Lu Mu Hou defects
As we all know, the Western Han Dynasty was a dynasty founded by Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao. According to historical records, Liu Bang was called the empress dowager, and successively made 145 people who helped him win the world as marquises, and at the same time, according to the size of each person's merit, the 145 marquises were sorted to form a list of heroes.
It is amazing that on this list of meritorious deeds, a woman was awarded the title of Marquis, which is also the first female marquis in China's history. She was known as "Lu Mu Hou Hou", "Lu Mu Hou" was her title, and "Defect" was her name.
Special Marquis
People who know Chinese history know that China's feudal society is a typical patriarchal society, and the status of women is far inferior to that of men, that is, the so-called "from the father at home, from the husband to the husband, and to the husband to the son."
It can be seen that in the feudal society, women are not qualified to go to the court to obtain knighthoods or become officials, so this female marquis is very special. Not only is the gender special, but what is even more strange is that this woman is actually just an ordinary old lady who is talentless and incompetent, and it can be said that she has not made any achievements in the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty.
A marquis of high status
Even so, Liu Bang not only made her a marquis, but also placed her ranking in the list of meritorious servants in 7th place. In front of her were only six people, Xiao He the Marquis of Sui, Cao Shan, Marquis Cao Of Pingyang, Zhang Ao the Marquis of Xuanping, Zhou Bo the Marquis of Dai, Marquis Fan of Wuyang, and Marquis Li of Quzhou, and these six people were all famous historical figures who had made great contributions to the Western Han regime.
Her ranking is second only to these six people, and it can be said that her status was very high in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, even above the familiar Western Han Dynasty ministers Chen Ping and Zhang Liang (Chen Ping ranked 47th and Zhang Liang ranked 62nd in the meritorious service table). Therefore, people can't help but ask why she was put in this high position?
He was enthroned because of his son
In fact, the answer is also easy to understand, because she has a son with great merit, called "Xi Juan".
Xi Juan was a military general whose name was not loud in the history of the Western Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's "Records of History" did not establish a biography for him, but only summarized his life in one sentence: "From Qi Pei to Xianyang as Langzhong, to the Han Dynasty, to the generals from Ding Princes, Hou, 4,800 households, Gongbi Wuyang Marquis" Although the text is not long, this sentence contains a lot of information.
From this sentence, we can understand Xi Juan's life:
First, Xi Juan is a fellow of Liu Bang
Xi Juan and Liu Bang are both from Pei County, Jiangsu Province. Like Xiao He, Cao Shan, Fan Duo, and others, he was likely to have befriended Liu Bang before he raised an army. At the latest, when Liu Bang raised troops to occupy Pei County, he was already a subordinate of Liu Bang.
Second, Xi Juan was a close confidant of Liu Bang
Xi Juan followed Liu Bang's official position, and from the beginning he was a "sheren", that is, Liu Bang's personal bodyguard and secretary. He had to follow Liu Bang around every day, not only to protect Liu Bang's safety, but also to participate in Liu Bang's secret military affairs, which can be said to be Liu Bang's most trusted right hand and right arm.
In Liu Bang's ranks, the only people who could assume the position of "sheren" were Xi Juan, fan duo, and a few others. It can be seen that Xi Juan is an absolute confidant of Liu Bang.
3. Xi Juan followed Liu Bang on his southern expedition to the Northern War
After Xi Juan followed Liu Bang to raise an army, he participated in almost all of Liu Bang's conquests, including the Battle of Qin that accompanied Liu Bang into Xianyang. In this battle, Xi Juan also made great contributions and was given the title of "Langzhong", roughly equivalent to the commander of Liu Bang's direct pro-army, and the position reached the rank of general.
Later, when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu and Chu Han were fighting for hegemony, Xi Juan, as Xiang Yu's close general, followed Liu Bang on his southern expedition to the north and destroyed the armies of many princes.
Fourth, Xi Juan's credit can be compared with Fan Duo's
Marquis Fan of Wuyang was a well-known general of Liu Bang. He made great contributions to following Liu Bangli. According to historical records, Fan Yu fought with Liu Bang all his life, defeated 7 armies successively, and captured 6 counties and 52 counties.
He personally killed nearly 180 enemies, and successively captured 1 minister, 12 enemy generals, and nearly 300 soldiers. It can be said that Fan Duo was one of the generals with great military merit in Liu Bang's camp. He was ranked fifth in Liu Bang's meritorious list, with 5400 households.
The historical record says that Xi Juan's merits are similar to Fan Duo's, and xi Juan's gift of food is 4800 households, which is also close to Fan Huan's reward. It can be seen from this that Xi Juan's contribution to the founding of the Western Han Dynasty is definitely not small.
Xi Juan died early and had no heirs
As a close confidant and beloved general of the emperor, but also a military outstanding, it is reasonable that Xi Juan should not be so obscure, and the reason why he did so was only because he died early. According to records, Xi Juan was killed on the battlefield at the end of the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony. He did not wait for the day when the Western Han Dynasty was founded.
When it was time for the great meritorious service to be awarded, Liu Bang found that the good brother who died had a great merit and could be ranked in the top ten. As is customary, he died, and the credit should be inherited by his son, but he left no son, the heir was cut off, and there were no brothers and sisters, only the mother was still alive.
The practical reason for the marquisate
In this case, if he is to be rewarded, he can only be rewarded with his mother. At that time, it was a patriarchal society, and machismo was prevalent. Women were almost entirely dependent on men, and there was never a precedent for female knighthood. Therefore, Liu Bang's appointment of Xi Juan's mother as Hou is subject to certain worldly pressures, and some people will think that this is not in accordance with the rules.
But in the end, Liu Bang still made her a marquis, so what did Liu Bang finally think of before making up his mind? Judging from the situation at that time, Liu Bang thought of at least two points:
1. Encourage your courtiers to be loyal to themselves
Xi Juan was loyal to Liu Bang, was an absolute confidant of Liu Bang, and bowed to Liu Bang and died on the battlefield, with outstanding merit. It would be unfair for a loyal and meritorious courtier like Xi Juan to have fewer rewards than others just because he died and no heirs could inherit the title.
If this is handled, which other courtiers will be willing to serve themselves in the future? Therefore, it is necessary to seize the opportunity to commend the loyal behavior of the courtiers, encourage the courtiers to be loyal to themselves, and make them realize that the emperor cares about them and that they have not chosen the wrong person.
Second, flaunt "benevolence" in front of the people of the world and stabilize the regime
Liu Bang knew very well that the reason why he could succeed was not because of his outstanding talent. On the origin, on the talent, he is far inferior to Xiang Yu. The reason why he was able to defeat Xiang Yu and become emperor was entirely because he was "benevolent" and able to treat others benevolently, so there were so many famous courtiers who would assist themselves in the future and achieve the imperial cause.
At that time, the Western Han Dynasty had just been established, and in order to stabilize the regime and further enhance his goodwill and prestige in the hearts of the people, it was necessary for him to continue to flaunt his "benevolence".
The first female marquis of China
Taking into account the above situation, when rewarding meritorious servicemen, Liu Bang only made Xi Juan's mother "Defect" the "Marquis of Lu", and she represented Xi Juan to enjoy this military merit treatment, of which only the financial and tax income of The Food Yi could be enjoyed by up to 4800 households. Moreover, Liu Bang also made her a very high social status through the meritorious service, making her the first female marquis in The history of China.