Chapter 13 Chapter 5 The Legend of Bailu

"Chilechuan, under the Yin Mountain, the sky is like a dome, covering the four fields. The sky is blue, the fields are vast, and the wind blows the grass and the cattle and sheep are low." A song "Chile Song", which has been sung for thousands of years, outlines a majestic and vast grassland beauty.Living on this grassland was the Xianbei, the most powerful ethnic minority in northern China at that time.Xianbei people love music - the wind blows, the grass grows, and the golden prairie seems to tell ancient and unforgettable stories. Like the Xiongnu, the Xianbei people also lived by water and grass, and thrived from generation to generation in hardships and hardships.Some of the Xianbei folk songs that once echoed on the prairie don’t even have lyrics, only the long and distant tunes are left, which is the voice of this nation from the depths of the soul, and expresses the most simple and primitive emotions of Xianbei people.Long, fresh, generous, majestic... This is the song of Xianbei people, and it is also the history of Xianbei.

Both Xianbei and Wuhuan are a branch of Donghu, which originated from Xianbei Mountain and used it as the family name.As one of the most important ethnic minorities in ancient China, the birthplace of the Xianbei has always been the focus of research by scholars.So, where is Xianbei Mountain?According to the "Book of Wei": "Wei Xian lived in Youdu, and he cut stones as the ancestral temple in the northwest of Wuluohou State... In the northwest of the country, there is a stone room in the old ruins of the former emperor of the country." In 443 A.D. (the fourth year of Taiping Zhenjun, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty), Li Chang, the Minister of Zhongshu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, went to Wuluohou State to offer sacrifices, and carved a sacrificial text in the cave of "Xiandi Jiuxu Shishi".Wuluohou State, first seen in "Wei Shu Wuluohou Biography": "The capital of the past generation is more than 4,500 miles...in the north of Didouyu...the people wear the ground as a room in winter, and follow the original Fu in summer. Animal husbandry....Its hair is made of common ropes, and the leather is decorated with beads...It is good for shooting and hunting, and it is fun to have a harp, and the wooden groove and leather surface are covered with nine strings."

It can be seen that this Wuluohou country is a country that focuses on fishing and hunting, and loves music, but where is Wuluohou country?Is this the end of the clues to the origin of the Xianbei people? In July 1980, Mr. Mi Wenping, an archaeologist, came to Gaxian Cave located in the northern section of Daxingan Mountains, and the thousand-year mystery was solved.Gaxian Cave is located on a cliff more than 20 meters above the ground 30 kilometers northeast of Ganhe Town, Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Hulunbeier League, Inner Mongolia. The main stone chamber is 90 steps from north to south, 40 steps from east to west, and 70 feet high. It is divided into 4 caves with an area of ​​nearly 3,000 square meters. rice.In addition to a small amount of pottery, stone tools and bone tools, there are still stone inscriptions left in the cave.These stone inscriptions are all Chinese characters in official script, with simple and vigorous characters, 19 vertical lines and a total of 201 characters. Most of the characters are still legible, and their content is basically the same as that recorded in "Wei Shu".It can be seen that Gaxian Cave is the "Old Market Stone Room" where the Xianbei ancestors lived together.The discovery of the Xianbei Stone Chamber in Gaxian Cave not only confirmed the birthplace of the Xianbei people, but also brought to the surface the location of Wuluohou—that is, the middle reaches of the Nen River in the southeast of Gaxian Cave, and the west of Qiqihar in Heilongjiang today.

However, only one branch of the Xianbei tribe lived near Gaxian Cave—Tuoba Xianbei, also known as the northern Xianbei.The other three famous tribes in Xianbei-Duanbu, Yuwenbu, and Murongbu all originated from Xianbei Mountain in Inner Mongolia, also known as Eastern Xianbei. Xianbei's language customs are similar to those of Wuhuan, and it was mainly active in the north-central Daxing'an Mountains in the pre-Qin period.The Xianbei language belongs to the Altaic language family, and its pronunciation is between Manchu in the Heilongjiang River Basin and Mongolian in the Erguna River Basin.In Xianbei language, "Xianbei Mountain" means "Auspicious Mountain" and "Sacred Mountain"; the word "Xianbei" also expresses Xianbei people's yearning for "auspiciousness and beauty".

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Xiongnu destroyed Donghu, and Wuhuan and Xianbei surrendered to the Xiongnu.Subsequently, a century-long war broke out between the Western Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu forces were hit hard.After Wuhuan moved to the south, most of the Xianbei tribe occupied the two sides of Rao Leshui (now Xilamulun River), the hometown of Wuhuan; Tuoba Department.Since the Hetao Yinshan area where the Xianbei Tuoba tribe was active is not within the Liaodong-Northeast Asia area that this book will focus on, it will not be detailed. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wuhuan continued to move inland, and the Xianbei people followed Wuhuan’s footsteps and migrated southward again; after the Northern Huns moved westward, Xianbei occupied the former land of the Huns and took over the weak tribes that had escaped from the control of Wuhuan and the Huns. Under the banner, the strength has also been further strengthened.During the time of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, Tan Shihuai, a legendary hero of the Xianbei nationality, established the Khan Court on Danhan Mountain (now northwest of Yanggao, Shanxi).Tan Shihuai appointed Han people and formulated laws to divide the land under Xianbei's control into three parts for management: the east of Youbeiping is the east; the west of Youbeiping is the central part; , more than seven thousand miles from north to south", almost including all the territory originally occupied by the Huns.

After Tan Shihuai's death, the various ministries of Xianbei immediately fell into division.When Cao Cao was in charge of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xianbei mainly formed three major groups: Budugen, a descendant of Tanshihuai, led his troops to occupy Yunzhong and Yanmen; Ke Bineng led his troops to occupy Daijun, Shanggu and other places; Some small tribes live scattered in western Liaoning, Youbeiping and outside Yuyang Great Wall.Among the three Xianbei, Ke Bineng is the most powerful and poses the greatest threat to the Central Plains.During Yuan Shao's attack on Hebei, the northern Han people defected to Kebineng one after another in order to avoid the war, and at the same time brought with them the advanced culture and production technology of the Han nationality.

Like Gongsun Du, Ke Bineng is also a very self-aware person.He knew that Xianbei's strength was not enough to challenge the Han regime in the Central Plains, so he ordered his tribe to learn language and writing and weapon manufacturing from the subordinate Han people, and at the same time paid tribute to the Eastern Han Dynasty and later Wei State, and actively carried out "mutual market" trade.At that time, Wei State's strategic center of gravity was in the south, and it mainly adopted a policy of appeasement and solicitation for the many ethnic minorities in the north to ensure the tranquility of the border.

After decades of development and growth, Kebineng has annexed Budugen and other surrounding tribes successively, and unified Monan.With the increase in strength, Ke Bineng's ambitions have also grown, and he has repeatedly invaded the border of Youzhou, replacing Wuhuan as the biggest unstable factor in the northern part of Wei State.In order to eliminate the threat of Xianbei, the Governor of Youzhou in the State of Wei and Wang Xiong, the lieutenant of Huwuhuan, made a surprise plan and sent an assassin to assassinate Ke Bineng. Throughout the history of the Xianbei people, we will find that Xianbei is a nation with strong independence but poor overall cohesion. When an outstanding leader is born, the Xianbei people can dominate for a while; Dissatisfied with each other, they immediately fell into endless civil strife and attack.

After Ke Bineng's death, the Monan region split again, and the Duanbu, Murongbu, and Yuwenbu in the Eastern Xianbei rose successively.The rise of these three major tribes was largely caused by objective circumstances: the Wuhuan had been wiped out, gradually integrated into the Han and other ethnic minorities, and the entire nation disappeared; the Gongsun family was killed by the Wei State, and the most The power of the tyrannical Han nationality disappeared; Goguryeo was dying under the attack of Wei State, and could not recover for a while; There is no one strong in the white mountains and black waters, which gives the Xianbei the best opportunity to step onto the stage of history!

After that, Wei destroyed Shu, Jin replaced Wei, Jin destroyed Wu, and the three divisions became one.Great unification was originally a guarantee for the outward expansion of the Han regime in the Central Plains, but the unified situation did not last long—the stupidity and corruption of the rulers of the Western Jin Dynasty shook the foundation of the country's rule and intensified ethnic conflicts in the surrounding areas.The rule of the Western Jin Dynasty was only a few decades, but during this period, there were constant rebellions in the Central Plains and border areas. Fubu and Tufabu fought for independence one after another, which tore apart the north that Cao Cao had managed to unify, and the people were in dire straits.

In Liaodong, the Xianbei Duan tribe was the first to rise, and was later defeated by the Hou Zhao established by the Jie people.The Murong Ministry successively established the Qianyan, Houyan, Xiyan, Nanyan and other regimes, and finally died in the Northern Wei Dynasty.The Yuwen Department was the latest to make a fortune. It had a good relationship with Goguryeo in the early days, and then lost to Qianyan. It was not until the Northern and Southern Dynasties that it replaced the Western Wei Dynasty and established the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In Yinshan, the Tuoba Tribe established the Dai State and conquered many tribes entrenched in the Hetao area, but was later conquered by the former Qin Dynasty.After the Battle of Feishui, Tuoba Gui restored the country, defeated the powerful Hou Yan, unified the north, and established a powerful Northern Wei regime. In the west, a branch of the Murong tribe of Xianbei moved to the east of Qinghai, called Tuyuhun; the mixed descendants of Xianbei and Huns, Helian Bobo, established the Xia Kingdom; Xianbei and Chile people merged to form the Qifu tribe.After the Battle of Feishui, Qi Fu Guoren established the Western Qin Dynasty, which was later destroyed by Helian Bobo; the Bald Tribe, which had the same origin as the Tuoba Tribe, established Nanliang, and was later destroyed by the Western Qin Dynasty. The Bald Tribe defected to the Northern Wei Dynasty. He was given the surname "Yuan"... The tribes of Xianbei and the Xiongnu, Qiang, Jie, Di and other ethnic minorities attacked each other and merged with each other. The heroes of northern China rose together, and the smoke filled the air. The most chaotic and turbulent era in Chinese history came.