Chapter 148 Chapter 147: Emperor Jianwen Xiao Gang

Emperor Wu of Liang had no children in his early years, and he took Xiao Zhengde, the son of his sixth younger brother Xiao Hong, as his adopted son.Later, Ding Gui concubine conceived and gave birth to Xiao Tong, so Emperor Wu of Liang returned Zhengde to Xiao Hong and made Xiao Tong the crown prince.Xiao Tong received a good education when he was young, coupled with his intelligence and studious, he was able to master the scriptures and compose poems in his teens, and became a generation of talented scholars.Emperor Wu of Liang loved Xiao Tong very much, and when he became an adult, he let him take care of the government and put an end to prisons. The result was orderly, fair and reasonable, and was respected by scholars and people.

In the seventh year of Ordinary Years (526 A.D.), Xiao Tong's biological mother, Ding Guipin, died of illness. Xiao Tong was deeply saddened. He couldn't drink water or soup for several days, and his obese body lost half of his weight.Later Ding Guifei was buried, but there was a Taoist priest who claimed to be able to read Fengshui, saying that the cemetery here would not be good for the prince, and if he could get tired of it in advance, the disaster might be avoided.When Xiao Tong heard the Taoist's words, he was very panicked, so he made wax goose and other things and buried them beside the tomb.This matter was originally a secret matter of the East Palace. I didn't want the palace supervisor Bao Miaozhi to feel jealous and resentful because he fell out of favor with the prince, so he secretly reported it to Emperor Wu of Liang.Emperor Wu of Liang sent people to excavate it, and he found the wax goose and other things. He was shocked, and wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly. After being persuaded by Dr. You Guanglu Xu Mian, he only killed the Taoist priest and did not blame the prince.Although the prince Xiao Tong was not condemned, he was worried and angry all day long because of his lack of self-understanding.In the third year of Zhongdatong (531 A.D.), he got a terminal illness and died soon after.He was only 31 years old when he died.Emperor Wu of Liang came to mourn in person and bestowed the posthumous title "Zhaoming".He is the famous Prince Zhaoming in the history of literature.

After the death of Prince Zhaoming, Emperor Wu recruited Xiao Huan, the eldest son of Xiao Tong, the governor of South Xuzhou, Duke Huarong, to Jiankang, intending to make him his grandson, but in the end it was not realized because of suspicions with Xiao Tong and his son.At this time, Xiao Zong, the second son of Emperor Wu of Liang, had defected to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Emperor Wu made Xiao Gang, the third son of King An of Jin, the crown prince. Xiao Gang's character is Shizuan, and the small characters are Liutong. At the age of 3, he was granted the title of King An of Jin, and at the age of 5 he was General Yunhui, leading the Shishu army.Xiao Gang has been keen since he was a child, and he has a great understanding of others. He can write good articles at the age of 6.When he was 11 years old, Emperor Wu of Liang sent him to take care of the general affairs and experience the vassal administration in person. As a result, he achieved political achievements everywhere, so Emperor Wu loved him very much.Even so, Xiao Gang was established as the prince, and people still talked about it, thinking it was not in accordance with the etiquette.The servant Zhou Chong used to be Xiao Gang's master bookkeeper. Seeing this situation, he wrote a letter to Xiao Gang, urging him to follow the example of Mu Yi, the great virtuous son of the Song Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period, and resign from the title of prince.Xiao Gang is fond of power and turns a deaf ear to Zhou Hong's advice.Soon thereafter, Emperor Wu of Liang proclaimed Xiao Huan, the eldest son of Xiaotong, King of Yuzhang, Xiao Yu, the second son, King of Hedong, and Xiao Cha, the youngest son, King of Yueyang because of the turmoil in the government and the public.

At that time, the other princes of Emperor Wu of Liang also felt that they were equal to Xiao Gang because Xiao Gang was neither the eldest son nor the eldest grandson, so they all coveted the throne and were suspicious of the East Palace.Among the princes, Xiao Lun, the sixth son of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, was the most proud and favored.When Emperor Wu of Liang heard about this, he was furious, and immediately ordered Xiao Lun to be dismissed from office and rank, and thrown into prison, and soon released as governor of Yangzhou.After Xiao Lun left the capital, he became even more unscrupulous. He even made people rob goods in the market, causing the merchants to stop the market.He Zhitong, the prime minister of Yangzhou, wrote a letter to play Xiao Lun, and Xiao Lun sent someone to assassinate Zhitong after hearing the letter.Therefore, Emperor Wu of Liang recalled Xiao Lun again, so that he would not be imprisoned in the mansion as a commoner.However, only a few months later, Xiao Lun was granted the title of title and Danyang Yin was granted.Prince Xiao Gang saw that Xiao Lun was jealous and was afraid that it would be bad for him in the future, so he asked Xiao Lun to be the governor of southern Xuzhou, and Emperor Wu of Liang allowed him to play.In addition to Xiao Lun, there are also Xiao Xu, governor of Jingzhou, king of Luling, Xiao Yi, governor of Jiangzhou, king of eastern Hunan, and Xiao Ji, governor of Yizhou, king of Wuling.Prince Xiao Gang is well aware of this situation, so he often chooses elite soldiers to prepare for future contingencies.

In the autumn of the second year of Taiqing (AD 548), Hou Jing raised his troops and crossed the river by quarrying stones. The court urgently ordered martial law.Prince Xiao Gang dressed in a military uniform went to see his father and asked for instructions on the strategy.Emperor Wu of Liang had already devoted himself to the Buddha. He had no distractions and no claims, so he could only hesitate and say: "This is your business, why bother to ask again. Now I will entrust you with all the internal and external military affairs, and you can do it at your own convenience. "Xiao Gang then stayed in Zhongshu Province to command the military, and ordered his son Xuancheng King Yangzhou Governor Xiao Daqi to supervise all the military forces in the city. Shang Shu Yangkan was the deputy governor, assigned the soldiers to guard the city, and ordered the gathering of the monastery treasuries. Stored in Deyang Hall for military use.

At the beginning of Hou Jing's rebellion, he had already made friends with Linhe Wang Xiao Zhengde.Prince Xiao Gang didn't know what happened, so he still ordered Zhengde to guard Zhuquemen, an important household in Jiankang. Zhengde took the opportunity to secretly communicate with Hou Jing, and sent Shen Zimu, a wandering army from Nantang, to put down the suspension bridge to welcome Hou Jing into the city. Hou Jing quickly entered the besieged city.He set fire to the gates of Da Sima and Dongxihua, and Yang Kan led his troops to drill holes in the gates and spray water to put out the fire.Xiao Gang also came to reward the soldiers and Peng Wu's morale.After Hou Jing was blocked, he built a long siege to trap Taicheng and cut off internal and external traffic.

Chen Xin, the prefect of Linchuan, was captured by Hou Jing when he went out to guard the quarry.Hou Jing hosted a banquet for Xin Tong to drink, and asked him to collect parts for Jing's use.Chen Xin sternly refused, Hou Jing was annoyed, and asked Fan Taobang, the third division of Yitong, to guard him.Chen Xin took the opportunity to persuade Taobang with misfortune and welfare, so that he led his troops to attack and kill Hou Jing, counselor Wang Wei, general Song Zixian, etc., and surrendered to the Liang Dynasty.Fan Taobang was persuaded by Chen Xin, so he released Chen Xin and let him go to the city in the dark night to repay Taobang's willingness to serve as foreign aid for the court.Emperor Wu of Liang was overjoyed when he heard the words, and ordered to engrave a silver certificate (that is, the order to avoid death) and give peach sticks. Xu Yi made the peach sticks the king of Henan after he calmed down Hou Jing, and rewarded silk girls with gold.Prince Xiao Gang suspected that he was cheating and hesitated.As a result, Hou Jing was notified by his subordinates about Fan Taobang's rebellion. Hou Jing was so angry that he ordered Taobang to be tied up and killed by both sides.Unaware that Taobang was killed, Chen Xin went out of the city to Taobang as scheduled, but was stopped by Hou Jing on the way.Hou Jing forced Chen Xin to shoot in Shucheng, pretending to be Jiang Liang.Chen Xin vowed to die and scolded Hou Jing.Hou Jing was furious and killed Chen Xin.

At that time, reinforcements had arrived.The reinforcements from all walks of life will be in the east of Qingxi to discuss the offensive strategy, but it has been a long time before they can decide.At this time, Li Qianren, the governor of Gaozhou, and Fan Wenjiao, the prefect of Tianmen, led 5,000 troops to help.Wenjiao is highly skilled in martial arts, brave and good at fighting, and he is invincible all the way to the east of Maoshou Bridge.Hou Jing's Ministry set up an ambush for Song Zixian, and deliberately lured Wen Jiao to go deep alone, and then the encircling soldiers joined forces to attack. Wen Jiao couldn't fight left and right, and finally died of exhaustion.Seeing Wen Jiao's death in battle, Li Qianren led his troops to flee.When the army heard the news of Li Fan's defeat, they felt uneasy, because the hundreds of thousands of reinforcements could not do anything.At that time, there was not much food in Taicheng, and the common people and soldiers lived by cooking leather armor, mice, and birds.Many soldiers slaughtered their war horses in front of the temple, and some even mixed them with human flesh, and those who ate them often got sick.At this time, Hou Jing's army also suffered from famine, surrounded by Liang's reinforcements, and Hou Jing's soldiers were plundering everywhere and could not get them.At this time, another spy came to report that Jingzhou reinforcements would arrive soon, so Hou Jing couldn't help being afraid.Wang Wei made a suggestion and said: "Now Taicheng is difficult to capture for a while, Xiao Liang's reinforcements are coming everywhere, and we are short of food, so it is better to pretend to seek peace to ease the situation." Ziyue went to Taicheng to pray for peace and beg for the restoration of the town.Because of the poverty and embarrassment in the city, Prince Xiao Gang went in to report to Emperor Wu of Liang and persuaded him to allow a peace negotiation.Emperor Wu of Liang was furious when he heard the words, and said, "It's better to die than peace!" Xiao Gang repeatedly stated that Emperor Wu of Liang hesitated for a long time, and then said to Xiao Gang, "You can plan it yourself, just don't make people laugh at future generations!" Gang Naisheng hall announced Xu He.

Seeing Liang Zhongji, Hou Jing asked to cut off the land of the four states on the right side of the river, and asked Daqi, the king of Xuancheng, to escort Jingbu across the river from the city, with the intention of taking hostages and delaying time.Fu Qi, the leader of the central army, resolutely opposed Daqi's going out of the city, saying: "Is there any reason for the bandits to make peace with them when they invaded the palace? The lifeblood of the country is at stake, so how can you go out of the city as a hostage?" Emperor Wu of Liang believed that Fu Qi's words were justified, so he took Daqi's younger brother Shi Chenggong's big money as his servant, and ordered the army not to attack Hou Jing.Hou Jing made an inch of progress, threatened that the king of Xuancheng must send him out, and made various demands, and he didn't seem to want to retreat at all.Xiao Gang knew it was deceitful, but the matter has come to this point, so he had to try his best to deal with it.

Not long before, Nankang Wang Huili, the governor of Nanyanzhou, led 30,000 people to Mayinzhou. Hou Jingjun feared that Huili's army would approach and he would be disadvantaged. Xiao Gang had to follow the news and ordered the Huili army to stay in Jiangtanyuan.Five days later, Hou Jing wrote to the imperial court again, saying: "Just now I received a letter from Liyang, saying that Gao Cheng has already occupied Shouyang and Zhongli, so I have nothing to do. Please borrow Guangling and Qiaozhou to live temporarily, and wait for the retake After Shouyang, it will be returned to the court." The book also stated: "Since the Northern Army is on the south bank of the Qinhuai River, I will cross the river at Jingkou." Prince Xiao Gang immediately agreed to Hou Jing's request after receiving the letter.

After the alliance, Hou Jing brought all the food and rice from the East Mansion into the camp. At this time, although there were many reinforcements, they were not subordinate to each other, just like a mob, so under the instigation of Wang Wei and Xiao Zhengde, he decided to lose the alliance, and wrote a letter to Chen Liang Emperor Wu's 10 major mistakes, and the war started again.The commander-in-chief of the reinforcements, Liu Zhongli, insisted on not taking the lead in the battle, and all the generals called for the battle for days, but none of them were allowed.Nankang Wang Huili, Yang Yaren, Zhao Bochao and others decided to move the camp to the north of Dongfu City, and agreed to march at night.Unexpectedly, at dawn the next day, Yaren and his army had not yet arrived. Hou Jing had noticed the matter, and immediately sent Song Zixian to attack. Hou Jing piled heads under the gate, and the defenders in the city were even more afraid.Hou Jing also ordered the Xuanwu Lake to fill Taicheng with water, and personally supervised the attack on the city day and night. After 10 days of this, Taicheng was finally captured by Hou Jing. When Hou Jing entered the city, he first met Emperor Wu of Liang, and then went to visit Prince Xiao Gang in Yongfu Province.When Xiao Gang's guards heard Hou Jing's arrival, they were all frightened and fled everywhere. Only the concubine Xu Yu and Tong Shisheren Yin Buhai served and guarded Xiao Gang.When Hou Jing entered the palace, Xu Yu saw that he was standing upright and did not bow, so he immediately said to Hou Jing in a sharp voice: "Hou Wang should treat the prince with courtesy, how can he be like this?" Asking questions, he couldn't help but quickly bowed down and bowed down.Xiao Gang calmly asked about various things, but Hou Jing couldn't answer. After Hou Jing withdrew, he ordered Emperor Wu and the guards of the East Palace to be withdrawn, and the rebellious soldiers looted Chengyu and clothing, causing the palace people to disperse in shock.Hou Jing also took imperial scholars and princes into custody and sent them to Yongfu Province. He sent Wang Wei to guard the Wude Hall and Yu Ziyue to guard the Taiji East Hall.The people in Jiankang City fled everywhere because of the harassment by Hou Jingjun.Emperor Wu of Liang was restrained by Hou Jing, and he was very upset, but there was nothing he could do. After the death of Emperor Wu of Liang, Hou Jing helped the crown prince Xiao Gang to become the emperor and pardoned the world.In order to prevent accidents, Hou Jing left the Chaoyang Hall from Zhaoyang Hall and divided his troops to guard all sides of the capital.He also asked Xiao Gang to issue an edict that all northerners who were trapped in the south as slaves would be released. Tens of thousands of people were exempted, and those with courage were mostly collected by Hou Jing for his own use. Xiao Gang established Daqi, the king of Xuancheng, as the crown prince, made all the sons king, and took Huili, the king of Nankang, as Sikong and concurrently as the minister, in an attempt to contain Hou Jing. However, Huili was a cowardly person. as. In the first month of the first year of Dabao (550 A.D.), a man from Guangling came to Yi and said to Zu Hao, the prefect of Guangling: "Hou Jing's governor Dong Shaoxian of Nanyanzhou was light and unscrupulous, and he was not attached to favors. It is the duty of a strong man to attack and kill him. Today we I want to gather volunteers, and I will serve as the head of Lord Daifu. If I succeed, I can become the honor of Qi Huan and Jin Wen. Even if I fail, I can be regarded as a loyal minister of the Liang family." Zu Hao nodded and said yes, and the two secretly entangled for more than a hundred A famous warrior, he attacked Guangling, killed Dong Shaoxian, traveled far and near, promoted the former prince Sheren Xiao Meng as the governor, and joined the Eastern Wei Dynasty as Austrian aid.When Hou Jing heard the news, he sent Guo Yuanjian to quell the chaos.Zu Hao surrounded the city tightly and defended himself firmly, and Yuan Jian could not attack for a long time.Hou Jingling Hou Zijian led 8,000 boats to attack from the waterway, and led 10,000 cavalry from the land to attack Guangling together.Zu Hao defended for three days. After the city was broken, he fought fiercely in the streets, and was finally captured due to exhaustion.Hou Jingling tied Zu Hao to the wall and asked the soldiers to shoot arrows at him. After a while, Zu Hao's body was scattered with arrows like hedgehogs, and then he was smashed to death by a car.The common people and scholars in the city, old and young, were all buried alive. Hou Jing triumphantly returned to Jiankang, Xiao Gang responded to the story, and gave a special imperial banquet to wash Hou Jing away.After three rounds of drinking, Hou Jing got up and left his seat, knelt down in front of Xiao Gang and asked to marry Princess Liyang as his wife.Princess Liyang is Xiao Gang's beloved daughter. She is only 14 years old and has long been favored by Hou Jing.Today Hou Jing knelt down to beg with the power of wine, but Xiao Gang had no choice but to agree.Hou Jing asked to be married immediately, and after the banquet, the princess was brought back to the mansion.Soon there will be a festival in March, Hou Jing invites Xiao Gang to hold a banquet in Leyou Garden.During the banquet, when Xiao Gang returned to the palace, Hou Jing and the princess shared the throne, and all the civil and military officials sat in line to serve the banquet, just like the emperor.Xiao Gang had no choice but to hear the news. This year, the people in the south of the Yangtze River were exiled due to drought locusts, so that they used grass roots, leaves, chicken head rice, etc. to fill their hungry stomachs.Soon the grass and trees were all gone, and the fields were full of hunger.Even the wealthy and wealthy families have a bird-like face and a swan-like shape due to lack of food. They are unable to move, so they can only wear Luoqi, with jewels and jade in their chests, and lie under the bed curtain all day long to resign themselves to fate.According to historical records, there is absolutely no smoke for thousands of miles, there are few human traces, and piles of bones are as high as Qiulong.However, Hou Jing didn't care about people's livelihood. Instead, he set up a large dungeon in Stone City, and all soldiers and civilians who violated the law were pushed into the dungeon and killed.He also often commanded the generals to say: "Break the fence and level the city, stand up and don't forgive me, so that the world will know my prestige." The generals have this order, and every time they win a battle, they will burn, kill and loot. Take killing as a play.In order to prevent people from colluding and rebelling, Hou Jing also ordered that people should not meet and talk, and those who committed crimes would be punished even their kinsmen and clans.In this way, although the common people are unwilling to be convinced, they can only drag on under the terror.Hou Jing also ordered the generals of his subordinates to be called Xingtai in full, and all the officials who returned to him were called Kaifu. No more news from Xiao Liang.Xiao Gang was controlled by Hou Jing, so far. In the year when Xiao Gang ascended the throne and changed the Yuan Dynasty, many prefectures and counties were captured by Song Zixian and Ren Yue from the Ministry of Hou Jing due to internal strife among the princes and princes of the Xiao clan, and Hou Jing's power increased day by day.In September of this year, Xiao Gang was forced to enter Hou Jing as Xiangguo, enfeoffed 20 counties, and called him King of Han. Hou Jing was so full of ambition at this time that he had the idea of ​​abolishing Xiao Gang's throne.Unfortunately, Ren Yue and Xu Wensheng fought in Beiji, but Ren Yue was defeated. Xu Wensheng took advantage of the victory and marched into Luzhou, where he was at a stalemate with Ren Yue.Hou Jingwen reported that he urgently ordered Song Zixian to lead 20,000 troops to assist Ren Yue, and then led an army to station in Jinxi.Nankang King Huili conspired with General Liu Jingli of Zuowei, Hou Xiaoquan of Xixiang, and Hou Xiaozhuo of Dongxiang because Hou Jing left the capital and the city was empty.Since Wang Wei was Hou Jing's number one confidant and was staying behind in the capital, he decided to take him first.Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhengde's nephew Xiao Ben, Marquis of Jian'an, and Xiao Ziyong, grandson of Shixing Wang Xiaoxu, actually told Wang Wei about Li and others' conspiracy.Surprised, Wang Wei acted preemptively, and immediately led his party members to arrest Huili and others, and then sent someone to report to Hou Jing.Hou Jing was shocked and angry when he received the report, and immediately said "cut", and several people were killed.However, Xiao Ben and Xiao Ziyong were rewarded for their meritorious deeds in informants, and their surnames were changed to Marquis, and they were promoted to be kings. Since Xiao Gang ascended the throne, Hou Jing has been very guarded against him, and ordinary people can't get close to him. Wulin Hou Xiao Zi, Pu She Wang Ke, and She Ren Yin Buhai are weak scholars, so they can enter and leave the palace, but the topics they talk about are only academic. It's just poetry.When Huili plotted defeat, Wang Ke and Yin Buhai were afraid of causing trouble, and took the initiative to alienate the emperor. Only Xiao Zi didn't care, and still invited him every day, never leaving the emperor's side.Hou Jing was jealous because of this, and secretly urged Diao Cheng, Xiao Zi's enemy, to assassinate him outside Guangmo's gate. In March of the second year of Dabao (551 A.D.), Ren Yue was in a hurry again. Hou Jing had no choice but to leave Wang Wei to guard the capital again, and led his division to the west.In order to prevent further chaos, Hou Jing took the prince Daqi to join the army as a hostage.However, Hou Jing's departure from the army did not go well this time, and he was defeated and returned to Jiankang in May.When Hou Jing established Xiao Gang at the beginning, his original intention was to expand the Central Plains and proclaim himself emperor. However, since he got Liyang Princess, he was greedy and failed, and was repeatedly rebuked by Wang Wei. Hou Jing told the princess about this, and the princess was angry with Wang Wei.Fearing that he and Hou Jing would be separated by slander, Wang Wei persuaded Hou Jing to get rid of the emperor and stand on his own.At this time, Hou Jing also killed Song Zixian in battle, and his military was not profitable. Knowing that he could not survive for a long time, he had the intention of entertaining the present temporarily, and decided to usurp Liang and proclaim himself emperor. In August, Hou Jing ordered Xie Hao, a former scholar of Shouguang Palace, to draft the imperial edict, saying that "brothers and nephews are contending for the establishment, and the stars are out of order. It is all because I am not on the right track, causing chaos and disasters. Yichan is located in Yuzhang Wangdong." The edict has just been drafted. Hou Jing immediately sent Lu Jilue, a party disciple, to lead troops into the palace to force Xiao Gang to sign the seal.Then Wei Weiqing, Peng Jun, and others were ordered to support Xiao Gang to Yongfu Province, abolished as King Jin'an, and sent troops to confine him.The internal and external guards were all removed, and the walls and walls were covered with trifoliate thorns and other things, so that Xiao Gang was isolated from the outside world.More than 20 of Xiao Gang's sons and clan princes in Jiankang were killed by Hou Jing.Hou Jing then embraced Xiao Dong as the throne, and changed the second year of Dabao to the first year of Tianzheng. In the winter and October of this year, Wang Wei first urged Hou Jing to send people to Wujun, Gusu and other places to kill Xiao Gang's remaining disciples, and then persuaded Hou Jing to kill Xiao Gang.So Hou Jing ordered a banquet to be held, with players playing drums and drinking with Peng Jun and others.During the banquet, Xiao Gang knew that his death was approaching, so he deliberately got drunk, and soon he lay down in the tent. Wang Wei ordered Peng Jun to bring an earthen bag into the tent, and he even took the earthen bag to press on Xiao Gang's body. He is 49 years old and has only been in office for two years. After Xiao Gang's death, Wang Wei withdrew the palace gate as a coffin, buried him in the wine storehouse in the north of the city, and returned to Hou Jing.In order to stabilize people's hearts, Hou Jing personally drafted Xiao Gang's posthumous title, called Emperor Ming, and the temple name "Gaozong".The next year, Wang Sengbian and others led the army into the capital, moved his coffin and buried it in Zhuangling, and posthumously named "Emperor Jianwen" and the temple name "Taizong".