Beijing, January 10 ( )
title:
Is the best love the icing on the cake, or is it a charcoal in the snow?
Author: Yuan Xiuyue
In 14 AD, the first year of Wang Mang's Tianfeng, it was the time of great chaos in the world, and military disasters were everywhere.
A handsome 19-year-old teenager left his hometown of Nanyang to study Taixue in Chang'an to seek more ways out.
Draft: Yu Zhenghao
But at this time, in addition to his ambition, he also had a woman in mind, her name was Yin Lihua.
"The official is treated as a jingo, and when he marries a wife, he deserves yin lihua." This was his exclamation as an ordinary student.
He was Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Years later, Yin Lihua finally became his empress. But in the middle of this, it has experienced vicissitudes.
First
Liu Xiu first shinily appeared on the stage of history in 25 AD, as the ninth grandson of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, established the Eastern Han Dynasty and became the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
It sounds mighty and life seems to be hanging, but in fact, Liu Xiu is not an aristocrat born with a golden spoon, but has climbed up from the "grassroots".
His identity was a bit awkward, although he came from the line of The Ding King of Changsha and was a han dynasty patriarch, but by the time of his father's generation, he had long since declined, and he could only be a petty official like the county order.
At the age of 9, Liu Xiu's father unfortunately died, the family's situation deteriorated, and he and his brother Liu Xiu were also raised by their uncle.
Liu Xiu and his brother have completely different personalities, Liu Xiu is a good warrior and a sharp edge, while Liu Xiu is more modest and likes to farm. Liu Ji therefore often laughed at his younger brother and compared him to Liu Bang's older brother Liu Zhong.
If he had not been in a chaotic world, Liu Xiu might have been just a farmer in Nanyang who could farm and would not have left a trace in history.
Of course, he probably wouldn't marry his dream wife, Yin Lihua. The Yin family is a rich family in Nanyang Xinye, and the ancestor is Guan Zhong, who assisted Qi Huan to become the head of the "Spring and Autumn Five Powers", and Yin Lihua's own beauty is also famous.
Therefore, when the young Liu Xiu saw Yin Lihua, he would fall in love at first sight, and when he arrived in Chang'an, he would never forget it.
The first signs
Liu Xiu is a "cautious and generous person", but he is not a person without great ambitions. After arriving in Chang'an, he immersed himself in schoolwork while caring about current affairs and making extensive friends. It has not only increased knowledge, but also exercised ability, and developed morally, intellectually, physically, and aesthetically.
However, like today's college students, Liu Xiu is also facing the dilemma of "graduation is unemployment". He had no other job to do, so he went back to farming and waited for his chance.
In the last years of the new Mang, Wang Mang's reform failed, natural and man-made disasters ran rampant, and various localities rose up one after another. Liu Xiu saw that "the sky has changed", and immediately revolted with his brother Xingbing.
In one battle after another, the Liu Xiu brothers stood out with their foresight and strategy, and the rebel alliance was also broken, and it was about to defeat Wang Mang. However, at this time, Emperor Liu Xuan, who was supported by the rebel army, was jealous of Liu Xuan's prestige in the army and planned to kill him.
Hearing the bad news, Liu Xiu did not have a momentary impulse, but showed a hidden tolerance that surpassed ordinary people. He immediately returned to Wancheng to "apologize", neither going down with his brother's men nor accepting the funeral, eating and laughing as usual. Liu Xuan lost his guard and made him the Marquis of Wuxin.
This was the most difficult moment in Liu Xiu's life, being suspected, isolated, and uncertain. But it was also this year that he finally married the woman of his dreams. Yin Zhi appreciated Liu Xiu's talent and married his sister to him, that year, Yin Lihua was 19 years old.
Another woman
If the story only ends here, it is also a good story. Unfortunately, Liu Xiu was destined not to be an ordinary person, the chessboard had been put under his eyes, how could he not give it a fight.
In September of the first year, Liu Xiu had just been married to Yin Lihua for 3 months, and was sent by Liu Xuan to Luoyang to renovate the palace. For safety reasons, Yin Lihua was sent back to her mother's house, and then to Huaiyang.
The husband and wife parted, never thought, goodbye is two years later.
During these two years, Liu Xiu pacified Hebei, established the Eastern Han Dynasty, and ascended the throne as emperor. And these are inseparable from the help of one person, who is Liu Yang, the True Ding King who sits on hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. The condition for the alliance between the two parties was that Liu Xiu marry Liu Yang's niece Guo Shengtong.
At that time, it was less than a year before Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua got married.
After marriage, Liu Xiu was very fond of Guo Shengtong. The following year, she gave birth to her son, Liu Qi.
In October of the same year, Liu Xiu sent Fu Jun, a servant, to bring Yin Lihua, whom he had not seen for a long time, to Luoyang.
No one knows how Yin Lihua felt at this time, only that Liu Xiu wanted her to be empress, but she stubbornly refused, and said that Guo Shengtong had a child and should appoint her as the queen.
In this way, Guo Shengtong was crowned empress, and the original Yin Lihua was a nobleman.
Finally ascended to the throne
In ancient times, the abolition of the crown prince was related to the foundation of the country, and the abolition of the empress was not simple. In addition to emotional factors, political factors should also be considered. Guo Shengtong was a member of the Han Dynasty clan, born of a noble family, and was backed by the Zhending King. At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to stabilize the country, win the hearts and minds of the people, and unite the strength of the clan, the establishment of such an empress can be said to be the trend of the times.
However, foreign relations are also a double-edged sword. From Lü Hou and Huo Guang to Wang Mang, foreign relatives of the Western Han Dynasty interfered in politics everywhere. Liu Xiu claimed to be the empress dowager, and there were constant rebellions in various places, including Guo Shengtong's uncle Liu Yang. But this incident did not affect Guo Shengtong, and later, she and Yin Lihua each gave birth to 5 children for Liu Xiu.
Guo Shengtong was really deposed 15 years later, and the history books record that it was because her grace was gradually declining, and she was jealous, so that she "had several resentments", and said that she "did not have the virtue of "Guan Ju", but had the wind of Lu and Huo".
It was Yin Lihua who took over. Compared with the "political marriage" of Liu and Guo, the relationship between Liu and Yin is relatively pure. Liu Xiu is a teenager's love for Yin Lihua, she is the cinnabar mole and white moonlight in her heart.
Yin Lihua herself also has a delicate heart, she knows humility and concessions, and she also understands Liu Xiu's thoughts. Having been a concubine for more than ten years, she did not feel dissatisfied, and as an empress, she was courteous and frugal, and the daughter-in-law she chose was also a generation of virtuous queens.
What is important is that the Yin family is weak, and Yin Lihua often constrains the clan. Yin Zhi was given the title of Food Yi for his meritorious conquest, but he immediately resigned. Liu Xiu made Yin Xing the Grand Sima and he resigned in tears. Although the Yin brothers did not gain monstrous power, the Yin family was saved.
In fact, in detail, Yin Lihua and Liu Xiu are very similar, Liu Xiu governs the country with judo, and Yin Lihua treats others with generosity. Therefore, after Guo Shengtong was deposed, the Guo clan did not usher in a catastrophe, the crown prince Liu Yi was deposed as the King of the East Sea, and Guo Shengtong was renamed the Empress Dowager of Zhongshan.
And Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua's eldest son Liu Zhuang, later the HanMing Emperor, not only ruled the country well, but also dreamed of his father and mother in his forties, and would happily wake up from the dream, as if returning to his youth.
When the Empress did this, she was also complete. Whether they are "ruthless" or have means, they have not lived up to the phrase "self-cultivation and family rule the country and the world." (End)