Almost every emperor in ancient China had palace secrets, and these things often became the talk of the common people after tea and dinner, and were widely circulated in the folk. Even many secrets of the palace have been written into the history books and have become the focus of research by future generations of scholars. Liu Yu, the Song Ming Emperor of the Southern Dynasty Liu Song Dynasty, had various palace secrets, among which the idea of not being able to have children was widely spread in history and was included in the Book of Song. Later "History of the South" and "Zizhi Tongjian" also adopted the above statement, so that the inheritance of Liu Yu's throne was controversial among later scholars. What is puzzling is that in the history books, Liu Yu had eleven sons, which contradicts the statement of the Book of Song, so there is a great controversy in history.
Scholars from all dynasties have explored whether Liu Yu's infernoility is true, and whether his two sons, Liu Yu and Liu Zhun, who inherited the throne, were biological, but there is still no clear answer. The earliest record of this incident is in the Book of Song, which is also recognized by historians, including Sima Guang. This theory holds that Liu Yu was infertile, and that his eleven sons were all raised by the chancellor and the Zongwang family. It is said that Liu Yu liked to give his favorite concubines or concubines to the ministers and the emperor, and when they were pregnant, they would be taken back to the palace, and other pregnant concubines of the emperor's family would also be included in his harem. After these women from the chancellor and the zongwang family gave birth to children, Liu Yu made them crown princes as his heirs.
In order to confirm the existence of this situation, two examples are given in the historical data. The first was Liu Yu's eldest son Liu Yu, who later deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty. It is said that Liu Yu's mother, Chen Miaodeng, was given by Liu Yu to his favorite minister Li Dao'er as a concubine, and was later taken back to the palace to give birth to Liu Yu. Therefore, the history books suspect that Liu Yu's biological father was Li Dao'er, and it is said that the people also call him Li Shizi. In many of the rumors of the barnyard officials and wild histories, Liu Yu called himself General Li or Li Tong when he went out of the palace and behaved in the folk. The second was Liu Yu's third son, Liu Zhun, who later became Emperor Shun of Song. The history books say that Liu Yu hated Liu Yu as an outsider's bloodline, so he had his concubine Chen Farong have a relationship with his younger brother Liu Xiufan the Prince of Guiyang, and gave birth to a third son, Liu Zhun.
With these two examples as evidence, many history books have adopted the theory that Liu Yu was infertile, leaving a variety of rumors and stories in history. However, a careful analysis of these historical materials found that there were great loopholes in the historical materials. First of all, this is not the first time in the Book of Song, which also has this routine when describing Liu Ziye, the deposed emperor of the Song Dynasty. It is said that Liu Ziye put the concubine of Liu Meng into the palace to give birth, and later this woman gave birth to a son, and Liu Ziye made him a prince and pardoned the world. This routine appears again and again in the historical materials of Liu Song, which makes people very suspicious of whether there is an element of fabrication. After all, the bloodline of the prince was a very prudent thing in the ancient dynasties, how could it happen again and again?
Second, although the Book of Song is included in the Twenty-Four Histories, it has a very bad reputation in the field of historiography. Shen Yue, the author of the Book of Song, was widely criticized by later historians for fabricating historical materials and deliberately smearing the Liu Song Dynasty in the history books. Among the historical materials he wrote, in addition to the above-mentioned historical materials about the birth of the emperor, there are also many references to the emperor's incest, the most important of which are the Song Xiaowu Emperor Liu Jun and the former Song deposed emperor Liu Ziye father and son. And these historical materials are not supported by other historical books, they are all hearsay, and the possibility of establishment is not high. Coupled with the fact that Shen Yue and Liu Jun and Liu Ziye had a personal grudge of killing their father, many historians believe that he deliberately smeared Liu Song in the Book of Song in order to win the favor of the Southern Qi court.
Third, the Book of Song is a history book compiled during the Southern Qi era of the Southern Dynasty, and Southern Qi was the dynasty that replaced Liu Song to rule the south. Xiao Dao, the founding emperor of Southern Qi, first deposed Liu Yu and established Liu Zhun as emperor, and then forced Liu Zhunchan to give up the throne, which established the Southern Qi Dynasty. As the beneficiary of the successive abolition of two emperors, Xiao Daocheng naturally needed legitimacy in ascending the throne as emperor. The author of the Book of Song, Shen Yue, pandered to the political position of Southern Qi and slandered Liu Song in the history books as a reason to gain a legitimate rank for Xiao Daocheng, which is very likely. It is precisely in view of the above three reasons that many scholars also do not agree with the statement described in the Book of Song that Liu Yu was infertile, and have refuted it in various historical works.
Judging from the comprehensive historical data from all aspects, the above three reasons are more likely to be established, and the examples of Liu Yu and Liu Zhun are also very likely to be fabricated. Although Liu Yu's massacre of the emperor's power destroyed the succession system of the Liu Song imperial family, the crown prince, as a descendant of the emperor, was indispensable in the management of the imperial family. It is obviously very absurd to let the children of the ministers become princes, or even ascend the throne as crown princes. Assuming that Liu Yu really has no fertility, Liu Yu is really Li Dao'er's son, and Liu Zhun is really Liu Xiufan's son. From the perspective of the theory of descent, Liu Yu should also make Liu Zhun the crown prince, rather than Liu Yu, who chose external blood. But in fact, Liu Yu chose Liu Yu, and this very unreasonable operation is completely untenable.
Some people say that many of Liu Yu's sons were born to the concubines of The Emperor Zong, which is actually a statement that clearly distorts the facts. After Liu Yu killed the zongwang forces in his later years, he passed on his sons to the Zongwang family and inherited their forces in order to better control the situation of the country and relieve Liu Yu of his worries. If these sons who inherited the power of Emperor Zong were born to The Concubines of King Zong, Liu Yu would not have caused trouble for himself and laid the foundation for Liu Yu. Won't the sons of these kings grow up to avenge their father and start a new round of rebellion? Judging from Liu Yu's suspicion of the power of the Emperor Zong, he would not do such a stupid thing. If these sons really came from the concubines of various clan kings, then Liu Yu would have cut them down and eradicated them long ago, and would they still allow them to inherit the power of the clan king?
The author of the Book of Song, Shen Yue, was from the Shen clan of Wuxing, and his father Shen Pu was the Taishou of Huainan in the last years of the reign of Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong. At that time, the crown prince Liu Shao's father was proclaimed emperor, which triggered a counterattack from the forces of Emperor Liu song throughout the country. Liu Shao's younger brother Liu Jun raised an army from Jiangzhou to attack Jiankang, and finally broke through the city and successfully ascended to the throne, which was Emperor Xiaowu of Song. After Liu Jun ascended the throne, he vigorously pursued the forces attached to Liu Shao, among which Shen Pu, the Taishou of Huainan, was convicted and killed for this. At that time, Shen Yue was young and secretly ran away, and it was not until later that Liu Song pardoned the world, and he returned to his hometown. Because of this revenge of killing his father, Shen Yue wrote a large amount of black materials of Liu Jun's father and son in the history books, and all kinds of filthy words were spread throughout the history books. Later historians vigorously attacked his act of declaring a personal vendetta, so the Book of Song had a bad reputation in history, and many historical materials were not recognized.
Since Shen Yue was able to smear Liu Jun and Liu Ziye's father and son for personal vendetta, he could naturally smear Liu Yu in order to cater to the Southern Qi court. If Liu Yu was considered infertile, then Liu Yu and Liu Zhi were not eligible to legally inherit the emperor. In this way, Xiao Daocheng's abolition and killing of Liu Yu and Liu Zhun was not an operation of killing Jun, but an operation of maintaining Liu Yu's legal system. Xiao Daocheng was one of the ministers appointed by Liu Yu before his death, and although he was not a minister of orders, he was a guard lieutenant in charge of the Forbidden Army, and was given the power to participate in the political affairs of the dynasty. From this point of view, Shen Yue whitewashed Xiao Daocheng's usurpation of the throne as legitimate, which made the regime change in Southern Qi to replace Liu Song legal and political. From this point of view, Shen Yue has sufficient reasons for political interests.
In summary, the claim that Liu Yu had no fertility did not exist in a high probability, and it was likely that Shen Yu had made up a lie to cater to the Southern Qi court. The Southern Qi court supported this lie for its own political interests, so that the lie spread throughout history and was adopted by some historians in later generations. However, judging from the historical environment in which Liu Song lived, this statement is obviously untenable, and the evidence given in the Book of Song is also full of loopholes. As long as people who read history books carefully analyze and judge, they can naturally find the loopholes. Many scholars in later generations have expressed a controversial attitude toward this, and it is also because of these loopholes that the facts are not established. Of course, there are also some scholars who support various entanglements of interests, which have actually lost the impartial position that historians should have.