Emperor Xiao Fangzhi of the Liang Dynasty: The last emperor, the seat that must die had to sit
Text/Zhang Xiuyang
Reading the history of the Southern Dynasty, I really feel that it is full of blood and rain, so many people who have been established as emperors, take turns to change like marquees, and many people are killed, but they are only in their teens and twenties.
Emperor Xiao Fangzhi of Liang (543–558), courtesy name Huixiang (慧相), courtesy name Fazhen (法真), was the ninth son of Emperor Xiao of Liangyuan and his mother, Concubine Xia Xian, the last emperor of Liang in the Southern Dynasty (reigned 555–557).
Xiao Fangzhi was born in 543 AD, and his grandfather Emperor Gaozuwu Xiao Yan was still on the throne. By 549, Hou Jing rebelled, and Xiao Yan starved to death in Taicheng. When Xiao Fangzhi's third uncle Xiao Gang was the emperor, Xiao Fangzhi was only 7 years old.
In the third year of the Taiqing Dynasty (549), Xiao Fangzhi was made the Marquis of Xingliang.
In the first year of Chengsheng (552), at this time, Xiao Gang had been deposed by Hou Jing and then killed, and Xiao Fangzhi's father Xiao Yi was already emperor. He renamed Xiao Fangzhi the King of Jin'an, with 2,000 households.
In 552 AD, Xiao Xuan took the throne as empress dowager at Jiangling (江陵, in present-day Jingzhou, Hubei), with the era name Chengsheng (承聖) and a vassal to Western Wei. In the same year, Xiao Ji (Xiao Yan's eighth son) was proclaimed emperor, and Xiao Yi and Western Wei jointly destroyed Xiao Ji. After the end of the war, Yizhou was already under The Western Wei, xiangyang was also under the control of the Western Wei, and the situation in Jiangling was very isolated.
In the third year of the shengsheng, Xiao Xuan asked Western Wei to return Yizhou, but his words were not inferior. In September, Western Wei Yuwen Tai sent Yu Jin and Yuwen Hu to lead an army of 50,000 to attack Jiangling. In November, the city of Jiangling fell, and Xiao Fangzhi's father, Emperor Xiao of Liangyuan, and his fourth brother Xiao Fangji, the crown prince of Huaihuai, were killed. Tai Wei (太尉), the Yangzhou Assassin Shi Wang Monk, Sikong and southern Xuzhou Assassin Shi Chen Baxian supported Xiao Fangzhi as the King of Liang and Dazai, undertook to act, and welcomed Xiao Fangzhi back to Jingshi Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). Xiao Fangzhi had to sit on the throne of the emperor that he was not prepared to sit on.
On the second day of the first month of February in the fourth year of Chengsheng (555), Xiao Fangzhi entered the imperial hall from Xunyang. Wang Shengwei was appointed as the Zhongshu Supervisor, The Lu Shangshu, the Hun Cavalry General, and the Governor of chinese and foreign militaries, and added Thirty People of Chen Baxian's First Class Sword.
In March of the fourth year of Chengsheng (555), Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, Gao Yang, sent Gao Zhuo, the Prince of Shangdang, to send Xiao Yuanming the Marquis of Zhenyang (nephew of Emperor Wu of Liang and uncle of Xiao Fangzhitang) to become Emperor of Southern Liang and become a puppet supported by Northern Qi. When they arrived at Dongguan, Southern Liang sent Wu Xingtai to defend Pei Zhiheng to fight him, and Pei Zhiheng was defeated and died.
On July 23, Wang Shengjie took in Xiao Yuanming and crossed the river from the quarry. On July 26, arriving at Jingshi, Wang was forced to establish Xiao Yuanming as emperor, with Xiao Fangzhi as crown prince and Tiancheng as his era name. Two months later, on September 27, Chen Baxian raised an army to revolt, attacked and killed Wang Shengjie, deposed Xiao Yuanming, and established Xiao Fangzhi as emperor. At this time, Xiao Fangzhi was just 12 years old.
On September 29, 555, Xiao Fangzhi officially ascended the throne and changed his era name to Shaotai (邵泰) as Emperor Jing of Liang.
At this time, for Xiao Fangzhi, who was still a child, it was not a good thing to ascend to the emperor's throne that was ordered by thousands of people. Xiao Fangzhi could only do what the powerful ministers did, and he had no way to do anything about it. "Conquest is self-explanatory, and political punishment is not due to oneself", Chen Baxian is more like the emperor than the emperor, and what he says is what he says.
At this time, the Liang Dynasty was already in a state of turmoil, with Northern Qi tigers on the outside and powerful subjects on the inside. Xiao Fangzhi was young and powerless.
Chen Baxian led a large army and fought two major battles, quelling the rebels internally and repelling the invading Northern Qi army externally. The overall situation was temporarily stable, and Chen Baxian was first named the Duke of the Great Wall.
Chen Baxian placed his close associate Liu Shizhi at Xiao Fangzhi's side and appointed him as a Zhongshu Sheren. Liu Shizhi's original name was Shi Zhi, but because he avoided the emperor's secrets, he changed his name to Shi Zhi. This man had read a lot of books, was good at dancing and ink, and was familiar with the rules of court etiquette. If Chen Baxian wanted to promote himself to the rank of Duke of Jin, he instructed Liu Shizhi to draft an edict, and Xiao Fangzhi had no choice but to issue an edict.
In this way, Chen Ba first became the Xiangguo, was crowned the Duke of Chen, received the gift of jiuxi, and then became a king. Seeing that the time was ripe, he began to seize the supreme power.
In October 557, Xiao Fangzhi, who had been a minor emperor for two years, was forced by the pressure of Chen Baxian to give up the throne to Chen Baxian, and the Liang Dynasty, which lasted for 56 years, was replaced by the Chen Dynasty.
After Xiao Fangzhi was deposed, Chen Baxian placed him in Jiangyin, made him the King of Jiangyin, and established the State of Jiangyin with Jiangyin Commandery as the last fief of the Liang Dynasty. However, he was worried that Xiao Fangzhi would take the throne back in the future, and in order to eliminate the troubles, he instructed Liu Shizhi to poison Xiao Fangzhi.
That day, Liu Shizhi led someone into Xiao Fangzhi's bedroom and tricked him into going out. Xiao Fangzhi saw that his look was abnormal and alert, so he walked around the bed and angrily rebuked, "Master, you actually betrayed me!" I don't want to be a child, so why bother me? Liu Shizhi grabbed Xiao Fangzhi's clothes, and the murderer behind him raised his knife and killed Xiao Fangzhi on the spot. In this year, Xiao Fangzhi was only 16 years old, and after his death, he posthumously honored the emperor.
Book of Liang, Vol. 6, Benji No. 6: "King Jian of Chen, who was made the King of Jiangyin, was in his outer residence, and was sixteen years old, posthumously honoring the emperor." ”
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