They Conquered the World for Me

A Collection of Anecdotes from the Xin Dynasty

Emperor Gaozu loved beautiful women.

Empress Mi was originally married to Lu, the Duke of Yu, but was released due to a crime. She happened to meet Emperor Gaozu when he was still a nobody, and they became husband and wife.

Lady Li was a concubine of Empress Cheng. She was captured by Emperor Gaozu and became his favorite.

Emperor Gaozu then went on a western expedition to conquer Zhao and took Zhao's Empress Dowager Jiang as his wife.

When Emperor Gaozu wielded his sword to defeat the various warlords, many of the consorts of the states he had conquered entered his service, but only Consorts Jiang and Li received the greatest favor.

At the beginning of the dynasty, Emperor Gaozu established Lady Wei as the Jiao Palace, and Lady Jiang and Lady Li as the East and West Palaces. All three palaces were women who had been remarried, a situation unparalleled in ancient and modern times.

Some people at the time made sarcastic remarks, but Emperor Gaozu did not take them seriously. He jokingly wrote the line, "Today, he is the son of Heaven's nobility, thanks to the merit of the Three Phoenixes Obscuring the Sun," to express his affection.