Liu Min

Liu Chong

Liu Chong

(895-954), also known as Liu Min, was born in Jinyang, Bingzhou (now Taiyuan, Shanxi). He was the founding emperor of the northern Han Dynasty and the younger brother of Liu Zhiyuan, the later emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Chong was a gambler in his early years. Later he joined the army and became a soldier. Because of Liu Zhiyuan, he was promoted to commander of the horse walking army in Hedong. After the establishment of the later Han Dynasty, the officials went to Beijing to stay in Beijing, Hedong Jiedushi, guarding Hedong area.

In the fourth year of Qianyou (951), Guo Wei destroyed the later Han Dynasty and established the Later Zhou Dynasty. Liu Chong then became emperor in Taiyuan and established the northern Han Dynasty. He still used the title of Qianyou in later Han Dynasty, but he ruled only 12 states. In order to recover the foundation of the Han Dynasty, he begged for help from the state of Liao. He was about to be a father and son's country. He called the Liao emperor uncle and called himself nephew emperor. The state of Liao canonized him emperor Shenwu of the Han Dynasty. With the aid of Liao state, Liu Chong fought many wars with the Later Zhou Dynasty, but he still won less and lost more.

In the seventh year of Qianyou's reign (954), Liu Chong took advantage of Guo Wei's death and united with Liao to attack the southern Zhou Dynasty. As a result, he was defeated by Chai Rong in the battle of Gaoping. After many hardships, he fled back to Taiyuan, but was besieged by Chai Rong for more than two months. At this point, the northern Han Dynasty's vitality was greatly damaged, and it was no longer able to go south. Liu Chong became ill with anxiety and indignation, and soon died at the age of 60.

Life of the characters

Early experience

When he was young, Liu Chong was a gambler and a rogue. He enlisted in the army in Hedong at the age of about 20. He fought with his elder brother Liu Zhiyuan and rose to Guozhou Military Academy in the later Tang Dynasty.

In the sixth year of Tianfu (941), Liu Zhiyuan was appointed as the governor of Hedong by the later Jin Dynasty, and Liu Chong was the commander of the infantry in Hedong.

In the seventh year of Tianfu (942), Liu Chong was appointed as the governor of Linzhou, and soon he was promoted to the commander of the horse infantry army in Hedong and the patrol envoy of the three cities, leading the defense envoy of Sizhou.

Guard Hedong

In the 12th year of Tianfu (947), Liu Zhiyuan proclaimed himself Emperor in Taiyuan and established the later Han Dynasty, known as the emperor of the later Han Dynasty. Liu Chong was worshipped as tejin, Jiexiao Taiwei and Taiyuan yinwei. In May of that year, Liu Zhiyuan led his army to the South and captured Bianliang (now Kaifeng, Henan Province). Liu Chong stayed in Taiyuan and served as a Beijing resident. Soon he was granted the title of Hedong Jiedushi and Tongping Zhangshi.

In the first year of Qianyou (948), Liu Zhiyuan died of illness, and his son Liu Chengyou succeeded to the throne, known as the hidden emperor of the later Han Dynasty. Liu chongjia was awarded the imperial teacher of the school, and served as a minister at the same time. At that time, Liu Chengyou succeeded to the throne when he was young, and his power was lost. The government was in the hands of Prime Minister Yang Ying, Shumi envoy Guo Wei and other ministers who were in charge of their orders. Liu Chong had an old grudge with Guo Weisu, so he was upset. He listened to Zheng Gong's advice, and in the name of defending Khitan, he recruited warriors, recruited the dead, repaired the armour, enriched the Treasury, and expanded the troops to protect himself. He also stopped donating money to the court and refused to follow the imperial edicts.

In the third year of Qianyou (950), Liu Chengyou forced him to fight against Guo Wei, but he was killed in Guo Wei's rebellion. Guo Wei completely controlled the politics of the later Han Dynasty, but he did not dare to be emperor immediately because he did not get the support of the ministers in the court. So he asked Feng Dao, the prime minister, to welcome Liu Fu, the festival envoy of Xuzhou, into Beijing, saying that he wanted to be emperor. Liu Fu is Liu Chong's son. Liu Chongben wanted to raise his troops to the south, and when he heard the news, he was glad to strike. In December of that year, Guo Wei was supported as emperor in the military coup in Chanzhou, and later Zhou Dynasty was established, which was known as Taizu in history. Liu Fu was demoted to Xiangyin. Liu Chong sent Li Fu to Beijing, hoping to get him to Taiyuan. But Liu was killed by now.

The establishment of the northern Han Dynasty

In the fourth year of Qianyou (951), Liu Chong became emperor in Taiyuan. He still took the Han Dynasty as the national name and continued to use the Qianyou year name, which was known as the northern Han Dynasty in history. Soon after he ascended the throne, he ordered his second son Liu Chengjun to lead the army to attack Jinzhou (now Linfen in Shanxi Province) and Xizhou (now Xixian County in Shanxi Province) under the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, but he returned in vain. At that time, the northern Han Dynasty was small and poor, unable to compete with the Later Zhou Dynasty. Liu Chong had to attach himself to the state of Liao, called him nephew to the emperor of Liao, and bribed him with a lot of money, hoping that the state of Liao would send troops to help him. Liao state canonized him as the Great Han Emperor.

In September of that year, Liu chongbing left yindiguan (in the southwest of Lingshi, Shanxi Province), and borrowed 5000 troops from Liao state to attack Jinzhou. He stayed in the army for more than 60 days, but he couldn't break the city. After hearing that Wang Jun, the secret envoy of Zhou Shu, led the army to help, he burned down the camp and withdrew. At that time, it was December, and it was in the middle of winter. There were days of heavy snow in Jinzhou, and the border people were all in danger. The Han army was short of food, and there was no food and grass along the way. All the soldiers were hungry and suffered heavy losses. By the time they returned to Taiyuan, nearly 40% of the soldiers and horses had been damaged.

In the fifth year of Qianyou (952), Liu Chong sent troops to attack Fuzhou (now Fugu in Shaanxi Province). The prefecture defense envoy zhe Dejian not only repelled the Han Army, but also seized the Kelan army under the rule of the northern Han Dynasty. Since then, Liu Chong changed his focus to defense, and no longer dared to invade Houzhou. At that time, the northern Han Dynasty not only had to support the army, but also paid tribute to Khitan. The domestic tax was so heavy that the people could not make a living. Most of the people fled into the territory of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Defeat Gao Ping

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In the first month of the seventh year of Qianyou (954), Guo Wei died of illness, and Chai Rong, his adopted son, ascended the throne. Liu Chong decided to take the opportunity to March south, and sent envoys to borrow troops from Liao. Liao General Yang Guan led 10000 cavalry troops and 50000 or 60000 tribal troops, known as 100000, to aid the northern Han Dynasty. Liu Min set up another 30000 troops, with Zhang Yuanhui as the vanguard, together with the Liao army to attack Luzhou (now Changzhi, Shanxi). Zhang Yuanhui defeated 3000 Luzhou garrison in Taipingyi (in the west of Xiangyuan, Shanxi Province) and entered Luzhou. When Chai Rong heard about the invasion of the northern Han Dynasty, he was determined to fight in person.

In March of that year, Chai Rong led his army northward to fight against the Han Army in Gaoping City of Zezhou. Liu Chong divided his troops into three formations, with Zhang Yuanhui as the East and Yang Guan as the West. He despised Zhou's lack of soldiers, did not listen to Yang gun's warning that he could not underestimate the enemy, and launched the attack first. At that time, the south wind was blowing, and the wind direction was unfavorable to the Han army. Wang Dezhong thought that he could not go to war at this time. Liu Chongchi retreated from Wang Dezhong and ordered Zhang Yuanhui to attack the right wing of Zhou army against the wind. Zhou generals fan AI Neng and he Hui led their troops to flee, and their soldiers surrendered to the Han army one after another, chanting long live and shaking the valley. Chai Rong was shocked and personally led his own soldiers to supervise the battle. When the emperor was in battle, the Zhou army all gave up their lives to move forward.

Liu Chong learned that Chai Rong came out and ordered Zhang Yuanhui to take advantage of the victory. As a result, Zhang Yuanhui was defeated and killed by the Zhou army. The morale of the Han army fell sharply. At this time, the south wind was stronger, and the Zhou army met with the wind and defeated the Han army. Liu Chong personally waved the flag to stop the troops, but he couldn't stop the collapse. He didn't collect more than ten thousand troops until the evening and set up a defense in linhejian. However, because Liu Chong did not listen to his own warning, Yang gun was always uncertain about his troops and watched the defeat of the Han army. Soon after, Zhou General Liu CI led the Houjun to capture Liu Chong's luggage, weapons and chariots. Liu Chongli did his best to escape to Taiyuan.

Die of grief and indignation

Chai Rong had a trim in Luzhou, killed the defeated generals such as fan Aineng and he Hui, and then led the army to encircle Taiyuan. He besieged Taiyuan for two months, but failed to break it. At that time, Zhou generals Fu Yanqing and Shi Yanchao stationed in Xinkou (now Xinzhou, Shanxi Province) to defend the Liao state, but they were defeated by the Liao army. Chai rongsui withdrew his troops and left in June. At this point, the northern Han Dynasty was greatly weakened and could no longer go south. Liu Chong became ill with anxiety and indignation, and he never got sick.

In November of the seventh year of Qianyou (954), Liu Chong was seriously ill and ordered Liu Chengjun to supervise the state. Soon after, Liu Chong died of illness and Liu Chengjun ascended the throne.

In April of the ninth year of Qianyou (956), Liu Chong was buried in the north mountain of Jiaocheng (in today's Jiaocheng, Shanxi Province), and his temple was named Shizu.

Political initiatives

After Liu Chong became emperor, he took Zheng Gong as the Minister of Zhongshu, Zhao Hua as the Minister of Hubu, and became the prime minister. He also appointed Liu Chengjun as the commander of bodyguard, Li Cungui as the defense envoy of daizhou, Zhang Yuanhui as the commander of Mabu, and Chen Guangyu as the xuanhui envoy. He ruled only Bingzhou, Fenzhou, Xinzhou, daizhou, Lanzhou, Xianzhou, Longzhou, Weizhou, Qinzhou, liaozhou, Linzhou and Shizhou, so he didn't build the ancestral temple. The monthly salary to the prime minister was only 100 yuan, and the monthly salary to the governor was only 30 yuan.

During Liu Chong's reign, he submitted to Liao state and became a father son state in exchange for Liao's military support. In the first year after he ascended the throne, he successively sent Li Lei, the Minister of general affairs, Zheng Gong, Wei Rong, the academician of Hanlin, and Wang Dezhong, the direct Bachelor of privy, to the state of Liao, either to send a large amount of money to bribe, or to thank the state of Liao for establishing the emperor of the northern Han Dynasty, or to celebrate the emperor's accession to the throne.

Anecdotes and allusions

Regret killing Li Xiang

Guo Wei was born in a humble family. When he was young, he once had a flying bird tattooed on his neck, so he was nicknamed Guo queer. After Guo Wei's mutiny, he wanted to make Liu Fu Emperor. At that time, people knew that this was not Guo Wei's original intention, but Liu Chong believed it and said happily, "my son is the emperor. What else can I worry about?" He immediately sent messengers to Bianliang. Guo Wei pointed to the tattoo on his neck and said to the emissary, "since ancient times, has there been a carved emperor? Go back and tell Mr. Liu, please don't be suspicious of me. " Liu Min is more convinced.

Li Xiang, Taiyuan Shaoyin, said to Liu Chong, "Guo Wei's rebellion is no longer a Han Dynasty official. He certainly will not make Liu's descendants emperor. You should set up troops to go south to Taihang, control Mengjin, and wait and see the situation. If Guo Weizhen establishes Liu Fu as emperor, you should go back to town. " But Liu Chongfei didn't listen to him. Instead, he scolded: "you are a corrupt scholar. Do you want to separate the relationship between my father and my son?" He ordered Li to be decapitated. Li Xiang sighed: "I give advice for a fool. I deserve to die. My wife is ill and she can't live when I die. Let her die with me. " Liu Chong executed Li's wife and reported Li's affairs to the imperial court to show his heart.

However, it was not long before Guo Wei deposed Liu Fu, who was called the emperor of Han Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Liu Min