In terms of historical achievements and the sustained and healthy development of the empire, among the successive emperors of the Southern Dynasty (Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen), this person is absolutely worthy of the title of "First Emperor". But what is less known is that this "First Emperor of the Southern Dynasty" was almost abandoned when he was born because his family was too poor. This incomparably legendary emperor was Liu Yu, the Emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty.
Liu Yu was born in the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (363), and not long after his birth, his mother Zhao Shi died of an infection after childbirth. For the death of his wife, Liu Yu's father Liu Qiao mourned, and naturally added anger to Liu Yu, coupled with the poverty of the family, and unable to ask the nursing mother to feed his son, he was ready to abandon him.
Liu Yu was almost abandoned when he was born because his family was poor
At this critical moment, Liu Yu's aunt (Liu Huaisu, Liu Huaijing's mother) heard the news and rushed to dissuade him, and pleaded with him to raise Liu Yu, so that the newborn baby boy escaped the disaster. The reason why Liu Yu's nickname is called "hermit slave" is because of this tortuous and bumpy experience ("In the beginning, Gao Zu gave birth and the emperor was killed, and the filial emperor was poor, and he had no reason to get a milkman, and he wanted to raise a high ancestor. Gao Zu was born from his mother to respect, but before he was expected, he cut off his breast and raised Gao Zu himself. See Book of Song and biography of Liu Huaisu).
As the saying goes, "the children of the poor have long been in charge", because the family is too poor, so Liu Yu has been forced to live by cutting firewood, farming, fishing and selling straw shoes since childhood, and his life is extremely difficult. In order to make a lot of money, Liu Yu gradually became obsessed with the gambling game "Fan Pu" under the influence of his fox friends, and often enjoyed it (after Liu Yu's development, he was still obsessed with this game in the army).
Because the family is really poor, whenever Liu Yu loses the essence, without exception, he will choose to pay debts, thus gaining a reputation as a scoundrel and being despised by the villagers ("The Yu family is cold and humble, lives in Jingkou, and always sells his shoes as a business.) Spirited, only literate, fanpu poured production, for the time to be cheap. See Wei Shu Liu Yu Biography).
Liu Yu grew up addicted to gambling and was despised by his fellow villagers
However, although Liu Yu came from a humble background and had bad habits, his talent was outstanding and his ambitions were great, and he gradually gained the admiration of the famous scholar Wang Mi, and used his influence to recommend him to the champion general Sun Wufeng. Liu Yu soon stood out in Sun Wuxian's army, and thus ushered in a change of fate ("In the beginning, Liu Yu was clothed, and the unknown knowledge of the people, but Wang Mi was unique and noble, and Liu Yu was said: 'Qing should be a hero of a generation.'" See Book of Jin and Biography of Wang Mi).
Liu Yu was promoted to the post of Sima in Sun Wuzhong's army, and because of his outstanding talent, he was recommended by Sun Wuzhong to the former general Liu Jiaozhi to recruit Sun En and Lu Xun, the leaders of Wudou Midao, as a soldier, and because he repeatedly served as a pioneer and won every battle, he was appreciated by the imperial court, and was promoted to the rank of Jianwu general and Xia Pi Taishou. After Sun En's defeat and death, Shi Huanxuan, the assassin of Jingzhou, took advantage of the emptiness of the state's defenses to raise troops to conquer the Jing Division, deposed Emperor An of Jin, and established himself as Emperor Chu in 403 AD.
Liu Yu raised an army against Huan Xuan and took the first step in the imperial cause
After Huan Xuan usurped the throne, Liu Yu, who had been promoted to join the army at the time, initially pretended to be attached to him, but in the interior he was preparing to raise troops to suppress the rebellion. In the following year (404), the following year after Huan Xuan usurped the throne, Liu Yu gathered more than 1,700 remnants of the Beifu army in the name of hunting, and raised troops at Jingkou to rebel. Because Huan Xuan's actions after usurping the throne were greatly discouraged, Liu Yu had just raised an army, and all the localities responded one after another and publicly promoted him as the leader of the alliance.
Although Liu Yu was a small soldier, his military ability was extremely high, and he was able to win surprise victories on the battlefield repeatedly, and in only a year or so, he defeated Huan Xuan, who was tens of hundreds of times stronger than himself, and welcomed Emperor An of Jin to re-ascend the throne in 405 AD. Because Liu Yu had the merit of Kuangfu, after Emperor An of Jin was re-zuo, he entered Liu Yu as a general of the Zhen Army and the Assassin of Xuzhou, and soon ordered his premier to govern. From this point on, Liu Yu became the number one vassal of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Liu Yu made several northern expeditions and recovered a large area of his homeland in northern Jiangsu
In the following 15 years, in order to enhance his power and reputation, Liu Yu, on the one hand, quelled the Rebellion of Lu Xun at home, eliminated Liu Yi, Sima Xiuzhi and other dissident forces, methodically usurped military and political power, and overthrew the Eastern Jin imperial family; on the other hand, he used troops to Sichuan and the area north of the Yangtze River, successively destroyed the Southern Yan, Shu, Qiuchi, Later Qin and other regimes, and defeated the Northern Wei army and recovered a large area of his homeland. After completing the above undertakings, Liu Yu's reputation reached its peak, and he became the Duke of Xiangguo and Song, accepted the gift of jiuxi, and became the "uncrowned emperor" of the empire.
In 420, Liu Yu deposed Emperor Gong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and established himself the Liu Song dynasty, known as Emperor Wu of Song. During Liu Yu's reign, he practiced the law of land breakage to curb the merger of powerful people, rectify the administration of officials, and quote a large number of Han people to participate in politics, thus ending the phenomenon of the dictatorship of the door valve and laying the political pattern of the Southern Dynasty of "cold people holding the power of the machine". Not only that, Liu Yu also exempted the people from taxes and abolished harsh laws and regulations, so that the people could recuperate and develop production with peace of mind after years of suffering from war.
During Liu Yu's reign, the Southern Dynasty had the most extensive territory
Under The Rule of Liu Yu, the Southern Dynasty not only had the most extensive territory, but also had great economic development, laying a good foundation for the "rule of Yuan Jia" after that. It is precisely because of Liu Yu's excellent political achievements that the great thinker of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zhen, praised him as "the prince of the Dingchao Dynasty" and "the first emperor of the Southern Dynasty". In the third year of Yongchu (422), Liu Yu planned to go to Northern Wei, but before he could officially leave the school, he died that year at the age of 59. After Liu Yu's death, he was posthumously honored as Emperor Wu, with the temple name Gaozu, and was buried in the Chu Ning Mausoleum.