Liu Yu, also known as Liu Jinu, was the founding monarch of the Song Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and was the Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty. He was born in a humble background, started from a small soldier, was invincible in his life, and finally achieved the amazing cause of a small soldier to an emperor. At a time when Liu Yu was active, China was in the midst of a rare period of division. After the Battle of Shuishui, Former Qin fell, and northern China was divided, with 11 divided dynasties standing side by side. However, the decadent Eastern Jin Dynasty was unable to advance northward, allowing the Hu people's iron horses to ravage the Han and other peoples.
For the suffering of the Han people, the small imperial court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty could turn a blind eye. However, our Liu Yu will never ignore it.
Murong Chao , Xianbei, was the last emperor of the Southern Yan Dynasty. Southern Yan was originally part of the Later Yan Dynasty established by Murong Chui. After Murong Chui's death, Later Yan was defeated by Northern Wei, and its territory was cut off and divided into two parts: Later Yan and Southern Yan. The territory of Southern Yan was roughly equivalent to most of today's Shandong Province.
Murong Chao was originally a nephew of Murong De, the Emperor of Southern Yan. In his early years, he wandered in Western Yan, and later tried every means to escape to Murong De's account. Since Murong De had no sons, Murong Chao was made crown prince. According to historical records, Murong Chao had an extraordinary appearance, radiant hair, and beautiful shape and behavior. However, this man was only a foolish prince who was greedy for money and good wine.
At that time, Murong Chao's wife and mother were still trapped in Chang'an and took the Later Qin emperor Yao Xing hostage. In order to exchange for his mother, Murong Chao was forced to collect 120 beautiful singers and give them to Yao Xing. After his mother was replaced, Murong Chao was distressed by his own Ge Ji and was indignant every day. In order to compensate for his "losses", Murong Chao actually beat the idea to the southern neighbor, the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In the end, Murong Chao, ignoring the objections of his subjects, brazenly sent troops to attack the border of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, plundering nearly 3,000 maidens. After that, Murong Chao gave all the girls to Taile and let them sing and dance. Just when Murong Chao was immersed in the pleasure of "singing before and dancing after", he did not realize at all that he had provoked someone who should never be provoked, Liu Yu. In 409, Liu Yu led the invincible division, the Beifu Army, to the north, preparing to destroy the small imperial court of Southern Yan in one fell swoop.
When Liu Yu attacked, Murong Chao did not care at first, he thought that he was invincible in the world and did not take the infantry in the south in his eyes. Some courtiers suggested that he should immediately occupy the natural danger of Dayan Mountain, clear the wilderness, eradicate the fields and seedlings, and then send light horses to harass the Jin army's supply line. When the Jin army is tired, it will be destroyed in one fell swoop with a fresh and humble iron horse. However, the arrogant Murong Chao denounced the conspirators as a loser and scolded him for how he could destroy his country's crops.
However, history has proved that the opinion of the courtiers is correct. Liu Yu's movements were extremely swift, and he occupied Dayan Mountain before Murong Chao, and then harvested local crops for military food. After that, Murong Chao sent iron horses to engage Liu Yu. Liu Yu was not in a hurry, he first used chariots to block the impact of the enemy's iron horses, used infantry to consume the enemy's sharpness, and then sent cavalry to directly attack him, defeating the enemy army.
The Southern Yan army was defeated in successive battles, and Liu Yu marched all the way to Guanggu, the capital of Southern Yan. When Murong Chao saw this, he quickly panicked. At the head of the city, Murong Chao saw the Jin army besieging the city on all sides, and he couldn't help but cry. How could he not think that he had just robbed some women, why liu Yufei and himself could not get by?
In 410, the Jin army, supported by siege equipment, launched a general attack on Guanggu, and Murong Chao was forced to retreat to the inner city. Southern Yan Shangshu Yueshou saw that the general trend had gone and was forced to surrender Kaesong. Murong Chao originally wanted to lead dozens of elite horsemen to break through, but was eventually intercepted by Liu Yu's troops and captured.
Soon after, Murong Chao was escorted to Liu Yu, who loudly questioned him why he had violated the border for no reason, why he had plundered the people of the Great Jin Dynasty, and why he had not surrendered. Unexpectedly, Murong Chao was dead duck with a hard mouth, a relaxed look, and did not say a word. Eventually, Murong Chao and 3,000 Murong clan members were escorted to the Jin capital Jiankang, where they were all beheaded. The Murong Xianbei family, which had been rampant in the Central Plains, disappeared except for Tuguhun in the west.
By destroying Southern Yan, Liu Yu once again consolidated his authority, laying a solid foundation for him to replace the Eastern Jin Dynasty and establish the Song Dynasty. In 416 AD, Liu Yu launched the Northern Expedition again, and for a time "The Golden Horse was like a tiger". He cleverly set up a moon array, defeated the Northern Wei cavalry, and marched westward again, destroying the Later Qin established by the Qiang. Later, the Qin imperial family, like the Southern Yan imperial family, was also executed by Liu Yu without mercy.
Under Liu Yu's unremitting efforts, most of the land lost since the Wuhu Chaohua was recovered by him. The Northern Wei Dynasty, on the other hand, only dared to tremble in Hebei and take his life. Unfortunately, however, Liu Yu's starting point was too low, calling the emperor too late, and the complicated power struggle of the Southern Dynasty dragged down the pace of his Northern Expedition. Just as he was preparing to launch the Third Northern Expedition and destroy the Northern Wei Dynasty, he was unpaid and unfortunately died, and the opportunity for China's early reunification was delayed for hundreds of years.
Liu Yu's life is legendary and full of miracles. First of all, it is a miracle that he was promoted from a farmer/soldier to emperor; secondly, it is a miracle that he never lost hundreds of battles in his life; finally, he destroyed six kingdoms in his lifetime, killed 6 emperors, and died tens of thousands of royal families in his hands, which is also a miracle. No wonder Wang Fuzhi commented on him: "Yongjia descends, only those who extend the anger of China, only Liu's ear."
And Liang Qichao also commented on him: "China's brave and martial emperors can fight and can expel foreign nationalities, Liu Jinu counts as one."