Shen Youzhi - Service Under Emperor Ming

Service Under Emperor Ming

Emperor Ming did not trust the guard officers that Emperor Qianfei had endeared, and he offered to give them commandery governor posts to get them to leave the palace. However, they were largely fearful that Emperor Ming had other intentions, and they entered into a plot against Emperor Ming. Shen Youzhi, however, informed Emperor Ming of the plot, and Emperor Ming then had those officers executed, except for Shen, whom he began to trust and made him a guard commander again.

Meanwhile, Deng Wan (鄧琬), the chief of staff for Emperor Qianfei's brother Liu Zixun the Prince of Jin'an and governor of Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi and Fujian), refused to accept Emperor Ming's offer to promote Liu Zixun, and instead started an uprising in Liu Zixun's name, declaring Liu Zixun emperor in spring 466. Soon, nearly the entire empire pledged loyalty to Liu Zixun, and Emperor Ming was left with control of only the several commanderies around Jiankang. However, Liu Zixun's forces proceeded slowly toward Jiankang, and Emperor Ming used the opportunity to gather his troops in preparation of a war. Shen Youzhi was one of the generals. After his commanding general Yin Xiaozu (殷孝祖) was killed in battle, initially his officers wanted Shen Youzhi to take over command of the army, but judging that another general, Jiang Faxing (江法興), would be unwilling to submit to him, Shen humbled himself and offered the command to Jiang, preserving unity of the forces. Shen Youzhi subsequently was particularly successful against Liu Zixun's general Liu Hu (劉胡), and his successes, combined with the successes of Zhang Xingshi (張興世), caused Liu Zixun's forces to collapse. In fall 466, Shen Youzhi arrived at Liu Zixun's headquarters at Xunyang (尋陽, in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi), and he executed Liu Zixun and delivered the head to Jiankang. For his successes, Emperor Ming created him the Duke of Zhenyang.

Emperor Ming, however, made the crucial mistake of appearing not to accepting the pledge of allegiance of Xue Andu (薛安都), the governor of Xu Province (徐州, modern northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui), instead sending Shen and Zhang Yong (張永) north with troops, which frightened Xue and led him to surrender to Northern Wei. When Shen and Zhang subsequently arrived at Xue's headquarters at Pengcheng (彭城, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), they were unsuccessful in sieging the city, and were forced to withdraw in early 467. They were pursued and then defeated by Xue and the Northern Wei general Yuchi Yuan (尉遲元), suffering extreme losses. In fall 467, against Shen's advice, Emperor Ming ordered Shen to again attack Pengcheng, and he was again defeated by Yuchi's forces. He suffered major injuries in the battle, but was able to escape.

In 469, Emperor Ming made Shen the governor of Ying Province (郢州, modern eastern Hubei), and there, he began to build up a personal army which he hoped would be loyal to him.

In 472, Emperor Ming died and was succeeded by his son Emperor Houfei.