Chapter 20 The Refurbished Playboy Emperor

In July of the first year of Yongtai (498), Xiao Luan, Emperor Ming of the Southern Qi Dynasty, died of illness, and his second son, Xiao Baojuan, ascended the throne at the age of 16. Xiao Luan's eldest son, Xiao Baoyi, was unable to take on the important task because of his disability, so he made Xiao Baojuan the crown prince.But this child stuttered since he was a child and didn't like to study. He only knew how to play around all day long. He often dug holes and caught mice with the guards in the East Palace all night long.Xiao Luan didn't care much about him, but was worried that he was not scheming enough and that he would not be able to control those clansmen, uncles and brothers in the future, so he gave him the last words: "Don't do things behind others", and asked him to be punished.The little emperor kept this in mind.After assuming the throne, he used some jaw-dropping behaviors to carry forward it.

However, the first thing he has to face is his father's funeral.But when he saw the big black coffin in the Tai Chi Hall, he felt very disgusted and ordered it to be buried immediately.But funerals have certain rules, not to mention that this is the emperor's funeral, which includes such things as how many days the coffin must be placed before it can be buried.Now that the new emperor wants to destroy the ritual system, those ministers will quit.The Shangshu ordered Xu Xiaosi to argue hard, and he agreed unhappily to let the old emperor's coffin stand for another month.According to etiquette, when the old emperor died, the new emperor had to cry bitterly, but Xiao Baojuan didn't bother to cry, and even found an excuse, saying that he had a sore throat and couldn't cry.At this time, Yang Chan, a doctor of the Taizhong, came to cry, howled in great pain, kowtowed repeatedly, and knocked off his hat.This grown-up didn't have much hair, and when the hat fell off, his big bald head was exposed.Xiao Baojuan looked at it and thought it was too funny, so he laughed out loud, and said to the little eunuch next to him, "This big vulture also comes here to scream." The surrounding ministers heard such a subtle metaphor from the new emperor. , couldn't help sighing again and again, thinking that if the country fell into the hands of such a treasure, it might not end well.

As soon as the funeral was over, the little emperor was finally free, so he started to play around wantonly, ignoring the auxiliary ministers left behind by his father, hiding in the palace every day and hanging out with the eunuchs and servants.His two cousins, Jiang You and Jiang Si brothers, who were also ministers trusted by Emperor Qi Ming during his lifetime, often advised him to stop him from playing around, which made him very upset.In addition, his favorite ministers Ru Fazhen and Mei Chong'er were often scolded by the Erjiang brothers, held grudges, and complained in front of the little emperor from time to time.Xiao Baojuan hated these two even more.And the Erjiang brothers saw that the emperor was so hopeless, so they thought of abolishing him and establishing a new emperor.But these two people lacked determination and hesitated to choose the new emperor, and were finally denounced by Wei Wei Liu Xuan.The little emperor remembered his father's warning: "Don't do things behind others", so he immediately ordered the two cousins ​​to be arrested and killed.Afterwards, he was very proud, and he cheered and cheered in the hall with his servants, rode a horse and galloped, and said to his servants: "Jiang You often doesn't let me ride a horse in the palace. If this kid is here, how can I be as happy as I am now?" " So he asked, "Who else is there among Jiang You's relatives?" Someone replied, "Jiang You's younger brother, Jiang Xiang, is still in prison." So the emperor immediately decreed that this cousin also died.

Xiao Baojuan killed the Erjiang brothers, and the ministers in the court and the central government were all terrified.Xiao Yaoguang, king of Shi'an, rebelled and led his troops to capture the east city of Jiankang overnight. However, due to the haste of the incident, he was soon put down and Xiao Yaoguang was killed.Speaking of which, the relationship between Xiao Yaoguang and the little emperor was not bad. The emperor had been with him since he was a child, and often called him "Brother An" affectionately.Now when the emperor came to the place where the two played together, recalling the past, he couldn't help but burst into tears, calling "Brother An" repeatedly.Unfortunately, his outpouring of true feelings did not make him wake up to his own absurdity.Soon, at the instigation of his close ministers, he killed the officials who had quelled the Xiao Yaoguang Rebellion, and then summoned several veteran officials from his father's reign into the palace and gave them to death with poisoned wine.Now, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were silent, and no one dared to say a word about his actions.

As a result, the little emperor, whom no one dared to control, did whatever he wanted.He is not interested in major political affairs.He often went to bed at five o'clock and didn't get up until three in the afternoon. On the day when the officials met, he always arrived lazily in the evening, and sometimes he didn't even know where he was going.And those ministers were waiting in the main hall, all of them were so hungry that they couldn't see the emperor, so they didn't dare to leave.The memorials submitted by the ministers never heard back as soon as they went there, and they were all piled up in the pavilion.Later, more and more piles were piled up, and they were used by the eunuchs to make food wrapping paper, which was used to wrap meat and vegetables.

The little emperor thought it boring to stay in the palace all the time, so he often traveled outside the palace.He went out almost every day, and visited nowhere in Jiankang City.It was a big event for the emperor to go on a tour, and high curtains were made of brocade on both sides of the road, which was called "screen removal" and was specially guarded.Inside the screen, there is an army of guards and a band for entertainment.At night, a torch was lit, and the surrounding area was as bright as day.Wherever the emperor went, he would drive away all the people, and if anyone violated the prohibition, he would be killed without hesitation.So whenever the emperor went on a tour, it was like a robber crossing the border, and the people ran away one after another, fearing that he would catch him.But this emperor is capricious, no one knows when he wants to go out and where he wants to go.Moreover, according to his rules, he went on patrol during the day and started driving people away at night.So the security department was made nervous, and whenever there was a sign of trouble, they would expel the people with drums and gongs.The common people were in a state of panic all day long, no matter what they were doing, they had to run away immediately when they heard the sound of the drum. Many people were so panicked that they didn't even care about putting on their clothes and shoes.Moreover, not only can't walk on the road and bump into the emperor, even if they stay in the house, they have to be expelled together.Those rich and noble families built many houses for this reason, so as not to be driven homeless by the emperor.But the poor people are miserable. If they avoid it slowly, they will be whipped by the expelled soldiers, and countless people will die.Moreover, the emperor often wandered outside until the middle of the night before returning to the palace, and the driven people could not return home because of this, and most of them died of freezing and starvation in the twelfth lunar month of winter.Once, several people were carrying a patient on the road, and when the emperor was on a tour, those people were so frightened that they left the patient and dispersed.The officials in charge of clearing the way for the emperor saw the patient lying there unable to walk, and fearing that the emperor would see him, they pushed him into the water and drowned him alive. Later, even the bones were not found.Wang Jingbin, the prefect of Weixing, had just passed away and hadn't restrained himself yet. The emperor was on a tour, and his family members were expelled, so they couldn't take care of him. When he came back, he found that the eyes of the corpse had been eaten away by mice.Not only that, but those guards who followed the emperor also took the opportunity to enter rich houses to search for property, often looting everything.As a result, the business and industry were shut down, and the people were in a commotion. From Wanchunmen to the suburbs, there were no people for dozens of miles, and Jiankang City was almost turned into an empty city.

But these are not within the scope of the little emperor's consideration, as long as he is happy, he doesn't care about the life and death of the people.Once, he went out to wander around again, but just happened to meet a pregnant woman in labor, and he couldn't avoid it, so the emperor led someone in and shouted: "Why does this person dare to disobey orders and not avoid it?" The family had to say that the pregnant woman was about to give birth. I really couldn't walk away and begged the emperor to forgive me.Xiao Baojuan looked at the pregnant woman's swollen belly, but became interested, and asked the left and right to guess whether the child inside was a boy or a girl.Everyone said that it would not be known until the child was born, but the little emperor didn't have the patience, he wanted to see it now, so he pulled out his long sword and cut open the pregnant woman's belly.Another time, he went hunting in Jiangshan in the suburbs, and when he arrived at Dinglin Temple, he found a monk hiding in the grass before he could run away.When the emperor saw that someone dared to resist the decree and did not evade it, he was furious and wanted to kill the monk immediately.Some people advised him: "An old monk, very pitiful, let him be spared." But the emperor retorted: "Who made him nest in the grass? If you see wild deer and roe deer in the grass, don't you?" Why don't you shoot?" So he ordered his subordinates to release arrows together, and immediately shot the monk like a hedgehog, Xiao Baojuan still couldn't let go of his hatred, and shot a few more arrows at the monk's head himself.

The emperor loved archery, and he would not be satisfied with shooting an old monk.He built pheasant shooting fields everywhere, a total of 296 places.Moreover, the venue is decorated extremely gorgeously, with curtains and barriers made of red and green brocade.The bows and arrows used are also very luxurious, and they are all decorated with treasures such as gold, silver and tortoiseshell.The emperor also carried out a professional division of labor among the guards, some were in charge of tents, some were in charge of eagles and dogs, and so on.The emperor studied and practiced archery diligently, and soon achieved outstanding results, and was able to draw a hard bow with three dendrobiums and five buckets.Later, he became interested in acrobatics called "Danlu". "橦" is a huge wooden pole, ornately decorated, which stands on the performer's arm or forehead during the performance.Xiao Baojuan just started to practice, and he still couldn't master the balance well, and he often sprained his wrist when he was hit, but soon he was able to use it freely, and the "White Tiger Building" he used was seven feet five feet long.He still wanted to be brave enough to prop up this huge building with his teeth, and he would not hesitate to lose a few teeth for this.Xiao Baojuan likes "Tanlu" very much.Even the various utensils used are made by themselves, and various treasures such as golden flowers and jade mirrors are adorned on them.

The emperor loves to play and make trouble, and it must be accompanied by others to be interesting.He has a bunch of eunuchs and servants in the palace, and two favorite ministers, Ru Fazhen and Mei Chonger, who play with him very happily.However, for the little emperor, it is fun to fight with these people, but it will be even more enjoyable if he is accompanied by a beautiful woman who knows and knows what to do.Now that he had this idea, the beauty came gracefully, and this was his beloved concubine Pan Yu'er.