According to the "Chronicle of Gao Zu Benji", after Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou did not mourn for four days, and consulted with his confidants to execute the founding generals, and finally gave up this plot under the persuasion of JiuQi. This was actually a continuation of Liu Bang's dispute over Liu Lü in his later years, because lü shi had lost power in the army at that time, and at this time Liu Bang had already sent Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to execute Fan, and Lü Hou was worried that he and Emperor Hui Liu Ying would not be able to suppress these generals who had achieved great merit, so they would have this doubt.
Liu Bang died, and Lü Hou secretly did not mourn, and intended to execute the founding general
The "History of Gao Zu Benji" records: "Gao Zu collapsed in Changle Palace. There will be no mourning for four days. Lü Hou conspired with The Judge: "The generals and the emperor are the people of the household, and the present north is the subject, and this is often pitiful, and now it is the lord of the matter, and the world is uneasy." ’”
After hearing about it, someone told Li Shang the news, and Li Shang ran to see him and said to him, "Emperor Wuwen has collapsed, and he will not mourn for four days, and he wants to curse the generals." If so, the world is in danger. Chen Ping and Dou Bao will guard Xingyang with 100,000 troops, and Fan Duo and Zhou Bo will have 200,000 Dingyan and Dai, and when the emperor collapses, all the generals will be reprimanded, and they will return to their hometowns to attack the key problems. The ministers rebelled internally, the princes rebelled externally, and the dead could wait for them. Hearing this, he rushed into the palace and told Lü Yan, who decided to mourn and pardon the world.
Li Shang
Liu Ying, who died as crown prince, would inevitably succeed to the throne as emperor, and Lü Yan, who was an empress, would certainly become empress, but why did Empress Lü risk rebellion in the world to eliminate the generals?
I think this should stem from Liu Bang's dispute with Liu Lu in his later years.
Liu Bang's dispute over Liu Lü in his later years
In fact, at the time of the great chaos at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang and Lü Shi were more like an alliance relationship, and the bond between the two sides was the marriage of Liu Bang and Lü Yan. After Liu Bang's uprising in Peixian County, Lü Ze's brother Lü Ze also launched an uprising in Shandong, although the two sides have been cooperating in battle, but in fact Lü Ze's army has always been in an independent state, and his subordinates Chen Feng and others have made great contributions, as early as Liu Bang was just crowned as the King of Han by Xiang Yu, Chen Feng and others were already marquises, which was earlier than most of the founding heroes of the Han Dynasty.
After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the Lü clique, in fact, led by Lü Ze, remained extremely strong until Lü Ze died in battle in the eighth year of Han Gaozu (199 BC). After that, Liu Bang began to consciously weaken the power of the Lü clique, which led to the subsequent Chen Feng rebellion and the dispute between the crown princes. However, Lü Hou relied on the strength of the Lü clan in the dynasty as a foundation, and after drawing a large number of courtiers, he once again formed a great force, so that Liu Bang finally had to abandon Yi Chu. However, in the case of Lü Ze's death in battle and Chen Feng's rebellion, Lü's influence in the army had declined sharply.
Lu Lu
However, due to his injuries in the war against Yingbu, coupled with Liu Bang's advanced age, in order to prevent Jiangshan from falling into the Lü clan, Liu Bang had to make a final decision, that is, to execute Fan Duo. This is also the reason why he suddenly sent Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to execute Fan Duo after sending Fan Duo to quell Lu Xie's rebellion, knowing that Fan Duo was the highest group of people who followed Liu Bang, why did Liu Bang execute him? It is only because Fan Duo is Lü Yan's brother-in-law, and he is also The last card of Lü Shi in the army.
Although the dispute between Liu Lu and Lü is not described in the "Records of History", it is not difficult to see the bloody power struggle at that time from the words and lines of various historical materials. Behind the death of Han Xin and Peng Yue there is a shadow of Lü Hou, and even the rebellion of Yingbu has signs of Lü Hou's coercion. When Liu Bang was seriously ill, Lu Xie, who had already rebelled, also wanted to take his family, palace people, and cronies to Chang'an to apologize personally, but why did he suddenly lead everyone to flee to the Xiongnu after hearing the news of Liu Bang's death? What he was afraid of was self-evident.
It can be said that in Liu Bang's later years, the Liu clan and the Lü clan were already in the same situation, and the Korean and Chinese forces Lü Hou might be able to suppress it, but for those generals who were outside the army, Lü Hou was really not sure, which led to the idea of executing the generals, just like once tricking Han Xin into the palace and executing him, wanting to solve all the troubles at once. As for the final abandonment of this plan, in fact, as Li Shang said, if once lü hou learned that he was going to execute the founding generals, these generals who led the troops abroad would inevitably rebel, but if everything was the same, then these generals might not necessarily rebel.