Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-Eight

Empress Dowager Lu appointed the daughter (that is, granddaughter) born to her daughter Princess Lu Yuan as the queen of her son Huidi.For Emperor Hui, he married his sister's daughter, that is, his niece.Empress Dowager Lu wanted the Lu family to control the political power, so under the idea of ​​women and Taoists, she tried to start with the method of "kissing each other".But nine times out of ten, things in the world are unsatisfactory, and there has been no good news since Emperor Hui.Both Princess Lu Yuan and Empress Dowager Lu were very anxious about this. They asked God everywhere and asked her to take various medicines, but it still didn't work.

The prosperity of the Lu family is closely related to the royal family.Empress Dowager Lu wants to have a crown prince who can be manipulated freely by herself.She then ordered the queen: "You tie something around your stomach and start pretending to be pregnant!" Just at this time, there was a pregnant woman who was related to Lu's family, served in the palace in the past, and now returned to her natal family in the countryside to wait for delivery.Empress Dowager Lu hid the woman somewhere, and when she gave birth to a baby boy, she immediately announced the news of Queen Nong Zhang's joy.To keep this secret, Empress Dowager Lu killed the baby's mother.

Even so, Empress Dowager Lu still felt uneasy.There is only one heir, and she can't rest assured if something unexpected happens.There should be as many heirs as possible. Emperor Hui lived a life of indulgence, but he never heard of any beauties in the harem being pregnant.The Empress Dowager Lu made the Lu clan relatives, and all male babies who were born were pretended to be born because of the favor of Emperor Hui, and they were raised in the palace. In addition to the crown prince, there are five people who are regarded as the sons of the emperor because of this method.These five people were all named princes, namely:

Liu Qiang, King of Huaiyang Changshan King Liu Buyi Liu Shan, Hou of Xiangcheng Zhi Hou Liu Chao Liu Wu, Marquis of Huguan Although these people all called Liu the surname, in fact none of them was the real son of Emperor Hui.These members of Lu's family are backup personnel for the Crown Prince in case of an accident, in other words, they are backup puppets. Liu Bang has eight sons.Emperor Hui, born to Empress Dowager Lu, was the second child.Before that, a concubine gave birth to the eldest son.The eldest son, named Liu Fei, was established as the king of Qi. In the second year of Emperor Hui's accession to the throne, King Fei of Qi entered the court.

"Guichao" and "laichao" are used to refer to "return to the country" and "coming to the country", while the "chao" in the past refers to the imperial court in the capital.Therefore, "entering the court" means going to Beijing to enter the palace to pay homage to the emperor. Although King Qi is the elder brother, since the younger brother is the son of heaven, he must perform the courtesy of his ministers.However, Emperor Hui, who was honest and honest, let his elder brother King Qi take the seat according to the etiquette of the family, and hosted a banquet for him.

Empress Dowager Lu was furious when she saw this.How terrible the consequences of making this old woman angry can be proved by the "renzhu" incident not long ago.She put the poisoned wine in front of King Qi and said, "Please drink!" King Qi inadvertently reached out to pick up the wine glass.But the other hand reached the glass before him.This person is Emperor Hui sitting next to King Qi. Because Emperor Hui had seen people, he knew that his mother could do anything.Therefore, when I saw Empress Dowager Lu put the wine glass in front of King Qi to persuade him to drink, I immediately realized what the empress mother meant.

"Not good! The queen mother wants to poison my brother..." He immediately reached out to grab the cup, in order to save his brother's life. "Isn't this a rare thing to see? How could this person, who has always been extremely introverted, behave like this?" King Qi was quite puzzled by Emperor Hui's actions.Huidi, who has always been as quiet as a virgin, would reach out to snatch other people's wine glasses, which is really unimaginable. At this moment, Empress Dowager Lu reached out to Emperor Hui with one hand and pulled his sleeve forcefully.As a result, the wine glass fell from Huidi's hand, and the wine syrup poured on the floor.

"Oh! So it's..." King Qi suddenly realized, his face suddenly turned blue.He was nearly killed.This scene was saved by Emperor Hui's rescue, but the Empress Dowager Lu will never stop there, right? "Oh! I'm drunk... I can't drink any more... I'm really drunk..." King Qi pretended to be drunk and managed to avoid the banquet scene.But after returning to the place where I stayed, I was at a loss when I thought about the future, I just sighed. "According to the minister's opinion..." At this moment, a wise minister offered advice to King Qi.

"What good plan do you have, tell me quickly!" "The Empress Dowager loves her daughter Princess Lu Yuan very much. The princess' husband Zhang Ao is just the Marquis of Xuanping who owns several cities, while the king owns more than 70 cities. In order to survive, the only way to survive now is to cede the land. One way can be considered. Your Majesty might as well dedicate a county in the territory to the Empress Dowager, and ask her to give Princess Lu Yuan as a gift to please the Empress Dowager. What do you think, Your Majesty?" "That might be the only way."

The king of Qi offered Chengyang County. The Empress Dowager Lu was really happy, and chose a day to visit King Qi's mansion and hold a feast, so King Qi was able to return home safely. Emperor Hui was not only weak in character, but also very weak in body.It is self-evident that such people are addicted to drinking and sex, and their health will deteriorate.He died after seven years in office. Empress Dowager Lu wept for him, but there was not a single tear in her eyes. "Why didn't the Queen Mother shed tears, do you know?" Zhang Piqiang, who was only fifteen years old, asked the Prime Minister Chen Ping.Zhang Biqiang is the son of Zhang Liang.

"I really don't understand. Why don't mothers mourn the death of their son?" Chen Ping asked with a surprised expression. "Actually, it's not that the Empress Dowager is not sad. A son of flesh and blood is not sad when she dies. There is absolutely no such thing in the world. The Empress Dowager's situation is too late to be sad. Because her fear is much stronger than sadness!" "What is the Queen Mother afraid of?" "The emperor died and the new emperor was young—under such circumstances, it is not impossible for the ministers to adopt a domineering attitude to suppress the queen mother. When thinking of this, does the queen mother still have time to grieve?" "Then what should we do?" "The most important thing at this time is to try to make the Queen Mother feel at ease." "How can the Empress Dowager feel at ease?" "Appoint Lu Tai, Lu Chan, and Lu Lu as generals, and let them hold the military power. In addition, appoint the rest of the Lu family to be in charge of government affairs. In this way, the Queen Mother will feel at ease, right?" "It's true... when the military power and political power are all under the control of the Lu clan, the Queen Mother will certainly feel at ease." Prime Minister Chen Ping arranged everything according to what the fifteen-year-old boy said.The queen mother showed a sad look because she had no worries.When people feel fear in their hearts, they will not have emotional reactions of joy, anger, sorrow and joy.However, people who are driven by a sense of fear will jump over the wall in a hurry to do something that is often unimaginable-especially the empress dowager who is extremely cruel by nature is already creepy just by imagining it. Therefore, Prime Minister Chen Ping of course worked hard to get rid of the Queen Mother Lu's sense of fear. Lu Tai, who became a general, was the son of the eldest brother of the Empress Dowager Lu, and Lu Chan was his younger brother.Lu Lu is the son of Empress Lu's second brother.In other words, these people are the nephews of Empress Dowager Lu.The army was under the command of her own people, which greatly relieved the Empress Dowager Lu. The members of the Lu clan were extremely prosperous for a while.Lu Tai was later established as King Lu.Other than the Liu family, there was only one Changsha king, Wu Chen, who won the throne, but now the king of the Lu family was born. King Qi, who saved his life by offering to Chengyang County, had his son Liu Zhang marry Lu Lu's daughter as his wife.This proves that even though the Liu family is the king, if they do not establish an in-law relationship with the Lu family, it is difficult to maintain a stable position. Fan Kuai's wife was Lu Xu, the younger sister of Empress Dowager Lu, and she was named Linguanghou.This is the first case in China where women are named marquises. And Young Digong didn't know where he heard it, knowing that his mother was killed by Queen Mother Lu.The outspoken child even said it out. "The queen mother killed my mother. To me, the queen mother is my mother's enemy. Because I am still young, I can't do anything to her now, but when I grow up, I will definitely avenge this!" When someone reported this incident, Empress Dowager Lu sternly said: "What big talk! The brat I picked up to make you the emperor dares to say such a thing, it is simply ungrateful! You have the ability to take revenge! " She then imprisoned the young emperor in Yongxiang, and no one was allowed to approach him.On the surface, she announced that the emperor's dragon was not in good health, and soon after, the Empress Dowager Lu called a group of ministers to discuss. "The emperor is not only seriously ill, but his mental state is also abnormal. He can't even participate in the ancestral temple rituals. Such an emperor has lost his qualifications as an emperor, and it seems that he must be replaced. What do you think, ministers?" This is not a discussion, it is essentially an order.Of course, no one among the ministers dared to express objection. Empress Dowager Lu simply killed the young emperor.The kid who regards himself as the enemy who kills his mother must get rid of it as soon as possible to avoid future troubles.She doesn't worry about the puppet emperor who has nothing to fill the vacancy. Among the five alternate emperors, Changshan King Liu Buyi was dead, so Liu Shan, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, was renamed Liu Yi and established as Changshan King.Now, change the name of Changshan Wangyi to Hong and make him emperor.In fact, such an emperor is a puppet at all, which needless to say. After Lu Tai, who was named King Lu, died, Lu Jia, who succeeded him, was deposed because of his arrogant behavior, and Lu Chan, Lu Tai's younger brother, was replaced as King Lu.Even if they are members of the Lu clan, anyone who does not agree with Queen Mother Lu will still be deprived of the throne, which shows Queen Mother Lu's ambition to rule the world. Most of the heroes who worked with Liu Bang on the battlefield and managed the world had been wiped out during Liu Bang's lifetime. The rest either died of illness or were old. Xiangguo Xiao He died in the second year of Emperor Hui, and his successor Cao Shen died three years later.This also happened during Emperor Hui's reign.Both of them were born in Pei County. During Liu Bang's uprising, Xiao He was the secretary of the Yamen, and Cao Shen was the prison guard.Liu Bang, who was the head of the pavilion at that time, was regarded as a colleague of them.In fact, Xiao He once helped Liu Bang who was not very good at his duties. Zhang Liang, another great hero, used the excuse of practicing immortality to live a reclusive life, so there was no need to worry about his existence.Fan Kuai's wife is the younger sister of Empress Dowager Lu, so they are relatives by marriage. Although the Empress Dowager Lv had the domineering act of placing her mother's family members in prominent positions as much as possible, after all, this was only a matter within the palace, and the common people were not greatly affected. Sima Qian detailed the domineering deeds of Queen Mother Lu in "Historical Records", but at the end of the article he made the following criticism: In the era of Emperor Hui and Empress Dowager Lu, all the people in the world were able to escape the suffering of the Warring States Period, and all the monarchs and people hoped to live a life of inaction (peace and peace).Therefore, Emperor Hui's purpose was to hang down the arch (stand still and do nothing). Although the Empress Dowager Lv ruled as a woman, she never stepped out of the palace, and the world still said that there was nothing wrong with it.At that time, punishment was rarely used, and there were not many criminals. People could concentrate on farming and live a life of adequate food and clothing. Such an evaluation is not too high.Due to the long-term war, it is a fact that the people sincerely yearn for peace.Therefore, under such an environment, Emperor Hui, as a monarch, indulged in wine and sex, and did nothing. This cannot but be called the wonderful cooperation of heaven.Although the Empress Dowager Lu disturbed the court to a very serious extent, this can only be regarded as a turmoil in a teacup after all. Such Queen Mother Lu also once wanted to fight because of her anger.That was when the Huns Maodun sent a rude letter in the third year of Emperor Hui. It is said that Emperor Han has passed away, and Junzuo has become the new widowed gentleman.I, like Jun Zuo, have just been widowed, and I can't bear the empty boudoir.Therefore, I suggest that we wait for Yan Hao, comfort each other and feel lonely, what about the unknown? "How dare the barbaric Huns be so rude!" Empress Dowager Lu immediately summoned a group of ministers to discuss how to deal with such rude Huns. At this time, Fan Kuai, Empress Dowager Lu's brother-in-law, said: "Please entrust your ministers with an army of one hundred thousand. If you lead these troops deep into the Huns, they will definitely beat them to death!" However, Zhonglang General Ji Bu expressed his objection: "According to my opinion, Fan Kuai should be executed for his crime. When the late emperor was besieged by the Xiongnu in Baideng Mountain, Fan Kui was a general with 320,000 Han soldiers, and he still could not solve the crime. The encirclement of the enemy. So far, the song of the bitter battle is still passed down among the people, and the wounded soldiers at that time have only recovered. Now Fan Kui still boasted that he could sweep the Huns with an army of 100,000. Could it be that Fan Kui was trying to bring the world into chaos? The biggest reason why Qin fell It lies in mobilizing an army in the north to deal with the Xiongnu. Anyone who intends to follow this example should be executed!" "Then what should we do?" Queen Mother Lu asked. "Yi and Di are no different from animals. It is not enough to be happy when they are praised, and it is not enough to be angry when they are cursed. Such a rude letter, just reply casually." "Exactly." Empress Dowager Lu acted according to Ji Bu's words. According to legend, the Han Dynasty sent a letter back to the Xiongnu at this time, and the content is roughly as follows: The concubine is the wife of Emperor Han's chaff, she is old and pearly, and dare not be favored by the noble king. The Xiongnu also seemed to reflect on the recklessness of the Chinese words in the previous letter, and sent envoys to send the letter again: Because I don't know the etiquette of the Central Plains, I pray for forgiveness for the inadequacies in the previous letter. In short, the crisis of mobilizing troops was thus avoided, and there was never a large-scale war during the fifteen years that Empress Dowager Lv had been in power.