In the previous issues, we have looked at the life of Lü Yan or Lü Hou from various aspects, and in this issue, we focus on the fate of the Lü family represented by Lü Yan. After Lü Yan's death, the Lü family was all killed by Zhou Bo and other soldiers, so why did the Lü family have such a tragic ending, according to the records given in the history books, the general reason is only to say that "Zhu Lü used things to abuse power, want to be chaotic" and so on. So is this hat that historians wear for the Lü family real?
Lü Yan had earlier followed Liu Bang to lay siege to Jiangshan regardless of life and death, and later, he helped his son Liu Ying the Emperor of Han to keep the position of crown prince and become emperor, and even stabilized the situation in the next ten years, creating conditions for the future rule of Wenjing, it sounds like she is very powerful, why was she killed by the whole clan after her death? Historian Yi Zhongtian's evaluation of this is: Lü Yan was really wronged. So where is the grievance of Lü Yan and even the Lü family? We cannot speak out of thin air, we must find a basis in history.
First of all, let's first look at the so-called "Zhulu unauthorized power", in this concept, the so-called "Zhulu", the actual spearhead refers to Lü Lu, then Lü Lu is arbitrary? After Liu Bang's death and Liu Ying's brief reign as emperor, Lü Yan did indeed gain power because she was in charge of the government. But can she not abuse her powers? The Western Han Dynasty was a newly established state, and before Liu Bang's death, he had just solved the rebellion of Yingbu, that is, before Liu Bang's death, the Western Han Dynasty had been in a state of war from the founding of the country to the early days of the founding of the country.
At this time, the fluctuation of people's hearts caused by the war was one aspect, and the factions of the Western Han Dynasty were more complicated, and when Liu Bang was still alive, there were three kinds of forces, the first of course was the Liu Bang faction, the second was the princes with different surnames, and the third was the meritorious faction. However, after the death of Liu Bang or even the death of Emperor Hui of Han, the Western Han Dynasty changed again.
After Emperor Hui of Han, the Western Han court left only two forces, one was a hero and the other was Lü Hou, because the previous faction of princes with different surnames and the Liu Bang faction were gone. In this case, if Lü Hou was not in power, who would speak on behalf of the Western Han Empire? Therefore, to a certain extent, Lü Hou's abuse of power was not voluntary, but the result of the current situation, which was caused by the power vacuum left by Liu Bang and Emperor Hui of Han.
In addition, in addition to this, there is also a point that is also very important, that is, the Lü family has made great achievements in the process of Liu Bang fighting the Jiangshan, you know, when Liu Bang launched the uprising, the Lü Yan family all followed Liu Bang, especially Lü Ze, who saved Liu Bang between life and death.
Therefore, the Lü family was originally a prominent contributor. Of course, in addition to these external conditions, Lü Yan's political attainment and ability were extremely high, and her reputation among the courtiers was also replaced by no one after Liu Bang, for example, when Liu Bang was preparing to change the crown prince, almost all the courtiers supported Lü Yan and the crown prince, and no one supported Lady Qi and Liu Ruyi, not to mention Zhang Liang also helped Lü Lu. In other words, Lü Yan's appearance was not without reason.