What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Southern and Northern Dynasties period was an era of great turmoil in history. Politically, there were frequent changes in political power, from the establishment of the Three Kingdoms of Wei Shu and Wu to the appearance of the Southern Dynasty Song Qi Liang Chen, and many political powers emerged in the past 370 years; in terms of class relations, the clan door valve system was formed, and the family clan firmly controlled the regime, resulting in political darkness and political turmoil in the later period.
In such an era full of blood, disorder and darkness, countless regimes of mutual conquest emerged one after another, and one after another, many emperors naturally emerged, who either harbored the ideal of peace in the world and longed to "establish a life for the people", or looked at each other with thousands of eyes, and had the severity of the dangerous city government of the mountains and rivers, overlooking all things, proud of the ages, and mighty to the sea... Among these many emperors, there was one emperor who was known as a "professional dragon slayer", and this person was Liu Yu, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.
(1) Born in the late days, from a chaotic world
Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, Liu Yu, also known as Shu Nu, was called a hermit because his family was too poor when he was born, and he almost threw him away, but he was able to barely grow up by relying on the support of his neighbors and aunts. Before Liu Yu was 36 years old, the trajectory of his life was rarely seen in the history books, and people could only glimpse from some sporadic historical records that he relied on chopping wood, farming, and selling straw shoes for a living.
However, in a chaotic world, no one knows what will happen in the future. In the third year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (399), the Sun En Rebellion broke out in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Liu Yu at this time followed the army of his hometown and became a member of the Northern Province Army. Liu Yu, who went to the battlefield for the first time, was extraordinary in his bravery, he was "often stubborn and sharp, first for the soldiers, and fell into the front in every battle" and "fought with a long knife in his hand, killing and injuring many people", and achieved amazing victories. It was also by virtue of this war that Liu Yu's position in the military rose. After several years of conquest, Liu Yu often wore a strong and stubborn, leading soldier, hard work and high merit, and was given the title of Jianwu General and Xia Pi Taishou. Eventually, Liu Yu led an army to pursue Sun En's rebel army, forcing him to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water. At this time, Liu Yu had already got rid of the status of cold and depressed, and subsequently, the earth-shaking and ever-changing era brought new opportunities to Liu Yu.
(2) Dragon slaying professional household - Liu Yu
In the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (402), the Jingyang Dispute, which had lasted for a hundred years in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, re-emerged, and Shi Hengxuan of Jingzhou fell out with the father and son of Sima Daozi, the ruler of the imperial court, and after Hengxuan defeated the Soldiers of the Western Prefecture, he lured Liu Gaozhi of the Northern Prefecture to surrender to himself, resulting in earth-shaking changes in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and affecting the direction of history. This year, Liu Yu was 39 years old.
After Liu Gaozhi surrendered to Hengxuan, the imperial court was difficult to resist, and eventually Hengxuan occupied Jiankang, abolished the original Xingnian name, and restored the Long'an Nian name. At this time, Liu Yu judged the situation and pretended to turn to Heng Xuan. After Heng Xuan came to power, he was extravagant and lascivious, and the people were trapped by famine. In this situation, Liu Yu was appointed and received great attention, but he had been secretly contacting the beifu bing old department, waiting for the opportunity to prepare for the overthrow of Heng Xuan.
After the New Year, Liu Yu gathered more than 1,700 Beifu soldiers from Jingkou and Guangling to revolt in Jingkou under the guise of hunting. Under such circumstances, Liu Yi, He Wujie, and others responded one after another, and with their help, Hengxuan's side was quickly defeated, and Liu Yu also beat Hengxuan to abandon the city and flee. Soon, Heng Xuan was killed on the way to escape, the first emperor liu Yu had killed in his life. After Liu Yu pacified Hengxuan, he recaptured Jiankang, Emperor An of Jin was restored, and Liu Yu gradually took power in the imperial court. After this, Liu Yuxiao was brave and good at war, as a humeral vassal of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and soon Later Qin was hindered by the fact that the combat strength was being contained elsewhere, and did not want to confront Liu Yu, so he returned the previous twelve counties to the Eastern Jin.
Within a few years, the Southern Yan Emperor provoked trouble on the border of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Liu Yu subsequently killed Murong Chao, the emperor of Southern Yan. A few years later, Later Qin's emperor Yao Xing died, and after his eldest son Yao Hong ascended the throne, Later Qin's internal struggle was particularly fierce, and Liu Yu took this opportunity to lead an army to the Northern Expedition, and soon attacked Later Qin and killed The Later Qin Emperor. This was the second and third emperor that Liu Yu had killed.
After many years of southern conquest and northern warfare, Liu Yu made great military achievements for the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was convinced by everyone and became a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who "turned his hand into a cloud and overturned his hand into rain". At this time, Liu Yu was no longer willing to be subordinate to others, and he was no longer satisfied with his allegiance to the idiot emperor Jin'an Emperor, and wanted to become emperor himself. So Liu Yu secretly executed Emperor An of Jin and installed Emperor Jin's younger brother Sima Dewen as emperor, later Emperor Gong of Jin. Emperor An of Jin also became the fourth emperor that Liu Yu killed.
Subsequently, Liu Yu was made the King of Song, and his territory increased from ten counties to twenty counties, enjoying the same level of etiquette as the emperor. At this time, he was already above ten thousand people under one person, but he was still not satisfied, and Sima Dewen had to give way to him, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty was destroyed. In the second year of Yuan Xi (420), Liu Yu was proclaimed emperor and changed the name of the country to "Song". At this time, Emperor Gong of Jin had already been deposed as the King of Lingling, but he still could not escape death, and he was covered alive with a cotton quilt, and he became the fifth emperor that Liu Yu killed.
Liu Yu finally realized his ambitions, establishing the song dynasty, the first regime of the Southern Dynasty, and achieving a counterattack from the "slave" of the villagers to the emperor. Throughout his life, it can be described as a real "dragon slaying professional household".