The Southern Han Dynasty was an independent kingdom in the Lingnan region at that time, and its territory roughly included the three provinces of present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan, as well as parts of Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan.

Liu Yin's ancestral home was in today's Shangcai, Henan Province (Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and his grandfather, Liu Anren, was a businessman who traveled back and forth between Lingnan and the Central Plains, and his social status was not high.

However, fortunately, Liu Anren was very business-minded, accumulated a lot of wealth in the process of doing business, and his family business gradually prospered, and was later appointed by the imperial court as the assassin of Chaozhou, so he transferred from business to politics, and belonged to a typical successful person.

In the generation of Liu Yin's father Liu Qian, the Liu family was even more prosperous, because Liu Qian was appreciated by Wei Zhou, who was the envoy of the Lingnan Dongdao Festival in Guangzhou at that time, and was recruited by Wei Zhou as his niece and son-in-law.

Wei Zhou was born in a family, and as the prime minister, he served as the envoy of the Lingnan East Province, and his status was very prominent. Liu Qian climbed this high branch, naturally the tide rose, and then moved up again and again, and in the second year of the Tang Dynasty (883), he was officially appointed by the imperial court as the assassin of Fengzhou (now Deqing, Guangdong) and the envoy of Hejiang Town, integrating the power of the military regime and controlling the strategic places west of the Xijiang, Guijiang and Hejiang rivers. From then on, he ruled Fengzhou for 12 years until his death in the first year of Qianning of the Tang Dynasty (894).

Liu Qian is indeed very talented, when he first arrived in Fengzhou, the registered population was only 3,900 households and 11,827 people. However, after Liu Qian's twelve years of hard work, by the time of his death, Liu Yin had left a huge army with 10,000 elite soldiers and hundreds of warships, which was enough to compete for dominance in Lingnan.

After Liu Qian's death, the generals jointly protected his son Liu Yin as the assassin of Fengzhou. Two years later, a good opportunity suddenly appeared.

In the third year of Qianning (896). The Qing Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty caused Liu Chonggui to die of illness, and the imperial court appointed Li Zhirou, the king of Xue, to take over in Guangzhou. However, at this time, in order to be self-reliant, the Qing Navy generals Lu Ju and Tan Xi sent troops to seal the pass and prevent Li Zhirou from entering the country. Of course, this was a very obvious act of rebellion, and the imperial court ordered Liu Yin to send troops from Fengzhou to quell the rebellion.

Liu Yin felt that this was a very good opportunity, so after receiving the edict, he immediately led his army to Guangzhou. Soon the city was broken, and Liu Yin beheaded Lu Ju to welcome Li Zhirou into Guangzhou.

Li Zhirou was a member of the Tang Dynasty clan with a very weak personality, and after entering Guangzhou, he promoted Liu Yin to the marching Sima and entrusted all the military and political power to him. He became a shopkeeper.

Liu Yin took the opportunity to step up the cultivation of his own power, and gradually firmly controlled the entire Lingnan region in his own hands.

At the end of the third year of Guanghua, Li Zhirou died of illness in Guangzhou, and the imperial court sent Prime Minister Xu Yanruo to Guangzhou to serve as the envoy of the Qing Navy. At this time, Liu Yin's position was already very stable, Xu Yanruo was very knowledgeable, and knew that he would definitely not be able to suppress Liu Yin, so he did not wait for his appointment, and he made Liu Yin the deputy envoy of the Qing Navy, which raised Liu Yin's administrative level by half a level.

Xu Yanruo died of illness less than a year after taking office. The imperial court also ordered Cui Yuan, the secretary of the military department, to succeed him. But Cui Yuan knew that Lingnan was already Liu Yin's territory, and it would be in vain to go, so he refused to leave again as soon as he arrived in Jiangling, under the pretext that Lingnan was too far away. Asked to return to the capital. Zhaozong Li Ye had no choice but to agree to his request and appoint Liu Yin as the queen of the Qing Navy.

This time. It was the last moment of the Tang Dynasty's bedtime, and the internal struggle was extremely cruel. No one pays attention to remote areas like Lingnan, so Liu Yin has been the acting envoy of the festival for more than a year. He was also unable to get the official canonization of the imperial court, and he was very anxious, so he had to send someone to send a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry to Zhu Wen, the king of Liang, and begged him to help him win the appointment of the imperial court.

At that time, the power of the court was in the hands of Zhu Wen, this kind of thing was just a trivial matter for him, and then he gave an order to the imperial court to officially canonize Liu Yin as the envoy of the Qing Navy, this year is the second year of Tianyou of the Tang Dynasty (905), and this year is generally regarded as the founding year of the Southern Han Dynasty in history.

During the period when Liu Yin was in charge of Lingnan, it was roughly a few years before and after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the land of China was full of wars and boiling, but Lingnan became a paradise because of a corner of peace, so many celebrities at that time moved their families south to escape the war, and Liu Yin absorbed a large number of talents in it and reused them.

For a time, Lingnan was full of talented people, and the monarchs and ministers made concerted efforts, so that in just a few years, Lingnan's productive forces have developed rapidly, the social situation has been fundamentally changed, and the situation in all aspects is very good.

However, this good momentum did not last long, after the third year of Liang Qianhua (911), Liu Yin died of illness, and his younger brother Liu Zhi succeeded to the throne, Liu Zhi at the beginning of the succession, he was able to follow the good policy left by Liu Yin during his lifetime, continue to reuse those famous people who moved south, and called the Later Liang a tribute to seek the recognition of the central government.

However, within a few years, Liu Zhi saw that the Later Liang was weakened under the blow of the Jin army, so he became unwilling to keep to himself, and in the third year of the Later Liang Zhenming Dynasty (917), Liu Zhi simply stopped paying tribute to the Later Liang, and established himself as the emperor in Panyu (now Guangzhou, Guangdong), and the founding name was Dayue (the following year was changed to the name of the country, and the year name was Qianxiang.

After Liu Zhi ascended the throne, he was completely corrupted and degenerated, and he took his favorite concubine around every day.

Liu Zhi himself is even more capable of looting, whether it is a subordinate general or a wealthy businessman in China, as long as he has treasures, Liu Zhi will inevitably grab the palace.

Liu Zhi was also particularly vain, because Lingnan was a remote area at that time, the economy was not developed, and there were many ethnic minorities in the territory.

Liu Zhi was extremely poor and extravagant, and during his reign, he overhauled the palace year after year, and there was a Zhaoyang Hall built in seven years (934). With gold ornament top, silver paving the ground, the hall opens a canal, the bottom of the canal is full of pearls, and the crystal amber is carved into the shape of the sun and the moon, inlaid on the top of the east and west two jade pillars.

Under his rule, the people in the country were full of resentment, and in order to prevent people from making trouble, Liu Zhi set up torture such as nose irrigation, tongue cutting, dismemberment, picking, cannon burning, and steaming, and sometimes even brought prisoners to the palace to be tortured for him to watch and enjoy. The people of Lingnan are afraid and hate him, calling him a "real mirage".

Especially after ten years (937), Liu Zhi did not recover due to a long illness. The character becomes more brutal, and sometimes the person is steamed in hot water first. Then take it out and apply it to the sun and apply salt wine. In the end, the prisoner festered and died, which was unbearable.

In the fourteenth year of Dayou (941), Liu Zhi suddenly fell ill, and in order to seek more blessings, he wanted to change his name. After Liu Zhi ascended the throne, he changed his name to Liu Yan, and later changed his name to Liu Gong, and then racked his brains to create a "69" character that goes up to the dragon and goes down to the sky, taking the meaning of "flying dragon in the sky" in "Zhou Yi". It is pronounced as "俨".

It's a pity that changing the name alone can't bless this evil emperor, and the next year, Liu Zhi died with a whimper, and sure enough, the flying dragon was in the sky.

Liu Zhi was the emperor in the Southern Han Dynasty for twenty-five years, and all the bad things were done. After his death, his two sons Liu Ying and Liu Sheng succeeded to the throne respectively, and they were not much better than him, and the country was even weaker.

Fortunately, the emperors of the Southern Han Dynasty paid great attention to good relations with their neighbors and rarely had wars with neighboring countries. So it's still going to be able to sustain itself. By the time of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty had been replaced by Liu Zhi's grandson, Liu Gang.

In August of the fifth year of Zhou Xiande (958), Liu Sheng, the lord of the Southern Han Dynasty, died due to an overdose of pills, and his eldest son Liu Jixing succeeded to the throne. and changed his name to Liu Gang, becoming the last emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty.

Liu Gang's father, Liu Sheng, was very brutal. He killed his brother through a coup d'état to establish himself, so in order to prevent his brothers from rebelling. and slew all his brothers.

More than 1,000 palaces were built, and the exterior was decorated with jewels. Inside, there are torture instruments such as iron beds and soup woks, which are often tortured, known as "hell".

Liu Sheng loves to drink, and every time he feasts, he has to stay up all night and never get drunk. When he was drunk, he often killed people for fun, or put wild beasts into the palace and shot them himself, so that the vassals who accompanied him were always frightened by him.

Liu Sheng's later years, just in time for the rise of the Later Zhou in the Central Plains, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong was a great talent, led the ministers to work hard, the Quartet killed, the national strength is thriving, the momentum of dominating the world is very obvious, the southern countries are in danger for everyone, but Liu Sheng disagreed, against the subordinates said: "Although the Great Zhou is strong, but I can avoid the disaster of the country, as for the descendants, it is not something I care about." ”

So he was even more addicted to wine, just seeking a quick death, and in the end he was really unfortunate to be said by Liu Sheng, and he died without waiting for the opening of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Liu Gang was only 16 years old when he succeeded to the throne, but he was only a half-grown child, and this person was stupid by nature and the external situation was not optimistic, so it is difficult to believe that he would achieve anything outstanding in governing the country.

However, it is really difficult to say what is happening in the world, Liu Gang faced so many unfavorable situations, did not wait or rely on, actively innovated, had the courage to explore, and finally he really explored a new way of governing the country, and it is a unique way of governing the country in Chinese history.

After Liu Gang became the emperor, he used his unique brain to analyze it, thinking that men are unreliable, because people of this gender have families and jobs, wives and children, and they must not focus on national affairs, and men's male hormone secretion is vigorous, and they are all careerists.

Therefore, after Liu Gang came to power, he handed over the power of the state to the eunuch Gong Chengshu, and ordered the maids in the palace to wear court clothes and deal with national affairs.

However, relying on the original people in the palace alone obviously could not meet the increasingly heavy needs of government affairs, and it was urgent to expand the ranks of eunuchs and palace people, so it didn't take long for Liu Gang to send out his will: "From now on, all those who want to be among the courtiers must be castrated by themselves, and those who want to become officials must be castrated by the imperial court." ”

As soon as this decree was announced, the whole country was in an uproar, and the ministers wrote against it, saying: "In this way, I am afraid that no one will dare to be an official." ”

But Liu Gang was unmoved, dared to uphold the truth, and resolutely implemented this will. Since then, anyone who has to be awarded an official position by the imperial court because of the entrance examination for the Jinshi must be stripped of his pants and cut off the key points before he can take office. Therefore, many well-educated people did not dare to take the examination, which directly led to a sharp decline in the quality of the national civil service. However, Liu Gang not only did not repent, but intensified, and finally developed to the point that even the monks and Taoists summoned had to be castrated before being allowed to enter the palace.

The eunuchs of the Southern Han Dynasty reached more than 20,000 people at the most, many of whom were castrated by themselves in order to seek wealth and nobility, and almost all the hundred officials in the court were held by eunuchs, and the Southern Han Dynasty also became a veritable "eunuch kingdom".

In terms of governing the country, in addition to relying on eunuchs and palace people, Liu Gang also relied on feudal superstition. In the second year of his succession, the eunuchs recommended to him a witch named "Fan Beard", this "Fan Beard" itself has no magic, but is very good at pretending to be a ghost, claiming to be possessed by the Jade Emperor, and saying that Liu Gang is the crown prince of the Jade Emperor, and calling him the "crown prince", but he really frightened Liu Gang and obeyed what she said, and did not dare to disobey her in the slightest.

Since Liu Gang knew that he was the son of the Jade Emperor, he had enough confidence, so he no longer paid attention to the government, called himself "Xiao Xian Doctor", became a shopkeeper, and often walked around with a few personal attendants, in and out of tea houses, wine shops, and brothels.

Cramping and skinning, or feeding lions and tigers, so that the common people mistook them for the emperor when they met strangers, and they were so frightened that they didn't even dare to say more.

Liu Gang's style is still very low, he has a favorite Persian girl, who is dark and fat, but she is obscene by nature, and has developed a strong bed skill, Liu Gang was completely conquered by her and gave her the name "Mei Pig".

Liu Gang often worked with the "Charming Pig" to find many rogue young people and let them strip naked with the young palace maids and have fun in public for sexual pleasure. If a man wins a woman, both sides will have a heavy reward, and if a woman beats a man, he will be scolded for being a waste, castrated at the lightest, and burned by steaming and cooking at the worst, which is extremely cruel.

As soon as he became emperor, the eunuch Chen Yanshou said to him: "The reason why the first emperor was able to pass the throne to His Majesty was because he killed all his brothers, so if Your Majesty wants to keep the throne, you must follow the righteous deeds of the first emperor." ”

After hearing this, Liu Gang believed it and immediately killed his younger brother Liu Xuan, the king of Gui. Whether Liu Xuan has the intention of seizing the throne is impossible to know now, the only thing that can be known is that Liu Xuan refuses to let go of his own brother, and it is conceivable what he does to others.

During Liu Gang's reign as emperor, he formulated various tortures such as burning, boiling, peeling, culling, sword trees, and knife mountains. The slightest mistake of the subjects was punished by poisoning, so that everyone was frightened, and even acquaintances met on the road, and they could only look at each other and not dare to say a word.

In addition, he also raised lions, tigers, leopards, rhinos, elephants and other fierce beasts in the harem, he often drove the living people to these beasts, and he led the harem concubines upstairs to watch, whenever he heard the screams before people were eaten by the beasts, Liu Gang would clap his hands and laugh, as a pleasure.

Liu Gong was extremely poor and extravagant, and built a large number of palaces for him year after year, and forced soldiers with good water to collect pearls in deep water below 700 feet above the sea, and a large number of soldiers were drowned every year. In the later period of Liu Gang's reign, the domestic rice tax was four or five yuan, and there were many kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and even the common people had to pay a tax when they entered the city.

This situation was clearly seen by Zhao Kuangyin, who was far away in the Central Plains. One day in the third year of Kaibao in the Northern Song Dynasty (970), Zhao Kuangyin suddenly said to the people on the left and right: "It seems that it is up to me to rescue the people on this side." With the exit of Zhao Kuangyin's words, the military operation of the Northern Song Dynasty for the purpose of eliminating the Southern Han Dynasty was officially put on the agenda. (To be continued.) )