Sima Guang, who smashed the cylinder, once said: "The palace is forbidden to be secret, and Mo Nengming is also'." The court has been a high incidence of secret affairs since ancient times, and the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties were the most chaotic era of court ethics in ancient China, far better than the so-called "smelly Han, dirty Tang, and Song unclear".
Among the various regimes of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the court incest of the Southern Song Dynasty can be said to be the most prominent, and at least three emperors had scandals of incest with relatives. Emperor Xiaowu of Song, Liu Jun, even had a scandal with his own mother, Lu Huinan, what was going on?
Emperor Xiaowu of Song was the third son of Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, and the fifth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. During his reign, he weakened the clan, promoted the Hanmen, reformed the official system, promoted the land, pardoned slaves, suppressed annexation, and expanded abroad.
But Liu Jun's private life is not good, especially he loves beauty and luxury. Due to the struggle of the crown prince in the later years of Emperor Wen of Song, the relationship between Liu Jun and his mother Lu Huinan was very close. Therefore, Lu Huinan can be described as a power-leaning opposition, and the treatment of his mother's children is even the same as that of the crown prince.
Because he was particularly close to his mother Lu Huinan, Liu Jun still lived in his mother's palace after he ascended the throne, and it was common for him to act with his concubines in front of his mother. The Book of Wei even has a record of "Jun's fornication, steaming his mother Lu Shi, the sound of filth, and clothing in Ouyue".
Objectively speaking, Liu Jun may not really have incest with his biological mother, at least there is no credible historical evidence, and it is still an unexamineable problem. But the relationship between Liu Jun and Lu Huinan is indeed not in line with the common law of etiquette, and it is not surprising that there is a rumor of "incest".