The Story of the Passing on the National Jade Seal (14): The Return of the Jade Seal to Sui (Part 1)

Since Liu Yu established the Song Dynasty, Chinese society has entered the historical era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The so-called Southern Dynasty refers to the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties, all of which were founded in the south of China, and the capital was Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). The Southern Dynasty period lasted 170 years from Liu Yu's reign as emperor in 420 AD to 589 when Chen Hou surrendered to Sui. The Northern Dynasties, which included the Period Before the Destruction of Chen by Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Sui, lasted 151 years from the destruction of Northern Liang by Emperor Taiwu of Wei in 439 AD to the end of Sui's destruction of Chen in 589 AD.

Let's look at the difficult journey of passing on the national jade seal as the dynasties change.

In 422, Emperor Wu of Song died, and the crown prince Liu Yifu succeeded to the throne, with the ministers Xu Xianzhi, Fu Liang, and Xie Han as assistants. But the emperor acted recklessly, without the emperor's appearance, and was deposed two years later, and then killed. The auxiliary ministers then succeeded Emperor Wu's third son, Liu Yilong, as Emperor Wen of Song.

Emperor Wen of Song was lenient in nature and advocated frugality, but his military ability did not inherit his father, and he was very mediocre. In 426, he killed the dictatorial Xu and Fu, and sent the famous general Tan Daoji of the Northern Prefecture to destroy Xie, who was guarding Jingzhou, and after that, he monopolized the power, appointing Wang Hua, Wang Tanshou and others to lightly dispense with thin endowments and clarify the rule of officials, so that the country was stable and the people were able to rest and recuperate. During the 30-year reign of Emperor Wen of Song, he ushered in the early prosperity of the Southern Dynasty, which was called the "Reign of Yuan Jia" for a long time.

Since Emperor Wen of Song was killed by his two sons Liu Shao and Liu Mao in 453 AD, Song experienced a long period of civil strife, with brothers killing brothers, brothers killing brothers, uncles killing nephews, nephews and uncles, and so on. After Emperor Wen, the Song Dynasty had Liu Shao, Liu Jun (Emperor Xiaowu), Liu Ziye (former emperor deposed), Liu Yu (Emperor Ming), Liu Yu (later deposed emperor), and Liu Zhun (Emperor Shun) as emperors. There were also frequent wars in the Song Dynasty, and the people did not have a good life.

There were a total of 9 emperors in the Song Dynasty, and 6 of them could not die well. Emperor Liu Yu of the Song Dynasty had a total of 9 sons, more than 40 grandchildren, and more than 70 great-grandchildren, and about 85 died of death. It accounts for nearly 75% or so. The reason why this kind of human tragedy occurred in the imperial family of the Song Dynasty was mainly related to the lack of tutoring, and Emperor Wu was not good at teaching family children, resulting in the emergence of late kings and the suspicion and killing of each other between the clans. Therefore, from the royal family to the ordinary people, family education is very important, and we must do a good job in the education of our children, otherwise, it is easy to chaos. Remember! Remember!!

In April 479, Xiao Daocheng, the Prince of Qi, who was in charge of the imperial government, forced the Song Shun Emperor Liu Zhunchan to ascend the throne and ascended the throne in the southern suburbs of Jiankang. At this point, the Song Dynasty fell, the Qi Dynasty was established, the history was called Southern Qi, the history said that Xiao Dao became the Emperor of Qi Gao, and the jade seal of the country was returned to Qi.

Xiao Daocheng used Liu Yu's method of dealing with Sima Shi against Liu Shi, exterminating the princes of the Liu clan, while eliminating Liu Song's tyranny, advocating frugality, and demanding that future generations should not kill each other. Therefore, in the first ten years of the Xiao Qi era, the society was relatively stable, the people were able to rest, and the southern economy also developed to a certain extent.

In 482, Emperor Qi Gao, who reigned for only four years, died, and his son Xiao Zhao succeeded to the throne as Emperor Qiwu, who reigned for eleven years and governed the country in an orderly manner, known in history as the "Rule of Yongming".

After several generations of inheritance, Qi's political affairs have become more and more absurd and chaotic. In 502, Xiao Yan, the King of Liang, who controlled the government, deposed Qi and Emperor Xiao Baorong, and proclaimed himself emperor for Emperor Wu of Liang.

Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu was one of the longest-lived emperors in history, reigning forty-eight years, and his martial arts were talked about by future generations, and his belief in Buddhism also had a profound impact on China. Here, I would like to share a few stories about him.

Portrait of Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu

1. Diligent political affairs

Xiao Yan was proclaimed empress, and he learned the lesson of Qi's demise, and he was diligent in government affairs, and regardless of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, he always got up on the fifth day and corrected the official documents. In order to solicit advice widely, listen to the opinions of the people, and make the best use of talents, he ordered the establishment of two boxes (then called letters) in front of the door, one was a letter of slander and the other was a letter of lung stone. If meritorious and talented people are not rewarded and promoted for meritorious service, or if good talents are not used, they can submit letters to the lung stone letter. If you are an ordinary person who wants to give any criticism or suggestions to the state, you can submit a letter to the slander letter.

Second, promote the development of literature

Xiao Yan likes to read, is erudite, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. The ministers all looked up to him, and even Takeo Tsutomu could make a few good poems. In 507, after the Liang generals Cao Jingzong and Wei Rui defeated the Wei army at the Battle of Zhongli, Xiao Yan set up a banquet to celebrate the merits. During the feast, the junchen gave poems one after another, and because Cao Jingzong was not good at composing poems, Shangshu Zuo, who was responsible for arranging the rhymes, did not give him poetry rhymes. Cao Jingzong was deeply upset and insisted that Bu Yun give poetry. Xiao Yan comforted him and said, "The general is an outstanding talent, why should he care about writing a poem!" At that time, Cao Jingzong was already a little drunk and repeatedly asked for poetry. Xiao Yan did not want to sweep away his excitement any longer, so he ordered Shen Yue to give him poetry rhymes. At this time, the poem rhymes only have the words "competition" and "disease", and it is difficult to give poetry according to rhyme. However, Cao Jingzong only thought about it for a while, and then he put pen to write a poem: "When I went, my daughter was sad, and when she returned, she drummed up and competed." Borrowing from pedestrians, how to go sick. "The poem is written naturally and smoothly, and it is very much in line with the reality of the triumphant celebration in front of us. As soon as this poem came out, the words were shocking, and the literati sighed to themselves, and even Xiao Yan sighed endlessly, and the special historian recorded it in the history of the country.

3. Meet Dharma, the first ancestor of Zen Buddhism

After the two meet, the conversation is as follows.

Xiao Yan: In my lifetime, I have built many temples, shaved a lot of monks, and copied a lot of scriptures.

Dharma: There is no merit.

Xiao Yan: How can there be no merit?

Dharma: These are just small practices of practicing cause and effect, they are the practices of seeking blessings, and these practices will receive a shadow of blessings, but they are not actual merits.

Xiao Yan: So what is true merit?

Dharma: True merit comes from internal practice, not from the outside, but only from one's own inner practice.

Xiao Yan: So what is the first meaning of the Noble Truth?

Dharma: There are no sages in this world.

Xiao Yan was very angry: Who is this person in front of me?

Dharma: I don't know either.

From their dialogue, it can be seen that although Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu firmly believed in the Buddhist Tao, he was ultimately very shallow in his foundation and could not comprehend the true meaning of the Dharma.

Fourth, sacrifice yourself to make the people of the whole country eat vegetarian

On March 8, 527, Xiao Yan went to Tongtai Temple for the first time to lay down his family, returned three days later, pardoned the world, and changed his era name to Datong; on September 15, 529, the second time he went to Tongtai Temple to hold the "Four Unshaked Assembly", took off his imperial robe, changed into a monk's robe, sacrificed himself to become a monk, and gave his life to give a speech on September 16, on September 16, the group of ministers donated 100 million yuan, prayed to the "Three Treasures", asked for redemption of the "Emperor Bodhisattva", and on the twenty-seventh day Xiao Yan returned to the world; Datong 12 (546) April 10, Xiao Yan became a monk for the third time, this time with 200 million yuan to redeem him; in the first year of the Taiqing Dynasty (547), Xiao Yan became a monk for the fourth time on March 3, lived in Tongtai Temple for 37 days, and on April 10, the imperial court paid 100 million yuan to redeem it. Xiao Yan also quoted the "Lengya Sutra", "Nirvana Sutra" and other Tibetan classics such as "the meat eater cuts off the great benevolent seed" and advocated a comprehensive vegetarian diet. Xiao Yan was not close to women, did not eat meat, not only did he do so, but also asked the whole country to follow suit. Later, the common people could not stand it, complaining, Xiao Yan had no choice, had to abolish this regulation, but required the monks must eat vegetarian, since then, Han Buddhism has formed a vegetarian tradition.

5. Meet Hou Jing

Hou Jingben was a general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, who surrendered to Liang in 547, but after the successful rebellion and the capture of Taicheng, he took five hundred soldiers to see Xiao Yan. When Xiao Yan saw Hou Jing, he was very calm: Where are you from, how dare you make trouble, are your wives and children still in the north? Hou Jing was so scared and sweaty at this time that he didn't know how to answer, and the subordinates next to him said for him: Chenjing's wife and children have been killed by the Gao clan, and now only one person has submitted to His Majesty. Xiao Yan asked: How many soldiers and horses did you have when you crossed the river? Hou Jing answered: Thousand people. Xiao Yan asked again: How much was there during the siege? A: One hundred thousand. And asked: Now? Answer again: Within the land, you can have it yourself. Finally, Xiao Yan comforted him: You are loyal to the imperial court, you should discipline your subordinates and not harass the people. Hou Jing agreed.

On June 12, 549, Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu, who was under house arrest by Hou Jing, died of hunger and thirst at the age of 86. His son Xiao Gang succeeded to the throne as Emperor Jianwen, but the power of the imperial government was in the hands of Hou Jing, and Emperor Jianwen was only a puppet.

Foreknowledge what will happen later, please look forward to the next article, thank you for reading and appreciating, welcome advice, thank you very much! Nam no Amitabha!!