The mediocrity of Liu Ziye, the former emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty
In ancient imperial societies, the emperor, as the supreme ruler of the country, wielded enormous power. Therefore, whether an emperor is wise or despicable depends largely on his moral cultivation. Therefore, among the hundreds of emperors in ancient times, there were many despicable, immoral, and incompetent emperors, but such a despicable, absurd, and stupid emperor as Liu Ziye, the deposed emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, was extremely rare.
Liu Ziye was born on the 17th day of the first month of the 26th year of Yuanjia (February 28, 449), and his father Liu Jun was the third son of Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty. When Liu Ziye was four years old, the crown prince Liu Shao killed his father and called the emperor, his father Liu Jun led the army to go out, in April of the same year, after Jiankang called the emperor, Liu Ziye was established as the prince, and the next month, Liu Shao and his other brother Liu Jun were captured and killed, and the world was pacified.
Although Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun had high hopes for Liu Ziye and attached importance to his education, Liu Ziye had an extreme personality since he was a child and was often scolded by Emperor Xiaowu. It's a pity that Liu Jun had just calmed down the world at that time, and he was so busy that he didn't have much time to discipline the prince, and Liu Jun's early death caused Liu Ziye to completely acquiesce.
On May 16, the eighth year of the Ming Dynasty (464), Liu Jun died of illness, and the throne passed to Liu Ziye, who was only 15 years old. However, Dai Faxing did not live up to Liu Jun's expectations, and he occasionally advised Liu Ziye on court affairs.
At the beginning of Liu Ziye's ascension to the throne, he was envious and jealous of Dai Faxing, until he heard the rumor that Dai Faxing was the true Son of Heaven and that he himself was a false Son of Heaven, Liu Ziye removed Dai Faxing from his official position in the first year of Yongguang (465), and soon sent someone to kill him. Dai Faxing's execution not only made Liu Ziye realize his power, but also loosened his shackles, and he has been embattled ever since.
Let's take a look at what interesting things Liu Ziye has done during his reign.
1. Uninhibited, no lower limit. There are many emperors in history who are extravagant, but emperors like Liu Ziye who do not care about honesty and do not shy away from it are extremely rare, and even his relatives are not immune.
In the first year of Jinghe (465), Liu Ziye fell in love with his aunt Liu Yingmei, Princess Xincai, and forced her to be in the palace**, and then took her to the palace and named Xie Guifei. Subsequently, he killed another concubine to conceal himself, claiming that Liu Yingmei was dead, and gave her to his aunt He Mai (the son of the general He Yu). He Mai was very dissatisfied with Liu Yingmei's death and planned to get rid of her while she was traveling, but the plan was discovered and killed.
In order to satisfy his own psychology, Liu Ziye even ordered the palace maids to walk around and play in the palace naked, and those who dared to disobey were immediately executed, and Liu Xiuren even let his biological mother Concubine Yang be raped by the ministers in front of her uncle King Jian'an.
On the 29th day of the 11th month of the first year of Jinghe (465), he gathered all his concubines and princesses and forced his attendants to insult and rape them. Liu Ziye's uncle and wife of Liu Xun, the king of Nanping, was not convinced, and Liu Ziye killed Jiang's three sons and then whipped Jiang for a hundred years.
Liu Ziye also had a relationship with Liu Ziye's sister Liu Chuyu, and Liu Chuyu complained to Liu Ziye:"Brother, you have so many wives and concubines, but I only have one extra horse to join the ranks of many wives and concubines. "So, Liu Ziye got thirty stallions to serve his sister.
2.Extremely brutal and kills people at will. Liu Ziye killed ministers at will in the imperial court, which caused serious political turmoil because he felt that there was no one to claim the throne, and then he began to fear that one day they would also be replaced, and in order to prevent this, he began to ** his own uncles again.
King Pig"、"The King of Killing"、"King of Thieves"with"Donkey King"The people were ordered to put all sorts of grains in wooden troughs and roll them into balls, then dig a pit in the ground, put the uncles in it, put the trough in front of them, and order them to eat the food in the trough with their mouths like animals. Fortunately, Liu Xiuren's martial arts are strong, and several people survived.
He learned that his uncle Liu Mang's wife was pregnant, so he included his wife in the harem when she was in labor, hoping that his son would become the crown prince after he was born. Because Liu Yu did not listen to Liu Ziye's request, Liu Ziye ordered Liu Yu to strip her naked, tie her hands and feet, use a stick to pull her hands and feet, and send eunuchs to kill her. Fortunately, Liu Xiuren's persuasion saved him from death.
Due to Liu Ziye's dictatorship, Liu Jun initially ordered him to assist the government, but because Dai Faxing and his uncle Liu Yigong, the king of Jiangxia, took the initiative to retreat into the background, Dai Faxing was afraid of Liu Jun and did not see this clearly, and wanted to get rid of him. When Liu Ziye found out, he sent someone to kill him, dismember him, pluck off his eyes, soak them in honey, and make it"Devil's eye dumplings"。
3.Insulting the ancestors, because they are nuns. In August of the first year of Jinghe (465), Liu Ziye asked people to paint portraits of their ancestors in Taimiao. After the painting was finished, he entered the hall ** and disrespectfully pointed to the portraits and commented one by one, saying that his great-grandfather Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty'He captured several princes in his life and was a big hero', grandfather Liu Yilong, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty'In his later years, he was unfortunately beheaded by his own son'"。He said that Liu Jun, the father of Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty"There is a big drunk nose, where is it now"？Speaking of which, he asked the artist to paint Liu Jun's drunken nose.
When the Empress Dowager Cixi was seriously ill, she sent someone to call Liu Ziye, but Liu Ziye said:"There are many ghosts in the sickness, they are afraid, I can't go. "The Empress Dowager Cixi was angry and said to her servant:"Bring me a knife and see how I mutilated myself to give birth to such a son. "
Liu Ziye's misdeeds endangered not only his ministers and relatives, but also his cronies, who feared that they would one day be killed, leading to Liu Ziye's rebellion. In November of the first year of Jinghe (465), Liu Ziye's uncle, Liu Yu, the king of Xiangdong, contacted his cronies Ruan Duanfu, Wang Daolong, and Li Dao'er, as well as Liu Ziye's cronies Shou Lianzhi and Jiang Dangzhi, and conspired to get rid of Liu Ziye.
On the night of November 30 of the same year (January 1, 466), a warlock deceived Liu Ziye that there were ghosts in the bamboo forest of Huayin Garden, and Liu Ziye personally went to the bamboo forest of Huayin Garden to shoot ghosts, and was killed by his friends Shou Lianzhi and Jiang Zhuangzhi at the age of 17.