Li Yu (; 15 August 937 – 13 August 978), before 961 known as Li Congjia (), also known as Li Houzhu (; literally "Last Ruler Li" or "Last Lord Li"), was the third rulerUnlike his father and grandfather, Li Yu never ruled as an emperor. His official title as a ruler was a king (國主), the same as his father after 958. During Li Yu's reign from 961 until 974, Southern Tang was nominally a vassal state of the Song Dynasty. Even after the rejection of the relationship following the Song invasion in 974, Li Yu never declared himself emperor. of the Southern Tang state during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from 961 until 976, when his state was conquered by the Northern Song dynasty. Taken captive to the Song capital Bianjing, Li Yu was given the title Marquis of Disobedience (), reflecting Emperor Taizu of Song’s resentment over Li’s delayed surrender. In 978 he was executed by poisoning on the orders of Emperor Taizong of Song.
Li Yu is regarded as an ineffective ruler but an accomplished artist, especially renowned for his ci poetry. His early poetry depicts courtly pleasures and romantic love, while his later poetry expresses profound grief over the loss of his kingdom.
Family Parents Father: Li Jing Mother: Empress Guangmu (; d.965) of the Zhong clan () Consort and their respective issue(s) Empress Zhaohui, of the Zhou clan (昭惠國后 ), personal name Ehuang () Li Zhongyu, Duke Qingyuan (清源郡公 ; 958–994), 1st son Li Zhongxuan, Prince Huaixian (岐懷獻王 ; 961–964), 2nd son Empress Zhou the younger, of the Zhou clan (小周后 ), sister of Empress Zhaohui Baoyi, of the Huang clan () Gongren, of the Bao clan () Gongren, of the Zang clan ()
Early life In the same Chinese year Li Congjia was born, his grandfather Xu Zhigao, also known as Xu Gao (Li Bian) founded the state Qi (), renaming it Tang (known as the Southern Tang) 2 years later. When Li Congjia was 6, his father Li Jing became the next Southern Tang emperor. With Li Jing naming his younger brother Li Jingsui his heir apparent, his sixth eldest son Li Congjia seemed unlikely to ever succeed the throne. However, many of Li Congjia's brothers died very young, and after the death of the second eldest brother Li Hongmao () in 951, Li Congjia all of a sudden found himself right behind Li Hongji — the eldest brother — and uncle Li Jingsui in the succession line.
Li Hongji, a withdrawn and troubled young man, resented his crown prince uncle, whom he saw as a political enemy standing in his way. He also disliked his younger brother Li Congjia, even though they shared the same biological mother, Empress Zhong. Fearing the possible results of this family enmity, Li Congjia tried hard to be inconspicuous and focused on the arts, including poetry, painting and music. He loved reading, a passion encouraged by his father, also an acclaimed poet. At the age of 17, Li Congjia married Zhou Ehuang, chancellor Zhou Zong's daughter and a year his senior. Lady Zhou was not only highly educated but also multi-talented in music and the arts and the young couple enjoyed a very intimate relationship.
Accession to the throne In 955, a year after Li Congjia's marriage, Southern Tang was invaded by Later Zhou. The resistance war did not end until spring 958, after Li Jing ceded all prefectures north of the Yangtze River to his powerful northern neighbor. Li Jing also relinquished all imperial trappings, degrading his own title from emperor to king (). The national humiliation was soon followed by familial tragedy: later that year Li Hongji poisoned uncle Li Jingsui to death, which was followed by his own death a few months later, allegedly hastened by many encounters with Li Jingsui's vengeful ghost.
Not long after Li Hongji's death in 959, Li Congjia was given the post of royal secretary () so that he could familiarize himself of governmental affairs. However, despite being the king's eldest surviving son, a few ministers considered him too dissolute and weak for the crown prince position, including Zhong Mo, who pleaded to have Li Congjia's younger brother Li Congshan chosen instead. Li Jing found Zhong's suggestion offensive and demoted him.
Suffering from poor health, Li Jing decided to transfer all responsibilities to his successor. He named Li Congjia the crown prince in spring 961 to take over in the capital Jinling (; modern Nanjing, Jiangsu) while he retired to the southern city of Hongzhou (; modern Nanchang, Jiangxi). A few months later he died, and Li Congjia officially succeeded the throne, not without a last-second effort by Li Congshan to challenge him. By then Zhong Mo had also died, so Li Congshan asked chancellor Xu You to bring Li Jing's last will to him. Xu refused and confided in Li Congjia of Li Congshan's intentions. Li Congjia — changing his name to Li Yu — did not punish his younger brother other than a slight demotion.
As Southern Tang ruler
Appeasing the Song Dynasty A year before Li Yu ascended the throne, Southern Tang's nominal overlord Later Zhou had been replaced by the Song dynasty established by former Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin, who had earlier participated in several campaigns against Southern Tang. Knowing the limit of Southern Tang's military strength and trying hard to be subservient to the northern court, Li Yu immediately sent a high official Feng Yanlu with a letter — whose language was of extreme humility — to inform Song of his succession. Things got to a rocky start: during his accession to the throne Li Yu built a golden rooster, a symbol of imperial power, the news of which infuriated Zhao Kuangyin. In the end, the Southern Tang ambassador in the Song capital of Bianliang (; modern Kaifeng, Henan) had to give the explanation that the golden rooster was actually a "weird bird" to satisfy the Song emperor.
Such an embarrassing relationship would define Li's entire reign, as tribute payments, both regular and irregular, drained the Southern Tang treasury. Essentially Li was ready to fulfill Emperor Taizu of Song's every demand except go to Bianliang himself. In 963, Li Congshan who accompanied a tributary mission was held hostage in Bianliang and had to write letters on behalf of the Song emperor asking his elder brother also join him at the Song court. Li Yu, naturally, did not heed the request.
Successive deaths in the family Li Yu remained close to his wife Zhou Ehuang — Queen Zhou — so close that he sometimes canceled government meetings to enjoy her performances. The absences continued until a censor () spoke out against it.
In around 964, the second of the couple's two sons, a three-year-old still called by his milk name Ruibao (),The child was posthumously called Li Zhongxuan (). died unexpectedly. Li would mourn his son by himself so as not to sadden his wife more than necessary, but Queen Zhou was completely devastated and quickly deteriorated in health. During her illness, Li attended her and did not disrobe for days. When the queen finally succumbed to illness, Li mourned so bitterly until "his bones stuck out and he could stand up only with the aid of a staff." In addition to several grieving poems, he chiseled the roughly 2000 characters of his "Dirge for the Zhaohui Queen Zhou" () — "Zhaohui" being her posthumous name — to her headstone himself. Part of the dirge read (as translated by Daniel Bryant):
孰謂逝者Who is it says, of those departed,荏苒彌疏they grow more remote as times goes by?我思姝子I long for her, that beautiful lady,永念猶初eternally remembering, just as at first.愛而不見"I love her but I cannot see her";我心毀如my heart seems to blaze and burn.寒暑斯疚With chills and fever I am afflicted,吾寧禦諸can I ever overcome this?
There is speculation but no evidence that Li Yu engaged in a secret sexual relationship with the queen's younger sister, who was only around 14 at that time, before the queen died. A few months later, in late 965, disaster stroke again: Queen Dowager Zhong died after several months of attentive care-taking by Li. The subsequent mourning period delayed Li's marriage to the younger Lady Zhou until 968.
Deaths of Lin Renzhao and Pan You After conquering Jingnan, the Hunan region and Later Shu, the Song Dynasty army set off to invade Southern Han in 971, Southern Tang's southwestern neighbor. Lin Renzhao, the Southern Tang military governor of Zhenhai Command () centering in Wuchang (in modern Hubei), believed the opportunity golden to attack the Song cities around Yangzhou (in modern Jiangsu) as the main Song army would be a long distance away and already severely fatigued. Li Yu immediately rejected Lin's request: "Stop the nonsense talks, (stop) destroying (our) country!"
What Li was perhaps unaware was a year before, the Song military had gotten hold of an important chart with detailed measurements of Yangtze River crossing points, provided by a Southern Tang defector named Fan Ruoshui. After the conquest of Southern Han, their next step was to eliminate Lin Renzhao. In 974, Emperor Taizu of Song got hold of a Lin portrait through agents working in Southern Tang, and Li Congshan, the hostage kept in Bianliang, was then made to believe that Lin's loyalty was with Song. When Li Yu was told of this, he without a thorough investigation secretly poisoned Lin to death. Chancellor Chen Qiao angrily reacted to Lin's death: "Seeing loyal ministers killed, I don't know where I will die!"
During the same period, the scholar-official Pan You (潘佑) repeatedly submitted memorials criticizing the decline of Southern Tang governance and the complacency of those in power. His outspoken remonstrance angered Li Yu, who suspected, apparently without firm evidence, that Pan was acting at the instigation of another official, Li Ping. Li Ping was arrested, and Pan You, upon learning of the investigation and imprisonment, committed suicide.
Fall of Southern Tang
Li was an incompetent ruler who spent more time on literature and art, with little regard to the Song dynasty that was eyeing its weaker neighbor. In 971, Houzhu dropped the name of Tang from its Kingdom's name, in a desperate move to please the mighty Emperor Taizu of Song.
Of the many other kingdoms surrounding the Southern Tang, only Wuyue to the east had yet to fall. The Southern Tang's turn came in 974, when, after several refusals to summons to the Song court, on the excuse of illness, Song dynasty armies invaded. After a year long siege of the Southern Tang capital, modern Nanjing, Li Houzhu surrendered in 975. He and his family were taken as captives to the Song capital at present-day Kaifeng.Wu, 213 In a later poem, Li wrote about the shame and regret he had on the day he was taken away from Jinling (as translated by Hsiung Ting):
四十年來家國For forty years my country and my home —三千里地山河Three thousand li of mountains and rivers.鳳閣龍樓連霄漢The Phoenix Pavilion and Dragon Tower reaching up to the Milky Way,玉樹瓊枝作烟蘿Jade trees and jasper branches forming a cloudy net —幾曾識干戈Not once did I touch sword or spear!一旦歸為臣虜Suddenly I became a captive slave.沈腰潘鬢銷磨Frail my waist, gray my temples, grinding away.最是倉皇辭廟日Never shall I forget the day when I bade hasty farewell at the ancestral temple.教坊猶奏別離歌The court musicians played the farewell songs,揮淚對宮娥My tears streamed as I gazed at the court maidens.
Death He was poisoned by the Song emperor Taizong in 978, after he had written a poem that, in a veiled manner, lamented the destruction of his empire and the rape of his second wife Empress Zhou the Younger by the Song emperor. After his death, he was posthumously created the Prince of Wu ().