For thousands of years, this ambitious sentence and emotional language have been deeply engraved in the memory of history. The love story of Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua, although it is widely circulated, is just like the plot that often uses supporting roles to set off the protagonist's affection, in this love story, there is still a person - Guo Shengtong, Liu Xiu's first queen. Because she was "stubborn and resentful, she violated the fatwa and could not follow it, and she was in a different room." In the palace, if you see an eagle. There is no virtue of "Guan Ju", but there is the wind of Lu and Huo, how can it be entrusted to the young orphan and respectfully worship the Ming Dynasty. "And was deposed. Guo Shengtong's life is regarded as a tragedy in the eyes of many people, and she seems to be just to highlight Liu Xiu's affection for Yin Lihua. However, when we turn to the history books, the situation does not seem to be as simple as it seems.
In most people's impressions, Yin Lihua is Liu Xiu's first love, a young love who fell in love at first sight. Guo Shengtong, on the other hand, is believed to be a woman married by Liu Xiu out of political necessity - in order to fight against Wang Lang, who pretended to be Liu Ziyu, the son of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu married Guo Shengtong, who was the niece of Liu Yang, the king of Zhending. Liu Xiu's feelings for Guo Shengtong seem to be incomparable to his feelings for Yin Lihua from the beginning. However, the truth may not be as we see, Liu Xiu also has feelings for Guo Shengtong. This relationship may not be as pure as his heart for Yin Lihua when he was young, but in the passage of time, they chose to continue to stay together.
Guo Shengtong and Liu Xiu have five sons together, which proves that it is impossible for the two to be without feelings. Even if it was out of political interests at the beginning, Liu Xiu was already an emperor at that time, and there were many beauties in the harem, and he was fully capable of making Guo Shengtong the false name of the queen without favoring him. However, Liu Xiu did not do this, which shows that the relationship between them is more than just a political marriage.
Guo Shengtong has been sitting firmly in the middle palace for eighteen years, and even if Yin Lihua exists, her status as the queen will not move. However, in the fifteenth year of Jianwu, Liu Xiu set up the Dutian system to enrich the treasury, which touched the interests of Haoqiang and caused chaos in the world. In a series of subsequent rebellions, Liu Xiu deposed the harem and the crown prince in order to stabilize the situation. In the edict after the abolition, Guo Shengtong was deposed on the grounds of "good jealousy" and "the style of the queen of Lu". However, this seems to be only a superficial reason, because as the queen who has presided over the harem for many years, Guo Shengtong cannot lack tolerance, and there is no specific example of "Empress Lu's style" to show that she has interfered in court politics.
Most people believe that the reason for Liu Xiu's abolition is because of his concern for Yin Lihua's old feelings, and secondly, because of the stability of the society. In my opinion, the first reason is more to beautify the love between Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua, while the second reason is more in line with the historical situation. Regardless of the reason for the abolition, Liu Xiu is affectionate to Guo Shengtong. After being deposed, Guo Shengtong still enjoyed good treatment, and she was even made the queen mother of Zhongshan, which means that even if she has no posterior, she has something to rely on in the second half of her life. Behind this luck is Liu Xiu's secret affection for her. After all, the love of an emperor is different from ordinary people, and it needs to be sacrificed for the benefit of all the people in the world. Therefore, Liu Xiu's love for Guo Shengtong, although different from her first love for Yin Lihua, is destined to become a secret buried in the ages.