In the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xiao Yan, the Emperor of Liangwu, was undoubtedly an emperor worthy of attention. His political achievements were far inferior to those of Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of Song, Tuoba Tao of Northern Wei Daowu, and Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, but he reigned for 48 years, which can be said to be the crown of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin. In the past half century, Emperor Wu of Liang has left too many events for posterity that can make a big fuss, and his evaluation of him is also a matter of opinion, some people think that he is "specialized in dressing and liturgy", "diligent in government affairs, diligent in government affairs" is an emperor who is "heroic and martial"; some people think that he is "good at staying in front of him and not seeing, making great mistakes without knowing, insulting his name, overthrowing the state, laughing at the people of eternity, wouldn't it be sad!" I think that Emperor Wu of Liang was a tragic figure who spent half his life to govern the country, but in the end he ended up with the destruction of the country and the death of the family.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, to regulate the contradiction between the warrior clan and the cold gate</h1>
In 502, Xiao Yan quelled the civil unrest of the Xiao clan of Southern Qi and seized the power of the state, so he established himself as emperor and changed the name of the country to Liang, thus opening the Liang Dynasty. After Emperor Wu of Liang came to power, he noticed the lessons of the demise of Liu Song and Southern Qi, and was very diligent in government affairs and tireless. For example, he got up at five o'clock every day to correct the official documents, and when the cold winter came, his hands did not stop cracking; he humbly accepted advice, and set up a letter of slander and lung stone in front of the palace gate to accept the advice of his subjects, of which the letter of slander was mainly used to recruit talents, and the letter of lung stone was to accept suggestions and criticisms of government affairs; he attached importance to the rule of officials, and promoted local officials with outstanding political achievements; he advocated frugality, and his clothes were rarely changed, "one crown for three years, one for two years", and eating was also very simple, because of the factors that advocated Buddhism. He basically drank porridge and ate vegetarian, even eating only one meal a day.
Although Emperor Wu of Liang was so diligent, it was still difficult to solve the social ills accumulated since the Wei and Jin dynasties. Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the warrior clans have been strong, and they often influence the major affairs of the country and even threaten the imperial power. In the Southern Dynasty, soldiers from the Cold Gate came to power, and they promoted the Han Gate to suppress the Shi clan, making the contradiction between the Shi clan and the Han Men prominent. The Southern Song Dynasty's Liu Song and Southern Qi also overemphasized the power of the clan and sent the sons of the clan to garrison the place, resulting in the clan eventually killing each other, and the dynasty quickly collapsed. Emperor Wu of Liang also took advantage of the slaughter of the Southern Qi clan to take power, and he sought to learn lessons and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
Emperor Wu of Liang believed that the root of Song Qi's civil strife lay in the power of the Han Gate, so he gradually restored the power of the Warriors and exchanged their support by satisfying their interests and needs. To this end, he ordered the monks and children to compile the "Hundred Family Trees" to change the situation of the non-distinction between the scholars and the scholars, and to clear the source of the original of the scholars. Since then, the "Hundred Genealogies" has become the basis for the recommendation of the scholars. In 506, Emperor Wu of Liang issued an order: "Whoever does not have a throne in the old clan state of the county state shall be elected to search for officials, so that the county has a person", that is, to ensure that every prefecture and county clan has a person who is an official in the imperial court. In order to increase the number of officials in the shi clan, Emperor Wu of Liang set the number of hundred officials and nine pins as eighteen classes, and added ten pins below the town and Wei generals, divided into twenty-four classes, with a total of one hundred and twenty-five names, in order to expand the number of officials. In the local area, Emperor Wu of Liang greatly increased the number of prefectures and counties and set up clever names.
During the Southern Dynasty, the Shi clan had begun to decline. Emperor Wu of Liang spent so much effort to promote the Shi clan and curry favor with the Shi Clan, even if it was a reversal of history, in the end it did not get any benefits. The shi clan "advocated Xuan Xuan and Fei Bo", and were not interested in specific government affairs, so Emperor Wu of Liang could only appoint Hanmen to hold key positions, such as Hanmen Zhu Yi as a Zhongshu Tongshi sheren, "to live in power for more than thirty years". The promotion of Hanmen also enabled the contradiction between the shi clan and the Hanmen to be alleviated to a certain extent, laying the cornerstone for the stability of the early Liang Dynasty.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, from the three religions to the promotion of Buddhism</h1>
Although most of the emperors of the Southern Dynasty were born with Shu hanmen and military generals, most of them had high cultural attainments, and Xiao Yan, the Emperor of Liangwu, was one of the representatives. Xiao Yan was already famous for his talents before he became emperor, and during the southern Qi Yongming dynasty, many literati gathered around Xiao Ziliang, the king of Jinling, and people called the most outstanding ones as the "Eight Friends of Jingling", among whom were Xie Yan, Shen Yue, Ren Yu, Fan Yun, and so on, and Xiao Yan was also one of them. Xiao Yan was quite accomplished in poetry creation, and after he became emperor, he recruited literati to take pleasure in poetry, which promoted the prosperity of Liang Dynasty literature.
Xiao Yan also studied music, painting, dance, calligraphy and other aspects. In terms of music, the Sui Shu Music Chronicle says that Xiao Yan was "good at the bell law, detailed the old things, and formulated his own liturgical music." He advocated Buddhism, so he created many music related to Buddhism; in terms of painting, Xiao Yanshan painted flowers, birds and animals, reusing the painter Zhang Shengxuan at that time; in terms of calligraphy, Xiao Yan was outstanding among the emperors, he wrote the "Twelve Meanings of Guan Zhong Shu Calligraphy", "Cursive Form", "Answer Tao Hermitage Book", "Ancient and Modern Calligraphers' Advantages and Disadvantages" Four calligraphy theories, he was also the first emperor to admire Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, which had a great guiding effect on the creation of calligraphy in later generations.
However, Xiao Yan's contribution to culture is at most in the field of thought. Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, metaphysics has arisen, Buddhism has spread, and the situation of Confucianism in the past has been broken. Xiao Yan then conducted a comprehensive study of the ideas of Buddhism, Confucianism, and metaphysics, and began to implement the policy of "three religions in parallel". Xiao Yan loved to read the scriptures since he was a child, and he wrote more than 200 volumes of "Qunjing Commentary" and 600 volumes of "General History". After succeeding to the throne, he advocated the cultivation of Guoxue, the expansion of students, the establishment of the Five Classics Museum, the placement of the Five Classics Doctorate, and the order of the Qunchen to write more than a thousand volumes of the Five Rites of the Ji Fierce Army Binjia, which made the status of Confucianism have certain signs of revival. The "History of the South" commented: "Since Jiang Zuo, it has been more than two hundred years old, and the grandeur of cultural relics has been unique and beautiful." And Gao Huan in the north also said, "There is a Wu'er old man Xiao Yan in Jiangdong, who specializes in dressing and liturgy, and the Zhongyuan Shi Doctor looks forward to where Zheng Shuo is."
He used Confucian rituals to maintain social hierarchical order, Taoist "nothingness" to exhort people to purify nature, and Buddhist "reincarnation" and "karma" to wear down people's inhibitions. Xiao Yan's policy had an important impact on the "unity of the three religions" of the later Sui Dynasty, the "parallel three religions" of the Tang Dynasty, and the theory of Song Ming.
In the later period of Emperor Wu of Liang, he was particularly devoted to Buddhism, and he also became the first emperor in Chinese history to promote Buddhist beliefs on a large scale. The Book of Liang records that Emperor Wu of Liang "sacrificed himself to Tongtai Temple" three times in 527, 529, and 546, that is, to go to Tongtai Temple to become a monk. Every time he became a monk, the courtiers raised 100 million yuan to "redeem" him, which was actually Emperor Liangwu trying to save money for the temple. Under the admiration of Emperor Wu of Liang, Buddhism in the Liang Dynasty developed rapidly, with many temples and many monks, and there were only more than 500 Buddhist temples in Jiankang City, which were extremely poor and magnificent, with more than 100,000 monks and nuns, and rich assets. The history books record that a large number of ordinary people in the Liang Dynasty became monks, and "half of the world's household registrations died."
Emperor Wu of Liang also followed the Buddhist teachings in his later period. In his later years, he ate a meal every day, and the meal was also "no fresh food, bean soup rice only" "dressed in cloth, wooden cotton soap tent, a crown for three years, one by two years... Don't drink alcohol, don't listen to sounds". However, he over-promoted Buddhism, and eventually consumed a large amount of people's fat and people's anointing, which aggravated social contradictions. From another point of view, the prevalence of Buddhism also reflects the bankruptcy of a large number of self-employed farmers, who can only "fake Shamen and avoid military service." Xiao Yan failed to fundamentally resolve social contradictions, but used Buddhism to consume people's will, which could not maintain stability for a long time.
Due to the excessive promotion of Buddhism, there has also been a trend of empty talk in society. For example, Prince Zhaoming "attracted famous monks and talked endlessly"; Xiao Gang, the king of Jin'an, "was good at talking about Xuanli"; And Jiang Qi, the lord of the prefecture, "good old Zhuang Xuanyan, especially good Buddha's righteousness", the situation at that time can be described as "Universal Faith, Fasting at Home, Everyone Confesses, Does Not Engage in Farming, and Talks About the Other Side", and even they talk about Xuanli instead of practicing martial arts, and the famous hermit Tao Hongjing once predicted that Xiao Liang would follow in Wei Jinkong's footsteps in the aftermath of the fall of the country, and later historical proofs were not true. The spread of Buddhist thought also undermined traditional Chinese ethics and morality, "separating father and son, righteousness and obedience of kings and subjects, harmony between husband and wife, and faith of friends and friends", and later the Liang Dynasty had the Hou Jing Rebellion, and the officials were fearless and fled in the wind, and the Xiao clan was even more cannibalistic.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, good great achievements, and eventually the country was destroyed</h1>
In the late Liang Dynasty, northern Wei fell into civil strife because of the Six Towns Uprising, which provided a heavenly opportunity for the Northern Expedition of the Southern Dynasty. However, at this time, the Liang Dynasty had been dragged down by political corruption and social contradictions. The politics of Emperor Wu of Liangwu in the early period were generally relatively clear, and in the later period, they were relatively faint, mainly manifested in the spread of Buddhism, the corruption of the government, and the rise of peasant uprisings. In terms of government affairs, Zhu Yi monopolized power and bribed public officials, and Hu Sansheng said: "Full-time Zhu Yi, Liang Yi." Emperor Wu of Liang condoned the corruption of the chancellor's clan, but when he learned that the sixth brother Xiao Hong's treasury contained money rather than weapons, Da Yue said, "Ah Liu, Ru life is great."
Due to the expansion of the number of prefectures and counties and the bureaucracy during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, the burden on the people was also increasing, which can be described as "the recommendation of criminal service and the withering of the people's strength". Emperor Wu of Liang was very tolerant of the clan and bureaucrats, but he was very cruel to the commoners, and he applied severe punishments, and shi said that he "took away the innocence, persecuted the good, the people were displaced, and the yi were all deserted, and the robbers and raids were started, and the thieves were carried out in groups." In the late Liang Dynasty, there were large-scale displaced people and even peasant uprisings.
Faced with such a situation, Emperor Wu of Liang not only did not listen to the advice, but wanted to take advantage of the chaos of the Northern Wei Dynasty to carry out the Northern Expedition and establish meritorious deeds. In 505, Emperor Wu of Liang launched a large-scale Northern Expedition, "with fine equipment and a very prosperous army, which the northerners thought had not been seen in hundreds of decades." However, Emperor Wu of Liang abandoned the famous general Wei Rui and took the cowardly and incompetent sixth brother Xiao Hong as the commander, and before the battle could be fought, Xiao Hong was in a hurry, and then the army dispersed, losing 50,000 people. Subsequently, the Northern Wei army attacked Zhuannan, but thanks to Chang Yizhi and Wei Rui, who led the death battle, they were able to reverse the situation of great defeat.
In 528, during the Northern Wei Civil War, Emperor Wu of Liang attempted to send Yuan Hao back to Northern Wei to remotely control it, so he sent Chen Qingzhi to lead a crowd of 7,000 northern expeditions. Chen Qingzhi captured Luoyang, and soon after 47 more battles, he captured thirty-two cities and was invincible. However, after all, Chen Qingzhi went deep alone, and Emperor Wu of Liang did not send a large army to support, and as a result, Erzhu Rong counterattacked, Chen Qingzhi's entire army was destroyed, and Emperor Liangwu's Northern Expedition was over.
In 535, Northern Wei was officially divided into Western Wei and Eastern Wei, controlled by Yuwen Tai and Gao Huan respectively. After the Northern Wei Liuzhen rebellion, hou Jing, a general of the Qi clan, defected to Gao Huan. After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng tried to seize Hou Jing's military power, so Hou Jing threw himself at Yuwen Tai. However, Yuwen Tai directly sent a large army to receive Hou Jing to occupy the thirteen towns of the Seven Prefectures, and Hou Jing had no choice but to defect to the Liang Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Liang then thought that the opportunity for the Northern Expedition had come again, so he cooperated with Hou Jing to send troops, but the result was a fiasco.
Later, the Eastern Wei side negotiated with Emperor Wu of Liang, proposing that as long as Emperor Wu of Liang eliminated Hou Jing, Eastern Wei could release prisoners of war. Emperor Wu of Liang did not restrict Hou Jing during the negotiation process, so Hou Jing decided to raise an army, which led to the collapse of the entire Liang Dynasty. Although Hou Jing's army was small, he announced the release of slaves along the way, received a large number of dependent people's support, and the army expanded rapidly. In 548, Hou Jing attacked the city of Jiankang, Xiao Yan was starved to death, and the Liang Dynasty died in name only. After that, the Xiao clan began large-scale internecine warfare, and large areas of land such as Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Liangzhou were occupied by Western Wei.
The Hou Jing Rebellion greatly changed the historical pattern of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. First of all, in terms of class, the warriors of the Southern Dynasty suffered an almost devastating blow, and from then on the warriors began to withdraw from the highest political arena. In terms of the political situation between the north and the south, the land area of the southern dynasty shrank from 2.6 million square kilometers to 1.3 million square kilometers, the economy was destroyed, the national strength declined, and the strength of the northern dynasty was lost, and it was eventually eliminated by the northern dynasty.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > recommended reading</h1>
What is the level of the most prosperous and prosperous era of the Six Dynasties, the reign of Yuan Jia?
Southern Dynasty Warriors and Cold Gates: The undercurrent of struggle is surging and heralds the coming of a new era
Turning back the wheel of history: Liu Yu implemented the system of sub-feudalism, which triggered the largest royal family in history to kill each other
The Jingyang Controversy between the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties: Why the Southern Partial An Dynasty was never able to solve the Jingzhou problem
The transformation of the political system of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties laid the foundation for the formation of the political system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties