Zhang Yan (張嫣), Empress Xiaohui (孝惠皇后), daughter of Princess Zhang Ao and Princess Lu Yuan of Xuanping of the Han Dynasty, empress of Liu Ying, Emperor Hui of Han, and granddaughter of Lü Yan (雉雉) of The Empress Dowager of Han Gao.
Zhang Yan's life can be said to be extremely unfortunate, she married her own uncle Liu Ying, and Liu Ying was a mother treasure man, who grew up under the control and shadow of Empress Dowager Lü Yan from an early age. In 192 BC, the fourth year of Emperor Hui of Han, Zhang Yan was arranged by her grandmother Lü Yan to marry her maternal uncle Liu Ying, who was only 11 years old.
According to historical records, Zhang Yan came to her aunt when she was 13 years old, which made her grandmother Lü Yan very happy, so she arranged for Zhang Yan to sleep with her uncle Liu Ying every day, but Zhang Yan did not conceive her own uncle Liu Ying's child after all. So Lü Yan asked her to pretend to be pregnant, and then robbed Liu Gong, the daughter of the palace maid and Emperor Hui of Han, as a son, falsely claiming that she was born to Zhang Yan.
In 188 BC, that is, in the seventh year of Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, the Emperor of Han Hui, fell ill due to the incident of Lady Qi being made an adult, and finally died of illness in shock and trepidation. In the same year, Liu Gong was made emperor, but because Liu Gong threatened to take revenge when he grew up, after learning that his birth mother was killed by Lü Yan, Lü Gong feared that he would be retaliated against, so he imprisoned him in Yongxiang and secretly plotted to kill him.
In 180 BC, Lü Yan died, and Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and other ministers supported Liu Heng, the fourth brother of Emperor Hui of Han, as emperor and eliminated the Lü family. Although Zhang Yan was also a member of the Lü family, she was not liquidated because she was generous and fraternal from an early age, did not participate in the power struggle of the Lü family, and was also the empress dowager. He died of illness in 163 BC at the age of 40.
After Zhang Yan's death, when the palace people cleaned up her body, they were shocked to find that Zhang Yan had always been a complete body, and had never experienced the affairs of men and women, which was really pitiful and sad. In the end, she was buried with her uncle Liu Ying, the Emperor hui of Han, even though the two had only family affection and no love from beginning to end.