Sima Yi was an outstanding military and statesman during the Three Kingdoms period, and he laid the foundation for the establishment of the Jin dynasty. His grandson, Sima Yan, usurped the throne and established the Jin dynasty in 265 AD. However, after a brief period of unification in the Western Jin Dynasty, China entered a 170-year period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
During this period, Liu Yu, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, rose to prominence, and in 403 he deposed Emperor An of the Jin Dynasty and established himself as emperor, establishing the Liu Song dynasty. Liu Yu's regime marked the end of the Jin dynasty and the beginning of the Liu Song dynasty. Liu Yu did not gain power through long-term operation and accumulation, as the Sima family did, but seized power through military and political means in a short period of time.
After Liu Yu usurped the throne, the Sima family suffered the fate of extermination.
So, how did Liu Yu, a son of a poor family who used to be a disciple of the four walls, rise step by step and finally ascend to the throne of the emperor?What kind of trials and choices did he go through?How many opportunities and challenges have we encountered?Why do you want to destroy Sima Yi's descendants?
In the first year of Xingning in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, that is, on a spring night in 363 AD, a loud baby cry was heard in a quaint official residence in Jingkou Town. On this night, Liu Qiao, the county gong, ushered in his new life, but the joy was mixed with endless grief - his wife died due to difficult childbirth.
The Jingkou Liu family, a once prominent family, although it was of the same clan as the royal family of the Han Dynasty, gradually lost its former glory after the Wei and Jin dynasties. In that era of strict aristocracy, the gap between the high gate and the cold gate was higher than the sky. Liu Qiao, a man in a poor family, although he is in the prime of life, his career has never been successful. He only supported his family with a meager official income.
Faced with the dilemma of life, Liu Qiao first needs to solve the problem of the wet nurse. His family was poor, unable to hire a wet nurse or even provide for a basic livelihood. However, fate always seems to shine in the darkest moments. His brother learned of his plight and generously offered to put his child in his own home for the time being in order to solve the milk problem.
Liu Qiao was grateful for the help of this fellow brother, and he decided to give his child the nickname "Jinu", which means that he is like a foster slave. The name is called Liu Yu, the word Deyu, which contains his father's expectations for his future. Despite the hardships of life, Liu Yu's stepmother treated him like her own and cared for him.
However, the misery of life does not end there. Liu Qiao died of illness soon after, leaving the young Liu Yu to face the hardships of life alone. In order to support his family, Liu Yu tried various jobs and even involved some gambling activities. However, instead of improving his finances, he incurred a gambling debt.
One day, he was caught by his creditors and tied up in the streets. Just when he was feeling hopeless, Wang Mi, the chief of the Hussar General's Mansion, passed by and saw his predicament. Wang Mi deeply appreciated his tenacity and perseverance and helped him pay off his gambling debts.
Liu Yu began to re-examine his life and values. He realized that life was like a gamble, and that it would take great effort and price for him to make his mark on the political scene. From then on, he made up his mind to be a political gambler and use his wisdom and courage to challenge the injustice of fate.
Subsequently, Liu Yu enlisted in the army, from a once unknown pawn, to become a generation of famous generals with enthusiasm and determination in the torrent of history. In his early years, Liu Yu served as a small soldier in the Beifu Army in order to make a living, but he was not satisfied with this, he longed for a bigger stage and higher honors. As a result, he trained hard to improve his martial arts and strategic vision.
Finally, in 399, the Sun En Rebellion broke out in the Jiangdong region, and Liu Gaozhi, a famous general of the Beifu army, was ordered to suppress it. With his outstanding performance, Liu Yu was appointed to join the army and officially stepped into the front of history.
In the fierce battle with the rebel army, Liu Yu showed unparalleled bravery and combat effectiveness. He wielded his long knife as if he were in a no-man's land, killing and wounding many enemies. Even in the plight of most of his men killed and wounded, he still did not flinch, and finally defeated Sun En's rebel army with the support of friendly forces.
Liu Yu's bravery and strict military discipline won the deep support of the people, and his name quickly spread among the Beifu army and became a famous general of a generation. However, the course of history is always full of twists and turns. In 404, Huan Xuan abolished the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and established himself as the emperor, and the world was in turmoil for a while.
Liu Yu was anxious when he heard the news, he knew that his opportunity had come. So, he and seventy-two like-minded warriors formed a bloody alliance and rose up together. They gathered the strength of more than 100 people and vowed to overthrow Huan Xuan's rule and re-establish the Eastern Jin Emperor.
After a hard and bloody battle, Liu Yu finally invaded Jiankang and successfully regained his orthodox position. His feat not only restored the rule of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but also impressed those who had once underestimated him.
Since then, Liu Yudi has finally broken out of his own world and become a generation of famous generals in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Since then, Liu Yu, an outstanding general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, has become a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but his vision is far more than that. Faced with internal and external troubles, he chose to pacify the Quartet by force.
In 409, he personally led an army on a northern expedition, aiming directly at the Southern Yan regime entrenched in Shandong. After a fierce battle, he successfully broke through Guanggu City, the capital of Southern Yan, the following year, captured Murong Chao, the emperor of Southern Yan, and then executed him.
However, Liu Yu did not stop because of this. In the same year, he led his army south and engaged in a fierce battle with Lu Xun, who occupied Lingnan, and finally eliminated him. Four years later, he sent a large army to conquer the Shu regime, and its monarch committed suicide in despair.
While eliminating external threats, Liu Yu also set out to deal with political opponents within the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In 416, he again waved the Northern Expedition, and defeated the iron cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty all the way. The following year, Chang'an fell, the Later Qin regime fell, and its monarch Yao Hong was captured and executed.
After establishing his great military exploits, Liu Yu finally began to implement his plan to usurp the throne. He first poisoned Emperor Sima Dezong of the Jin Dynasty, and then deposed and killed the Emperor Gong of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Dewen. Finally, in 420, when he was 58 years old, he ascended to the throne and officially established the Liu Song dynasty.
Xin Qiji once used "Jin Ge Iron Horse, swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger" to describe this brave and fearless emperor. Liu Yu's life is full of legends, and his bravery and wisdom made him a great figure in Chinese history.
In Liu Yu's life, he killed a total of five monarchs. The person who killed the emperor may not be rare in history, but the person who killed five emperors in his life is very rare, and this person is Liu Yu, the Emperor of Song Wu.
So, why did he still destroy the descendants of Sima Yi, the royal family of the Eastern Jin Dynasty?
Although in the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the talents of the Sima family withered and appeared to be in decline, their ancestors, such as Sima Yi, Sima Zhao, Sima Yan, etc., were all famous figures. These predecessors of the Sima family are all ambitious characters, and their talents and influence are deeply imprinted in the pages of history.
Sima Yi knew how to forbear when he was young, and he silently waited for the opportunity until his later years to launch a thrilling counterattack. With his superb wisdom and calm city government, he defeated Cao Shuang in one fell swoop and mastered the military and political power. He is well versed in pretending to be sick, and has created many opportunities for himself to counterattack, so that the enemy cannot be caught off guard.
Sima Zhao, unlike his father, chose another way to show his ambitions. He didn't hide his desires too much, but chose to be sharp. His ambitions and intentions are clearly revealed, and the world knows his disobedience.
Liu Yu, a valiant general and statesman, was always fearful of these two ruthless characters of the Sima family. He feared that the Sima family would rise again, and that they would take the opportunity to cause trouble and threaten his throne.
In order to ensure the stability of his throne, Liu Yu decided to take decisive action. He feared that if the Sima family was left alone, they might become a threat to the future, just like Sima Yi and Sima Zhao.
Therefore, he decided to exterminate the Sima family in order to prevent future troubles. This decisive action made Liu Yu feel more at ease on the throne and laid a stable foundation for his dynasty.
Liu Yu was born in a prominent Han family. His ancestor was Liu Jiao, the younger brother of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty. As a descendant of the Han family, Liu Yu had a lofty ideal in his heart, that is, to restore the glory of the Han family.
The change of political power in history has brought great suffering to Liu Yu's family. Cao Wei usurped the Han Dynasty, and the Sima clan stole the power of Cao Wei, and then destroyed the Shu Han. These events made the descendants of the Han family full of hatred for the Sima clan. Liu Yu, as the representative of this ethnic group, was determined to avenge his ancestors and wash away the shame of the Han family.
After taking power, Liu Yu launched a thrilling revenge. He resolutely attacked the Sima family and made those who were once the first of the Han family pay for their crimes. This practice, on the one hand, allowed the Han family to vent their hatred, and on the other hand, it also won the widespread support of the members of the Liu clan.
Liu Yu's actions are not just for the revenge of the family. He knew very well that only by making those who had betrayed the Han family pay the price could he truly restore the dignity and honor of the Han family, so as to win over the clansmen of the Liu clan.
When Liu Yu established the Southern Dynasty Liu Song, he was already close to the age of the sixtieth year, and he had a son in his later years. Liu Yu knew that his time was running out and that he had to be fully prepared for his young son. In order to ensure that his son can smoothly take over Liu Song, he must clear all potential obstacles.
Historically, many young emperors have been suppressed by ministers, and even the situation of "coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes" has appeared. In Liu Yu's eyes, the Sima family is undoubtedly the most likely force to rebel.
They have a history of counterattacks, and with the precedents of their predecessors, Liu Yu is even more convinced that his son will not be able to suppress this gang of rebellious ministers and thieves. As a result, he took brutal repressive measures against the Sima family.
However, Liu Yu's extermination set a bad precedent for later generations. In order to compete for the throne, his grandson Liu Yu did not hesitate to kill his royal relatives, even those younger brothers who had helped him quell the rebellion. This fratricidal situation intensified, causing the Liu clan to weaken day by day due to infighting.
It was precisely because of Liu Yu's decisions and actions when he established the Liu Song Dynasty that he laid the groundwork for the turmoil and decline of later generations. His actions not only had a profound impact on the Liu family, but also had an irreversible impact on the historical course of the entire Southern Dynasties.
In the history of China, there are many stories of dynastic succession, and these stories all embody the concept of karma. As the saying goes, "when you come out to mix, you always have to pay it back".
Cao Wei forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate, but was eventually usurped by the Sima family. In order to protect his power, Liu Yu destroyed the Sima family, but his actions also planted the fruit of Xiao Daocheng's theft of Liu Song's power. These events all show a clear pattern: dynastic change, causal reincarnation. Every action, no matter how big or small, will plant the fruit of the future.
These events in history also reflect the notion of "feng shui in turn". Even the most powerful dynasty could not maintain its position forever. The flow of power, wealth and status is inevitable. This is because the law of karma is at work. Every action has a corresponding result, and these results are often fed back to the actor.
From a historical point of view, we should recognize the law of karma and the law of feng shui in turn. This is not to say that we should give up our efforts, but rather that we should understand that all actions have consequences that could affect our future. Therefore, we should be cautious and avoid sowing evil consequences.
In short, the succession of dynasties and the cycle of cause and effect in history have shown a truth: everything has retribution. We should learn from this and understand the law of karma and the law of Feng Shui in turn, so as to better guide our actions and decisions.