Chapter 46 5. Xiao Daocheng made great achievements

Judging from Liu Yu's hobbies and habits when he was young, he should be very suitable to be an athlete, especially for sports such as skills and gymnastics.It's a pity that there was no Olympic Games in ancient times, and his talent could not "win glory for the country".However, if he can engage in folk performing arts activities, he should also be able to do his best. The sport he is best at is climbing poles, and he has a special feeling for tall cylindrical objects in the palace.He often climbed up the paint pole by as much as one foot, and his agility was unmatched by anyone.Regardless of how the little eunuchs who served him shouted, he would not come down until he had enjoyed himself before sliding down.

Not only is he very active, but he is also prone to beating and scolding. When he is angry, he will punch and kick the officials around him, completely depending on his likes and dislikes, and is moody.The officials went to Song Ming Emperor Liu Yu's side to complain. Liu Yu had high hopes for this "son", and of course he would not allow him to be so indulgent. He repeatedly ordered Chen Miaodeng to teach him a severe lesson. Not much. In any case, Liu Yugang, who was in his early ten years old, became the emperor, after all, he felt a little strange and fresh.His mother, Chen Miaodeng, became the imperial concubine, and Liu Yu was still a little afraid of her (so he played a lot when he was a child, after all, it can create a psychological deterrent); He is also somewhat afraid of the Minister of Gu Ming.So at the beginning, he was fairly well-behaved, he couldn't say anything good, but he didn't make a big mistake.

However, the careerists can't wait to change the sky, and the first one to act is the fish that slipped through the net after Liu Yu killed all his younger brothers-Guiyang King Liu Xiufan. The reason why Liu Xiufan survived was that he was really not worthy to die, and Liu Yu had no interest in killing him.It is recorded in the history that he "has no talent, and does not follow the direction of things", which may not be a kind of protective color.As soon as Liu Yu died, his tense nerves suddenly relaxed. He thought that among the royal family, no one could match him in terms of seniority, and his ambition continued to expand.This is quite comparable to Liu Yigong's complacency after Liu Jun's death ten years ago.Liu Yigong was made into a "ghost rice dumpling" by Liu Ziye, so what will happen to Liu Xiufan?

Perhaps the Liu clan, including the little emperor Liu Yu, would not have expected that Liu Xiufan's rebellion would fulfill an important figure not named Liu, and send Liu Song, a decadent dynasty that had been reduced to rubbish, into The dustbin of history. This person is Liu Yu's right guard general and servant Xiao Daocheng. Xiao Daocheng was born in the Xiao family in Lanling County, East China Sea.The four prominent families of the overseas Chinese gentry in the south gradually changed from Wang, Xie, Yu, and Huan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty to Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xiao after Liu Song.Xiao Jing, the last seat, is actually a little unqualified, because the first three clans are basically families that have played a pivotal role in the politics of the Southern Dynasty since the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.Since Xiao Daocheng's great-grandfather Xiao Zheng traveled southward to Wujin County in Jinling during the Yongjia Rebellion, the Xiao clan did not make much achievements, so Xiao Daocheng once said that he came from the commoner Han clan, not all self-effacing. "If you don't make a song, you will be a blockbuster." In the 170-year history of the Southern Dynasty, Xiao Zheng's descendants actually established Qi and Liang dynasties consecutively, and they ruled for nearly 80 years. The dynasty lasted for more than a hundred years. Such brilliance is probably beyond the reach of the Wang, Xie, and Yuan clans.

Xiao Daocheng became famous later, and felt that he wanted to design his ancestral background to be more honorable, so he rewrote the family tree and called Xiao He, the founder of the Han Dynasty, his ancestor. This is far-fetched at all.Therefore, Li Yanshou later compiled "Southern History", which did not include this statement.However, if this genealogy is true, then it would be a very intriguing thing for Xiao He's "descendants" to take over Liu Bang's "descendants". The historical facts are roughly that although Xiao Daocheng has nothing to do with Xiao He, the generations of his ancestors did well in the south. By the time of his father Xiao Cheng, he had already achieved the positions of prefect and general, and was named a baron .

Like classmate Liu Bei, Xiao Daocheng also had a towering big mulberry tree in front of the old house when he was a child, which looked very much like the canopy of the emperor when he was on tour.Xiao Daocheng likes to play with his friends under the tree. His cousin Xiao Jingzong joked with him, saying: "This tree is just for you." After all, a tree is just a tree. The umbrella will only depend on the person himself.Otherwise, you can go back and see if there is a big tree near your home. If you can't even find a short shrub, then you will probably have to do nothing for the rest of your life.

Xiao Daocheng didn't seem like a person who planned to spend his whole life in a busy life. He had some thoughts that a minister "shouldn't have" very early on.After the loss of the four prefectures in Huaibei, Xiao Daocheng was appointed as the champion general, Chijie, and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Discussion Frontier Army.Xiao Daocheng took advantage of this good opportunity to recruit confidants and guests in the army, and his own strength became stronger. It was rumored among the people that Xiao Daocheng had a strange appearance and wanted to be the emperor.Song Ming Emperor Liu Yu was already suspicious, so he was very worried about him, so he sent General Wu Xi to Xiao Daocheng's camp to test him with a jug of wine (an old trick).

Xiao Daocheng is not a god-man. The "Book of Southern Qi" says that he "goes out to greet him in military uniform, and then drinks it." It describes him as open-minded, which is completely concealing the truth.In fact, Xiao Daocheng is very guilty, it is unrealistic to say that he intends to usurp the throne, but it is true that he has his own self-respect.As soon as he saw Wu Xi bringing the emperor's imperial wine to meet him, he became frightened, did not dare to drink, and wanted to run away.Wu Xi and Xiao Daocheng were old comrades-in-arms, and they had a deep friendship. He immediately declared to him that the wine was non-toxic, and drank a glass in front of him.Only then did Xiao Daocheng heave a sigh of relief, and then he also had a drink.Wu Xi went back to Liu Yu to show that Xiao Daocheng had no objection. Once Liu Yu was in a happy mood, he no longer cared about those rumors, but after all he had some scruples and recalled Xiao Daocheng to Jiankang a few years later. (Wu Xi, who saved Xiao Daocheng's life, was later murdered by Liu Yu's jealousy, but Xiao Daocheng achieved great things with the help of cover. The success or failure of princes and generals has never been determined. If it looks good, it may become a tragedy. Characters, who look very wretched, may also be successful "heroes". History is always written for the successful, so I believe it.)

These are the preludes before a person's success. Generally speaking, in the late Liu Song Dynasty, Xiao Daocheng's path was quite smooth.In the second year of Yuanhui (AD 474), when Liu Xiufan raised his troops in Xunyang under the banner of "the side of the Qing emperor", Xiao Daocheng's position was to command the defense military of Stone City and control the defense of the entire capital.He understood very well that this battle might become an important turning point in his life. When the news of Liu Xiufan's rebellion reached Jiankang, the court didn't have any premonition. A bunch of civil and military ministers gathered around Zhongshu Province to discuss countermeasures, but no one could come up with any useful ideas.Xiao Daocheng said: "When Liu Yixuan and Liu Zixun conspired upstream, they both failed because of their slow march. This time Liu Xiufan will definitely learn his lesson and go straight down with light troops to take advantage of our unpreparedness to attack the city. If we Once the partial army resists, if it fails, the morale of the army will inevitably be unstable. The best solution is to station troops at Xinting and Baixia (the two places are located in the north and south of Nanjing today) to guard Miyagi, Dongfu, and Stone City, and wait for work with ease. Liu Xiufan's lone army went deep into the Thousands of miles away, there is not enough food and grass, and there is no way to fight, and it will collapse. I would like to lead an army to guard Xinting to resist Liu Xiufan's forward spirit, and the rest can guard Baixia, the city gate and other places separately. Please sit in the palace and watch how I defeat the thieves!"

After the statement, Xiao Daocheng proposed that everyone take a piece of paper and write down their opinions on fighting the enemy.After the incident, I unfolded it and found that everyone wrote the word "same".Liu Yu then ordered that Xiao Daocheng lead the forward troops to station in Xinting, Zhang Yong, the general who conquered the north, stationed troops under Baixia, and Shen Huaiming, the former governor of Yanzhou, guarded the stone city. As soon as Xiao Daocheng arrived at Xinting, he began to build fortifications.As expected, Liu Xiufan moved forward rapidly with his navy and arrived at Xinlin Ferry, 20 miles southwest of Jiankang.

Xiao Daocheng reconnaissance found that the enemy army was not far away, so he didn't panic. How to build and how to sleep, he still did the same thing. At the same time, he dispatched his generals to lead the navy to fight Liu Xiufan's army, killing many rebels . Liu Xiufan saw that the water army could not move forward, so he abandoned his ship and went ashore from Xinlin. While sending his general Ding Wenhao to lead an army directly to Taicheng where the emperor was, he personally led the main force to attack the fortress of Xinting. Xinting's defense was not strong. Xiao Daocheng led the army to resist with all their strength. From the morning to the afternoon, for two full hours, the rebels' offensive was higher and higher, and the officers and soldiers gradually became overwhelmed.Xiao Daocheng was thinking about a good strategy, when Zhang Jinger, the captain of Yueqi under his command, ran up to him and offered a plan: "Huang Hui, the captain of Tunqi, and I have already discussed a countermeasure. !" Xiao Daocheng was overjoyed and said: "If you succeed, I will reward you with Yongzhou." Zhang Jinger and Huang Hui ran out of Xinting City while the rebels were resting, put down their weapons, and shouted to the rebels in the south: "We surrender!" Liu Xiufan is taking several guards to the Lincang Temple on the south hill to observe the military situation.Hearing that someone surrendered, he ordered the two men to be called to him and asked, "Whose will surrender?" Huang replied: "General Xiao's secret decree, the defenders of Xinting sincerely surrender to the prince!" Liu Xiufan didn't think about it too much. He was so happy that he kept Huang Hui and Zhang Jing'er by his side, and sent his sons Liu Dexuan and Liu Desi to Xinting City as hostages.The cronies Li Heng and Zhong Shuang always felt that they were not at ease, so they discouraged Liu Xiufan in private, but Liu Xiufan ignored him, believing that the destiny belonged to him, and only cared about drinking in the tent, chatting and laughing with Huang Hui and Zhang Jinger. Huang and Zhang smiled, but they were always calculating.Seeing that Liu Xiufan was half drunk and half awake, Huang Hui gave Zhang Jinger a wink. Zhang Jinger quickly pulled out Liu Xiufan's self-defense saber, and chopped off his head with the knife.Liu Xiufan lost his head in a daze, and the left and right guards ran away in fright. Zhang Jinger hugged Liu Xiufan's head, got on his horse and galloped back to Xinting. When Xiao Daocheng of Xinting got the news, he beheaded a pair of hostages and sent them to Miyagi together with Liu Xiufan's head to report victory. Liu Xiufan's army has no leader, so it should be impossible to sustain it, but sometimes there will be some small tidbits in history, which will cause many unnecessary troubles. The protagonist of the tidbits is this small officer who went to report victory, named Chen Lingbao.He met Liu Xiufan's army on the road, and suddenly he was at a loss. He wanted to show Liu Xiufan's head to disintegrate the fighting spirit of the enemy soldiers, but he was also afraid of causing the enemy's anger and being killed by them.While hesitating and trembling, he accidentally let go of his hand, and the head fell into the pond by the road.Chen Lingbao didn't dare to pick it up, so he ran towards the palace city on his horseback, shouting: "The rebellion has subsided!" But Chen Lingbao couldn't produce any evidence, and the people in Miyagi couldn't tell the truth from the fake.At this time, Ding Wenhao's rebel army broke through the army in Taicheng and approached the Zhuque Bridge on the Qinhuai River.Another of Liu Xiufan's generals, Du Heimuo, didn't know that the prince was dead. After repeatedly attacking Xinting and being repeatedly blocked by Xiao Daocheng, he led his troops around Xinting and joined forces with Ding Wenhao. Besiege Suzaku Gate. None of the guards in the city had the talents of Xiao Daocheng, and the leader, Liu Shi, rushed out to fight, but was defeated and killed.General Wang Daolong of the Right Army was also hunted down by the rebels.Rumors abounded in Jiankang City, and the people all said: "Taicheng has fallen!" In the palace, it was even rumored that Xinting was also captured by Liu Xiufan.There was chaos in the palace, and concubines and maids snatched valuable utensils one after another.Seeing the mess, the empress dowager said to Liu Yu sadly: "The emperor's world is gone!" Fortunately, the tidbits ended here. The soldiers under Ding Wenhao heard the news that Liu Xiufan had been killed, and their morale was devastated.Xiao Daocheng boarded the north gate of Xinting and said to the rebels inside and outside Taicheng: "Liu Xiufan and his son were beheaded yesterday, and their bodies are under Nangang. Xinting is safe and sound. I am Xiao Daocheng, General Pingnan. You can come closer and have a closer look, don't worry about it!" This trick is very effective. Ding Wenhao and Du Heiluo are small people at the level of minions, and they can't command the scattered soldiers.Xiao Daocheng's headquarters led Chen Xianda and Zhang Jing'er into the palace, and together with Shang Shuling Yuan Can sent troops to counterattack and wiped out Ding Wenhao and Du Heimu one by one. Putting down Liu Xiufan's rebellion, Xiao Dao succeeded the most. He was worshiped by the court as the leader of the Central Committee, stayed behind in Jiankang, and held military power.