At the time of the Guangling Incident, Li Yu was in Runzhou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), and immediately rushed back with his troops after hearing the news to bring the situation under control. Xu Wen also rushed back from Jinling and began to deal with the aftermath. At that time, the rest of Xu Wen's sons were still young, so he ordered his adopted son Li Yu to replace Xu Zhixun as the prime minister of national politics. As a result, Li Yu was able to sit at the center of Wu's political power.

There is another thing that has to be mentioned here, that is, after Zhu Jin's death, Xu Wen ordered his body to be exposed for three days, although it was in the middle of summer, but he did not attract mosquitoes and flies.

Later, he ordered someone to sink Zhu Jin's body into the river, but it was salvaged and buried secretly. As a result, a few days later, Xu Wen suddenly fell ill with a sudden illness, and dreamed at night that Zhu Jin was shooting with a bow and arrows. Xu Wen woke up in shock, and hurriedly ordered someone to retrieve Zhu Jin's body and bury it with a ceremony, and then his illness was cured.

After Li Yu sat in Guangling, he was much stronger than Xu Zhixun, and he was very polite to Yang Long, and he never beat him. He often went deep into the people to ask for hunger and suffering, and when he saw hungry and cold embarrassed people, he would send people to send money and rice to help him when he returned.

The requirements for themselves are also very strict, and all extravagant and floating things are not used. So from Yang Longyan to the people in the alley, they were full of praise for Li Yu.

In 919 AD, Xu Wen ordered Yang Yanlong to be called the king of Wu, change the Yuan Wuyi, and place hundreds of officials, temples, sheji, palaces, and civil and military affairs, all using the etiquette of the Son of Heaven. Although Yang Longyan is the king, the real power is in the hands of the Xu family's father and son, Xu Wen's string of names that scared people to death was enshrined at this time, and Li Yu was also crowned as the left servant and the governor of politics, that is, the prime minister.

And then something very interesting happened. is that Li Yu was only 33 years old this year, and he was not very old. And because he is too handsome, he looks younger than his actual age. There was a problem with people at that time. is willing to pretend to be old, unlike today's people, who always love to pretend to be young. Li Yu felt that he looked so young and did not have the demeanor of a minister, so he was very anxious, and then he took out a home remedy out of nowhere, and after taking the medicine, he immediately became gray with his temples, very much like a serious old man. Li Yu was very satisfied. He also rewarded those who offered him remedies.

In the blink of an eye, in the second year of Wuyi (920), the lord of Wu Yang Longyan died of illness, Xu Wen and Yang Xingmi's fourth son Yang Pu was the king of Wu, changed the Yuan Shunyi, and then returned to Jinling to continue to supervise the army, and still ordered Li Yu to sit in Guangling to take charge of state affairs, and the court situation was as stable as before. In the years that followed, this was still the case. Until the seventh year of Shunyi (927), Xu Wen's body was not as good as day by day. It's time to think about a successor.

Several important ministers under him have been sitting in Jinling with him and have a close relationship with Li Yu, so they don't want Li Yu to inherit the throne. They persuaded Xu Wen one after another: "Duke Ming has a son himself, so why should he put the power in the hands of someone with a surname outside the door?" ”

Xu Wen was also very hesitant in his heart, on the one hand, he did have that kind of bloodline barrier in his heart. On the other hand. He also knows that his sons are not as talented as Li Yu. And although Li Yu is his adopted son, he has been a father and son for many years. The relationship is very deep, and it is not much different from his son, so he has never made up his mind.

But in the end, due to the two important ministers of Shangshu's right servant, Tongping Zhangshi Yan Keqiu, and the marching deputy envoy Xu Jie, Xu Wen repeatedly persuaded Xu Wen to pass on the heir to his own son Zhongyi Jiedu envoy (empty title), Tongping Zhangshi Xu Zhixun. Xu Wen was also tempted, so he was ready to take all the feudal towns in China to petition in Beijing to let Yang Pu be the emperor, and then by the way, the working relationship between his two sons (Li Yu and Xu Zhixun) was readjusted.

Li Yu was very frightened when he learned about this, and without waiting for Xu Wen to enter Beijing, he hurriedly and automatically submitted a request to hand over the power and go out of Zhenjiangxi. But if a person has a square face, it is difficult to think of getting ahead, and before Li Yu's seal was written, Xu Wen suddenly fell ill and died in Jinling. This made Li Yu naturally become the number one real power figure in Wu Guonei, he was originally a very talented person, and he easily stabilized the domestic situation, and then added all the titles of Xu Wen to his head. Later, Li Yu left his son Li Jingtong (that is, the central lord Li Jing) to guard Guangling, and he moved to Jinling, which was exactly the same as the situation of Xu Wen back then.

However, Li Yu and Xu Wen are a little different, Xu Wen is really willing to be the fifth generation of Cao Cao. When Yang Longyan died, someone figured out his mind and persuaded him: "Liu Bei once said to Zhuge Liang back then, 'The heir is not talented, you should take it yourself', why didn't Ming Gong follow the story of the previous dynasty?" "This is to encourage Xu Wen to usurp the throne.

After hearing this, Xu Wen immediately said sharply: "If I want to take it, I have already done it at the beginning of the execution, why wait until today?" Not to mention that the first ambassador (referring to Yang Xingmi) still has a son, even if she doesn't, even if she is a daughter, I will make her king, and those who dare to speak presumptuously will be beheaded. ”

In fact, with Xu Wen's strength at this time, if he wanted to oust the Yang family from power and call himself the king and emperor, it would be easy, but he never refused to do it. But after Li Yu took control of the power of Wu State, he obviously still had the idea of continuing to progress.

Soon after Xu Wen's death, Li Yu added the honorific title of Emperor Guangxiao of Ruisheng Civilization to Yang Pu, and he ordered the capital to supervise the internal and external military with a Chinese letter.

In the first year of Tianzuo, he added the official title of Shangfu, Taishi, Great Prime Minister, and Generalissimo of the World's Soldiers and Horses, and entered the King of Qi.

But if he takes out any of these official names, he is already top-notch, and it doesn't make sense to add more, and it's still tongue-twisting.

So in the second year, Li Yu resigned from these officials, opened the generalissimo's mansion, placed his subordinates, and built a set of leadership groups by himself, and then added Jiuxi and prepared special gifts, and took Sheng, Run, Chi, She, Chang, Jiang, Rao, Xin, Hai and other ten prefectures as Qi countries, and opened the posture of usurping the throne with great fanfare, and then waited for Yang Pu to take the initiative to give way in Jinling.

However, over the years, Yang Pu has never been in power, and it is not his turn to call the shots in major and minor matters in the country, so he is very slow to react, and he can't see what Li Yu means at all, anyway, whatever he asks, Yang Pu agrees to anything, and never disobeys at all, but he just doesn't take the initiative to give way. And Li Yu was embarrassed to directly drive Yang Pu out of power, leaving himself with a bad reputation of forcing the monarch to usurp the throne, so the two of them were consumed like this.

In the third year of Tianzuo of Southern Wu (937). Li Yu is 49 years old, and he feels that he is old. was afraid that he would die if he couldn't become the emperor, so he had to send someone to Guangling to hint that Yang Pu would give up the throne to him. Yang Pu immediately agreed after hearing this. Immediately sent someone to Jinling to pass the decree to give up the throne to Li Yu.

After that, the plot was very old-fashioned, Li Yu refused to accept it, and sent the envoy back, Yang Pu insisted on letting and sending people back, Li Yu still refused to accept it, and sent people back again, just back and forth several times, and finally Li Yu couldn't refuse. had to reluctantly accept the throne in desperation.

On October 5, the third year of Tianzuo of Southern Wu, Li Yu officially ascended the throne in Jinling, changed the Yuan to ascend to the Yuan, and the founding name was Tang, which is the Southern Tang Dynasty that we are familiar with. At this time, Li Yu's name was still Xu Zhihe, so in the second year, the courtiers asked him to change his surname back to Li. Li Yu had no objection.

But Li Yu's background was humble, and no one knew where his surname Li came from, so the ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty began to work together and carefully analyzed. After many verifications, he finally found his ancestor and identified him as the tenth grandson of Li Ke, the son of Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. This is still quite glorious, and Li Yu is also very happy.

But there was another problem when it came to naming him. At first, he wanted to call him Leon, but as soon as he said it, he let people say no. Because Tang Wenzong is also called Li Ang. Li Yu wanted to be called Li Huang again, the word "Huang" is not bad, the sun is shining and the sun is shining, and it looks magnificent, but some people say that this is a thief name used by Zhu Wen.

Li Yu had no choice but to give up after hearing this, and named himself Li Tan, because "Tan" is also very good, there is soil and day, it is very auspicious, but some people say: "The word Tan is from Dan, Tang Ruizong is called Li Dan, and it is taboo." I had to give up again, and finally the dictionary was almost rotten, and finally I found the word "昪", which does not conflict with anyone, but there are not many people who know it.

After Li Yu became the emperor, he did a very good job, basically pursued the old policy left by Xu Wen, cultivated and recuperated internally, and tried to avoid wars with neighboring countries externally, and was very strict with himself, not picking and eating, not picking and wearing, and not expanding the palace, and there were not many palace maids retained in the palace, and some old and decrepit people were often cut out, and the style of life was very similar to Tang Mingzong Li Siyuan, which was regarded as a rare emperor in the five dynasties. It's a pity that later, in order to live a long life, he became obsessed with taking pills, and he couldn't find the old way of really having the ability, so he just found a group of liars to keep in the palace and worked overtime every day to make fake drugs for him. Li Yu was also not afraid of coming, and ate it when he was refined, and finally because he ate too much pills, he suffered from gangrene on his back, and died in the palace in the seventh year of the Southern Tang Dynasty (943) at the age of 56.

When Li Yu died, he regretted it very much, called his son Li Jing over to educate him, and said to him: "I took the things of gold and stone for the sake of longevity, but I ended up dying quickly, you must not learn from me." He also said to him: "You should be good at making friends with your neighbors and keep your community, and you must not learn from Emperor Yang of Sui, because you are strong and use your own troops to fight and eventually destroy yourself." If you are willing to listen to me, you are a filial son, and the people will praise you as a wise king. Saying that, he endured the pain, took Li Jing's hand and put it in his mouth, and bit it fiercely, until the blood flowed into his mouth before letting go, this is hoping that Li Jing can remember his teachings, and he died after biting.

Li Jing was in pain, because he was a filial son, and he was very distressed when his father died, and at the same time, his hands were also very painful. Later, Li Jing inherited the throne, and he was the famous lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the history of Chinese literature, that is, the father of Li Yu, the more famous generation of poets and the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Li Jing is definitely an outlier among the emperors of China, but this is by no means because his literary literacy is higher than that of ordinary people.

Li Jing is Li Yu's eldest son, who is modest and docile, and brilliant, with outstanding character, but he doesn't care much about national affairs. In the early years, when Li Yu was in Jinling, he left Li Jing to guard Guangling and put him in the position of successor to power. However, during Li Jing's tenure in Guangling, his work was so-so, he had no achievements, and everything in the DPRK and China had to be handled by Li Yu's old subordinates, and Li Jing was just an ornament. So later, Li Yu had no choice but to transfer him to Jinling and let his second son Li Jingqian take his place.

Li Jingqian is a very capable person, after sitting in Guangling, he handled all the work in an orderly manner, which made Li Yu very satisfied, and the courtiers were unanimously optimistic about him, so after Li Yu became the emperor, he actually intended to set up Li Jingqian as the prince, but because of Li Jing's eldest son, he did not make a decision. Li Jing is very clear about this situation, and he firmly supports it, this is definitely not the kind of fake support that ordinary people imagine, it is completely out of sincerity, that is, he wants his younger brother to inherit the throne.

It's a pity that Li Jingqian died of a violent illness when he was nineteen years old, and he couldn't stand up if he wanted to, Li Yu also had two sons, but he was even younger, and he didn't feel much stronger than Li Jing, so in the end, Li Yu hesitated again and again, or made Li Jing the crown prince.

After Li Yu died, he handed over the country to Li Jing, and bit him hard for this. But when Li Yu took his breath, Li Jing refused to ascend the throne, and had to give up the throne to his third brother Li Jingsui. Of course, it was impossible for the ministers of the court and China to agree, and they dissuaded them one after another, and Li Jingsui refused to accept it.

But when he ascended the throne, he ingeniously swore in front of Li Yuling that he would not establish a prince, but instead made his younger brother Li Jingsui the generalissimo of all the soldiers and horses, and the lieutenant and Zhongshu Ling, so that he could live in the East Palace. and said that after his death, he would pass the throne to his third brother Li Jingsui,

When Li Jingsui died, he passed the throne to his fourth brother Li Jingda, so that the throne would pass between their brothers. This behavior is very ancient, Li Jing is also proud of it, but the ministers have said: "Since the Xia Shang, the throne has been inherited from father to son, and it has become a difficult classic, please Your Majesty follow the ancient system and make the eldest son of the emperor the crown prince." His younger brother Li Jingsui also said that he would never accept it. Who knew that Li Jing was very unhappy after hearing it and refused to express his position.

Li Jing's behavior is very personable, roughly similar to the Shuqi and Boyi brothers of the Guzhu Kingdom at the end of the Shang Dynasty, but after all, the legend of the two brothers is larger, and the credibility is not high, so Li Jing's attitude towards the throne is almost unique in Chinese history.

Li Jing was a humble gentleman, very kind to his brothers, and never discriminated against his former political opponents, and during his reign, there were no major conflicts within the Southern Tang Dynasty. And he himself is benevolent and frugal, courteous and loving the people, so the subjects love him very much, if this person lives in the peaceful years, he is definitely a model emperor who will be admired by all the people, but it is completely different if he lives to five generations.

At the time of Li Yu's death, the territory of the Southern Tang Dynasty was bordered by Wuyue in the east, Huxiang in the west, Wuling in the south, and Changhuai in the north. However, the geographical location of the Southern Tang Dynasty was located in the heart of China, and it was surrounded by enemies on all sides. At the same time, in the social environment at that time, no matter the size of the country or the strength of the country, it was a boat against the current, and if you did not advance, you would retreat, and it was impossible to maintain stability for a long time. Li Jing is also very clear about this matter, so he is also actively planning to use troops abroad, but the effect is very unsatisfactory. (To be continued.) )