Looking at the ancient emperors of the mainland, there is a very interesting law: most of those emperors who are heroic and rough are not very kind, and even have a cruel heart for their relatives (Han Wu, Tang Zong).
Therefore, in the eyes of some friends, these emperors are not good people, so they cannot be called good emperors.
So, is there an emperor in history who is recognized as a "good man" and who takes care of his relatives like ordinary people?
Yes, but this type of emperor is often not a qualified politician, and even causes the disaster-level consequences of the destruction of life and the destruction of the country and the family. For example, Xiao Yan, the Emperor wu of Liangwu of the Southern Dynasty, who was regarded as a negative typical by later generations.
Looking at the entire history of Chinese feudalism, there are nearly 500 emperors of various colors, but it is difficult to find a second one like Xiao Yan, who has such distinctive characteristics and a bizarre life:
He reigned for 47 years, and was both the founder and actual destroyer of southern liang.
"Self gain, self gain",
Rare in history;
He firmly believed in Buddhism, and held a high position of mastering the power of life and death, glory and wealth, but for decades he did not go near women, did not eat meat, lived for more than 80 years, but was eventually starved to death;
He once pushed the culture and economy of the Southern Dynasty to the extreme, but in his later years he single-handedly destroyed all this, and the sanwu region, which was once incomparably rich."
Thousands of miles of smoke, rare people, white bones into mountains
Tens of thousands of books were burned;
He was a loving man and was especially tolerant of his sons and nephews, but in the end he was killed by these relatives.
Xiao Yan, who had been contradictory all his life, had a positive start.
The change of the Southern Dynasty is actually a "disease of the following" that occurs every few decades:
Liu Yu, as a general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was replaced by Sima Shi in 420 AD;
However, Liu Song did not last long, and the uninterrupted internal friction of the imperial family in the later period gave the general Xiao Daocheng the opportunity, and in 479 AD, the Southern Dynasty qi was established, and the Lanling Xiao clan became the new imperial family;
However, only 23 years later, the Southern Dynasty Qi was overthrown, but it was no one else who replaced it, it was Xiao Yan from the same family.
Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Shunzhi, was a brother of Xiao Daocheng, the founding emperor of Southern Qi, that is to say, Xiao Yan was Xiao Daocheng's cousin.
When the Southern Dynasty Qi was established, Xiao Yan was only 15 years old, which can be said to be a good time to catch up. As a royal family, he enjoyed the best educational resources, plus he himself was extremely studious, history said
"Little but devoted, Dongda Confucian Xuan", that is, Confucianism and Taoism are extremely proficient; at the age of 20, he became one of the famous "Eight Friends of the West Residence" at that time, and was a veritable top celebrity.
This kind of origin and knowledge doomed Xiao Yan's career to be extraordinary. When he was in his 20s, he helped Xiao Luan, the Marquis of Xichang, to assist the government, and actively offered suggestions and designed to get rid of it
With Wang Xiao Zilong, he served as the general of Ning Shuo and the town shou shouchun; at the age of 30, he was officially awarded the title
Zhongshu Shilang and Prince Shuzi entered the core of power; Xiao Luan was proclaimed empress, and Xiao Yan was feudalized as a male of Yang County, and his status became increasingly prominent.
Subsequently, Xiao Yan led his troops to fight against the powerful Northern Wei many times, winning victories and swallowing the bitter fruit of defeat.
A few years later, he was killed
Xiao Luan was appointed as
Yongzhou Thorn History has since become a major member of the military and political power of one side, and has his own stable base.
Next, the Southern Dynasty Qi also fell into the chaos of the previous dynasty.
Xiao Luan died of illness after only five years on the throne, and his son Xiao Baojuan
Being tyrannical and harsh on people has led to the scattering of people's hearts. Xiao Yan thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him
Secretly in Xiangyang, he built weapons and warships, recruited soldiers, bought horses, and tempered elite troops.
After Xiao Baorong ascended the throne in Jiangling and established his own portal, he reused Xiao Yan and allowed him to "cheaply engage" in dealing with Xiao Baojuan. Xiao Yanli's division marched east and captured it first
Jingzhou, the important town of "the most important in the upper class, and the half of the imperial court", then destroyed the city of Jiankang, resulting in civil unrest in the imperial court.
Xiao Baojuan was killed.
Next, Xiao Yan unsurprisingly became a new ruler, and he followed in the footsteps of successive usurpers of the previous generation, in a down-to-earth and step-by-step manner."
The sword is on the temple, and there is no tendency to enter the dynasty, and the praise is not named
”、
Received the gift of the Nine Tins. The following year (AD
502 years
), forcing Xiao Baorong to "Zen Jean",
Replacing Southern Qi established Southern Liang, it was for Emperor Wu of Liang.
Judging from a series of moves in the early stages, Xiao Yan had quite a heroic and slight imperial style. Under his rule, the Southern Dynasty swept away its decline and flourished in all its aspects:
Politically, he
Abolish the harsh government of the previous dynasty, be diligent in government affairs, appoint people on the basis of merit,
In the selection of good officials, fan yun, Zhou She, Xu Mian, and other outstanding talents have been reused successively, and at the same time, they have cracked down on corrupt officials and violent officials, and expanded the selection of talents of the Hanmen Shu ethnic group
。 In addition, he opened up his speech, humbly accepted advice, and even encouraged ordinary people to write to give advice; at the same time, there were also settings
Major initiatives such as the establishment of schools and the formulation of laws and regulations,
All in order to consolidate politics and resume production
Played a positive role.
Economically, he
Widely open up fertile land and promote it
Soil breaking method,
Appease the displaced and at the same time persuade them
Taxation, tax reduction, for a time
Ordered that the Hao family be forbidden to occupy public land,
Promoted the recovery and development of the economy of the Southern Dynasty;
Culturally,
Xiao Yan himself was diligent in his studies, proficient in literature, history, philosophy, and all kinds of talents, and the history books said that he was "six arts and leisure, chess and yipin, yin and yang, weihou, divination, astreacherous, grass, ruler, riding and shooting, all of which are wonderful." Under his influence, almost all of Xiao's disciples had extremely high literary attainments, and the entire scholar-doctor class was also driven to develop, and throughout the Entire Southern Dynasty, the cultural undertakings of Southern Liang were undoubtedly at its peak.
However, the seemingly perfect Xiao Yan has obvious shortcomings, and for an emperor, these shortcomings are fatal.
First, he was in the later stages
Nepotism, especially for the sons and nephews of the royal family.
Hou Jing
treachery
Eastern Wei
surrender
Liang dynasty
At that time, Xiao Yan entrusted the heavy responsibility of receiving the favor to his talentless nephew Xiao Yuanming, resulting in the 100,000 troops being annihilated effortlessly by the Famous Eastern Wei general Murong Shaozong;
His sons Xiao Zong, Xiao Lun, and others rebelled and plotted against each other in a brazen manner, and Xiao Yan was not prosecuted; his nephew Xiao Zhengde, who had defected to Northern Wei, also did not care, and even made him king.
Second, in later years, too obsessed
Buddhism greatly depletes the strength of the state. Xiao Yan is extremely strict with himself, such as he is frugal, does not drink, does not listen to music, dresses simply,
Even the Buddhist habit of not eating meat is said to have been promoted by him, and he entered the monastery several times as a monk in order to carefully study Buddhist theory.
But let's not think of Xiao Yan as an emperor who promotes frugality. Although his personal life was simple, his hobby put enormous financial pressure on the country: he had been four times
In order to redeem his family, the imperial court spent hundreds of millions of dollars each time; because of his exemplary role, a large number of southern dynasty people devoted themselves to Buddhism, and these people did not produce, did not have to pay taxes, and occupied land, which brought a great burden to the social economy.
Third, he was ignorant and was lured into the room by wolves.
After Xiao Yan ascended the throne, Zeng
He carried out many large-scale northern expeditions, but his military ability was limited and his employment was improper, resulting in repeated defeats and serious injuries. Since his own ability is not enough, he has moved his mind to use "foreign aid".
In 547, Hou Jing, the number one general of Eastern Wei, rebelled and submitted a letter of surrender to Western Wei and Southern Liang. Out of his understanding of Hou Jing as a person, Western Wei Yuwentai did not see rabbits and did not scatter eagles, and was highly vigilant throughout the whole process, while Xiao Yan was diametrically opposed, and opened his heart and gladly accepted it like a long drought and Ganlin.
I have to say that Xiao Yan's original intention was good, like all the Emperors of the Central Plains, he had the dream of unifying China; and recruiting Hou Jing and defeating the enemy with the enemy was undoubtedly a good deal for every profit. However, he overlooked three major hidden dangers:
Thanks to his years of indulgence,
The reward and punishment are unknown, many unworthy Xiao sons and nephews have held the local military and political power, and the central power of the Liang Dynasty has actually been heavy on the outside and light on the inside;
Because he had been believing in Buddhism and indulging in scholarship for many years, and was extremely negligent in the governance of the country, the corruption of the Southern Liang court became increasingly serious, the phenomenon of oppression of the people by the powerful and the land annexation intensified, and the class contradiction became increasingly prominent;
Hou Jing had been in the Northern Dynasty calling the wind and rain and fighting in the battlefield for a long time, and compared with the high-ranking officials of the temples of the Southern Dynasty at that time, his mental skills, power skills, and military abilities were unmatched, and Xiao Yan himself did not have the ability to control him.
Under the combined action of the above multiple factors, Xiao Yan ushered in the rebellion of Hou Jing.
Due to the complete tearing of the face with the Eastern Wei Gao clan, Hou Jing once tried to serve Southern Liang with a dead heart; however, Xiao Yan hesitated repeatedly, and in order to save his captured nephew Xiao Yuanming, he considered reconciling with Eastern Wei, even at the expense of returning Hou Jing as a bargaining chip. After all, in his opinion, Hou Jing only led a few hundred people to rely on himself, and could not stir up any storms.
However, he underestimated Hou Jing and overestimated himself.
Hou Jing made full use of the various contradictions of the Liang Dynasty, and easily organized thousands of armies loyal to himself in Shouyang by abolishing harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes;
However, it is obviously unrealistic to rely on this military strength to kill Jiangnan and attack Jiankang City. however
Hou Jing successfully bought Xiao Yan's nephew Xiao Zhengde as an internal response, and the latter happened to be appointed by Xiao Yan
The general of Pingbei and the military governor of the Capital Division, specializing in dealing with the rebellion of Hou Jing.....
The next game of war development is very dramatic:
The seasoned Hou Jingbing was as fast as he could and went straight to the capital;
And the one responsible for defending the Kyoshi
Xiao Zhengde, however, was an ally of the rebels, allowing Hou Jing to easily kill Jiankang City;
Hou Jing concentrated his forces to capture the outskirts, then attacked Jiankangtai City (inner city) with all his might, and then used class contradictions to successfully incite 100,000 oppressed poor people to join his ranks;
The city's grain and grass were cut off, and the plague was rampant, resulting in corpses all over the field, and even the tragedy of human cannibalism, only two or three thousand people could fight;
Faced with this life-and-death crisis, Xiao's sons and nephews, who had a heavy army, had already surrounded Hou Jing on the periphery, but they watched each other, delayed and could not be saved, and watched as Jiankang was completely breached, and Xiao Yan, the Emperor of Liangwu, was starved to death by Hou Jing.
What is even more ironic is that after suffering this great disaster, the Xiao clan is still committed to attacking each other, and the Southern Liang, which was already destroyed by the war, is even worse. Later, although Hou Jing was eliminated by Chen Baxian, Wang Shengquan, and others, Xiao's qi was exhausted and it was not long before he was replaced by the Chen Dynasty.
Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu, as the founder of Southern Liang, once showed the weather of a wise lord. However, subject to the character of Kuan Ren and the lack of skill in taming people, he raised his sons and nephews into "bear children", and eventually devoured himself;
He is academically savvy and versatile, but
In the chaotic world of confrontation and continuous attack between the north and the south,
These skills are not good for governing the country, and they have even become a burden.
Under the action of these factors, Xiao Yan, who reigned for nearly 50 years, did not make great achievements in politics, and even in his later years, he developed a terrible military disaster of destroying Southern Liang.
The founder of a dynasty, but also the actual mourner, is a lesson that is thought-provoking.