Four hundred years of agitation: Xiao Daocheng died and Xiao Zhao succeeded to the throne, inheriting his father Zhi Nanqi to usher in Xiao Zhongxing

This article is the 421st in a long series, Four Hundred Years of Turmoil

Xiao Dao became a man of foresight, magnanimity, knowledge, and writing. After taking the throne, life remained simple and frugal.

Once, Xiao Daocheng saw a jade guide in the main clothing store, and he wrote an edict: "Keeping this thing is the root cause of all ills!" "Immediately ordered people to smash the jade guide, and also checked what kit-kat items were stored in the warehouse and destroyed them all."

Xiao Daocheng also often said: "If you give Yuan ten years to govern the world, You can make the value of gold equal to that of soil." ”

Although this sentence is suspected of bragging, it is at least his wish and the direction of his efforts. In this respect, he was a qualified monarch.

In the last years of the Liu Song Dynasty, several emperors made the country into a miasma and were in ruins, and Xiao Daocheng wanted to concentrate on reviving the national prestige, but he was invaded by Northern Wei at the beginning of his reign.

However, in spite of this, Xiao Daocheng still did a lot of major things that were conducive to the national economy and the people's livelihood in addition to using troops, and tried his best to eliminate maladministration, and Nanqi had a new look.

Since the Jin Dynasty, the outer city of Jiankang Palace has only been surrounded by bamboo hedges and has six gates. Just when someone unveiled the lid of the white tiger bottle, he took the opportunity to say: "The white gate is three times closed, and the bamboo fence cannot be worn." ”

Touched, Xiao Daocheng ordered the reconstruction of the city wall, forming a layout with the central axis as the benchmark and the main buildings symmetrical left and right, which later became a model for the Northern Wei to rebuild Luoyang.

On November 16, the second year of Jianyuan (480 AD), the monk Qian Qian, the king of Danyang, said: "County prisons have always used poison to kill sick prisoners, nominally to save the sick, but in fact to create unjust prisons and wantonly commit atrocities. How could this man's life-threatening affair be left to the secret control of the magistrate? The minister believed that if the prisoner was ill, he must first inform the assassin and ask the official in charge of the prison to go with the doctor to diagnose it. For prisoners in remote counties, their families should be allowed to visit before they can be prescribed for treatment. Xiao Daocheng followed his advice.

This may seem small, but it shows the respect of a dynasty for human rights, which is of great significance.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Liu Song Dynasty, the Jingzhou Assassins often did not concurrently serve as a lieutenant of the Southern Manchus, and the imperial court sent important officials to serve as others. When Xiao Ling, the King of Yuzhang, served as the Assassin of Jing and Xiang Prefectures, he also held the post of Lieutenant of Southern Man.

At the beginning of the third year of Jianyuan (481 AD), after Xiao Ling's dismissal, Xiao Daocheng wanted to make Wang Yi a lieutenant of the Two Prefectures and the Southern Barbarian Colonel, and Wang Yi resigned: "After the war in western Xinjiang, the sores will not recover. Now, the imperial court wants to decentralize the power of the governors of the prefectures and counties to set up some partial generals. The fame of pushing a major minister is not enough to increase strength, and it may also cause ills. After the dispersion of materials and power, the number of functional departments will increase, the number of things will inevitably increase, and the official documents will become more and more complicated. It is believed that this is not appropriate for the sake of the state. ”

On February 23, Xiao Daocheng canceled the construction of the Southern Man Lieutenant.

Whether it was internal affairs or diplomacy, Xiao Dao chengdu invested huge amounts of energy and smoothly survived the difficulties when Southern Qi was first established. However, like Liu Yu, Xiao Daocheng's reign was too short to leave a more stable internal and external environment for Southern Qi.

At the beginning of the fourth year of Jianyuan (482 AD), Xiao Daocheng fell seriously ill and could not be cured.

On the sixth day of march, Xiao Daocheng summoned Situ Chuyuan and Shangshu Zuo's servant Wang Jian to accept the edict and assist the crown prince Xiao Zhao.

On the eighth day of March, Xiao Daocheng died at the Linguang Hall at the age of fifty-five. On that day, Xiao Zhao, the emperor, was emperor for Emperor Qiwu.

On March 11, Xiao Zhao took Chu Yuan as the recorder of Shangshu, Wang Jian as his attendant and Shangshu Ling, and the general Zhang Jing'er as the Kaifu Yi and the third division. On March 13, the former general Wang Huan was appointed as Shangshu's left servant. On March 16, Xiao Ling, the King of Yuzhang, was made a lieutenant.

On the first day of June, Xiao Zhao established Xiao Changmao, the king of NanJun, as crown prince. On June 13, wang was made a crown princess.

Xiao Changmao is the eldest son of Xiao Zhao, who is deeply loved by Xiao Daocheng because of his rich appearance and small characters. Compared with his grandfather and father, Xiao Changmao was more like a literati.

The Crown Princess Wang clan was from the Langya Wang clan, her grandfather Wang Shaozhi was wuxing taishou, and her father Wang Yezhi was once a dazai sacrificial wine. Starting from the Liu Song Dynasty, the Langya Wang clan almost monopolized the concubines.

Subsequently, Xiao Zhao was made crown prince, Xiao Ziliang the Duke of Wenxi was made the King of Jinling, Xiao Ziqing the Duke of Linru was the King of Luling, Xiao Zijing the Duke of Yingcheng was the King of Anlu, Xiao Zimao the Duke of Jiangling was the King of Jin'an, Xiao Zilong the Duke of Zhijiang was the King of Sui County, Xiao Zizhen was the King of Jian'an, and Emperor Xiao Zhaoye was the King of NanJun.

To be fair, Xiao Daocheng's exploits were far inferior to Liu Yu's, and the only fortunate thing was that at the time of his death, the crown prince was already an adult and had practiced political affairs, and there was no situation in which Liu Song's young lord came to the court.

Moreover, Xiao Zhao was a wise and judgmental person, and after taking the throne, he inherited Xiao Daocheng's style, advocated frugality, cared about the people's livelihood and suffering, and put the rich country first. Liu Song had the rule of Yuan Jia, and Southern Qi had Yongming Xiaokang.

However, Xiao Zhao's body inevitably had the common disease of successive emperors, that is, suspicion.

When Xiao Daocheng died, the official Shangshu Jiang Mi was deeply sorry that he did not accept the will, and after Xiao Zhao took the throne, he did not have a promotion, so he was dissatisfied and spoke slanderously.

Just when Xiao Zhao was ill, Jiang Mi went to Xiao Ling, the king of Yuzhang, and said, "The Lord has already suffered from an incurable disease, and the prince does not have the talent of an emperor, what are you going to do?" ”

When Xiao Zhao heard about it, he instructed Shen Chong in the imperial history to play the crimes that Chen Jiangmi had committed in the past, and then put him to death. Not to do or not to die, Jiang Mi made a perfect example to posterity.

On August 21, the founding hero and Sikong Chuyuan died. His eldest son, Chu Ben (褚贲), was deeply ashamed of his father's loss of discipline, and after the completion of his mourning period, he stopped serving as an official, ceded the title to his younger brother Chu Hao, and lived in seclusion next to Chu Yuan's grave for the rest of his life.

Chu Ben's behavior may be praised as loyal and filial piety, but in today's view, it is undoubtedly pedantic.

On September 20, Xiao Zhan made the General Of the Southern Expedition Wang Shengqian the Grand Master of Zuo Guanglu and the Kaifu Yi Tongsan Division, and Shangshu's Right Servant Wang Yi as the Assassin of Xiangzhou.

Wang Jian, Wang Shengqian and Wang Yi were all from the Wang clan of Langya and were all direct descendants of Wang Dao. From the Western Jin Dynasty to the Southern Qi, the Wang clan was never absent from the upper echelons of power, which was really powerful.

In the first month of the first year of the Yongming Dynasty (483 AD), Xiao Zhao appointed Xiao Ling as the crown prince. Xiao Ling refused to participate in the politics of the dynasty, but often secretly offered advice, and Xiao Zhao often listened to his ideas.

On the thirteenth day of the first month, Xiao Zhao made his brother Xiao Rui the King of Nanping, Xiao Hao the King of Yidu, Xiao Ziming the King of Wuchang, and Xiao Zihan the King of the South China Sea.

On the fourth day of the first month of April, Xiao Zhao issued an edict saying: "Although Yuan Cang, Liu Bing, and Shen Youzhi did not maintain the late festival, their initial loyalty is worthy of recognition. "Ordered that the three men be buried separately in accordance with the ceremonial law.

This move has no meaning for the parties concerned, but it is a great comfort for the living people, and it can also bridge the division to the greatest extent and unite people's hearts.

However, Xiao Zhao could forgive his dead enemies, but he couldn't let go of the resentment in his heart. Driven by suspicion, he successively attacked the ministers of the DPRK and created several unjust cases.