Liu Hong's original name was Liu Yi, the son of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty, who was originally named the king of Changshan, and after Lü Pheasant abolished Liu Gong's emperor, he was "lucky" to be selected by Lü Pheasant as the heir to the throne, and changed his name to Liu Hong, and became the emperor.

After Liu Hong became the emperor, he honestly listened to Lu Pheasant's arrangement, but he was also at peace, and he was a nominal emperor for more than four years, and it seems that he is still quite grateful to Lu Pheasant.

Lu Pheasant began to get sick. When she was seriously ill, she adopted the suggestion of Chen Ping, the right prime minister, and appointed the general Guan Ying as the general to send troops to guard Xingyang, in order to prevent the kings of the Liu clan in the east from raising troops to usurp the throne. At the same time, Chen Ping, who had served as the left and right prime minister for ten years, and Zhou Bo, who had served as a lieutenant for ten years, asked for their resignation, and suggested that Lü Pheasant appoint Lü Chan, the king of Lü, and Lü Lu, the king of Zhao, as the prime minister and general of the Han Dynasty respectively, and appoint him as the emperor's empress fu to assist the emperor Liu Hong. Cao Yuan, who had served as the imperial historian for seven years, continued to serve in that position. The Southern Army defending the Changle Palace in the capital Chang'an and the Northern Army of Weiyang Palace have been led by the Lu family for eight years; Before the coup, the generals of the Southern and Northern armies were Changle Weiwei Lu Gengshi and Weiyang Weiwei "Zu", which were the cronies of Lü Chan and Lü Lu, respectively. Lü Lu served as the captain of Weiyang for more than six years, and he governed the army with majesty and trust, and became the emperor's father-in-law after Lü Pheasant collapsed. Lü Chan once served as the emperor's concubine.

Lu Pheasant died. Prior to this, Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, had conspired with his brother Liu Zhang in Chang'an to raise troops. Liu Zhang learned from his wife, Lü Lu's daughter, that Lü Lu's position was moderate and that he would not use the Northern Army to fight. Since the northern army was far superior to the southern army, he thought that only the southern army was not difficult to deal with, so he secretly told his brother to raise troops. After the death of Lü Pheasant, Liu Xiang began to mobilize troops, and deceived Liu Ze, the evil king of Lang, to mobilize his country's troops. He declared that he wanted to punish Zhu Lu, but he actually wanted to seize the throne; Liu Jiao, the king of Chu who subsequently raised an army, may also have the same intentions. The history books claim that "Zhu Lu" wants to cause chaos, but in fact "Zhu Liu" wants to cause chaos. Before Lü Pheasant's death, the founding fathers such as Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and Lu Jia had also begun to intervene in the struggle between the two ruling clans of Liu and Lü.

Lu Pheasant was buried. Liu Xiang raised troops to attack Chang'an in the west. When Lu Chan learned of this, he immediately ordered Guan Ying to lead his troops to attack; However, Chen Ping had already secretly ordered Guan Ying not to fight with the Qi army, nor to unite with the kings of Qi and Chu to counterattack Chang'an, and ordered him to send envoys to persuade the kings to temporarily suspend their troops in the country. Liu Xiang, who had already broken through the Lu State and forced Xingyang, had no choice but to return to China and capture Jichuan by the way. On the other hand, Chen Ping and Zhou Bo kidnapped Li Shang, proposed a peaceful settlement of the political dispute, and then coerced Li Shang's son Li Ji to convey it to the Lü family. The condition of the post was that the Lü clan would give up the military and political power of the central government, and the minister would guarantee that the Lü clan's vested political rights and interests would not be harmed. Lü Lu strongly agreed, but Lü Chan resolutely opposed it, and the Lü clan split; In order to force Lü Chan to obey, Lü Lu and Li sent a special trip to visit his aunt Lü Xiao, but they were reprimanded instead, so they did not hand over military power.

Chen Ping and others staged a coup d'état in Xulu. In the morning of the same day, Lü Chan, Lü Lu, Cao Ji and others were working in Chang'an, and Lü Chan's confidant Lang Zhong ordered Jia Shou's envoy to send back the news of the rebellion of Guan Ying. Lu Lu then reprimanded Lu Chan, and the two broke up and went their separate ways; Lü Lu left the northern army to hand over military power, while Lü Chan prepared to enter the palace and ask the emperor for a military talisman to send troops to quell the rebellion.

After Cao Ping reported the above situation to Chen Ping, Chen Ping sent Zhou Bo to find Lu Lu. After the safety of his family and the feudal state was assured, Lü Lu resigned as a general and ordered Wei Wei "Zu" and other generals of the Northern Army to obey Zhou Bo's leadership. When Lü Chan and his entourage of civil officials entered the palace, the palace was immediately blocked by the northern army, and the door of the emperor's main hall was also closed; Lu Chan and the others could neither enter the palace nor leave the palace, and finally hid in the toilet of Langzhong Mansion.

At this time, Zhou Bo, who was in the Northern Army, and Chen Ping, who was in the coup command post, were out of harmony. Chen Pingyuan only ordered Wei Wei to lead troops to seal the palace, and sent Liu Zhang to lead troops to kill Lü Chan; Unexpectedly, Zhou Bo ordered Liu Zhang to guard the military gate to guard against the southern army that had not yet been annexed, and ordered the guard to lead his troops to kill Lu Chan. When he refused, Zhou Bo panicked, so he sent Cao Ji to ask Chen Ping for instructions, so he was delayed until dusk to be able to kill Lü Chan and Lü Gengshi and others. In this process, the judgment was made by the emperor's order. Before this day, he had been rebelled by Chen Ping, and instead became the one who kidnapped the emperor. In the evening of the same day, Chen Ping ordered the extermination of the Zhu Lü and Fan Yan, Zhang Mai, Feng Dai and other families with a set of laws and regulations for punishing rebellions that were more extensive than those of the three clans. Before the coup, he had vowed that he would not restore the three-clan decree that Empress Lü had already abolished, nor would he implicate Lü Lu and others. His illegal betrayal caused Lu Lu to die and annihilate his family, made Li Ji bear the notoriety of betraying his friends, and made Cao Ji resign from office.

After Zhu Lu was ambushed, Emperor Hou Shao sent someone to comfort Liu Zhang.

Chen Ping resumed his position as the right prime minister, coercing the Son of Heaven to order the world. He sent an envoy to order the kings of the Liu clan to be ordered to strike their troops. The coup d'état ended in Xulu.

After the coup d'état of Xulu, Chen Ping, who held the emperor hostage and controlled the military and political power of the Han Dynasty, immediately discussed the follow-up matters. They first ordered Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, and Liu Jiao, the king of Chu, to strike down their troops with the emperor's edict, and then made the decision to depose the emperor Liu Hong and establish a new monarch. They made this decision because of the following factors: the young emperor Liu Hong was the son of Emperor Xiaohui, the grandson of Lü Pheasant, and was established by Lü Pheasant, Liu Hong's empress Empress Lü was the daughter of Lü Lu, and was also established by Lü Pheasant, and the meritorious princes were afraid that Liu Hong would retaliate against them when he became an adult. Liu Hong was too young to establish the authority of the emperor. In addition, Liu Hong was not a concubine, and the legitimacy of inheriting the throne was insufficient, so the meritorious princes thought that it was more appropriate to choose one of the Liu family to inherit the throne. After making this decision, they began to plan for the establishment of a new emperor. Liu Jiao, the king of Chu, was the younger brother of Emperor Gao's Liu Bang, and was not invited to participate in the discussion of the emperor because he had previously sent troops to try to make his crown prince Liu Bifei emperor because of his advanced age and other advantageous conditions. The members of the Liu family who were invited to participate in the proposal of the emperor were Liu Bang's eldest sister-in-law, Yin Anhou, second sister-in-law, Queen Qing, and distant cousin Liu Ze, the king of Langya.

During the deliberations, the candidates for the emperor were Liu Xiang, King of Qi, Liu Chang, King of Huainan, and Liu Heng, Acting King. Liu Xiang and Liu Chang were both vetoed by the meritorious princes because of the "evil of the mother's family", but Liu Xiang's uncle Sijun and Liu Chang's uncle Zhao Jian were both made marquis in the future. The first candidate was Liu Xiang, and the main reason for Liu Xiang's rejection was that the two ministers denied his claim that he had the legitimacy of inheritance by "pushing the original words, the eldest grandson of Emperor Gao". The ministers all knew that Liu Xiang's grandmother, Madame Cao, was Liu Bang's early mistress and had no marital relationship. Lu Pheasant and Liu Bang are married, they are indeed the main wife, and Lu Pheasant and Liu Bang are buried together, indicating that Lu Pheasant's status in the main room is unshakable; Liu Xiang's statement is also equivalent to saying that the previous Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying was a concubine. Therefore, the "theory of the eldest grandson" proposed by Liu Xiang was not recognized by the ministers. He was defrauded and imprisoned by Liu Xiang before the Xulu coup, so he used the "saying of the eldest grandson" to deceive Liu Xiang, saying that he wanted to get out of Chang'an and support Liu Xiang as the emperor, but in fact he was to warn the ministers not to support Liu Xiang. Secondly, the meritorious princes were unwilling to support the rebellious princes and kings as emperors, and the ministers were extremely dissatisfied with Liu Xiang's killing of Shao Ping, the prime minister of Qi sent by the central government to assist and monitor him, and raising troops without authorization. Liu Xiang considered himself the most difficult honor in the coup d'état of Lü, and was later considered by the ministers to be a major demerit of the rebellion.

The second candidate is Liu Chang, Liu Chang's mother Zhao Ji was imprisoned by the "Guan Gao Assassination Incident", Lu Hou was jealous and unwilling to come to the rescue, Zhao Ji's lobbyist did not dare to try his best to fight for Lu Hou, Zhao Ji was speechless, and finally killed himself in prison, Liu Chang could not forget this revenge, and his willingness to raise troops was very strong, but he may not have raised troops under the persuasion of Zhang Cang, the prime minister of Huainan. Liu Chang and Liu Heng are both Liu Bang's concubines, and the reason why Liu Chang was vetoed was not only five years younger than Liu Heng, but mainly because of his resolute personality, and the minister was worried that it would be difficult to assist. The person who strongly opposes Liu Chang may be Zhang Cang. The third candidate is Liu Heng, and he may be selected as the heir to the throne for the following reasons: Liu Heng is Liu Bang's fourth son, and he is the oldest of Liu Bang's two sons who are still alive at that time, and the legitimacy of inheriting the throne is relatively high. Liu Heng did not raise troops during the Xulu coup, on the one hand, it met the requirements of Chen Ping to oppose the unauthorized raising of troops, and on the other hand, his ineffectiveness in the Xulu coup can highlight the merits of Chen Ping's support. Liu Heng has always obeyed the orders of the central government, and he is benevolent and filial, tolerant and humble, and easy to assist ministers. Liu Heng's mother, Mrs. Bo, is cautious and kind, and can avoid the recurrence of the incident of her relatives. In addition, Liu Heng has been deep in the border for a long time and has a deep understanding of the threat of the Xiongnu. Liu Heng was chosen as the emperor's candidate by the meritorious candidates because of his highest political acceptability.

After establishing Liu Heng as the emperor's candidate, Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and others immediately sent envoys to summon Liu Heng. Liu Heng solicited the opinions of the left and right ministers and Lang Zhongling Zhang Wu and others on this matter, and Lang Zhong ordered Zhang Wu to think that the matter was fraudulent, and Lieutenant Song Chang thought that there was no fraud in this matter. Liu Heng reported to his mother again to discuss the matter, but he still hesitated. After divination, Liu Heng sent his uncle Bo Zhao to Chang'an to discuss major matters. Liu Heng took a six-horse-drawn carriage to Chang'an, and after performing a set of courtiers supporting the emperor, he succeeded to the throne of the Son of Heaven and entered the Weiyang Palace at night to listen to the government. Liu Xingju and Xiahou Ying, the servant who had saved Liu Ying in the Chu-Han War, personally went out of the "Qing Palace" to take Liu Hong, the young emperor of the Han Dynasty, out of the palace and placed him in Shaofu, that night, Liu Hong and Liu Ying's other three sons were also killed by the ministers, and the ministers announced to the world that all of Liu Ying's sons were not born to Liu Ying, but were illegitimate children of unknown origin.

Liu Heng inherited the title of emperor and was Emperor Xiaowen. Four months after Liu Heng was proclaimed emperor, Yousi proposed to establish the crown prince. In this court discussion to establish the crown prince, the first thing that Youji denied was the Zen concession system, which was the most open and easy to cause political disputes on the issue of succession, that is, "to seek the virtuous and virtuous people in the world and to Zen the world". Secondly, there are princes and clansmen within the scope of the Liu clan, especially Liu Heng's uncle Liu Jiao, King of Chu, cousin Liu Bi of Wu, and younger brother Liu Chang, King of Huainan. In the end, Yousi cited Liu Bang's authority three times to emphasize the principle of "establishing an heir must be a son", and Liu Heng finally accepted it and appointed his son Liu Qi as the crown prince.

Liu Qi is Liu Heng's middle-ranked son, Liu Heng had a acting queen when he was the acting king, and the queen had three or four sons, so Liu Qi was not Liu Heng's son-in-law. The acting queen died just before Liu Heng became emperor, and the cause of death is unknown. The queen's third or fourth sons also "died of illness" before becoming the crown prince, so Liu Qi became the eldest son among Liu Heng's existing sons. Liu Jiao, the king of Chu, and Liu Xiang, the king of Qi, who had raised troops during the Xulu coup, also died shortly after the crown prince was established. In the court discussion of establishing the crown prince, Liu Heng wanted to capture the old man, saying, "Uncle King Chu, cousin King Wu, and younger brother King Huainan are all alive, why does the prince have to be a son?" Under the "persuasion" of the ministers, Liu Qi was appointed as the crown prince. Liu Jiao was first nominated by Liu Heng as the object of Chan Rang, and died two months after the establishment of the crown prince, and the cause of death is unknown. Liu Jiao's crown prince Liu Bifei also died before him, and the cause of death is unknown. After Liu Bifei's death, Liu Jiao did not establish a crown prince, probably because Liu Bifei died shortly before Liu Jiao's death, and Liu Heng established Liu Jiao's son Zongzheng Liu Yingke as the king of Chu. In addition, Liu Xiang, who was a candidate for the emperor and had the strongest intentions as emperor, also died that year, and the cause of death is unknown. Liu Bifei, Liu Jiao, and Liu Xiang may have all been punished by the meritorious princes according to Liu Bang's edict in accordance with Liu Bang's edict that "those who unjustly rebel against the Son of Heaven and raise troops without permission will be punished with the world". After Liu Heng found out that Liu Zhang and Liu Xingju intended to support Liu Xiang, he did not make them the king of Zhao and the king of Liang as promised by the ministers, but named them the king of Chengyang and the king of Jibei.

Two months after Liu Qili became the crown prince, Liu Heng appointed Liu Qi's mother Dou Ji as the empress under the opinion of the Empress Dowager Bo. The crown prince precedes the empress, which also has the political significance of consolidating imperial power. "The son is valued by the mother, and the mother is valued by the son" had a great impact on the etiquette system in the early Han Dynasty. Liu Heng first appointed Liu Qi as the crown prince, and then his mother as the queen, with the intention of highlighting the importance of motherhood over sons, with the connotation of derogating maternal power, so as to avoid the recurrence of Lu Pheasant's suppression of Liu Ying. In addition, the emperor first appointed the crown prince, and then the queen mother appointed the empress, there was also an intention to prevent the queen mother from infringing on the emperor's right to establish an heir with the right to officiate marriage. Previously, Lu Pheasant exercised the right to marry Liu Ying, and married his niece Zhang to Liu Ying, and Emperor Xiaohui and the empress had no children, causing a crisis of unknown heirs to the throne. The appointment of the crown prince first and then his mother as the empress is not only in line with the system of succession, but also with the intention of avoiding the recurrence of such a crisis.