History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 917 Liu Hongxi Kills His Brother

【Liu Hongxi kills his brother】

"The water in the emperor's circle is too deep, you can't grasp it at all." This is what Liu Hongxi most wanted to say to his brother Liu Hongdu.

Liu Hongxi was the fourth son of Liu Yan and the younger brother of Liu Hongdu. After Liu Hongdu ascended the throne, he made him the regent while Liu Hongdu himself was busy with his private visits.

Liu Hongxi was a scheming man. Knowing that his brother was greedy for beauty, he deliberately presented him with beautiful singing girls. In this way, Liu Hongdu became even more indifferent to state affairs, and the military and political power was gradually controlled by Liu Hongxi.

Liu Hongdu also has a hobby - hand-to-hand combat, which is similar to wrestling, wrestling, boxing and other fighting sports.

Liu Hongxi asked the imperial army general Chen Daoxiang to look for warriors. He carefully selected five martial arts masters, Liu Sichao, Tan Lingyin, Lin Shaojiang, Lin Shaoliang, and He Changyan, and practiced hand-to-hand combat skills in the mansion all day. After a few days, Liu Hongxi presented these five people to Liu Hongdu for his entertainment.

Liu Hongdu was very happy, and held a grand banquet that night, inviting all the royal brothers and princes to participate. The brothers drank and enjoyed the wonderful performance of the five warriors. The banquet ended with Liu Hongdu getting drunk.

Chen Daoxiang and five warriors helped Liu Hongdu back to the palace. As soon as they reached a secluded place, Chen Daoxiang gave Liu Sichao and others a look, and the five warriors immediately killed the drunk Liu Hongdu. Afterwards, they killed the palace maids and eunuchs who were present.

Liu Hongdu was murdered at the age of 24.

At dawn the next day, the news of the emperor's death spread, and no one dared to enter the palace. Everyone was silent, not knowing who would be the next target. At this time, Liu Yan's fifth son Liu Hongchang jumped out and led his brothers to invite his fourth brother Liu Hongxi to succeed him.

Liu Hongxi announced that he would ascend the throne as emperor, changed his name to Liu Sheng, and changed the reign title to "Yingqian". He appointed Liu Hongchang as the Grand Marshal and Minister of the Central Secretariat, and Liu Honggao as the Deputy Marshal of the Army. Chen Daoxiang, Liu Sichao and others were all regarded as meritorious officials and were rewarded handsomely.

Some people say that Liu Hongxi killed Liu Hongdu because Liu Hongdu was licentious and suspicious of his brothers, which was obviously an attempt to whitewash Liu Hongxi.

Let's talk about debauchery and immorality first. In this regard, Liu Hongxi put a lot of effort into leading Liu Hongdu astray.

As for suspicion of his brothers, historical records show that Liu Hongdu was indeed worried that his brothers would seize power, so he ordered the eunuchs that all his brothers who wanted to enter the palace for business must take off all their clothes and undergo a body search to prevent them from carrying weapons. That was all. Liu Hongxi was the one who raised the butcher knife against his brothers.

【Destroy the Brother Demon】

Liu Hongxi killed his brother to seize power, and was criticized since he came to power. Everyone knew that Liu Hongxi was the mastermind behind Chen Daoxiang and others.

At that time, Zhang Yuxian's rebellion was raging, and the top priority of the Southern Han was to quell the civil unrest. Liu Honggao, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Southern Han's rebellion suppression, also heard some rumors, so out of kindness, he advised Liu Hongxi to kill Chen Daoxiang, Liu Sichao and others as soon as possible, just like Sima Zhao killed Cheng Ji and Zhu Wen killed Zhu Yougong's Shucong. Only by putting the blame on them for regicide could public opinion be saved, otherwise Liu Hongxi would bear the infamy of killing his brother to seize power for thousands of years.

Liu Honggao was completely thinking about Liu Hongxi, but Liu Hongxi attacked him first.

In Liu Hongxi's view, Chen Daoxiang, Liu Sichao and others are his direct descendants and loyal lackeys who defend his throne, while Liu Honggao is the one who threatens the throne, because Liu Honggao tries every means to clip his wings, and keeps asking to lead the rebellion and asks the court to send him more troops... Does he want to destroy Zhang Yuxian, or does he want to destroy me?

Liu Sichao and others took the opportunity to fan the flames, slandering Liu Honggao for harboring enemies and having ulterior motives.

In May 943, on a dark and windy night, a messenger suddenly came to Liu Honggao's house and said that the emperor had an urgent matter to summon him to the palace. Liu Honggao sighed, asked to bathe and change clothes, and asked the messenger to wait for a while. After bathing and changing clothes, Liu Honggao went to the Buddhist temple, burned incense and prayed, only asking to be reborn in the next life in the family of ordinary people, and then parted with his family in tears. After entering the palace, Liu Honggao was indeed killed.

At this time, only two months had passed since Liu Hongxi usurped the throne.

Among all his brothers, Liu Hongxi was most afraid of his fifth brother Liu Hongchang. When Liu Yan was alive, he almost designated Liu Hongchang as his successor. Liu Hongchang was low-key and introverted, "filial and knowledgeable", and Liu Yan "loved him very much". When Liu Hongdu was in office, he was arrogant and immoral, and no one dared to advise him, but Liu Hongchang was the only one who dared to advise him. Although his advice was fruitless, Liu Hongchang won unanimous praise from all the officials.

In March 944, Liu Hongxi sent Liu Hongchang to worship his ancestors, and then arranged for an assassin to assassinate him on the way. The official report afterwards was that a group of unidentified robbers wanted to kill for money, and Comrade Liu Hongchang was unfortunately killed. The relevant departments are doing their best to catch the murderer. This was just one year after Liu Hongxi ascended the throne.

When Liu Hongxi first ascended the throne, he sent his sixth brother Liu Hongbi to be the governor of Jianwu Army in Yongzhou. With the successive deaths of Liu Honggao and Liu Hongchang, Liu Hongbi became uneasy because he was in charge of an important town (Jianwu Army governed present-day Guangxi and northern Vietnam, accounting for half of the territory of Southern Han), and it was inevitable that he would be suspected, so he took the initiative to request to enter the court to prove his innocence.

In June 944, after obtaining Liu Hongxi's consent, Liu Hongbi "bound himself to the court" and was then placed under house arrest.

Later, the eighth brother Liu Hongze took charge of Yongzhou. Liu Hongze was diligent in his work and cared for the people. After taking office, he was well-known and supported by the people, which aroused Liu Hongxi's suspicion. In October, someone reported to Liu Hongxi that a phoenix appeared in Yongzhou. Liu Hongxi was furious and sent someone to give Liu Hongze poisoned wine to kill him. The official report afterwards was that Comrade Liu Hongze worked hard to serve the people, and finally became ill due to overwork, and unfortunately died suddenly due to overwork.

A year later, on August 945, 8, the sky gave a warning and a solar eclipse occurred. Liu Hongxi killed his seventh brother, Liu Hongya. When Liu Hongxi first ascended the throne, he forced Liu Hongya to retire (ordered him to retire). The young man retired at the age of 1, but he still could not escape the clutches of the devil.

In 947, four major events took place in the empire: the Khitan destroyed the Jin Dynasty, occupied Bianzhou, and changed the country's name to Liao; Liu Zhiyuan proclaimed himself emperor in Taiyuan, and then seized Bianzhou and changed the country's name to Han; Liu Hongxi killed eight of his younger brothers in one breath, including Liu Hongbi who had been under house arrest before, and all eight of his brothers were killed on the same day; Yelu Deguang had a fever.

The last two brothers, Liu Hongmiao, the twelfth son of Liu Yan, was killed in April 954, and Liu Hongzheng, the eighteenth son, was killed in June 4. At this point, except for the eldest and second sons who died young, and Liu Hongcao who died in battle at an early age, Liu Hongxi killed all his elder brother Liu Hongdu and the remaining 955 brothers.

Liu Hongxi not only killed all his brothers, but also all his nephews, and as for all his nieces... he took them into his harem. The history books bluntly said, "I was afraid that my brothers would fight with their sons for the throne."

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(End of this chapter)