NFBE Chapter 115: Top Queen Lü Zhi
Chapter 115: Top Queen Lü Zhi
[How fierce can a woman be after she turns evil? Let's take a look at the fierce character from 2,000 years ago - Lü Zhi. Liu Bang and Empress Lü Zhi, Han Dynasty History]
[She was the first uncrowned empress in Chinese history, and she shared the throne with Liu Bang. However, in people's eyes, Lu Zhi was never a positive character. People only remember her cruelty to Concubine Qi, cutting off her love rival's hands and feet and holding her hostage.]
【However, Liu Bang was unaware that he would extend his murderous hand to his first wife for the sake of his lover, and even went so far as to appoint a new crown prince.】
[Some people also say that she was ruthless in her autocratic methods, holding the power of the government and playing with the whole world in her hands, but they don’t know that she rested with the people and practiced non-intervention, which laid a solid foundation for Emperor Wu of Han’s endless wealth. ]
[If life didn't force it, who would be willing to change from a gentle lady to the most vicious queen in history? This video will let us understand the legendary life of Lu Zhi in chronological order. 】
——"She is a bit cruel, but I don't think there is anything wrong with that. If I were in power, I would be even more cruel than her!"
——"Ever since being kicked off the car by Liu Bang, that old man, she has turned evil."
——"Well, under the circumstances at that time, even though they were kicked off the car, as long as Liu Bang ran away, they could survive. If Liu Bang and she were caught together, then everyone would have died."
[From her birth in 241 BC to her death in 180 BC, Lü Zhi was years old. She served her parents-in-law, gave birth to children, worked in the fields, and supported a family for Liu Bang alone. She also lived with Liu Fei, a child born to another man.]
[Even though she was held captive by Xiang Yu for three years and Liu Bang never saved her, she did not harbor any resentment. Although she was as famous as Wu Zetian, she was eventually slandered for more than 2,000 years because of the hostage incident and Han Xin's death.]
[To truly understand the story of Lü Zhi, we have to start from the beginning. ]
[Lü Zhi was from Dao County, which is now Shan County, Dongshan Province. After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the 19-year-old Lü Zhi and her father Lü Gong moved to Pei County to avoid their enemies and seek refuge with her good friend who was the magistrate of Pei County.]
[At a banquet, Lu Gong, who was good at reading people's faces, was surprised by Liu Bang's appearance of great wealth and honor after seeing him.]
【Then, despite everyone's opposition, she decided on the spot to marry her daughter to this middle-aged uncle who was fifteen years older than Lu Zhi and had an illegitimate child.】
[In 221 BC, when 20-year-old Lü Zhi married Liu Bang, she was considered a very virtuous woman. Not only did she take care of Liu Bang's parents, she also had to work in the fields with the children to earn money to support the family. She even took good care of Liu Bang's illegitimate son Liu Fei, without any complaints.]
——"Where can you find a wife like this? Liu Laosan, you really don't know how to cherish her!"
——"Liu Bang had nothing to say about other people, but he did owe Lu Zhi."
[Lü Zhi supported the family, while Liu Bang often wore a homemade bamboo hat, either wandering around or begging for food and drink. ]
[Although I wasn’t rich, I lived a peaceful life. More than 10 years had passed in a flash.]
[Until 209 BC, when Liu Bang was escorting a prisoner to Mount Li, he was drunk and the prisoner took the opportunity to escape. Liu Bang was afraid of being punished, so he had to flee to the swamp area under Mount Mangdang.]
[In addition to supporting the family alone, Lü Zhi also had to travel long distances from time to time to bring clothes and food to her husband who was taking refuge outside.]
[Soon after, Liu Bang and Lü Zhi gave birth to a son and a daughter, who later became Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, and Princess Lu Yuan. After the peasant uprising broke out at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang began to fight everywhere, while Lü Zhi stayed in Pei County to take care of her parents and children, without causing Liu Bang any concerns.]
——"Who can't say she is virtuous?"
——"This is why I don't like Liu Bang."
[When Lü Zhi was 36 years old, Liu Bang was named King of Han by Xiang Yu and sent troops out of Wuguan to bring back his relatives and children in Pei County. However, he was blocked by the governor stationed in Xiayang. It was not until later that he brought his wife and children to live with him.]
[A year later, Liu Bang captured the Chu capital Pengcheng, but was soon defeated by Xiang Yu who returned to defend the city. Liu Bang had no choice but to abandon his wife and children and flee alone. Lu Zhi and other family members of Liu Bang naturally became prisoners of the Chu army.]
——"Kicking your wife and children out of the car, only you, Liu Laosan, can do such a thing."
——"The most amazing thing is that he kicked me more than once. (Covering his face)"
[During the three years of being captured, Lu Zhi not only did not blame Liu Bang, but also took very good care of the whole family. ]
——"Uh, isn't she having an improper relationship with Shen Yiji here?"
——"There is no conclusion, and even if there is, what can we do? Liu Bang was unkind, so we can't blame Lu Zhi for being unjust."
[It was not until 203 BC, when the Chu and Han made peace, that Xiang Yu released Lü Zhi from danger. But when Lü Zhi returned to Liu Bang, she thought she could live a good life from then on, but she found that Liu Bang already had a young and beautiful new favorite, Concubine Qi.]
[Since then, the old and ugly Lu Zhi was left alone. During the Chu-Han War, she could only stay behind, while it was Madam Qi who accompanied Liu Bang on his expeditions.]
【At this time, Lü Zhi had given up his fantasy about Liu Bang and began to pursue his own power. He quickly became an important figure in the Han decision-making group and began to take care of the prince wholeheartedly, preparing to inherit the Liu family's kingdom in the future.】
[But what she never expected was that the greedy Concubine Qi not only monopolized Liu Bang's favor, leaving Lu Zhi alone in her empty room, but also set her sights on the throne of the crown prince. ]
[In 197 BC, Concubine Qi begged Liu Bang to replace her son Liu Ruyi as the crown prince of the Han Dynasty. At this time, Liu Bang had already been fooled and confused, looking at Liu Ruyi who looked like him and the beautiful beauties around him.]
【Liu Bang completely abandoned Lu Zhi, who had always shared his joys and sorrows and was no longer young. So he wanted to make Qi Furen's son Liu Ruyi the crown prince on the grounds that Liu Ying was kind and weak and not like him.】
[This touched Lu Zhi's bottom line, but the matter of re-establishing the emperor was never realized due to opposition from the ministers in the court. ]
[Lü Zhi, who had a strong character, had transformed from a lady from a noble family to a queen of the Han Dynasty who had gone through the hardships of life and had developed a strong shell.]
[In order to consolidate his power, Lü began to kill people to establish his authority. The first person he chose was Han Xin, who had been deposed as Marquis of Huaiyin and was under house arrest. While Liu Bang was away on a campaign, he and Xiao He schemed to kill Han Xin, thus successfully intimidating other meritorious officials.]
——"Ah, Empress Lu, why did you kill him? He has many fans in the future. If you kill him, you will only be asking for trouble! No wonder others are smearing you."
——"Han Xin had three great benefactors in his life. One was Xiao He, one was Empress Lü who killed him to preserve his reputation, and the other was Meng Lei. (Dog Head)"
——"Get out of here, farmers!"
[In order to protect her son's position as crown prince, Lü Zhi had Zhang Liang kidnapped and forced him to offer advice, thus inviting the Four Elders of Shangshan, who Liu Bang valued very much, to assist the crown prince.]
[In 196 BC, Liang Wang Peng Yue was demoted to a commoner by Liu Bang. On his way to exile to Shu, Peng Yue happened to meet Lü Zhi and cried to her about his grievances.]
[While Lü Zhi promised to help Peng Yue redress his grievances to Liu Bang, she took Peng Yue back to Xianyang and not only executed him on the grounds that letting a tiger go back to the mountains would cause endless trouble, she also chopped Peng Yue into meat sauce and distributed it to other princes in batches.]
[During the eight years when Liu Bang was emperor, Lü Zhi assisted Liu Bang in suppressing rebellion and fighting against separatist forces, which played an important role in consolidating the unity of the Han Dynasty and also made full preparations for her future reign.]
[A year later, Liu Bang was fatally injured while suppressing Ying Bu's rebellion. Feeling that his life was coming to an end, Liu Bang's desire to depose the crown prince became even stronger.]
【Zhang Liang used the Shang Dynasty under Daji and the Zhou Dynasty under Baosi as examples to persuade Liu Bang not to change the crown prince. After his persuasion failed, he suddenly fell ill and stopped attending court.】
[Shusun Tong, the prince's tutor, threatened to die, but Liu Bang only pretended to obey him. In fact, his idea of deposing the prince did not change at all.]
[Until one day at a court banquet, when he saw the Four Elders of Shangshan standing beside the Crown Prince, he pointed at them and said to Concubine Qi, "I want to replace the Crown Prince, but with these four people assisting him, the Crown Prince's wings have already been formed and it is difficult to change. Empress Lü is really your master."
[From then on, Liu Bang never mentioned the matter of deposing and enthroning the crown prince again. Not long after, Liu Bang died of illness. The Lu family kept the death a secret for four days after Liu Bang's death and killed all the meritorious officials.]
[But in the end, under the persuasion of Li Shang, he gave up this move. Later, Liu Ying ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty. Lu Zhi began to hold power alone. ]
[In December of the same year, Empress Dowager Lü Zhi began to take revenge on Liu Bang's favorite concubines. She imprisoned them all and did not allow them to leave the palace. Only Bo Ji, who rarely saw Liu Bang, was able to follow her son back to his fiefdom.]
[Concubine Qi was targeted by Lü Zhi. She had her hair shaved, an iron ring tied around her neck, and was dressed in prisoner's clothes to do hard labor such as pounding rice. However, Concubine Qi, who did not know how to restrain herself, still did not understand Liu Bang's last words.]
[This angered Empress Lü, and eventually Concubine Qi had her hands and feet cut off, her ears deafened, her eyes gouged out, and thrown into a toilet to die.]
[What's even more terrifying is that Lü Zhi called her son Liu Ying to come and watch her masterpiece. Liu Ying was so frightened that he fell seriously ill. From then on, Liu Ying began to think that his mother was too cruel and inhumane, and was somewhat perverted.]
[No longer willing to deal with government affairs, Liu Ying lived under the power of his mother for the next seven years. Lu Zhi first went against Liu Ying's wishes and made his niece the queen.]
[After that, the law of inserting books into books was abolished, and the private collection of books was encouraged to restore the old classics. He also began to build the city of Chang'an. Even Liu Fei, whom he had raised for many years, almost lost his life.]
[In 188 BC, Liu Ying died of depression, and Lü Zhi made the crown prince Liu Gong the emperor. She herself took the throne and exercised the power of the emperor, becoming the first queen mother dictator in China.]
——"During this period, Lü Zhi was no different from the emperor, except for the lack of a title. If she had been bolder and directly proclaimed herself emperor, perhaps there would have been more than one Wu Zetian later."
——"You're overthinking it. Wu Zetian became an emperor and set an example for women, but what happened later? Wasn't there still no female emperor? In feudal society, with the social atmosphere at the time, it was still too difficult for a woman to become an emperor."
[Not only that, all the important positions in the court were controlled by the Lu family, which also opened the precedent for the monopoly of power by foreign relatives in the Han Dynasty. ]
[In order to strengthen her own autocratic rule, Lü Zhi adopted a policy of inaction while employing favorite ministers and eunuchs. She also broke the covenant that if Liu Bang died without the Liu family, the whole world would attack him.]
【Lü Zhi's series of actions were fiercely opposed by the Liu clan and ministers. Two years later, Liu Gong offended Lü Zhi by saying the wrong thing, and was not only deposed from the throne, but also lost his life.】
【Lü Zhi had no choice but to appoint Liu Yi, the King of Changshan, as the emperor again and changed his name to Liu Hong. In 180 BC, Lü Zhi was seriously ill. Before she died, she still did not forget to consolidate the Lü family's rule. She not only assigned important positions that held military and political power to the Lü family.】
[He also told them to keep a tight control on the army and not to leave the palace to attend his funeral, so as to avoid being taken advantage of.]
[Not long after, the 62-year-old Lü Zhi died of illness. After her death, a bloody struggle broke out between the Liu royal family group and the Lü family's in-laws group. In the end, King Liu Xiang of Qi launched the attack from outside, and Chen Ping and Zhou Bo responded from inside. The battle ended with the victory of the royal family group.]
——"The Lu family is really useless. After Lu Zhi died, no one could step forward. Such a family is really not suitable for power."
——"The main reason is that most of the talented people died when they were conquering the country, and another group died after the founding of the country, so the remaining ones are all fools. Lu Zhi left them so many important positions, which must be because they were defeated by others."
After the Lu family was destroyed, the ministers first deposed the queen, then killed Emperor Shaodi Liu Hong, and supported a less powerful natal family and its pure-blooded descendants of the Liu family. Liu Heng succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Wen of Han.
——"It's so funny. They thought this teenage boy would be easy to control, but they didn't know they invited a political monster, who ended up killing them all."
——"In history, there were only two young princes who came to Beijing and played the ministers to death. One was Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and the other was the old Taoist priest Jiajing. Both of them were extremely smart people, cold-blooded monsters, and natural political creatures."
——"I didn't expect that Liu Bang, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would actually be a big pig's hoof."
——"Don't advise others to be good without experiencing their suffering."
——"To be honest, Lu Zhi's father's face-reading skills are quite accurate. Where did he learn it from? I want to learn it too. (dog head)"
——"In fact, during the ten years after Liu Bang got married, he was still not in good shape. Lu Gong once thought that he was not good enough in martial arts and had made a mistake. (Covering face)"
——"Subjectively, Empress Lü had a strong and tolerant character, but objectively she was forced to become evil. In order to protect her own status and interests, she had to be cruel."