Chapter 53 Twelve, Emperor Wu of Qi Xiao Yu

Qiwu Emperor Xiao Yu was the eldest son of Xiao Daocheng. It is said that when he was born, his grandmother Chen (that is, Xiao Daocheng's mother) and his biological mother Liu dreamed at the same time that the body of a dragon was entrenched on the beam of the house, which can be described as a sign of great wealth.Xiao Daocheng then gave him a nickname "Long Er", from which we can also see Xiao Daocheng's "different heart".Xiao Yu himself also regarded himself as a talent for helping the world since he was a child. With his father's achievements, he made a difference very early on, and made great contributions in the battle of Emperor Song Ming to put down Liu Zixun.After Xiao Daocheng took power, he was named the chief historian of Zhenxi, the internal history of Jiangxia, and the affairs of Yingzhou.

When Shen Youzhi raised his army, the imperial court was in a lurking crisis and was unable to deal with it for a while. Without the authorization of the imperial court, Xiao Yu guarded the Penkou on the Yangtze River (near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province today) to prevent Shen Youzhi from going east.After Xiao Daocheng found out, he said proudly, "This is really my son!" As one of his father's most capable assistants, after Xiao Daocheng proclaimed himself emperor, Xiao Yu became the crown prince logically.His father passed away, and he was already forty-three years old, no matter in terms of ability or experience, he was the best age to be emperor.Xiao Yu is also considered a qualified emperor. He acts decisively, enforces the law generously, and has a deep understanding of the general situation. Like his father, he has witnessed the history of Liu Song's decay and subjugation. The economy has improved somewhat under his rule.His "Yongming" era is the second relatively stable period since "Yuanjia". (The famous Southern Dynasties poetry style "Yongming style" was born in this era. Affected by Buddhism, the theory of Chinese phonology and four tones is becoming more and more mature, and the rhythm of poetry creation is guaranteed. Yongming style poems are mostly written in five words and four tones. It is mainly composed of quatrains and eight sentences, which are very close to the quatrains and regulated poems of the Tang Dynasty.) The "Book of Nanqi" written by Xiao Zixian, the royal family of the Southern Qi Dynasty, praised the eleven years of Yongming, "the people have no policemen who crow and bark dogs, the cities are prosperous, and the scholars and women are rich. Yi, singing and dancing festival, costumes and make-up, between peach blossoms and green water, under the autumn moon and spring breeze, covered with hundreds."Although it is a compliment, it is indeed based on facts. In addition, there was no large-scale war between the North and the South during this period, and peaceful exchanges were the main focus. Xiao Yu's rule is still quite commendable.

Xiao Yu learned the lessons of the brothers Liu and Song, who were against the wall, and followed his father's teachings before his death: "If the Song family does not want each other, how can other clans take advantage of it? You are very careful." He is equally talented and loved by his father. Xiaoyi, the younger brother of Yuzhang Wang, maintained a good relationship and fully trusted the other Xiao clans.Xiao Yu did better than Song Wendi Liu Yilong, who was also the ruler of success, in this regard, but it was limited to this. He didn't have a large capacity for tolerance, and the few heroes and loyal officials who remained were all killed by him.

When Xiao Daocheng was in power, Sikong consulted Xun Boyu once read a book to Xiao Daocheng, exposing Xiao Yu's connivance of his confidant Zhang Jingzhen to do evil.Xiao Daocheng was very angry. When Xiao Yu went out to visit the imperial tomb, he sent people into the East Palace to arrest and kill Zhang Jingzhen.The relationship between father and son was very tense. Thanks to the pleading of the ministers, Xiao Yu escaped unharmed.Afterwards, Xiao Yu heard that Xun Boyu was behind the whole incident, so he naturally forged a bond with him. After Xiao Daocheng passed away, Xiao Yu immediately began to settle old scores.In the first year of Yongming (AD 483), he issued an edict to frame Chongzu Yuan, the five soldiers with outstanding military exploits, who gathered forces on the Jiangbei border to rebel against Xun Boyu, arrested and killed both of them.

Then it was the turn of Cheqi General Zhang Jinger, and this guy died even more unjustly.His wife often dreamed of having fever all over her body. Every time she had that kind of dream, Zhang Jinger would always grow up, which was very weird (in fact, it is not surprising, it is probably just a manifestation of a certain aspect of the body, and it is just a coincidence).He would brag to his relatives and friends everywhere, and he would add fuel to the story of some more outrageous dreams. For example, he said that he dreamed that the tree in his hometown had grown to the top of the sky.These dream stories were passed on to Xiao Yu by an eunuch, and they became incriminating evidence of disobedience. It happened that someone reported to Xiao Yu that Zhang Jinger often dealt with barbarians, and Xiao Yu finally became suspicious.He arrested Zhang Jing'er in public during the banquet meeting with the ministers, announced a bunch of pretentious charges, and executed him and his sons together.Such a founding hero died in vain dreaming. (In general, Emperor Wu of Qi is exactly the opposite of Emperor Song and Ming. The latter was suspicious of his brothers and generous to his subordinates, while Emperor Qi Wu was generous to his brothers but distrusted his subordinates very much. Conflicts between clans will of course lead to civil strife. But the emperor still has at least a group of available people. If you can’t use the talents with confidence, it will be difficult to make a difference. Based on this alone, we can assert that the structure of the Southern Qi Dynasty cannot be too big.)

There are always more problems than achievements. Xiao Daocheng did not solve the ills left by Liu Song's failure, and neither did Xiao Yu.In the third year of Yongming (AD 485), various problems broke out, and a huge uprising took place in Kuaiji. The root cause of the uprising was "recruitment of registration". Due to the large number of ex-registered population in Kuaiji area, the imperial court issued an edict to send the ex-registered population to the frontier for military service, which further caused social instability. Tang Yuzhi, a commoner from Fuyang, claimed to know magic, gathered more than 400 people in Xincheng (now Fuyang, Zhejiang), and quickly captured Xincheng, Fuyang, Tonglu and other places.Those nearby who had lost their yellow registrations and were dissatisfied with the government heard the "inspiring" news, and went to join him one after another. Tang Yuzhi's tribe expanded nearly a hundred times in one month, reaching as many as 30,000.

When the insurgents reached this scale, they would join the crowd wherever they went.The defenses in various parts of the Southern Qi Dynasty were as paperless, and they were blown up everywhere in the core area of ​​the rule by the mob.In the fourth year of Yongming (AD 486), Tang Yuzhi's army successively captured Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), Yanguan (southwest of Haining, Zhejiang), Zhuji, and Yuhang, and divided his troops to capture Dongyang (now Jinhua, Zhejiang) in the south. Xiao Chongzhi, the prefect of Dongyang and Xiao Daocheng's younger brother. A series of disastrous failures shocked Jiankang's court, and Xiao Yu hurriedly dispatched the elite troops of the imperial city, the Taiwan Army, to suppress it.

Tang Yuzhi's ambition is not great, and after a few victories, he feels that he has his destiny.He proclaimed himself emperor on the spot in Qiantang, changed the name of the country to Wu, changed the Yuan to Xingping, and set up hundreds of officials, thinking that he could stand up to the Southern Qi Dynasty.As a result, as soon as the hundreds of cavalry and thousands of infantry from the Taiwan Army reached Qiantang, Tang Yuzhi was in a mess—how could he have seen such a brave cavalry unit!The mob collapsed in the first battle, Tang Yuzhi was captured and killed, and the uprising of tens of thousands of people failed in an instant.

Although the fighting power of the Taiwan army is strong, the military discipline is very bad. After the invasion of Qiantang, not only detained a large number of civilians to serve in the army, but also looted the people in the city wantonly.After Xiao Yu heard about it, he immediately ordered to interrogate him. Chen Tianfu, the leader of the Taiwan army and former general of the army, was beheaded, and Liu Mingche, the general of the left army, was removed from office and dismissed from office. The imperial court had nothing remarkable in the whole action against the rebels, and the way of dealing with Quehu was extremely stupid and unreasonable.Many people were forced to leave their hometowns and went to Huaishui on the border of Qi and Wei to serve as soldiers. They stayed for nearly ten years. The household registration before Shengming can be restored, and those who were sent to the border can return to their original residence, but those who falsify their household registration in the future will be severely punished. (It is often very difficult to ask government departments to admit the failure of policies, especially in the era of "one dynasty, one rule". In the past few years, the Chinese government has finally admitted the failure of some reform measures and made efforts to correct the problem. In a sense At least it is commendable.)

In addition to the failure of "judgment inspection", Xiao Yu probably has another big regret, that is, the chaos caused by Badong King Xiao Zixiang when he was the governor of Jingzhou (Jingzhou was the source of troubles throughout the Southern Dynasties, who put it there? Whoever is "crazy"). Xiao Zixiang is the fourth son of Xiao Yu, who is only 22 years old. He has boundless strength and excellent martial arts skills. He also selected 60 warriors as personal bodyguards without authorization, and exchanged weapons with the barbarians in Jingzhou in private.Xiao Yu sent Chief Shi Liu Yin and other eight people to Jingzhou to investigate the matter in depth. When Xiao Zixiang heard that there was an official sent for inspection, he murmured in his heart and insisted on producing an imperial edict.The officials insisted on checking first, but the two sides could not stop arguing, Xiao Zixiang was reckless, and when he got angry, he directly ordered eight people to be tied up, all of them beheaded, and he reported the situation to his father.

Strictly speaking, both father and son are responsible for this matter. Xiao Zi didn't communicate well with Xiao Zixiang, and he didn't choose the right staff, which magnified the problem that could have been resolved peacefully.When Xiao Yu heard that the person sent to investigate had been beheaded by his son, he was furious and appointed his nine sons and his follower, Xiao Zilong, as the governor of Jingzhou. Dai Sengjing reminded: "The king of Badong was young, and Liu Yin and his gang pushed him too hastily, causing him to do things without considering the consequences. What's more, he is His Majesty's own son, which is not a big mistake! If he suddenly mobilizes troops to attack, it will cause trouble. If people panic, it will be troublesome. I, Dai Sengjing, dare not accept orders." Xiao Yu thought it was reasonable, so he shifted his target and sent Weiwei Hu Xiezhi, guerrilla general Yin Lue, and Zhongshushe's Ru Faliang to lead hundreds of Taiwanese troops to Jiangling. They only searched for those villains around Xiao Zixiang and ordered: If Xiao Zixiang goes back to Beijing to plead guilty, he can save his life." I never thought that this time it would be inhumane again.Hu Xiezhi's deputy, Zhang Xintai, Pingnan's internal historian, advised Hu Xiezhi to do ideological work on Xiao Zixiang's left and right sides based on his interests, so as to subdue others without fighting, but Hu Xiezhi refused to listen.As soon as they arrived in Jiangjin, Hu Xiezhi's army built a fortress, posing as if they were meeting each other. Xiao Zixiang was afraid, and sent envoys to explain to Hu Xiezhi many times: "How can there be a son in the world who rebelled against Lao Tzu? I didn't want to rebel, but I was acting carelessly and recklessly. I would like to take a single boat to the court to meet the emperor. Explain the situation and accept punishment. Why do you build a city to catch me?" Hu Xiezhi and Ru Faliang both ignored him, but Yin Lue said a word: "Who will talk to a rebellious son like you who betrayed his father!" Xiao Zixiang wept desperately depressed, and he killed cattle to prepare wine, and sent people to Hu Xiezhi's army. Unexpectedly, Yin Lue collected the food and poured it all into the river.Xiao Zixiang wanted to talk to Ru Faliang again, and asked to meet the official who delivered the edict.Ru Faliang did not send anyone to meet, but instead detained Xiao Zixiang's emissary. (From this passage, it can be seen that Xiao Zixiang's nature is not bad at all, and the bad thing is in the hands of some villains who are eager to make a name for themselves.) Xiao Zixiang was offended, and organized more than 2,000 warriors he raised and soldiers in his family to garrison on the Yangtze River Embankment. Once the two armies fought, the Taiwan army was defeated, and the "defiant" Yin Lue died in battle. They all fled in single boats. Xiao Zixiang had no intention of confronting his father, so he brought about 30 cronies, took a small boat, and went down the river, preparing to go to Jiankang to explain the details to Xiao Yu. The person he met on the way killed him. This person was Xiao Daocheng's brother, and later the father of Xiao Yan, the founding emperor of the Liang Dynasty——Danyang Yin Xiao Shunzhi.The army led by Xiao Shunzhi was originally Hu Xiezhi's successor. After Hu Xiezhi was defeated, it was impossible for Xiao Shunzhi to go deep alone and attack Xiao Zixiang.Unexpectedly, Xiao Zixiang came to the door by himself, with snot and tears wanting to appeal to Xiao Shunzhi.Xiao Shunzhi didn't listen to him at all. When he left Jiankang, he had already accepted the secret order from Prince Xiao Changmao: Send Xiao Zixiang to the west as soon as possible (Xiao Changmao was most afraid of this younger brother, so this time he naturally wanted to use the public to help his own interests).Xiao Shunzhi saw the opportunity and hanged Xiao Zixiang to death with a rope in the shooting hall of Yanwu. Many of Qi Wu Emperor Xiao Yu's intentions were not bad, but he fainted one after another.The state of Qi really declined after his death, but the seeds of decline had already been quietly planted in the last years of Yongming, which was singing and dancing on the surface.