"Ruthless is the most imperial family". In ancient Chinese history, the vicious drama of fratricide in the imperial palace was repeatedly staged. Regardless of brotherhood, ruthless killing, for the sake of the struggle for the throne. So, who is the emperor who killed the most brothers in history? It is Liu Sheng, emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was an extremely chaotic, cruel and deformed chaotic era in Chinese history. Many strange and perverted dynasties and emperors were born. Forces from all sides fought each other, killing people like grass mustard, causing a sharp decline in population, and the terrible and unbearable human tragedy was staged in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Liu Sheng (920-958 AD), formerly known as Liu Hongxi, was the emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the fourth son of Liu Gong, the founding emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, the younger brother of Liu Yue, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the third emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty.
(Portrait of Liu Sheng)
Liu Sheng was cruel and suspicious, he usurped the throne by killing his brother, in order to consolidate his throne, "with the power of torture", invented all kinds of cruel and perverted punishments, such as boiling water, opening the chamber, scraping the skin, iron soldering bed, etc., all of which were complete and did not use the extreme, he also named such a torture room "Raw Hell" to deter the ruling subjects. At the same time, he wantonly killed his brothers and sisters. He had 18 brothers, two of whom died prematurely due to illness, one of whom died in battle, and all of whom were killed by him. Its ferocity is terrible, its murderous perversion, even the barbarians can't bear to hear about it. As a result, Liu Sheng was dubbed "the most ferocious emperor in history" and was forever nailed to the pillar of shame that destroyed humanity.
(Execution Room)
In 942, Liu Gong, the founding emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, died. Liu Gong's third son, Liu Yue, succeeded to the throne with the aid of Liu Sheng the Prince of Jin.
Liu Yue was also an absurd and absurd dimwitted monarch. At the important moment when his father Liu Gong came out of the funeral, not only did he not have a look of grief and mourning, but there was no solemn atmosphere in the palace, he actually played and played, wearing mourning clothes to play with prostitutes, drinking and having fun with the people, letting men and women chase and frolic naked...
Liu Yue's fainting was unbearable, and Liu Sheng not only looked at it in his eyes, but also had the intention of seizing the throne. He constantly offered beautiful women to Liu Yue, so that he could not extricate himself from the sound and color of dogs and horses. Of course, Liu Yue was also wary of the brothers, and he arranged for eunuchs to strictly guard the palace gate, and all those who entered the palace must be searched. Liu Sheng had a plan in mind, and he formed an alliance with his fifth brother Liu Hongchang and the tenth brother Liu Honggao, and let his confidant Chen Daoyu raise a group of fierce soldiers such as Liu Sichao and practice wrestling every day.
In 943, Liu Sheng took advantage of Liu Jie's drunkenness and used the excuse of his performance to help him perform, and brought the trained warriors into the palace to perform a wrestling performance for Liu Yue. Between performances, Chen Daoyu and Liu Sichao and others rushed up and dragged Liu Yue to the door of the palace to be killed. Liu Sheng succeeded in usurping the throne by killing his brother, so he established himself as emperor and changed his era name to Ying Qian, and Liu Hongchang, who conspired with him, was made a marshal of the Terracotta Army, Liu Honggao was made a deputy marshal, and Liu Sichao was made a meritorious person.
Killing his brother to seize the throne, Liu Sheng naturally thought the same thing about other brothers, and his suspicions became more and more serious. So, he started with the butcher knife from the people around him. The second brother that Liu Sheng killed was none other than his ally, the tenth brother Liu Honggao.
Liu Honggao repeatedly proposed to Liu Sheng that he hoped to lead troops on expeditions, and also hinted that Liu Sheng get rid of Liu Sichao and others in order to quell the Manchu criticism. Liu Sheng even suspected that Liu Honggao wanted to interfere with the imperial power. Therefore, "Sheng was furious, and the messenger summoned Hong Gao at night." Seeing the messenger, Liu Honggao knew that he had no return, so he asked the messenger to wait, he went to bathe and change clothes, and then prayed in front of the Buddha statue: "Hong Gao misread, the palace of the next life, kill it now!" In the hereafter, be a resident of the family, so as not to be slaughtered. Then he cried goodbye to his family one by one. Sure enough, as soon as Liu Honggao entered the palace, he was brutally killed.
In the winter of the same year, Liu Sheng sacrificed heaven in the southern suburbs, changing his era name to Qianhe and his honorific title as "Great Saint Wenwu Daming to Dao Guangxiao Emperor". It is also ironic that such a gold is attached to himself, which is a strong reflection of his murderous nature.
In 944, Liu Sheng sent his fifth brother Liu Hongchang to Haiqu to pay homage to Emperor Xiang's mausoleum. Emperor Xiang, liu yin, brother of Liu Gong. Among Liu Gong's sons, Liu Hongchang was the most capable. Liu Gong had planned to make Liu Hongchang crown prince, but the chancellor strongly advised: "The young will be established, the elderly will fight for it, and the disaster will begin here", and Liu Hongchang lost his arm with the throne. Liu Hongchang's worship team walked to Changhua Palace and was assassinated by Liu Sheng.com. In the same year, because the eighth brother Liu Hongze appeared in the sky over Nanning (Yongzhou), liu Sheng sent someone to send a pot of poisoned wine to Nanning and poisoned the eighth brother Liu Hongze.
In 945, Liu Sheng killed his seventh brother Liu Hongya. KillEd Liu Sichao and five others. Kill Chen Daoxiu and exterminate his Nine Tribes.
In 947, on the same day, Liu Sheng launched the largest killing and purge of his brothers, and 8 brothers were killed at the same time. They were: liu hongbi, liu hongbi, eleven, liu hongjian, thirteen, liu hongjian, fourteen, liu hongji, fifteen, liu hongji, sixteen, liu hongdao, seventeen, and liu hongyi.
In 954, Liu Sheng killed his twelfth brother Liu Hongmiao.
In 955, Liu Sheng killed his eighteenth brother Liu Hongzheng.
At this point, Liu Sheng's 18 brothers, except for the eldest brother Liu Yaoshu and the second brother Liu Guitu died prematurely due to illness, the ninth brother Liu Hongcao died in the war with the Wu clan in Jiaozhou, and the remaining 15 were all killed by Liu Sheng. In ancient Chinese history, Liu Sheng was the emperor who killed the most brothers.
Liu Sheng is not only ferocious and inhuman, but also absurd. Liu Sheng "Every time his relatives were cursed, his sons died, and the women were colored, so they were placed among the concubines." "After killing his brothers, he also poisoned their sons and brought their beautiful female relatives into his harem." This kind of brutal and lawless practice, "although the barbarians are not enough to reason, and the people really can't bear to hear about it", even the barbarians feel incredible, and they can't bear to hear about what he has done.
Liu Sheng is still so ruthless to his brothers, and he is naturally more cold-blooded in his treatment of others, and his desire to kill and take pleasure is his daily routine. Once, Liu Sheng was drunk at night and wanted to test whether his sword was sharp, so he summoned Shang Yulou, a servant, to put the fresh melon on the head of Shangyulou, and when the sword went down, the fresh melon was cut in half, and Shangyulou's corpse was also separated, and he cried out for his life. The next day, when He woke up drunk, Liu Sheng also ordered someone to pass on Shang Yulou to accompany him to drink, and he had to tell him that "Shang Yulou was killed by you last night." Liu Sheng just nodded in a trance, in his heart, this matter could not cause any waves.
(Sword)
During the battle with the Southern Tang, Liu Sheng cut off one of the captured soldiers, cut off one arm, watched them scream in pain, and then laughed excitedly.
Liu Sheng was not only murderous and murderous, but also brutal as a bandit. Because of the coastal waters of the Southern Han Dynasty, he often sent soldiers to the sea to rob merchants of goods, just like pirates, and the history records "Chinese and foreign turmoil".
Moreover, Liu Sheng did not trust the ministers, and even let the eunuchs and palace maids monopolize power, resulting in the internal human rights falling to the opposition, "the eunuch Lin Yanyu, the palace man Lu Qiongxian, and the internal and external arbitrary killing." Ouyang Xiu's "History of the New Five Dynasties" said: "Sheng's temperament is rigid, and he cannot serve as a subordinate, but only as a eunuch, a palace concubine, a concubine, and a qiongxian." ”
In his later years, Liu Sheng was even more wantonly amused, and even said: "I am spared, fortunately!" What a worry about the hereafter! "As long as he is saved from the scourge of the subjugation of the country, he does not care what will happen to the hereafter."
In 958, Liu Sheng died, and Chinese New Year's Eve was nine years old, and his son Liu Xun took the throne. Liu Xun, like his father, was absurd and faint, surrendered and destroyed the country, and was known as the Lord of the Southern Han Dynasty. For Liu Sheng, the "History of the Old Five Dynasties" commented: "Sheng's spontaneous absurdity."
Ferocious and tyrannical, even if you are an emperor, you cannot be respected, even if the evil deeds are not repaid at that time, but the evil consequences sown are eternal scolding, and the smell is ten thousand years.