Family background and birth

Liu Ju's mother, Wei Zifu, was Emperor Wu's second wife. Emperor Wu's first wife was Empress Chen Jiao (who was also his older cousin). She was infertile and had a jealous personality. Moreover, when she was found employing witchcraft to curse Emperor Wu's other concubines (aimed at Wei Zifu in particular), she was officially deposed in 130 BC, leaving open the position of empress. Wei Zifu then became Emperor Wu's new favourite consort since 138 BC and had by then already bore him three daughters. In 128 BC, she gave birth to Liu Ju, Emperor Wu's first son, and was created empress as a result.

It was recorded that Emperor Wu, who was already 29 years old when his first son was born, was overjoyed and ordered poets to write paeans celebrating the arrival of the "grand prince", hinting Liu Ju would become his imperial heir by default. Prince Ju was later formally created crown prince in 122 BC, at the age of 6.

As crown prince

Emperor Wu had high hopes for Prince Ju, and made sure he got the best education possible, even constructing the "Broad Vision Academy" (博望苑) to allow his son exposure to all schools of scholars. It is unclear when Liu Ju become involved in government affairs, but as he matured and Emperor Wu began to take more time away from the capital, from 113 BC he was entrusted as the prince regent while his father was absent. His mother Empress Wei, ageing and no longer a favourite of Emperor Wu, was still entrusted to look after domestic palace affairs. Both Liu Ju and Empress Wei remained well respected by Emperor Wu.

Unlike Emperor Wu, who was at times megalomanic and always looking for territorial expansion which burdened his people to their limit, Liu Ju was regarded as a man of peace, interested more in the social well-being and economic recovery of the people, and openly opposed his father on many policies. He was well known for his hospitality and openness to different opinions, and he maintained a large group of advisers and friends at his palace. Because Liu Ju favoured more lenient policies and often helped overturn wrongful convictions. He frequently had conflicts with legal officials who had received promotions from following his father's harsher, more authoritarian policies.

In 113 BC, Liu Ju married his only well-known consort, Lady Shi (史良娣), who bore him a son Liu Jin (劉進). Liu Jin would later produce a young grandson, who was only months old when his entire family were killed during the 91 BC political turmoil. Liu Ju also had two other sons and a daughter.

While Liu Ju's well-respected uncle, General Wei Qing was alive, Crown Prince Ju was safe politically. After Wei Qing died in 106 BC, certain officials and factions started plotting against Liu Ju.

Forced into rebellion

Near the end of his reign, the physically deteriorating Emperor Wu became increasingly paranoid and fearful of others using witchcraft against him, especially after incidents involving the sighting/hallucination of an armed stranger walking by as well as a nightmare of hundreds of small wooden puppets beating him with sticks. A massive crackdown was ordered and those who were suspected of witchcraft were often summarily executed along with their entire clans. Many important people became victims of this witch-hunt, which peaked during early 91 BC, including the entire family of Prime Minister Gongsun He (公孫賀, Liu Ju's maternal uncle-in-law), Liu Ju's sisters (and Emperor Wu's own daughters) Princesses Yangshi (陽石公主) and Princess Zhuyi (諸邑公主), as well as Wei Qing's son Wei Kang (衛忼), effectively removing almost all of the Crown Prince's political supporters in the Han court.

Furthermore, Emperor Wu's favourite concubine was now the young Lady Zhao (趙婕妤), who was also known as "Lady Fist" (拳夫人) or "Lady Hook" (鉤弋夫人) due to legend that she was born with a contractured clenched fist, which somehow magically opened up when Emperor Wu massaged it, revealing a jade hook in the palm. She gave birth to Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling after a rumoured 14-month-long pregnancy, same as the legendary Emperor Yao. Overjoyed that he could still father a son with such divine implications at the age of 66, the superstitious Emperor Wu named Lady Zhao's household the "Gate of Yao's Mother" (堯母門). This gesture did not go unnoticed, and speculations started to rise that he intended to replace Liu Ju with the 3-year-old Prince Fuling as the new crown prince. Such speculation fuelled further conspiracies to dethrone Liu Ju.

One of the conspirators against Crown Prince Ju was Jiang Chong (江充), the ruthless and opportunistic head of the secret intelligence, who once had a run-in with Prince Ju after arresting one of Prince Ju's assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. Fearing that with Emperor Wu's health declining, Crown Prince Ju would one day ascend to the throne and punish him for their past clashes, Jiang Chong decided that he had to remove the Crown Prince once and for all. One other conspirator was Emperor Wu's chief eunuch Su Wen (蘇文), who had falsely and repeatedly accused Liu Ju of committing adultery with Emperor Wu's junior concubines. Su Wen also blocked any attempts by Liu Ju and Empress Wei to communicate with Emperor Wu, who was then staying at his summer palace in Ganquan (甘泉, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).

In the same year, Jiang Chong and Su Wen decided to move against Liu Ju, once again using witchcraft as an excuse. Jiang, with the approval of Emperor Wu, searched through various palaces, ostensibly for witchcraft items, eventually reaching Empress Wei and Liu Ju's household. Jiang's men dug holes everywhere, leaving barely room for the Empress and Crown Prince to lay their beds. Jiang Chong then planted dolls and pieces of cloth with mysterious writing in Liu Ju's palace, and then announced that he found evidence of witchcraft. Liu Ju, initially believing that he had nothing to hide, was shocked and forced to consider his options, and his teacher Shi De (石德), invoking the story of Zhao Gao's plot to murder Ying Fusu and raising the possibility that Emperor Wu might already be deceased, suggested that Liu Ju should start an uprising to remove Jiang. Liu Ju initially hesitated and wanted to speedily proceed to Ganquan Palace and explain himself to his father, but he found out that Jiang's messengers were already on their way to report the "crime". So he decided to accept Shi's suggestion.

Liu Ju arranged for one of his men to impersonate a messenger from Emperor Wu and arrest Jiang Chong's party. However, Su Wen managed to escape arrest. After they were subdued, Liu Ju personally executed Jiang. He then reported his actions to his mother, who authorised him the right to mobilise her palace guards and distribute weapons to any civilian supporters he could muster in preparation to defend himself against any retaliation from Jiang's co-conspirators. Meanwhile, Su Wen fled to Ganquan Palace and told Emperor Wu that the Crown Prince was going to overthrow him in a rebellion. Emperor Wu, refusing to believe his benevolent son would commit treason and (correctly at this point) concluding that Prince Ju was merely angry at Jiang Chong. So the Emperor decided to send a low-ranking eunuch to the capital Chang'an to summon Prince Ju to provide an explanation for his actions. This messenger did not dare to proceed to Chang'an, but instead falsely reported to Emperor Wu that he fled because Prince Ju was going to kill him. By now enraged, Emperor Wu ordered his nephew, Prime Minister Liu Qumao (劉屈犛), to put down the rebellion.

Prince Ju also sent two messengers in attempts to mobilise regular armies. One was sent to a detachment of surrendered Xiongnu cavalry stationed outside the capital, but Emperor Wu's messenger had arrived just earlier and ordered the cavalry to attack Prince Ju instead. The other messenger was sent to the North Army in charge of guarding the capital, but the commander-in-charge, Ren An (任安), refused to get involved. Without regular army support, Prince Ju's forces, consisting only palace guards and armed civilians, were no match for Liu Qumao's army. Furthermore, after Emperor Wu's banner was displayed outside the capital city, it became clear that Emperor Wu was still in charge and Prince Ju did not have his father's authorisation. So public support for the Crown Prince disappeared. The two sides then battled in the streets of Chang'an for five days, and Liu Qumao's forces prevailed. Prince Ju was forced to flee the capital with two of his sons. His mother, Empress Wei, committed suicide after Emperor Wu sent messengers to seize her seal as a punishment of supporting her son's uprising. The rest of Prince Ju's family were then killed, with the only exception of the months-old grandson Liu Bingyi, who was thrown into prison.

Emperor Wu ordered that Prince Ju be hunted down, but after a junior official, Linghu Mao (令狐茂), risked his life and spoke on Prince Ju's behalf, Emperor Wu's anger began to subside, but he had not yet issued a pardon for his son. At this point, Liu Ju had fled to Hu County (湖縣, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) and took refuge in the home of a poor shoemaker. Knowing the financial burden imposed on his warm-hearted host, Liu Ju attempted to seek help from an old friend living in Hu County, but this exposed his whereabouts. Local officials quickly tracked down and surrounded the house. Seeing no chance of escape, Liu Ju committed suicide by hanging. His two sons and the family hosting them all died when government soldiers finally broke in and killed everyone. The officials in charge, Li Shou (李壽) and Zhang Fuchang (張富昌), then wasted no times to take Liu Ju's body to Chang'an and claim rewards from Emperor Wu, who had to keep his word despite great sorrow over his son's death.

Posthumous developments

Eventually, Emperor Wu began to realize that the witchcraft cases during 91 BC were often false accusations. In 89 BC, when Tian Qianqiu (田千秋), then the superintendent of Emperor Gao's temple, filed a report claiming that "a white-haired old man" told him in a dream that for the offence of armed uprising, Prince Ju would at most be caned, not killed, as a punishment, Emperor Wu realised what had really happened. Furious that the conspirators had abused his trust and plotted his son's death, he had Su Wen burned alive, Jiang Chong's immediate and extended family executed, and killed every official who had received promotions for tracking down the Crown Prince. He also promoted Tian Qianqiu to prime minister, and made major policy changes that supported the ideals supported by his dead son. To express his regret over causing his son's death, Emperor Wu also built the Palace of Son-Grieving (思子宮) and Platform of Longing for Return (歸來望思台), officially rehabilitating Liu Ju's name.

Liu Ju's only surviving offspring, his grandson Liu Bingyi, would eventually become emperor (as Emperor Xuan) in 74 BC following the death of Crown Prince Ju's childless younger brother Emperor Zhao and a brief reign by their nephew, Prince He of Changyi. Out of respect for Emperor Zhao, Emperor Xuan did not initially attempt to restore the title of his grandfather. It was not until 73 BC that he restored Crown Prince Ju's title (but with the rather unflattering posthumous name of "Li", which means "unrepentant") and reburied his grandparents and parents.

Ancestry

早年

元朔元年（前128年），劉據出生時，父親武帝已經二十九歲了，故對長子的出生「甚喜」。母親衛子夫「遂立為皇后」。元狩元年（前122年），劉據獲立為皇太子，當時七歲。後來武帝為成年的太子修建「博望苑」，讓太子在那裡跟賓客往來，「從其所好」。

太子性格寬仁溫和，漢武帝並不滿意，認為「不類己」。不過武帝認為「太子敦重好靜，必能安天下」。隨著武帝的其他寵妃生下兒子後，武帝對衛皇后和太子的關愛減少，令太子「常有不自安之意」。武帝察覺此事，曾對太子的舅舅、大將軍衛青說：「聞皇后與太子有不安之意，豈有之邪？可以意曉之。」叫衛青安撫太子。太子勸諫武帝減少征伐，武帝卻笑說「吾當其勞，以逸遺汝，不亦可乎！」。

太子寬厚得民心，一些主張嚴刑峻法的官員不滿太子。衛青死後，太子失去了最重要的保護者，朝臣對太子的攻擊更多。武帝晚年沉迷巫術，太子和衛皇后都很難見到他。太初四年（前101年），李廣利為將軍出征匈奴，李氏勢力抬頭，衛皇后失寵，鉤弋夫人又以「堯母」自居，李夫人的兄弟掌握兵權，太子的地位越來越不穩固。有一次蘇文上告「太子與宮人戲」，武帝並沒有處罰太子。又一次武帝身體不適，叫黃門常融召見太子。常融回報時說「太子有喜色」，武帝長聲嘆息。待太子來到後，發現太子看似哭過卻又強顏歡笑，神態有異，追查後之下才知道是常融在背後構陷；武帝遂斬殺常融。

巫蠱之亂

武帝晚年，江充等酷吏受到重用。江充與太子不和，害怕將來太子繼位後會殺他，便想到利用當時鬧出幾宗大案的「巫蠱之術」去製造陰謀。這時武帝因年老而性情變得多疑，以為身邊的人懂得「蠱道祝詛」，為此查根究柢而導致多人被殺。

江充當時負責處理有關巫蠱的案件，他說宮中有蠱氣，武帝派其他官員協助他追查。江充來到太子宮掘蠱，掘出桐木做的人偶。當時漢武帝在甘泉宮避暑，太子召問少傅石德，身為太子師傅的石德懼怕自己受誅連，建議太子越權行事，拘捕江充等人及追查他們的陰謀，太子在情急下同意石德所言。

征和二年（前91年）七月壬午，太子派人假冒使者收捕江充等人。江充助手韓說懷疑使者身份，不肯受詔，被來人殺了。太子派人稟告衛皇后，又分發武器給侍衛。太子向百官宣佈江充謀反，把江充殺了。當時江充另一助手蘇文逃到武帝處，向武帝控訴太子，武帝派使者召太子，但使者不敢到太子那裡，乾脆回報武帝說「太子反已成，欲斬臣，臣逃歸。」武帝大怒，下令丞相劉屈氂率兵平亂。太子被逼糾集了數萬人，並命令長安犯人如侯冒充持節調動長水校尉麾下駐紮于長水及宣曲的匈奴騎兵，但被莽通識破計謀。太子兵馬激戰五日，死者數萬人。長安民眾以為太子謀反，所以大多數人不支持他，太子勢孤力弱而兵敗，唯有逃離長安。衛皇后自殺，太子賓客多人亦被捕殺。

太子逃到京兆尹湖縣一戶民家，戶主常賣草鞋以維持太子生活所需。太子有一位富有的故人在此地，派人找尋此人，卻被人發現太子行藏。官吏圍捕太子，太子自殺，戶主亦被殺，是為巫蠱之禍。

太子有三子一女，全部因巫蠱之禍而遇害，只有一位孫子劉詢（即漢宣帝）因為尚為嬰孩而生還。

平反

後來武帝發現巫蠱之事多不真實，知道太子劉據本無反心，把江充家滅族，處死蘇文，在湖縣建「思子宮」。

劉據之孫劉詢在十多年後登上帝位，是為宣帝，即位後諡劉據曰「戾」，所以劉據又稱「戾太子」。

家世

注釋