The Northern and Southern Dynasties were in turmoil for nearly two hundred years, and there were nine separatist dynasties before and after, according to Liu Song's idea of massacring the clans of the previous dynasty, so many descendants of the royal family should not be able to survive the Sui and Tang dynasties.
But there is an exception to the clan, this is Xiao Liang, not only escaped the rebellion of the Chen Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, but even shined in the Tang Dynasty, not only in the Sui and Tang dynasties and the royal family, stepped into the center of power, but also produced eight prime ministers after the Tang Dynasty, once known as "Li Tang Dynasty Xiao half of the world", which is the best mix among so many royal descendants of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Northern and Southern Dynasties
There are so many descendants of the royal family in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, why is it that only Xiao Liang has such a nourishing life? Let's take a look at the clans other than Xiao Liang first.
The Yuan clan of the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Western Wei dynasties: active in the Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and Sui dynasties
After the rebellion of the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty was basically reduced to a puppet, and the east was welcomed by Gao Yuan Shanjian to establish the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and then Gao Yang usurped the throne to establish the Northern Qi, and the west was established by Yuwentai Yingli Yuanbao Torch, and later was usurped by Yuwen to establish the Northern Zhou.
It was also from this time that the Yuan royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty lost its status as a royal family, but after all, it ruled the north for hundreds of years, and the political status was still there, and it was also the object of the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi Dynasty to woo each other, but they were basically active in the ranks of military generals, and even defected to the Southern Dynasty, such as the Yuan monk, who was actually the descendant of Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
孝文帝改革，改拓跋氏为元氏
After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Yuan clan continued to be active in the military and political groups of the Sui Dynasty, of course, the most famous is naturally the crown prince Yang Yong's concubine Yuanfei, it can be said that as long as Yang Yong is a little smarter, the favored Yuan Concubine can win over the Yuan clan forces and strengthen their basic plate, but the result is not Yang Yong likes and has a short life, her death not only makes Yang Yong lose an important weight, but also one of the key factors that induce Yang Yong to be abolished.
After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, the Yuan clan began to weaken, and the most important thing was that there were fewer and fewer Yuan clan members who entered the core power layer, after all, the Yuan clan started with military merits, and the troubled times could shine.
However, the Tang Dynasty inherited peace for a long time and the establishment of the imperial examination system, these nobles who started with military merits will inevitably weaken, and therefore, many Yuan clansmen began to turn to civilian positions and enter the power class through the imperial examination, such as the literary scholar Yuan Jie, of course, the most famous of which is the nineteenth Sun Yuanzhi of Emperor Zhaocheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who once served as the prime minister of the Tang Muzong period, but was demoted after only three months.
Yuan Zhen
To be honest, from the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the Yuan royal family can still maintain the door for more than sixty years, which is not bad.
Northern Zhou Yuwen Clan: After the death of the country, he was slaughtered by Emperor Wen of Sui
The clan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is one of the most miserable clans of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, after all, Emperor Wen of Sui waved his hand and killed the descendants of Yuwentai, which is equivalent to erasing the entire clan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
Emperor Wen of Sui killed Yuwentai's descendants
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, there were also Yuwenshu and Yu Wenhua and others who were active, but strictly speaking, they were not the clans of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, their ancestors were servants of the Yuwen family, and their original surname was Fei Yetou, and they later changed to Yuwen, which is also the reason why Emperor Wen of Sui did not kill them.
Northern Qi Gao clan: The collateral clan was relatively open in the early Tang Dynasty
The Northern Qi clan's mutual infighting is also famous, Gao Yang's sons fight with me, they don't need others to destroy them, their own cannibalism alone is enough to make the clan wither, even Gao Xiaoheng, the king of Guangning, lamented that since Gao Yang, none of the Northern Qi clans has lived past the age of forty, which shows how cruel the Northern Qi clan's internal fighting is.
Gao Changgong, King of Lanling
With the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroying the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Qi Gao clan, which had withered away, basically withdrew from the historical stage, and in order to prevent the Northern Qi from recovering the country, the later lord Gao Wei and Ande King Gao Yanzong were soon killed by Emperor Wu of Zhou, and the rest of the Northern Qi clan was also sent to the west, where did they all die, it can be said that Gao Huan's bloodline basically failed to survive to the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Gao Huan's line is gone, but there are still some active people in the side line, such as Gao Huan's younger brother Gao Yue, the king of Qinghe, Gao Mao, who was granted the opening of the mansion according to the rules after entering the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and once served as the assassin of Yang, Chu, Guang, and Tao during the Sui Dynasty, but he did not enter the center of power, but he had a daughter Gao and a good son Gao Shilian.
Gao Shilian
Daughter Gao married the right Xiaowei general Changsun Sheng, gave birth to the eldest grandson Wuji and the eldest grandson queen, and his son Gao Shilian participated in the Xuanwumen Revolution and became an important minister in the Zhenguan period, and was one of the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion.
The Liu and Song clans of the Southern Dynasty: After the struggle in the clan, the family fell in the middle of the road
Like the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Liu Song clan is also a dynasty that likes infighting, even worse than the Northern Qi Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowu of the Song Dynasty and Emperor Ming of the Song Dynasty, the two royal clean-up masters, almost cleaned up the Liu Song clan, the only exception is Liu Yu's grandson Liu Chang, because of the suspicion of the deposed emperor Liu Ziye, he fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty long ago, and was named the king of Song by the Northern Wei Dynasty, but that's all, the descendants after Liu Chang are not as good as the generation, and the family is in the middle of the road, and basically failed to survive to the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
Emperor Ming of the Song Dynasty
As for the clan that was still in Liu Song, after Xiao Daocheng usurped the throne, he slaughtered all the Liu Song clan.
Southern Qi Clan: The same fate as Liu Song
The same is true of the Southern Qi after Liu Song, like Liu Song, the royal family fought miserably, Xiao Daocheng slaughtered the Liu Song clan, and his son was almost slaughtered by the side Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan, but their grandson was let go because he was too young, but he was almost killed, such as Xiao Daocheng's grandson Xiao Zixian, who lived to the Xiao Liang period, etc., "The Book of Southern Qi" was written by him.
Of course, there were also those who fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty, such as Xiao Baokun, the sixth son of Emperor Qi Ming, who fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and was treated the same as Liu Chang, but he attempted to rebel when he led the troops to quell the rebellion in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and was finally killed.
Nanchen Clan: Survived to the early years of the Tang Dynasty
After the Sui Dynasty destroyed Nan Chen, although it did not slaughter the Nan Chen clan, it was not much good to them, except for the Empress Chen who stayed in Chang'an Ye Ye Shengge, most of the rest of the clan was sent to the northwest by Emperor Wen of Sui, self-reliance, if it were not for Emperor Yang of Sui, their fate would have died in the northwest.
After Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, he may feel that the family in Guanzhong did not support him, and re-recalled the Nanchen clan officials to the knighthood, but as the old and young relics of the previous dynasty, the Nanchen clan will definitely not be able to enter the core of power.
Chen Houzhu
In the Tang Dynasty, that is, Chen Shuda, the younger brother of the queen of Chen, became the prime minister, but basically relied on the wind to make the rudder ascend, and after his death, Tang Taizong gave him the nickname of "Miao", which was later changed to "loyalty".
Xiao Liang Clan: Shine in the Sui and Tang Dynasties
At the beginning of the establishment of Nanchen, in fact, Xiao Liang was not completely eliminated, and part of the Xiao Liang clan was attached to the Western Wei Dynasty in Jiangling to establish the Western Liang, relying on this relationship, Xiao Liang's clan had long been attached to the Northern Zhou-Sui camp, which was also an important reason why Xiao Liang could shine in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Xi-liang-hsien
In order to maintain his rule, Emperor Xiao Yue of Liang Ming took the initiative to marry the royal families of Zhou and Sui, and several daughters were basically married to the clans of the Sui Dynasty, one of which was Empress Xiao of Emperor Yang of Sui.
Of course, Emperor Wen of Sui would not let go of the existence of the Western Liang regime around him, and soon annexed the Western Liang, but compared to the Yuwen family, Emperor Wen of Sui was obviously better to the Western Liang, giving the official to the knight, and Queen Dugu also married the daughter of her mother's brother to Xiao Yu's son and Empress Xiao's younger brother Xiao Yu, and let the Xiliang clan represented by Xiao Yu add a layer of relationship with the Sui royal family, it is worth mentioning that Li Yuan and Xiao Yu's wife are uncles and cousins, and they set up a line for Xiao Liang in the Tang Dynasty.
Empress Xiao's life is legendary
I have to say that Xiao Yu's control of the current situation is very in place, when the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Xiao Yu, as the uncle of the Sui Dynasty, directly led his troops to surrender to Li Tang, of course, he is also Li Shimin's cousin, both horizontal and vertical are his own family, so the official worships the household department.
After Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, the official worshiped the prime minister, and Xiao Yu's son married Li Shimin's daughter Princess Xiangcheng, and the relatives of the Li Tang royal family, although Xiao Yu was deposed six times, but always in the core power layer of the Tang Dynasty, which was a peak of the prosperity of the Xiao Liang clan in the Tang Dynasty.
For a period of time after that, most of the members of his family were middle-level officials, except for Xiao Zhizhongguan to the prime minister of the imperial uncle's room, but because of his close relationship with Princess Taiping, he was killed by Tang Xuanzong, and at this point, the Xiao Liang clan began to sink.
But after arriving in Tang Xuanzong, Xiao Song, the great-grandson of Emperor Xiao Ming of Liang, once again led the Xiao Liang clan to prosper, relying on his family fame and his brother-in-law with Prime Minister Lu Xiangxian to become the prime minister, reversing the previously slightly silent situation.
Of course, Xiao Song's rise is purely coincidental, his father Xiao Guanguan to the governor of Chongqing, and his grandfather Xiao Junguan to the prince rate of the prince, did not give him too much political legacy, so that in his generation, he could only choose to marry the Lu family of the southern Huijishi clan, but Lu Yuanfang and Lu Xiangxian, father and son, did not bring more practical benefits to the Lu family of Wu County, but because of Xiao Song, Xiao Song led the Xiao Liang clan to rise again.
After Xiao Song served as the prime minister, his son Xiao Heng was able to become Princess Shang Xinchang, and since then, the Xiao Liang clan has not only produced prime ministers, but also continued to marry the royal family.
Xiao Songzi, Xiao Hua, Prime Minister of Suzong;
Xiao Songzi, Ma Duwei, Xiao Heng, Shang Xinchang Princess;
Xiao Hengzi Xiao Fu was the prime minister of the Dezong Dynasty;
Xiao Hengzi, Xiao Sheng, Shang Suzong, daughter of Gao Guo;
Xiao Shengnu is the princess of Shunzong Li Yu;
Xiao Hua's grandson Xiao Li was the prime minister of the Mu Dynasty;
Xiao Fusun Xiao Ning was the prime minister of the Yizong Dynasty;
Xiao Ningzi, Xiao Yu, was the prime minister of the Xizong Dynasty;
Xiao Hua and Sun Xiao imitated the prime minister of the Xizong Dynasty;
In this comparison, the Xiao Liang clan is indeed the best in the royal family of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, throughout the Tang Dynasty, the reason is probably that the ancestral heritage plus the people who know the times are the heroes, and they are guided by the situation, after all, in the troubled times, it is never the strongest and the strongest to the last laugh, and the heroes who are good at climbing are the winners of the times.