Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 17 Empress Lü becomes regent, Liu Ying dies

Ever since witnessing the tragic situation of Concubine Qi, Liu Ying has never recovered. The ugly and bloody "human pig" that looked like a demon often appeared in his dreams.

He believed that since his mother had done such an outrageous thing that both humans and gods could not tolerate it, he would no longer be able to rule the country, so he was not so concerned about state affairs and just threw them all to Xu Zhen and Lu Zhi.

The Queen Mother's advantage was also fully revealed. In just a few months, Lu Zhi's power surpassed Xu Zhen in one fell swoop and became the second most powerful person in the Han Dynasty, a veritable "vice emperor".

However, the real power was still in the hands of Liu Ying. It was not until the period of Emperor Shao that Lu Zhi dominated the court. By then, the Lu family had basically controlled the central military power and truly had the final say.

In the second year of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, King Liu Fei of Qi and King Liu Jiao of Chu came to the capital for an audience with the emperor. When Liu Ying heard that his brothers were coming, he was very happy and specially held a family banquet.

According to the etiquette of seniority, Liu Ying placed Liu Fei at the top, but this caused displeasure to Lu Zhi.

"Your Majesty is the Supreme Ruler, and I am a vassal under you. How can I have the dignity to sit at the head of the table? You are framing me as disloyal!"

As a shrewd man, how could Liu Fei not see the Queen Mother's dissatisfaction? So he quickly stood up and declined.

"King Qi, just sit down. You are the elder, and it is only natural for Ying'er to give you her seat. You don't have to feel guilty." Although Lu Zhi was angry, she couldn't show it in public. She could only calm him down first and then poison him to death with a glass of poisoned wine.

"Then it would be disrespectful for me to refuse." After his mother spoke, Liu Fei could no longer refuse, so he had to sit at the top.

Soon, the poisoned wine was served. Lü Zhi looked at Liu Fei calmly and said, "Fei, you are the elder, so you should stand up and toast first."

"Your son obeys your command." Liu Fei had no doubts. He would never have thought that Lu Zhi would be so cruel that she would poison him to death over a seating issue.

So he picked up the wine shop without any precautions.

Fortunately, Liu Ying also stood up and said, "I am the Son of Heaven. I should toast to our mother together with my brother."

Seeing her son grabbing the other cup, Lu Zhi finally panicked. Apart from anything else, regicide was the most serious crime in the Han Dynasty. Even if you were the emperor's mother, you would die, not to mention the mother-son relationship.

Lu Zhi quickly stood up and knocked over the wine in Liu Ying's hand, and the poisonous wine spilled all over the floor.

Seeing this, Liu Fei also became defensive. The other party was so excited that it seemed that there was something wrong with the drink! It was not suitable to stay here for long, and we had to leave immediately.

So he pretended to be drunk and left the tavern, and left the palace with the help of his guards.

"Mother, is this wine poisonous? You want to poison the King of Qi!" Liu Ying was certainly not a fool. He picked up the wine and said with a cold face.

He does have a good temper but that doesn't mean he won't get angry. First he tortured the previous emperor's concubines to death, then he wanted to kill Ruyi. Concubine Qi was made into a so-called "human pig" and was humiliated. Now he wants to attack Liu Fei again. He is simply not a human being! !

"Ying'er, you can't wrongly accuse your mother. This wine was sent from the kitchen. How can you be sure?" Lu Zhi regained her composure and didn't seem panicked at all.

Anyway, even if they found her, what would happen? She was the queen mother after all, and no one could do anything about it.

"You...you, huh, mother, you'd better take care of yourself!" Liu Ying was so angry that he couldn't speak. He left the palace after saying some harsh words.

"Is there something wrong with the wine?"

Liu Fei, who had just escaped death, found the eunuch who was serving in the palace at that time and asked him about it. He always felt that something was wrong.

"Um... Your Majesty, I heard from Your Majesty that the wine was poisoned. Someone must be trying to frame the Queen Mother."

"This damn guy must be caught. How kind-hearted is my mother? How could she kill me?" Liu Fei said a few nice words and quickly sent him away. Anyone who is not a fool can guess that the poisoned wine was the work of Lu Zhi.

"Alas... I'm afraid I can't leave Chang'an on this trip, so I'd better hurry up and prepare for my funeral." Liu Fei was disheartened. This Lu Zhi would definitely not give up. He was in the other's territory and could not escape even if he had wings.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan that can save you from this dire situation..." The internal historian of Qi State gave him an idea.

"This is the only way. There is no better way now."

Liu Fei decided to try his luck and gave up Chengyang County as the marriage place of Princess Lu Yuan. After all, it would be useless if he died no matter how many cities he took. After paying a heavy price, Qi State finally won the favor of Lu Zhi.

After holding a banquet at the Prince of Qi's residence, Lu Zhi let him return home.

In the days that followed, Liu Ying became disheartened and no longer had the energy to handle state affairs. Power gradually gathered in the hands of the Queen Mother, but it was still barely suppressed because of Xu Zhen's presence.

But everyone knows that sooner or later, the real master of the Han Dynasty will be Lu Zhi, because the current emperor's health is not very good.

Liu Ying himself chose to obey because of his illness and temporarily handed over the government affairs to his mother, Xu Zhen and others.

In the fourth year of Emperor Hui of Han, Lü Zhi made Princess Lu Yuan's daughter Zhang the queen and trained her with all her strength in the hope that she would give birth to a son for the emperor.

But as for close relatives marrying, those who understand know that they just can't have children. In order to consolidate her rule, Lu Zhi had no choice but to kill the beauties in the harem and pretend that her children were Zhang's, and then make them the crown prince.

Of course, Xu Zhen's opinion was also sought during this period. Xu Zhen kept a low profile and supported all the decisions made by the Queen Mother.

After a series of operations, the empress dowager almost became the true emperor of the Han Dynasty, holding all the power.

At the same time, the frequency of Donghu's attacks became more and more frequent, and the previous alliance became almost meaningless. On the contrary, Maodun, who was once the most arrogant, became very well-behaved, acting like a Han minister, and often wrote letters to praise Liu Ying, Lu Zhi, Xu Zhen and other monarchs and ministers.

Regarding the issue of foreign races, Lu Zhi summoned the generals and ministers to discuss it.

In the end, Xu Zhen made a plan to continue the policy of marriage and not easily start a war. During this period, he focused on the Xiongnu, implemented the strategy of driving out the wolves and swallowing the tigers, and supported the Xiongnu to counter the Donghu.

This strategy worked as expected. After receiving support, the Xiongnu's strength increased rapidly. Maodun used money to increase the intensity of his attacks on the Donghu, and for a time he effectively curbed the invasion of foreign races from the south.

Two years later, Cao Shen, Xiao He's successor as prime minister, passed away, and the position of prime minister became vacant.

Since Cao Shen became prime minister, he has been shouldering the heavy responsibility of governing the country. He has continued Xiao He's policy of governing the country in the past, employing honest and taciturn officials, excluding incompetent officials who flatter and curry favor with him, and the political situation is clear.

According to Liu Bang's will, Wang Ling replaced Cao Shen as the right prime minister, Chen Ping became the left prime minister, and Zhou Bo became the grand marshal. Everything went as planned.

The situation of Empress Lü being regent and Xu Zhen assisting in the administration, and the mutual checks and balances between the two continued until the Wuyin day of September in the seventh year of Emperor Hui's reign.

On this day, Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, who actually held the power of the government for many years, passed away at the age of only 23, which can be said to be a very short life.

From this day on, the situation of Empress Lu's autocracy truly emerged. A queen dowager with deep-rooted power, who mastered filial piety and had no one to suppress her would no longer be someone Xu Zhen could contend with.

.........

"The most important and most important minister in the early Han Dynasty was Jinghou Xu Zhen. His literary and military skills almost reached the peak of human endurance. With him, the lifespan of the Western Han Dynasty would have exceeded 200 years. The ancient saying "Whoever gets Jinghou gets the world" now seems to be no exaggeration." - The Process and Development of the Western Han Dynasty

(End of this chapter)