The Southern Qi Dynasty was the second dynasty of the Southern Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, and was one of the four dynasties of the Southern Dynasty.
The founder of Southern Qi was Xiao Daocheng. In the last years of the Liu Song Dynasty, due to successive years of clan wars, the clan power of the Liu Song Dynasty was severely damaged. At this point, Xiao Daocheng gradually controlled the imperial power of the Liu and Song dynasties. In 479, Xiao Daocheng abolished the throne of Liu Zhun of Song Shun, officially declared himself emperor, and established the Qi dynasty, which became Emperor Gao of Qi. History refers to the Qi Dynasty established by Xiao Daocheng as "Southern Qi".
After that, Southern Qi experienced Emperor Gao of Qi and Emperor Wu of Qi, and its national strength became stronger and stronger. However, after the death of Emperor Wudi of Qi, the Southern Qi dynasty began to decline from prosperity. From then on, the emperors of Southern Qi were very ruthless and cruel, which seriously weakened the national strength of Southern Qi. Moreover, the clan wars of Southern Qi continued to occur, resulting in a heavy blow to the power of the Southern Qi royal family.
These events gave Xiao Yan an opportunity, and from then on, Xiao Yan gradually controlled the imperial power of Southern Qi. In 502, Xiao Yan abolished the throne of Emperor Qi and officially declared himself emperor, establishing the Liang Dynasty, which became Emperor Wudi of Liang, historically known as "Southern Liang". At this point, the Southern Qi Dynasty, which had existed for 23 years, was declared dead.
Today, I will lead you into the history of the Southern Qi Dynasty!
One. establish
The founding emperor of the Southern Qi Dynasty was Xiao Daocheng, the 24th grandson of Xiao He in the early Western Han Dynasty, and the third son of Xiao Chengzhi, a famous general of the Liu and Song dynasties.
When Xiao Daocheng was 16 years old, he entered the army and relied on the relationship of his father Xiao Chengzhi to serve as a minor official in the Liu and Song army. However, soon, Xiao Daocheng relied on his military merits, his status and official positions continued to rise, and he gradually became a very prominent general of the Liu and Song dynasties.
To explore the history of the Southern Qi Dynasty, we can trace it back to the rebellion of Liu Xiufan, the king of Guiyang, in 474.
In 474, Liu Xiufan, the king of Jiangzhou and Guiyang, rebelled in the name of "the side of the Qing monarch". Soon, the rebels were in full swing and directly attacked Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), the capital of the Liu and Song dynasties, and Jiankang's defenders had no fighting spirit and were about to collapse, and even Liu Yu, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty, could only hide in the arms of Empress Dowager Wang Zhenfeng and cry bitterly. At this time, Jiankang City can be described as precarious.
However, at this time, Xiao Daocheng was appointed to put down Liu Xiufan's rebellion. Soon, Xiao Daocheng successfully defeated the rebels with his military talents. Soon, Liu Xiufan was assassinated by Xiao Daocheng's subordinates Huang Hui and Zhang Jing'er. At this point, Liu Xiufan's rebellion was completely put down.
Subsequently, in order to recognize Xiao Daocheng's merits, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty ordered Xiao Dao to be canonized as the leader of the central army, responsible for controlling the forbidden army.
Through this counterinsurgency war, Xiao Daocheng's prestige was greatly enhanced. Moreover, Xiao Daocheng took charge of the forbidden army, further highlighting his power and status. At the same time, Xiao Daocheng also tried his best to befriend the powerful minister Ruan Tongfu to further consolidate and strengthen his power and status, laying a solid foundation for Xiao Daocheng to later establish Southern Qi.
In 476, Liu Jingsu, the king of Jianping, rebelled at Jingkou (present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Subsequently, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty sent Xiao Daocheng to quell the rebellion. Under Xiao Daocheng's supervision, the Song army was unstoppable and defeated Liu Jingsu in one fell swoop. In the end, Liu Jingsu was defeated and killed. At this point, Liu Jingsu's rebellion was completely put down.
Liu Jingsu was the last rebellion within the Liu and Song dynasties, and it marked the basic end of the royal wars of the Liu and Song dynasties. At the same time, this rebellion led to the almost complete murder of the royal family members of the Liu and Song dynasties, seriously shaking the foundation of the Liu and Song dynasties, and laying the groundwork for the later demise of the Liu and Song dynasties and the establishment of the Southern Qi dynasty.
Through this counterinsurgency war, Xiao Daocheng's prestige was further enhanced. Subsequently, the deposed emperor of Later Song ordered Xiao Dao to be canonized as Shangshu Zuo Servant, and was called the "Four Nobles" along with Yuan Su, Chu Yuan, and Liu Bing. At this point, Xiao Daocheng has formed a situation in which power is tilted towards the opposition, and it also marks that Xiao Daocheng has begun to stand at the top of power.
Xiao Daocheng successively quelled the rebellion of Liu Xiufan and Liu Jingsu, greatly increasing his prestige, and was also suspected by the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty decided to kill Xiao Daocheng.
Xiao Daocheng was cornered by the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty, so in 477, Xiao Daocheng joined forces with the minister Wang Jingze to kill the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty. Subsequently, Xiao Daocheng sent Yang Yufu and Yang Wannian of the personal soldiers of the abolished emperor of the Song Dynasty to kill the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty.
Soon, Xiao Daocheng supported Liu Zhun as emperor, the third brother of the deposed emperor after the Song Dynasty, and this was the Song Shun Emperor.
After Emperor Shun of Song came to the throne, Xiao Daocheng completely controlled the imperial power of the Liu and Song dynasties by virtue of his support merits. Emperor Shun of Song was nothing more than a puppet emperor supported by Xiao Daocheng, with no real power.
Soon, Shen Fuzhi, Yuan Su, Liu Bing, and others were extremely dissatisfied with Xiao Daocheng's dictatorship and rebelled. Subsequently, Xiao Daocheng immediately sent troops to suppress their rebellion, eradicating all forces loyal to the Liu and Song dynasties in one fell swoop. At this point, the Liu and Song dynasties had existed in name only.
With the continuous strengthening and consolidation of power and status, Xiao Daocheng's ambition to become emperor also began to expand rapidly. In April 479, Xiao Daocheng forced Emperor Shun of Song to canonize himself as the Prince of Qi, and began preparations for usurpation.
However, only a month later, in May 479, Xiao Daocheng abolished the throne of Emperor Shun of Song and officially declared himself emperor, with the state name Qi, which was Emperor Gao of Qi. At this point, Emperor Gao of Qi became the first emperor of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
In order to distinguish the Northern Qi established by Gao Yang, the Qi dynasty established by Xiao Daocheng is historically called "Southern Qi" or "Xiao Qi".
At this point, the Southern Qi Dynasty, which had existed for 23 years, was officially established.
Two. Prosperity
After Emperor Gao of Qi came to the throne, in order to consolidate his throne, he sent people to kill Emperor Shun of Song and all members of the royal family of the Liu and Song dynasties. At this point, the royal descendants of the Liu and Song dynasties were basically extinct.
Subsequently, Emperor Gao of Qi began to implement a series of reforms and governance within Southern Qi, further consolidating his dominance and enhancing Southern Qi's national strength.
Politically, Emperor Gao of Qi appointed Han people to power, implemented the registration law, and rectified household registration; In terms of life style, Emperor Qi Gao advocated thrift, opposed luxury, and reduced the burden of the common people; In foreign relations, Emperor Gao of Qi vigorously made friends with the north and maintained the stability of the borders of the Southern Qi dynasty. At this point, the national strength of the Southern Qi Dynasty was thriving.
In 482, Emperor Gao of Qi died and his son Xiao Zhao ascended the throne, which became Emperor Wudi of Qi. At this point, Emperor Wudi of Qi became the second emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty.
Emperor Wudi of Qi was the most accomplished emperor in the history of Southern Qi. After he came to the throne, he promulgated a series of development measures, which made the Southern Qi dynasty increasingly powerful.
When Emperor Qi Wudi came to the throne, the harvest along the Yangtze River was not good, so Emperor Qi Wudi immediately sent people to help the victims. Moreover, Emperor Qi Wudi ordered pardons for prisoners and relief for the widows and the poor. At the same time, Emperor Wudi of Qi also strongly encouraged the production of farmers and mulberry and advocated thrift. In addition, Emperor Wudi of Qi also ordered to encourage education and vigorously build schools. In foreign relations, Emperor Wudi of Qi sent Fan Wei as an envoy to Northern Wei to ease relations between Southern Qi and Northern Wei.
During the reign of Emperor Wudi of Qi, Southern Qi was strong, economically developed, and prosperous and stable. History refers to this period as the "Reign of Eternal Ming".
At this point, the reign of Yongming became another prosperous era for the Southern Dynasty after the reign of Emperor Yuan Jia of the Liu and Song dynasties, making the society in the south once again reach the level of moderate prosperity, and also marking the peak of the national strength of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
However, during the reign of Emperor Wudi of Qi, the Southern Qi Dynasty also broke out into rebellion. At that time, the Yu landlords of the Southern Dynasty were on the rise. In order to become a clan to exempt them from servitude, they bribed officials and forged their father's titles. After Emperor Qi Wu came to the throne, he ordered that these forged household registers be returned to the county and amended to call them "but nationality", and that the military service that should have been undertaken was called "zhengzhen".
However, due to the favoritism and malpractice of officials, this operation was not only not completed, but also caused a lot of chaos. Moreover, in 486, Fuyang Tang Yuzhi rebelled against him. Although, Emperor Wudi of Qi quickly quelled the rebellion. However, this policy was still fiercely opposed by the Yu people. As a result, in 490, Emperor Wu of Qi was forced to compromise and declared the "but status" null and void. At this point, the biggest reform measure of the Qi Wudi period failed. History refers to this event as the "Rebellion."
In 493, the crown prince Xiao Changmao died. Half a year later, Emperor Qi Wu died, and Zhongshulang Wang Rong planned to support Xiao Ziliang, the second son of Emperor Qi Wu, as emperor. However, Emperor Qiwu's cousin Xiao Luan, Marquis of Xichang, immediately led troops into the palace and installed Xiao Zhaoye, Emperor Qiwu's grandson and Xiao Changmao's son, to the throne.
With the death of Emperor Wudi of Qi, the flourishing Southern Qi dynasty began to decline.
At this point, the Southern Qi Dynasty entered a period of decline.
Three. decline
After Xiao Zhaoye took the throne, he immediately ordered Wang Rong to be killed. Soon after, Xiao Ziliang also died due to depression and excessive fear. At this point, Xiao Zhaoye's throne gradually became stable.
Xiao Zhaoye was a famous dim ruler of the Southern Qi Dynasty. After he came to the throne, he only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, and abandoned the imperial government. When Emperor Qi Wudi was at the funeral, Xiao Zhaoye ordered the musicians to come and play music, and he was very happy to sit on the throne. When Emperor Qi Wu was mourned, Xiao Zhaoye refused to go to Emperor Qiwu's burial site on the grounds that he was sick. Subsequently, Xiao Zhaoye continued to order the musicians and palace maids to perform songs and dances.
Moreover, Xiao Zhaoye is also a profligate person. During the reign of Emperor Wudi of Qi, the amount of money in the treasury reached as much as 800 million, and there were countless gold and silver cloths. When Xiao Zhaoye saw so much money, he squandered it at will. He gave money to his favored and close courtiers. Moreover, he loved cockfighting so much that he often spent a lot of money on it. Less than a year after Xiao Zhaoye took the throne, Southern Qi's treasury was squandered.
At the same time, Xiao Zhaoye's empress Empress He was also an absurd person. She often fornicated with the palace people around her, which led to the miasma of the harem.
Xiao Zhaoye's insanity provoked the dissatisfaction of the clan relatives and ministers of Southern Qi. The leaders of the Guards, Xiao Chen, Xiao Tanzhi, and others, all secretly defected to Xiao Luan, the nephew of Emperor Gao of Qi and Emperor Wudi of Qi's cousin, the Marquis of Xichang, preparing to depose Xiao Zhaoye.
In 494, Xiao Luan led an army into the palace, intending to kill Xiao Zhaoye. At that time, Xiao Zhaoye was drinking naked with his favorite concubine Huo, and after learning that Xiao Luan led his army into the palace, he planned to draw his sword and kill himself, but he did not succeed in suicide.
Subsequently, Xiao Luan ordered his men to revive Xiao Zhaoye and carry Xiao Zhaoye out of the Yande Hall. Immediately afterwards, Xiao Luan ordered his men to kill Xiao Zhaoye in the West Lane.
Soon, Xiao Luan, in the name of Empress Dowager, abolished Xiao Zhaoye's throne and demoted him to the title of King of Yulin. Subsequently, Xiao Luan supported Xiao Zhaoye's younger brother Xiao Zhaowen the Prince of Xin'an to the throne.
After Xiao Zhaowen ascended the throne, he canonized Xiao Luan as a hussar general, Lu Shangshu, Yangzhou Assassin, and Xuancheng Commandery. At this point, Xiao Luan controlled the imperial power of Southern Qi.
Soon, Xiao Zhaowen ordered Xiao Luan to be canonized as Taifu, General, Yangzhou Mu, and King of Xuancheng. Moreover, in order to further control the power of the imperial government, Xiao Luan let people strictly monitor Xiao Zhaowen's life and living, and even, even Xiao Zhaowen wanted to eat steamed fish dishes, he had to obtain Xiao Luan's approval.
Later, in the name of the Empress Dowager, Xiao Luan abolished Xiao Zhaowen's throne, which had only reigned for 74 days, and renamed Xiao Zhaowen the King of Hailing. Soon, Xiao Luan sent people to kill Xiao Zhaowen. Subsequently, Xiao Luan ascended the throne, which was Emperor Qi Ming.
Emperor Qi Ming was a sinister, vicious, fierce and cruel villain. He was not a descendant of Emperor Gao of Qi, but a nephew of Emperor Gao of Qi. Therefore, he was very afraid that Emperor Qi's descendants would take his throne back. Therefore, he carried out a massacre of the descendants of Emperor Qi Gao and Emperor Wudi of Qi, killing a total of twenty or thirty people, the youngest of whom was only six or seven years old. At this point, the descendants of Emperor Qi Gao and Emperor Wudi of Qi were almost completely killed.
Due to the large-scale massacre of members of the imperial family, the power of the Southern Qi clan suffered a heavy blow, and it also seriously shaken the ruling foundation of the Southern Qi dynasty. Therefore, the actions of Emperor Qi Ming actually laid the groundwork for the demise of the descendant Southern Qi dynasty.
In addition, Emperor Qi Ming was also a person who was frugal on the outside and extravagant on the inside. After he came to the throne, he strongly encouraged the advocate of frugality and forbade local tribute to the imperial court to reduce the burden of the common people. At the same time, Emperor Qi Ming also ordered the destruction of many projects. However, Emperor Qi Ming's palace was full of gold and silver jewelry, which was very gorgeous.
At the same time, the Northern Wei army began to attack Southern Qi in a big way, occupying the lands and cities of Xinye, Nanyang, and Yiyang in Southern Qi. At this point, the national strength of Southern Qi suffered a heavy blow.
Later, Emperor Qi Ming was seriously ill, but he believed in Taoism and the art of disgust with victory, changed his clothes to red, and kept his condition hidden from the outside world, missing the best time for treatment. It was not until Emperor Qi Ming asked the government for silverfish to treat the disease that the ministers learned about Emperor Qi Ming's illness. However, at this time, Emperor Qi Ming's condition had returned to heaven.
In 498, Emperor Ming of Qi died, and his son Xiao Baoxuan ascended the throne, which became the Emperor of Qi, also known as the Marquis of Dongdu. At this point, the Qi Emperor became the sixth emperor of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
The Qi Emperor was a famous and brutal emperor in mainland history, and some people called him the "first dim emperor in the ages", which can be called the culprit of the demise of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
After the death of Emperor Qi Ming, it was logical that Emperor Qi should stay in the Taiji Hall for three months before being buried, but Emperor Qi was afraid that doing so would delay his fun, so he buried his father Emperor Qi Ming after only staying in the Taiji Hall for one month. Even, during the mourning, Emperor Qi Ming laughed loudly in front of Emperor Qi Ming's spiritual throne.
Emperor Qi often rode a wooden horse through the streets at will, and when he ordered himself to have fun, no one was allowed to appear on the street and kill if he violated it. Once, a pregnant woman did not dodge in time due to mobility difficulties, and Emperor Qi ordered that the pregnant woman's belly be cut open to see if it was a boy or a girl. He even directly sent his men to rob the homes of ordinary people for fun.
Moreover, the Qi Emperor also doted on the beautiful Pan Yuer, obeyed Pan Yuer's words, and abolished the imperial government, which led to the chaos of the imperial government.
At the same time, Emperor Qi also carried out a brutal massacre of ministers. During his three-year reign, the minister of Gu ordered that the right servant Jiang You, the right general Xiao Tanzhi, the leading general Liu Huo, and Sikong Xu Xiaosi were killed one after another. At this point, the brutality of the Qi abolition emperor caused everyone to endanger the ministers of the dynasty.
The brutality of the Qi emperor finally angered the ministers of Southern Qi. In 499, Chen Xianda of Jiangzhou rebelled at Xunyang (present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi); In 500, the Pingxi general Cui Huijing rebelled together with Xiao Baoxuan, the younger brother of Emperor Qi and once besieged Jiankang; In 501, Xiao Yan of Yongzhou rebelled in Xiangyang (襄陽, in present-day Xiangyang, Hubei), and installed Xiao Baorong, the younger brother of the abolished emperor of Qi, as emperor. At this point, the rule of the Southern Qi Dynasty had fallen into a storm.
In the face of Xiao Yan's rebellion, Emperor Qi thought that he was playing a "war game", and did not pay attention to it at all. Even, when Xiao Yan's army attacked Jiankang City, he stood at the head of the city and laughed; The ministers asked him to reward the soldiers, but he thought that Xiao Yan's attack on Jiankang did not kill him alone, so he should not reward the soldiers; The ministers asked him to take out the wood stored in the treasury to strengthen the city's defenses, but the Qi Emperor said that the wood would be kept to build the palace.
Subsequently, Ru Fazhen and Mei Zhu'er, the favored ministers of the Qi Waste Emperor, said to the Qi Waste Emperor: Now Xiao Yan's army is besieging Jiankang City, all because the ministers did not do their best to do things for the emperor. So, Emperor Qi obeyed them and aimed his butcher knife at the ministers of the imperial court.
Faced with the brutality of the abolished emperor, the ministers of Southern Qi could not bear it, so they joined forces with Xiao Yan and prepared to kill the abolished emperor of Qi. Soon, the minister Wang Zhenguo led an army to storm the palace. Emperor Qi planned to hide in the harem, but found that the door of the main hall had been tightly closed. Subsequently, Emperor Qi was killed by the eunuch Huang Taiping, and his first rank was given to Xiao Yan.
Subsequently, Xiao Yan led his army into Jiankang City. With Xiao Yan's entry into Jiankang City, the Southern Qi Dynasty had already existed in name only.
At this point, the Southern Qi Dynasty entered the stage of extinction.
Four. perish
In 501, Emperor Qi was killed, and Xiao Yan then entered Jiankang and brought Emperor Qi and Emperor to Jiankang. At this point, Emperor Qi He became the seventh emperor of the Southern Qi Dynasty and the last emperor of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
Qi and Emperor were nothing more than "tools" for Xiao Yan to increase his power and status. It was also during this period that Xiao Yan's power began to increase rapidly. In the first month of 502, Emperor Qi appointed Xiao Yan as the governor of Chinese and foreign military affairs, and his status was extremely high. Twelve days later, Emperor Qi appointed Xiao Yan as Xiangguo to be in charge of all imperial affairs of the imperial court. At the same time, Emperor Qi and Emperor also canonized Xiao Yan as the Duke of Liang, concurrently serving as the pastor of Yangzhou and adding Jiuxi. At this point, Xiao Yan further controlled the imperial power of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
Soon, Emperor Qi ordered the killing of Xiao Baoyi the King of Xiangdong, Xiao Baoyu the King of Shaoling, Xiao Baosong the King of Jinxi, Xiao Baozhen the King of Guiyang, and others, and Xiao Baoyin the King of Poyang was forced to defect to Northern Wei. At the same time, Emperor Qi and Emperor canonized Xiao Yan as King of Liang. At this point, a large number of members of the Southern Qi royal family were killed, which greatly weakened the power of the Southern Qi clan and greatly strengthened Xiao Yan's power.
With the increasing power and status, Xiao Yan's ambition to become emperor also rapidly expanded. Soon, he forced Emperor Qi and Emperor to canonize him as King of Liang and began preparations for usurping the throne.
A month later, Xiao Yan forced Emperor Qi and Emperor to "cede" the throne to him. Subsequently, Xiao Yan ascended the throne, and the state name was Liang, which was Emperor Wudi of Liang. In order to distinguish the Later Liang established by Zhu Wen, the historical establishment of Xiao Yan's establishment of the Liang Dynasty is called "Southern Liang".
At this point, the Southern Qi Dynasty, which had existed for 23 years, was declared dead.