After Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, established the Western Han Dynasty, he crowned many meritorious people as kings, and in his old age, these kings with different surnames became a great hidden danger. Therefore, before Liu Bang died, he removed the worries of the king with a different surname, and only then did he close his eyes with peace of mind. But who knows, after Lü Hou took power, he promoted all the people in his mother's family, and even more so, he wrote the king one by one, and the world of the Liu family slowly became the Lü family.
Empress Lü had only one son, Liu Ying, so after Liu Bang's death, Liu Ying succeeded to the throne smoothly as Emperor Hui of Han. However, Liu Ying was weak in nature, and her mother was too strong, which led to Liu Ying being unable to advance and retreat. Lü Hou also forced Liu Ying to marry her niece, but Liu Ying could not accept such a marriage and had no children with her niece Zhang Yan.
Later, in order to get revenge on Lady Qi, Lü Hou made her an adult and took Liu Ying to see her, but Liu Ying was too frightened to go out again, and spent all day with wine, and died of depression at the age of only 23. Empress Lü had no choice but to support Liu Ying's youngest son, Liu Gong, claiming to be the son of Empress Zhang Yan and Emperor Hui, and "killed his mother and made him crown prince." Later, under the control of Lü Hou, Liu Gong became the new emperor.
"In the autumn of August, Emperor Wuyin of (Han Hui) collapsed in Weiyang Palace. September Xin ugly, buried in the Tomb of An"——Quoted from the Zizhi Tongjian
(Lu Hou stills)
Liu Gong knew that his birth mother had died unjustly, and vowed to seek revenge on Lü Hou in the future, but when Lü Hou knew about it, he deposed Liu Gong and killed him, and made Liu Hong emperor. This time, before Liu Hong could do anything, Lü Hou died first, and as soon as she died, the Lü family completely lost its patron.
The sons of the Liu clan had long been dissatisfied with Lü Hou's dictatorship, and now that Lü Hou was dead, they united against the Lü clan. Liu Zhang, the Marquis of Zhuxu, secretly contacted Zhou Bo and Chen Ping and designed to make Lü Lu hand over his military power. After that, they rushed into the imperial palace with their troops, killed Lü Chan and others, and then pursued Lü Lu, and finally all the Lü clans were spared, and the power of the Han Dynasty returned to the hands of liu.
During this period, a thorny problem was that the current emperor Liu Hong, whose empress was Lü Lu's daughter, was also a member of the Lü clan. If you don't get rid of the empress, you can't uproot the grass and roots of the Lü clan, and if she overturns the case for the Lü clan in the future, then everyone present will not be able to get rid of it, but she is an empress, and she can't dispose of it at will.
(Stills of Lü Hou and Liu Ying)
After deliberation, the people decided to execute the empress, on the grounds that Liu Hong was not the son of Emperor Hui of Han, but a child that Lü Hou had brought from the Lü family. Everyone spoke in unison, not only killing the empress, but even the emperor Liu Hong, simply deposed it together.
Liu Hong was deposed, but he still had four brothers, that is, Liu Ying and four other sons were still alive. If any of them were chosen to succeed to the throne, in the future, if they wanted to avenge Liu Hong, all of them would suffer. But if they are not made emperors, who should be chosen to succeed them? In the end, after consultation, they all agreed to appoint Liu Heng as emperor, because he was not only the son of Han Gaozu, but also had the status of an orthodox royal family, but also a benevolent and filial piety.
"The Acting King Fang is now Emperor Gao's son, the longest, and the benevolent and generous." Empress Dowager Bo's family is meticulous. And the long and the old are obedient, and the benevolence and filial piety are heard in the world, and the poop is. ——Quoted from the Chronicle of History
In this way, Liu Heng, the acting king, ascended the throne as emperor under the support of Liu's clan, as Emperor Wen of Han. However, on the night that Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, all 5 of Liu Ying's sons were killed, was this at his behest?
(Stills of Liu Ying and Empress Zhang Yan)
In order to avoid the kings avenging Liu Hong in the future, the sons of the Liu clan chose to cut them down and root them out, but at that time, Liu Heng had already established himself as emperor, and everyone wanted to kill his nephew, should they inform him? The answer is yes, so Liu Heng's 5 nephews, although they were not killed by his explicit orders, they must have been acquiesced by him.
The crowd killed Emperor Hui's 5 sons on the grounds that they were not the sons of Emperor Hui of Han, but the truth was known only to them. Since they were afraid that the other 4 would avenge Liu Hong in the future, they cut them down and eradicated them, but they were always the nephews of Emperor Wen of Han, were these people not afraid that Emperor Wen of Han would avenge his nephew in the future? Therefore, Emperor Wen of Han certainly knew about this.
So Why would Emperor Wen of Han, who had always been known for his benevolence, acquiesce to the killing of his nephew?
(Liu Heng stills)
Liu Heng was not liu bang's eldest son, and he had to ensure that his brother had no heirs if he wanted to succeed to the throne, but Liu Ying still had 5 sons alive, which led to Liu Heng not being the first heir to the throne. Therefore, 5 nephews were killed, and it is indeed impossible to say that Liu Heng did not know. It is precisely because of this that Liu Heng must clear the obstacle to the throne, and this matter is not done by himself, which is the best.
As for why the history books keep this matter secretive, there are probably two reasons. One is that some people deliberately covered up that, except for Emperor Wen of Han himself, the rest of the clans involved in the Xuelu incident wanted to make this matter disappear into the long river of history in order to avoid their own involvement. Another possibility is that because of the merits of Emperor Wen of Han, later generations only noticed his benevolent side, so this matter was covered up.
In fact, in many wild histories, there are subtle words and great meanings, although many of them cannot be confirmed, but they may as well be used as a way for us to spy on history. Therefore, whether Emperor Wen of Han ordered the killing of 5 nephews, although the authenticity remains to be verified, we cannot rule out this possibility for the ancient emperor's power-seeking technique.
But even if this is true, what is the problem, in order to consolidate the power of the ancient emperors, which one did not step on the corpses of others. Even if Saint Ming was like Tang Taizong, his throne still relied on killing his brother and forcing his father to abdicate.
(References "Zizhi Tongjian", "History")