In the eyes of many history lovers, Liu Yu, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty, was a faint and cruel emperor. It was precisely because of his tyranny that Liu Song's clan fought against each other, the political struggle in the imperial court was very fierce, and he was eventually deposed and killed by Xiao Daocheng because of the rebellion. Although these are all recorded in the history books, they are only the appearance of things. Judging from Liu Yu's short career as emperor, he was not as incompetent as many historians believe, but had powerful political means. During his reign, he quelled the rebellion of Liu Xiufan the Prince of Guiyang and Liu Jingsu the Prince of Jianping, and began to control the power of the imperial court. However, no matter how powerful he was, he was only a child under fifteen years old, and there were always times when political means were sparse. And his dethronement by Xiao Daocheng was the result of his biggest political mistake.
Liu Yu was only nine years old when he ascended the throne, and such an emperor was very dangerous for Liu Song. In order to ensure that Liu Yu could take the throne normally, his father Liu Yu, the Emperor Ming of Song, made full preparations. He first vigorously suppressed the Liu Song clan and eliminated the most threatening Liu Xiuren, Liu Xiuyou, Liu Xiuruo and other emperors, and only Liu Xiufan, the king of Guiyang, escaped the disaster because of his cowardly performance. He then appointed cai xingzong, Yuan Yue, Chu Yuan, Liu Xun, and Shen Youzhi, whom he trusted, as his ministers, and let Xiao Daocheng participate in the secrets as a wei lieutenant, all with the purpose of ensuring that the imperial power was in Liu Yu's hands as much as possible. Then Liu Yu's arrangement backfired, and at the beginning of Liu Yu's reign, not only did he not control power, but instead there was a situation in which the power was dominant.
At the beginning of Liu Yu's reign, the power of the imperial court was not in the hands of Gu Ming's ministers, but in the hands of Liu Yu's old confidants Ruan Yufu, Wang Daolong, and Yang Yunchang. However, the ministers did not actively oppose this situation, but colluded with each other, which made the imperial court have a situation in which the sons of the cold door held great power and indirectly controlled the government. Faced with this situation, the kings of Liu Song were not reconciled, and there were rebellions by Liu Xiufan and Liu Jingsu. Liu Xiufan's rebels once invaded Jiankang City and went straight to the south gate of the Imperial Palace. Under these circumstances, the forbidden army stationed under the white and stone collapsed one after another, the fu army commander Shi Chu Chengkai Dongfu City surrendered, the Zhongshu Sheren Sun Qianling also opened the Chengming Gate to surrender, and Liu Yu's position as emperor was in jeopardy.
In this case, Xiao Daocheng stood up and commanded the army to counterattack the rebels, and finally put an end to the chaos. Xiao Daocheng then began to march in the clouds, he was given the title of Duke of Xiyang County, promoted to the rank of Commander of the Scattered Horse, a leader of the Middle Army, the governor of the Five Prefectures of Southern Yanxu Yanqingji, a general of the Zhen Army, and the Assassin of Southern Yanzhou, holding the festival, becoming a hot figure in the court of The Liu Song Dynasty. Judging from the history books, Xiao Daocheng's rise was completely manipulated and promoted by Liu Yu. Although Xiao Daocheng was appointed by Liu Yu as a wei lieutenant and could participate in confidential matters, he actually had little power. He was suppressed internally by the old ministers Ruan Dufu, Wang Daolong, and Yang Yunchang, and was ostracized by the ministers of Gu Ming outside, and his power was very limited. Liu Yu used this great effort to quell the chaos to promote him in order to compete for the power of the imperial court.
In fact, in Liu Xiufan's rebellion, the original imperial court power system was beaten. Both Liu Yu's old confidants and his willful ministers lost control of the imperial court. In this case, Liu Yu pushed Xiao Daocheng to seize the opportunity to take back the power of the imperial court and strive to become the emperor who truly controlled the imperial power. Although Liu Yu was young, he was still very positive from the perspective of these changes in the imperial court. Using Xiao Daocheng to control the forbidden army, breaking the control of the imperial court by the quanchen clique one by one, and restoring his own control of imperial power was Liu Yu's plan to control the imperial court. But there was a flaw in this plan, that is, how Xiao Daocheng controlled him after he was too powerful. It was liu yu's negligence in this aspect and his inability to deal with it in time that Xiao Daocheng found an opportunity to seize power.
Xiao Daocheng took advantage of the two opportunities to quell the rebellion to greatly increase his power, and officially became the left servant of Shangshu with the support of Liu Yu, who was also the prime minister of the imperial court at that time. After he entered the imperial court, he monopolized power, squeezed out Yuan Cang, Chu Yuan, Liu Bing, and others who adhered to him as the four nobles, and became the rulers of the Jiankang imperial court. Then he used the power to control the forbidden army to install private individuals among the guards of Liu Yu's palace, and to win over the palace guards, so that Liu Yu's every word and deed was under his surveillance. The history books say that Liu Yu often tortured and killed the palace guards, and even killed the generals around him, which was actually a rebellion against Xiao Daocheng. Because The power of Emperor Liu Song was exhausted in cannibalism, Liu Yu could not get the support of the clan and could only fight alone.
Judging from the records of the history books, Xiao Daocheng gradually got rid of Liu Yu's control after the two quelling of the chaos. Especially after entering the imperial court as prime minister, he was no longer something that Liu Yu could suppress. He squeezed out the other three of the four nobles, monopolized the power of the imperial government, controlled the operation of the forbidden army of the imperial palace, and Liu Yu was not unresponsive, but he was not Xiao Daocheng's opponent at all. Although Liu Yu used brutal means to kill many of Xiao Daocheng's minions and once broke into Xiao Daocheng's leading general's palace, he failed to successfully shoot Xiao Daocheng under the resistance of the Forbidden Army. After that, Xiao Daocheng was strictly defensive, closed the door, and began to plot to kill Liu Yu. Liu Yu's subsequent behavior seems absurd, but in fact, it is also a temporary measure to avoid being assassinated.
For example, the history books say that Liu Yu ran to the Qingyuan Nunnery before he was killed, and then went to Xin'an Temple to steal dogs, and even forced the monk Tan Du to drink wine and eat dog meat with him. This kind of behavior seems absurd, but in fact, it is no longer dare to stay in the palace, and can only find various reasons to go out to play to avoid being assassinated in the palace. At this time, Xiao Daocheng also colluded with the Zhige general Wang Jingze and bribed Yang Yufu, Yang Wannian and twenty-five of Liu Yu's personal bodyguards, and made a plan to seize power. In this fierce political struggle, each of the two men's actions has a purpose. In the process, Liu Yu repeatedly warned or executed the guards in order to clear the nails buried by Xiao Daocheng around him. Then he didn't expect that all these guards were bribed and eventually died under the sword of the guards Yang Yufu.
From the perspective of the whole process, Liu Yu was not completely defenseless against Xiao Daocheng, but he did not expect Xiao Daocheng to regurgitate the water so quickly. The nails that Xiao Daocheng had initially placed around Liu Yu had all been removed, but this did not change the chaos. In fact, as far as conspiracy means are concerned, Liu Yu is not Xiao Daocheng's opponent at all. Xiao Daocheng became an old traitor, taking advantage of Liu Yu's eagerness to regain the power of the dynasty, and eventually became a gravedigger of the Liu Song Dynasty. Although Liu Yu's methods were fierce, he did not have a clear understanding of the general trend of the imperial court. With the help of Xiao Daocheng, he drove the ministers out of the imperial court, but the authority fell into Xiao Daocheng's hands. At this time, he sought to get rid of Xiao Daocheng and regain power, but he had already lost his first hand in the whole situation and was in an absolutely inferior position.
Similar to Liu Yu, there were shen youzhi, Yuan Cang, and other ministers who took control of the army and territory at the local level after being expelled from the imperial court by Xiao Daocheng. Sitting in the imperial court, Xiao Daocheng and Liu Yu fought among themselves, with the idea of yu Weng's profit, expecting them to lose both. However, they forgot how Liu Zixun was defeated by Liu Yu under absolute superiority and made the same mistake. After Xiao Daocheng got rid of Liu Yu's forbidden army and its surrounding armies, how could the ragtag masses formed in those places be able to confront Xiao Daocheng. In the end, Xiao Daocheng eliminated these rebel forces one by one, forcing The Song Shun Emperor Liu Zhunchan to give up the position of emperor and ascend the throne himself as emperor. As a result, the Southern Dynasty Liu Song officially declared the destruction of the country, and the Southern Dynasty entered the brief reign of Southern Qi.
In the whole process, it can be seen that Xiao Daocheng is still a relatively deceptive person and very patient. From the Song Ming Emperor Liu Yu to the five gu ming ministers, to Ruan Yufu and other powerful ministers, and later Liu Yu, they all had great trust in Xiao Daocheng. Liu Yu even entrusted Liu Yu's crown prince Wei to Xiao Daocheng, which meant entrusting his son to him. But in the end, these people all looked away, and Xiao Daocheng's ambitions were exposed step by step after gaining power, and finally embarked on the road of seizing the throne. By this time, his power had taken control of Jiankang and its surroundings, especially the most elite Liu Song forbidden army. At this time, no one could stop him from becoming emperor, and the demise of the Liu Song Dynasty was already ironclad.