FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
Empress Dowager L (呂太后, pinyin: L Taihou) (d.180 BC) was the principal imperial consort of the Emperor Gao of the Han Empire. Their children included then Emperor Hui and Princess Luyuan (魯元公主).
She is most remembered for being a power-hungry woman. According to legend, she conspired against Han Xin and Pang Yue; both were prominent generals and major contributors to the founding of the Han dynasty. Emperor Gao eliminated them after they revolted. During Emperor Gao's reign, several family members of the consort clan of L served in the Han's militia.
After Emperor Gao was killed in 195 BC by a stray arrow in a frontier skirmish, she murdered four of Emperor Gao's other sons to secure the authority of her emperor son, Emperor Hui. She also murdered the Concubine Qi. Her inhumane treatment of Concubine Qi terrified and dominated the gentle but weak Emperor Hui. Emperor Hui's infant sons, Shaodi Gong and Shaodi Hong, were installed as her puppets on the throne after Hui's death in 188 BC. Thus, real power rested in her hands for sixteen years.
During her regency, members of the L clan gradually took over important posts in the government; however, upon her death, officials that previously served under Emperor Gao, including Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and Guan Ying, eliminated the L clan and placed Emperor Wen on the throne.
Lu Huinan came from a humble background, and her father appeared to have been a servant to the powerful Wang clan (descendants of the Jin prime minister Wang Dao), and her brother Lu Qingzhi (路慶之) definitely was a Wang clan servant.
Lu Qiongzhi informed Empress Dowager Lu of this and, angry that her family was being disrespected, she told her son to punish Wang.
Empress Dowager Lu was buried with honors due an empress dowager.
EmpressLu (路皇后, personal name unknown) was an empress of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song.
Her fatherLu Daoqing (路道慶) was the younger brother of Emperor Qianfei's grandmother Empress Dowager Lu Huinan, making her generationally her husband's aunt.
It is not known what happened to her after Emperor Qianfei, a violent and impulsive ruler, was assassinated just 16 days after creating her empress, and Emperor Qianfei was buried with Crown Princess He, without provision for EmpressLu to be buried with him in the future.
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