Chapter 62 61 Zhou Bo Duojun

Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty had no son, so the Empress Dowager Lu found a baby from outside and pretended to be the child of Emperor Hui, and made her the crown prince.In 188 BC, when Emperor Hui died, the baby took over the throne, and the Empress Dowager Lu came to power in a legitimate way. In order to consolidate her power, the Empress Dowager Lu wanted to make a member of the Lu family king, so she asked the ministers if they could. The right prime minister's mausoleum is straight, saying: "Emperor Gao slaughtered the white horse and made a covenant. Anyone who is not surnamed Liu should not be crowned king."

Empress Dowager Lu was very upset when she heard this, and asked Zuo Prime Minister Chen Ping and Taiwei Zhou Bo again. Chen Ping and Zhou Bo said: "Gaozu pacified the world and appointed his children as kings. This is of course right; now that the Empress Dowager is in court, there is nothing wrong with making her children kings." Empress Dowager Lu nodded happily. After the dynasty was over, Wang Ling criticized Chen Ping and Zhou Bo and said, "Weren't you all present when you took the oath before the late emperor? Now that you have broken your oath, how can you be worthy of the late emperor?"

Chen Ping and Zhou Bo said: "Don't worry. We can't compete with you in arguing with the queen mother face to face in the court; in the future, you can't compare with us in protecting the Liu family." After this, the Queen Mother Lu made her nephews and grandnephews, such as Lu Tai, Lu Chan, Lu Lu, Lu Jia, Lu Tong, etc. one by one king, and let them control the military power.Almost all the power of the imperial court fell into the hands of the Lu family. Empress Lv's family seized power from the Liu family, and many ministers were unconvinced, but most of them dared to be angry and dare not speak out.

Han Gaozu had a grandson, Liu Zhang, named Zhu Xuhou, and his wife was Lu Lu's daughter.Once, Empress Dowager Lu held a banquet and appointed Liu Zhang to supervise.Liu Zhang said to the queen mother: "I am a descendant of Jiangmen, please allow me to supervise the banquet according to military law." The queen mother agreed. Liu Zhang saw everyone drinking and drinking lively.He proposed to sing "Plowing the Field Song" for Empress Dowager Lu to cheer her up, and Empress Dowager Lu said: "Just sing it!" Liu Zhang let go of his voice and sang: Deep plowing (sound ji) seeds, the seedlings stand to be thinned; (The meaning of this song is: The field should be plowed deep, and the seedlings should be planted sparsely; if the seeds are not good, they should be hoeed.)

Empress Dowager Lu was very unhappy when she heard this. After a while, a son of the Lu family got drunk and left without saying goodbye.Liu Zhang chased him and killed him on the pretext that he violated the banquet rules.When Liu Zhang came back to report to the queen mother, the left and right ministers seemed to be frightened.Because Empress Dowager Lu had allowed him to act in accordance with military law, she had nothing to do with him. In the eighth year of Empress Dowager Lu's reign, she became seriously ill.Before he died, Lu Chan, the king of Zhao, was granted the title of prime minister and commanded the northern army; Lu Lu was the general who led the southern army, and told them: "Now that the Lu family is in power, the ministers are not convinced. After I die, you must lead the army. The army guards the palace, don't go out to attend the funeral, lest you be plotted against."

After the death of Empress Dowager Lu, the military power was in the hands of Lu Chan and Lu Lu.They wanted to start a rebellion, but they dared not do it for a while. Liu Zhang learned of the Lu family's conspiracy from his wife, so he sent someone to tell his elder brother Qi Wang Liu Xiang, and asked him to send troops from outside to enter Chang'an. Qi Wang Liu Xiang marched westward. When Lu Chan heard the news, he immediately sent General Guan Ying to lead the army to deal with it.As soon as Guan Ying arrived in Xingyang, he discussed with the generals: "The Lu family leads the army and wants to take over the Liu family. If we attack the king of Qi, won't we help the Lu family rebel?"

After discussing with each other, they decided to stand still, and secretly notified the King of Qi, asking him to contact the princes, and wait for the time to join forces to attack the Lu family.When King Qi received the notice, he stood still for the time being. Zhou Bo and Chen Ping knew that the Lu family was going to launch a rebellion, and they wanted to preemptively attack them, but the military power was in the hands of the Lu family, so what should they do? They thought that Li Ji, the son of the minister Li Shang, and Lu Lu were good friends, so they sent someone to ask Li Ji to persuade Lu Lu: "The queen mother is dead, and the emperor is young. As the king of Zhao, you stay in Chang'an to lead the army. All the ministers and princes suspect you, which is not good for you. If you can hand over the military power to the Taiwei and return to your fief, the soldiers of Qi State will retreat, and the ministers will feel at ease."

Lu Lu believed Li Ji's words and handed over the Northern Army to Taiwei Zhou Bo. Zhou Bo took the general's seal and quickly ran to the Northern Army barracks.He issued an order to the soldiers: "Now the Lu family wants to seize the power of the Liu family, what do you think should be done? Who will help the Lu family to bare his right arm, and help the Liu family to bare his left arm." All the soldiers in the Northern Army were originally facing the Liu family.As soon as the order was passed on, all the left sleeves were taken off at once, revealing the left arm (called "left bare" in classical Chinese).Zhou Bo successfully took over the northern army and seized Lu Lu's military power.

Lu Chan didn't know that Lu Lu's northern army had fallen into Zhou Bo's hands, so he ran to Weiyang Palace to start a rebellion.Zhou Bo sent Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang with more than a thousand soldiers to kill Lu Chan.Then, Zhou Bo led the northern army and wiped out Lu's power. By this time, the ministers became more courageous.They said: "In the past, the emperor appointed by the Empress Dowager Lu was not the child of Emperor Hui. Now that we have eliminated the Lu family and let such a fake prince become the emperor, isn't the Lu family a party when he grows up? Why don't we be with the Liu family kings again?" Choose one of the wisest to be the emperor."

As a result of the discussions among the ministers, they believed that Liu Heng, the king of Dai, was the oldest among Gaozu's sons and had a good character, so they sent people to Daijun (where the government is located in today's Yu County, Hebei Province) to welcome Liu Heng to Chang'an and make him emperor. Emperor Wen.