白马盟子孙满堂的社会与子偕老的温馨
汉高祖晚年，宠爱戚夫人，她生子如意，被封为赵王。汉高祖担心太子的软弱，曾想改立如意，但大臣们反对。后来请了四位隐士“商山四皓”辅佐太子。汉高祖知道无法废太子，便对戚夫人说：“太子有助，如翅膀长硬，不可更改。”戚夫人伤心无言。
在讨伐英布时，汉高祖中箭病重。一次有人告诫他樊哙与吕后谋逆，他大怒，派陈平、周勃去军营斩樊哙。但两人私下商议不杀，因怕后悔。最后樊哙被关囚车送到长安，被吕后释放。
病重的汉高祖召集大臣，再宰一匹白马，让他们歃血誓盟，大臣宣誓：“非刘姓不得封王，不是功臣不得封侯，有违者共同讨伐。”Han Gaozu finally put his mind at ease.
When Han Gaozu died, Lu Buwei locked the news and secretly sent a trusted official, Auditor Shi (Shi Yilai), to discuss with him: "The generals who followed the emperor are not satisfied with their positions. Now that the emperor has passed away, it is even more unreliable. It would be better to kill them all." Auditor Shi thought this was a bad idea and confided in Lu Buwei's brother, Lu Weizhi. Weizhi's son Lü Lou told his friend Ruoji of this secret message, which Ruoji then shared with his father Ruo Shang.
Ruo Shang warned Auditor Shi: "It has been four days since the emperor's death. The empress dowager does not announce her mourning but plans to kill off the generals instead. This will surely spark rebellion among the generals and cause chaos in the empire - your life may even be at risk!" Frightened by these words, Auditor Shi rushed back to Lu Buwei.
Lu Buwei realized that killing off powerful officials was not a good plan after all and ordered an announcement of mourning instead.
With Han Gaozu gone, Prince Liu Ying ascended as Emperor Huaiti under his mother Lu Zhaodi's regency. She held immense power over her son who proved incompetent in ruling; he could only follow her instructions blindly.
She especially hated Qi Fu Ren (Qi Fu) and King Zhao like Yi because they had brought shame upon her family during their reigns as rulers or members of royal families within China society history during those times when people were eager for revenge against those deemed guilty while there is still much anger left inside them from past injustices suffered at hands by others before dying young from poisoning on orders given directly from none other than Queen Dowager herself – Li Bing!
