Informational

Empress Lu

DECEMBER 13, 188 BC, CHANG’AN- Empress Lu is the widow of the great and powerful Emperor Gaodi, who died seven years ago. Many people alive during Empress Lu’s reign believed her to be “A power hungry empress.” After Emperor Lu’s husband died, she took over as the ruler of China alongside her son Hui, who was Emperor of China. She sat in Chang’an, the capital city of her empire and thought about what it was she intended to do as ruler of China.

Empress Lu craved power. She also wanted to make sure her family stayed in power after her husband died. Her first nemesis she wanted to defeat was Concubine Qi, and her two sons Consort Qi and Ruyi. Concubine wanted to replace Hui with her son Ruyi as Emperor. Empress Lu wanted to make sure no one got in the way of her plans to rule. When Empress Lu heard of Concubine’s plans, she had Consort Qi imprisoned and planned on killing Ruyi. Emperor Hui wasn’t fond of this idea and tried to protect Ruyi for as long as he could. Empress Lu finally had Ruyi killed by getting an assassin to poison him.
Empress Lu’s final act of destroying this family was to kill Concubine. Before killing Concubine, Empress Lu tortured her as much as she could. Empress Lu cut off all of Concubine’s limbs. She also defended her, and blinded her. This finally lead to the death of Concubine Qi. When Emperor Hui found out about this terrible act by his mother, he ended his role as Emperor. This was the start of Empress Lu becoming the new Empress Dowager, the immensely all-powerful ruler of China.