After Liu Cong took the throne, he made his brother Liu Ai crown prince, promising to eventually give Liu Ai the throne. He made his wife
Princess Huyan empress, and made her son
Liu Can the Prince of Jin, putting him in charge of much of his troops, along with his cousin
Liu Yao, the Prince of Shi'an. Both Liu Yuan's empress
Empress Shan and Liu Cong's own mother Consort Zhang were honored as
empresses dowager. In 310, Crown Prince Ai's mother, Empress Shan died–said to be from shame after her affair with Liu Cong was discovered by her son Liu Ai. After she died, Liu Cong's favor for his brother quickly waned, although he was said to still be keeping him as crown prince because of his love for her. Empress Huyan, however, began to try to persuade him to make Liu Can crown prince instead, and he began to consider the matter. Liu Cong continued to put up pressure against Jin and its capital Luoyang. His generals Liu Yao, Liu Can, Shi Le, and Wang Mi continued to defeat Jin forces easily, capturing cities and killing Jin officials, but continued to have difficulty holding cities permanently. However, they rendered the Jin heartland stripped and barren. In early 311, Shi Le crushed the remaining major Jin force in central China, previously commanded by Sima Yue, which was trying to head east after his death. Shi had the Jin officials and generals he captured executed and burned Sima Yue's body. Luoyang was left defenseless, and in mid 311, at Liu Cong's orders Wang, Shi, Liu Yao, and
Huyan Yan converged on Luoyang and captured it and the
Emperor Huai of Jin, taking him to the Han capital Pingyang. This capture of the Jin capital is known as the
Disaster of Yongjia. Wang suggested that the capital be moved to Luoyang, but Liu Yao opposed and burned much of Luoyang, and Liu Cong did not seriously consider Wang's suggestion afterwards. In late 311, Shi ambushed Wang at a feast and seized Wang's troops, and afterwards, while continuing to show outward loyalty to Han, became effectively independent. His intent from that point on appeared to be enlarging his own personal dominion. In early 312, Empress Huyan died. Less than a month later, Liu Cong began to take a large number of his high-level officials' daughters and granddaughters as concubines, including a number of them with the family name Liu–daughters and granddaughters of his official Liu Yin – which Crown Prince Ai opposed due to the general prohibition against
endogamy. However, Liu Cong rationalized that these Liu women were ethnically
Han, and he himself was ethnically Xiongnu, and therefore could not have come from the same ancestry. From this point on, Liu Cong was said to have spent all his time with these women and rarely spent time to handle government matters. Also in early 312, Liu Cong made the former Jin emperor the Duke of Kuaiji. Once, after inviting the Duke to a feast, Liu Cong commented on a meeting they had while the former emperor was still the Prince of Yuzhang, leading to a notable colloquy in which the duke skillfully flattered the Han emperor. The next day, Liu Cong gave one of his favorite concubines, one of Liu Yin's granddaughters, to the Duke as a gift, making her the Duchess of Kuaiji. In mid 312, the first real signs of trouble in Liu Cong's reign came, as he executed a prince in charge of river matters and a duke in charge of construction on trivial matters–the prince for failing to supply his court with sufficient fish and crabs, and the duke for failing to complete two palaces on time. When the general Wang Zhang tried to persuade him to control his behavior, he became enraged and wanted Wang killed, but imprisoned Wang after Wang's daughter, a concubine of his, interceded. Later, he regretted his actions and released and promoted Wang, but this incident started a pattern of impulsive, often cruel, actions, that would plague the rest of his reign. Later in mid 312, Liu Cong wanted to make Liu Yin's daughter Liu Ying empress to replace Empress Huyan, but at his mother Empress Dowager Zhang's insistence, he created another concubine, Empress
Zhang Huiguang–a daughter of his cousin Zhang Shi (not to be confused with the contemporaneous Jin official of the same name, whose domain later evolved into
Former Liang)– empress. In late 312, Han forces, under Liu Can and Liu Yao, dealt a serious blow to the Jin general
Liu Kun the governor of
Bing Province (modern northern and central
Shanxi), who had been a constant threat to the Han, capturing Liu Kun's headquarters at Jinyang (in modern
Taiyuan,
Shanxi) and killing Liu Kun's parents. While Liu Kun was able to recapture Jinyang with the assistance of the
Xianbei chief
Tuoba Yilu, he would not pose a serious threat to Han from that point on. In early 313, at the imperial new year celebration, Liu Cong ordered the former Jin emperor, the Duke of Kuaiji him to serve the high-level officials wine, and former Jin officials Yu Min and Wang Juan could not control their emotions at seeing his humiliation, and cried out loud. This made Liu Cong angry, and he falsely accused Yu and Wang, along with a number of former Jin officials, of being ready to betray Pingyang and offer it to Liu Kun. He then executed those former Jin officials and poisoned the former emperor. He took the Duchess of Kuaiji, formerly awarded to the duke, back as a concubine. Later in early 313, Liu Cong's mother Empress Dowager Zhang died. Her grandniece, Empress Zhang, was so depressed and mournful after the empress dowager's death that she died as well. Liu Cong replaced her with Liu Yin's daughter
Liu E, and ordered that a palace be built for her. His minister
Chen Yuanda tried to convince him that it was overly wasteful, and Liu Cong, in anger, ordered Chen's execution. However, the new empress interceded, and Chen was spared and further promoted. For the next year, under Empress Liu's and Chen's advice, Liu Cong was said to have corrected his behavior to some extent. In mid 313, the nephew of the deceased Emperor Huai of Jin, Sima Ye, declared himself emperor (as
Emperor Min of Jin) in
Chang'an, but due to the weakness of his forces did not pose a serious threat to the Han. Still, this move drew Liu Cong's attention, and for the next several years, Chang'an would become a major target for Han forces. In early 314, Empress Liu died, and it was said that from that point on, Liu Cong's palace would be thoroughly in a confused state, and Liu Cong's own personal behavior appeared to degenerate after this, without her counsel. == Late reign ==