After the outbreak of the Song-Jin War, some Song dynasty officials chose to defect to the enemy, not only willingly becoming the lackeys of the Jin Dynasty, but also helping the Jin Dynasty to deal with the Song Dynasty, and even made many heartbreaking moves. Among these traitors, one can be said to be the most shameful, after he defected to the Jin Dynasty, he used various means, was supported by the Jin Dynasty as a puppet emperor, and at the same time stole all the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty! So who was this traitor of the Northern Song Dynasty?
This person's name was Liu Yu (劉豫), a native of Fucheng, Jingzhou, which is today Fucheng County, Hengshui City, Hebei Province. Liu Yu's family has been farmers for generations, and in Liu Yu's generation, he finally passed the jinshi examination during the reign of Song Zhezong through diligent study and hard study. However, Liu Yu's character was misbehaving, and he had committed theft while studying. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Liu Yu repeatedly wrote to discuss the affairs of the Bureau of Etiquette, but was ridiculed by Emperor Huizong of Song and demoted.
In 1128, Liu Yu took refuge in the south and was appointed prefect of Jinan Province. However, at that time, the Jinan area was very chaotic, not only thieves swarmed, but also could be attacked by the Jin army at any time. Although Liu Yu was reluctant to go, he was forced to take office because the officials in power at the time did not like him. In the winter of that year, the Jin army attacked Jinan, and under the influence of the Jin army, Liu Yu killed the general Guan Sheng and then surrendered to the Jin Dynasty.
The Jin Dynasty entrusted Liu Yu with a heavy responsibility, making him the governor of Zhidongping Province, concurrently serving as a pacification envoy for The Eastern and Western Provinces of Jingdong and Huainan, and "controlling the prefectures of KaideFu and Pubin Bodi Decang". At the same time, Liu Yu's son Liu Lin served as the governor of Jinan, which means that almost all of the Jin Dynasty's territory south of the Yellow River was given to Liu Yu's father and son. The Jin Dynasty pursued the strategy of "using Han to control Han", in this case, Liu Yu paid bribes to the important ministers of the Jin Dynasty and bought himself an imperial throne! In 1130, the Jin Dynasty crowned Liu Yu as emperor with the state name Of qi.
Liu Yu knew that the reason why he became emperor was that the Jin Dynasty wanted to use him to rule the area south of the Yellow River, and at the same time to make him the vanguard of the war with the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, Liu Yu greatly expanded his army in the area under his rule, and "more than 100,000 soldiers from the township were the thirteenth army of the Crown Prince's Palace." In order to maintain the puppet Qi regime and satisfy his own extravagant and lavish life, Liu Yu increased taxes and forced labor, making the people unhappy. However, Liu Yu found that the money was still not enough, so he started the idea of a dead man.
The capital of the Northern Song Dynasty was set in Kaifeng, and Luoyang was set as the Western Capital, so many dignitaries and dignitaries were buried in these two places, and the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty were located in Gongyi near Luoyang, which became the "cornucopia" in Liu Yu's eyes. Liu Yu set up "Taosha Officials" in Luoyang and Kaifeng, known as "Taosha", which was actually responsible for excavating the mausoleum. In the end, the "excavation of the tombs of the two capitals" was exhausted, and the imperial tombs buried by the emperors and empresses of the Northern Song Dynasty were not spared.
Many years later, the Song Dynasty official came to the Gongyi Imperial Mausoleum and found that it was already overgrown with weeds, and even wild beasts were infested, a desolate scene, and the official found that song Zhezong's bones were violently killed in the wilderness. In order to maintain his power, Liu Yu began to launch continuous attacks on the Southern Song Dynasty, but all of them failed, and he had to ask the Jin Dynasty for help. Over time, the Jin Dynasty felt that Liu Yu not only failed to help them hold the Henan region, but became a burden.
Therefore, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty made the decision to depose Liu Yu! In 1137, Guanyan Chang and Guanyan Zongbi led troops to Bieliang, claiming to attack the Southern Song Dynasty, but Liu Yu did not have the slightest defense. After Yan Zongbi only led three men to "break into the Donghua Gate, dismount and take his hand, and accompany him to the Xuande Gate", Liu Yu was controlled by the Jin Dynasty and deposed the next day. After that, Liu Yu was crowned king of Cao and then taken to the north. In 1143, Liu Yu fell ill and died.
References: 1. "History of Song"; 2. "History of Jin"