Liu Sheng

Liu Sheng

Liu Sheng (920-958), formerly known as Liu Hongxi, was born in Panyu county (now Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province). He was the third emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, the fourth son of Liu Xun, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and the younger brother of Liu Fen, the emperor of Han Dynasty.

Liu Sheng was originally the king of Jin Dynasty. After Liu Fen ascended the throne, he was proud and extravagant, ignored political affairs, was immoral, and was suspicious of his younger brothers. Therefore, Liu Sheng had the intention of coup. In the second year of Guangtian (943), Liu Sheng killed his elder brother, Liu Fen, and became a new leader. Liu Sheng was born with sexual immorality and tyranny. After his success, he used the powerful criminal law to rule the people, killed the old ministers, his brothers and nephews, and brought his nieces into the harem. He also appointed eunuchs and maids to govern, which made the national strength of the Southern Han Dynasty increasingly weak. In the sixth year of Qianhe (948), Liu Sheng sent troops to attack the southern Chu. Soon after, the southern Chu was in civil strife. In the ninth year of Qianhe (951), when the southern Chu was destroyed by the Southern Tang Dynasty, he occupied the southern part of the southern Chu mountains. In 956, Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Zhou Dynasty, calmed down Jiangbei. Liu Sheng panicked and sent people to pay tribute to the capital of the Later Zhou Dynasty. However, he was stopped by the southern Chu state and his attempt failed.

In the 16th year of Qianhe (958), Liu Sheng selected a tomb site in the north of the city and built it. Liu Sheng inspected it himself. He died in the autumn of the same year at the age of 39. Posthumous title Wenwu Guangsheng emperor Mingxiao, temple Zhongzong, Mausoleum Zhaoling. Liu Wei succeeded to the throne.

Life of the characters

Brother killing ascends the throne

Liu Sheng was appointed king of Qin at the beginning and then king of Jin. In 942, his father Liu Fan died and his brother Liu Fen ascended the throne. After Liu Fen ascended the throne, he committed many acts of immorality and cruelty, and everyone hated him. In the second year of Guangtian (943), Liu Sheng and his younger brother Liu Hongchang, the king of Yue, killed Liu Fen and became emperor. He changed his name to Ying Qian. Liu Hongchang was the marshal of troops and horses, in charge of political affairs, Liu Honggao was the deputy marshal, and Liu Wenxiang was appointed as a meritorious official. After Liu Sheng killed his brother Liu Fen, his name was not right and his words were not right. He was afraid that people would not accept him, so he used torture to convince them. Later, Liu Honggao repeatedly demanded to fight against the rebels and secretly advised Liu Sheng to kill him to eliminate the criticism. Liu Sheng was furious and asked the emissary to summon Liu Honggao into the palace in the middle of the night. Liu Honggao knew that it was inevitable to die, so he asked the emissary to wait for a moment, wash his body, go to the Buddha statue and say, "Hong Gao was born into the palace, and was killed today! May future generations be reborn in the people's home and avoid massacre. " He said goodbye to his family in tears, then went to call, and was killed. In the winter of the same year, Liu Sheng offered sacrifices to heaven in the southern suburbs and changed his name to Qianhe. His officials respected him as the great sage, the great emperor of civil and military power, the great emperor of Ming Dynasty and the emperor of daodaguang filial piety.

Kill the minister and kill the younger brother

In the summer of the second year of Qianhe (944), Liu Hongchang was sent to Haiqu to worship emperor Xiang's Mausoleum and Changhua palace. Liu Sheng asked robbers to kill Liu Hongchang. Since Liu Sheng killed Liu Honggao, he had a heart trouble with his younger brothers. Liu Hongchang was the most talented. He wanted to make him emperor. Liu Sheng hated him very much, so he killed him first. Liu Hongze, the king of the town, was in charge of Yongzhou. His political achievements were good. This year, the Phoenix appeared in Yongzhou. Liu Sheng was angry and poisoned Liu Hongze. The rest of his brothers were killed one after another.

In the third year of Qianhe (945), he killed his younger brother Liu Hongya and five other people. After Liu died, Chen Daoxiang was afraid and uneasy. His friend Deng Shen gave Xun Yue's Han Ji to him. Chen Daoxiang was baffled. Deng Shen scolded him: "stupid! Han Xin was killed, Peng Yue was chopped, all in this book! " Chen Daoxiang woke up and was even more afraid. Liu Sheng was furious when he heard about it. He arrested Chen Daoxiang and Deng Shen in prison, then killed them in the city and destroyed their nine ethnic groups. Ren youpushewang turned into a British assassin and was killed on the way. In 947, Liu Sheng killed all his younger brothers Liu Hongbi, Liu Hongdao, Liu Hongyi, Liu Hongji, Liu Hongjian, Liu Hongjian, Liu Hongwei and Liu Hongzhao in one day.

Propose to Nan Chu

In the sixth year of Qianhe (948), Liu Sheng sent the work department doctor and zhizhigao Zhong Yunzhang to propose to Nanchu, but Nanchu did not agree. After Zhong Yunzhang came back, Liu Sheng said, "can ma Gong rule the south again?" At that time, Ma Xiguang had just ascended the throne, and Ma Xihe started his army in Wuling. There was a great chaos in southern Chu. Zhong Yunzhang said that he could attack Southern Chu. Liu Sheng then sent his colossus commander Wu Xun and internal Envoy Wu Huaien to attack Hezhou. After the attack, the southern Chu army came to rescue. Wu Xun dug a big pit under the city, covered the pit with a reed mat, and scattered soil on the mat. The southern Chu army came to the bottom of the city and fell into the pit, thousands died, and the southern Chu army was defeated. Wu Yu and others attacked Guizhou and the five prefectures of Lian, Yi, Yan, Wu and Meng. They attacked all the prefectures and plundered them.

Drunk to kill actors

In the winter of the ninth year of Qianhe (951), pan chongche, an envoy, was sent to attack Chenzhou. The soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty met pan chongche there. They defeated the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty in Yizhang, captured Chenzhou and occupied the south of the southern Chu mountains. Liu Sheng was very proud. He sent the commander of the great ship Ji Yanfu to the sea to plunder merchants' gold and silk and enrich their palaces. So Liu had several hundred palaces, including Nangong, Daming, Changhua, Ganquan, Wanhua, Xiuhua, Yuqing and Taiwei. Lin Yanyu, a eunuch, and Lu qiongxian, a palace man, were arbitrary in killing people inside and outside. He often drank wine at night and even got drunk. He put the melon on the neck of the actor Shang Yu Lou, pulled out his sword and chopped the melon to test his sword. At the same time, he cut off his neck. When he woke up the next day, he called the waiter of Yulou. He said that he had been killed. Liu Sheng just sighed. In the 10th year of Qianhe (952), Wang Jinkui of Hunan led 50000 soldiers to attack Chenzhou with xigudong barbarians. Pan chongche defeated Wang Jinkui in Ho Shi and killed more than ten thousand enemies.

Seal a son to surrender

In 953, Liu Sheng was critically ill, and his son Liu Jixing was appointed king of Wei, Liu Xuanxing king of GUI, Liu Qingxing king of Jing, Liu Baoxing king of Xiang, and Liu Chongxing king of Mei.

In 954, Liu Sheng went down to work. At that time, Wu Changjun of Jiaozhou sent envoys to be ministers and asked for a Jie Yue. Wu Changjun is the son of Wu Quan. Wu Quan occupied Jiaozhou since Liu He. Liu He once sent Liu Hongcao to attack. Liu Hongcao died and gave up the attack. After Wu Quan's death, his son Wu Changji ascended the throne. After Wu Changji's death, his younger brother Wu Changjun ascended the throne. After Wu ascended the throne, he became a minister to Liu Sheng. Liu Sheng sent Li Yu to bring banners to Baizhou. Wu Changjun asked people to stop him. Li Yu said, "pirates make trouble. The road is blocked." Li Yu did not dare to move forward. In the same year, Liu Sheng killed his younger brother Liu Hongmiao.

Gong Zhou died

In the 13th year of Qianhe (955), Liu Sheng killed his younger brother Liu Hongzheng, so Liu's sons were killed. In the third year of Xiande (956), Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of the Zhou Dynasty, calmed down Jiangbei. Liu Sheng panicked and sent people to pay tribute to the capital of the Later Zhou Dynasty, but they were stopped by the southern Chu. Liu Sheng was very worried. Liu Sheng once said that he knew astrology. In June of the same year, he watched the sky in Ganquan palace, and there was an eclipse between niunvxing. After reading the astrology book, Liu Sheng immediately threw it underground and sighed, "who can live forever since ancient times?" From then on, I indulged in drinking all night.

In the 16th year of Qianhe (958), Liu Sheng inspected the site of the tomb and built it in the north of the city. In the autumn of the same year, he died at the age of 39. His posthumous title is emperor Wenwu Guangsheng Mingxiao. His temple is Zhongzong and his mausoleum is Zhaoling. His son Liu Wei ascended the throne.

Character evaluation

General comments

Liu Sheng was born with sexual immorality and tyranny. After his success, he used the powerful criminal law to rule the people, killed the old ministers, his brothers and nephews, and brought his nieces into the harem. In a few years, the Liu family was almost killed by him. He also built a living hell, with all kinds of boiling water pots, iron scorched beds and so on. People who commit minor faults suffer from their punishment. When the Ma brothers of the southern Chu Dynasty fought each other, Liu Sheng took advantage of this opportunity to send troops to attack the counties in Guilin, Binzhou, Lianzhou, Wuzhou and Hezhou. All of them were conquered and all of them owned the land of South Vietnam.

Historical evaluation

In the history of the Old Five Dynasties by Xue Juzheng and others, we can see that "Liu Sheng's domination of the Antarctic was due to many things in the Central Plains. When he met Chang Dynasty, he was exhausted and died (2) Sheng's sudden sexual outburst; and (3) often drunk at night

Ouyang Xiu's new history of the Five Dynasties: "Sheng's nature is rigid and taboo, so he can't be a minister, but he can only be a eunuch, maidservant Yanyu and qiongxian."

Anecdotes

Cruel emperor Liu Sheng 18 brothers killed 15

In the second year of Guangtian (943), Liu Sheng killed his elder brother Liu Fen in order to win the throne. After Liu Fen was killed, Liu Sheng became emperor from an assistant. Liu Hongchang, his fifth brother, and Liu Honggao, his tenth brother, were appointed marshal and deputy marshal respectively. With the increase of power, Liu Sheng's suspicion became more and more serious. In order to consolidate his position, Liu Sheng waved the butcher's knife again and again. The second brother Liu Sheng killed was his former ally Liu Honggao.

Liu Hongchang, the fifth son, is the most virtuous among all the scholars. And before Liu's death, he planned to be the crown prince. Therefore, after Liu Honggao was killed, Liu Hongchang, the Grand Marshal of the army and horse, became Liu Sheng's next target. Liu Hongchang and their eighth brother Liu Hongze were killed in the same year. In 945, Liu Sheng killed Liu Hongya, the seventh younger brother of Shao king. At the same time, Liu thought and Chen Daoxiang, who had made great contributions to the title of emperor, suffered from the end of a dead dog. Chen Daoxiang, in particular, was not only beheaded and abandoned, but also his whole family was devastated.

In 947, Liu Sheng carried out the largest scale killing and cleansing of the surviving brothers. On the same day, eight brothers were killed at the same time! They are: Liu Hongbi, the sixth brother king of Qi, Liu Hongwei, the 11th brother king of Xi, Liu Hongjian, the 13th brother king of Tong, Liu Hongjian, the 14th brother king of Yi, Liu Hongji, the 15th brother king of Bian, Liu Hongdao, the 16th brother king of GUI, Liu Hongzhao, the 17th brother king of Xuan, and Liu Hongyi, the 19th brother king of Ding. The reason why they were killed naturally stems from Liu Sheng's suspicion. However, the specific process of their killing is unknown in the history books. After the massacre, Liu Sheng finally stopped killing his hands and feet. In fact, only three of Liu Sheng's brothers were left. In 954, Hongmiao, the 12th brother of Gaowang, was killed. In 955, Wang Hongzheng was killed.

Liu Sheng has 18 brothers.

Chinese PinYin : Liu Sheng