In the second year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (91 BC), Empress Wei Zifu sat in the Jiaofang Hall and waited anxiously for news outside the palace.
Not long ago, her son Liu Ju was suspected of engaging in witchcraft and had nowhere to complain, so he rebelled in anger. Wei Zifu, who had been submissive to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty all his life, chose to stand on his son's side, opened the arsenal in the name of the queen, and adjusted the guards of the Le Palace, ready to fight to the death.
It's just that what she was waiting for was the news of Liu Ju's defeat and the abolition of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
At this time, Wei Zifu no longer had half a husband and wife relationship with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. She didn't want to be humiliated again, and the three-foot white silk ended her life.
After Wei Zifu died, did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty regret it? Before the witch curse, what was Emperor Wu of Han's attitude towards Wei Zifu, and was there still the tenderness he encountered at the beginning of the year?
01, color decay and love relaxation
Wei Zifu was also pampered. In the ten years when she first entered the palace, the four children recorded by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were all born to her. Her family was also loved by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and soared.
When she finally gave birth to her first son for Emperor Wu of Han and became the empress, Emperor Wu of Han had already disliked her and lost her appearance, and then empathized with her. However, her younger brother Wei Qing and nephew Huo Qu fell ill, and made great achievements on the battlefield, and Wei became the most prominent relatives of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
As the queen, although Wei Zifu is no longer favored, her status is very noble, and she is also fair and virtuous, so everyone in the palace respects her.
In his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty liked to travel around. When he went out on patrol, he never brought Wei Zifu, but entrusted the affairs of the palace to Wei Zifu.
When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty returned from his tour, Wei Zifu reported important affairs to her, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty never objected to Wei Zifu's handling, and sometimes he even bothered to listen to Wei Zifu's report, and Wei Zifu was fully responsible for all affairs.
It can be said that although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in his later years did not have any affection for Wei Zifu, he respected her like an ordinary husband respects his wife. Wei Zifu's position as the queen is also as stable as Mount Tai.
But Wei Zifu still smelled a hint of danger.
Wei Zifu's son, Liu Ju, has a completely different personality from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who is harsh, while Liu Ju is relatively lenient. The consequence of this is that "the ministers are generous and the elders are attached to the prince, and those who use the deep and cool methods are ruined", and Liu Ju has become a thorn in the side of some people.
Since Huo Qubing and Wei Qing died successively, those who didn't like Liu Ju saw that he no longer had a powerful foreign relative force to rely on, so they framed Liu Ju one after another.
Liu Ju went to Wei Zifu's palace to ask for a long time, and Su Wen, the eunuch next to Emperor Wu of Han, said to Emperor Wu of Han that Liu Ju fell in love with the little palace maid in Wei Zifu's palace.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not feeling well, and Chang Rong, who was beside Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, reported to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that Liu Ju was very happy to hear the news.
Liu Ju's subordinates drove on the gallop road, violating the rules of the Han Dynasty, and even though Liu Ju personally went to intercede, Jiang Chong still made trouble in front of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty claimed to trust Liu Ju on the surface, he promoted many people who beat Liu Juxiao's report. Over time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gathered around him many people who had opinions about Liu Ju, and from time to time he spoke ill of Liu Ju.
Wei Zifu was keenly aware of the danger of these things, and often gritted his teeth and asked Liu Ju to clean up these people, but Liu Ju didn't care, thinking that Emperor Wu of Han would not be provoked by them.
It was against this backdrop that the witchcraft broke out.
02, the scourge of witches
In the spring of the second year of Zhenghe, Wei Zifu's brother-in-law, Gongsun He Zhuzhu, had a ranger named Zhu Anshi. This seems to be a small case, but Zhu Anshi accused Gongsun He of witchcraft and rebellion in prison. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty killed the entire Gongsun He clan when the evidence was insufficient.
Wei Zifu's daughter and Wei Qing's son were all implicated and died. Wei Zifu and Liu Ju lost their last support in the court.
This is the prelude to the witch curse.
Only half a year later, Jiang Chong, who had a grudge with the crown prince Liu Ju, searched the palace in the name of someone in the palace who was engaged in witchcraft, and found a large number of puppets in the palace of Wei Zifu and Liu Ju.
At this time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was recuperating in Ganquan Palace, and Wei Zifu and Liu Ju, who stayed in Chang'an, had not been able to see Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for a long time, and the people sent to greet him had not been able to bring back the news of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Liu Ju was frightened, thinking that he had taken the script of Fusu, and was determined not to sit still, but to fight for a way out.
Before the official action, Liu Ju sent someone into the Jiaofang Hall overnight to report the matter to Wei Zifu.
Wei Zifu, a weak and obedient woman all her life, chose to stand on her son's side without much thought.
The queen of the Western Han Dynasty had her own guard. In the name of the empress, she requisitioned the guards, opened the arsenal, and officially announced her break with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Wei Zifu did not wait for the news of his son's victory, but waited for the edict of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to abolish the queen.
Liu Ju fought a bloody battle in Chang'an City for 5 days, and was finally defeated and fled from Chang'an. His eldest son Liu Jin and daughter-in-law Wang Weng Xu stayed in Chang'an City in order to take care of the newborn emperor's great-grandson Liu Ai, and were killed tragically, and Liu Ai was also imprisoned.
Wei Zifu in the Jiaofang Palace, in the face of such a tragic ending, did not want to be insulted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty again, and committed suicide by the three-foot white silk.
Wei Zifu didn't know at the time that soon after, her son Liu Ju did not escape the catastrophe, and he would end his life in the same way soon after.
After Wei Zifu died, he naturally could not enjoy the funeral treatment of the queen, and he could no longer be buried in the Maoling of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Huangmen Suwen and Yao Dinghan put her in a small coffin and buried her hastily in Tongbai Pavilion in the south of Chang'an City.
Wei Zifu, who entered the palace for 49 years, was the queen for 38 years, and brought Wei Qing and Huo Quai's illness to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, ended his life like this.
03, what happened after death
After Empress Wei Zifu and Prince Liu Yi both committed suicide, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally realized that the witch curse was deliberately framed.
He not only killed the people who participated in the witch curse, but also built a palace of thought in Chang'an City, and built a platform to look at the temple in Huxian County, where the prince committed suicide, to express his remorse and sorrow.
However, for Wei Zifu, a woman who has been by his side for 49 years, we flipped through the history books and found that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty never mentioned Wei Zifu except for mentioning the scourge of witchcraft and the scope of it.
There is no mourning, no reburial, no epigram. He seems to have completely forgotten the existence of Wei Zifu, and all his grief was expressed in the treatment of the crown prince Liu Ju.
So, did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deplore his son more than his wife?
It seems that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty seems to be very painful, but if you look closely, it not only makes people suspect that all this he did for Liu Ju was more of a show than a real feeling.
- First, Liu's only grandson, Liu Ai, has been in a prison cell for five years.
Liu's entire family was killed in the witch curse, and only one infant grandson, Liu Zhi, has been put in a prison cell. This is Liu Ju's only bloodline in this world.
If Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really wanted to make up for Liu Ju, then he should at least take good care of Liu's illness.
But how did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty treat Liu Aiji?
As the emperor, Liu Ai was already his first great-grandson, and it was impossible for him not to know the existence of Liu Ai. Even without his instructions, Liu Ai, as the emperor's great-grandson, would not have been imprisoned.
At that time, Liu was sick, just a few months old baby, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ignored him and did not send anyone to take care of him. If it weren't for Liu's illness, he met Bingji, an upright and good person in prison, found a nurse for him, and helped him find a doctor when he was sick, he would have died in prison a long time ago.
It wasn't until Liu Ai had grown up in prison that he was 5 years old, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty heard that there was a "son of heaven" in prison, and he finally remembered that he had a great-grandson who was locked up there. But Emperor Wu of Han's first reaction was to send someone to kill Liu Aiji. If it weren't for Bingjishe's forgetting to die in front of Liu Ai, Liu Ai would have been killed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
It was not until his deathbed that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty showed compassion for Liu Ai, recognized his clan identity, and released him from prison. However, because of Liu Ai, who was no longer supported, Bingji could only send him back to his grandmother's hometown of Shandong, until many years later, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty and Huo Guang recalled Liu Ai to Chang'an and raised him in the court according to the treatment of the real clan.
But if the remorse shown by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is true, how could he treat Liu Aiji like this?
- Second, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not have any posthumous seal on Liu Ju.
In the Han Dynasty, death was like life, and the people of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to what was behind them.
If Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really pitied him, he should give him a nickname, even if he is not a certain prince, he should be posthumously named the king, otherwise, Liu Ju, who does not have a nickname, is an officially certified sinner and is not considered a person in the royal family.
However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was busy building the palace and returning to the platform of Wangsi, but he did not think about Liu Ju's death at all, so that many years later, there were people pretending to be Liu Ju in Chang'an City, Chang'an Ling dared to say that Liu Ju was just a sinner, even if he was alive, he should be imprisoned, Zhang He, who took care of Liu Ju in Chang'an, wanted to marry his granddaughter to Liu Ju, and he had to be warned by his brother that you should not be too involved with this sinner.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said to the people of the world that his son had died, and he regretted it bitterly, but as an emperor, he did not do anything for his son that had substantial significance.
His thinking womb and returning to the platform of hope and thought, I am afraid that he doesn't want people to say that he is affectionate and makes a show.
He was a cold-blooded man, and his true heart could be seen from the fact that he had never mentioned Wei Zifu since his witch curse.
However, no one thought that Emperor Zhao of Han, the heir designated by Emperor Wu of Han before his death, only served as emperor for 13 years and died childless. The throne went around and around, but it still returned to Liu Ju's grandson Liu Aiji.
Soon after Liu Ai ascended the throne, he rearranged the aftermaths for his elders who died in the witch curse. He posthumously referred to his great-grandmother Wei Zifu as "Sihou" and his grandfather Liu Ju as "Prince Er", and arranged mausoleums and gardens for them.
Although Wei Zifu and Liu Ju can no longer see all this, this is the normal treatment that the emperor gave to his deceased relatives in the Han Dynasty, which attached great importance to the affairs of his death.
is not like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who wants to let the whole world know his sorrows, but does not do anything substantial.
Don't you think?