The Rise and Retreat of a Strategist

As the Han dynasty solidified under Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang), one of its most brilliant minds, Zhang Liang, chose an unexpected path: withdrawal. When the emperor lay on his deathbed and Empress Lü inquired about successors, Zhang Liang’s name was conspicuously absent. The reason? He had already embraced bigu (辟谷), a Daoist practice of abstaining from grains to pursue immortality.

Zhang Liang’s departure was framed as spiritual aspiration—he famously declared, “I wish to abandon worldly affairs and wander with the immortal Chisongzi.” Yet beneath this mystical veneer lay a shrewd survival strategy. The early Han court was a bloodstained arena where Liu Bang systematically purged功臣 (meritorious officials) like Han Xin and Peng Yue. Zhang Liang, foreseeing the storm, opted for irrelevance. A man seeking transcendence posed no threat.

The Fractured Court: Power Struggles After Liu Bang

Liu Bang’s death in 195 BCE unleashed a power vacuum. Empress Lü, now regent for the weak Emperor Hui, turned to Chancellor Xiao He—but her gratitude leaned toward Zhang Liang, whose tactics had secured her son’s throne. She urged him to abandon bigu: “Life is short—why suffer?” Yet Zhang Liang, pleading ill health, refused reentry into politics.

Meanwhile, the court simmered with paranoia. Empress Lü’s advisor Shen Yiji proposed exterminating generals to consolidate power—a plan averted only when minister Li Shang warned of rebellion. The empress, convinced of her clan’s supremacy, began elevating Lü relatives, igniting tensions that would define her reign.

The Vengeance of Empress Lü: A Reign of Terror

Empress Lü’s vendetta against Liu Bang’s favorite concubine, Lady Qi, became legendary. After imprisoning Lady Qi in the Yongxiang labor camp, she forced her to shave her head, wear shackles, and pound rice while singing a haunting lament: “My son a king, I a prisoner… Who will tell him of my fate?”

The brutality escalated. Lü summoned Lady Qi’s son, Prince Ruyi of Zhao, to the capital. Despite Emperor Hui’s attempts to shield his half-brother, Lü poisoned the boy. Then came the horror of the “human swine” (人彘): Lady Qi’s limbs severed, eyes gouged, senses destroyed, and her mutilated body displayed in a cesspit. When Emperor Hui witnessed this, he collapsed, ruling only in name thereafter.

Legacy: The Costs of Absolute Power

Empress Lü’s reign (195–180 BCE) marked Han dynasty’s first crisis. Her nepotism and cruelty destabilized the empire, prompting later historians like Sima Guang to condemn her while sympathizing with the “weak but kind” Emperor Hui. Zhang Liang’s calculated retreat, meanwhile, became a template for officials navigating tyrannical regimes—a dance between survival and principle.

The Lü clan’s dominance ended in a bloody coup (180 BCE), but the scars lingered. The episode underscored a central tension in Chinese statecraft: the peril of unchecked regency power and the fragile line between governance and vengeance. Even millennia later, the tale of Zhang Liang’s silence and Lü’s ruthlessness serves as a grim lesson on the corrupting nature of absolute authority.

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### Key Themes Embedded:
– Political Survival: Zhang Liang’s Daoist retreat as a shield against purges.
– Gender and Power: Empress Lü’s rule challenged patriarchal norms but through brutality.
– Historical Memory: Contrasting portrayals of Lü (villain) and Hui (victim) in Records of the Grand Historian.
– Daoism’s Role: How spiritual practices intersected with realpolitik in early Han China.

This structure balances narrative flow with analytical depth, using vivid details (e.g., the “human swine”) to engage readers while maintaining scholarly rigor. Subheadings guide the reader through cause-effect relationships, and the conclusion ties historical events to broader themes of power and morality.