Lü Zhi

Lü Zhi ( Chinese  呂雉  /  吕雉 , Pinyin Lǚ Zhì ; formally: 呂 太后  /  吕 太后 , Lǚ Tàihòu ; or 高 皇后 , Gaō Huánghoù , † 180 BC ) was empress , empress mother and imperial grandmother in China of the Han Dynasty . She was the wife of the first Han Emperor Han Gaozu and mother of Emperor Han Huidi . After the death of her husband, she effectively took over the affairs of government and had people she disliked murdered. Regardless of the cruelty attributed to her, she turned out to be a capable steward.

Names
Xìng 姓 :	Lǚ 呂 / 吕
Míng 名 :	Zhì 雉
Zì 字 :	Xǔ é 姁 娥
also:	Lǚ (Tài) hòu 呂 (太) 后 / 吕 (太) 后

Origin and marriage to Liu Bang

Lü Zhi's father, Lü Wen, was a civil servant in Danfu during the late Qin Dynasty . The circumstances of her marriage to Liu Bang (later Gaozu) are said to have been as follows: The outlaw Liu Bang is said to have impressed Lü Wen during an attack in Danfu Lü Wen so much that he thought he might one day be an important man . So he gave him Lü Zhi as his wife. Lü Zhi later gave birth to Princess Luyuan and then, 210 BC. BC, the later emperor Han Huidi, Liu Ying. During those years, she moved around the country continuously with Liu Bang, but then settled with her father-in-law Liu Zhijia and rarely saw her husband, who had joined the rebellion of Chen Sheng. After the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang became 207 BC. BC Prince of Han (modern Sichuan , Chongqing and southern Shaanxi ). However, Lü Zhi stayed in his original place of residence in Pei (modern Xuzhou and Jiangsu ). She may have been held back by Xiang Yu , another prominent insurgent. When fighting broke out between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu that same year, the latter left them unmolested. On a campaign against Xiang Yu in 205 BC. Liu also moved through Pei and tried to take his family back to Han. While he was doing this in the case of his children, Lü Zhi, Liu Zhijia, and one of Liu's followers, Shen Yiji , were captured together in Xiang Yu. It is believed that the later love affair between Lü Zhi and Shen Yiji had its roots here. Towards the end of the war, as part of an agreement between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, Lü and her father-in-law were allowed to move to Han, where Lü received the title of Princess of Han. When Liu Bang broke the armistice and Xiang Yu in 203 BC He made himself emperor and gave his wife the title of empress, while their son became crown prince.

Lü Zhi as empress

Since there was still a lot of unrest in the empire, Lü Zhi lived in the capital Chang'an . At this time the emperor began to favor one of his concubines, qi , in particular. Her son, Prince Ruyi, was born in 199 BC. BC Prince of Zhao , replacing Luyuan's husband Zhang Ao in this capacity. Qi is also said to have asked the emperor several times to make her son crown prince instead of Liu Ying. Lü Zhi proved to be a capable administrator of the heartlands of the empire. When the emperor in 196 BC When he waged war against the insurgent Chen Xi , the Count of Yangxia , he asked General Han Xin to attempt a rebellion in the capital. With the support of He Xiao , Lü Zhi is said to have invited Han to a meeting. When he appeared, the palace guards are said to have murdered him. Lü also punished Han's family. That same year, Liang Prince Peng suffered a similar fate. He was suspected of the riot by the ruler and banished to Qingyi (modern Ya'an , Sichuan ), but on the way there he met the empress, before whom he is said to have protested his innocence. She is said to have agreed to represent them to the emperor and together they traveled to Luoyang , where the ruler was staying. There, Lü Zhi is said to have advised the emperor not to allow Peng to exile under any circumstances, as he would immediately instigate an uprising if he were to be released. So Peng was executed and his family was persecuted. Lü Zhi also prevented an attempt by the emperor to replace Liu Ying, whose character he considered too soft, with Ruyi in the line of succession. As Gaozu in 195 BC Liu Ying became Han Huidi emperor and Lü Zhi empress mother.

Lü Zhi as empress mother

As the Empress Mother, Lü Zhi immediately expanded her position of power. She had the former concubine Qi arrested and called Ruyi, who was staying on his property, to the capital. It is assumed that she intends to kill Ruyis and his mother. Ruyi is said to have been prevented from coming by his advisor Zhou Chang, but after Lü Zhi called him to the imperial court, Ruyi followed suit. Huidi reportedly tried to protect his half-brother from his mother, so that she could not carry out her murder plan for several months. When Ruyi in the winter of 195 BC Chr. Was on the hunt, she had him killed with poisoned wine. Qi has been mutilated. In response to these acts, Huidi withdrew more and more from government affairs. In the winter of 194 BC Chr. Visited Liu Fei , Prince of Qi and son Gaozu and his concubine Cao, the capital. Emperor Huidi is said to have offered him a seat at the table that was more important than his own. The Empress Mother saw this and ordered Liu Fei to bring poisoned wine. When he started to drink, the emperor, who had seen through the matter at that moment, grabbed Liu's mug himself, so that it looked as if he wanted to drink the wine it contained. Thereupon the Empress mother jumped up and snatched the cup from her son. Liu Fei then returned to his principality. 192 BC Lü began her affair with Shen Yiji. Also in that year, the leader of the Xiongnu , Modu , proposed marriage to her, which she refused. Instead, in the face of the military strength of the Xiongnu, she married him to a prince's daughter. 191 BC The emperor married Luyuan's daughter Zhang Yan . Since the marriage remained childless, Lü Zhi is said to have ordered her to choose eight boys, have their mothers killed and then adopt the children. However, it is controversial in research whether these boys were not the sons of Huidi and his concubines. 188 BC Huidi died and one of the possibly adopted children, Liu Gong, became Qianshao emperor. Lü Zhi actually continued to rule the empire.

Lü Zhi as the emperor's grandmother

In her position as the emperor's grandmother, Lü Zhi repealed a law of Gaozu that said she was not allowed to give prince titles to members of the high nobility. When Chancellor Wang Ling objected to this, while Vice Chancellor Chen Ping and Armed Forces Commander Zhou Bo signaled their approval, she first put the Chancellor in the position of a teacher to the emperor and sent him as ruler of Anguo (modern Baoding, Hebei) just there. Chancellor was Chen Ping, and Vice Chancellor Shen Yiji. In the following years she made her grandson Zhang Yan, not to be confused with his sister of the same name, Prince of Lu, and possibly the following of her family members also made princes:

Lü Tai, the son of her brother Lü Ze , 186 BC (He died that year) to the prince of Lü, Lü Chan , the son of Lü Tais, 182 BC. In place of his brother Lü Jia as prince of Lü, 181 BC. To the prince of Liang , Lü Lu , the son of her brother Lü Shizhi , 181 BC. To the prince of Zhao , Lü Tong , son Lü Tais, 181 BC To the prince of Yan .

She also endowed her sister Lü Xu , Countess of Lingguang , 184 BC. With lands from.

Probably in 184 BC. When the emperor learned that Zhang Yan was not his mother, Lü Zhi detained him while she was publicly announcing that he was sick. Under the pretext that he was incapable of governing , he was replaced by his brother Liu Yi, who then became emperor as Houshao, and murdered.

death

180 BC Lü Zhi sacrificed to the gods in Bashang . On the way back to the capital, she is said to have had a vision that featured a blue-haired dog. This is said to have been interpreted as the spirit of Ruyi. She soon fell ill and died that same year. She was buried with her husband. After her death, the true power initially remained in the hands of her family, the Lü clan .

literature

• Josef Guter : Lexicon on the history of China. Seven millennia at a glance. Marix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-40-1 .