Emperor Liu Heng of Han was the fifth emperor of the Han Dynasty and the fourth son of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu.
Being generous and benevolent, diligent and thrifty, and adopting a policy of cultivating life and recuperating in politics, greatly improved the people's living standards, enabled the rapid development of production, and jointly opened up the prosperous era of Wenjing rule with his son Liu Qi, laying a solid foundation for the Han Dynasty of the Han Dynasty of the Han Dynasty of emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to enter its heyday. His life was full of drama.
Liu Heng's mother was Bo Ji, a concubine of the King of Wei, who was included in the harem after the King of Wei was killed and gave birth to Liu Heng. For Bo Ji, Liu Bang did not like it very much, and often snubbed it, so Liu Heng was not valued by his father since he was a child, and was sealed to the remote and barren frontier as the acting king, so the possibility of him inheriting the throne was basically zero.
After Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou became dictatorial, poisoned Liu Bang's favorite son Liu Ruyi of Zhao, who was threatening the emperor's throne, and murdered the newly enthroned Liu You the Prince of Zhao, and soon after the successor Liu Hui of Zhao also committed suicide, at which time the throne of Zhao was once again vacant.
Lü Hou thought about it and decided to make Liu Heng, the loyal and honest acting king who was far away from the struggle for the throne, the new king of Zhao, and tested whether he had ambitions. Liu Heng was also uneasy after knowing it, although Zhao Di was rich and rich, far better than Dai Di, but he knew that if he was the King of Zhao, he would definitely end up with the same fate as several brothers, and this position seemed to mean "death".
Therefore, liu Heng, who was wise and foolish, resigned that he wanted to stay in the daiguo to defend the frontier for Lü Hou. After Lü Hou knew, he was still suspicious, so he sent someone to inquire into the truth, and Liu Heng behaved as a second son in his daily life, finally dispelling Lü Hou's concerns.
Later, after the fall of the Lü clan and the depose of the young emperor Liu Hong, the ministers began to discuss the establishment of a new monarch. Because he was usually generous and benevolent, had a very good reputation, had filial piety, and was foolishly conducive to control, the powerful ministers Zhou Bo and Chen Ping supported Liu Heng to ascend to the throne.
As soon as Liu Heng succeeded to the throne, he revealed his scheming side, and the ministers found themselves deceived, Liu Heng was by no means a weak and incompetent marionette that was conducive to manipulation.
The first to suffer was Zhou Bo, the hero who helped Liu Heng ascend to the throne, who first deprived Zhou Bo of his military power, and then used the excuse that the marquis should return to his fiefdom to dismiss Zhou Bo from his post, and then arrested him and imprisoned him for treason. Chen Ping behaved in a disciplined manner, so he did not let Liu Heng grab the small braid.
Later, in order to get rid of his threatening younger brother Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, and not wanting to bear the insult of killing his brothers and sisters, Liu Heng practiced connivance and appeasement to make him more and more arrogant, inducing him to embark on the road of rebellion, and then exiled him with benevolence and righteousness, but starved him alive on the road, and finally only killed a few county officials along the road to get rid of responsibility.
For his uncle Bo Zhao, whose power is expanding, Liu Heng also has concerns. The inflated Bo Zhao later killed the emissaries of the imperial court and was caught by Liu Heng. In order not to carry the insult of killing relatives and get rid of his uncle at the same time, Liu Heng sent his ministers to his uncle's house in mourning clothes to cry. Bo Zhao was pressured to commit suicide in the end.
It has to be said that Liu Heng, who seems to be generous, is quite clever in his political means, and after escaping from the clutches of Lü Hou by pretending to be a fool, he deceived the experienced Chen Ping by relying on his benevolent appearance to support his succession, and then adopted a series of means but almost did not have to bear any infamy and eliminated his brother and uncle who were a threat to him. I don't know how Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, who thought he was clever, felt in his heart when he saw this in the Spirit of Heaven.