Liu Yu

Liu Yu

Liu Yu (December 9, 439 to May 10, 472) was born in Pengcheng County, Xuzhou (now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province). The seventh emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty (466-472), the grandson of Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, the eleventh son of Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, and Liu Jun, Emperor Xiaowu of the Song Dynasty.

Liu Yu's mother died early and was brought up by Empress Dowager Lu, the mother of emperor Xiaowu. He was granted the title of King Huaiyang at the beginning and then the title of King Xiangdong at the end. He successively held important posts such as Secretary Supervisor, central guard, serving middle and guard, and leading general. After Liu ziye, the former Emperor, ascended the throne, he became the governor of Southern Yuzhou. In the first year of Jinghe (465), Liu ziye was killed and ascended the throne. In the early period of his reign, Liu Zixun's "Yijia difficulty" and Fangzhen rebellion were put down, which led to the occupation of Shandong and Huaibei areas by the Northern Wei Dynasty. In order to prevent Xiaowu emperor Liu Jun and other clansmen from seizing the throne, Liu Yu wantonly slaughtered imperial clans and meritorious officials, weakening the power of the ruling class, leading to the decline of the royal dynasty and the rise of the humble Military General Xiao Daocheng.

Taiyu first year (472), died of illness, when 34 years old, posthumous title Ming emperor, temple Title Taizong. He is fond of literary creation and has written two volumes of the Analects of Confucius annotated by Wei Yu.

Life of the characters

Early career

Liu Yu was born in the 16th year of Yuanjia (439). At the age of 10, he was granted the title of king of Huaiyang, eating 2000 households in the city; in the 29th year of Yuanjia (452), he was re granted the title of king of eastern Hunan. In 453, Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun ascended the throne. Because of the death of his mother Shen Rongji, the 15-year-old Liu Jun was brought up by his mother, Empress Dowager Lu. Liu Yu loved the Empress Dowager and often served her medicine, which was deeply loved by her. Liu Jun had always been suspicious of his brothers, but he was very close to Liu Yu. In addition to making Liu Yu successively serve as Secretary Supervisor, central guard army, Chamberlain and guard, leading general and other senior officials, he also made Liu Yu master a small part of military power in the capital and participate in confidential affairs.

Young Liu Yu is handsome and loves literary creation. According to the records in Song Shu Ming Di Ji, Liu Yu was "less and harmonious, elegant and elegant", "good at reading, love literature and righteousness, when he was in the vassal state, he wrote the annals of articles since Jiangzuo, and continued the two volumes of the Analects of Confucius annotated by Wei Yu. However, as an adult, Liu Yu lacked exercise and was very fat. It can be said that he had more literary talent and less martial arts.

Kill your nephew and stand on your own

In the eighth year of the Ming Dynasty (464), Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun died. Liu ziye, the former Emperor who succeeded to the throne, was quite violent. Liu ziye killed his uncle Liu Yigong, and he was suspicious of his uncle Liu Chang, forcing him to surrender to the Northern Wei Dynasty. He also put his uncles Liu Yu and Liu xiuren under house arrest in the palace, beating and insulting them wantonly, and even planning to kill Liu Yu. Liu Yu is fat and is called "king of pigs" by Liu ziye.

Liu Yu sent his trusted friend Ruan Dianfu and his bodyguard Shou Jizhi, who made friends with Liu ziye, to kill his nephew Liu ziye first, then accept the support of his younger brother Liu xiuren, ascend to the throne and change the Taishi Dynasty. At the same time, Liu zishang, Liu ziye's younger brother, and Liu Chuyu, his elder sister, were executed to control the military power of the capital.

The difficulty of Yijia

In the last month of Liu Yu's killing Liu ziye, because of Liu ziye's unconsciousness and unruly behavior, the governor of Jiangzhou and Deng Wan, who admitted to the kindness of emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty, joined the new governor of Yongzhou, Yuan Yu, to call on all sides to attack Liu ziye of Jiankang in the name of abolishing Hun and establishing Ming, and planned to support the 11 year old governor of Jiangzhou, Liu Zixun (the third son of emperor Xiaowu). But before Deng Wan's proclamation was issued, Liu Yu had already killed Liu ziye and made himself Emperor. Although some Jiangzhou officials advised Deng wan to admit Liu Yu's throne and not to take the risk of attacking Jiankang, Deng Wan thought that Liu Yu's improper position and killing Liu zishang, the son of emperor Xiaowu, would be easier to attack than Liu ziye, and would make Liu Zixun get the orthodox position. So Deng Wan cooperated with Yuan Yi, and on February 7, the second year of Taishi (466), he supported Liu Zixun to ascend the throne, named Yijia.

After Liu Zixun ascended the throne, he got the support and allegiance of the Zong Wang and Fang Zhen, so that the order of Liu Yu's regime could not go out of Jiankang city. What's more sinister is that Liu Zixun and other towns condemned Liu Yu for usurping the throne and supporting himself, and sent troops to attack Jiankang from all sides. At that time, Liu Yu's younger brothers were all in the central government, supporting Liu Yu's accession to the throne; Emperor Xiaowu's sons (Liu Zixun's younger brother) were mostly in the local government, supporting Liu Zixun (they were all under the age of 10, in fact, they were in power by signature), thus forming a situation of internal fighting between Emperor Wen's department and Emperor Xiaowu's Department, which was called "the difficulty of Yijia" (because almost all parts of the country used Liu Zixun's year name of Yijia).

Peace and loss of land

Although the territory and population of Liu Yu's regime were less than one tenth of that of Liu Zixun's regime, he took various positive measures by virtue of the small quantity and fine quality of the Central Army: first, he adopted the opinions of CAI Xingzong, a talented and famous man; second, he put Wu Xi, Shen Youzhi, Zhang Yong, Liu Yu, Xiao Daocheng and other military generals in high position; third, he delegated power to Liu xiuren and others to actively pacify the chaos. At that time, some of the generals' fathers, brothers and sons joined the rebel army. Liu Yu still appointed them to lead the Imperial Army, and they were all willing to serve. At the end of 466, Liu Zixun's regime was eliminated, Jiangnan and Huainan were pacified, and all the sons of emperor Xiaowu were killed.

After the rebellion was put down, most of the rebels were pardoned, and the talented ones were recommended and treated as the same as their original subordinates. However, Xue Andu and others in Fangzhen of Huaibei were suspicious and forced to ask for help from the Northern Wei Dynasty, so the Northern Wei Dynasty continued to conquer Huaibei and Shandong Peninsula in the interior of four years. Wars continued in the Liu and Song Dynasties, the national strength declined greatly, and the people suffered unbearably. In addition, the system of the gentry was seriously damaged because of wantonly rewarding the meritorious soldiers, which resulted in the confusion of the officials and the officials.

Extravagance and cruelty

Liu Yu's life was too extravagant, so he needed one thing. He often made 90 spare pieces, 30 for Zhengyu, 30 for Yuci and 30 for Fuyou. Fearing that his younger brothers would seize the throne of crown prince Liu Yu, he accepted the advice of his favorite ministers Wang Daolong and Ruan Dianfu and slaughtered his younger brothers Liu xiuren, Liu Xiuyou and Liu xiuruo. Only Liu Xiufan survived because he was mediocre and cowardly. After Wang Daolong and Ruan Dianfu came to power, they abused their authority, wantonly accepted bribes, sold officials and knights, and their wealth exceeded the national treasury. Liu Yu's killing at the same time may be harmful to the prince's important officials, such as the meritorious generals Shou Jizhi, Wu Xi and the famous scholar Wang Jingwen (the elder brother of empress Wang Zhenfeng and Liu Yu's elder brother-in-law). After Liu Yu's succession to the throne, the central and local military towns were suspicious of each other and attacked each other, which led to the rise of General Xiao Daocheng and finally usurped song Jianqi.

In January 472, Liu Yu died at the age of 34. The imperial edict ordered Cai Xingzong, yuan can, Chu Yuan, Liu Zhe, and Shen Youzhi to take charge of the internal and external important areas, and ordered Xiao Dao to become a guard and take charge of the important affairs. The crown prince, Liu Yu, was established. In fact, Wang Daolong and Ruan Dianfu, who accepted Liu Yu's secret orders, assisted new emperor Liu Yu, and controlled the power inside and outside the palace, were his closest followers. In May, Liu Yu was buried in Gaoning mausoleum in Mofu mountain, Linyi County.

personal works

Liu Yu was a good scholar when he was a vassal. He once wrote the annals of articles since Jiangzuo and continued the two volumes of the Analects annotated by Wei Yu. There are also poems handed down from generation to generation, such as ode to Emperor's career, ode to Emperor's ancestors, ode to tongguofeng, ode to Tianfu, ode to mingdesong, ode to Emperor's painting, ode to Longyue, ode to huaixiangfeng, ode to Zhibing and Ode to Baidan.

Character evaluation

Shen Yue's book of the Song Dynasty: "Taizong, because of his love for the gap, should not worry about cutting down the branches of the flood according to his own canon. Even though there is no shelter in the root, the young master is isolated, the artifact moves with weak power, and the spiritual life changes with the music, and the frost is gradually on the way, and the ice is coming, so it's far away! "

Pei ziye: "Jing he (Liu ziye) used to be sadistic, Taizong (Liu Yu) used to be confused and indulgent, and his teachers and travelers recommended him to be prosperous. He was despicable and oppressive. He had no record of the court. He was favored by the inside to discuss his safety, and the external things had already seen his defeat." "A man who eats a tiger knows that he loves his son; a bird who fights a beaver does not protect a different nest. Taizong (Liu Yu) protected the word moth sandflies, suppressed and pulled tongqi (slaughtered Brothers). He was obsessed with the original heaven, and did not know the nature of father and son (Liu Yu took care of other people's son). The end of song De is not the end of heaven. When the husband is in danger, he will abandon his own branch first, and then he will do evil to the emperor. The first one is to take a car, and then a bridle. If Uncle Zhong had a country, he would not have the heaven first. However, when he entered the house, he would sacrifice the seven temples. He was once Mo Huai and was willing to cut them off. Wu of Jin Dynasty was entrusted by civilization (SIMA Yan forced his younger brother Sima you to death), but empress Jia overthrew Zhongzhou; Taizu abandoned Chu Ning's oath (Liu Yilong poisoned his younger brother Liu Yikang), and the main culprit of denghe Temple (Liu Yilong was killed by the Prince). There is no way out for fortune or misfortune, Xi Qiyu! It's not safe to be friends with brothers! "

Fortunately, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was able to resist the emperor's arrogance and obscenity (Liu Jun and Liu Yu are so licentious and cruel that they are lucky to be free from being killed. How can they save their descendants?)

Mao Zedong: "Liu Yu's rule of Jiankang was against all sides. In internal operations, the enemy should be outnumbered and outnumbered. With CAI Xingzong as the leader and Liu xiuruo, Liu Xiuyou, Liu xiuren, Wu Xi, Ren Nongfu, Zhang Yong, Xiao Daocheng, Wang Daolong, Liu Zhe, Shen Youzhi, Huang Hui, Lu Anguo, Zhang Xingshi, and Liu Sizu as the generals, it can be said that the victory is amazing. "

Anecdotes and allusions

Pig King

Liu ziye, the former deposed emperor, was violent and insane. He worried that his uncles would rebel and recall them to Kyoto for imprisonment. Among them, Liu Yu, Liu xiuren and Liu Xiuyou were tall and strong, and they were older, which Liu ziye feared. Liu Yu was especially fat. Liu ziye called Liu Yu the king of pigs, Liu xiuren the king of killing, and Liu Xiuyou the king of thieves, beating and insulting him wantonly. He once asked people to dig a big pit on the ground, fill it with water and soil, mix it into a thin mud shape, and then scrape off Liu Yu's skin

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