Lü Hou had a bitter hatred for Lady Qi, so much so that he finally used very cruel means to kill Lady Qi and made her a "human figure".
After Lü Hou made Lady Qi a "human being", he did something that puzzled future generations. That's why she asked her own son, Liu Ying, to visit. Liu Ying watched. After knowing that it was Mrs. Qi, her spirit was greatly stimulated. Crying and saying, this is not a human thing! And from then on, Liu Ying ignored the government and politics, drank and had fun all day, and drunk himself. Within a few years, Liu Ying was exhausted and eventually died prematurely.
Obviously, what Lü Hou did was completely harmful to others and to himself. On the one hand, he made his son hate himself, and let his son lose all respect and love for his mother. On the other hand, he also became the murderer who destroyed his son and let him die early.
(Lu Hou stills)
What kind of mentality was Lü Hou in the beginning, he used cruel means to kill Lady Qi and make Lady Qi a "human figure". We can understand this cruelty. Because Liu Bang favored Lady Qi alone and tried to depose Liu Ying's position as crown prince, Lü Hou's heart was as deep as the sea, and we all understood. But what she didn't understand was why she had to let her son see it?
I think that the reason why Lü Hou wanted her son to see the mutilated Lady Qi should mainly have the following two considerations.
(Liu Ying stills)
First, in the way of appearance, cultivate the son's tough character.
Liu Ying's personality has always been relatively weak. Because of his weak personality, he was almost deposed by Liu Bang as his crown prince. Lü Hou was deeply touched by this incident. At the beginning, he pleaded around, begging Liu Bang's ministers to help her try to keep Liu Ying's position as crown prince, and it can be said that there was more than one jar of tears. Once Liu Bang wanted to abolish Liu Ying, Zhou Chang argued according to reason. After the incident, Lü Hou quickly ran to thank Zhou Chang, and even knelt down for Zhou Chang. As empress dowager, Lü Hou knelt down to a minister, which showed how grateful he was to Zhou Chang. In order to keep the position of Prince Liu Ying, she made a lot of hard efforts.
Therefore, after she became the empress, the first thing she thought about was to cultivate Liu Ying's strong character no matter what.
She made Lady Qi a "human being" and specially let Liu Ying see it, that is, to tell Liu Ying that those who become kings must learn to be fierce. Only with a fierce heart can you be in an invincible position. Lü Hou also wanted to tell Liu Ying that you are now the emperor and will encounter many challenges, and there are many people who want to create your rebellion and seize your power. If you can't be as fierce as your father Liu Bang killed the heroes, then your Jiangshan is likely to be taken away by others in the future.
(Mrs. Qi stills)
Second, Lü Hou wanted to seize Liu Ying's power.
Although Liu Ying was the son of Lü Hou, Lü Hou was a person with a strong desire for power. She wanted to rule the court alone. Even if Liu Ying is her son, she does not want her son to share power with herself.
Some people may say that you are not right, Liu Ying has never controlled power, nor has he seized the power of Lü Hou.
This is not the case. After Liu Ying came to power, she actually wanted to control power for a while. We all know that there is a famous story in history of "Xiao Gui Cao Sui". Liu Ying's chancellor at that time was Cao Shan. After Cao San became the prime minister, he did nothing and drank all day for fun. Liu Ying was very dissatisfied, so she said to him, as a minister, how can you not do things? You should do some system building. Cao San said, your ability is not as good as your father Han Gaozu, my ability is not as good as Xiao He, we only need to follow the rules they formulated, it is right, why do you want to toss what "system construction"?
To put it bluntly, why Liu Ying wants to engage in system building is to take power from Lü Hou's body and let him take power himself. He hoped that Cao Shan would support him. However, a figure like Cao Sanrenjing certainly would not support him, but would help Lü Hou suppress him.
I think that Cao Shen must have reported this matter to Lü Hou later, and Lü Hou also saw his own power crisis from it. Because he saw this power crisis, he had to warn Liu Ying and tell Liu Ying that he should not act rashly. I am very strong as a mother, and power must always be in my hands. You have to learn again, and now is not the time for you to be in power.
Therefore, she asked Liu Ying to see how he rectified Lady Qi, that is, to let Liu Ying see her toughness and cruelty.
The above two points are probably the purpose of Lü Hou. Unfortunately, Lü Hou misjudged human nature and did not see that Liu Ying had a very good side. And this kind of goodness of Liu Ying is a kind of weak goodness. So in the end, Liu Ying was scared to death by her mother. Lü Hou eventually harmed others and himself.
(Reference: Chronicle of History)