Lü Hou is a strong woman, an iron-fisted figure, how can she be a tragic figure? During her reign, she cruelly gouge out Lady Qi's eyes, cut off Lady Qi's limbs, and threw Lady Qi into a pigsty, known as "Ren Yan", and then slowly tortured her to death. If you can do this, you can't do it without a little bit of iron and stone. How can a tough, high-profile, and powerful person like Lü Hou be called a tragic figure? Where is her tragedy?
Her tragedy lies in the fact that she led to the destruction of the entire Lü clan. Even Fan's family was wrapped up and put in, and was destroyed. Who is Fan Duo? It is Liu Bang's concubine (called the burden in the north) and a great hero. Fan Can Wen Neng Wu. At the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang's life was in danger, and it was Fan Duo who stepped forward with a sword to protect Liu Bang. After invading Xianyang, Liu Bang wanted to sleep in Qin Shi Huang's bed for a night, and Fan urged Liu Bang to be sober and not corrupt. However, because Fan Duo was Lü Hou's brother-in-law, the Lü family was destroyed, and the Fan family also wrapped up in it. This was something that Lü Gong could never have imagined when he married Lü Yan to Liu Bang, and it was also something that Lü Hou could not have expected before he died.
After Liu Bang's death and until Emperor Wen of Han, Lü Hou was in power
Before Lü Hou died, he instructed his two nephews to hold the army tightly, but in fact, it did not play a great role in preventing the Lü family from being destroyed. The view that the destruction of the Lü clan was attributed to the fact that Lü Hou's two nephews did not listen to Lü Hou's instructions and surrendered military power is superficial. In fact, the fundamental reason that led to the destruction of the Lü family was that Lü Hou was too "independent" in doing things. This alone also includes the meaning of poison.
(1) Lü Hou's murder of Lady Qi and Liu Bang's other sons caused two evil consequences. (1) It greatly affected Lü Hou's image among his subjects, which was almost equivalent to self-destruction. From then on, the ministers were separated from Lü Hou, and their faces and hearts were at odds, and the members of the imperial family also developed a strong hostility towards the Lü clan. (2) Caused the premature death of Emperor Hui of Han. Lü Hou's murder of Lady Qi and Ruyi the King of Zhao greatly stimulated Emperor Hui of Han and greatly injured his soul, so that his health deteriorated, and he became increasingly depressed and died young.
(2) Forcibly naming Lü the surname king without authorization aroused strong dissatisfaction and confrontation between the ministers and the imperial family, although this dissatisfaction and confrontation did not appear obviously when Lü Hou was alive, but it laid the foundation for the future destruction of the Lü clan.
(3) Mishandling in the aspect of establishing an emperor, appointing a small emperor, unable to do anything, the emperor communicated with the ministers, and also let his two incompetent younger brothers lead the army and control heavy power, which made Lü Hou extremely unconfident in himself. This artificially pitted himself against the chancellor, the Lü family, and the imperial family. So after Lü Hou's death, could the dissatisfaction of the ministers and the imperial family not rebound strongly?
After the death of Emperor Hui of Han and after the death of Lü Hou, Lü Hou was made a minor emperor
We can make the following assumptions for Lü Hou:
(1) She did not harm Lady Qi and a few of Liu Bang's sons, and behaved as generously as possible. In this way, her image will not become so bad among the ministers, the ministers will be very willing to communicate with her, the monarchs and ministers will rule in harmony (of course, complete harmony is not possible, at least to a certain extent), after Lü Hou's death, the ministers are still willing to eliminate the Lü clan? One or the other. Second, if Empress Lü did not harm Lady Qi and King Ruyi of Zhao, Emperor Hui of Han would not be strongly stimulated, and he might live longer. If After Lü Hou's death, Emperor Hui of Han was still alive and continued to rule, could the Lü clan be exterminated? Emperor Hui of Han lived a relatively long time, and with a son, emperor Hui's son would continue to be emperor in the future, and could the little emperor ruthlessly destroy his grandfather's family? From this point of view, Lü Hou's subjective revenge and murder of Lady Qi and King Ruyi of Zhao was an important reason for the destruction of the Lü clan, and it was precisely this reason that caused a series of serious consequences.
Lü Hou and Lady Qi
(2) She did not crown the Lü clan as king, and kept the old feudal rules, and the ministers and the imperial family could not be so disgusted with the Lü clan, so the extinction of the Lü clan might be avoided.
(III) Before dying, an older emperor, such as Liu Heng (later Emperor Wen of Han), tried to be as kind as possible to the new emperor, and perhaps avoided the annihilation of the Lü clan. Because Liu Heng was established, it is likely to be grateful for Lü Hou's kindness, and it is difficult for him to poison the Lü family (just as Cixi killed Guangxu, but established Guangxu's younger brother as emperor, and the new emperor's family is still grateful to Cixi), even if Lü Hou's two nephews are taken away, but at least they can save their lives.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that although Lü Hou was iron-fisted before her death, her vision was short and shallow, her work was inappropriate, she was not a smart person, she lacked political wisdom, and the means she took were some superficial measures, which in turn caused Lü Shi to be exterminated.