Liu Yan (emperor) - As Emperor of Southern Han - Late Reign

Late Reign

In 936, Liu Yan sent his general Sun Dewei (孫德威) to attack Chu's Meng (蒙州, in modern Wuzhou, Guangxi) and Gui (桂州, in modern Guilin, Guangxi). When Chu's prince Ma Xifan (Ma Yin's son) personally went to Gui Prefecture to defend against the attack, Sun withdrew.

In 937, Yang Tingyi was killed by his general Jiao Gongxian, who took over Jinghai. In 938, when another former general of Yang's, Wu Quan, rose at Ai Prefecture and subsequently attacked Jiao Prefecture, Jiao Gongxian sought aid from Southern Han. Liu Yan wanted to use this opportunity to take over Jinghai again, so he commissioned his son Liu Hongcao as the military governor of Jinghai and changed his title to Prince of Jiao, having him command an army to head to Jiao Prefecture while Liu Yan himself commanded a follow-up army. By the time that Liu Hongcao was approaching Jiao Prefecture, however, Wu had already defeated and killed Jiao Gongxian and occupied Jiao Prefecture. When Liu Hongcao prepared to attack, Wu set a trap for him — setting large wooden planks covered with iron into the tidal zone, such that when Liu Hongcao attacked at high tide, the planks were invisible, but when the tide fell, the Southern Han ships became stuck on the planks and unable to move. Wu then counterattacked, killing more than half of the Southern Han soldiers, including Liu Hongcao. Liu Yan, hearing the news, cried bitterly and withdrew his own fleet. (This became known as the Battle of Bach Dang River.)

In 939, Zhao Guangyi, pointing out that there had not been any emissaries sent between Southern Han and Chu after Empress Ma's death and that the two states, related by marriage, should be friendly to each other, recommended the official Li Shu (李紓) as an appropriate emissary. Liu Yan agreed, and after Li visited Chu, Chu also sent emissaries to Southern Han, reestablishing relations between the two states. Despite this, in 941, Liu Yan sent an emissary to Later Jin's Emperor Gaozu (whose Later Jin state had earlier taken over Later Tang's territory) seeking a military alliance where they would attack Chu and divide its territory; the Later Jin emperor declined.

In 942, Liu Yan grew seriously ill. He considered both of his oldest surviving sons, Liu Hongdu and Liu Hongxi the Prince of Jin, to be arrogant and unrestrained, and considered a younger son, Liu Hongchang (劉弘昌) the Prince of Yue, to be an appropriate successor. He thus considered sending Liu Hongdu and Liu Hongxi out of the capital and making Liu Hongchang his heir. However, the official Xiao Yi (蕭益) persuaded him that bypassing older sons would cause disturbances, and so Liu Yan did not carry out this plan. He soon died, and Liu Hongdu became emperor (as Emperor Shang).

The Zizhi Tongjian, summarizing the opinions from other sources, commented about Liu Yan's reign:

Gaozu was observant and capable of political tactics, but was self-important, often referring to the emperors of the Central Plain as "prefect of Luo Prefecture" . The Lingnan region was where rare jewels can be gathered, so he was luxurious in his living and favored beautiful things, adorning his palaces with gold, jades, and pearls. He was cruel in his punishments, using methods including cutting off noses, cutting off tongues, dismemberment, cutting pregnant women open, tying people to heated iron poles, and boiling people. He also sometimes put poisonous snakes in the water and threw criminals into the water, referring to this as "water prison." When the chancellor Yang Dongqian tried to correct his ways, he would not listen to Yang. In his late years, he was particularly suspicious of the intelligentsia, believing that the officials would be more concerned about the welfare of their descendants rather than of the state, and therefore became trusting of eunuchs. Therefore, from this point on, Southern Han had many eunuchs.