Chapter 62 Chapter 61 Emperor Zhaowen Liu Yao

Liu Yao, a member of the Xiongnu tribe, lost his parents when he was young and was adopted by his cousin Liu Yuan. Whether it was a misfortune or a blessing, it is hard for others to tell, but only Liu Yao knew it in his heart.When Liu Yao was 8 years old, he followed Liu Yuan to go hunting in the Western Mountains. On the way, there was a heavy rain, and Liu Yuan and his party had to take shelter under a tree.After a flash of lightning, the strong thunder shocked everyone who was sheltering from the rain and fell to the ground. Only Liu Yao looked calm.Seeing this, Liu Yuan proudly said to the people around him: "This is my family's thousand-mile horse." Since then, he has been very respectful to him.

Liu Yao liked to read since he was a child, but he has a characteristic of reading, that is, he only browses books such as literature and history to understand the general content, and never cares about the words and sentences in the books, but he can recite most military books fluently.Liu Yao also likes archery. Because of his height and strength, he can penetrate thick iron sheets when archery, so he is called "Shen She".When Liu Yuan established the Han Kingdom, Liu Yao successively held important positions, and was later named the prime minister, the governor of Chinese and foreign military forces, and guarded Chang'an.After Liu Yuan died, Liu Cong succeeded to the throne.In the first year of Jiaping (311 A.D.), Liu Yao was named General of Chariots and Riders and King of Zhongshan by Liu Cong. He made great contributions to the Han Dynasty in the South and North Wars.When Liu Cong was critically ill, he entrusted Liu Yao and Shi Le to assist the government together.In July of the third year of Linjia (318 A.D.), Liu Cong died of illness, and Prince Liu Can succeeded to the throne. Liu Yao still guarded Chang'an.In August, Da Sikong Jin Zhun launched a rebellion and killed Liu Can.

After Liu Yao heard the news of Jin Zhun's rebellion, he immediately led his troops into Pingyang (now southwest of Linfen, Shanxi) to attack Jin Zhun, and soon reached Chibi. After Liu Yao wiped out all the Jin family, he moved the capital to Chang'an, changed the name of the country to Zhao, and was known as the former Zhao in history.Shi Jin, another general of the Han Dynasty, was furious and announced a public break with the former Zhao. It is true that Liu Yao's life is not easy. Apart from Shi Le, there are many other forces opposing him.In the year when the former Zhao was established, Sima Bao, the king of Jin Nanyang, claimed to be the king of Jin, and rebelled against the former Zhao in Fufeng.Liu Yao sent all the generals to attack, and after more than 20 days of fighting, there was still no hope of victory, so Liu Yao had to go into battle in person to be considered peaceful.

In June of the third year of Guangchu (320 A.D.), Liu Yao's general Xie Hu and Changshui Xiaowei Yin Che planned to launch a rebellion with Ba chiefs Juxu and Shepeng to seize the former Zhao regime.After hearing the news, Liu Yao immediately beheaded Xiehu and Yinche, imprisoned more than 50 people including Juxu and Shepeng, and planned to send them to the west.You Ziyuan, a doctor of Guanglu, earnestly advised Liu Yao: Just kill one to warn others, and don't kill too many people.Liu Yao was furious after hearing this, and imprisoned You Ziyuan in the name of protecting criminals, and then killed Ju Xu, She Peng and others.Liu Yao's indiscriminate killing aroused strong opposition from the Ba people. The Ba people pushed Gu Quzhi to be the king of the Great Qin, and Jianyuan "Ping Zhao". More than 300,000 people from the Di, Qiang, and Jie tribes responded positively, and Guanzhong fell into turmoil again. among.After hearing the news, the wanderer in the prison sent Liu Yao a letter to remonstrate. Liu Yao tore up the play sheet without even looking at it, and said sharply: "Da Linu! Your life is in danger, and you still have time to care about it." Other people's business! You think it's too late to die!" He ordered the soldiers to pull him out immediately and kill him.When the executioner was about to strike, Liu Ya, Guo Si, Zhu Ji, Hu Yanyan and others knelt down in front of Liu Yao and said, "Your Majesty, you are a rare loyal minister who never forgets to persuade you when you are in prison! If Your Majesty If you have to kill You Ziyuan, then we don’t want to live anymore, and the people of Zhao will leave you behind!” Liu Yao felt that the problem was serious when he heard this, so he announced the pardon of You Ziyuan.Soon, Liu Yao wanted to recruit Gou Quzhi himself, and You Ziyuan persuaded Liu Yao to release Jie Hu and Yin Che's party and declare amnesty, so that the rebels would voluntarily surrender.On the same day, Liu Yao announced an amnesty, and granted You Ziyuan the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry.The wanderers went as far as Yongcheng and Anding, and the rebels surrendered one after another, and the west settled down again.

Liu Yao was ruthless to those who opposed him, and he often showed his coercion to his subjects, but he was obedient to the queen and obeyed her words.In the second year of Guangxing (311 A.D.), when Liu Yao captured Luoyang together with Wang Mi and Shi Le, he captured Emperor Hui's Queen Yang.Queen Yang was a beauty, so Liu Yao took her home and made her a concubine.In the second year of Guangchu (319 A.D.), after Liu Yao moved his capital to Chang'an, he made the Yang family the queen.Queen Yang gave birth to three sons, Liu Xi, Liu Xi, and Liu Chan, and Liu Xi was made the crown prince by Liu Yao.Once, Liu Yao asked Queen Yang: "Who is better or worse between me and Sima Zhong?" Queen Yang replied smoothly: "You are the king who founded the country, and he is the king who subjugated the country. How can they be compared! Although Sima Zhong is an emperor, but Even his queen, son and himself can't be kept, and the rest is conceivable. I was so tired of him when I was his queen, I really didn't want to live anymore, and thought that all men in the world have a virtue. Since following After you, you will feel that life is very meaningful, and you will know that there are real men in the world." The flattering words of Queen Yang made Liu Yao so fascinated that he forgot himself, and naturally loved Queen Yang even more, and even let her participate in the government affairs.After the death of Queen Yang, Liu Yao was heartbroken and gave her the elegant posthumous title of Queen Xianwen.

Since February of the second year of Guangchu (319 A.D.), after Zhao Chengdi and Shi Le parted ways before Liu Yaojian, there have been frequent wars with Shi Le.In May of the eighth year of Guangchu (AD 325), Liu Yao sent Zhongshan King Liu Yue to attack the two military strongholds of Mengjin and Shiliang in Shile.Seeing this, Shi Le's nephew, Shi Hu, led 40,000 soldiers to fight Liu Yue. After Liu Yue was defeated, he retreated to protect Shiliang.When Liu Yao personally led his troops to assist Liu Yue, the army was frightened and dispersed at night, so he had to return to Chang'an; Liu Yue and more than 80 generals were killed by Shihukeng.This fiasco made Liu Yao very frustrated. Soon after returning to Chang'an, he became ill with anger and became bedridden.In July of the eleventh year of Guangchu (328 A.D.), Shi Hu led a force of 40,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on Puban of Qianqian Zhao.Liu Yao, who had just recovered, personally led the land and water army to rescue Puban. In the Battle of Gaohouyuan, he defeated the Shihu Army and fled in embarrassment.

Liu Yao thought he was sure of winning, and he just drank all day long and ignored everything about the army. When someone came out to persuade him, Liu Yao killed them on the charge of disturbing the morale of the army.At this time, Shi Le, the king of Hou Zhao, had already crossed the Yellow River and rushed towards Liu Yao.When Liu Yao saw this, he ran around like ants in a hot pot. When he calmed down, he hurriedly ordered more troops to attack Shi Le.Liu Yao was a drunkard, and when he was about to fight Shi Le, he drank several buckets of wine in a row, staggered on his horse and directed the battle.The war horse fell to the ground as soon as it ran a short distance, and could no longer lift its head. Liu Yao had to change to another pony, and drank a bucket and a half of wine before getting on the horse.Before the war with the latter Zhao soldiers, the former Zhao army had fled, and Liu Yao retreated in a daze. Unexpectedly, the pony fell into the mud pit and threw Liu Yao to the ground.Liu Yao was arrested without a fight.

Liu Yao was escorted to Xiangguo (now Xingtai, Hebei), the capital of Later Zhao built by Shi Le, and placed under house arrest.Soon, Shi Le asked Liu Yao to write a letter to persuade Liu Xi to surrender immediately. Liu Yao apparently agreed, but the letter only said: "Saving the country is the most important thing, don't worry about me." This excuse killed Liu Yao.