At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, there were only fifteen counties in the areas directly under the central government, and the rest of the places were the fiefs of various princes and kings. The vassal kingdoms were subject to central control and had considerable independence.

The hundred officials of the princely kingdom are set up like the central government, and the princes and kings can appoint officials up to 2,000 koku on their own, and actually have the right to appoint and dismiss officials below the prince and the minister of state. The princes and kings had the right to collect their own taxes in the feudal state, and to pay a part of the revenue to the central government according to the regulations, and the rest of the income was at the discretion of the kingdom. The princes and kings who were divided into good places could also set up institutions to mint money, boil salt, and become rich.

The contradiction between decentralization and centralization of power in the princely kingdoms developed in this way. This problem was not completely solved until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Fei, the king of Qi, is the eldest son of Liu Bang's concubine and is very valued. The Kingdom of Qi was the first feudal state at that time, the royal capital was located in Linzi (Zibo, Shandong), under the jurisdiction of more than 70 cities, and the common people who could speak the local dialect of Qi belonged to the management of the Qi State, which was relatively wealthy.

The Qi State Minister who assisted Liu Fei was Pingyang Hou Cao Shen, who was personally appointed by Liu Bang before his death. This configuration is too luxurious. Cao Shen was a veteran who participated in the Pei County Uprising, and ranked second on the list of heroes when he was awarded the title of meritorious heroes, second only to Prime Minister Xiao He.

Liu Fei lacked the love of his parents since he was a child, and he was a child who grew up with hardships. During the Anglo-Bugh rebellion, Liu Fei and Cao Shen led 120,000 troops to participate in the counterinsurgency war and made great contributions. Liu Fei, who is powerful and has excellent people, naturally attracted the jealousy of Empress Lu.

In the winter of 193 BC, Liu Fei, the king of Qi, came to Chang'an to meet the emperor and the empress dowager. After the court ceremony, Emperor Liu Ying set up a family banquet in the inner palace to catch the wind and wash the dust for the eldest brother. Liu Fei is more than ten years older than Liu Ying, and Liu Ying let the eldest brother sit on the top according to the etiquette of the family. The brothers pushed the cup and changed the cup and drank happily. Empress Lu was very angry, she thought that Liu Fei was ignorant and disrespected the emperor.

Empress Lu immediately became murderous, she asked the palace people to bring two cups of poisonous wine and put them in front of Liu Fei, and ordered Liu Fei to toast herself. Why did you bring two glasses of poisoned wine? Are you worried that a cup of poison won't kill Liu Fei? Liu Feimeng was in the dark, picked up a glass of poisonous wine and got up, Liu Ying felt that his mother was not at ease, he took another cup of poisonous wine and wanted to drink it with his eldest brother. Empress Lu hurriedly stood up and snatched Liu Ying's wine glass.

Liu Fei realized that there was something wrong with the wine, so he put down the wine glass, pretended to be strong and left the palace under the pretext of being unwell. When he returned to the mansion, he immediately sent someone to inquire about the situation, only to learn that Empress Lu gave him poisoned wine. Liu Fei was frightened, the bloody example of the third brother Liu Ruyi hadn't been long in coming, and now it was his turn.

King Qi Neishi gave Liu Fei an idea and said: "The queen mother is only born to the emperor and Princess Lu Yuan, and the princess only has a few fiefdoms of cities. ”

Liu Fei listened to Neishi's words, ceded Chengyang County to Princess Lu Yuan, respected Princess Lu Yuan as the queen mother, and honored the extra pocket money every year. Lu Houcheng was happy, and felt that Liu Fei's kid was quite well-behaved, so he allowed Liu Fei to return to the fiefdom of Qi State.

Liu Fei didn't say anything about his wealth, but also recognized his sister as his godmother. After suffering this toss, Liu Fei never came to Chang'an again, and died of illness four years later, with the nickname of King Hui. Liu Fei has a successor, he gave birth to several excellent sons, and the most famous son is called Liu Zhang.

Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang will play an important role in the later stories.