For over two thousand years, the coup of annihilating Empress Lü’s families (諸呂) that occurred in the 23th year of the Western Han Empire (180 B. C.) had been widely misunderstood. Empress Lü’s (呂后) descendants were thought to be guilty and justly executed, because they intended to commit the crime of treason. This view has been challenged by contemporary scholars who reached the consensus that Lü’s families were innocent in fact.