History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 915 True Jiao Mirage
When Liu Yan proclaimed himself emperor in the barbarian land, he felt guilty and inferior. He needed to use all kinds of weird powers to prove his legitimacy and fill his empty spiritual world.

In 912, "a white dragon was seen in Guangzhou", and Liu Yan thought it was very auspicious, so he made up his mind to become emperor and establish a country.

In 914, Liu Yan sent people to Goulou Cave (now Goulou Mountain in Yulin, Guangxi) to invite the stone statues of Lingbao Tianzun (one of the "Three Pure Ones") and Ge Zhenren (the founder of the Taoist Danding School) and placed them in the Nanhai Stone Chamber.

Gouluo Cave is one of the "Twenty-two Caves in Heaven" among the "Thirty-six Caves in Heaven" in Taoism. Legend has it that Ge Zhenren (Ge Hong) once practiced alchemy and Taoism here. Ge Zhenren was a famous Taoist theorist, alchemist and medical scientist in Chinese history. He wrote many great medical works, including the earliest record of human treatment of diseases such as smallpox.

Going to Goulou to invite the stone statues of Lingbao Tianzun and Ge Zhenren is like going to Shanxi to invite the statue of Guan Gong, which shows Liu Yan's respect for Taoism.

In April 922, an expert calculated with his fingers and said, Your Majesty, you will encounter a great disaster and you must go to Meikou Town to turn the disaster into good fortune.

Meikou Town was a town on the eastern border of the Southern Han Dynasty, bordering the Min Kingdom. Liu Yan was still dozens of miles away from Meikou Town when he suddenly received a report from a spy saying that the Min general Wang Yanmei (son of Wang Shenzhi and brother of Wang Yanjun) was leading troops to attack. Liu Yan was so frightened that he fled overnight. Afterwards, Liu Yan designed a flat-top hat, which meant peace and safety, so the people of the Southern Han Dynasty imitated it and called it "Anfengding", which became a popular costume in the Southern Han Dynasty.

In April 924, Liu Yan retaliated against the Min Kingdom and personally led a large army to invade the Min Kingdom. As a result, he was defeated by the Min Kingdom on the border. The Southern Han was indeed not suitable for war.

In December 925, a white rainbow appeared in the Sanqing Hall of the Southern Han Dynasty Palace. Liu Yan felt that it was a bad omen and was very depressed. At this time, Wang Hong, a Hanlin scholar, said that the white rainbow represented a white dragon. The appearance of a white dragon in the palace was a good omen! So he wrote "White Dragon Fu" and presented it to the emperor. It is said that this fu was brilliant and beautiful. Liu Yan was immediately pleased with the emperor. He not only rewarded Wang Hong, but also changed the era name to "White Dragon" and changed his name to Liu Gong, which means dancing with the dragon.

Wang Hong also wrote "Ode to Zhaoyang Palace", which was also well-known at that time.

In March of the fourth year of Bailong (928), Southern Chu sent out its navy to attack Fengzhou of Southern Han. Fengzhou was the place where the Liu family rose to power, a place of great significance.

After receiving the news of the invasion of the Chu army, Liu Yan immediately took a scientific and effective solution - fortune-telling. Liu Yan used the "Book of Changes" to divine and got the "Da You" hexagram, so he pardoned the whole country, changed the reign to "Da You", and then sent General Su Zhang to lead a hundred warships to rescue Fengzhou. Su Zhang won a great victory on the Hejiang River, and the Chu army was defeated. This was one of the few victories achieved by the Southern Han in the Chu-Han struggle. Liu Yan promoted Su Zhang to be the training envoy of Fengzhou.

In the 941th year of Dayou (), Liu Yan was ill. A Hu monk told a prophecy that "the one who will destroy the Liu family is Gong". Your Majesty, you changed your name to "Gong". Aren't you asking for bad luck?
When Liu Yan heard this, he thought it made sense, so he creatively created a character "演", which sounds the same as "演", with a dragon above and sky below, meaning a flying dragon in the sky, which fits the meaning of "flying dragon in the sky" in the "Book of Changes".

Coincidentally, the one who eventually sent the Southern Han Dynasty to its grave was a eunuch named Gong Chengshu.

Some people confuse these two name changes, and believe that when a white rainbow appeared in the Sanqing Temple in 925, Liu Yan changed his era name to "Bailong" and his name to "Liu". In fact, he changed his name to Liu Gong at that time. In 941, because a foreign monk said "the one who destroyed the Liu family was Gong", he changed "Gong" to "Gong". [True Jiao Shen Ye]

In the later period, Liu Yan completely let himself go. He was no longer as close to scholars as before. He turned a deaf ear to the advice of his ministers and began to show boredom and rejection of the ministers who gave him advice.

The balance of power in the Southern Han Dynasty became tilted as a result. Out of disgust and distrust for civil officials, Liu Yan "only appointed eunuchs, and as a result, eunuchs flourished in the country." Liu Yan's successors went further and further down this path, and finally turned the Southern Han Dynasty into a complete "eunuch country", unprecedented and unparalleled, which will be discussed later.

At the same time, Liu Yan's temperament also became cruel. Obviously, it was related to his long-term use of elixirs, a typical case of chronic mercury poisoning, an epidemic among feudal emperors.

His way of venting his anger was torture. Ordinary punishments could no longer satisfy Liu Yan's appetite. He carefully summed up the wisdom of his predecessors and carried it forward. He restored the inhumane "soup wok and iron bed" and other torture instruments in ancient books, and also created many new and cruel tortures.

According to records, Liu Yan liked to perform torture in the courtyard the most, and he would watch while eating. Whenever blood and flesh flew everywhere and screams were heard, Liu Yan's saliva would even flow onto his collar, and his appetite would be greatly stimulated.

The guards standing by were all terrified by the cruel and bloody scene, and were even more frightened by Liu Yan's intoxicated look. People privately discussed with each other that Liu Yan was "a real sea bream."

Ouyang Xiu summarized the Southern Han Dynasty in the New History of the Five Dynasties as "treating people like sacrificial animals, and slaughtering people at will." This means that the Southern Han Dynasty treated people like sacrificial animals and slaughtered them at will.

Wu Renchen of the Qing Dynasty wrote in "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn": "I collected "Anecdotes of the Southern Han Dynasty". When it comes to the first ruler (referring to Liu Yan), he always took pleasure in killing people and created the punishments of water prison, boiling cauldron, sawing and roasting. I can't help but sigh and say... Guangnan, a small place, does not practice kindness, but abuses innocent people. Is it because God is not tired of chaos and specially uses his hands to poison the people of this place? Otherwise, the country has been passed down for three generations. When the divination is sixty years old, I can't explain it for Liu family!"

Mr. Wu put his own subjective emotions into the story, saying that with what the Liu family did, how could they have been passed down for three generations and enjoyed the country for sixty years? God must have sent them to punish the people of Lingnan, otherwise I really can't understand it!
Xue Juzheng also said in "Old History of the Five Dynasties" that "the people of one area are like charcoal on a stove."

The "Five Kingdoms Stories" commented: "Demons, mirages, poisonous dragons and the like are not worthy of being treated as human beings."

Thanks to my old friend “江湖刘白” for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)