About a year after the death of Northern Wei Tuoba Tao, Liu Yilong also died. Both died unnaturally: Tuoba Tao was killed by Zhongchang Shi Zong'ai, Liu Yilong was killed by the crown prince Liu Shao, and today we will only talk about Liu Shaojun.
The so-called prince is the preparation of the emperor. But if the crown prince aspires to be emperor, it is a sin in itself.
The old emperor tested his sons and asked them what their ideals were. Several sons have spoken bold words: Our journey is the sea of stars!
After the old emperor heard similar bold words, his mood must have been very complicated. Because he suddenly had a feeling: If he lived a little longer, wouldn't he hinder his sons from realizing their ideals?
The next thing is not difficult to guess, and the old emperor will certainly find ways to balance these sons and avoid being burned and thus retire early.
For the state, the simultaneous appearance of the old emperor and the older prince means that civil unrest may break out at any time.
For courtiers, how should the old emperor and the older prince take sides after they have a disagreement? It seems that everything that is chosen is wrong.
If you are on the side of the emperor, there will certainly be no good fruit to eat after the prince succeeds to the throne; if you stand on the side of the prince, the emperor will know that there will certainly be no good fruit to eat.
Many people are reluctant to take sides and want to deal with all this with a detached attitude, but this is not easy.
What should you do if the prince does something unruly in front of you, if the prince asks you to help him do something unruly?
If you dare to avoid the prince, it will inevitably cause the prince's jealousy, because he has already told you such a private matter, but you have chosen to retreat. If the prince catches the opportunity, he will almost certainly retaliate against you.
If you dare to help the prince, in case the emperor knows, he may not do anything to the prince, but he will definitely take care of you.
On the other hand, if the emperor does something unfavorable to the prince in front of you, and if the emperor asks you to do something unfavorable to the prince in front of you, what should you do?
If you dare to avoid the emperor, will the result be more to say? The light is snubbed, and the heavy is to find an excuse to cut off your head.
If you dare to help the emperor, if the prince knows about it, he will also be jealous of you. If the emperor just beats the prince, he will most likely use your head to make peace with the prince.
Once the crown prince became an adult and had his own team, his contradictions with the emperor became more and more difficult to reconcile. The relationship between Crown Prince Liu Shao and Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong deteriorated, but because the interests of the two sides clashed, it was not such a ridiculous reason that Prince Liu Shao did not have such a humanity.
In the game between the emperor and the prince, the emperor controls the initiative, so he can easily gain the upper hand. But if the emperor regarded the prince as his main competitor, the consequences were serious. For example, Murong Chui and Yao Xing, when they treated their own princes, they always repeatedly suppressed and restrained them.
In this way, the prince is indeed powerless to threaten the emperor, but this is also equivalent to completely depriving the prince of his power. Once the emperor dies, it is impossible for the weak prince to regain his authority in the shortest possible time, and the powerful royal family and powerful courtiers who were once supported by the emperor to balance the prince will inevitably contradict the prince, and the infighting in the country will come from this.
Before the bureaucracy was fully formed, how the emperor handled the relationship with the prince was a dilemma.
Many people have said that the reason why Liu Yilong, the Emperor wen of Song, was killed by the crown prince Liu Shao was entirely because of his indecisiveness. If Liu Yilong had preemptively attacked, Crown Prince Liu Shao would certainly not have a way to live.
This statement is indeed very reasonable, but if you think about the problem from the perspective of Liu Yilong, the Emperor of Song, you will find that things are not so simple at all.
At this time, Liu Yilong, the Emperor wen of Song, seemed to have fallen into a dead end in a dilemma, and no matter how he responded, it seemed to be a mistake.
If it was only the crown prince Liu Shao plotting to kill the king, Liu Yilong might still be able to cope. But when he found out that his second son Liu Mao was also involved in this incident, Liu Yilong inevitably hesitated.
In a sense, it was not the crown prince Liu Shao who caused the death of Emperor Wen of Song, but his second son Liu Mao.
Crown Prince Liu Shao was the son of Empress Yuan, Liu Mao was the son of Consort Pan, and Empress Yuan died because of a struggle with Consort Pan for favors, so Liu Shao's relationship with Liu Jun was very bad.
In the beginning, Empress Yuan was jealous, and she saw the pan clan as lucky, so she collapsed with hatred, so she was deeply ill with the Pan clan and The Tao. —— Book of Song, vol. 99, Liechuan 59, 2nd Murder
However, with the development of the situation, liu shao gradually sat firmly in the position of prince, Liu Mao was faced with two choices.
First, he fought with his mother for favor and competed with the crown prince Liu Shao for the right to inherit the throne.
Second, take the initiative to show favor to Liu Shao and actively safeguard Liu Shao's status as crown prince.
If Liu Mao made the first choice, the card face of Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong would look much better. Because someone took the initiative to help him balance the crown prince Liu Shao, Liu Shao might not have made such an impulsive choice as killing Jun. Even if Liu Shao's sword goes sideways, without the help of his second son Liu Mao, the success rate of the crown prince Liu Shao should be reduced a lot.
However, Liu Mao made the second choice, taking the initiative to show favor to the crown prince Liu Shao, and always taking the crown prince Liu Shao as the mainstay, and daring to be a helper himself. Due to Liu Mao's initiative to show favor, the hostility of the crown prince Liu Shao to Liu Mao's mother and son gradually faded. After all, speaking of a thousand ways and ten thousand, Princess Pan Shufei did not take the initiative to attack Empress Yuan, and Empress Yuan only died because she failed to compete for favors, and she did not want to be angry for a while.
To worry about the future misfortune is to be a matter of composure, and to be good to him. —— Book of Song, vol. 99, Liechuan 59, 2nd Murder
On the positive side, Liu Mao's approach is remarkable, because they are not arrogant and arrogant, but actively maintain the harmony of the imperial family and the stability of the country.
On the negative side, this meant that Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, could not find any decent figures to balance The Crown Prince Liu Shao, because the strength of the Crown Prince Liu Shao and Liu Mao was too strong.
Abolishing the prince or killing the prince is not as simple as simply getting rid of one person, but it is necessary to cleanse all the main members of the prince's family. In this context, the second son Liu Mao, who was closely associated with the crown prince, also died. Prior to this, Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong had already killed his brother Liu Yikang.
If there is such a big killing, the strength of the Liu Royal Family will fall to the bottom in an instant. After a hundred years of Liu Yilong, what did the weak prince he elected rely on to confront the powerful ministers or the noble warriors?
If he wanted to avoid the weakness of the prince from being able to control the situation in the future, and strengthen the weak prince to increase his strength, who dared to guarantee that this weak prince would not kill the king like the former prince Liu Shao after his wings were full?
In fact, in my opinion, Liu Mao's approach can only explain one point: he is a person without ambition, and he only wants to live peacefully.
Emperor Wen of Song's liu Yilong was not in good health, and the succession of the crown prince Liu Shao was almost inevitable, and once Liu Mao thought that he could not defeat the crown prince Liu Shao in the competition, he would inevitably choose to actively move closer to the crown prince Liu Shao.
I think that the crown princes Liu Shao and Liu Mao did not initially have the idea of killing the king, and they worked hard to develop their power, probably because Liu Yilong, the Emperor of Song, was weak and sick, and could go west at any time. In this context, of course, they want to be able to have a very strong force that can be used to control the country in times of crisis.
But the physical condition of Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong was quite puzzling: say that he was healthy, he was sick at both ends of three days, and often received critical illness notices; saying that he was not healthy, he seemed to be able to be rescued every time, and then continue this cycle, and take time to lead soldiers to fight.
In this context, the actions of the crown princes Liu Shao and Liu Mao would definitely make Liu Yilong, the Emperor of Song, lose his sense of security, and he once said to Pan Shufei with a sigh: "Liu Shao has accumulated strength, I can understand, after all, he wants to take over, but what is the purpose of the tiger head (Liu Mao's nickname) doing this?" ”
Shang lamented miri, saying that Princess Pan Shufei said: "Prince Tu is rich, and it is even more reasonable." The tiger's head is as north as it is, and it is beyond the reach of reconsideration. How can a mother and son go a day without me? "Little tiger head." —— Book of Song, vol. 99, Liechuan 59, 2nd Murder
When things developed to this point, Pan Shufei immediately realized the urgency of the situation, so she quickly found her son Liu Mao, she did not say that Liu Yilong was jealous of the crown prince Liu Shao, but only hoped that he could quickly draw a line with the crown prince Liu Shao.
Princess Pan Shufei hugged Li and wept and said, "Ru Shi cursed the incident, and he wanted to carve his own thoughts, and he meant to hide yan Dao Yuye." The Lord rebuked Ru Deeply, until I prostrated my head and begged for grace, and my intention never let go. What is the use of life today, you can send medicine, when you kill yourself first, you can't bear to see the disaster of Ru! -----------------
But what is the difference between not saying and saying? Liu Mao immediately realized that his father had decided to purge the prince's lineage.
Liu Mao's mood at this moment must be extremely complicated, whether to continue to side with The Crown Prince Liu Shao, or to put an end to the chaos and return to the side of Liu Yilong, the Emperor wen of Song?
If Liu Mao chose to put an end to the chaos and return to the side of Liu Yilong, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, the crown prince Liu Shao was afraid that there would only be one way to die, because the deposed prince did not seem to see any hope of survival. However, for Liu Mao, there seems to be no hope of succession.
Liu Mao's previous behavior (attaching himself to the crown prince Liu Shao and actively helping him develop his personal power) may be forgivable from reason, but from the legal point of view, it is a capital offense to arbitrarily draw one. Even if he had his own mother, Pan Shufei, interceded, even if he had the credit for rectifying the chaos, he would at most have escaped the death penalty, but he should not think about any political future.
After figuring out this joint, Liu Mao immediately told the news to the crown prince Liu Shao, and after Liu Shao got the news, he immediately decided to start first.
Shao Chi reported shao, because Shao was a conspiracy, every night to feed the soldiers, or personally drink, secretly with the heart of the team leader Chen Shu'er, Zhan Shu'er, Zhai Shuai Zhang Chaozhi, Ren Jianzhi plot. —— Book of Song, vol. 99, Liechuan 59, 2nd Murder
From the perspective of Crown Prince Liu Shao, although his choice is very contrary, if he does not kill the king, he will be a dead end.
From the perspective of the second son, Liu Mao, although his choice was incomprehensible, he did not have much choice step by step at this time, because he had followed the prince too far and could not turn back.