Since Zhou Tianzi implemented the system of sub-feudalism, China has been in an era of rule by the nobility for nearly a thousand years, and if you are not born well, it is difficult to ascend to the hall of great elegance, let alone slaughter for officials and worship princes. However, since the end of the Warring States period, with the promotion of the reform of the law in various countries, especially since the Qin State introduced the military merit system that did not rely on the ancestors but on military merit, the aristocratic society gradually disintegrated.
By the end of the Qin Dynasty, the invincible Qin Empire was overthrown by an army composed of a group of low-level and small officials, and the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty opened the era of cloth generals. But what many people did not expect was that along with the "civilian regime", there was another ambitious force hidden in the shadows, that is, the foreign forces with the harem concubines as the core. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the most feared foreign relative group was the Lü family headed by Lü Hou, and today Wen Shijun will tell you about these things.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >, the Western Han Dynasty was established</h1>
A group of low-level heroes from humble backgrounds overthrew tyranny and established a completely new state, which sounds very mysterious, but it is the true story of Liu Bang and his subordinates who created the Great Han. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to learn the lesson of Qin's short life, Liu Bang was a prince, and in addition to Liu's sons, many founding heroes were also named princes with different surnames. From another point of view, the political situation of the Han Dynasty at this time is not very stable, the reason is also very simple, in the previous nearly a thousand years, people have been relying on blood and family to establish political power, maintain system governance, which makes people form a subconscious worship and dependence on family blood. But here in Liu Bang, everything is broken, which while creating history, will also make many founding heroes have some "bad" ideas, since Liu Bang can be the emperor, then we can still be the emperor.
Chen Daoming version of Liu Bang
In the early days of the Establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, the court was not calm. If Liu Bang can still rely on his own charm and means to suppress the crowd and return the favor with the high-ranking official Houlu, then once Liu Bang dies, whether the new emperor of the post-Liu Bang era can still suppress a group of old ministers has become a problem that he must solve before he dies. Liu Bang opened the magic box of "Pandora" and killed the meritorious group, like Han Xin, Peng Yue and other founding fathers were killed before his death, and the princely states with different surnames were abolished successively. Liu Bang thought that by killing these ambitious heroes, he would enable his descendants to inherit the throne safely, but to his surprise, it was not his old subordinates who really almost destroyed the Western Han Dynasty, but his wife Lü Yan.
Duan Yihong version of Han Xin
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > second, the rapid rise of the Lü family</h1>
After Liu Bang's death, he succeeded to the throne with Liu Ying, the son born to Lü Yan, and was known as Emperor Hui of Han. There are not many records of Emperor Hui of Han, but through a limited number of strokes, the image of a young emperor who lived in the shadow of his mother and was terrified all day long has been sketched. Liu Ying has never escaped lü yan's control after succeeding to the throne, and his death at a young age is also related to being stimulated too much. Soon after Liu Bang's death, the Court of the Great Han Dynasty underwent great changes, and Lü Yan and the Lü clique quickly seized the core power of the Great Han.
Liu Ying in film and television dramas
The most core member of the Lü clique is naturally Liu Bang's wife Lü Yan, who appeared in the court first as an empress and then as an empress, and had a great right to speak because of her merits in assisting Liu Bang in calming the world. In addition to Lü Jie, the Lü clique also had Lü Ze, Lü Shizhi, Lü Chan, Lü Lu and others, of which Lü Ze and Lü Shizhi were Lü Jie's eldest brothers, And Lü Ze also died fighting to put down the rebellion, and Lü Shizhi tried to protect Liu Ying so that he was not deposed as the crown prince. Lü Chan and Lü Lu were the sons of Lü Ze and Lü Shizhi respectively, and both of them inherited the title because of the merits of their fathers, and played an important role in the usurpation of power by Lü Hou, and can be said to be the core figures of the Lü family in the post-Liu Bang era.
With the exception of a very few ministers with foreign surnames, such as Fan Duo, the Lü clique consisted almost entirely of Lü Yan's relatives, who were under the shadow of Lü Hou and had a very high status in the imperial court. When Liu Bang carried out a great purge of meritorious men, the members of the Lü family were spared from bad luck because of Lü Hou's death, which enabled them to quickly take advantage of the "power gap" situation that appeared in the dynasty after Liu Bang's death, and with the help of Lü Yan, who was promoted to empress, became the most popular power group in the Han Hui Emperor period.
Fan Duo in the film and television drama
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" >3. The Zhulu Rebellion and the Disappearance of the Lü Clique</h1>
During the reign of Emperor Hui of Han, the power structure of the imperial court was divided into three, on the one hand, the group of heroes who were not purged by Liu Bang and Lü Yan, on the one hand, the princes of the Liu clan who were divided into various places, and on the other hand, Lü Yan and his Lü family. Among these three parties, although Liu's sons were emperors, they were the weakest, and even Emperor Liu Ying was very weak because he had lived under the control of Empress Lü for a long time. In 188 BC, liu ying died of illness at the age of 23, and Lü Hou immediately installed two of Liu's sons as puppet emperors, and she presided over all major events. At the same time, Lü Hou also wantonly divided lü's sons as princes, constantly cutting off Liu's strength and killing many members of the royal family. After Liu Ying's death, Lü Yan completely covered the sky at the imperial court, which forced the remaining meritorious group and Liu's sons to temporarily lie dormant and wait for the opportunity.
In 180 BC, Lü Yan died of illness, and the Lü family, deeply aware of the crisis, could not help but have the idea of overthrowing the Liu family, but failed due to leaks. In order to defend the Great Han Dynasty, the Liu family decided to unite with the Gongchen group to jointly raise an army against the Lü family. The founding heroes Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, who were in Chang'an City, quickly launched an action, first controlling the various armies in the capital, and then leading their troops into the palace to hunt down and kill the core figures of the Lü clique such as Lü Lu and Lü Chan. But then the question arises, who should be made emperor? In order to avoid the emergence of a foreign relative group similar to the Lü clan, the Gongchen group decided to abandon Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, who was equally powerful in foreign relations, and chose Liu Heng, a very low-key and weak foreign relative, as the new emperor. In this way, after the collapse of the Lü clique, the Great Han returned to the control of the Liu family.
Zhou Bo in film and television dramas
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > Wen Shijun said:</h1>
The political landscape in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty was not as simple as people thought, and after Liu Bang's death, there was no stable court and a strong new emperor, and power began to be held by Lü Hou and his family. Under the influence of the aristocratic succession system of nearly a thousand years, it is easy to question the identity of Liu Bang, believing that the Liu family did not have much capital to become a royal family. It was not until the reign of Wen Jing and the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that this concept was completely ended.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > reference:</h1>
1. Jiang Jian, "The Lü Clique and the Rebellion of Zhu Lü in the Political Pattern of the Early Han Dynasty", Master's Thesis of Capital Normal University, 2002.
2. Qin Anqi, "On Women and politics in the Western Han Dynasty: A Case Study of the Three Queens of the Western Han Dynasty", Master's Thesis of Qinghai Normal University, 2013.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Little Sun)
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