The Southern Tang Dynasty had already surrendered to the Song Dynasty when Li was in charge. Li is good at poetry and has famous works such as "Breaking Through the Sands of Huanxi". His son Li Yu, known in history as the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, did not want to make progress, but inherited his father's fondness for poetry.
Li Yu was incompetent in governance, but he had a high status in poetry. Most of his early works were based on the sensual entertainment in the palace, with a soft style and superb skills, such as "Spring in the Jade House", "A Dendrobium Pearl", etc.; in his later period, he mostly wrote about the pain of country subjugation, with sincere emotions and profound artistic conception, such as "Spring in the Jade House" and "Yizhu". "Broken Array", "Poppy Lady", "Lang Tao Sha Ling", "Crying in the Night? Autumn Boudoir" and so on.
Li Yu lived quietly and lived a luxurious life. He often built gold and red curtain walls in the palace, inlaid with platinum and tortoise shells, and inserted exotic flowers and plants, inscribing them "Jindongtian", and visited the palace with the queen. Xian Yu wrote lyrics and played in it: every seventh day of the seventh lunar month, people were ordered to dress up the scene of the Moon Palace and Tianhe with red silk to create inspiration for the lyrics. However, the reality is not as beautiful as the world in poetry. In the eighth year of Kaibao (975), the Song army captured Jinling and the Emperor of Ci was captured. The life of "The flute blows through the water and the clouds, and the song "Neon Clothes" is played again and again" has come to nothing. He couldn't help but sigh, "I asked you how much sorrow you can have, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward." Unfortunately, it was too late. Later, he was poisoned to death by Song Taizu.
The poet Guo Lin also lamented: "To be a talented person is really peerless, but to be a king is pitiful.
"The first collection of Yuyincong Hua? Poetry of the Western Qing Dynasty" Taizu of the Song Dynasty also said: "If Li Yu manages state affairs by composing poems, how can he be my captive?"