The Twilight of Empress Lü’s Reign

The death of Empress Lü in the seventh month of 180 BCE marked a turning point in the Western Han Dynasty. As the de facto ruler after her husband Emperor Gaozu’s death, she had methodically elevated her Lü clan relatives to key military and political positions while marginalizing Liu imperial family members. Her final edict mandated a general amnesty, appointed her nephew Lü Chan as chancellor, and cemented power through the symbolic marriage of her grandniece (Lü Lu’s daughter) to the child emperor Liu Hong—a political puppet show where both “spouses” were under ten years old.

This arrangement created immediate instability. In the capital Chang’an, a tense standoff emerged between Lü loyalists controlling the military and Liu-aligned officials like Chancellor Chen Ping and Grand Commandant Zhou Bo. The Lü faction, emboldened by their military dominance, contemplated eliminating Liu claimants entirely, while veteran statesmen bided their time, recognizing the precarious balance of power.

The Spark of Rebellion: Liu Zhang’s Defiance

The simmering tension found dramatic expression through Liu Zhang, a grandson of Emperor Gaozu. Married to Lü Lu’s daughter yet fiercely loyal to the Liu cause, he staged a provocative performance at a palace banquet. As “wine overseer,” he invoked military discipline to execute a drunken Lü clansman who violated protocol—a thinly veiled challenge to Lü authority. His agricultural allegory song—

“Deep plowing, close planting,
Thin sprouts when they grow;
If not the right seedling,
Hoe them out and throw!”

—was interpreted as a call to purge non-Liu elements from power. Empress Lü, bound by her earlier permission for military-style discipline, could not retaliate without losing face.

The Chain Reaction: From Regional Revolt to Capital Coup

### The Qi Kingdom Gambit
Following Empress Lü’s death, Liu Zhang urged his elder brother Liu Xiang, King of Qi, to revolt. Their strategy: exploit Lü disarray by marching westward from Qi (modern Shandong) while hoping for allied uprisings in Chang’an. A critical obstacle was Lü-aligned Qi chancellor Shao Ping, who besieged the palace upon discovering the plot. The rebellion succeeded through deception—General Wei Bo pretended to reinforce Shao Ping only to betray him, leading to Shao’s suicide with the lament: “Indecision breeds calamity.”

### The Capture of Langya’s Forces
Liu Xiang’s next challenge was securing his southern flank against Langya Kingdom, ruled by elder statesman Liu Ze (a Gaozu cousin co-opted by the Lü through marriage). Through a ruse—luring Liu Ze to Qi under pretext of seeking military advice—the Qi forces detained him and absorbed Langya’s army by forging orders in his name. The pragmatic Liu Ze, recognizing the tide was turning, pragmatically switched allegiance, offering to lobby Chang’an elites for Liu Xiang’s imperial candidacy.

### The Stalemate at Xingyang
When Lü Chan dispatched veteran general Guan Ying to crush Qi’s rebellion, Guan secretly negotiated a non-aggression pact. Both armies halted at strategic points—Qi at its borders, Guan at Xingyang—waiting for Lü missteps in Chang’an. This paralyzed the Lü leadership, now trapped between external threats and internal distrust.

The Decisive Hour in Chang’an

### Psychological Warfare and the Surrender of the Northern Army
The Lü clan’s fatal error came through paranoia. Persuaded by his friend Li Ji that retaining military command provoked universal fear, Lü Lu relinquished the Northern Army to Zhou Bo. The veteran commander’s iconic order—

“Right bared arms for Lü!
Left bared arms for Liu!”

—resulted in unanimous left-baring, coining the Chinese idiom “zuǒ tǎn” (左袒) for taking sides. With the Northern Army defected, the balance tipped irreversibly.

### The Bloody Reckoning
Liu Zhang led Northern troops against the Southern Army still loyal to Lü Chan. The battle was less a clash than a rout—Lü Chan fled only to be slaughtered in a latrine, while other Lü relatives were systematically hunted down. The purge extended to:
– Lü Lu, executed despite surrendering command
– Lü Tong, King of Yan, assassinated in his fiefdom
– Lü Xu (Empress Lü’s sister), flogged to death with her son Fan Kuang

Within two months of Empress Lü’s death, her clan was exterminated.

Legacy and Historical Reflections

### The Paradox of Empress Lü’s Rule
While traditional historiography vilifies her as a ruthless usurper, modern scholars recognize her administrative competence in stabilizing the post-Gaozu Han Dynasty. Her fatal miscalculation lay in overestimating her clan’s institutional control once her personal authority vanished.

### The “Righteous Revolt” Narrative
The Liu loyalists’ victory was memorialized as a restoration of legitimacy, obscuring its brutal realities. Notably, the child emperor Liu Hong was later deposed and replaced by Emperor Wen under questionable pretenses—revealing the rebellion’s true nature as an elite power struggle rather than ideological crusade.

### Military Lessons in Han Politics
The crisis underscored the Han military’s loyalty to institutional authority over personal bonds. Both Guan Ying’s neutrality and the Northern Army’s swift defection demonstrated that the Lü clan’s power derived solely from official titles rather than genuine allegiance.

This watershed moment cemented the principle that imperial relatives could influence politics only through the emperor’s delegated authority—a precedent haunting later dynasties grappling with regents and empress dowagers. The Lü clan’s obliteration became a cautionary tale about the limits of nepotistic power in China’s imperial system.