White Horse Alliance

In the late years of Han Gaozu, he favored Lady Qi. Lady Qi gave birth to a child named Ruyi, who was named King of Zhao. The Han emperor felt that Liu Ying, the crown prince born to Empress Lu, was weak and afraid that he would not be able to do great things in the future, but Ruyi spoke and acted like himself. Therefore, he wanted to make Ruyi the crown prince instead.

He had discussed this matter with his ministers, but they all opposed it, and even Zhang Liang, whom he had always respected, helped Empress Lu. He invited four famous hermits called "Shang Shan Si Hao" (Hao, meaning an old man with white hair) to assist Prince Liu Ying. Knowing that it was impossible to abolish the crown prince, Han Gaozu said to Lady Qi, "The crown prince has got helpers and his wings have grown hard, so there is no way to change them." Lady Qi was also too sad to say.

When Han Gaozu was crusading against Ying Bu, he was hit by a stray arrow in his chest. Later, the wound became more and more serious. Once, someone secretly said to him, "Fan Kuai (the brother-in-law of Empress Lu) and Empress Lu conspired together and planned to kill Lady Qi and King Ruyi of Zhao only as soon as the emperor died."

Han Gaozu was furious and immediately summoned Chen Ping and General Zhou Bo to the palace and said to them, "Go to the military camp quickly and cut off Fan Kuai's head to see me at once."

At that time, Fan Kuai was leading his troops in the state of Yan. Chen Ping and Zhou Bo received the order, and they discussed privately, "Fan Kuai has made great achievements and is the brother-in-law of the empress, so we can't just kill him. If the emperor is angry to kill him now, what if he regrets it later?"

After discussing for a while, they put Fan Kuai in a prison cart and sent him to Chang'an, where he was indeed released by Empress Lu.

When Han Gaozu was seriously ill, he gathered his ministers together before him and ordered his men to slaughter a white horse, and asked them to take a blood oath as an alliance. They took a blood oath in front of Gaozu and swore, "From now on, no one not named Liu shall be crowned king, and no one not a minister of merit shall be crowned marquis. If you break this covenant, we will all crush him."

Only after the ministers took the oath did Han Gaozu put his mind at ease.

Han Gaozu was getting sicker and sicker. He called Empress Lu in and instructed the aftermath.

Empress Lu asked him, "After Your Majesty's hundred years, if Minister Xiao dies. Who can take over from him?"

Han Gaozu said, "Cao Sen can take over."

Empress Lu asked again, "What about after Cao Sen?"

Han Gaozu said, "Wang Ling can take over. However, Wang Ling was a bit stupid, so he could ask Chen Ping to help him. Chen Ping had enough wisdom and strategy, but he could not take charge on his own. Zhou Bo is a generous person and prudent, but he does not know much about literature and ink. But the future stability of the Liu family will depend on Zhou Bo."

When Empress Lu asked further, Han Gaozu shook his head and said, "It is not for you to know what will happen in the future."