Liu Shao

Liu Shao

Liu Shao (424-453, May 27) was born in Pengcheng County, Xuzhou (now Tongshan District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province). The fourth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, the eldest son of Liu Yilong, the Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, whose mother was the queen yuan Qigui.

In the first year of Yuanjia (424), he was born in Jiankang. He loved to read history books, especially martial arts. When he was six years old, he became the crown prince of Song Dynasty. The opposition to the northern expedition of Yuanjia was in contradiction with Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty. Under the instigation of Yan Daoyu, a witch, he practiced witchcraft privately, which prompted Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty to abolish it.

In 453, Liu Jun, king of Shixing, joined hands with him to launch a coup. He broke into the palace and killed his father. He became emperor and changed the Yuan Dynasty. Liu Jun, the king of Wuling, was defeated and killed. He was 30 years old and had been in power for only three months. He was known as the "culprit" in history books.

Life of the characters

Family background

Liu Shao was the eldest son of Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty, and his mother was queen yuan. Liu Yilong ascended the throne in the first year of Yuanjia (424). He gave birth to Liu Shao in that year. However, because he was mourning his father at that time, it was not announced. He didn't announce the birth of Liu Shao until the first month of the third year of Yuanjia (426).

The East Palace

Liu Yongfu was born in the sixth year of emperor Jiafu. Liu Yilong not only built a beautiful palace for Liu Shao, but also led two imperial guards to zhiyongfu province.

In the 15th year of Yuanjia (438), Liu Shao got married and formally moved to the east palace. In the next year (439), he gave a crown ceremony. He loved to read history books, especially military affairs, personally managed the affairs of the East Palace, and often recruited guests in the east palace.

At that time, Liu Yilong was very fond of Liu Shao and complied with his requirements. The strength of the eastern palace guard was even the same as that of the imperial guards. Later, Liu Yilong increased the guard power of the East Palace, so that the east palace had ten thousand soldiers.

In 440, Liu Shao was ordered out of Beijing and went north to Jingkou to worship Xingning Mausoleum (the mausoleum of emperor Xiaomu Liu Qiao). Liu Yikang, the great general of Pengcheng, Liu Yigong, the king of Sikong Jiangxia, Liu Sheng, the king of jingling, and Liu Yirong, the Marquis of Shangshu Guiyang, were all accompanied.

In the 27th year of Yuanjia (450), Liu Yilong, inspired by Jiang Zhan, a trusted minister, launched a war against the Northern Wei Dynasty in spite of the opposition of Liu Shao and other officials. However, the war was disadvantageous and the Wei army counterattacked Guabu on the North Bank of the Yangtze River. Liu Yilong deployed defense along the river and ordered Liu Shao to lead the water army out of the stone town. At that time, Liu Shao said to Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty: "the northern expedition was defeated and humiliated, several states were destroyed, and the only way to kill Jiang Zhan was to thank the whole world." But he was rejected by Liu Yilong.

Later, the Northern Wei Dynasty showed the intention of making peace. Liu Yilong called all the ministers together to discuss, but Jiang Zhan strongly opposed it on the ground that "Rong Di had no faith". Liu Shao scolds Jiang Zhan on the spot, and orders his entourage to push Jiang Zhan when he disperses, almost pushing him to the ground.

In the 28th year of Yuanjia (451), the Wei army withdrew and returned to the north. Liu Shao also returned to the East Palace from the stone city. At that time, the relationship between Liu Shao and Jiang Zhan was very bad. In order to mediate their conflicts, Liu Yilong specially ordered Liu Shao to employ the daughter of Zhanjiang as his daughter-in-law. However, Liu Shao still hated Jiang Zhan very much and did not invite him to every banquet. He often called Jiang Zhan a "sycophant" in front of Liu Yilong and suggested that Liu Yilong alienate Jiang Zhan. However, Liu Yilong always trusted Jiang Zhan very much.

The curse of witchcraft

Empress yuan was dissatisfied with Liu Yilong's fondness for pan Shufei and became ill with resentment, resulting in her death. Liu Shao hated pan Shufei and his son Liu Jun, the king of Shixing. Liu Jun knew that it was not good for him to have a grudge with the prince, so he flattered Liu Shao in every way, and finally became a close friend with Liu Shao. At that time, there was a witch named Yan Daoyu in Wuxing, who claimed to be able to control ghosts. She was implicated in her husband's crime and was buried in the government. Liu Shao and Liu Jun got to know Yan Daoyu through their sister parrot, the maidservant queen in Princess Dongyang's mansion, and they believed in her Taoism.

Liu Shao and Liu Jun have many faults in private. They are worried that they will be blamed by Liu Yilong. At the instigation of Yan Daoyu, they secretly bury a jade statue like Liu Yilong in front of Hanzhang hall and curse Liu Yilong with witchcraft. At that time, Wang Yingwu, Chen Tianxing, a slave in Princess mansion, and Qing Guo, a eunuch, all participated in the witchcraft. Liu Shao also transferred Chen Tianxing to the east palace guard and gave him a team leader position. After the death of Princess Dongyang, Wang parrot should get married. In order to keep the secret of witchcraft, Liu Shao conspired with Liu Jun to marry Wang parrot to Liu Jun's house and assist Shen Huaiyuan as his concubine.

Liu Yilong later learned about Chen Tianxing's being taken as the leader of the team by a slave and Wang Yingwu's marriage, so he sent a eunuch to interrogate Liu Shao. Liu Shao argued that Chen Tianxing was given the post because of his strong health, and said Wang Yingwu had not married. Liu Yilong did not follow up. But Liu Shao is still not at ease, but also wrote to Liu Jun, and he unified caliber. At that time, Liu Jun was guarding Southern Xuzhou, far away from Jingkou. In his reply, he openly mentioned treason, saying that if Liu Yilong continued to pursue, he would let Yan Daoyu remove him.

Wang Yingwu had been having an affair with Chen Tianxing before. After she married Shen Huaiyuan, she worried that things would be revealed, so she instigated Liu Shao to assassinate Chen Tianxing and kill him. Chen Tianxing's death scared eunuch Qingguo. Fearing that he would be killed, he told Liu Yilong about witchcraft. Liu Yilong immediately ordered people to capture Wang parrot, and found hundreds of letters between Liu Shao and Liu Jun in her home, all about curses and witchcraft. The jade statues buried in front of Hanzhang hall were also excavated. It was July 452, the 29th year of Yuanjia.

Liu Yilong was angry, ordered a thorough investigation of witchcraft, and criticized Liu Shao and Liu Jun. Liu Shao and his wife were speechless, but they kept pleading guilty. Liu Yilong's anger was relaxed, and he did not deeply study the witchcraft of Liu Shao and Liu Jun. At that time, although the witchcraft was exposed, Yan Daoyu had already absconded. Liu Yilong sent envoys to search for Yan Daoyu, but they couldn't catch him. Yan Daoyu disguised himself as a nun and hid in the east palace. Later, he was taken to Jingkou by Liu Jun and lived in Zhang you's home.

Patricide and usurpation of the throne

In February of 453, Liu Jun was transferred to be the governor of Jingzhou. He took Yan Daoyu back to Jiankang and planned to take him to Jingzhou. At this time, someone reported to Liu Yilong that there was a nun in Zhang Ao's family, who was very similar to Yan Daoyu and often went in and out of Liu Jun's house. Liu Yilong didn't believe it at first. He ordered people to investigate in Jingkou. He learned the truth from two maidservants who had served Yan Daoyu. He was angry and sad to learn that the two sons still had contacts with Yan Daoyu, so he decided to depose Liu Shao and kill Liu Jun.

Liu Yilong summoned Wang Seng Chuo, Xu zhanzhi and Jiang zhanzhi to discuss in secret, but there were differences in the selection of the new crown prince. At that time, Liu Jun, the king of Wuling, was ranked after Liu Shao and Liu Jun among the princes, but he was not favored, so he was excluded from the selection of crown prince. Liu Yilong wanted to establish Liu Hong, the king of Jianping, but Xu zhanzhi supported his son-in-law to follow the king's birthday, while Jiang Zhan supported his brother-in-law, Liu Shuo, the king of Nanping. Wang Seng Chuo worried that the secret might be leaked and urged Liu Yi long to make a quick decision. However, Liu Yi Long was always hesitant and could not make a decision for many days.

At the same time, Liu disclosed these plans to pan Shufei. Pan Shufei tells her son Liu Jun about this, and Liu Jun immediately reports it to Liu Shao. In order to protect himself, Liu Shao decided to take the lead in launching a coup and killing Liu Yilong, so he and his confidants Zhang Chaozhi, Chen Shuer, Zhan Shuer and Ren Jianzhi planned to fight. Every night, he held a banquet for the imperial guards of the eastern palace, and even toasted himself to win the hearts of the people. Up to this time, Liu Yilong still failed to make a decision on the abolition of the crown prince.

On the evening of February 20, Liu Shao ordered Zhang Chaozhi to gather more than 2000 trusted officers and soldiers to set up an incident in the early morning of the next day. He called Xiao bin, the former Prince's concubine, Zuo Wei, Yuan Shu, Yin Zhongsu, the prince's Zhongshe, and Wang Zhengjian, the prince's general Ji Nu, to the East Palace, asking them to help with the incident. Both Xiao bin and Yuan Shu expressed their opposition and asked Liu Shao to reconsider. Liu Shao was furious. Scared, Xiao bin immediately changed his position and expressed his support. Yuan Shu still insisted on opposing the coup, but failed to shake Liu Shao's determination.

At five o'clock in the morning the next day, Liu Shao boarded the car and was ready to leave. He was wearing a military uniform under the red robe. He first killed Yuan Shu, who had never been willing to cooperate with the action, in front of Fenghua gate. Then he took a chariot with Xiao bin and led the eastern palace guards to Taicheng (Jiankang palace city) as usual, and arrived at Wanchun gate. According to the court system, the eastern palace guards were not allowed to enter Taicheng. However, Liu Shao pretended that he was ordered to lead soldiers into the palace to collect money. He forced the guard sergeant to open the Wanchun gate and successfully brought the guards into Taicheng.

Zhang Chaozhi led dozens of people to rush into Yunlong gate and zhaige first. At that time, Liu Yilong and Xu zhanzhi had a secret discussion all night in the hall (Hanzhang hall in the book of Wei), while the soldiers on duty were still resting. Zhang Chaozhi and others broke in and chopped Liu Yilong and Xu zhanzhi to death. Liu Shao then rushed to he Dian Zhong Ge and sat down in the East Hall. Xiao bin was the bodyguard with a knife. He sent people to kill Jiang Zhan who was on duty in Shangshu Province, and ordered people to break into the harem and kill pan Shufei. Bu Tianyu, the general of the Imperial Army, led his small battle team to attack Dongtang, but he was defeated and killed.

Liu Shao controls Taicheng and sends Zhang Chaozhi to call Liu Jun to come. Despite the dissuasion of Zhu Fayu and General Wang Qing, Liu Jun went straight to Taicheng. Liu Shao ordered Liu Jun to lead his troops to garrison in the central hall. In the name of Liu Yilong, he summoned the Taiwei, Liu Yigong, king of Jiangxia, and Shang Shu to order he Shangzhi into the palace, forcing them to express their support for the coup. Then he ascended to the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor. He changed the 30th year of Yuanjia to the 1st year of Taichu. He blamed Xu zhanzhi and Jiang Zhan for killing the emperor and claimed to fight against the traitors. At that time, only a few dozen officials entered the palace to celebrate.

After Liu Shao ascended the throne, he said he was ill and hid in Yongfu province. He refused to come out easily. Even Liu Yilong's funeral ceremony was not attended because he was seriously ill. He didn't wear mourning clothes until the end of the funeral

Chinese PinYin : Liu Shao