User:HuangdiOfSongChina/Liu Yu

Liu Yu (劉豫; 1073 – 18 October 1146), was a puppet ruler of Da Qi. He was enthroned as the Qi Emperor. His courtesy name was Yànyóu.

Early life
He was born in 1073, to a family of peasants. He lacked education and stole from other classmates. He was promoted to scholar in 1098.

In 1112, he was attacked by a eunuch.

He was promoted in 1124.

He decided to defect after the horrible treatment the Song gave him.

Background
Reluctant to let the war drag on, the Jin decided to create Da Qi in 1129, their second attempt at a puppet state in Northern China. The Jurchens believed that this state, nominally ruled by someone of Han Chinese descent, would be able to attract the allegiance of disaffected members of the insurgency. The Jurchens also suffered from a shortage of skilled manpower, and controlling the entirety of northern China was not administratively feasible.

Enthronement
In the final months of 1129, Liu Yu won the favor of the Jin Emperor Taizong and became the ruler of Da Qi. Da Qi had more autonomy than the previous puppet state Da Chu although Liu Yu was obligated to obey the orders of the Jurchen generals. With Jin support, Da Qi invaded the Song in November 1133. Li Cheng, a Song turncoat who had joined the Qi, led the campaign. Meanwhile, Liu Yu moved into Kaifeng and was incompetent; he spent lavishly and when there was no money, dug up tombs angering the Southern Song populace.

They initially had success as Xiangyang and nearby prefectures fell to his army. The capture of Xiangyang on the Han River gave the Jurchens a passage into the central valley of the Yangtze River. However, their southward push was halted by the general Yue Fei. In 1134, Yue Fei defeated Li and retook Xiangyang and its surrounding prefectures. Later that year, however, Qi and Jin initiated a new offensive further east along the Huai River. For the first time, The Song Emperor Gaozong issued an edict officially condemning Da Qi. The armies of Qi and Jin won a series of victories in the Huai Valley, but were repelled by Han Shizhong near Yangzhou and by Yue Fei at Luzhou (廬州, modern Hefei).

In 1135, The Jin Emperor Taizong died. This caused the Da Qi to suddenly withdraw in response giving the Song time to regroup. The Da Qi lost a battle at Outang (藕塘), in modern Anhui, against a Song army led by Yang Qizhong (楊沂中). The victory boosted Song morale, and the military commissioner Zhang Jun convinced Emperor Gaozong to begin plans for a counterattack. Emperor Gaozong initially agreed, but he quickly abandoned the counteroffensive when an officer named Li Qiong (酈瓊) killed his superior official and defected to the Jin with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Downfall
Meanwhile, Emperor Xizong inherited the Jin throne from now deceased Taizong and pushed for peace. He and his generals were disappointed with Liu Yu's military failures and believed that Liu was secretly conspiring with Yue Fei. These conditions caused the Jin to officially abolish Da Qi in late 1137 and the Jin and Song began negotiations towards peace. As a result, Liu Yu was deposed.

Death
Liu Yu died in 1146.