Emperor Wen of Liu Song - Late Reign

Late Reign

In 445, in a famous incident, while waiting to send his brother Liu Yiji off to his new post as governor of Southern Yan Province (南兗州, modern central Jiangsu), Emperor Wen ordered his sons not to eat until dinner is served at the sendoff, but the intentionally had dinner served late, so that his sons would suffer from hunger, and then telling them, "You grew up in a rich household and do not see the people being poor. I intended that you understand the pain from hunger so that you would learn to be frugal and caring for the people." However, while this incident general drew praise from historians, some historians, including Pei Ziye (裴子野), the commentator to the Song Shu, found it hypocritical in that he was putting his sons in high offices at young age without being properly trained.

After that feast, an alleged plot involving the official Fan Ye was exposed—as it was alleged that Fan had plotted with his nephew Xie Zong (謝綜) and the deposed prime minister Li Yikang's associate Kong Xixian (孔熙先) to assassinate Emperor Wen at the feast for Liu Yiji and then making Liu Yikang emperor. One of the coconspirators, Emperor Wen's nephew Xu Danzhi (徐湛之), after the assassination failed to occur at the feast, informed on his coconspirators, and other than Xu, the conspirators were all executed. (The historian Wang Mingsheng (王鳴盛) found the alleged plot far-fetched, and believed instead that Fan had been the victim of false accusations by Xu, Yu Bingzhi (庾炳之), and He Shangzhi.) In the aftermaths of the plot, Liu Yikang, whose connection to the plot appeared tenuous at best, was stripped of his title, demoted to commoner rank, and put under house arrest. (There would be repeated plots by others to put Liu Yikang on the throne, and by 451, fearful that such a plot would again develop during the midst of a Northern Wei invasion, Emperor Wen would, against promises he made to his older sister Liu Xingdi the Princess Kuaiji, have Liu Yikang killed.)

In 446, when Northern Wei was facing a rebellion from the ethnically-Xiongnu Gai Wu (蓋吳), Emperor Wen commissioned Gai as a duke and a general, although he provided no actual military support for Gai. This, however, aggravated Northern Wei's Emperor Taiwu, and after Emperor Taiwu put down Gai's rebellion, the relationship between the two states turned sour, particularly in light of a horrific raid that Northern Wei troops carried out against Liu Song's Qing (青州, modern central and eastern Shandong), Ji (冀州, modern northwestern Shandong), and Yan (兗州, modern western Shandong) Provinces later that year.

By 449, Emperor Wen was preparing a second campaign to recover the provinces south of the Yellow River, and many generals and officials, in response, submitted battle plans, and the general Wang Xuanmo (王玄謨) submitted plans that Emperor Wen particularly liked. In preparation, Emperor Wen moved the troops stationed and supplies stored in the internal provinces to the boundary provinces. Meanwhile, however, before he could launch the campaign, Northern Wei's Emperor Taiwu invaded first in spring 450, putting Xuanhu (懸瓠, in modern Zhumadian, Henan) under siege for 42 days, and after much loss on both sides, Emperor Taiwu withdrew without having captured Xuanhu. This made Emperor Wen believe that Northern Wei's military power was waning, and he decided to launch his attack late in 450, despite oppositions by the generals Liu Kangzu (劉康祖), who believed that the campaign should begin in spring 451, Shen Qingzhi (沈慶之), who opined that Liu Song was not in shape to fight a war against Northern Wei, Xiao Sihua, and Crown Prince Shao.

The Liu Song forces, under the commands of Xiao Bin (蕭斌) and Wang Xuanmo, quickly took Qiao'ao and Le'an (樂安, in modern Tangshan, Hebei), as Northern Wei forces abandoned those two cities quickly, and then put Huatai under siege. The Han people around Huatai were initially gladly supporting the Liu Song campaign, but Wang ordered them to submit a large number of pears, causing them to be angry and turn against Liu Song. Liu Song forces, as a consequence, could not capture Huatai quickly, and in winter 450, Emperor Taiwu crossed the Yellow River, and Wang's forces collapsed, forcing him to flee back to Qiao'ao. Xiao considered defending Qiao'ao against the coming Northern Wei assault, but Shen persuaded him that doing so was futile, and despite orders from Emperor Wen to defend Qiao'ao, Xiao led the main forces back to Licheng (歷城, in modern Ji'nan, Shandong) to preserve the strength of the army. Meanwhile, due to Wang's defeat at Huatai, although the general Liu Wenjing (柳文景) was able to capture Tong Pass in the west and threaten Northern Wei's Guanzhong region, Emperor Wen chose to recall Liu and abandon the western advances as well.

In retaliation for the Liu Song attack, Emperor Taiwu launched an all-out attack against Liu Song's northern provinces. Emperor Taiwu's nephew Tuoba Ren (拓拔仁) quickly captured Xuanhu and Xiangcheng (項城, in modern Zhoukou, Henan) and pillaging his way to Shouyang. Emperor Taiwu himself advanced on Pengcheng, but did not put that heavily fortified city under siege; rather, he advanced south, claiming that he would cross the Yangtze River and destroy the Liu Song capital Jiankang. Both his main army and the other branch armies that he sent out carried out heavy slaughters and arsons, laying Liu Song's Huai River region to waste. Around the new year 451, Emperor Taiwu had reached Guabu (瓜步, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), across the river from Jiankang, but at this point he reproposed the marriage-peace proposal he made earlier—that if Emperor Wen married a daughter to one of his grandsons, he would be willing to marry a daughter to Emperor Wen's son, Liu Jun (who was then defending Pengcheng), to establish long-term peace. Crown Prince Shao favored the proposal, but Jiang Dan (江湛) opposed, and the marital proposal was not accepted. In spring 451, worried that his forces were being overstretched and would be attacked in the rear by the Liu Song forces garrisoned at Pengcheng and Shouyang, Emperor Taiwu began a withdraw, and on the way, insulted by the Liu Song general Zang Zhi (臧質), he put Xuyi (盱眙, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu) under siege, and, after both sides suffered heavy losses but with the defense holding, quickly withdrew. This campaign appeared to heavily wear out both empires and demonstrated the cruel parts of Emperor Taiwu's personality well, as Sima Guang described it in this manner:

The Wei forces laid South Yan, Xu, North Yan, Yu, Qing, and Ji Provinces to waste. The Song deaths and injuries were innumerable. When Wei forces encountered Song young men, the forces quickly beheaded them or cut them in half. The infants were pierced through with spears, and the spears were then shaken so that the infants would scream as they were spun, for entertainment. The commanderies and counties that Wei forces went through were burned and slaughtered, and not even grass was left. When sparrows returned in the spring, they could not find houses to build nest on, so they had to do so in forests. Wei soldiers and horses also suffered casualties of more than half, and the Xianbei people were all complaining.

Sima Guang further attributed Emperor Wen's military failures to his command style:

Every time Emperor sent generals out on battles, he required them to follow the complete battle plans that he had drafted, and even the dates for battles needed approval from the emperor. Therefore, the generals all hesitated and could not make independent decisions. Further, the non-regular troops that he conscripted were not trained, and they rushed to advance when they were victorious and scattered when they were defeated. These were the two reasons why he failed, and from this point on, the state was in recession, and the Reign of Yuanjia was in decline.

As another historian, Shen Yue, pointed out, Emperor Wen modelled his military planning on those of Emperor Guangwu of Han, but lacked Emperor Guangwu's military command abilities, and therefore could not draft proper military plans the way that Emperor Guangwu did.

In 452, after hearing that Northern Wei's Emperor Taiwu had been assassinated by his eunuch Zong Ai, Emperor Wen prepared another campaign, with his army commanded by Xiao Xihua—but not realizing that his micromanaging had greatly contributed to the failure of the prior campaign, he made the micromanaging even more complete. After Xiao's assisting general Zhang Yong (張永) was defeated at Qiao'ao, however, he abandoned the campaign.

Meanwhile, though, Emperor Wen himself was facing a crisis within his household. It had been discovered that Crown Prince Shao and another son of Emperor Wen's, Liu Jun the Prince of Shixing (a different son than the Liu Jun referred to above), had secretly retained the witch Yan Daoyu (嚴道育) to curse Emperor Wen to death so that Crown Prince Shao could become emperor. Emperor Wen, while angry, only strongly rebuked his sons and was unwilling to take further punitive actions against them. By 453, however, Emperor Wen's hopes that his sons had reformed themselves was shattered—as he found evidence that they continued to associate with Yan even after the rebukes. He therefore discussed with his high level officials Xu Danzhi, Jiang Dan, and Wang Sengchuo (王僧綽) his planned punishment of deposing Crown Prince Shao and ordering Liu Jun to commit suicide. However, he made the mistakes of discussing the plans with Liu Jun's mother, Consort Pan, and Consort Pan quickly informed Liu Jun, who then informed Crown Prince Shao. In spring 453, Crown Prince Shao carried out a coup, sending his own guards to secure the palace while sending his close associate Zhang Chaozhi (張超之) into the palace to assassinate Emperor Wen. When Zhang entered Emperor Wen's bedchambers with a sword, Emperor Wen's guards were asleep, and Emperor Wen tried to hold a small desk to hold off Zhang's attack. Zhang's first swing, however, cut off Emperor Wen's fingers, and he then swung again, killing Emperor Wen. After some confusion, Liu Shao killed Xu and Jiang as well, and then falsely declared that Xu and Jiang had assassinated Emperor Wen; he then took the throne himself, although later that year he was defeated and killed by another brother of his, Liu Jun the Prince of Wuling (different character than the Liu Jun who was Liu Shao's confederate), who took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.

Liu Shao initially gave his father the posthumous name Emperor Jing (景帝) with the temple name Zhongzong (中宗). After Emperor Xiaowu took the throne, he changed the posthumous name to Emperor Wen and the temple name to Taizu (太祖).