In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, as soon as the empress dowager Lü He, the reigning empress dowager of the Linzhao Dynasty, died, several sons of Liu Fei, Liu Bangshu's eldest son, began to plot for the imperial throne.
Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, who occupied more than 70 cities in Qi, raised troops against Lü, and Liu Zhang, Marquis of Zhu, and Liu Xingju, Marquis of Dongmou, contacted the meritorious group headed by Zhou Bo/Chen Ping/Guan Ying, and joined forces inside and outside to destroy the Lü clan in one fell swoop, and wiped out the Lü clan, together with Fan's wife and children, who had in-laws.
Then, they even more unceremoniously announced that the six biological sons of Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Hong, the Later Young Emperor, Liu Tai the King of Liang, Liu Wu the King of Huaiyang, and Liu Chao the King of Hengshan, together with the former Young Emperor Liu Gong who died early, and Liu Bu the former King of Hengshan, were all "not Liu clan under their feet, not standing properly", all of them were wild species to hold!
Then, everyone had blood on their hands, and all of Liu Bang's descendants were wiped out.
The Meritorious Group had previously promised that Liu Xiang would be emperor, Liu Zhang would be crowned King of Zhao, and Liu Xingju would be crowned King of Liang, however, after conquering the Lü clan, after the Qi state retreated, it immediately tore up the [empty check]. Because they were afraid that Liu Xiang's brothers were rich and powerful, they chose Liu Heng, the acting king, as the new emperor of the Han Dynasty.
The Hanwen Emperor Liu Heng was the acting king for fifteen years before ascending the throne.
Liu Bang learned the lesson of the death of the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the usurpation of government by Li Si Zhao Gao, and the murder of the prince. The kingdoms of princes in the early Han Dynasty that he built were actually semi-independent and quasi-independent countries, and they were by no means fictitious knighthoods of later princes.
Although the son of heaven of the Han Dynasty is also venerated, the mother of the princes is called "Empress Dowager", the right wife is called "Queen", and the crown prince is called "Crown Prince", and the kingdom is set up with hundreds of officials, just like the central court.
The princes enjoyed independent personnel power "self-appointed officials", and could appoint local officials within the kingdom of 2,000 stone. They enjoyed independent financial rights to collect taxes from their subjects in the kingdom and mint their own coins.
The officials and people in the kingdom were first and foremost the subjects of the princes and kings, not the subjects of the Great Han Tianzi. Therefore, powerful kingdoms, such as the State of Qi, the State of Wu, the State of Chu, and the State of Dai, once they are in the same spirit, can compete with the central government of the Han Dynasty to a considerable extent.
Therefore, when Lü Hen was in power, although he killed King Zhao three times (Liu Ruyi the King of Zhao Yin / Liu You the King of Zhao You/Liu Hui the Prince of Zhao Gong), after the death of Liu Jian the King of Yan, he killed his son to seize his country, and renamed his nephew Lü Lu as the King of Zhao, his nephew Lü Tong as the King of Yan, and his nephew Lü Shan as the King of Liang, and once took the three great princely states of Yan, Zhao, and Liang as his own.
However, the existence of the states of Qi, Wu, Chu, and Dai, which had powerful military powers, ultimately made it impossible for Lü to cover the sky single-handedly, just like Wu Zetian of the later Li and Tang dynasties, killing Liu Hanzong.
During Liu Heng's fifteen years as acting king, his capital was in Jinyang, a strategic location, and the entire Dai kingdom occupied the Shanxi Plateau, a land overlooking northern China and the rivers and mountains of Xianli, and was a northern border town that resisted the Xiongnu.
It can be imagined that Liu Heng, the acting king, not only accumulated a lot of political experience in administering the army, managing government, and securing the people, but also accumulated a political team with considerable ability. Once he entered Chang'an, his acting royal government could directly take over the central power of the Han Dynasty smoothly.
Emperor Wen of Han's original consort queen and four concubines also died in vain just a few months after his accession to the throne, and did not receive any posthumous titles. ——Just because like the four young sons of Emperor Han Hui, these eight children all have the blood of the Lu family, if they don't die, how can they be at ease if they destroy the Lu family's hero group?
When Liu Heng took Lü Heng to power, all the three counties of Chengyang/Langya/Jinan that had been ceded from the Qi state were returned to Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, as a sign of appeasement. After Liu Xiang's death, he made Liu Zhang the King of Chengyang and Liu Xingju the King of Jibei.
After Liu Zhang, Liu Xingju, and Liu Xiang's son Liu Ze died one after another, Liu Heng even divided Qi into six kingdoms: five small kingdoms, Jiaodong, Jinan, Jiaoxi, Lingchuan, and Jibei, so that the former first princely state in the world, the first meritorious minister who coveted the imperial throne, did not pose a threat at all.
In contrast, Liu He, the king of Changyi, why couldn't he fight the powerful minister Huo Guang?
First of all, of course, because from Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han to Emperor Wudi of Han, the three generations of British lords of the Han Dynasty have weakened the authority of the princely kingdoms to the point of being completely vulnerable, and it is completely incomparable with the princely kingdoms of the early Han Dynasty.
Secondly, during the reign of Emperor Liu Fuling of Han Zhao, Huo Guang successively destroyed Sang Hongyang, who was also an auxiliary minister, Shangguan Huan, the general Zuo, Princess Chang of Eyi, the protector of Emperor Han Zhao, and Liu Dan the Prince of Yan, the eldest remaining son of Emperor Wudi of Han, making Emperor Han Zhao completely reduced to a puppet.
At that time, Zhou Bo/Chen Ping/Guan Ying had many heroes, each with their own selfish intentions and did not belong to each other, only to be divided and lured by Emperor Wen of Han, and each broke down. And the Huo Guang Group has long been headed by Huo Guang and "set on one".
The two court lieutenants Li Chong and Wang Ping, Zuo Feng Yi, Jia Shenghu, Shaofu Xu Ren and other ministers were all imprisoned and died in prison for disobeying Huo Guang's will. Huo Guang's descendants, sons-in-law, and relatives all worshipped the marquis, and Huo Guangxin's side was close to Feng Zidu, Prince Fang, etc., and all the officials in the court saluted. And the successive prime ministers such as Che Qianqiu and Yang Chang, only knew that they acted according to Huo Guang's will, and never dared to fight in political affairs, and were regarded as nothing by hundreds of officials.
After the death of Emperor Han Zhao, Huo Guang ignored the patriarchal blood lineage and vetoed his brother Liu Xu the Prince of Guangling, and chose Liu He, the king of Changyi, the imperial nephew, because he was afraid that Liu Xu would be older and have been king for many years, and eliminate all risks as much as possible.
Huo Guang, this person, under the high-pressure rule of Emperor Wudi of Han in his later years, actually stood out as the final big winner, adhering to the principle that "a thousand words are better than one silent", which is too cautious.
He was already the de facto monarch who had dominated the Han Empire for nearly twenty years, and his power and intrigue skills were by no means inferior to Sima Yi in later generations, far from being comparable to Zhou Bo, a "thick and young scholar" who came from a troubled world.
Liu He also brought a whole set of Changyi state teams into Beijing, thinking that he could emulate Emperor Wen's ancestors and began the plan to seize power, but he did not know that the political strength of the two sides was already extremely different. Therefore, only twenty-seven days later, he was deposed by Huo Guang as emperor and killed more than 200 of his cronies who brought him to the capital.
Not to mention the Han Xuan Emperor Liu Ill, before he was selected by Huo Guang to take the throne, he was a commoner clan disciple who did not even have a knighthood, fighting cocks and lackeys in the city all day, with no henchmen and staff and his own team to speak of, and he could not talk about any experience in handling government affairs.
Therefore, although Liu Ai's personal ability and talent may not be weaker than Liu Heng, the ancestor, as an "airborne emperor", he can only do nothing to Huo Guang, a regent for many years, and endure for many years with hatred for killing his wife, collect henchmen, and accumulate strength.
It wasn't until after Huo Guang's death that he had to counterattack in one fell swoop.