The second emperor of the Western Han Dynasty was Liu Ying, the Hui Emperor, and the evaluation of Liu Ying in the history books was that of the Lord of Leniency and Filial Piety; such a benevolent prince should have made a difference in the Han Dynasty, but Liu Ying, who succeeded to the throne at the age of 16, only did only serve the throne for just seven years, and then hurriedly followed his father Liu Bang away; why did Liu Ying live so short? What ended the life of such a benevolent prince? Please follow the editor and explore the hardships behind Emperor Hui's Liu Ying.
Liu Ying succeeded to the throne at the age of 16, died at the age of 23, lived in the shadow of his birth mother Lü Hou all his life, and he had a great relationship with Lü Hou after his untimely death; although Liu Ying was Liu Bang's eldest son, Liu Bang preferred Zhao Wang Ruyi, this was because Liu Bang was extremely fond of Liu Ruyi's mother Lady Qi, and Liu Ruyi's personality was also quite similar to Liu Bang, so Liu Bang had the idea of making Liu Ruyi the crown prince; and the chancellor had a strong resistance to Liu Bang's idea of abolishing Chang Li's youth, and Liu Bang had no choice but to give up.
In 195 BC, Liu Bang's arrow wound collapsed in Chang'an, Liu Ying succeeded to the throne as emperor, and the ambitious Lü Hou also took the opportunity to rule the world at the same time as his son; Liu Ying was originally a benevolent and righteous king, he had always opposed violent bloodshed, but with limited power, he could only helplessly witness a scene of tragedy of deception and you're dead and alive, and it happened wantonly around him; at this time, the Han Empire had been trampled under the feet of Lü Hou, and she had fallen into a crazy state of power, wantonly purging dissidents in the dynasty, and completely controlling the situation in the court. Liu Ying, on the other hand, became a second ancestor who lived under the control of her mother.
Lü Hou personally took the initiative to choose an empress for Liu Ying, and it is worth mentioning that this empress was the daughter of Liu Ying's sister Princess Lu Yuan, and Zhang Yan, who was only twelve years old, that is to say, Liu Ying, as an uncle, wanted to marry her niece; such a deformed marriage made Liu Ying very painful, but under the suppression of Lü Ying's power, he had to do so; due to serious psychological obstacles, Liu Ying and her niece had not had sex for seven years, and they did not have sex to give birth to heirs, which was the only empress in history, and was still a virgin until her death.
The most irritating to Liu Ying, but also the cause of Liu Ying's early death, is Lü Hou's cruel way of treating Lady Qi; after Lü Hou came to power, the way of dealing with her former love enemy Lady Qi escalated step by step, originally just letting Lady Qi work in the palace, and later Lü Hou felt that she could not relieve her hatred, so she made Lady Qi into a "human hand", that is, cutting off Lady Qi's hands and feet, and her tongue and eyes were also ripped off, and thrown in the toilet for people to visit; Lü Hou was deeply proud of the invention of this torture, and also deliberately let Liu Ying come over to "open her eyes". And Liu Ying was frightened in the face of such a bloody scene, and the three views also collapsed; at this time, he not only lost confidence in his mother Lü Hou, but also in the whole world, there was blood and ugliness everywhere, what else in this world was worth nostalgia for?
At the beginning of Liu Ying's reign, although Lü Hou's power suppressed him, he was still able to do his own deeds, the benevolent Liu Ying showed compassion to the people, reduced taxes to reduce the pressure on the people, and also abolished the decree prohibiting private book collection, so that the suppressed Confucianism was liberated again, and he also completed the construction of the Chang'an City Wall in an all-round way, so that Chang'an's economic and cultural level could be raised to a higher level; however, his ambitions disappeared after witnessing Lü Hou's various overbearing and bloody cruel acts, and the tragic situation of "Ren Yan" and the smirk of his mother lingered in Liu Ying's mind for a long time This made him no longer able to concentrate on the government, and he was intoxicated with female sex and alcohol all day to numb himself, and he died of depression after a year.
Although Liu Ying was the son of the fierce Lü Hou, he was kind-hearted, and did a lot of good things for the benefit of the country and the people in a limited time and space, he could have inherited Liu Bang's legacy and led the Han Dynasty to embark on the road of prosperity; however, he was put on a "perverted" mother, who not only took away his right to govern the country, but also because of Lü Hou's various violent and bloody acts, he shattered his three views, lost confidence in the country and the world, and finally died at the age of 23.