My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 592 What can I do?
To give an official political characterization to Wiman Joseon and the Mustard Joseon regime that was destroyed by Wiman, including both Wiman Joseon and Mustard Joseon, is not as simple as it seems.

Just like back then, during the fifteen years that Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, and the reigns of Emperor Shao of Han and Emperor Shao of Han, Empress Lü ruled as regent and held power over the Han dynasty.
After Empress Lü's death, the Lü Clan Rebellion, led by her relatives as the "chief culprits," broke out.

At that time, Emperor Taizong was also racking his brains trying to give a political assessment of the Lü Clan Rebellion and Empress Dowager Lü's complicated relationship with her relatives.

Because political characterization is not as simple as judging right and wrong from an objective perspective in a superficial and popular sense.

Political characterization is a political activity that is inevitably based on political stance.

Take, for example, the Lü Clan Rebellion of that year, and the relationship between the Lü clan and Empress Dowager Lü. If we rely solely on facts and objective reality, the situation is naturally clear.

— During the reigns of Emperor Xiaohui and the former and latter young emperors, Empress Lü took over the administration of the government because the emperors were young and had not yet come of age. This did not violate the legal procedures.

However, during the process of 'legally taking control of the government,' Empress Lü, for various reasons, excessively promoted and elevated her own relatives, the Lü clan, which ultimately indirectly led to the Lü Clan Rebellion.

From this perspective, regardless of Empress Lü's intentions in promoting and elevating her own relatives—whether for the sake of the ancestral temple and the state, or for the private desires of her family—Empress Lü bears inescapable joint responsibility for the outbreak of the Lü Clan Rebellion.

In terms that later generations can better understand, the Lü Clan Rebellion was primarily the responsibility of the Lü clan relatives who directly instigated it, while Empress Dowager Lü, who enabled them to gain control of the rebellion, bore secondary responsibility.

Of course, this conclusion is based on the premise that Empress Lü had no selfish motives and that her support of the Lü clan was all for the sake of the country.

If we categorize Empress Lü's promotion and advancement of her own relatives, and her bestowal of titles and ranks upon them, as a way for her to benefit her own family, then the nature of the Lü Clan Rebellion would be different.

—She resided in Changle and called herself Empress Dowager, abusing her power for personal gain and undermining the Han dynasty!
Driven by their own selfish desires, the Lü family, a family of relatives who lacked virtue and were unworthy of power, ultimately gained immense power, enough to launch a coup!

Even on his deathbed, he may have instructed the Lü clan relatives to "strike first" and personally orchestrated the Lü Clan Rebellion!
If we define the incident according to this line of thinking, then Empress Dowager Lü would no longer be considered "secondary responsible" for the Lü Clan Rebellion, but rather as primarily responsible, alongside the Lü Clan relatives who launched the rebellion.

Or rather, under this set of qualitative logic, Empress Lü herself would also be classified into the "Lü clan relatives" camp.

These are the two characterizations that can be made about the Lü Clan Rebellion from the perspective of facts and objective reality.

Ultimately, neither of these two characterizations was adopted, and neither became the official political characterization made by the Han dynasty in response to the Lü Clan Rebellion.

why?
Because of political characterization, what matters is not the facts, but the stance.

Moreover, the Lü Clan Rebellion of that year forced the Han dynasty's power center, the Chang'an court, to simultaneously occupy three positions.

Ultimately, the political characterization of the Lü Clan Rebellion in the Chang'an court must conform to the positions of all three parties in order to truly put an end to this matter.

—The first stance is the stance of the Han family and the Liu family.

From this perspective, Empress Lü, as the first wife of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang and the biological mother of Emperor Hui Liu Ying, actually held a special status that, in theory, was "unable to make mistakes," just like the emperors of the Han Dynasty.

In this era, the emperor cannot and should not make mistakes. Even if he does make a mistake, it is the world that is wrong, and the universe and stars that are wrong.

Originally, the people of the world generally recognized that there were the White Emperor, the Green Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, and the Red Emperor;

As a result, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang said, "Why do I remember there was also a Black Emperor?", and the four emperors became five emperors.

Liu Bang asked again: "Since there are five emperors, why is there no temple for the Black Emperor, only temples for the other four emperors: White, Green, Yellow, and Red?"
The officials below could only reply: It was our oversight; we actually forgot to build the Black Emperor Temple. It was really wrong of us.

Fix it right away!
Build it immediately...

This is the most authentic and direct portrayal of the saying that the emperor cannot make mistakes, and that no matter who makes a mistake, it will never be the emperor's fault.

From the perspective of the Han family and the Liu family, Empress Lü was also right and could not be wrong.

Because if Empress Lü is 'wrong', then many problems will arise.

Why would Emperor Taizu Liu Bang marry such a 'wrong' person?
—Isn't this a case of meeting the wrong person and misjudging character?

And then there's Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying—with such a 'wrong' mother, why did Emperor Taizu Liu Bang still establish Emperor Xiaohui as emperor?
This makes perfect sense.

Emperor Taizu Gao could not make a mistake.

Therefore, it was right for Emperor Gaozu to marry Empress Lü, right for him to have Liu Ying (Emperor Xiaohui) with Empress Lü, and right for him to establish Liu Ying as emperor.

Therefore, Emperor Xiaohui (Liu Ying) could not have been the wrong emperor, nor could Empress Lü have been the wrong empress dowager.

Since Empress Lü was the 'right' choice for Empress Dowager, then everything she did was also right.

This includes, but is not limited to: bestowing titles upon all members of the Lü clan.

This meant that after the Lü Clan Rebellion ended, the Han dynasty's political characterization of the rebellion must not implicate Empress Dowager Lü.

In order to maintain the positive image of the Han dynasty, as well as Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Hui, the only connection Empress Lü could have with the Rebellion of Exterminating the Lü Clan was that she "was momentarily careless and failed to avoid this risk before her death."

At best, they entrusted the matter to the wrong people, failing to see through the wolfish ambitions of Lü Chan, Lü Lu, and others. They wrongly entrusted the transfer of power of the Han dynasty to traitors who should not have dabbled in such power.

To put it bluntly, it was about getting Empress Lü to make non-stick pans.

Even if the Lü clan, as relatives of the empress, causes a huge uproar, Empress Dowager Lü must not be allowed to have even the slightest connection to this matter.

This is the first position that needs to be considered: the position of the Han family and the Liu family.

The second stance is that of the entire court of ministers, officials, and nobles who participated in the extermination of the Lü clan at that time.

From their perspective, eliminating the Lü clan and installing the Prince of Dai must be an act of unparalleled greatness and righteousness—and, most importantly, a 'legal' act.

Because if it weren't for this—if the Lü clan were unjust, not great, or even illegitimate—the situation would swing directly to the other extreme.
It would turn the scenario of "the feudal lords and ministers working together to eliminate the Lü clan" into "the traitorous king and ministers colluding to overthrow the state."

Therefore, their actions of annihilating the Lü clan, slaughtering the entire Lü family, and welcoming the King of Dai were all correct.

Conversely, the entire Lü clan, who instigated the Lü Clan Rebellion and were subsequently quelled and exterminated by the feudal lords and ministers, must have been considered 'wrong'.

Moreover, since the joint execution of the Lü clan by the feudal lords and ministers was a great, just, and legal act, the Lü clan members who were exterminated must have been extremely wicked, offended Heaven, and defied the world's condemnation.

To put it bluntly, in order to fully acknowledge the contributions of the "meritorious officials who eliminated the Lü clan," it was necessary to completely deny the contributions of the Lü clan's relatives.

Including but not limited to: the contributions of ancestors such as Zhou Lühou Lü Ze and Jiancheng Hou Lü Shizhi in the founding of the Han Dynasty, and even the assistance provided by Empress Lü to the rise of the Lü clan as a powerful maternal relative...

Only in this way—only by classifying the entire Lü family, including Empress Lü and all Lü clan members, as 'unforgivable' traitors—can the feudal lords and ministers who jointly exterminated the Lü clan be nailed to the list of meritorious officials.

And this completely concealed the fact that they had used illegal means—such as launching a coup to overthrow the Chang'an court and even interfering in the matter of the emperor's deposition and enthronement. At this point, the situation became somewhat complicated.

The Liu family valued their reputation and wanted to protect their own, especially the reputation of Emperor Taizu Gao. Therefore, they had to remove Empress Lü from the vortex of the Lü Clan Rebellion.
Those who were instrumental in eliminating the Lü clan wanted to save their own lives and cement their achievements on their faces, so they had to drag Empress Lü down with them to justify their own actions.

—If Empress Lü hadn't acted so perversely and defied the will of Heaven, we wouldn't be judging the Rebellion of the Extermination of Lü, which was a matter of life and death for the nation, in this way!
This places the two sides in a completely opposing position.

Unfortunately, these two positions are not each occupied by one group of people; rather, the vast majority of people have to consider both of these diametrically opposed positions at the same time.

—As the most meritorious officials in the elimination of the Lü clan, Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and other meritorious marquises were also subjects of the Han dynasty and needed to uphold the dignity of the Han dynasty and Emperor Gaozu.
The court officials, nobles, and relatives of the emperor, who shared the glory and disgrace of the Han dynasty, mostly participated in the suppression of the Lü clan and needed to maintain their status as "meritorious officials who eliminated the Lü clan."

It is precisely in this complex and perplexing array of opposing positions that the emergence of a third position has completely muddied the waters.

—The stance of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen.

This stance is undoubtedly the most complex.

First, Emperor Xiaowen of the Taizong Emperor was a son of Emperor Gaozu of the Taizu Emperor Liu Bang;
Emperor Taizong was able to ascend the throne because of his status as a descendant of Emperor Taizu.

From this perspective, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen needed to protect Emperor Taizu Gao.

At the same time, as the Han emperor who succeeded to the throne from Dai, Emperor Taizong naturally needed to maintain the face of the Han dynasty.

In that case, it seems that Emperor Taizong Xiaowen also needed to remove Empress Lü from the vortex of the Lü Clan Rebellion.

No;
Not finished yet.

From the above perspective, this is indeed the case.

But from another perspective, it's not like that.

From the perspective of being a descendant of Emperor Taizu and the Son of Han, Emperor Taizong had to protect Empress Lü.
However, Emperor Taizong was not born to Empress Lü.

This meant that Emperor Taizong needed to weaken, downplay, and even demonize Empress Lü as much as possible in order to elevate his own birth mother, Empress Xiaowen.

He has to protect his father, but he can't protect his stepmother; he has to protect the family's reputation, but he also has to smear his stepmother for the sake of his biological mother—this is a classic case of left and right brain conflict.

Furthermore, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen was able to ascend the throne from the Dai region because of the Lü Clan Rebellion, which led to the Han dynasty's youngest emperor being classified as an illegitimate child born from the Lü Clan's licentious behavior in the harem.

As a beneficiary of the campaign to eliminate the Lü clan, Emperor Taizong was theoretically supposed to stand on the same side as Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and other veteran officials who were instrumental in the campaign.

In other words, Emperor Taizong, who benefited from the Lü Clan Rebellion, wanted to thank the meritorious officials who quelled the rebellion and to stand on the same side as them as much as possible.

That is, it acknowledges that the meritorious officials who helped eliminate the Lü clan were great, righteous, and legitimate.

But...
Another but.

However, this was before Emperor Taizong ascended the throne from the Dai region.

"I am not yet the emperor; I am still just the Prince of Dai. If you want to take me to Chang'an to become the emperor, then I must thank you."

But once I go to Chang'an, I will be the emperor, and you will no longer be the meritorious officials who 'helped me ascend the throne,' but the powerful ministers who will prevent me from seizing power.

From this perspective, I am undoubtedly on the opposite side from you. Whatever you want to do, I should stop you from doing it.

On one hand, he was grateful to Chen Ping and Zhou Bo for helping him rise to power, and on the other hand, he was hostile to them because of their monopolization of power—another level of left-right brain conflict.

At this point, the positions of the three parties were finally aligned.

The positions of the Han family and the Liu family;

The stance of the meritorious officials who helped eliminate the Lü clan;
The stance of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen.

None of these three positions can be avoided, ignored, or ignored.

Because after the Lü Clan Rebellion ended, the Han dynasty still existed, and the Liu family still existed;
The rebellion of the Lü clan was quelled by the meritorious officials who eliminated the Lü clan, and the Han dynasty was thus brought into their hands.
As for Emperor Taizong Xiaowen—no matter how powerless he was, no matter how much of a clay statue he was, he was still the Son of Heaven of Han.

All three parties have reasons that they have to satisfy or accommodate, yet their positions and demands are completely opposite and diametrically opposed.

How to do?
In the end, Emperor Xiaowen of the Taizong Emperor could only decide to compromise.

—The dignity of the Han dynasty, the respectability of the Liu family, and the legacy of Emperor Taizu Gaozu must be preserved;

However, Empress Lü can be mentioned as little as possible to reduce her presence; that is, neither criticize nor praise her.

Emperor Xiaohui can also be criticized to some extent from the perspective of objective reality.

The merits of the officials who helped eliminate the Lü clan must be acknowledged.

However, the Lü clan, who were the villains, should be mentioned as little as possible, or even not mentioned at all.

The execution of the Lü clan was indeed a meritorious act;

Let's just talk about the achievements.

As for the crimes of the Lü clan, they are all dead, so why mention them again?

what?
Empress Lü?
Didn't we agree to mention it less...?

As for his own stance, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen adopted a very shrewd approach.

—This has nothing to do with me.

—I know nothing.

I know nothing about the course of the Lü Clan Rebellion, whose sons the young emperor and his brothers were, or how they died.

I was doing well as the Prince of Dai in Jinyang when suddenly these people took me to Chang'an and said I was to become the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

When I arrived in Chang'an, Empress Dowager Lü had passed away, the Lü clan was gone, and I became the emperor in a muddled way.

What can I do?
Were we left with no choice but to obey them and, on behalf of our deceased father Liu Bang and brother Liu Ying, merely look after the Han dynasty's empire?
(End of this chapter)