In 180 BC, Empress Lü died. After the Liu family clan and the founding heroes of the Han Dynasty joined forces to eradicate the Lü clan, they gathered together to discuss the choice of the next emperor.
At this time, Liu Bangshang had only two sons alive, one was Liu Heng, the fourth son, and the other was the youngest son, Liu Chang, the king of Huainan. The two rightfully received their nominations.
In the end, it was unanimously recognized by everyone that it was Liu Heng, the acting king, who later became Emperor Wen of Han.
So, why did Liu Chang, the king of Huainan, one of the candidates, lose to Liu Heng? After losing his bid for the throne, what happened to him?
This starts with his life experience.
In 199 BC, when Liu Bang, who had become the emperor, was crusading against Han Wangxin, he passed through Zhao and had an affair: Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao, sent one of his concubines known as Zhao Ji to serve Liu Bang.
After Liu Bang pampered Zhao Ji, he patted his ass and left. However, it didn't take long for Zhang Ao to find out that Zhao Ji was pregnant with Liu Bang's child.
From then on, Zhang Ao didn't dare to let her live in his own palace, but built an outer palace for her and supported her well.
Within a few months, Zhao Guojun wanted to murder Liu Bang, but after the matter was revealed, he was killed, implicating Zhang Ao. Zhao Ji, as Zhang Ao's nominal concubine, was also imprisoned.
Zhao Ji bribed the jailer and sent a message to Liu Bang: The child in my belly is yours.
At that time, Liu Bang was angry, and he ignored the news from Zhao Guo, and naturally did not pay attention to Zhao Ji.
Subsequently, Zhao Ji's younger brother Zhao Jian found Empress Lu's favorite retainer to interrogate him, wanting to save his sister through Empress Lu.
Judging the food, he went to Empress Lu to intercede for Zhao Ji, but Empress Lu was jealous of Liu Bang's pampering of the beautiful woman outside, and refused to go to Liu Bang for Zhao Ji. The trial did not force it, and the matter was over.
After suffering all the hardships in prison, Zhao Ji finally gave birth to a son. Looking at this little baby, Zhao Ji became more and more resentful, and finally committed suicide.
The jailer took pity on the mother and son, so he carried the baby to Liu Bang and explained the cause and effect to Liu Bang.
Liu Bang, who was reluctant to deal with Zhao Ji not long ago, saw his son, regretted it, admitted the identity of the child, and ordered Zhao Ji to be buried.
This child is the protagonist of this article, Liu Chang.
Because Liu Chang lost his mother in infancy, Liu Bang specially ordered Empress Lu to raise him.
Although Empress Lu hated Zhao Ji, she did not take her anger on Liu Chang, but did her duty as an adoptive mother and did her best to raise him.
When Liu Chang grew up, he grew into a sturdy young man, strong enough to carry the heavy ding.
After Liu Bang's death, Empress Lu came to power and ruthlessly suppressed the Liu family. Half of Liu Bang's sons died directly or indirectly at her hands.
And Liu Chang, as the adopted son of Empress Lu, was not implicated by these turmoil and was unscathed at the center of the storm.
However, he always remembered how his mother Zhao Ji died tragically. Empress Lu was his adoptive mother, he did not blame Empress Lu for refusing to intercede for Zhao Ji back then, so he vented his resentment on Empress Lu's favored ministers to judge him, thinking that if he said a few more words, he might be able to impress Empress Lu and save Zhao Ji.
However, at that time, he was still a favorite of Empress Lu. Liu Chang could only bury this resentment deep in his heart.
"Historical Records": Li Wang flea lost his mother, often attached to Lv Hou, filial piety, Lv Hou was fortunate to be harmless, and often complained about Yang Hou, Fu dared to hair.
In 180 BC, after the death of Empress Lü, the Lü clan was eradicated. When the Liu family clan and heroes elected the next emperor, Liu Chang was also nominated.
However, this nomination has a heavier meaning of going through the process. I don't think anyone wants Liu Chang to be the next emperor of the Han Dynasty. There are two main reasons:
First, Liu Chang is the adopted son of Empress Lu. In order to prevent the resurgence of the Lu family, the clan and the heroes even killed the grandsons of Empress Lu, that is, the sons of Emperor Liu Ying of the Han Dynasty. Liu Chang and Empress Lu had such a close relationship that they were inevitably excluded from the emperor's candidacy.
Second, Liu Chang is Liu Bang's youngest son. According to the order of succession of "there is a grandson and no grandson", Liu Chang really has no reason to rank ahead of the fourth brother Liu Heng.
Liu Chang also knew the essence of his accompaniment, and he did not resent because he couldn't be the emperor. And Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, also had great pity for his only living brother, no matter how arrogant and domineering Liu Chang was, he couldn't bear to blame him.
Liu Chang, with the connivance of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, became more and more unbridled. It didn't take long for him to do something big that shocked the court.
As mentioned above, Liu Chang resented Empress Lu's favored ministers for eating him because his mother died in prison.
And as a well-known favorite of Empress Lu in the government and the opposition, he magically survived the operation to eradicate the Lu family, and he was well in front of his Marquis of Biyang.
In 177 B.C., when the 22-year-old Liu Chang entered Beijing to meet Emperor Wen of Han, he went straight to the mansion of the judge, which made people know that he had something to see.
Judging the food and eating it hurriedly came out to greet him in person, but he didn't expect that Liu Chang had an iron cone hidden in his sleeve. As soon as he came out, Liu Chang struck him hard with an iron cone, and then let his entourage kill him.
It is a capital crime to kill a liehou without permission. Liu Chang rode a horse, galloped to the palace, took off his shirt, and knelt in front of Emperor Wen of Han to personally plead guilty.
Liu Chang listed the three crimes of the trial and food, and tried to justify his killing of the trial and eating him:
One,When Liu Chang's mother, Zhao Ji, asked him for help, he did not do his best, causing Zhao Ji to die in prison;
Second,When Empress Lu killed the mother and son of Liu Ruyi, the king of Zhao, she did not stop it;
Thirdly,When Empress Lu sealed Zhu Lu and mutilated the Liu family's clan, he did not stop it.
In all fairness, these charges are really reluctant. The latter two items can even be deducted on the heads of almost all the ministers of the imperial court.
However, Emperor Wen of Han still favored Liu Zhang, the only living younger brother, and did not punish the crime.
At this moment, Liu Chang is even more arrogant, his eyes are empty, and even the queen mother and the crown prince are quite jealous of him.
After he returned to the feudal state, he ignored the imperial court, and even began to enter and exit the palace according to the emperor's specifications and issue edicts.
And all this, Emperor Wen of Han endured.
"Historical Records": At that time, the Empress Dowager Bo and the prince's ministers were all afraid of the king, and the king of Li was arrogant when he returned to the country.
According to historical records, in 174 BC, that is, 6 years after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, 25-year-old Liu Zhang suddenly rebelled, and the process of rebellion was quite outrageous.
He conspired with 70 people, prepared 40 large trucks, prepared an uprising in Gukou County, and sent envoys to contact South Vietnam and the Xiongnu. Whether it is looking at the strength of Liu Chang's feudal kingdom or the difficulty of confronting the imperial court, such a rebellion is like a family.
This matter was naturally discovered by the imperial court very quickly. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty gave an order and summoned Liu Chang to Beijing to ask for the guilt, and Liu Chang set off without resistance.
The prime minister, Tingwei and other ministers jointly wrote a letter, listing all kinds of illegal things about Liu Chang, and asked Emperor Wen of Han to severely punish Liu Chang according to the law.
Emperor Wen of Han issued an edict: I can't bear it, let the ** continue to discuss.
The ministers did not give up and continued to write. After pulling like this 3 times,Emperor Wen of Han finally decided to kill all Liu Chang's conspirators and assign Liu Changfa to Shu County.
Liu Chang was put in a prisoner car and escorted to Shu County along various counties. I don't know if someone secretly made a dot or an accident, in short, no one from the counties along the way dared to open the seal of the prisoner car, so Liu Chang couldn't eat for days.
Liu Chang sighed and said to his servants: They all say that I am brave, but now that I have fallen into this situation, how can I still be brave?
In the end, Liu Zhang, who had not eaten or drunk for days, was starved to death at the age of 25.
When the prisoner cart walked to Yongxian, the Yongxian county magistrate finally had the courage to open the seal of the prisoner cart, only to find that Liu Chang had already died.
Because the whole process of Liu Chang's rebellion was too weird, with Liu Chang's strength of sealing the country, he should not only get 40 big trucks to start an incident anyway, so many people in later generations suspected that Liu Chang's rebellion was fake, and it was true that Emperor Wen of Han wanted to get rid of the only living brother in the world to consolidate the throne.
Liu Chang's death is also believed to be intentional by Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty.
According to historical records, after Liu Chang's death, a folk ballad was sung:
One foot of cloth, which can still be sewn; A bucket of millet is still acceptable. The two brothers are incompatible.
The spearhead of this song is directed at Emperor Wen of Han, believing that Emperor Wen of Han is the culprit who killed Liu Zhang. This can also reflect that the ** situation at that time was not friendly to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty.
After this song reached the ears of Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Wen of Han, who was under pressure, immediately restored Liu Chang's status as a prince and king, and posthumously named him "King Li of Huainan".
After a few more years, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty promoted Liu Chang's three sons, who were originally named liehous, to kings, and distributed the fief of the original King of Huainan to these three people. Among them, the son who inherited the title of King Huainan is called Liu An.
It is worth mentioning that the new Huainan King Liu An is the famous Huainan King who attempted to rebel during the Han Wu Emperor period. He organized his disciples to compile a philosophical work that has influenced him to this day: Huainanzi.
According to the records of "Wuyuan" and "Compendium of Materia Medica", tofu was also invented by Liu An.
Because Liu Chang's son, his name is so famous that when later generations mention the king of Huainan, what they think of is basically Liu An, not Liu Chang, the first generation of Huainan king among Liu Bang's descendants.
This can be regarded as a father being covered up by his son's prestige.