Cruel Emperors Tear Liu Song Dynasty Apart

Liu Yilong's northern expeditions failed again and again. The strength of the Yuanjia recovery was spent.

Liu Song did not return to stability. Instead, a line of violent and absurd emperors pushed the Southern Dynasty into deeper internal exhaustion.

Liu Shao Kills His Father

Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, met his end through his own crown prince, Liu Shao.

Liu Shao had been made crown prince at the age of six. For many years, his position seemed secure. Later, however, he became involved in witchcraft and curse rituals inside the palace. Liu Yilong discovered it and became furious, rebuking him many times.

Liu Shao did not stop.

Liu Yilong began thinking of replacing him. After more than twenty years as crown prince, Liu Shao suddenly faced the possibility of ruin. He chose to strike first.

In 453, Liu Shao launched a coup, led Eastern Palace guards into the palace, and killed his father. He then blamed others and took the throne.

But an emperor who had killed his father could hardly win acceptance. Officials understood that Liu Shao was tied to the former emperor's death, and patricide tore open the court.

Only three months after Liu Shao took power, his half-brother Liu Jun, Prince of Wuling, rose in Jiangzhou.

Commanders in Jingzhou, Yongzhou, and other regions answered. The army against the usurper drove toward Jiankang.

Liu Shao was abandoned and soon could not resist. After Jiankang fell, he was killed, his body was thrown into the river, and his wife and children also died.

Songs among the people spoke of first seeing a son kill his father, then seeing a younger brother kill an elder brother. Liu Song's royal struggle had become a fear visible to everyone in Jiankang.

Liu Jun then took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.

Liu Jun's Opening and Loss of Control

At first, Liu Jun was not useless.

Militarily, he won some small successes against Northern Wei. Politically and economically, he also attempted reforms. But his reputation was soon damaged by his private life.

Liu Jun became sexually reckless, and palace scandals spread. Northern Wei histories recorded even darker accusations involving his mother. That report may include enemy slander, but his disorderly conduct was already widely discussed at the time.

He also reached into the royal clan.

His uncle Liu Yixuan, governor of Jingzhou, had four daughters who had been raised in the palace. Liu Jun desired them and brought them into the harem despite the family relationship.

Liu Yixuan was enraged. He raised 100,000 troops in the name of clearing corrupt influence from the emperor's side.

His force looked large, but it was not strong. After several clashes, it collapsed. Liu Yixuan was defeated and killed, and sixteen of his sons were killed too.

After suppressing Liu Yixuan, Liu Jun became even less restrained. A favored female cousin was disguised as the daughter of an official with the surname Yin and made Consort Yin to conceal the kinship.

When Consort Yin died in 462, Liu Jun grieved excessively and became more indulgent. He often brought consorts and officials to her tomb to weep and judged loyalty by how painfully they cried.

Government grew more neglected.

In 464, Liu Jun died. His sixteen-year-old crown prince Liu Ziye took the throne.

Liu Ziye's Violence

Liu Ziye was young, but his cruelty surpassed those before him.

Soon after taking power, he opened Consort Yin's tomb. She had threatened his position as crown prince while alive, and now he used desecration to vent his hatred. He also killed her children.

His mother, Empress Dowager Wang, could not bear it and cursed herself for giving birth to such a son. She soon died in anger and grief.

Her death did not restrain him.

Liu Ziye turned against royal uncles. The three he feared most were Liu Yu, Prince of Xiangdong, Liu Xiuren, Prince of Jian'an, and Liu Xiuyou, Prince of Shanyang.

They had lived in comfort for years and had grown heavy. Liu Ziye gave them insulting nicknames, confined them in the palace, and humiliated and beat them daily.

Liu Yu was especially endangered. A rumor said that an emperor would come from Xiang, and Liu Yu was Prince of Xiangdong.

Liu Yu and Liu Xiuren understood that if they did not save themselves, they would eventually die.

They contacted Shou Jizhi, an attendant responsible for imperial clothing and daily service. Shou moved often inside the palace, and he too hated Liu Ziye's brutality.

In late 465, the chance came.

Liu Ziye had killed palace women in Bamboo Grove Hall and later suffered nightmares. He trusted ritual specialists who told him to perform a ceremony there to shoot ghosts.

That night, after the ceremony, Liu Ziye drank and prepared for music. Shou Jizhi and his men rushed out from the bamboo and killed him.

Liu Xiuren and Liu Xiuyou heard the commotion and quickly welcomed Liu Yu. Liu Yu did not even understand at first what had happened. When people crowded him onto the throne, he had lost his shoes while running.

He took power in haste as Emperor Ming of Song.

The Liu Song throne had shifted from Emperor Xiaowu's line back to another branch of Emperor Wen's descendants.

The Yijia Crisis

Emperor Ming's accession angered many regional officials. Deng Wan, an administrator in Jiangzhou, was one of them.

Deng Wan believed Emperor Xiaowu's line should inherit the throne. Liu Yu had killed Liu Ziye and taken power without proper legitimacy.

Even before Liu Ziye died, Deng Wan had been contacting other provinces, planning to remove the confused ruler and enthrone Liu Zixun, Emperor Xiaowu's third son.

Liu Yu's quick seizure of power made Deng Wan even more unwilling to accept the court.

In 466, Deng Wan falsely claimed secret orders from Empress Dowager Lu and raised the not-yet-eleven-year-old Liu Zixun as emperor at Xunyang.

Liu Song now had two emperors.

At first, Liu Zixun's side looked stronger. Emperor Ming's brothers mostly supported the central court, but Emperor Xiaowu's sons and many regional commands supported Liu Zixun. For a time, much of the realm answered Xunyang, while Jiankang held only a few nearby commanderies.

Facing danger, Emperor Ming chose calm.

He did not expand punishment against relatives of rebels who remained in Jiankang. This helped steady public feeling. The court's troops were fewer, but they were better equipped and trained.

In the end, Emperor Ming's side reversed the situation and destroyed Liu Zixun's regime. Jiangnan and Huainan were pacified.

Most of Emperor Xiaowu's descendants were killed.

This civil war became known as the Yijia crisis, after Liu Zixun's reign title.

Emperor Ming and the Later Deposed Emperor

After the civil war, Emperor Ming also became indulgent. He inherited the disorderly palace habits of earlier rulers. More seriously, he had no son for a long time.

To continue the imperial line, he used a grim arrangement. A favored servant named Li Dao'er had wives and concubines who bore several sons. Emperor Ming gave his consort Chen Miaodeng to Li Dao'er. After she became pregnant, she was brought back into the palace and gave birth to a son later named Liu Yu.

Li Dao'er soon disappeared.

In 472, Emperor Ming died. Liu Yu succeeded him and is known as the Later Deposed Emperor.

The title already tells the end.

Liu Yu was young but extremely violent. He often left the palace to hunt and roam. If he met pedestrians or animals, he might kill them on impulse. People lived in fear.

Even the empress dowager could not restrain him. During the Dragon Boat Festival, she gave him a fan with a jade handle. He thought it was not splendid enough and considered ordering physicians to poison her. Only when attendants reminded him that mourning would prevent him from going out for pleasure did he stop.

He also killed officials without reason.

Soon he brought danger to the general Xiao Daocheng.

One day, Liu Yu visited Xiao Daocheng's residence and saw him resting with his chest exposed. He ordered Xiao to stand, drew a target on his belly, and prepared to shoot him.

Attendants said Xiao's large belly was a fine target, but if the emperor killed him with one arrow, there would be no more game. Better to use a blunt bone arrow.

Liu Yu used the bone arrow and hit Xiao Daocheng's navel, laughing.

Xiao Daocheng survived outwardly. Inside, he understood that the Later Deposed Emperor would sooner or later kill him. He decided to move first.

He bribed trusted men around the emperor and arranged a palace coup. Liu Yu was soon killed.

Xiao Daocheng Replaces Song

After Liu Yu's death, Xiao Daocheng raised his younger brother Liu Zhun as Emperor Shun of Song.

Xiao Daocheng took control of the secretariat, became a senior general, and held the government. Soon he became chancellor and Duke of Qi.

As his power grew, he approached dynastic replacement.

In 479, Emperor Shun was forced to abdicate. Liu Song ended after about sixty years.

Xiao Daocheng ascended the throne south of Jiankang and founded Qi, known as Southern Qi or Xiao Qi.

Liu Song had begun with Liu Yu's military achievements. By its late years, royal murder, violent emperors, and powerful ministers had exhausted it.

When the Southern Dynasty changed from Song to Qi, the Han Chinese regime south of the Huai had again changed houses.

Meanwhile, in the north, the Xianbei dynasty was also changing under the rule of a Han Chinese woman.