Empress Dowager Lu Zhi and the Struggles for Power in Han Dynasty

The impoverished wife of Gaozu, Empress Dowager Lu, gave birth to Emperor Xiao Hui and Empress Lu Yuan. Once Gaozu ruled as King of Han, he was bestowed with Qi Ji, a Dingtao local, and he loved her so much that she gave birth to Liu Ruyi, King Yin of Zhao. Gaozu always wanted to remove the crown prince and install Liu Ru, Qi Ji’s son, because Liu Ru was like himself since Emperor Xiaohui was so gentle and feeble. Favored by Gaozu, Chi Ji frequently accompanied him to Guandong. Cry-ing all night, she hoped Gaozu would name her son to succeed the Crown Prince. The pair grew even more distant as Empress Lu grew older and spent more time in the capital. Several times after Liu Yu was anointed King of Zhao, he nearly overthrew the Crown Prince, but the Marquis of Liu’s cunning and his ministers’ dissuasion prevented the Crown Prince from being overthrown.

Strong and unyielding, Empress Lu helped Gaozu to subdue the world, and she was mostly in charge of organizing minister executions. Two elder brothers of Empress Lu were generals. Gaozu bestowed the titles of Li Hou and Jiaou Hou onto the elder brother Zhou Lü Hou, who died for his nation; Jiancheng Hou was bestowed upon the second brother Lü Shi Zhi.

Gaozu died in Changle Palace in the fourth month, on the day of the first month of the fourth lunar month, in the twelfth year of his reign (195 BC), and the crown prince took over as emperor. Gaozu at that time had eight sons: Liu Fei, the oldest, was the brother of Emperor Xiaohui, not born from the same mother, and was made King of Qi; the other sons were the younger brothers of Emperor Xiaohui; Liu Ru, the son of Qi Ji, was made King of Zhao; Liu Heng, the son of Lady Bo, was made King of Dai; and the sons of other concubines, Liu Chou, was made King of Liang; Liu You, Huaiyang; Liu Chang, Huainan; and Liu Jian, was made King of Yan. Chu was ruled by Gaozu’s younger brother Liu Jiao, and Wu was ruled by his son Liu Pi. Son of Wu Rui, a devout Panjun vassal who was not a member of the Liu clan, Wu Chen was crowned Changsha’s king.
Because Empress Lu was most hateful of Mrs. Qi and her son, the King of Zhao, she called the King of Zhao and ordered Mrs. Qi to be imprisoned in Yongxiang. After several back and forths, Zhao’s minister Zhou Chang, Marquis of Jianping, told the envoy, “The Gao Di entrusted the King of Zhao to me, and now the King of Zhao is young. I have privately heard that the Empress Dowager resented Mrs. Qi and wanted to summon the King of Zhao to be killed together, so I dare not send the King of Zhao away. Besides, the King of Zhao is sick and cannot obey the edict.” Empress Lu was so incensed that she dispatched someone to summon Zhao Xiang. Zhao Xiang arrived in Chang’an with his expedition, and Empress Lu dispatched a representative to call the Zhao King once more. Not yet arrived was the king of Zhao. Knowing that the dowager was furious, Emperor Xiaohui was kind and kind, so he personally went to Bashang to greet the king of Zhao, escorted him into the palace, and sat, slept, and ate with the king of Zhao. Though she could not find the chance, the Empress Dowager wished to murder the King of Zhao. December of Emperor Xiaohui’s first year of rule (194 B.C.) saw him go out for morning shooting. Too young to rise early, was King Zhao. The Empress Dowager dispatched someone to fetch him deadly wine to sip when she learned that he was alone himself in the palace. The Zhao King was dead when Emperor Xiaohui arrived back at daybreak. Thus Liu You, the King of Huaiyang, was reappointed by the court as King of Zhao.

An imperial edict from Emperor Xiaohui in the summer named Marquis Li’s father Marquis Lingwu posthumously.

At last, the Empress Dowager slit Mrs. Qi’s hands and feet, gouged out her eyes, deafened her ears, poured a stupid drug into her, flung her into the toilet, and referred to her as a “human pig”. Few days later, she requested to see the human pig from Emperor Xiaohui. Following his inquiries and realizing it was Mrs. Qi, Emperor Xiaohui sobbed profusely, became ill, and spent more than a year bedridden. Emperor Xiaohui so drank and pampered himself every day and did not deal with the imperial government, falling ill. He sent someone to the Empress Dowager to seek for advice, saying, “This is not something that can be done by human beings. I am the Empress Dowager’s son, and after all I cannot rule the world.”

King Mourning Hui of Qi and King Yuan of Chu visited court in the second year (193 B.C.). In October, Emperor Xiaohui and the King of Qi threw a feast and shared wine in front of the empress dowager. Emperor Xiaohui, thinking the King of Qi was his older brother, made arrangements for him to sit at the head of the table, just as in a regular household. Furious, the empress dowager gave the order to have two cups of poisoned wine put in front of her and for the king of Qi to get up and toast herself. Emperor Xiaohui stood up as well and took a cup of wine, wanting to salute with the King of Qi. Fearful at this point, the empress dowager stood up and tipped over Emperor Xiaohui’s cup. Presuming to be inebriated, the King of Qi withdrew after feeling odd and not daring to drink the cup of wine. He discovered later, after asking, that it was tainted wine. The King of Qi troubled himself so much that he believed he would never be able to leave Chang’an. “The empress dowager has only two children, Emperor Xiaohui and Princess Lu Yuan. Now the king had more than seventy cities, while the princess only had a few cities as her food. If the great king offered a county to the empress dowager as the princess’s Tangmu euphony, the empress dowager would be very happy, and the great king would surely have no worries,” the Qi domestic historians counselled the monarch. Since Empress Lu was so happy, she granted the king of Qi’s request and threw a feast in his official palace. She enabled the king of Qi to leave after the feast.

Construction of Chang’an began in the third year (192 B.C.), was half finished in the fourth year (191 B.C.), and was ultimately completed in the fifth and sixth years (190 and 189 B.C.). Everyone of the lords arrived to assemble. The vassals came into court in October to celebrate.

Emperor Xiaohui perished on the eighth day of the autumnal month in the seventh year (188 BC). The dowager empress wept but did not cry during the funeral. Pai Qiang, the son of Liou Hou, who was serving as a minister, was only fifteen years old, and said to the prime minister, “The empress dowager has only one son, Emperor Xiaohui, and now that he has passed away, she weeps without sorrow; do you know the reason for this?” The prime minister said, “What is the reason?” Zhang Piqiang said, “The emperor has no adult son, and the empress dowager fears all of you. You now ask the Empress Dowager to appoint Lu Tai, Lu Yen, and Lu Lu as generals to command the northern and southern armies, and wait until all the Lu’s have entered the palace and wielded great power at court, so that the Empress Dowager’s heart will be at ease, and all of you will be able to escape from the calamity by a fluke.” The prime minister then followed Zhang Piqiang’s plan. Before she got depressed, the Empress Dowager cried out of joy. Lu thus acquired authority. The court next declared a broad amnesty. September’s Xinchou day saw the burial of Emperor Xiaohui. Assuming the title of emperor, the crown prince visited the Gaozu shrine.

The Empress Dowager issued all the orders in the first year (187 BC).

Acting in place of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager approached Wang Ling, the Right Minister, with the intention of discussing the possibility of a Lü Clan son becoming king. The Empress Dowager was incensed when Wang Ling declared, “Gao Di killed the white horse and swore an oath, saying, ‘If anyone who is not a descendant of the Liu Clan is to be king, all the people of the world will join together to attack him.’ Now making a son of the Lü clan king violates Gao Di’s covenant.” She then enquired of Jiangjiang’s marquis Zhou Bo and departed prime minister Chen Ping. With that, Zhou Bo and the others said, “Gao Di pacified the world and made his sons kings; now that the Empress Dowager is acting as Emperor, there is nothing wrong with making her brethren and the sons of the Lu Clan kings.” The empress dowager left court, happy. “Today, in accusing others to their faces and advising them frankly in the court, we are inferior to you; in preserving the state and the country and stabilizing the descendants of the Liu clan, you are inferior to us,” said Chen Ping and Jiang Hou, to which Wang Ling rebuked them, “Were you not present when you took the blood oath with the Gao Emperor? Now that the Gao Di has passed away, and the Empress Dowager is in power as a woman, and wants to make the sons of the Lu Clan kings, even if you all want to flatter and violate the alliance, what face do you have to go to the ground to see the Gao Di?” Wang Ling was given tai fu status by the Empress Dowager in November, when she also stripped him of his prime ministerial powers. After that, Wang Ling left for home claiming illness. After then, Empress Lu named Ching Shih-chi, the marquis of P’yang, as the left prime minister and Chen Ping, the left prime minister, as the right prime minister. Like the Langzhong (郎中令), the left prime minister primarily oversaw matters inside the palace and did not deal with political matters. The empress dowager therefore preferred him, he frequently took part in judicial proceedings, and the ministers looked to him for political advice. The empress dowager intended to utilize this occasion to name the Lu clan’s sons kings, having already honored Li Hou’s father as King Mourning Wu.

As the Empress Dowager intended to bestow the title of Marquis on the Lu Clan’s sons and daughters in the fourth month, she first made Feng Wuzhe, a deserving Gaozu minister, the Marquis of Bocheng. After her death, Princess Lu Yuan was titled Empress Dowager Lu Yuan. King of Lu was Zhang Yan, the son of Princess Lu Yuan. Zhang Ao, Marquis of Xuanping, was Lu’s father. The Empress Dowager wed Lu Lu’s daughter to Liu Zhang, the son of Marquis Zhu Xu, King Mourning Hui of Qi. Marquis Pingding was conferred upon Qi Shou, the prime minister of Qi. Marquis Wu was created for Yang Chengyan, the Shaofu. After then, Zhang Buai was made Marquis of Nangong, Lü Ping was made Marquis of Fu Liu, and Lü Seed was made Marquis of Pei.

The Empress Dowager first named Liu Qiang, the son born in Emperor Xiaohui’s harem, King of Huaiyang, Liu Bu Dou, King of Changshan, Liu Shan, Marquis of Xiangcheng, Liu Chao, Marquis of 轵, and Liu Wu, Marquis of Huguan. She intended to name the sons of the Lü clan as kings. The minister asked to create Lv Tai, Marquis of Li, King of Lv after the Empress Dowager made a hint, and the Empress Dowager granted the request. Following the death and deposition of Lü Shi Zhi, the Marquis of Jiancheng Kang, the Empress Dowager named his brother Lü Lu as the Marquis of Huling to carry on the Marquis of Kang’s lineage.

When King Changshan died in the second year (186 BC), Liu Yi, the younger brother of Liu Shan, Marquis of Xiangcheng, was named King of Changshan. After his death in November, King Lu Tai of Lu was renamed King Su, and Prince Lu Jia became his heir apparent.

No noteworthy events occurred for three years (185 BC).

Lü Xiaobian was named as Marquis of Lingguang, Lü Ta as Marquis of Yu, Lü Changshi as Marquis of Duplicate Qi, and Lü Wrath as Marquis of Lücheng in the fourth year (184 B.C.), and five vassals and prime ministers were also rewarded.

Because she did not have a son while the daughter of the Marquis of Xuanping was the empress of Emperor Xiao Hui, she killed the mother of the adopted boy, pretended to be pregnant, and carried a beautiful son as her own. The crown prince became Emperor Xiaohui’s successor after his death. The Empress Dowager, concerned about the Emperor’s possible rebellion, imprisoned him in Yongxiang, claiming that the Emperor was gravely ill and that the ministers around him were not allowed to see the Emperor. The Emperor said, “How could the Empress kill my mother and make me her son? I am not yet grown up, and when I am grown up I must make a rebellion,” when he grew up and learned from somewhere else that his mother was dead and that he was not the Empress’s natural son. The Empress Dowager said, “Whoever owns the world and governs all the people should cover all living beings like the sky and contain all things like the earth; if the emperor has a joyful heart to stabilize the people, the people will serve the emperor happily, and when joy and happiness are intertwined with each other, the world will be at peace. Now that the emperor has been ill for a long time and has become confused and faint, he cannot inherit the heavy responsibility of presiding over the sacrifices of the clan and temple; he cannot be allowed to rule the world, and someone should be found to replace him.” The ministers all bowed down and said, “The Empress Dowager is thinking of the people of the world and planning for the long term to stabilize the country, we bow down to obey the edict.” The emperor was deposed and the empress dowager assassinated him. King of Changshan Liu Yi was crowned Emperor and given the new name Liu Hong on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The empress dowager handled foreign affairs on behalf of the emperor, thus the first year of his reign was not referred to as such. crowned Liu Chao, Marquis of 轵侯, King of Changshan. constituted the position of Lieutenant and named Marquis Zhou Bo of Jiangjiang to that position.

After his death in the eighth month of the fifth year (183 B.C.), King Huaiyang was succeeded by his younger brother Liu Wu, Marquis of Huguan.

When King Lü Jia was overthrown in October of the sixth year (182 BC), the Empress Dowager, thinking he was typically conceited and indulgent, named Lü Yan, the younger brother of King Lü Tai of Su, as King of Lü. Summertime saw an amnesty for the entire nation. Son of King Liu Mourning Hui, Liu Xingju was made Marquis of Dongmou.

During the first month of the seventh year (181 BC), the Empress Dowager called Liu You, the Zhao king. Although Liu You wed a Lu clan woman as his queen, he preferred other concubines and did not like her. The Empress Dowager summoned the King of Zhao because she was enraged by this jealous woman of the Lu Clan, who had spoken ill of him before the Empress Dowager and falsely accused him of guilt, saying, “How can the Lu Clan be crowned king! After the death of the empress dowager, I will certainly get rid of them.” Without being welcomed, the king of Zhao was put in his palace and given the order to have his guards besiege him and deny him food. A few of the king’s ministers brought him food covertly; when this was discovered, they were apprehended and sentenced to jail. Feeling hungry, the king of Zhao sang, “Lu is in power, Liu is in danger, I am forced to take a wife because of the coercion of the king and his vassals. The king’s consort is jealous of me, but the emperor does not realize that the jealous woman has ruined the country. Why did I leave my kingdom without a loyal minister? I killed myself in the field, and the heavens have done me justice! I would have preferred to kill myself earlier. Who can pity a king who starves to death? Lu was unreasonable, and asked Heaven to avenge his death.” On the day of Ding Chou, the king of Zhao died in seclusion, and he was buried with the rites of a commoner in the cemetery of the people of Chang’an.

The sixth of the month saw a solar eclipse, and the day was quite gloomy. Distressed and offended, the Empress Dowager remarked to the ministers surrounding her, “This is because of me.”

The Empress Dowager, in the second month, renamed King Liu Chou of Liang King of Zhao. Reappointed King of Liang is King Lv of Lü, who tutors the emperor and does not enter the feudal state. The Empress Dowager anoints Liu Tai, Marquis of Changping, King of Lü. The State of Liang was renamed as the State of Lu, and the State of Lu was renamed as the State of Jichuan. The Empress Dowager’s sister, Lu Wei, had a daughter who was the wife of Liu Ze, Marquis of Yingling, who served as a great general. The Empress Dowager made Lü’s sons and daughters kings. Worried about General Liu’s rebellion after her death, she pacified him by making Liu Ze the King of Langxie.

Liu Chou, King of Liang, was unhappy when he was renamed King of Zhao. The Empress Dowager married Lü Yan’s daughter to the King of Zhao as the Queen. The queen’s attendants were all sons of the Lu clan, who were dictatorial and spied on the king of Zhao secretly, so that the king of Zhao could not make his own decisions. The king of Zhao had a concubine whom he favored, and the queen ordered her to be poisoned. The king of Zhao then composed four chapters of poetry and ordered the musicians to sing them. The king of Zhao was so sad that he committed suicide in June. When the Empress Dowager heard of this, she thought that the King of Zhao had turned his back on the rites of the temple for the sake of a woman, and deposed his heir to the throne.

When Zhang Ao, Marquis Xuanping, died, his son Zhang Yan was the King of Lu, so Zhang Ao’s posthumous name was King Yuan of Lu

In the fall, the Empress Dowager sent an emissary to tell the King of Dai that she wanted to change his title to King of Zhao. King Dai declined and wished to guard the border in Dai.

The Imperial Minister Lü Yan, the Prime Minister Chen Ping and others advised that Marquis Lu Lu Lu of Wuxin was a superior marquis and ranked first among all the marquises, and requested that he be crowned as the King of Zhao. The Empress Dowager approved and posthumously honored Lv Lu’s father, Marquis Jiancheng Kang, as King Zhao of Zhao. In the ninth month, King Liu Jian of Yan Ling died. His beauty had a son, but the Empress Dowager sent to kill the child, resulting in him having no heir and his fief was cut off.

In the tenth month of the eighth year (180 BC), the Empress Dowager conferred the title of King of Yan on Lü Su Wang’s son, Lü Tong, who was the Marquis of Dongping, and on Lü Tong’s younger brother, Lü Zhuang, who was the Marquis of Dongping.

In the middle of March, Empress Lu held a purification ceremony, and when she came back through Ōdōdō, she saw an object shaped like a black dog, which pounced and bit her armpit, and then suddenly disappeared again. She asked someone to divine that it was the ghost of Liu Ruyi, the king of Zhao, who was haunting her. Queen Gao then grew ill because of the wound in her armpit.

Because her grandson Zhang Yan, the king of Lu, was young and had lost his parents at a very early age and was isolated and helpless, Empress Gao divided the two sons of Zhang Ao’s former concubines into Zhang Yuai as Marquis of Xindu and Zhang Shou as Marquis of Lecheong, so as to assist Zhang Yan, the king of Lu, in this way. Zhang Shou was the Marquis of Lechang, thus supporting King Zhang Yan. Zhang Xie, the middle-ranking inspector, was appointed as the Marquis of Jianling, and Lu Rong as the Marquis of Zhuzhi. The eunuchs in the palace who served as ministers and chancellors were all called Marquis of Guan Nei, each with a domain of 500 households. In the middle of July, Empress Gao’s condition became bad, so she nominated Lü Lu, King of Zhao, as the top general in charge of the northern army, and Lü Yan, King of Lu, in control of the southern army. Empress Dowager Lu warned Lu Yan and Lu Lu, saying, “After Emperor Gao had pacified the world, he made a pact with his ministers, saying, ‘If anyone who is not a descendant of Liu’s family claims to be the king, all the people of the world will join together to attack him.’ Now that Lü has been crowned king, the ministers are discontented in their hearts. I am going to die, the emperor is young, and the ministers are afraid of rebellion. You must take charge of the army to defend the palace, and never send me in mourning, or be controlled by others.” On the eighth month, on the day of Xin Si, Empress Gao died, leaving an imperial edict rewarding the vassal kings with one thousand gold each, and the generals, marquises, and langzhongs were all rewarded with money according to their rank. She also extended amnesty to the whole planet. Empress Gao nominated Lü Yan, king of Lu, as her prime minister, and crowned Lü Lu’s daughter her empress.

After Empress Gao was buried, the court selected the left prime minister, Ching Shih, as the emperor’s tai fu.

Liu Zhang, the Marquis of Zhu Xu, had courage and strength, and Liu Xingju, the Marquis of Dongmou, was his younger brother, and they were both the younger brothers of the King of Qi Ai, who lived in Chang’an. At this time, Lv was in power and intended to rebel, but he was scared of Gao Di’s old ministers, such as Jiang Hou and Gu Ying, and had not yet dared to act. The wife of Marquis Zhu Xu, who was the daughter of Lu Lu, enquired about their plot in secret. Fearing that he would be executed, he secretly dispatched someone to tell his brother, the king of Qi, that he wished him to move his forces westward and establish himself emperor by defeating the Lu clan. Zhu Xu Hou aspired to be an insider in the palace with the minister. Though the King of Qi wished to dispatch troops, his ministers disregarded the directive. When the Qi monarch attempted to dispatch his soldiers to assassinate his ministers on the eighth month, Zao Ping, one of the ministers, rebelled and raised his army to besiege the monarch. The king of Qi used the occasion to assassinate his ministers and then, after sending his forces eastward, tricked his way into the army of the monarch of Luangxu and combined the two forces to march westward. The King of Qi biography contains the pertinent documents.

The king of Qi then wrote a letter to the vassal kings, saying, “When Emperor Gao pacified the world, he made his sons and daughters kings, and King Mourning Hui was made king of Qi. After King Mourning Hui died, Emperor Xiaohui sent Marquis Zhang Liang to make me King of Qi. When Emperor Xiaohui died and Empress Gao came to power, she was old enough to listen to the words of the sons of Lu and abrogated the emperor without authorization. She also killed three kings of Zhao in succession, and destroyed the kingdoms of Liang, Zhao, and Yan to make the sons of Lu kings, and the state of Qi was also divided into four. The loyal ministers advised the emperor, but Empress Gao was too confused to accept their advice. Now that Empress Gao had passed away and the emperor was still too young to rule the world, he of course had to rely on the power of his ministers and vassals. However, Lu has appointed his own family members as high officials without authorization, gathered an army to establish his authority, and coerced his vassals and loyal ministers to give orders to the world under false pretenses, thus plunging the temple into peril. I will lead my army into the palace to kill those who should not be made kings.” When the Han court learned of this news, the minister Lü Yan and others sent the Marquis of Yingyin, Gu Ying, to lead an army to meet them. After arriving at Xingyang, Gu Ying plotted with others, stating, “The Lü clan controls the army in Guanzhong and wants to jeopardize Liu and make himself emperor. Now that I have defeated the Qi army and returned to resume my duties, this is increasing Lu’s capital for rebellion.” He stayed and stationed himself at Xingyang, sending messengers to tell the king of Qi and the lords that he had made an alliance with them, had come to wait for Lü’s rebellion, and to cooperate to put him to death. Following word of this, the king of Qi withdrew his troops and went back to the western frontier of Qi, waiting for the appointed moment.

Though they wanted to wait until Guan Ying’s army fought with Qi’s army before acting, Lu Lu and Lu Yan hesitated to act because they were afraid of Marquis Jiang and Marquis Zhu Xu internally and the armies of Qi and Chu externally. Because of their youth, King Liu Tai of Jichuan, King Liu Wu of Huaiyang, King Liu Chao of Changshan—who was ostensibly the younger brother of the Shao Emperor—and King Lu, the grandson of Empress Lu, stayed at Chang’an and did not travel to their fiefdoms at this period. Overseeing armies stationed in the North and South Armies were Kings Lu Lu Lu of Zhao and King Lu Yu of Lu. It did not seem to any of the lords or ministers that they could save their lives.

The army prevented lieutenant Jiang Hou Zhou Bo from joining to assume command of the armed forces. Old and ailing, Marquis Li Shang of Quzhou was very close to Lu Lu, as was his son Li Fu. So Jiang Hou plotted with the prime minister Chen Ping, sent someone to abduct Li Shang, and ordered his son Li Fu to deceive Lu Lu, saying: “The Gao Emperor and the Empress Dowager Lu together pacified the whole world, and nine of Liu’s family were appointed as kings, and three of Lu’s family as kings, which was decided by the ministers’ consultation, and the matter had been notified to the lords, and the lords considered it very proper. Now the empress dowager has passed away, the emperor is young, and you wear the seal of the king of Zhao, and instead of returning to your fiefdom to defend the land, you have stayed here as a general at the head of an army, and have been suspected by the ministers and the lords. Why don’t you return the general’s seal and hand over the army to the lieutenant? Please also ask King Lu to return his seal of the prime minister and return to the feudal state after making an oath with the ministers, so that the Qi army will surely retreat and the ministers will be able to rest assured, and you will be able to rule a thousand-mile-square land with high peace of mind, which is a good thing that will be passed on to the world for generations to come.” Lu Lu believed his advice and wanted to return the general’s seal and hand over the army to the lieutenant. He dispatched individuals to report to Lü Yan and the elder members of Lü’s clan, some of whom believed it possible, some of whom did not, and others of whom were undecided. Trusting Li Fu, Lu Lu frequently went hunting with him. Once he went by his aunt Lu Shaowei’s home, she was furious and yelled, “You are a general but you want to give up the army; there is no place for the Lü Clan to settle down now.” She then removed all of the jewelry and treasures and dispersed them under the hall, yelling, “Don’t guard these things for others.”

Chancellor Ch’ien Shih-chi, the left-wing prime minister, was removed from office.

Cao Hole, the Marquis of Pingyang, serving as the Imperial Historian, called on Lu Yan, the Minister of State, early on the morning of Geng Shen in the eighth month, to talk about the issue. Taking advantage of the chance, Langzhong orderer Jia Shou reprimanded Lu Yan, saying, “Your majesty did not return to your feudal state earlier, but even if you want to go now, can you still go?” Jia Shou informed Lu Chan of Gu Ying’s alliance with Qi and Chu and his desire to destroy the Lu clan, so he urged him to hurry up and enter the palace. About the time Marquis Pingyang heard these remarks, he headed to the lieutenant and prime minister to report. The lieutenant was unable of joining the northern army, despite his desire. In charge of the runes and celebrations was Marquis Jitong of Xiangping. Then the lieutenant gave Marquis Xiangping instructions to hold the rune-joints and sent a fictitious order for the lieutenant to join the northern army. The lieutenant also gave Li Fu and Liu Jiexian, a minister, instructions to convince Lü Lu, saying, “The emperor has sent the lieutenant to take charge of the northern army, and he wants you to return to your feudal state and return the general’s seal to say goodbye; if you don’t do so, it will cause disaster.” Lü Lu believed his brother Li would not deceive him, so he removed the general’s seal and gave it to Dianke, and gave the lieutenant control of the army. As the lieutenant guided this army through the army gate, he gave the order, “Those who support Lu bare their right arms, and those who support Liu bare their left arms.” Every soldier in the army showed their support for Liu. General Lu Lu had likewise given up his general’s seal and fled when the lieutenant got to the military camp, so the lieutenant could at last command the northern army.

Still uncontrollable was the southern army, though. Marquis Pingyang leaked Lu Chan’s scheme to Prime Minister Chen Ping as soon as he learned of it. Then to help the lieutenant, Prime Minister Chen Ping called Marquis Zhu Xuhou. Marquis Zhu was sent to watch the army gate by the lieutenant. He gave Marquis Pingyang the order, “Don’t let the prime minister Lü Yan enter the gate of the palace.” Lü Yan, unaware that Lü Lu had left the northern army, even tried to rebel by entering the Weiyang Palace, but was only able to stand in front of it. Fearing he would not prevail, Marquis Pingyang took his car to the lieutenant’s office. Sending Marquis Zhu Xu to Lu Chan, the lieutenant was also concerned about not being able to defeat Lu and did not dare to declare publicly that he would execute Lu Chan. Zhu Xuhou requested for troops, and the lieutenant granted him more than a thousand soldiers. He observed Lu Yan was already in the court when he walked through the Weiyang Palace entrance. The evening Zhu Xuhou attacked Lu Chan. The heavens blew a fierce wind when Lu Chan left, and his attendants feared and none dared to oppose. Following Lu Yan, Zhu Xuhou killed him in the Langzhong government official’s restroom.

The emperor gave his guest instructions to carry the talisman to console Zhu Xuhou after Zhu Xuhou killed Lü Yan. Zhu Xuhou used the talisman to drive and fly, murdering Lü Changshi, the captain of the Changle Palace guards, after he grabbed the talisman and the visitor refused to give it back. Once back, Zhu Xuhou drove into the northern army and reported to the lieutenant. The lieutenant stood up, knelt down, and praised Zhu Xu Hou, declaring, “What we feared was only Lü Yan, now that Lü Yan has been put to death, the world is stabilized.” He then dispatched his soldiers to separate arrest and behead every member of the Lu clan, young and old. He murdered Lu Lu on September Xin You day, and he flogged Lv Wan’s wife to death. Also, he overthrew King Zhang Yan of Lu and dispatched his troops to assassinate King Lu Tong of Yan. The court designated Ch’ien Shih-chi, the Emperor’s Counselor, as the Left Prime Minister on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. The court reappointed Liu Sui, son of King Yu of Zhao, as King of Zhao and the King of Jichuan as King of Liang on the Wuchen day of the ninth lunar month. To tell the King of Qi of Lu’s death, he dispatched Liu Zhang, the Marquis of Zhu Xu, and urged him to withdraw his army. Furthermore leaving Xingyang was Gu Ying’s army.

The ministers secretly conferred with each other and said, “The Young Emperor and the King of Liang, the King of Huaiyang, and the King of Changshan are not Emperor Xiaohui’s own sons. Empress Lu used trickery to pass off other people’s sons as Emperor Xiaohui’s sons, killed the mothers of these children, and raised them in the harem, so that Emperor Xiaohui would regard them as his own sons and make them his heirs, as well as conferring them with the titles of kings, in order to strengthen the power of the Lu Clan. Now that the Lu Clan has been wiped out in its entirety, but leaving behind the emperor they created, we won’t have a chance to survive when he grows up and assumes power. It would be better to choose the most virtuous person from among all the kings to be made emperor.” Someone said, “King Mourning Hui of Qi was the eldest son of Emperor Gao Di, and now that his first son is the King of Qi, he is the first eldest grandson of Emperor Gao Di in terms of blood relationship, so he can be made emperor.” The ministers all said, “The Lu Clan has almost jeopardized the state by committing evils by virtue of their status as foreign relatives, and they have persecuted meritorious ministers. Now the Qi king’s mother’s clan, the team of Jun, is an evil person. If we make the King of Qi the emperor, it will bring back the chaos of the Lü clan.” Wanting to make the King of Huainan the emperor, the people thought he was young and his mother’s clan was vicious. The people therefore sent someone to summon King Dai in secret, reasoning that “King Dai is the oldest of the living sons of the Gao Emperor, and he is kind and filial but tolerant and generous. The Empress Dowager’s family, the Bo Clan, is also prudent and kind. Besides, it would have been right and proper to make the older son the emperor, and King Dai is known throughout the world for his kindness and filial piety, so it is most appropriate to make him the emperor.” The Dai monarch dispatched a man to make his excuses. The messengers returned a second time, and then the Dai monarch got into a stagecoach pulled by six horses. The Dai monarch arrived to Chang’an on an unidentified day in the ninth month of the intercalary year and took up residence at the kingdom’s official mansion. To jointly certify the monarch as the son of heaven, the ministers all went to do him honor and gave him the seal of that son. The ministers continued in their request despite the king of Dai’s several justifications, and at last the king of Dai granted it.

“I have not been meritorious in the extermination of the Lu Clan, and I beg to clean up the palace for Your Majesty,” declared Liu Xingju, Marquis of Dongmou. With Teng Gong, Marquis of Ruyin, the Imperial Servant, he entered the palace, approached the young emperor, and said, “You are not a descendant of the Liu Clan, and should not be emperor.” He then turned around and gave the halberd-wielding guards instructions to lay down their weapons and leave. A few of soldiers refused to down their weapons, and the eunuch prompted Zhang Ze to go up and instruct them to, and they did. After then, Duke Teng ordered a carriage to take the young emperor out of the palace. Duke Teng replied, “Go out of the palace and live in the government office,” to the young emperor’s question, “Where do you want to put me?” The young emperor was put to reside in the Shaofu. Then, the ministers followed the Son of Heaven’s chariot to the royal house where they met King Dai and reported, “The palace has been cleared.” That evening, King Dai entered the Weiyang Palace. Ten halberd-wielding guards at the Duanmen Gate yelled, “The Son of Heaven is here, why are you going in?” King Dai then told the lieutenant. After the lieutenant approached the king to report, the ten guards dropped their swords and turned to leave. At last, King Dai came inside the palace to handle political concerns. The hundred officers arrived at each official office at night to assassinate Emperor Shao, King Liang, King Huaiyang, and King Changshan.

After twenty-three years of reign, King Dai was declared Son of Heaven and was crowned Emperor Xiaowen in posthumous.

The Duke of Tai Shi stated: Emperor Xiao Hui ruled the world with his clothes hanging down and his hand in his trousers. Empress Gao acted as a woman to take over the authority of the emperor. The government did not go out of the palace gate, so the whole world was stabilized and at peace. The people were free from the suffering of war and strife. The ruler and ministers wanted to recuperate with the help of quietness and inactivity. Few persons committed crimes and penalties were rarely applied. The inhabitants carefully farmed the land and become more well-fed and clothed.