Chapter 131: The Bodhisattva Emperor 2
Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan, the most recorded record of Emperor Wu of Liang in history is the relationship between Xiao Yan and Buddhism, and Emperor Wu of Liang came to Tongtai Temple to become a monk for three days. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. biquge。 According to legend, Emperor Wu of Liang believed in Buddhism, and for his own beliefs, he did not approach women and did not eat meat, which was the only one among the emperors of the Chinese dynasties. Emperor Wu of Liang took off his imperial robe many times and put on a monk's robe to become a monk, is this move really because of his belief in Buddhism?
Some people think that Xiao Yan really has a sense of reverence for Buddhism, because combined with Xiao Yan's life, he lived frugally, eating only one meal a day, he was not close to women, he did not go to the harem for nearly 40 years, and a piece of clothing would be worn for a long time. Through these, it is not difficult to see that Xiao Yan is indeed a person who is easy to believe in Buddhism.
However, some people believe that Xiao Yan's belief in Buddhism is entirely for political purposes. Xiao Yan's journey to the throne can be seen that Xiao Yan has hidden his merits and fame, and his quiet layout, and then like pulling a net, he put the prey he values into the net. This is true of the throne, and so is the will of the people.
Buddhism is similar to Confucianism's ideas of benevolence and virtue, and it is easier to capture the hearts of the people; secondly, the monks are compassionate, and the two emperors in front of Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu, one tyrannical and the other mediocre, were finally replaced by people, Xiao Yan not only promoted Buddhism, but also trumpeted compassion, so that it was easier for the people to feel that the country they were in was peaceful. In the end, Xiao Yan himself is diligent and loves the people, and he is also extremely hard-working, so he is easily loved by the people.
The emperor's purpose is not too simple, not to mention that he is still a scheming emperor, but it is undeniable that Emperor Wu of Liang has indeed promoted Buddhism and made contributions to Buddhism.
Xiao Yan's background is illustrious, his father is the younger brother of Emperor Qi Gao, he was named the Marquis of Xiangxian, and later became the governor of Danyang. Xiao Yan is not only from a prominent background, but also with a legendary color, his mother is Zhang Shangrou, according to legend, when Zhang Shangrou was pregnant, she walked in the courtyard and saw the blooming calamus flower, the petals are surrounded by a halo, unlike earthly things, so he asked the waiter around him if he saw it, the waiter replied no, Zhang Shangrou felt that this calamus flower was rich and compelling, so he picked it and swallowed it, and gave birth to a baby that month, this baby is Xiao Yan.
As a descendant of the Lanling Xiao family and the twenty-fifth generation grandson of Xiao He of the Han Dynasty, Xiao Yan's birth carried an unusual mission. His life course is the history of the struggle to ascend to the throne step by step, after Xiao Yan's careful layout for many years, the last emperor of the Southern Dynasty, Qi and Emperor Xiao Baorong, was forced to abdicate and give way to Xiao Yan, and since then the Southern Liang has been established.
Xiao Yan reigned for forty-eight years, making him the longest-serving emperor of the Southern Dynasty. During Xiao Yan's reign, he appointed talents, such as Tao Hongjing and others, and made a lot of political achievements, and he was extraordinarily frugal, making Nanliang prosperous. But in his later years, because of the rebellion of Hou Jing, the capital of Southern Liang fell, and Xiao Yan also died in Taicheng, Xiao Yan lived to be eighty-six years old, and was buried in Xiuling after his death.
In the early days of Emperor Wu of Liang, the Northern Wei Dynasty was full of contradictions after the Sinicization Movement, and its national strength gradually lost to the Southern Dynasty. The Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Liang Dynasty fought in the Huainan region, and finally Chang Yizhi, Cao Jingzong, and Wei Rong defeated the Northern Wei army in the Battle of Zhongli. After defeating the Northern Wei army in the Battle of Shouyang, the Northern Expedition was suspended due to excessive losses, and Shouyang was not captured until ten years later.
Emperor Wu of Liang likes to use generals in the hope of getting something for nothing. When the Six Towns Rebellion occurred in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Liang sent Chen Qingzhi to escort Yuan Hao, the king of the Beihai Sea of the Northern Wei Dynasty, to return to the north to succeed to the throne. At that time, the main force of the Northern Wei Dynasty was still in the area of Guanzhong in Hebei Province to quell the rebellion, Chen Qingzhi and Yuan Hao attacked Luoyang, because the lone army had no help, the main force of the Northern Wei Army returned to Luoyang, and finally failed.
During the Eastern and Western Wei periods, the Eastern Wei general Hou Jing was forced by the Eastern Wei and the Western Wei to defect to the Liang State, and Emperor Wu of Liang appointed him to the Northern Expedition to the Eastern Wei. However, after the defeat of the Liang army, Emperor Wu of Liang intended to return Hou Jing to seek peace, and Hou Jing raised troops to rebel after learning about it, and attacked Jiankang in the south, which is known as Hou Jing's Rebellion in history.
Liang led Xiao Zhengde across the river, so that Hou Jing attacked Jiankang, and Emperor Wu of Liang retreated to Taicheng. After that, although there were the divisions of King Qin in various places, they were all watching, and Hou Jing heard that after the division of King Qin, he once negotiated peace, but finally betrayed the treaty and captured Taicheng. After the fall of Jiankang, he slaughtered the Jiangnan clan, which brought a devastating blow to the politics of the Southern Dynasties, and Emperor Wu of Liang finally starved to death.
Xiao Yan eats vegetarian food and worships Buddha, is tolerant of people, and is determined to be a benevolent monarch, but because of his indiscriminate love, he ruined the country and lost his life. The general Hou Jing led 100,000 rebels to break through Jiankang, the capital of Southern Liang, and put Emperor Wu of Liang under house arrest in Taicheng. Dozens of days later, the emperor, who had reigned for 48 years, was starved to death, and it was his bodhisattva heart that led to this end.
Emperor Xiao Yan of Liang Wu was erudite and literate, proficient in music and calligraphy, and was known as the Eight Friends of Jingling together with Xie Wei and Shen Yue when he was young, and was a celebrity in the cultural circle at that time. After Xiao Yan ascended to the throne, he created good achievements in the early days of his reign. He corrected all kinds of malpractices of the previous dynasty, encouraged academics, lightened the people's burdens, worked diligently and loved the people, and humbly listened to the voices of the people, so that the country's political situation was once stable, the treasury was sufficient, and the culture was prosperous.
Due to the influence of Buddhism, he was strict with himself everywhere and appeared in front of the world as an almost ascetic. He was a complete vegetarian, forbidding meat at major rituals and banquets, and even eating only one coarse rice meal a day; he wore cloth clothes, a black tent made of kapok hung on his bed, and the quilt was changed only once every few years; he did not drink alcohol, did not listen to music, and was not close to women, and could almost be called the most frugal emperor in Chinese history.
Later, however, the emperor went mad in terms of religious beliefs, and as a fanatical Buddhist, Emperor Wu of Liang spent a lot of public money during his reign to build a large number of Buddhist temples. He received the Bodhisattva vows in the monastery and was known as the Bodhisattva Emperor from then on.
What's even more absurd is that in order to show his devotion to the Buddha, Emperor Wu of Liang, as the king of a country, went to Tongtai Temple to do things, and he suddenly declared that he wanted to sacrifice himself here and be willing to be a temple slave. In order to let him return to the palace quickly, the ministers had to raise 10,000 yuan to redeem him according to his will. Four days later, the satisfied Emperor Wu of Liang returned to the court, and the irony is that he regarded national affairs as child's play, and later staged the same farce three times, forcing the ministers to spend 10,000 yuan each time to ransom him.
Emperor Wu of Liang advertised himself as the Bodhisattva Emperor, but he brought a heavy burden to the common people because of his personal preferences. When Master Bodhidharma came to visit, Emperor Wu of Liang asked: "Since I ascended the throne, can it be regarded as merit in building Buddhist temples, sorting out scriptures, and transcending sentient beings?" ”
In the era of Emperor Wu of Liang, many dynasties had tragedies of cannibalism within the royal family, which led to the destruction of the country and the family. In order to change this situation, Emperor Wu of Liang, who bears the halo of the Bodhisattva Emperor on his head, is determined to maintain the unity of the royal family in a very alternative way. So he indulged in the royal family everywhere, even if these people threatened his own life, he was extremely tolerant, to the point of unreasonableness.
Emperor Wu of Liang had a sixth brother named Xiao Hong, who was named the king of Linchuan, corrupt and degenerate, and did all kinds of evil, but because he was pampered by the emperor's brother, he could always escape punishment. Emperor Wu of Liang sent Xiao Hong to lead an army to fight against Wei, but due to Xiao Hong's retreat, the Liang army was defeated, but Emperor Wu of Liang did not blame him in the slightest, but comforted him considerately, and made him an official a year later.
Xiao Hong has a brother-in-law named Wu Fashou, who relies on himself to be the brother-in-law of the king of Linchuan, and runs amok with lawlessness everywhere. Once, Wu Fashou was wanted by the government for robbing people's property and killing people with weapons, and Xiao Hong publicly took refuge. The lawsuit reached Emperor Wu of Liang, and some ministers strongly demanded that Xiao Hong be held responsible, and although Emperor Wu of Liang was forced to remove him from his official position at that time, he was soon reinstated.
Due to the long-term connivance, Xiao Hong had no fear, and even whimsically dreamed of being an emperor. Xiao Hong heard that Emperor Wu of Liang was going to hold a Buddhist ceremony at the Guangzhai Temple on the outskirts of Jiankang City, so he sent people to ambush him on the road to prepare for the assassination. Unexpectedly, he was reported beforehand, and the arrested assassin immediately confessed to Xiao Hong, the mastermind behind the scenes.
Emperor Wu of Liang sent someone to call Xiao Hong, and then with tears in his eyes, he told the murderer who wanted to kill him: "Although I am always afraid of being overthrown, I have never suspected my closest relatives, but I didn't expect you to fight me." It's not that I can't deal with you like other emperors, it's just because you're ignorant that I have special mercy, and it's really inhumane for you to be ungrateful to Dade and think of things wrong. When Xiao Hong knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, Emperor Wu of Liang only removed him from his official position, causing him to think about it behind closed doors.
Soon after, Emperor Wu of Liang heard from his subordinates that Xiao Hong had signs of rebellion again, so he hurriedly took his cronies to investigate. It turned out that Xiao Hong had been exploiting a lot during his time as an official, and secretly stored all the looted treasures in nearly 100 warehouses, so some people suspected that all the weapons were hidden inside.
One day, Emperor Wu of Liang came to Xiao Hong's house to drink under the pretext of drinking. After three rounds of drinking, Emperor Wu of Liang asked to see Xiao Hong's treasury, and without waiting for an answer, he got up and walked towards the warehouse. After opening the treasury, they saw that it was full of money, and Emperor Wu of Liang and others roughly estimated that there were more than 300 million yuan.
Xiao Hong, who was a thief, thought that the crime of corruption and extortion was exposed, and he was very frightened. Seeing this, Emperor Wu of Liang said to him with a smile: "Ah Liu, you are really good at making a living, you really have a lot of belongings." ”
After this raid, Emperor Wu of Liang felt that Xiao Hong only knew how to hoard private wealth and had no political ambitions, so he ordered the restoration of his official title. After the news of this incident came out, many princes and nobles saw that Xiao Hong, who was greedy for money, not only was not punished, but was trusted, and they also imitated his behavior, causing the rule of the Liang Dynasty to quickly deteriorate.
A few years later, Xiao Hong colluded with Princess Yongxing, the biological daughter of Emperor Wu of Liang, to plot to assassinate the emperor. Once, Emperor Wu of Liang decided to fast for three days and invited the princesses to enter the fasting room together, and Princess Yongxing took the opportunity to send two henchmen and scholars to prepare for action together. Unexpectedly, because of their timidity, the two scholars were recognized by the guards on duty, and the two scholars confessed that they were instructed by Xiao Hong and Princess Yongxing.
Faced with such a situation, Emperor Wu of Liang only beheaded the two scholars and drove Princess Yongxing away, but Xiao Hong still did not punish him. Soon Xiao Hong died of fright, and Emperor Wu of Liang posthumously named him a servant, a general, and a pastor of Yangzhou, and mourned him with a grand funeral.
Xiao Hong has a son named Xiao Zhengde, and his virtue is the same as his father's. At the beginning, because Emperor Wu of Liang had no son, he succeeded Xiao Hong's third son Xiao Zhengde as his heir to prepare for the succession to the throne, and later because Emperor Wu of Liang gave birth to a son, he returned Xiao Zhengde to Xiao Hong. Xiao Zhengde, who was not the crown prince, held a grudge because of this, and surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, the enemy of the Liang Dynasty, because he was not reused by others, he returned to the Liang State a year later.
In the face of such unfilial descendants, Emperor Wu of Liang cried and reprimanded again, and then gave him a heavy responsibility as usual. Later, Emperor Wu of Liang appointed Xiao Zhengde as the assassin of Southern Yanzhou, and within a few years, Xiao Zhengde governed the place into a hell on earth full of desolation and cannibalism. After being dismissed from his official position by Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Zhengde tried to imitate his father and seek an opportunity to rebel.
Hou Jing, the general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, came to surrender, and at that time all countries knew that he was a capricious villain, so they did not accept him. When the desperate Hou Jing came to Southern Liang to take refuge, Emperor Wu of Liang, who was greedy for small profits, insisted on accepting him despite the opposition of his ministers and named him a general and the king of Henan. Soon, in order to rescue Xiao Yuanming, another nephew who was captured by the Eastern Wei, Emperor Wu of Liang was ready to make peace with the Eastern Wei.
In the face of the surging rebels, the nonsensical Emperor Wu of Liang actually sent Xiao Zhengde to the front line to command the army. After the two armies confronted each other, Hou Jing sent someone to trick Xiao Zhengde into saying that as long as he was willing to do internal response, after overthrowing Emperor Wu of Liang, he would support him as emperor. So Xiao Zhengde secretly sent dozens of big ships to help Hou Jing's rebels cross the Yangtze River, and personally led the rebels to cross the Qinhuai River, but unfortunately he was killed by Hou Jing before his dream came true.
After Hou Jing invaded Jiankang, he surrounded the city of Taicheng, where Emperor Wu of Liang lived, and those princes and nobles who were pampered by Emperor Wu of Liang on weekdays, although they had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, stood by and watched. It was only at this time that Emperor Wu of Liang woke up like a dream and scolded those disloyal and unfilial descendants, but unfortunately it was too late to regret it.
After being besieged in Taicheng, Emperor Wu of Liang lacked food and clothing, coupled with his advanced age, and was finally starved to death at the age of eighty-six and could not die well.
Hou Jing successively killed Emperor Xiao Gang and Xiao Dong of Liang Jianwen, and finally usurped the throne and founded the Han Dynasty. However, Hou Jing's forces were only in the Jiangdong area, and the Huguang and Sichuan areas were still controlled by the Liang family, but the armies contained each other and were unwilling to crusade. After that, Chen Baxian, the Taishou of Guangzhou, led the army to cooperate with Wang Shengbi sent by Xiao Yi, the king of Xiangdong, to attack and destroy Hou Jing.
Xiao Yi, the king of Xiangdong, succeeded to the throne in Jiangling as Emperor Yuan of Liang, and then proclaimed himself emperor according to Xiao Ji, the king of Wuling, who guarded Yizhou, and attacked Jiangling. Emperor Yuan of Liang asked the Western Wei for help, and the Wuling King Xiao Ji was defeated by the Western Wei, and Yizhou was also taken away. In the following year, Xiao Jing led the Western Wei army to take the opportunity to capture Jiangling, Emperor Yuan of Liang was killed, and the Western Wei made him a puppet, known as the Western Liang in history.
After Emperor Liang Yuan was killed, Chen Ba first argued with Wang Seng and established Jin An Xiao Fangzhi as emperor, that is, Emperor Liang Jing. Then the Northern Qi welcomed Xiao Yuanming to the south, the Liang army was defeated, and Wang Seng defended the matter and was established as the Liang Emperor. Chen Baxian then led the army to kill Wang Shengbi, and set up Emperor Jing of Liang, and then successively defeated the Northern Qi and the south invasion of Wang Shengbi Yu Party, dictatorship in the Liang court, and finally usurped the throne, the founding name is Da Chen, known as Emperor Chen Wu in history, and the Liang Dynasty perished.