The Story of the Chuanguo Jade Seal (XIII): The fierce Liu Yu got the Jade Seal

Dear dear, this article is going to talk about Liu Yu. Why write one specifically for him? Because he was very good, he fought all his life and did not lose; he saved the Han culture; he was fierce enough, murderous, and several emperors died at his hands; his series of reforms ended the situation in which the door valve and the emperor "shared the world"; even if he became an emperor, he was consistent, hard and simple; he was also the most outstanding emperor after the Han Dynasty and before the Tang Dynasty.

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First, the tragic childhood to the chaotic youth

Liu Yu was born on April 16, 363 AD in a poor peasant family in Jingkouli (present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) in Dantu County, Jinling County, and his mother died of postpartum hemorrhage just after birth, and his father was unable to raise him and planned to throw him away, fortunately, one of his relatives had a newly born woman, so he took Liu Yulian with him to feed, which is the origin of Liu Yu's nickname "slave". Song Dynasty poet Xin Renjie "Yong Yu Le Jingkou Beiguting Huaigu" "Xieyang grass tree, ordinary alley strange, humane slave once lived." Think of that year, Jinge iron horse, swallowed like a tiger" in the sentence "sending slaves" is Liu Yu's nickname.

However, a few years later, bad luck came again, when Liu Yu was seven or eight years old, his father died due to ineffective medical treatment, fortunately, he had a good stepmother Xiao Wenshou. Xiao's cutting wood during the day and doing some manual work at night, hardship and hardship, never remarried in her life, and pulling three children with all her might, she regarded Liu Yu as her own child, like her two children, and took good care of him.

Liu Yu grew up slowly, he was tall (by today's standards, he was not less than 1.86 meters tall), good-looking, informal, and filial to his stepmother. In order to subsidize his family, he cut firewood, farmed land, fished, and sold straw shoes (Liu Bei, the emperor of the Three Kingdoms Shu, also sold straw shoes).

As an adult, Liu Yu was brave and fierce, and he was also infected with the vice of gambling, and everyone looked down on him. As the saying goes, nine out of ten bets, because he owes 30,000 yuan can not be repaid, he was tied to a pillar by the creditor, just happened to be seen by Wang Mi who passed by the Wang clan of Langya, Wang Mi helped him pay back the money, and said to Liu Yu a sentence that changed his life: "Qing is a hero of a generation!" (Sometimes, a sentence that sends charcoal in the snow can really change a person's life, and conversely, the bad words hurt people are also Cold in June).) After that, Liu Yu reformed, never gambled again, and often interacted with Wang Mi because he had no other friends.

Second, the era of the God of War

"I can't always live like this, I want to be a hero of a generation." Faced with the broken family and the blank eyes of others, Liu Yu, who is in his thirties, decided to become a soldier. At that time, wars were frequent, and it was very easy to become a soldier. This decision became a turning point in his life and a turning point in China's history. Liu Yu was a genius, and his amazing military talents were vividly displayed in the war. In view of different battle situations and different enemies, he created many new tactical methods of play, achieving invincibility and invincible, and is the "God of War" who is standard and accurate. And look at his opening and hanging records:

From 399 to 402 AD, in the more than a dozen battles to quell the Wudoumi Sect Sun En's uprising, Liu Yu not only wore a strong and sharp edge, charged forward, fought bravely, but also had a strategy, good command, and was good at winning more with less; what is even more valuable is that his army did not commit any crime with minqiu, "not taking a needle and a thread from the masses", which was simply a different kind of existence in the era when soldiers could plunder the people at will.

In 403, Sun En's brother-in-law Lu Xun rebelled, and Liu Yu rebelled, killing his grand marshal Zhang Shidao and forcing Lu Xun to cross the sea and escape.

From 404 to 405 AD, Liu Yu quelled the Huan Xuan Rebellion, expelled the Huan forces, and restored the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In 405 A.D., a soldier who surrendered without a fight. After the persecution, Qin returned the occupied territory of the twelve counties of Huaibei, such as Nanxiang, Shunyang, Xinye, and Wuyang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

From April 409 to February 410, Liu Yuhua marched north, attacked Southern Yan with his superb military command skills, captured his emperor, and reclaimed the areas of present-day Linyi, Rizhao, Weifang, and Qingzhou in Shandong.

In 410 AD, Lu Xun was destroyed. In May and June of that year, Liu Yu resisted the attack of More than 100,000 Lu Xun with less than 10,000 people and forced him to retreat to Jiangzhou. In October, Liu Yu attacked and defeated Lu Xun's fleet with fire, and continued to pursue, occupying his base in Panyu, Guangdong, and recovering most of the southern region.

In 412, Liu Yi was conquered and most of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, including Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and Jiangzhou, were pacified.

In 413, Liu Yu arranged a conspiracy to have Zhu Lingshi march west to destroy the Shu state (the earliest state to become independent from the Western Jin Dynasty before the Wuhu Rebellion) and reclaim the Bashu region.

In 413, Liu Yu's army, which had destroyed Shu, took advantage of the situation to destroy the state of Qiuchi and reclaim the Hanzhong region.

From August 416 to August 417, Liu Yu defeated the Northern Wei army with his own strange array "But Moon Array" and strong bows and crossbows, and at the same time destroyed the Later Qin state, recovering the Guanzhong region east of Tongguan and the entire Henan, unfortunately Xi'an was lost and taken away by the Xia state.

Third, hate the warrior clan, kill people like hemp, even the emperor does not let go

Even counting the people killed in normal wars, after Liu Yu attacked Southern Yan, he killed more than 3,000 people in Southern Yan in order to vent his anger and slaughtered the city; as empress, he exterminated more than 2,000 people of the Sima clan.

Liu Yu also killed 6 emperors, namely: Emperor Huan Xuan of Great Chu, Emperor Murong Chao of Southern Yan, Emperor Tan of Shu, Emperor Yao Hong of Later Qin, Emperor Sima Dezong of eastern Jin, and emperor Sima Dewen of eastern Jin. The worst thing is that Liu Yu killed Sima Dewen, who gave him the "Zen position", creating a vicious example of killing the king of the Zen throne, and also laying hidden dangers for his descendants to be killed.

Fourth, the south of the Yellow River was unified, and the Han culture was preserved

To borrow the words of celebrities Liang Qichao and Fan Wenlan to confirm that what I said is not false:

Liang Qichao: For more than four thousand years since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the northern untouchable breed has been suffering from China for generations, and I have met with the other, and the inferior loser is nine and the winner is less than one. Those who are a little more than the light of history, one is Zhao Wuling, the second is Qin Shi, the third is Han Wu, the fourth is Song Wu, and so on! Just like that!

Fan Wenlan: In the Song Dynasty created by Liu Yu, the emperor held the power alone, the main assistant, mostly used the cold gate, the original high gate family, can only be a powerful official, rarely the emperor's trust. Weakening the political power of the shi clan and implementing the centralized power of the emperor's autocracy, the degree of unity in the Song Dynasty was far beyond the comparison of the powerful and divided Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the political power was greatly enhanced. At that time, the Xianbei Tuoba tribe unified the Yellow River Valley, the emergence of a powerful Wei state, if there is no unified Han regime, the Xianbei people invaded the south several times, it is likely to annex the Yangtze River Basin, destroying the developing economy and culture. Therefore, Liu Yu's elimination of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was not established by the Ji Gang and the arrogance and strength, and established a relatively powerful Song Dynasty, was a great contribution to the history of the Han nationality.

Fifth, carry out political and economic reforms and strengthen cultural construction

(1) Politically.

1. Continue to carry out "soil breaks" to curb land annexation. The so-called "soil break" refers to the policy of sorting out household registration and adjusting local administrative divisions in order to solve the problem of overseas Chinese (the relocation of the northern scholars to the south). Its main spirit is to demarcate the state, county and county areas, and the residents are registered according to their actual place of residence. Liu Yu's work was called the "Yixi Tujue", which dealt a blow to the forces of the Hao and Qiangshi clans in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, eased class contradictions, reduced the burden on the people, improved the social and political situation, and re-established the authority of the central government.

2. Rectify the administration of officials. Liu Yu deposed or executed a large number of officials from the scholar clan or imperial family; even his cronies, as long as they violated the law and committed crimes, he severely punished them, and even executed them.

3. Reuse people from humble backgrounds. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, officials were selected, mainly based on the mendi, and many talentless and ignorant people were used as officials. Liu Yu selected talents in accordance with the spirit of the beginning of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, and implemented the practice of "those who are able to go up and down to the mediocre", which effectively cracked down on the scholars and changed the political structure at that time.

4. Strengthen the centralization of power and streamline the administration of the army. Liu Yu declared himself empress dowager, working to weaken the strong domain, and he limited the number of generals and officials in the capital of Jingzhou; the number of generals and officials in other prefectures was also limited. In order to prevent the powerful ministers from supporting the army, he specially decreed that there should be no more military palaces, and if the prime minister led the Yangzhou Assassination History, he could place a thousand soldiers. And all the important posts of ministers outside the country need to be defended by the army, or they must send troops to fight, all of them are accompanied by the imperial court army, and after the matter is completed, the army needs to be returned to the imperial court. In addition, in order to prevent foreign relatives from messing with the government, Liu Yu ordered that if there is a young lord, he will entrust the prime minister, and there is no need for the empress dowager to come to the dynasty.

(2) Economically.

1. Light and thin endowment. At the same time, he rectified the system of conscription, strictly prohibiting local officials from indiscriminately levying taxes and levies, and stipulating that taxes and servitude must be levied according to the household registration. These measures have brought benefits to the people and effectively promoted economic development.

2. Do not compete with the people for profit. After Liu Yu took the throne, he ordered that all the materials needed by the palace government should be purchased from the market, and money should be given according to the price, and no requisition should be requisitioned from the people. He also ordered that officials should not levy the people's carts of cattle, nor could they use their official authority to force the people to sacrifice the carts and cattle, and also reduced a large number of transaction taxes to facilitate commercial transactions in the market.

3. Culturally.

1. Actively develop education. Although Liu Yu travels in the army and does not have much literacy, he attaches great importance to education. In 422 AD, Liu Yu issued a special edict to encourage the government and the people to extensively run schools and improve the people's cultural and educational level. These measures cemented his rule and also contributed to social development.

2. Wide collection of scattered books. Before Liu Yu's Northern Expedition and the Qin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time only had 4,000 volumes. During the Northern Expedition, Liu Yu transported all the books that had been lost in various parts of the Central Plains back to Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), and ordered that the books of the Red Axis green paper and ancient texts should also be collected to be passed on to future generations, and by the early years of Liu Song, the official collection of books had reached more than 60,000 volumes. It has made great contributions to the protection and inheritance of Han cultural classics and books, and also laid the foundation for the national collection of books in the Southern Dynasty and Song Dynasty.

During this period, the literary style flourished in the literary world, and everyone came out from generation to generation, Xie Lingyun, Liu Yiqing, Bao Zhao, and others showed their own brilliance, and works such as the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the New Language of the World, and the Notes on the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms were published one after another, which had a far-reaching impact on future generations. According to legend, Liu Yu wrote a volume of "Outline of the Art of War", which is now extinct.

Sixth, do not forget the birth, life is simple

After becoming emperor, ordinary people are arrogant and lascivious, but Liu Yu is an exception. He advocated frugality, did not love treasures, did not like luxury, and had few concubines in the palace. He called the emperor into the palace, and the residence was still made of earthen screens, cloth lanterns, and hemp ropes. His grandson later looked at him and ridiculed him as a "hillbilly." He himself usually dressed very casually, with toothed wooden shoes and ordinary skirts and hats. He also gave his eldest daughter the layers of ragged robes and instructed her: If the descendants are arrogant and frugal, show them. His daughter got married, and there was not much to accompany her, and she did not give splendid gold and jade. Under his influence, up and down inside and out, the wind of extravagance was swept away.

Chao Qin Twilight Chu Cat: In Chinese history, there are three famous emperors from the grassroots, they are Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, and Liu Yu of Song Wuzong, the protagonist of this article. Liu Bang is not good at literature and martial arts, but he can use people; Zhu Yuanzhang is an all-rounder of literature and martial arts (although he was born as a cattle herder, he loves to learn); Liu Yu's cultural level is not good, but he is a military genius, and he can make up for the lack with his diligence. Unfortunately, Liu Yu died too early, and if he could live for a few more years, the north of the Yellow River would have returned to the Hands of the Han earlier. The three of them also have a common feature, that is, the decision to kill and cut is a fierce role, which may be caused by the tempering of war, or perhaps the common characteristic of people who can succeed on their own.

(Part of the content of this article refers to the headline entry encyclopedia "Liu Yu")