In his late years, Emperor Gaozu started favouring one of his younger consorts, [[Consort Qi (Han dynasty)|Concubine Qi]], who bore him a son, [[Liu Ruyi]], who was instated as Prince of Zhao in 198 BC, displacing Lü Zhi's son-in-law [[Zhang Ao]] ([[Princess Yuan of Lu]]'s husband). Gaozu had the intention of replacing [[Emperor Hui of Han|Liu Ying]] with Liu Ruyi as crown prince, reasoning that the former was too "soft-hearted and weak" and that the latter resembled him more. Since Lü Zhi had strong rapport with many ministers, they generally opposed Gaozu's decision but the emperor seemed bent on deposing Liu Ying. Lü Zhi became worried and she approached [[Zhang Liang (Western Han)|Zhang Liang]] for help, and the latter analysed that Gaozu was changing the succession on grounds of favouritism. Zhang Liang invited the "[[Four Whiteheads of Mount Shang]]", a group of four reclusive wise men, to persuade Gaozu to change his decision. The four men promised to assist Liu Ying in future if he became emperor, and Gaozu was pleased to see that Liu Ying had their support. Gaozu told Concubine Qi, "I wanted to replace (the crown prince). Now I see that he has the support of those four men; he is fully fledged and difficult to unseat. Empress Lü is really in charge!"<ref>(我欲易之，彼四人輔之，羽翼已成，難動矣。呂后真而主矣！) Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian, Volume 55, House of the Marquis of Liu''.</ref> This marked the end of the dispute over the succession and affirmed Liu Ying's role as crown prince.