Since Sima started the precedent of killing the emperor on the street, the sacredness of the emperor has become less and less. The period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was a particularly chaotic era in Chinese history. Among them, Liu Shao, an emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, was the first emperor to kill his father and usurp the throne.
Liu Shao is the eldest son of Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong, and has been loved by Emperor Wen of Song since childhood. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the succession to the throne was already chaotic, and Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty Liu Yilong succeeded to the throne abnormally. Liu Shao was lucky, becoming the crown prince at the age of six. Liu Yilong is very fond of Liu Shao and obeys Liu Shao's requirements. The strength of the East Palace Guard was even the same as that of the Emperor's Forbidden Army, Yulin Guard. Later, Liu Yilong increased the guard force of the East Palace, so that the East Palace had 10,000 soldiers. But Liu Shao can't remember his old father's goodness, and he has many mistakes in private. Liu Shao has a vicious personality, Emperor Song Wen has made him the prince for more than 20 years, but he cursed Emperor Song Wen with witches. In hindsight, if Liu Shao becomes the emperor, then I am afraid he will also be a tyrant. Later, when the witch Gu incident happened, Emperor Wen of Song was very angry, and Liu Shao and his younger brother Liu Jun, who also planned the witch Gu, were greatly frightened. But Emperor Song Wen still looked like an old father, and he didn't pursue it too much.
Later, someone reported to Emperor Song Wen that the prince and his younger brother Liu Jun were still colluding with the witches and demons of the year, which made Emperor Song Wen very sad, so he wanted to depose Liu Shao and give Liu Jun death. Liu Yilong summoned his close ministers Wang Shengqiu, Xu Zhanzhi, and Jiang Zhan to discuss secretly, but there were disagreements on the choice of the new prince. At that time, among the princes, Liu Shao and Liu Jun were ranked after Liu Shao and Liu Jun, the king of Wuling, but he was never favored, so he was excluded from the crown prince. Liu Yilong wanted to establish Liu Hong, the king of Jianping, but Xu Zhanzhi supported his son-in-law to follow Wang Liu Dan, and Jiang Zhan supported his brother-in-law, Liu Shuo, the king of Nanping. Wang Seng was worried that the secret might be leaked, and advised Liu Yilong to make a quick decision, but Liu Yilong always hesitated and could not make a decision for many days. Emperor Wen of Song's indecision gave the princes' cavalry the opportunity to rebel.
Because Emperor Wen of Song was not cautious enough to leak this conspiracy, the crown prince decided to rebel after learning the news. Liu Shao falsely claimed that he had been ordered to lead troops into the palace to collect money, forcing the guards to open the Wanchun Gate, and successfully brought the guards into Taicheng. Zhang Chaozhi led dozens of people to rush into the Yunlong Gate and break into the Zhai Pavilion. At that time, Liu Yilong was discussing with Xu Zhanzhi all night in the hall, and the soldiers on duty were still resting. Zhang Chaozhi and others broke into the door and hacked Liu Yilong and Xu Zhanzhi to death. Poor Emperor Wen of Song worked diligently for many years and created the first prosperous era of the Southern Dynasty, but in the end he died under the knife of his favorite son. Although Liu Shao temporarily controlled the capital, many of his brothers did not recognize him because he killed his father and seized the throne. Later, his younger brother Liu Jun took the opportunity to hold high the banner of righteousness and led a large army to attack Jiankang and killed Liu Shao. Liu Shao's murder of his father and usurpation of the throne, and Liu Jun's killing of his brother to quell the rebellion were the first large-scale cannibalism in the Southern Dynasties. At that time, there was a song and ballad: "Looking at Jiankang City from afar, the small river lingers against the current, and the son kills his father in the front, and the younger brother kills his brother in the back." ”
Looking at this period of history carefully, I found that Liu Shao was indeed unpopular. Although he has been the crown prince for more than 20 years, he was a usurper who killed his father, and he tried his best to keep the emperor's throne, but in the end he was killed.