Even her grandson, Liu Ying's son, was killed for the simple reason that the blood was impure.
Perhaps, it was really the Lü clan that annoyed the elite class, and they could no longer tolerate anyone who had anything to do with the Lü clan, including Liu Bang's own grandson. And Liu Bang is not without other sons, and then another one with a benevolent heart is stronger than this branch of the Lü clan.
In short, the influence of the Lü clan claims on the Western Han Dynasty was very large, and the foreign forces began to enter the government administration in a justifiable manner, and the emperor had to rely on two groups of forces to resist the power of the foreign court:
One is the matriarch (foreign relative);
One is the eunuch.
Therefore, most of the history of the two Han Dynasties is the rotation of these forces. But prosperity and decline seem to be a theorem, and once this balance of power is destroyed, one side will fail miserably. For example, the Lü clan was proud for so many years, but later it was the price paid by the whole clan. Of course, whether it is a foreign relative interfering in politics or a eunuch dictatorship, it is aimed at their own interests, and Lü Hou is the same, just imagine, if it were not for Liu Ying as emperor, what would be the fate of Lü Hou?
Resources:
["Shi Ji Empress Lü Benji", "Shi Ji Gao Zu Ben Ji", "Shi Ji Gao Zu Ben Ji"]