Chapter 2 1. The Beginning of the Legend

The winter of 546 AD was unusually long.At the end of the year, the Ostrogoths, who had been at war with the Eastern Romans on the Apennine Peninsula for several years, reoccupied the city of Rome under the command of King Totila.However, they were unable to defend the war-torn city and were forced to withdraw their troops.At the same time, in the East, the two regimes that had been fighting for many years also temporarily ceased their fighting after a siege.The difference from Western wars is that the Eastern Wei Dynasty, which lost its soldiers and generals, did not capture this well-defended city, but only retreated because of the fall of one person.

In December, the Eastern Wei army retreated to Jinyang. They were in a state of panic, people's thoughts were reversed, and morale was low.Someone began to spread a news from the Western Wei Dynasty: During the attack on the important town of Yubi in the Western Wei Dynasty, Gao Huan, the supreme commander of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, was shot by the crossbow of Wei Xiaokuan, the defender of the Western Wei Dynasty, and died, but the truth was tightly sealed by Gao Huan. . The rumors in the Western Wei Dynasty were even more vivid. The children who played were singing the nursery rhyme "Shoot the crossbow, and the murderer will die", and the terrible curse permeated the Yellow River at the border between the two Weis.

Faced with such a crisis, there is only one person who can resolve it, and he is the victim himself, the prime minister of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the king of Bohai—Gao Huan. Gao Huan was not killed on the battlefield, but at the age of fifty, he was seriously ill and unable to do what he wanted.He tried his best to support his sick body, and summoned many generals in the big tent of the Chinese army.Looking around the tent, the generals are still alive and well.Self-confidence has been in the army for sixteen years. The soldiers were born and died, and they immediately dismounted. The veteran Hu Lujin who had seen through Gao Huan's thoughts stood up solemnly, and said: "The humble general is touched by the scene today, and I would like to sing a song in the tent to boost the morale of the army!"

Gao Huan's eyes lit up and he readily agreed.Hu Lujin then sang in Xianbei: At the climax of the song, Gao Huan couldn't help crying, and sang together in harmony, so the famous song "Chile Song", which has been passed down through the ages, echoed in the whole big tent. The name Gao Huan is so resounding that he almost changed the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties with his whole life.His legendary story, as well as his equal opponents, will continue to be passed down like "Chile Song".And all of this starts from the beginning of "Legend". Gao Huan's ancestors came from Jixian County, Bohai County (now Jingxian County, Hebei Province), and the Gao family was a big family there.The Five Hus were in chaos, and Youzhou was the center of Houyan's power. Gao Huan's great-grandfather, Gao Hu, served under Houyan Murongchui. His opinions were not adopted and he was dismissed from office.When the Northern Wei Dynasty invaded Houyan, Gao Hu defected to Tuoba Gui, the official to the right general.Gao Huan's grandfather, Gao Mi, served as a censor, but because of a crime, he was exiled to Huaishuo Town, one of the six northern towns in the Northern Wei Dynasty.Gao Huan's father Gao Shu's generation has always lived in this area where the Hu people live, and gradually there is no difference from the Xianbei people in terms of language and customs.After Gao Huan was born, Gao Shu gave him a Xianbei name: He Liuhun.

Like Liu Jinu, He Liuhun was also born with dystocia. After the baby was born, his mother died.Fortunately, he also had an adult older sister who married Wei Jing, the prison team in the town, and brought Gao Huan into his home to raise him, so little Gao Huan was saved from an early death. When Gao Huan was four years old (the 23rd year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty, 499 A.D.), a major event happened in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Emperor Xiaowen Yuan Hong died on the way home from the last southern expedition.Prince Yuanke succeeded to the throne as Emperor Xuanwu, Emperor Shizong of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

We mentioned in "Mingzhu Hunjun", before Yuan Hong died, he planned to entrust all political affairs to his younger brother Pengcheng Wang Yuanxie.Yuan Xie is the one with the highest level of Chinese culture among the Yuan Hong brothers, and also the most sensible one. He knows that the officialdom is complicated and the power is high, and it will be difficult to retreat in the future, so he refuses to accept this hot potato. .In desperation, Emperor Xiaowen took Beihai Wang Yuanxiang, the servant and general of the army, as Sikong, Wang Su, the general of Zhennan, as the minister, Wang Yuanjia, the general of Zhennan, as the left servant, and Song Bian, the minister, as the minister of the Ministry of officials. Wei Xianyang Wang Yuanxi, Shangshu Youpushe Rencheng Wang Yuancheng, the six are all ministers of Gu Ming.

The status of these six people is different. Among them, Wang Su and Song Bian, who succeeded Li Chong, are both Han Chinese, and Wang Su is a descendant of the Southern Dynasty.Not long after the edict was issued, Song Bian passed away, and Wang Su was also ostracized. He was confined to the southern border and could not return to the court. He died two years later in Shouyang, an important town in the Southern Dynasty that the Northern Wei Dynasty had just acquired.After removing these two, the remaining four are the clans of the Northern Wei Dynasty: Yuan Xi and Yuan Xiang are the younger brothers of Emperor Xiaowen, Yuan Cheng is the uncle of Emperor Xiaowen, and Yuan Jia is the uncle of Emperor Xiaowen. The power is greater, and the latter two have high prestige.

The newly enthroned Emperor Xuanwu was only seventeen years old, and he was established as a prince for a very short time.The person he trusts most is actually the sixth uncle Pengcheng Wang Yuanxie. Although Emperor Xiaowen ordered him to follow Yuanxie's will to return to seclusion, he did not give up.Emperor Xuanwu summoned Yuan Xie several times and wanted to appoint him as prime minister. As for Yuan Xie, every time he moved out the edict of Emperor Xiaowen, insisting on expressing his unwillingness to assist the government.Emperor Xuanwu had no choice but to appoint him as Chijie, Shizhong, Duduji, Ding and other military forces in the seven states, Hushi general, Kaifu Yitong third division, and Dingzhou governor. He wanted to suppress him with a lot of official titles. Force him to help him politically.Yuan Xie refused many times, but reluctantly accepted, but he was only going through the motions when he took office, and had no interest in tactics.

(Yuan Xie appreciates the culture of the Southern Dynasties very much from the bottom of his heart, and he tends to be a clean stream emotionally. The problem is that since you are a clan and are at the top of the power, how can you be a hermit in the clan who wants to be spotless and alone? What? Yuan Xie is a talented and capable person, and he is young. The wise approach should be to take the initiative to take over the important task under the premise of the emperor's trust in him, and coordinate all forces to get rid of the Northern Wei Dynasty after the death of Emperor Xiaowen. The crisis of the struggle for power between the court and China. At this time, it is absolutely impossible to think of the ego and destroy everyone. This is a flaw in Yuan Xie's character, and it is also the tragedy of the Northern Wei regime.)

Since Yuan Xie was unwilling to assist, Emperor Xuanwu could only "ask" the essentials of governing from his cronies around him.Zuo Zhonglang Yu Zhong (the great-grandson of Meng Yu Li Tun in the Northern Wei Dynasty) who was often guarding him took the opportunity to say to Emperor Xuanwu: "The assistant kings (referring to Yuan Xi, Yuan Xiang and others) are arbitrary and indulgent, and their meaning is unpredictable. Your Majesty should dismiss him as soon as possible, and personally grasp the power." Yu Zhong's slander to the emperor to suppress Yuanxi and others was not out of the righteousness of the country and the community, but completely to avenge his own personal anger.Yu Zhong's father, Yu Lie, was a leader of the army. Yuanxi, who was arrogant, greedy, and fond of ostentation, asked Lie to select a group of veterans from the Yulin Huben Army to serve as a guard of honor for him, but he was sternly rejected. .Yuanxi was furious, and sent someone to send a message to Yu Lie, saying: "I am the son of the emperor (referring to the son of Emperor Wei Xianwen), and the uncle of the emperor today. As Yuanfu, I would like to make a small request to you. , and what is the difference between the imperial edict?"

Yu Lie was indeed strong enough, and replied: "It's not that I, Yu Lie, don't know the nobleness of the prince, but sending someone to ask for the Emperor's Yulin Army is absolutely impossible! I can give you Yu Lie's head, Yu Lie Lin Jun, I'm sorry, I can't give it!" A sentence pushed back. Yuanxi suffered this "big humiliation", and formed a grudge with Yu Lie. He ordered Yu Lie to be the governor of Hengzhou, and wanted to demote this thorn in his side to an official in another place.Yu Lie couldn't resign, so he said he couldn't get sick, and privately asked Yu Zhong to go to the palace to do "ideological work". Emperor Xuanwu also couldn't understand Yuan Xi's domineering appearance, so he deeply agreed with Yu Zhong's suggestion and secretly expressed his approval.This approval allowed Chao Gang to start chaos.If we carefully analyze Yu Zhong's sentence, it is not difficult to find its logical problems.Yuanxi was indeed "tyrannical and indulgent", and even ignored the little emperor, but because of this, he expanded the scope of attack to "assistant kings", which was a bit "waste food because of choking".In the Northern Wei dynasty, those few princes who could hold the situation temporarily, Emperor Xuanwu lived in the deep palace for a long time, if he wanted to govern himself, it would be quite dangerous if he had no power to rely on for a while. In the spring of the second year of Jingming (AD 501), the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty planned to hold a grand ceremony for offering sacrifices to the ancestral temple.According to the usual practice, the princes and princes must fast in the side square to the east of the ancestral temple on the eve of the sacrifice.Emperor Xuanwu secretly asked Yu Zhong to inform Yu Lie to enter the guards early the next morning. At dawn, Yu Lie came.Emperor Xuanwu ordered him to bring sixty guards to the dormitories of the princes to read the imperial edict, and took the princes one by one to the Guangji Hall where the emperor received ministers. After a while, Yuan Xi, Yuan Xie, Yuan Xiang and others gathered in the hall. This posture is not inviting people, it is clearly escorted by heavy troops.Seeing that the princes were unprepared, Emperor Xuanwu had some confidence in his heart. He opened his mouth and said: "I am ignorant and incompetent. I have been sitting in this position for almost three years. It is really thanks to all the uncles who have worked hard to support the Prime Minister. The uncles have worked very hard. Today I will announce that I will take charge of the government. Please go back to the mansion temporarily." On, own responsibility arrangements." Yuan Xi was unwilling to be easily seized power, but Emperor Xuanwu was well prepared and could not raise objections; Yuan Xie had no intention of being an official and had no objections; Yuan Xiang was the youngest of several uncles, but also the youngest. A cunning one, he communicated with Emperor Xuanwu in advance, and said a lot of bad things about Yuanxi and Yuanxie. He had a hunch that the emperor would do this, and he expected that he would not be treated badly, so of course he also expressed his support. When the princes returned to the mansion, they received the emperor's imperial edict: Yuan Xie's resignation was fulfilling his wish (it also ruined the future of the Northern Wei Dynasty); Appointed as a general and recorded as a minister, he took the biggest advantage.Yu Lie made the most contribution to the pro-government. Emperor Xuanwu restored his position as the leader of the army. Emperor Xuanwu is probably a typical example of those who have power in their hands but use it poorly.What kind of people did he come into contact with all day long, except for the eunuchs and maids, they were the officers who commanded the imperial army and the guards in the palace.During this year, he suddenly promoted a group of cronies, such as Ru Hao, Wang Zhongxing, Kou Meng, Zhao Xiu, Zhao Yong and others.These people were later included in "Wei Shu·En Xing Biography", so it can be seen that there are some materials. Emperor Xuanwu also thought of his uncles Gao Zhao, Gao Xian and others, and decided to call them into the palace and make them dukes.Although the Gao Zhao brothers had long been relatives of the emperor, they had always stayed in Goguryeo (some people suspected that they were actually from Goguryeo).Emperor Xuanwu relied on this group of people to govern the government, and it was a miracle that there was no chaos in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Sure enough, after only four months, commotion broke out in the court.Yuan Xi, who had lost his power, always felt uneasy and suspected that the emperor would further attack him (from a psychological point of view, this is the so-called power loss syndrome, and it is actually normal to have such scruples).Liu Xiaogou, the guard by his side, also added fuel and vinegar to tell Yuan Xi about his interests, which made Yuan Xi frightened.He asked his eldest son Yuantong to sneak into Hanoi (now Qinyang, Henan) to meet him outside, and then discussed countermeasures with his cronies.Some people suggested that when the emperor went hunting in Beimang, he should occupy Luoyang and fight against him. No matter how bad things were, he could still separate himself from Henan and become the emperor. Yuan Xi is very greedy, but not very courageous.Some of the cronies wanted to rebel, and some wanted to wait and see. There was no consensus among them. Yuanxi was hesitant, and finally the meeting was adjourned, and no one was allowed to leak out what was agreed to be discussed. People's hearts are separated by belly, and Yuan Xi actually forgot this truth.As soon as the meeting ended, Yang Jishi, one of the participants, hurried to Beimang to report the matter to Emperor Xuanwu.Emperor Xuanwu immediately notified Yu Lie in the city to take strict precautions against Yuanxi, and then calmly returned to the city to arrest Yuanxi.Yuan Xi was informed, but he was still kept in the dark. Hearing the news and trying to escape, there was no time.After crossing Luoshui in a panic, he was arrested in Baiguwu (southeast of Yanshi, Henan Province), and was escorted back to the palace to meet Emperor Xuanwu.After Emperor Xuanwu scolded him, he ordered him to commit suicide.His son, who wanted to raise troops in Hanoi, was also hunted down by the Hanoi prefect. It is said that someone in the palace of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote a poem in honor of the Yuan Jubilee, which was passed down to the Southern Dynasties: Being greedy for the rest of your life, and ending up empty-handed and dying, how can this be a portrayal of Yuan Xi alone?