On September 26, 188 BC, Liu Ying, the twenty-three-year-old Emperor Hui of Han, died.
After the death of Emperor Hui of Han, the weak Lü Hou successively made Liu Ying's sons Liu Gong and Liu Hong emperor, and in view of the emperor's young age, Lü Hou came to the throne. In order to further strengthen his own strength and deal with the powerful ministers in the court, Lü Hou began to give a large number of princes and marquises while taking control. Among the princes he was enfeoffed, there were both the Liu family and the Lü family. In fact, in Lü Hou's heart, she only wanted to monopolize power or strengthen the power of the Lü clan in the court, and the kingship of the Liu family was only to block the mouths of some people in the court.
Therefore, in terms of specific kingship operations, Lü Hou seemed to be very generous in sealing four kings for the Liu family and three kings for the Lü family. However, among the four kings who were given to Liu Shi, they were all given small kingdoms, namely Liu Qi, the king of Huaiyang, Liu Buxi, the king of Changshan, Liu Tai, the king of Jichuan, and Liu Ze, the king of Langya. The seven kings of these four kingdoms were all born to Emperor Hui and the palace maidens, and they were all children, and they didn't understand anything. The only adult was Liu Ze, the King of Langya, but Liu Ze was loyal to Empress Lü.
Among the three kings of the Lü clan that Lü Hou enfeoffed, they were all big countries and had a great right to speak in the dynasty, they were Lü Chan the King of Liang, Lü Lu the King of Zhao, and Lü Tong the King of Yan. These three great powers were originally all given to Liu Bang's sons, but after Liu Bang's death, several of his sons were killed by Lü Houyi. After their deaths, Lü Hou seized the great power and gave it to his own family, pretending to give the Liu family to several small countries.
Lü Hou thought that her move was very clever, but the Liu family was not a fool, and Lü Hou's eccentric behavior was that everyone could see that Lü Hou wanted to monopolize power, thus excluding the Liu family from the court.
After doing all this, Lü Hou may not have thought that this act of hers will bring disaster to the Extinction of the Lü Clan. From the moment she had done all this, a bloody storm began to brew over Weiyang Palace.
On August 18, 180 BC, Lü Hou died of illness.
Lü Hou had just died, and a long-simmering coup d'état took place. The contradiction between the Lü family and the Liu family has reached an irreconcilable point, and this fuse has finally been ignited with the death of Lü Hou, which eventually evolved into a shocking and bloody case, and the power of the Lü family in the middle of the dynasty will also disappear with this coup.
In fact, for this coup, Lü Hou, as a politician, had long been aware of it, but at that time she was still able to suppress it, and she was afraid that after her death, what she did would definitely lead to retaliation from some people. Therefore, before she died, he summoned Lü Chan, the king of Liang, and Lü Lu, the king of Zhao, and let these two men control the military and political power, Lü Lu controlled the northern army, and Lü Chan controlled the southern army, guarding the palace to prevent a coup.
There is no doubt that as a rare female politician in history, Lü Hou's political sense of smell is sensitive. However, the plan has not kept up with the changes. After Lü Hou's death, her worst fears had happened, and a bloody butcher knife was being slashed at the Lü clan.
The first person to jump out and make a fuss was Liu Zhang, Lü Lu's son-in-law. As Lü Lu's son-in-law, Lü Hou was not thin towards Liu Zhang, and in the list of the first marquises, Liu Zhang was given the title of Marquis of Zhu. His younger brother Liu Xingju was later given the title of Marquis of Dongmu. Logically, Lü Hou was not thin to Liu Zhang's brothers, but why did Liu Zhang be the first to jump out and attack after Lü Hou's death?
The reason is that in addition to being Lü Lu's son-in-law, Liu Zhang is also the son of Liu Fei, the former King of Qi, and the younger brother of Liu Xiang, the current King of Qi. As Liu Bang's son, Liu Fei's life after Liu Bang's death was not good, because Lü Hou's power was too large, Liu Fei was almost killed by Lü Hou, and finally saved his life by sacrificing Chengyang County. After Liu Xiang took office, Lü Hou intensified his efforts and further cut off Jinan County and Langya County. For Liu Xiang, this can be said to be extremely stubborn, but he has no way to take Lü Hou, and this evil breath can only be endured temporarily.
Liu Xiang was depressed, and his brother Liu Zhang was naturally also depressed. As a result, Lü Hou's death became the fuse for the outbreak of contradictions between the Liu family and the Lü family.
More importantly, Liu Zhang wanted to use this incident to support Liu Xiang as emperor. At that time, Emperor Hui's Liu Ying was dead, and the current Young Emperor Liu Hong's origin was unknown. At this time, Liu Xiang, the eldest grandson of Liu Bang, was established as emperor, and his name was justified.
After everything was ready, Liu Zhang sent someone to contact Liu Xiang, hoping that he would send an army against the Lü clan, while he and his brother Liu Xingju were in the capital division. After receiving Liu Zhang's letter, Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, did not give much thought, so he immediately set up a banner of rebellion and formally sent troops to seek Lü with the idea of "those who are not properly king".
There is Liu Xiang on the outside, and Liu Zhang on the inside as the internal response. At this time, the Young Emperor Liu Hong and Lü Chan and Lü Lu, who held the military power, were in chaos, and they didn't know what to do for a while! In political struggles, hesitation is often fatal, and just when Lü Chan and Lü Lu were stunned, someone decisively attacked them.
They were Zhou Bo, then the grand lieutenant, and Chen Ping, the chancellor at the time.
As soon as these two big men made a move, where would Lü Chan and Lü Lu, who lacked political experience, be their opponents! As soon as they fought, they were doomed to the defeat of the Lü clan.
Dealing with Lü Lu was simple, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping just sent a lobbyist. This person's name was Li Ji and he was a good friend of Lü Lu. Entrusted by Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, he went to persuade Lü Lu to surrender. He said to Lü Lu: "Emperor Taizugao and Empress Lü jointly determined the world, the nine kings of the Liu clan, and the three kings of the Lü clan, this is something that everyone recognizes. But if you don't seal the country and support the army and the Beijing Division, you will be suspected by others. Why don't you surrender your military power and be a carefree prince?
When Lü Lu heard this, he felt that it was very reasonable, so he went hunting with Li Ji at the critical moment of the coup. When he left, the Northern Army was leaderless, and was deceived by Zhou Bo to open the camp gate by falsely transmitting the Holy Will, and easily seized the power of the Northern Army.
After solving the Northern Army, the next step was to solve the Southern Army, and the military power of the Southern Army was in the hands of Lü Chan. Seizing Lü Chan's military power is simpler than taking Lü Lu's military power, because Lü Chan was stopped by Liu Zhang in the process of running into Weiyang Palace, and finally killed in the toilet.
Lü Chan was dead, Lü Lu had no military power, and there was no longer any power to stop the coup. So Zhou Bo let go of the great purge, and all the people of the Lü clan in the city, regardless of whether they were men, women, old or young, were all killed.
A thrilling coup d'état came to an end with the fall of the Lü clan.
After the Lü clan was deposed, the little emperor Liu Hong, who was established by Lü Hou, was also abolished. After the storm subsides, the next thing is to choose a new emperor. But unexpectedly, Liu Xiang, who was the first to raise the Banner of Righteousness in this coup, was not chosen as the successor of Liu Jiangshan, but was chosen by the little-known and always low-key Acting King Liu Heng, who later became Emperor Wen of Han.
So why wasn't Liu Xiang chosen as the successor of the empire? The main reason is that Liu Xiang is too anxious.
After Liu Xiang launched a coup d'état, in order to weaken the power of the Lü clan, he prepared to seize the military power of Liu Ze, the king of Langya. He sent someone to tell Liu Ze that he was young and ignorant and was willing to lead the Qi army to return. When Liu Ze heard that there was still this good thing, he rushed to pick up the soldiers, but was detained by Liu Xiang.
You said that the seizure would be seized, but Liu Xiang, under Liu Ze's rhetoric, used Liu Ze as his own to persuade his subjects to choose him as emperor and released Liu Ze back. But Liu Ze's move was just to get out, and where was he willing to speak for Liu Xiang.
Sure enough, at the later election of the emperor, the first person to jump out and oppose Liu Xiang was Liu Ze. He said: "The mother-in-law of the King of Qi is like a tiger wearing a high hat, and to make Liu Xiang emperor is equivalent to establishing Lü Chan and Lü Lu again."
After listening to Liu Ze's speech, everyone felt that it was very reasonable. So he set up another king Liu Heng.
For Liu Xiang, because of his own quick success, so that the cooked duck flew, this bitter fruit, can only be swallowed by himself, no wonder others.