Chapter 35 Fourteen, the culprit is evil

In the twenty-ninth year of Yuanjia, the Liu Song regime was also in crisis, and a civil strife was brewing.But before that, we have to talk about the third Northern Expedition launched by Emperor Song Wen. The Huai and Si areas, which were ravaged by Xianbei iron cavalry, have not yet recovered from the war. The news of the infighting in the northern court and the death of Tuoba Tao reached the ears of the monarchs and ministers in Jiangnan Jiankang.The failure of the previous year made Emperor Song Wen feel deeply humiliated. He believed that this was Tuoba Tao's retribution, and God gave him a good opportunity to avenge him.Lu Shuang, the governor of Jingzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty who abandoned the city and fled during the last Northern Expedition, was afraid of being convicted, so he dragged his family south with his younger brother Lu Xiu and others to Liu Song and surrendered to Liu Shuo.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was overjoyed, and made him the governor of Sizhou, guarding Yiyang, and made Lu Xiu the prefect of Yingchuan.Lu Shuang often wrote letters to encourage Emperor Wen of Song to attack Wei. Emperor Wen of Song healed his scar, forgot the pain, and couldn't wait to plan the Northern Expedition again.

He Yan, Shen Qingzhi and others, the prince's concubine, believed that the northern and southern states of the Huai River had not recovered from the devastation, so it was not appropriate to use troops rashly, but Emperor Wen refused to listen.Liu Xingzu, the governor of Qingzhou, suggested: "There are hungry people everywhere in Henan, and there is nothing for the army to plunder; you might as well drive Hebei, enter Zhongshan, guard the passes and dangerous points, and go straight to the heartland of Wei State. The people north of Jizhou will definitely come to work with food, grass and property At that time, we will use the Henan army to cross the Yellow River in the north, resist the Taihang in the west, and defend the military capital in the north (now Juyongguan). If we succeed, the unification will be just around the corner. Emperor Wen was surprised when he saw such a bold idea.Although he wanted to recover the north, his current courage was only to recover Henan, and he didn't dare to have extravagant dreams.Liu Xingzu's creative suggestion was also rejected.

This time the Northern Expedition followed the traditional route along three routes: on the east route, General Fujun Xiao Sihua, governor of Jizhou Governor Zhang Yong, etc. led the Song Army to attack Fufu; Lieutenant General Cheng Tianzuo led 40,000 Jingzhou troops to advance to Xuchang and Luoyang; on the west road, Zang Zhi, the governor of Yongzhou who performed well in the last Northern Expedition, led his troops to attack Tongguan. After Zhang Yong surrounded Fufen, the Song army attacked in three directions: east, west, and south. However, the combat effectiveness of the Song army was like a weasel's cubs-one generation is not as good as the next.In the Northern Expedition in the early years of Yuanjia, the Wei army retreated first and then advanced, and the Song army still occupied the four towns in Henan for several months; The army besieged Fengfen for nearly a month, but they couldn't beat it.

Wei Jun's defense of the city is becoming more and more confident and experienced, which can be regarded as growing through continuous practice and learning.The guards in the city dug through the tunnel, rushed out suddenly, burned the equipment of the Song army to attack the city, and burned the Song army's barracks.Zhang Yong saw that if the fight continued, it would be his turn to be attacked, so he made his own claim and withdrew the siege without notifying the generals.The soldiers of the Song army were unprepared and were disturbed. The Wei army took advantage of the chaos to attack, and the Song army's blood flowed into rivers, causing huge losses.

The warlord Xiao Sihua was furious, and personally led the army from Licheng to reinforce, and attacked with all his strength, but was still frustrated.The crops in Qingzhou and Xuzhou were not yet ripe, and the soldiers of the Song Army could not get enough food supplies.Xiao Si had no choice but to order the withdrawal of the troops and return to Licheng. Zhang Yong and other siege generals were all sent to prison for questioning. (The front line of the Northern Expedition of the Song Army continued to move eastward and southward, and the power gap between the North and the South was undergoing subtle changes. More than ten years later, in the era of Emperor Song Ming, Huaibei’s Ji, Qing, and Yan states fell, and the Northern Expedition in the traditional sense is no longer feasible.)

The other two roads fought well. Lu Shuang's road attacked near Hulao, and Zang Zhi's road was approached by Liu Yuanjing and Xue An to Tongguan.Liu Xiuzhi, the governor of Liangzhou, also sent Sima Wang and Xiao Daocheng to attack Chang'an.Due to the failure of the East Road, these roads were unable to advance alone, so they had to return to Huainan.Emperor Song Wen's hasty last Northern Expedition, even in the face of the newly deceased Northern Wei Dynasty, failed to gain any advantage.The failure on the battlefield seemed to herald the coming of his own doom. Emperor Wen of Song had nineteen sons in total. The eldest son, Prince Liu Shao, was born when Emperor Wen of Song came to the throne.It stands to reason that it should be a good thing to have a prince at the beginning of his ascension to the throne.But it is said that someone has investigated the previous history. Since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, there is only one prince who was born to the queen after the emperor ascended the throne. Who is it?King Zhou, the last ruler of the Yin and Shang Dynasties.This kind of thing happened once in thousands of years, so Liu Shao happened to be involved.Emperor Wen of Song didn't believe in evil. He liked the eldest son very much, and made him the prince when he was six years old.

Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty later favored a concubine Shu named Pan, and neglected the original royal wife, Empress Yuan.The queen was jealous, sullen, and died of anger when Liu Shao was eighteen.Because of this incident, Liu Shao hated Concubine Pan Shu and her prince, Shixing King Liu Jun very much. Liu Jun is a man who understands current affairs. He knew that it would be bad for him to have a grudge against the prince in the future, so he deliberately approached Liu Shao, flattered him in every possible way, and became one with him.The two have changed from mortal enemies to best friends, and their relationship has become unusual.

Liu Shao has the appearance of a gentleman, and he is a standard handsome guy today, and he has a lot of money in his stomach, and he is both civil and military.But he and Tuobahuang faced the same problem, that is, his father never died while sitting in his seat, and his own prince was not allowed to take office until all the flowers withered.After waiting and waiting, he decided to "make some effort", and actually joined forces with Liu Jun to create witchcraft. Liu Shao's elder sister, Princess Dongyang's servant Wang Parrot, knew a folk witch named Yan Daoyu.This person claimed that he knew some spells, just like some so-called supernatural power masters today, which really bluffed Liu Shao and his brother.Together with Liu Jun, Liu Shao asked Yan Daoyu to carve a portrait of Emperor Wen of Song with jade, buried it in front of the hall, and cursed Emperor Wen to die early day and night.

Chen Tianxing, the servant of Princess Dongyang, and Chen Qingguo, the eunuch, were responsible for running errands and sending letters, so they knew the whole thing.At this time, the princess passed away. According to the regulations of the palace, the servants must be married.Liu Shao was worried that Wang Parrot's marriage would reveal secrets, so he found an honest and reliable subordinate in Liu Jun's mansion, and married Wang Parrot to her as a concubine.But Wang Parrot has been in the princess palace for so many years, and he has flirted with Chen Tianxing long ago.She was afraid that the affair would be leaked, so she found Liu Shao and asked him to send someone to kill Chen Tianxing.This frightened another insider, Chen Qingguo, who ran to Emperor Wen of Song and told the whole story about witchcraft.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was shocked, and ordered Wang Parrot to be arrested, and his house was searched. He found a pile of papers with spells written on them, and dug out the buried jade statue.

The strange thing is that Emperor Song Wen didn't immediately take punishment measures, but just reprimanded the two brothers Liu Shao, and went back to the palace and said to Concubine Pan Shu: "Liu Shao thinks that I can ascend to the throne and become rich after I die. It's been mixed in, how can you mother and child be without me for a day!" Emperor Wen of Song ordered people to hunt down Yan Daoyu who practiced witchcraft. In the second year, someone reported that Yan Daoyu had escaped from Liu Shao's palace to Liu Jun.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty was furious when he heard that Brother Liu Shao was still in contact with Yan Daoyu.Pan Shufei pleaded desperately, but to no avail.

Things went wrong with a bunch of scholars under Emperor Song Wen.Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty planned to abolish the prince and ordered Liu Jun to commit suicide, so he consulted with the servant Wang Sengchuo.Wang Sengchuo proposed to search for allusions since the Han and Wei Dynasties, and discussed with Xu Zhanzhi and Jiang Zhan how to abolish the crown prince.Ranked down by year, Liu Jun, the third son of Emperor Wen, should be the crown prince, but Emperor Wen never liked this son. Jiang and Xu have their own selfish intentions. Jiang Zhan's younger sister is the concubine of Liu Shuo, the fourth son of Emperor Wen. , Xu Zhanzhi's daughter is the concubine of Liu Dan, the sixth son, and they each recommend candidates who are beneficial to them, while the emperor himself prefers to appoint Liu Hong, the seventh son. He has been discussing with Xu Zhanzhi and others for several nights, hesitating.How can abolishing a major event be like a quarrel?I don't know which tendon is wrong. After discussing with Emperor Wen, he told Concubine Pan Shu all these thoughts. The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. Concubine Pan Shu secretly found her son Liu Jun and told him about the abolition of Li.Liu Jun sent someone to report quickly to Liu Shao.Liu Shao understood the urgency and acted quickly. One night in February of the 30th year of Yuanjia (453 A.D.), Liu Shao ordered his confidant Zhang Chaozhi and others to gather more than 2,000 soldiers from the East Palace. They were well-equipped, and they also summoned their subordinates Xiao Bin and others to explain the matter of entering the palace.Everyone was astonished and had no choice but to obey the prince's arrangement. Before dawn, Liu Shao put on a red robe over his armor, took the painting wheel cart with Xiao Bin, and drove all the way to the gate of Wanchun.Liu Shao falsely claimed to the guards that Emperor Wen had an edict, but the guards did not dare to stop them, and the armed troops from the Eastern Palace rushed into the palace. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty stayed up all night, and was talking with Xu Zhanzhi about the abolition of the establishment at night by candlelight in the inner palace, while the guards on duty were still sleeping.Zhang Chaozhi charged in with a knife, and Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty had no time to dodge, so he took up several cases in front of him to defend himself.Zhang Chaozhi's sword was fast, and he chopped off Emperor Wen's five fingers with one stroke. Emperor Wen immediately fainted from pain.Xu Zhanzhi wanted to escape from the north gate, but was surrounded by soldiers and hacked to death. At this time, Liu Shao and others had just entered the palace. Hearing that his father was dead, Liu Shao sat in the east hall and calmly directed the soldiers to continue the massacre. Everyone including Jiang Zhan who was on duty was killed. Run for your life. When it was over, Liu Shao said lightly to Liu Jun who came to meet him: "Concubine Pan Shu was killed by the rebels." Liu Jun responded: "This is exactly what I want to see." It's no wonder that "Book of Songs" has long defined the two of them: the second fierce.