Rise of Liu Yu Liu Yu was born in poverty. He joined the army at a young age, quickly distinguished himself in the army. In 399, he joined a campaign against a
Five Pecks of Rice rebellion led by Sun Tai () and
Sun En (). In 404, Liu Yu was instrumental in fighting an usurpation by the general
Huan Xuan. After Huan Xuan's fall, Liu Yu was quickly promoted to the command of an army, the Beifu corps. He then led the Jin army during the conquests of
Southern Yan and
Later Qin.
Campaigns of Liu Yu Regarded as one of the best generals of the Northern and Southern dynasties, Liu Yu started off by reclaiming much of the territory the Chinese had lost during the Sixteen Kingdoms era. He started off his career by campaigning against Southern Yan, which bordered Jin to the north and had adopted a policy of aggression and kidnapping citizens from the Jin. By spring of 410, he had captured the southern Yan capital at Guanggu, ending Southern Yan. Following the death of the Later Qin Emperor Yao Xin, Liu Yu attacked the state of Later Qin, which controlled the valuable lands of Guanzhong, lands which had once housed the capital of the Qin, Han and Jin dynasties before the barbarian uprisings. After defeating the Later Qin army in several battles, as well as an army of Northern Wei troops which had crossed to assist the Later Qin, Liu Yu recaptured the vital cities of Chang'an and Luoyang, the former capitals of the Jin Empire. It is recorded that he engaged the Wei army by the use of spears launched by crossbows, panicking the Wei cavalry and allowing him to score a decisive victory. In 419, following his return to Jiankang, Liu Yu had
Emperor An of Jin strangled and replaced by his brother Sima Dewen, posthumously known as
Emperor Gong. Finally, in 420, Sima Dewen abdicated in favour of Liu Yu, who declared himself the ruler of the new Song dynasty. The name of the dynasty was taken from Liu's fief, which occupied roughly the same territory as the Spring & Autumn era
State of Song. The Book of Song does not mention whether the Liu family had any blood relationship to the ancient state's ruling
House of Zi, or by extension to the
Shang dynasty. It is in any case noteworthy that Liu did not frame his new regime as a restoration of the
Han dynasty, despite being demonstrably related to the Han imperial family. Liu died in 422 CE, and was succeeded by the incompetent Shaodi, who was quickly removed. His eventual successor would be his third son, Wendi.
War with Northern Wei Emperor Wen continued the campaigns of his father; nevertheless, he was unsuccessful. In 422 CE, the first year of his reign, he lost three commanderies to Wei. Under the able general Dao Yanzhi, however, Liu Song recovered the four cities of Luoyang, Hulao, Huatai and Qiao'ao south of the Yellow River. However, the emperor's unwillingness to advance past this line caused the destruction of the empire's ally, Xia, by the Wei. The emperor was to repeat this mistake as several barbarian states who had offered to ally with Liu Song against Wei were declined, eventually leading to Wei's unification of the North in 439 CE, to the detriment of the Chinese. Emperor Wen made another attempt to destroy Northern Wei in 452, but failed again. On returning to the capital, he was assassinated by the heir apparent,
Liu Shao.
Reign of Emperor Xiaowu and Qianfei Liu Shao's assassination of his father in 453 CE raised indignation across the empire, as it disobeyed one of Confucianism's fundamental principles, that of filial piety. Quickly, his brother Liu Jun rose against him, defeated him, and beheaded him. Once Liu Shao was killed. Liu Jun ascended to the throne and became Emperor Xiaowu. However, he was regarded as immoral and committed incest with his cousins and sisters, and reputed to have even done so with his mother. Nevertheless, his reign was a relatively peaceful one. Following his death in 464 CE, Liu Jun passed his throne to his son,
Liu Ziye, who was generally regarded as a tyrant. He disrespected his father and was suspicious of his uncles, putting several of them to death. He continued the incestuous streak of his father, adopting several of his aunts and cousins as concubines. He was reputed to have ordered all of the princesses to come to his palace and have sexual intercourse with him. When one of his aunts refused, he executed her three sons. He also put to death a lady-in-waiting who bore a resemblance to a woman who cursed him in a dream. Eventually, one of his uncles could not bear it, rose up, and assassinated him. Liu Hui (刘辉) was a descendant of
Liu Song royalty who fled north to the
Xianbei Northern Wei in exile and married the Xianbei Princess Lanling (蘭陵公主), daughter of the Xianbei
Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei. More than half of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to Han Chinese men, and half of those men are members of prominent clans or royal members of the southern courts who defected to the north. ==Literature and culture==