Lü Hou (吕後), surnamed Lü (雉), courtesy name E'e (娥姁), was the first recorded empress and empress dowager in Chinese history, and was also the first woman to take the imperial title system after Qin Shi Huang unified China and implemented the imperial system, and was called "Lü Wu" along with Wu Zetian.
Married to a middle-aged uncle
Lü Yan's father did not know what his name was, because he was good at looking at faces, and people called him Lü Gong.
Lü Gong's family originally lived in Shan Father County (砀郡, in present-day Shan County, Shandong), but later moved to Pei County to avoid the enemy family.
Why did you move to Pei County? Because the relationship between Lü Gong and Pei County's county order is not bad, there is a county grandfather covered, and the safety factor is much higher.
When Lü Gong arrived in Pei County, the county grandfather warmly greeted him and gave him a warm hospitality, and the big and small officials of Pei County knew that this Lü Gong and the county grandfather had a good relationship, and in order to curry favor with their superiors, they went to congratulate the Lü family on their housewarming.
Xiao He, the county's chief official, was responsible for the reception, and as soon as he saw that there were so many people, he consulted with Lü Gongyi and set a standard for reception, and arranged for all those with less than a thousand gifts to sit under the hall.
When Liu Bang, the head of the Surabaya Pavilion, heard the news, he also came to join in the fun, and said to the messenger: "I am giving a gift of 10,000 yuan!" "In fact, he is simply penniless.
Ten thousand dollars is equivalent to a pound of gold, After Lü Gong heard about it, he was overjoyed, personally came out to greet him, and when he saw Liu Bang's appearance, his temperament was extraordinary, and his heart was happy, so he arranged Liu Bang to sit in the hall.
The chief of the Surabaya Pavilion is equivalent to the current director of the township police station, and is not in the compilation, Liu Bang is usually idle, likes to drink, loves women, and often can't make ends meet.
Xiao He told Lü Gong, who did not know the truth, that Liu Ji would only talk big and had no ball skills, but Lü Gong did not think so.
Liu Bang was also unceremonious, sitting on the seat of the guest, laughing loudly with the Pei county officials at the same table, and looking at ease.
At the end of the banquet, Lü Gong left Liu Bang alone and said to him: I have shown others a lifetime of faces, I have never seen such an extraordinary appearance as you, I want to marry my daughter (that is, Lü Yan) to you, I hope you will not be abandoned.
At that time, Liu Bang was more than 30 years old, in the eyes of everyone, he was a misproductive, misbehaving, idle, 15 years older than Lü Yan, and there was a son Liu Fei born out of wedlock, Liu Bang could not imagine that Lü Gong would look at him.
Lü Gong's wife Lü Mi was very angry and said to Lü Gong: You always say that our daughter is very good, we must marry a nobleman, Peixian County Ling has such a good relationship with you, you still refuse to marry your daughter to someone else, how can you casually promise Liu Ji today?
Lü Gong said a word: What do you know as a woman and a Taoist family! Insisted on marrying Lü Yan to Liu Bang.
Lu Lu, who was in the jade age, was thus decided by his father. Whether she wanted to or not, no matter how many girlish dreams she had in her heart, in short, her father's fate was difficult to violate, so she inexplicably married an unreliable middle-aged uncle and became a stepmother.
Stills of Liu Bang and Lü Yan's newlywed marriage
spallation
In the early years, Lu Yan was definitely a virtuous woman.
Liu Bangting's low treatment, coupled with his lack of production, his income was meager, and he went out to socialize at both ends for three days, so the economic situation was very bad.
Lü Yan took his stepson Liu Fei to engage in nongsang knitting, filial piety to his parents, self-reliance, and barely surviving.
Liu Bang still wandered around without heart and lungs, cheating on food and drink, and even disappeared for ten days and half a month.
Soon after, Liu Bang caused another catastrophe, he was ordered to escort the apprentices to Lishan Mountain, and when he reached Mount Mangzhong, he was drunk and made the prisoners escape, unable to make friends, so he had to flee to the swampy area under Mount Mangzhong and become a fugitive wanted by the government.
Lü Yan, who lamented his fate, did not abandon Liu Bang, and in addition to supporting the family independently, he also traveled long distances from time to time, secretly sending clothes and food to her husband. She was convinced of her father Lü Gong's prophecy, and always felt that Liu Bang was a person who could achieve great things, which was her hope and sustenance, as long as this man developed in the future, she would not have worked hard in vain.
In the gap between difficult lives, Lü Yan gave birth to a son and a daughter for Liu Bang, namely the later Han Hui Emperor Liu Ying and Princess Lu Yuanchang.
Stills of Lü Yan and Liu Fei
In 209 BC, the peasant revolt at the end of Qin broke out, and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang established the "Zhang Chu" regime, which openly opposed the Qin Dynasty, and various places responded.
The Pei County officials Xiao He and Cao Shan also wanted to do something, but they were worried that if they did not succeed, they would be exterminated by the Qin Dynasty, so they tried their best to shake Liu Bang to take the lead.
Liu Bang adhered to the idea of "barefoot not afraid to wear shoes", obeyed the will of the people, occupied Pei County, killed the county order, set up an altar, set up a red banner, called himself Pei Gong, and soon developed into an important force in the rebel army.
After that, Liu Bang led his army to fight in foreign countries for many years, and Lü Yan stayed in Pei County, on the one hand, to maintain his livelihood, pull his children, and honor his parents; on the other hand, he was worried about Liu Bang's safety, worried about his fears, and worried about his stomach.
Until 206 BC, Liu Bang was crowned king of Han by Xiang Yu, and in August of that year, Liu Bang sent people back to Pei County to receive Liu Taigong and Lü Yan and other family members.
But before Lü Yan and her husband could spend a few days of reunion, in April 205 BC, the Han army was defeated at Suishui, Liu Bangcang fled in panic, and on the way, he met his son and daughter who had run away, and fled with them. The Chu army was in a hurry, and Liu Bang kicked his children off the car many times in order to quickly escape, but fortunately Xiahou Bao, who was serving as a groom, could not bear it and pulled them back again and again. Lü Yan and Liu Taigong and other liu bang's family members were captured by the Chu army and became hostages that Xiang Yu wanted to blackmail Liu Bang.
During the more than two years of captivity in the Chu military camp, Lü Yan lived like a year, desperately hoping that her husband would come to rescue her.
When Lü Yan saw her husband again, it was in front of the confrontation between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu's two armies, Xiang Yu threatened Liu Taigong and Lü Yan, and threatened to cook Taigong and force Liu Bang to surrender, but Liu Bang was not moved, and said to Xiang Yu: "At present, we were brothers, my father is your father, you want to cook your father, I hope you can also share a piece of soup for me." ”
When Lü Yan heard Liu Bang say these words, her heart was cold, and she didn't even care about her old father's life, let alone herself.
Fortunately, Xiang Yu was a gentleman from an aristocratic background, and although he was brutal and murderous on the battlefield, he could not cook and kill an unarmed old man in front of the two armies, and he could not do such a thing. Soon, Chu Han and Lü Yan and other family members were released by Xiang Yu.
After enduring hardships and grievances, Lu Yan finally returned to her husband's side, and she wanted to snuggle up in his arms and talk to him freely, letting him soothe his scarred heart.
However, what greeted her was a cruel reality, Liu Bang, this cold and ruthless guy, already had another beautiful and charming little three by his side.
This woman surnamed Qi was met by Liu Bang on the way to the battlefield, she was young and beautiful, good at singing and dancing, and was very pleasing to Liu Bang, so she always took her with her. And Lü Yan, who has suffered the hardships and devastation of life, has lost his former moving appearance, and his age and color decline, and he can no longer attract Liu Bang's interest.
Mrs. Qi stills
Lü Yan thought about Liu Bang's attitude towards herself and her family over the years, her heart was completely cold, and she was extremely disappointed in Liu Bang, she finally understood, Lü Yan, this man is not worth your dependence on, from now on, you can only rely on yourself to live strongly.
The polishing of the years and the ravages of emotion have made the originally kind and virtuous Lu Yan complete the transformation of her personality, and she began to become strong, flexible, sensitive and cold.
Jedi Strikes Back
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Lü Yan was crowned empress, and after the historical title of Lü Hou, his son Liu Ying was made crown prince.
This made Lady Qi, who was extremely favored by Liu Bang, very unhappy. Lady Qi also bore a son for Liu Bang, named Liu Ruyi.
Liu Ying grew up with her mother to endure hunger and displacement, so her body was weak and her personality was weak, and Liu Bang thought that he was not like himself, so he was not very cold to this child. Liu Ruyi is similar to Liu Bang in both appearance and personality, and Liu Bang is very fond of him because of his self-likeness and the fact that he has always followed him.
Lady Qi was not satisfied with the status quo and tried to compete for the status of Lü Hou's mother and son, and she constantly blew pillow wind to Liu Bang and requested to be made the prince of Ruyi, and Liu Bang was moved by it.
Her husband's heart was taken away, Lü Yan had no choice, and the position of crown prince of her own son was also threatened, which made Lü Hou intolerable.
She could not sit still, only the Jedi fought back.
Among the heroes of the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang was the most resourceful. Lü Hou asked his brother Lü Ze to kidnap Zhang Liang and force Zhang Liang to offer a plan.
Zhang Liang said something to Lü Ze: During the war, Your Majesty can indeed listen to my opinions, but because of personal preference, he wants to abolish Chang Li and be young, which is not something that can be solved by persuasion. His Majesty attaches great importance to Shangshan Sihao (the four hermits in Shangshan), and has always wanted to invite them to come out of the mountain to assist, but he has never been able to invite them, if you can invite Shangshan Sihao to assist the prince, you can increase the weight of the prince, and perhaps change Your Majesty's mind.
Without further ado, Lü Hou immediately put it into practice. She sent someone with the prince's handwritten letter and a generous gift to invite the "Shangshan Sihao" out of the mountain, who knew that these four Gaoshi had all come.
Shangshan Sihao
In 195 BC, when Liu Bang was pacifying the Yingbu Rebellion, he was wounded by an arrow, which was a fatal arrow wound, and since then his health has deteriorated, and liu Bang's desire to depose the crown prince has become stronger because of his premonition that there will be little time to come.
Zhang Liang's persuasion was ineffective, and he no longer went to the court. As the uncle of Crown Prince Taifu, Sun Tong, advised him to die, Liu Bang did not comment, and Lü Hou was anxious.
At a court banquet, Liu Bang suddenly found that there were four more white-haired old men around the prince, and he was very strange, so he asked: "Who are you?" ”
The four old men came forward to answer and each reported their names: Dongyuan Gong, Mr. LuLi, Qi Liji, and Xia Huanggong. It is Shangshan Sihao.
Liu Bang was greatly surprised: "I have asked you for many years, and you have been avoiding me." Why did he come to follow My Son? ”
Shang Shan Sihao replied, "Your Majesty despises readers and loves to scold people, and we do not want to be humiliated, so we did not accept your call." Now I heard that the prince is respectful and respectful, loves the readers of the world, and everyone in the world is willing to serve the prince, so we have come. ”
After Liu Bang listened, he groaned for a moment and only said one word: "Please take good care of the prince for me." ”
The four old men finished toasting Liu Bang and turned away.
Liu Bang pointed to the figures of the four old men and said to Lady Qi: "With the assistance of the four of them, the prince's wings have been formed and it is difficult to shake, and from now on, Lü Yan is really your master." ”
Mrs. Qi felt that the general trend had gone, and she cried bitterly.
Liu Bang also felt a kind of desolation in the western mountains of the sunset, and he said to Lady Qi: "Dance a Chu dance for me, I will sing a Chu song for you." ”
Song: The bird flies high, a thousand miles. The wings have become ah, across the seas. What else can you do across the seas? Even if there is a bow and arrow, what use is there for the high-flying bird?
The lyrics are full of sadness and helplessness, worry, and affection.
From then on, Liu Bang never mentioned the abolition of the crown prince.
Stills of the elderly Liu Bang
Destroy the enemy
Although Lü Hou helped her son win the battle for the throne, her jealousy of Lady Qi did not diminish in the slightest.
On June 1, 195 BC, Liu Bang collapsed in Changle Palace, the sixteen-year-old crown prince Liu Ying became emperor, and Lü Hou became the empress dowager, because of Liu Ying's weak personality, the government was completely in the hands of Lü Hou, and Lady Qi immediately ushered in Lü Hou's revenge.
Lü Hou ordered Lady Qi to be imprisoned in Yongxiang, shaved off her hair, tied iron rings around her neck, put on the prisoner's red clothes, and let her scoop rice for hard labor.
From the noble imperial concubine to a lowly prisoner, where did Lady Qi suffer such a sin, she sang a sad song while scooping rice: "The son is the king, and the mother is the prisoner." Twilight all day long, often with death! Three thousand miles apart, when who makes the confession? ”
Lady Qi's son Liu Ruyi the Prince of Zhao was only 10 years old at the time, and before Liu Bang's death, in order to protect him from Lü Hou's poisonous hands, he sent him to the feudal state and arranged for Zhou Chang, a minister with a straight personality, to serve as Xiangguo, responsible for protecting his favorite child.
Speaking from the heart, at this time, Lü Hou may not have the intention of killing Lady Qi, but just wants to teach her a lesson and let her taste some hardships, if Lady Qi can swallow her anger and bow to her, things may not have turned around.
But Lady Qi, who was in prison, fainted, and instead of bowing her head and admitting her mistake, she unrealistically expected his young son to rescue her.
Lü Hou was furious when he heard the news, and thought to himself, Since you are counting on your son to save you, then I will stop your thoughts.
In December 195 BC, Lü Hou sent three people to summon Ruyi, the King of Zhao, back to Beijing, and Zhou Chang knew that Lü Hou had bad intentions and insisted on preventing Ruyi from entering Beijing. Lü Hou changed his strategy, transferred the tiger away from the mountain, first summoned Zhou Chang back to Beijing, and then summoned Ruyi, Ruyi did not dare to disobey, so he had to obediently enter Beijing.
When Liu Ying, the benevolent Emperor Hui, heard the news and knew that Empress Lü was going to be unfavorable to her brother, she personally went to Bashang to greet Ruyi and let him eat and sleep with him. Lü Hou wanted to kill Ruyi, but he couldn't find an opportunity to do it.
Stills of Emperor Hui Liu Ying and King Ruyi of Zhao
A year later, Liu Ying went out to shoot and hunt in the early morning, and Ruyi could not get up early to go with her because of her young age. Lü Hou took the opportunity to send someone to take the poisoned wine for Ruyi to drink, and when Emperor Hui returned to the palace, Ruyi had been poisoned to death.
After Ruyi's death, Lü Hou simply did not stop doing nothing, and then he attacked Lady Qi, ordering her to cut off her hands and feet, gouge out her eyes, smoke deaf ears, feed dumb medicine, and then throw her into the toilet, calling her a human hand.
Pro-Dynasty weighing system
Regardless of whether the feelings are broken or not, in terms of the goal of consolidating the Great Han Jiangshan, Lü Hou and Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, are absolutely the same, in Lü Hou's view, although Jiangshan was fought down by Liu Bang, she Also made a great sacrifice for this, "The military merit medal has half of you, and there is also half of mine", not to mention, this Jiangshan must be inherited by her son.
Therefore, from the time she was released by Xiang Yu and returned to Han, Lü Yan consciously participated in military and political decision-making, and gradually became an important figure in the decision-making group, and her strong personality was released from then on.
As soon as the situation in the Western Han Dynasty was stable, in order to establish his own power, Lü Hou began to kill people and establish his power.
The first person she chose was Han Xin, who had been deposed as the Marquis of Huaiyin. While Liu Bang was outside the battlefield, she and Xiao He designed to lure Han Xin to the bell room of the Changle Palace to kill him and exterminate his three tribes, thus successfully deterring other heroes.
The second was Peng Yue, the King of Liang. Peng Yue, the king of Liang, was deposed by Liu Bang as a shuren and exiled to Shudi, and after encountering Lü on his way to the exiled land, Peng Yue cried to Lü Hou that he was innocent, and Lü Hou pretended to agree to intercede for him and bring him back to Xianyang.
When Peng Yue stayed in the inn hoping for good news, Lü Hou said to Liu Bang: "If you let Peng Yue go, it is equivalent to letting the tiger return to the mountain." ”
Therefore, Liu Bang made up his mind and executed Peng Yue for the crime of treason, and chopped the ancestor of guerrilla warfare into meat sauce and distributed it with other princes to achieve the purpose of killing chickens and monkeys.
During the eight years that Liu Bang claimed to be emperor, with the assistance of Empress Lü, he suppressed rebellion and cracked down on the separatist forces, which played an important role in consolidating the rule of the Western Han Dynasty and made full preparations for her to take power in the future.
Once frightened, once upside down and displaced, long-term master of the family, involved in political affairs, with rich experience in political struggles, such a Lü Hou, like a canary, spoiled by Liu Bang, how can Lady Qi, who was spoiled by Liu Bang, be able to fight?
Lü Hou, in order to let her son do whatever it takes, Lady Qi sang a song of sorrow after a little suffering, and as a result, she sent her son into the tiger's mouth.
The death of Lady Qi is sad and pitiful!
After Lü Hou disposed of Lady Qi as an adult, he was very resentful, so he let his son Liu Ying come to appreciate his "works", Liu Ying saw it, he was very surprised, and when he asked, he knew that it was Lady Qi, so he cried loudly, and when he went back, he was seriously ill, and he was unwilling to deal with political affairs from then on, and seven years later, Liu Ying, the emperor of Han Xiaohui, died depressed, only 23 years old.
Lü Hou eliminated the potential threat of her lover and son in a cruel way, but the son not only did not understand and appreciate it, but was depressed because of her behavior, and eventually died young, which was a result that Lü Hou never expected.
The son died, Lü Hou was very sad, but she endured without tears, her husband betrayed her, the son went before him, a year later, her daughter Princess Lu Yuan also died, in this world, she has no close relatives, the only thing that can make her feel safe is power, in addition, only the mother's family is worthy of her trust and dependence.
As a result, Lü Hou came to the throne and exercised the power of emperor, becoming the first person in the dictatorship of the Chinese empress dowager.
References: "Historia", etc. The picture is selected from the network and deleted.