宋少帝劉義符，是武帝劉裕長子，由於劉裕年過四十才得子，因此對於義符格外 地疼愛，始終是劉裕積極栽培的繼任人選。面對將來可能的少主繼位，和昔日創 業夥伴、士族勳貴環繞在旁的局面，劉裕用漸進的方式，安排義符接班。先是讓 義符進入建康官場，獲得官銜和位望，並選定親黨核心成員出任其府內僚佐，肩 負支持和保護的任務，逐步地讓義符建立自己的派系班底、擴充權力基礎，以期 能順利邁向未來的帝王之業。 但局勢的發展，並未盡如人意，對於未滿弱冠繼承帝位、身肩北府下一世代政治 人物的義符，要妥善掌握人情複雜、意識形態南轅北轍的統治集團，當非易事。 少帝景平二年（西元 424 年），以徐羨之、傅亮、謝晦等顧命大臣主導發動的政變， 就是處理不慎的結果。 以往學界多將景平政爭，歸咎於「少帝失德」，或是門第之間的衝突。事實上， 少帝在追求集中皇權的過程裡，與顧命大臣們「欲握權自固」的想法牴觸，才是 導致景平政爭的真正緣由。

Liu Yi-fu, Emperor Shao of the Liu Song Dynasty, was the first son of Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of the Liu Song Dynasty. Born to a father in his 40s, Yi-fu was an extraordinarily beloved child of Emperor Wu, who had been constantly and conscientiously developing Yi-fu as his successor. Surrounded by those who had helped him succeed in the past and those noble and powerful, Emperor Wu adopted a step-by-step strategy to fulfill his succession plan for Yifu. First, Yi-fu was given the opportunity to access the political world in Jian-kang to gain his political status and reputation. Emperor Wu, in the meantime, has appointed key members of his trusted team to support and protect Yi-fu in his office, helping him to gradually expand his connections and political power and to smoothly take over the kingdom in future. The situation, however, did not develop as expected. Taking over the throne before the age of 20, Yi-fu became the next-generation political leader of the Northern Garrison Troops. It was certainly uneasy for him to successfully manage the complicated people relationship and the political groups with opposing ideologies. In the second year of Jingping (424 AD) of Emperor Shao, a coup d'état took place, which was led by regent ministers Xu Xian-Zhi, Fu Liang and Xie Hui. This was no doubt resulted from his lack of prudence in dealing with these challenges. This research will probe the political power base of Emperor Shao, covering issues such as: How did Liu Yu, step-by-step, transfer the power to Yi-fu at the preliminary stage of the Liu Song Dynasty? How did Yi-fu, as a young successor and new emperor, consolidate his power and rule the people and country inherited from his father? With respect to the new force built up by Yi-fu, how did it find the new power to depend on after the Jingping coup d'état and to influence the political balance of the Liu Song dynasty? Through the above approaches, it is hoped that one could further clarify the political situation at the early stage of the Liu Song Dynasty. The contradiction between the two parties, seemingly to be caused by the conflicts among clans, was in fact resulted from the conflict of interests among groups.