Chapter 236 Chapter 235 Empress Li Yu

Li Yu, whose first name was Congjia, whose style name was Chongguang, and whose name was Zhongyin, was also known as Empress Li or layman Zhongyin.Li Jing's sixth son, Zhong's mother Guangmu Shenghou. Li Yu was born in the first year of Kaiyuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty (937 A.D.). Four of his five elder brothers died young. Only the elder brother Hongji lived to be 19 years old, so Li Yu actually became the second son.He also has four younger brothers named Congshan, Congyi, Congqian and Congxin.The eldest brother Hongji was quite talented in civil and military affairs. When he became the crown prince, he sent someone to poison his uncle Li Jingsui for fear that others would covet him.He also has no good intentions towards his younger brother Cong Jia, namely Li Yu, for fear that this younger brother will one day threaten his status as crown prince, so the young Li Yu has been in a very dangerous situation.

Li Yu has been very smart since he was a child.In addition to loving literature, calligraphy and painting are also very good, which gives Li Yu a spiritual sustenance.Li Yu's father, Li Jing, did not want to be emperor either, but only wanted to engage in poetry, art creation and entertainment, but fate pushed their father and son to the throne.The prince Hongji did not make it, but he died violently shortly after his uncle was poisoned. Naturally, it was the second son Congjia's turn to be the crown prince. Therefore, Li Yu was named the king of Wu, and he lived in the East Palace with the order of the minister to know the political affairs. became the heir to the throne.

Two years later, that is, the second year of Jianlong (916 AD), the north has changed hands, and the Southern Tang Dynasty is still called the vassal.In February, Li Jing, the protagonist, did not want to live under the eyes of the Song army, so he moved his capital to Nanchang and called it Nandu.So Li Yu was formally established as the crown prince and stayed in Jinling to supervise the country.At this time, Li Yu was already 25 years old.Li Jing appointed two ministers as assistants for him, one was Yan Xu and the other was Yin Chongyi, and he was played by Zhang Ji.In June of this year, Li Jing died of illness in Nandu, and Li Yu attacked Jinling on July 29 and changed his name to Li Yu.In October, Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty sent Wang Wenlai, a privy secretary, to congratulate him on his succession. Li Yuyi's purple robe saw the envoy of Song Dynasty, humbly and respectfully.After Song Envoy left, Li Yu changed into a yellow robe.For the Great Song Dynasty, he was a subject, but for the small court of the Southern Tang Dynasty, he was the emperor.

In the fourth year of Kaibao (AD 971), the Song Dynasty had destroyed the Southern Han Dynasty, and stationed troops in Hanyang, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, threatening the independence of the Southern Tang Dynasty.Li Yu and the courtiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were terrified. Because Song Taizu had other strategic arrangements, and it was impossible for the Southern Tang Dynasty to pose any threat to the Northern Song Dynasty, he finally graciously agreed to become his minister.In this way, Li Yujun and his ministers were relieved.In the second year, Li Yu ordered to derogate the ritual system and change the "edict" to "jiao". The Academy is the Academy of Art and Literature, or the Academy of Literature, the Privy Council is the Guangzheng Academy, the Dali Temple is the Xingxing Academy, and the Hakka Province is the Yanbin Academy. An agency of the central government.

In the seventh year of Kaibao, the Northern Song Dynasty sent an envoy to the Southern Tang Dynasty. The envoy said to Li Yu proudly: "The emperor of the Song Dynasty will perform the ceremony of burning firewood this winter, and the king should go to help the sacrifice." Li Yu's face suddenly turned pale, and he couldn't say anything for a while. Come on.Isn't this like Congshan, the younger brother who was detained in the Song Dynasty when Kaibao was sent to the Song Dynasty for four years, and he wanted to become a prisoner?Faced with Song Envoy's urging, he did not answer.Li Yu didn't want to enter the court to be a prisoner, so he had to fight for the last time.

Song Taizu made full preparations for his southern expedition, but the Southern Tang did not have any military preparations.At this time, the Northern Song Dynasty had eliminated the separatist regimes of Houshu, Southern Han, Jing, and Hunan, surrounded the territory of the Southern Tang from three sides, and formed a military alliance with Wu Yue. Wu Yue's division dispatched from the east to attack the Southern Tang.The situation is extremely unfavorable to Southern Tang.The division of Song Dynasty went southward concurrently, occupying Chizhou and trapping Wuhu. The division of Wu Yue also marched towards Changzhou.Li Yu wrote a handwritten letter to Qian Chu, king of Wuyue, saying: "If there is no self today, there will be no king tomorrow. Once the emperor of Song Dynasty changes places to reward you, you will be just a commoner in Liang, and don't even think about becoming an emperor." Qian Chu accepted Not only did he not restrain himself after the letter, but he forwarded the letter to Song Taizu.The armies of the two countries stepped up their offensive, and the Song army soon arrived near Jinling.

At the end of November in the winter of the eighth year of Kaibao, Jinling City was finally captured by the Song army.Li Yu accumulated several feet of salary in his palace, and vowed that if the city was destroyed and the country was lost, he would go to the fire with his wife, children and Li's blood relatives to die.But he didn't have the courage to commit suicide at all. When General Song Cao Bin led an army into the palace, Li Yu immediately led Sikong to know the internal history of Yin Zongyi and other 45 people, kneeling down and surrendering. Subsequently, Li Yu went north to meet Song Taizu.Song Taizu sat on the Imperial Hall of Mingde Building, and summoned the king of subjugation in the manner of the monarch of a great country and the emperor of the day.Announcing the pardon of Li Yu and others, Li Yu was granted the title of Doctor Guanglu, Taifu of the Procurator, and General Youqianniuwei.From then on, a majestic monarch became a prisoner under his rank. Although he was named a Marquis, he actually lived an even more embarrassing life than a prisoner.Moreover, the word "disobedience" itself contains a huge insult.This year is the ninth year of Kaibao, and Li Yu is just 40 years old.

After the death of Song Taizu, Song Taizong who succeeded him was more suspicious than Song Taizu. Once, Song Taizong asked Li Yu's old minister Xu Xuan to come to see Li Yu.When Li Yu saw Xu Xuan, he cried loudly with him and remained silent for a long time.Suddenly, he sighed and said: "I regret that I killed the loyal ministers Pan You and Li Ping who were outspoken and admonishing!" Xu Xuan was sent by Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty to check on the movement, so he dared not hide it and told his words directly, which made Taizong even more suspicious . In the third year of Xingguo (977 A.D.), Qixi Festival was Li Yu's birthday. In the sentence "a river of spring water flows eastward", Emperor Taizong believed that Li Yu was an immortal, missed his homeland, was greedy for the emperor's position, and had revenge in his heart, so he gave him poisoned wine.Li Yu died that night after drinking poisonous wine.I was 42 years old.

Li Yu is the same as his father Li Jing, although he is a fatuous monarch, he is not a tyrant. He treats people very emotionally.Like his father, he has a high literary talent, and his artistic achievements in poetry are even better than his father, and he is an outstanding poet in the history of Chinese poetry. Li Yu was married in the twelfth year of Baoda (AD 954). He was 18 years old at the time. He was neither an emperor nor a crown prince.His wife, Zhou Ehuang, is the daughter of Situ Zhou Jing. She was 19 years old at the time, one year older than Li Yu.After the two got married, they fell in love, and Li Yu wrote many poems for her.Zhou Ehuang is also a talented woman. Not only can she be called a national beauty, she is also good at books and history. She is good at playing chess, singing and dancing, and she is especially good at pipa. I rewarded her with my most cherished flute pipa.After Li Yu came to the throne, Zhou Ehuang favored the special room even more and was canonized as the empress of the country.Zhou Hou was romantic and talented, and created a kind of high-knot slender dress and head-turned bun makeup. At that time, women rushed to imitate it, and it became a popular clothing style.Zhou Hou is especially good at lyrics and music, he is good at composing music based on words, and singing along with them, which is charming and moving.

But the good times didn't last long, and Zhou Ehuang was sick and couldn't afford it.When Zhou Hou was sick, Li Yu could not take the medicine unless he tasted it himself, and even his clothes did not disintegrate.It is indeed rare and commendable for a feudal emperor to treat a woman like this.While recuperating, Zhouhou's favorite youngest son, Zhongxuan, died again.Zhou Hou suffered a big blow, and his illness turned worse. When Ehuang knew that he was incurable, he said goodbye to Li Yu and asked for a thin burial. His tears were touching.She was only 29 years old when she died.Li Yu and Zhou Ehuang have been in love for ten years.Yu wrote his own essays, with thousands of words, which are extremely sad.

After Zhaohui Empress Zhou Ehuang died, Li Yu's love object turned to Ehuang's younger sister, known as Empress Xiao Zhou in history.Xiao Zhou looks as beautiful as her elder sister, and her talents are also very similar, and she is young and innocent, which is even more likable. After Xiao Zhou entered the palace for many years, he did not have a name, because after the death of Queen Zhaohui, Li Yu mourned and destroyed him too much. In the second year, his mother, Queen Zhong, died.In the first year of Kaibao (968 A.D.), it was discussed that Xiao Zhouhou would be his successor, called the Queen of the Kingdom.When the country was about to perish, Li Yu knew that the disaster was inevitable, so he still did not try to make progress, did not cheer up, and had fun day and night. Minister Han Xizai and others wrote poems to remonstrate. Li Yu neither listened nor condemned, but just muddled through. My mind is poured into love and poetry.After the fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Xiao Zhou moved north to Bianliang with Li Yu, and was named Mrs. Zheng Guo by the Northern Song Dynasty. In 977 A.D., Li Yu, the 42-year-old empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, died suddenly after drinking poison on her birthday, ending the poet's life journey. He left Xiao Zhou, who was only in her twenties, in the world.Xiao Zhou couldn't overcome her grief, and died within a few months of misery and grief.