After the death of Gaozu, Xia Houying, who made great contributions, why suddenly disappeared out of thin air?

Readers familiar with the Three Kingdoms should be familiar with the Xiahou family, which is very powerful. When Cao Cao separated, Xiahou family provided him with a lot of money and military support. The generals in his family, Xia,, and so on, were once famous for a while. As can be seen from the adoption of Cao Song, Xiahou family is well managed and has a deep political layout.

In fact, from the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the history of Xia Hou Shi's family spanned the whole Han Dynasty. When it comes to this prosperous and ancient family, it is inseparable from its founder, Xia Houying, the most trusted general of Emperor Gaozu, who made great achievements in the reign of Emperor Gaozu and laid the family foundation. After the death of Emperor Gaozu, he quickly abdicated, leaving his family safe and sound in the complicated political struggle.

Xia Houying is from Pei County. When he was young, he was responsible for managing carriages for the government. Whenever he finished the task of driving, he would take time to chat with Gaozu, so they established a deep friendship.

On one occasion, Gao Zu accidentally injured Xia Houying while playing, and was prosecuted by others for illegally carrying weapons. In order to protect Gaozu, Xia Houying insisted on not giving up Gaozu. Later, he was detained for more than a year, flogged hundreds of times and suffered a lot. Finally, Gaozu was exempted from criminal responsibility:

Gaozu was deeply moved by this incident and regarded Xia Houying as a close friend and confidant. Peixian arise, Xia Houying was appointed as his servant, responsible for driving for high-impedance, never leaving his side.

Since Gaozu entered the customs, especially in the battle with rich accessories, Xia Houying has taken on the task of protecting Gaozu's traffic safety, and he has also accomplished his mission well. Sometimes the high-impedance didn't need to go into battle in person, so Xia Houying gave full play to the mobility of the chariot and took the lead in entering the enemy lines. Because he fought bravely and was very good at operating horses and chariots, he made many contributions.

It can be said that as long as there is a high-impedance, there is bound to be Xia Houying. No matter on the battlefield or outside, Xia Houying is basically inseparable from the high-impedance. On the one hand, they have deep feelings. On the other hand, it is Mao's most trusted personal bodyguard. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Xia Houying naturally received a huge reward.

However, after Gaozu's death, Xia Houying just disappeared out of thin air, rarely appearing in historical materials, and he was absent from many important nodes.

After the death of Emperor Gaozu, his own Liu Yuxin succeeded to the throne. As Liu Ying was still young, his mother Lv Zhi naturally began to assist the government. Liu Ying died unexpectedly after seven years in office, and Lv Hou was in charge of state affairs for eight years.

During these fifteen years, in order to maintain the rule of Liu Ying and Lu, Lu carried out a major purge of the Hero Group. Peng Yue, Han Xin and others were killed one after another, and Chen Ping, Wang Ling and others were also driven out of the court. At that time, the old man in the Han army was very dangerous, afraid of being targeted by Lv Hou.

But Xia Houying didn't have this kind of worry at all, and still acted as a servant. This is all because he gave his life to save Liu Ying and Princess Luyuan. Lv Hou cry for him all too late, even to his house adjacent to the palace, natural won't laid hands on him:

When Cheng Peng was defeated, Gaozu was in a very bad situation. In order to escape, he left his father, daughter-in-law and a pair of children completely behind, leaving them to fend for themselves. Liu Taigong and Lv Hou were lucky enough to be captured alive by Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu felt that they were valuable and could not do inferior things, so he survived.

Liu Ying and Lu Yuan are luckier. Xia Houying insisted on taking them away under the death threat of Gaozu, and succeeded in getting them out of danger. Subsequently, Liu Ying was immediately made a prince by Gao Zuli and placed in Guanzhong for protection. This great kindness made Huidi and Lv Hou grateful and unforgettable for life, and also helped them escape the Zhu Lu rebellion.

After Lv Hou's death, the military clique and the Liu clique overthrew Zhu Lu's rule and regained the throne of Wendi. Although Xia Houying, who lived in Chang 'an, did not participate in the process of destroying Zhu Lu from beginning to end, when officials went to Baqiao to meet Emperor Wen, he attended as a servant.

In recognition of Xia Houying's past achievements, Emperor Wen treated him with courtesy, kept all his fiefs and titles, and still made him a servant. Later, Emperor Wendi asked the members of Hero Group to return to their fiefs, but Xia Houying could still stay in Chang 'an and be buried here after his death.

Xia Houying was born as a coachman, which coincided with the high-impedance uprising in troubled times. He got a good environment to develop his ability, otherwise he would have died and become a low-level petty official.

Although he made great contributions as a coachman and a general during the war years, in times when the world was at peace, he could not come up with a good strategy for governing the country like Sean and Chen Ping, which was determined by his life experience and it was too late to make changes.

Fortunately, with the military achievements of that year, Xia Houying was successfully made a marquis, and gained his own fief, title, food city and wealth. He can also see through the situation, not tossing in the strange court struggle, but devoting himself wholeheartedly to clan building. In addition to Chang 'an, Xia Hou Shi's family also established great influence in Anhui, and their descendants also gained great benefits.

Xia Houying was a servant from the Emperor Gaozu to the Emperor Wendi. Although the servant's task is to drive a car, this job is not up to ordinary people. Servant is one of Qin Jiuqing, followed by Sangong, which is an extremely important position and cannot be held by people who are not confidant. This also reflects Xia Houying's absolute position among the powerful forces.

After the death of Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Huiwen II recognized Xia Houying's contribution, and continued to let him serve as a servant to assist in state affairs. However, Xia Houying has a clear understanding of his own abilities. Although he didn't leave his post, he didn't intervene in state affairs, and let his son go to the fief to establish his own power, which laid the foundation for Xiahou's growth.

For Xia Houying, maybe with one more effort, he can be among the three fairs like the tomb of Zhou Bo and Chen Ping (Chen Ping's qualifications are far less than Xia Houying's), strive for a higher status for himself and leave a richer legacy for his family. But this seemingly mediocre and clear-headed coachman was not fascinated by desire, but turned his energy to clan building, which was a wiser choice than Jingdi to reduce the declining families among the princes.

References:

1 biographies of historical records seventy biographies of Ji Bu and Luan Bu

2 Biography of Historical Records, Biography of Fan and Biography of Li Teng.