The second emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying

Emperor Hui of Han, whose name was Liu Ying, was the son of Liu Bang and Lü Hou, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the second emperor of the Western Han Dynasty. He continued to implement the policy of recuperation promulgated by Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, which promoted the economic prosperity of the Han Dynasty; he also lifted the ideological imprisonment that had been continued by the Qin Dynasty, advocated the Huang Lao philosophy, and promoted the development of the ideology and culture of the Han Dynasty. However, he was kind and cowardly by nature, and lived all his life under the obscenity of his mother, Empress Lü, and did not make much achievements.

Liu Ying was the second son of Liu Bang and was born to Liu Bang and Lü Yan. Liu Bang was very affectionate when he was young, and before marrying Lü Yan, he had an affair with the Cao clan and gave birth to his eldest son, Liu Fei. However, Lü Shi was the wife he was marrying, so he called the emperor Empress Dowager Liu Ying the crown prince. Liu Ying was born in the thirty-sixth year of Qin Shi Huang (211 BC), when Liu Bang was just a small pavilion chief in Pei County. Because her family was not wealthy, Liu Ying often went to work with her mother and sister. Later, Liu Bang rebelled against Qin and became a key criminal arrested by the Qin Dynasty, and Liu Ying and her family lived a wandering life. When chu and Han fought, Liu Bang fled in defeat, even ignoring his old father's wife and children. As a result, Liu Taigong and Lü Yan were captured by the Chu army, and Liu Ying and her sister were fortunate to have Xiahou Bao, the Duke of Xia, who risked death to save each other, and escaped with their lives. Later, Liu Bang won the throne, and the 9-year-old Liu Ying lived a stable life.

Although Liu Ying successfully became the crown prince, his path to the emperor was also very difficult, thanks to the support of his mother Lü Yan. Liu Bang has been "creating a career" outside, and has not paid attention to his wife and children at all, but has caused them to suffer a lot. Now that Liu Bang has become emperor, the compensation for Liu Ying's mother and son is only the identity of the empress and the crown prince. Lü Yan has been running hard for many years, and has been old and fading, and Liu Bang is now a son of heaven, and he wants all kinds of beauties, so naturally he can't look at the old wife. Liu Bang also disliked Liu Ying, believing that he had a weak personality and did not resemble himself. Liu Bang's favorites were Lady Qi, who was young and beautiful and could dance the dance of "folding her sleeves and bending her waist", and her son Liu Ruyi, the King of Zhao. Lady Qi had some scheming, and when she saw that Liu Bang did not like the empress and the crown prince, she took the opportunity to make plans for her son. She "wept day and night" around Liu Bang, please make Ruyi the prince, Liu Bang was really blown by her "pillow wind". However, Lady Qi's little cleverness was not at all comparable to that of Empress Lü Yan. Lü Hou already felt that Liu Bang wanted to do something to their mother and son, so he quickly thought of countermeasures. She asked the resourceful Zhang Liang for advice. Zhang Liang suggested that she ask Liu Bang's respected "Four Hao" (four elderly people of high moral standing) to assist the crown prince. Lü Hou acted according to the plan, and the "Four Hao" really played a great role. Liu Bang saw that the crown prince had such talents to assist him, and felt that the prince already had a reputation and could not be changed. In the twelfth year of Emperor Han gao (195 BC), Liu Bang, the emperor of Han Gao, died of illness, and Liu Ying, who was only 17 years old, successfully ascended the throne, that is, Emperor Hui of Han.

Liu Ying became emperor, and he took over a booming Han Dynasty. As the Prince of Shoucheng, he only needed to continue Gaozu's policies. As a result, he continued to pursue a policy of recuperation, further reducing taxes, encouraging production, encouraging fertility, and relaxing restrictions on commerce. In order to create a stable domestic environment, Liu Ying also used a policy of peace and pro-peace to stabilize relations with the surrounding Xiongnu and other ethnic minorities. Under Liu Ying's rule, the Western Han Dynasty prospered in population, prospered economically, and gradually increased its national strength.

Liu Ying also did a big thing, that is, to build Chang'an City. When Liu Bangding was in Chang'an, Chang'an City was very simple, and later Liu Bang only built a few palaces, not even a city wall. Liu Ying made an overall plan for Chang'an City, building it according to the highest standards of a Kyoto. It took 5 years and hundreds of thousands of people to requisition, and the scale of Han Chang'an City was basically completed. After the completion of Chang'an City, there were sixty-five miles around the city wall, which was the largest capital city in the world at that time, and in Europe at that time, only the Roman city could be as famous as it. The capital city was well laid out and clearly classified, and as a political and economic center, it soon prospered.

Liu Ying has also made great contributions to ideology and culture. Since the Qin Dynasty burned books and pit Confucianism, the doctrine of jurists advocating harsh punishment and cruel law has dominated. Liu Ying lifted this restraint and replaced the doctrine of the Fa with Huang Lao's thought. He abolished the "law of holding books" that suppressed thought during the Qin Dynasty, and various ideological cultures became active, especially Confucianism, which laid the foundation for the later Han Wudi Emperor's "confucianism".

Although Liu Ying wanted to be a promising and good emperor, his mother Empress Lü was dictatorial, and he was restrained everywhere and mentally depressed, which was also a major factor that led to his untimely death. Liu Ying is a benevolent person, kind-hearted, and very filial to her mother. The Han Dynasty promoted filial piety, and the emperor's title was followed by the word "filial piety", which began with him.

Empress Lü was the first empress dowager in Chinese history to be known for her dictatorship. She is both scheming and ambitious, and even more sinister and vicious. She was Liu Bang's married wife, and from her position as a pavilion chief to becoming emperor, she followed all the way and was a real husband and wife in distress. However, after Liu Bang became emperor, he found a new love and completely snubbed her. Lü Yan not only hated Liu Bang's thin feelings, but also hated those concubines who were pleasing to Liu Bang. Liu Bang's favorite Lady Qi and King Ruyi of Zhao were the people That Empress Lü hated the most.

After Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou immediately took revenge and vented his anger. She brutally persecuted all the concubines that Liu Bang had favored before, and the methods were unbelievably cruel, especially for Lady Qi's mother and son. Lü Hou imprisoned Lady Qi in Yongxiang, ordered her to be plucked out of her hair, and let her wear torture equipment and prison clothes, and do hard work every day. Lady Qi was devastated, and she often sang a desolate song: "The son is the king, the mother is the prisoner, all day long in the spring and twilight, often with death!" Three thousand miles apart, when who makes the confession? When Lü Hou learned that Lady Qi was still counting on her son to rescue her, she planned to summon Ruyi back to Chang'an and prepare to execute their mother and son together. Liu Ying was kind-hearted, and after learning of her mother's plot, she preemptively took Ruyi to her palace to protect her. However, Lü Hou still found an opportunity to poison Liu Ruyi. Then Lü Hou's torture of Lady Qi was even more perverted. She ordered Madame Qi to cut off her hands and feet, gouge out her eyes, smoke deaf ears, and inject poison into the toilet, and then throw them in the toilet, called "Ren Yan". Lü Hou also called her son to watch, and Liu Ying was frightened to see it. Lü Hou triumphantly told him that this was Lady Qi. Liu Ying cried out in shock and said bitterly, "This is not something that people do!" As your son, I have no face to be emperor again! After Liu Ying returned home, she fell seriously ill, and since then she has been drinking and enjoying herself every day, and she no longer has the heart to go to politics.

When Lü Hou saw that his son was not paying attention to political affairs, he took the opportunity to take over all the power. She eliminated many prestigious old courtiers and installed people from the Lü clan everywhere in the court. In order to ensure that her power is not shared by new foreign relatives, she also did an even more absurd thing. In the fourth year of Emperor Hui's reign (191 BC), she asked Zhang Yan, the daughter of Liu Ying's sister Princess Lu Yuan, to marry Liu Ying as empress. Liu Ying strongly opposed this ridiculous marriage of her uncle marrying her niece, but was finally forced to accept it. However, Liu Ying was really reluctant to accept it, so she only made a nominal husband and wife with Empress Zhang. However, Empress Lü wanted Empress Zhang to have a son in order to ensure the status of the Lü clan. When Empress Lü saw that Empress Zhang was never pregnant, she asked her to pretend to be pregnant, and then took the son of Harem Meisheng, killed her birth mother, and made her crown prince. The cruelty and viciousness of her mother made Liu Ying suffer a heavy mental blow again, and then the disease continued.

In the seventh year of Emperor Hui of Han (188 BC), Liu Ying, who reigned for less than 7 years, died of illness at the age of 24. He was buried in Anling after his death, with the courtesy name "Xiaohui" Emperor. Under Liu Ying's rule, the economy of the Western Han Dynasty continued to develop, and its national strength continued to increase, laying a solid foundation for the later "rule of Wenjing". However, he was cowardly and did not dare to break through the dictatorship of his mother, and as a result, he died at a prosperous age and did not make much achievement, which is really regrettable!