Chapter 43 16. The Destruction of Hou Jing

Hou Jing fled back to Jiankang, disheartened.Shouyang sent troops to harass Liang Guo for three years. This was the first time that he was beaten by the Southern Dynasty people whom he looked down on, and most of the fierce generals surrendered before they died.Originally, he planned to mop up all the princes in the Liang Kingdom, and then ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. Now he didn't have such lofty ideals. He just wanted to start a small court and become emperor sooner, so he consulted with Wang Wei. Wang Wei said: "Since ancient times, to establish a new dynasty, it is necessary to abolish and establish major events in order to establish authority."

Hou Jing saw that Wang Wei quoted the scriptures and allusions clearly and logically, and felt that he was right.In fact, Emperor Jianwen's banner didn't help Hou Jing much, and there were more people who sang against the court.But after abolishing Emperor Jianwen, who should be the next puppet?Some people suggested that when Emperor Jianwen was established as the crown prince, there was a dispute between the heirs and concubines, so it is better to re-establish the heirs of Emperor Wu of Liang.At this time, Prince Zhaoming's legitimate son, Xiao Huan, had passed away. According to the rules, Xiao Huan's son, Yuzhang Wang Xiaodong, had to be established.

In August of the second year of Dabao (AD 551), Hou Jing led the troops into the palace and forced Emperor Jian Wen to sign the edict of the Zen position, abolishing Emperor Jian Wen as King Jin'an and imprisoning him in Yongfu Province to the west of the palace; then he issued an edict to welcome Xiao Dong Inherit the Datong. After the fall of Taicheng, Xiao Dong was placed under house arrest. His life was difficult and his food supply was pitifully scarce, so he had to grow some vegetables in the yard to eat.Hou Jing's envoy came to Xiao Dong's home, Xiao Dong was howing vegetables in the field with his wife, the envoy pulled Xiao Dong into the chariot without saying a word.Xiao Dong was so frightened that he burst into tears. When he got to the palace, he realized that he was to be the emperor.Xiao Dong ascended the throne and changed Yuan Tianzheng. (Later, Xiao Ji of Yizhou proclaimed himself emperor, and he also used the title of Tianzheng. According to people who know how to do it, the word "Tianzheng" means "two people, one stop", implying that each of them was emperor for one year, so Fuck.)

Hou Jing married Princess Liyang, Emperor Jianwen was his father-in-law, and Emperor Jianwen's sons were all his brothers-in-law.But the Wolf King would not be soft on his hands. All the sons of Emperor Jianwen, including Prince Xiao Daqi, were all brutally killed. Wang Wei also persuaded Hou Jing to get rid of Emperor Jianwen, so that he would be unpopular.Hou Jing sent Wang Wei to Yongfu Province to toast Jian Wendi, who was like a prisoner, in the name of celebrating his birthday. Emperor Jian Wen knew that he would die, and said with a smile: "Since it is a birthday wine, how can we not get drunk?" He held a banquet and had a good drink with Wang Wei, and finally sighed: "I never thought that there is such happiness in the world!"

Emperor Jian Wen was so drunk that he fell asleep.Wang Wei ordered his soldiers to press a soil bag weighing several hundred kilograms on Emperor Jian Wen's body, and exert force on the soil bag to crush him to death.Wang Wei built a broken coffin for him with door panels, and threw it hastily into the wine storehouse in the north of the city. (Emperor Xiao Gang, Emperor Wen of Liangjian, was emperor for more than two years. In fact, he was not as good as a puppet. Although Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was a puppet, Gao Huan respected him all his life; He also knew how to bow and apologize. Hou Jing didn't regard Emperor Jian Wen as an emperor at all. He sat side by side with him at banquets and made him a dancer when dancing. Emperor Jian Wen always thought about revenge and seized power, but he failed His wish came true. When Taicheng was besieged, he kept compromising with Hou Jing for his own benefit, and now he has ended up in a bleak end, which is really his own fault.)

Another month later, Hou Jing ordered Xiao Dong, who was still on the throne, to proclaim himself emperor, and changed the name of Yuan Taishi to Han.At the same time, he locked Xiao Dong and his two younger brothers into a secret room. Hou Jing crossed the river and gathered a large number of followers. Now that he is the emperor, these younger brothers should not be treated badly. A dozen or so official positions at the Sangong level have been conferred.Every time they go to court, everyone rushes to the court, and there is no order at all. Wang Wei was a scholar, and felt that it would be inappropriate to go on like this, so he asked Hou Jing to set up seven temples and stipulate the etiquette of sacrifices.All his life as a soldier, Hou Jing only knew how to fight, and had never participated in any grand occasions for sacrifice, so he asked Wang Wei, "What is the Seven Temples?"

Wang Wei replied: "The emperor wants to worship the ancestors within seven generations, and set up their tablets and ancestral temples. These are the seven temples." He also asked Hou Jing to name the ancestors of the seven generations. This stumped Hou Jing. He said: "I can't remember the names of the ancestors of the previous generations. I only remember that my father's name is Hou Yu. But he was buried in Shuozhou (now Shuo County, Shanxi). Come here to enjoy the sacrifice?" Hou Jing's truth made everyone laugh, but Hou Jing was still confused.Some of Hou Jing’s subordinates brought from the north knew that his grandfather’s name was Yiyu Zhou, and Wang Wei took his elegant name Hou Zhou (so “Zhou” became a temple taboo, and those with the surname Zhou were not allowed to be surnamed Zhou, and all changed their surname to Zhou. The original surname of the Dai royal family is "Ji". Yiyu Zhou is the name of the Hu people, it's just a transliteration, Wang Wei is domineering enough), and the rest goes to historical celebrities to find relatives.Anyone with a good reputation and the surname Hou has a share. Situ Houba in the early Eastern Han Dynasty is listed as the first ancestor, and Hou Jin, a literati in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, is listed as the seventh ancestor. (Hou Jing is a Jie, not to mention the seventh generation, even the seventieth generation would not be able to get married with the Han people Hou Ba and Hou Jin. It can be seen that the custom of blindly picking up cattle relatives was very prosperous in the Southern and Northern Dynasties)

Hou Jing, who became the emperor, was not happy. He used to be a prime minister, he could see whoever he wanted, and he could play however he wanted; now he lives in the deep palace, and if he wants to ride a horse and shoot a bird, he is restricted by Wang Wei.After a few days, Hou Jing became bored and complained, "I'm fine to be an emperor. What's the difference between being locked in a cage." Even so, Hou Jing finally achieved the highest goal of life and no longer succumbed to others.It's a pity that it's already dusk and sunset, and his time is running out.His Han Dynasty was just the end of a farce.

There are frequent reports of Liang Jun's success in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.Wang Sengbian conquered Pancheng (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi) with great force all the way; Chen Baxian in the south also defeated Li Qianshi, the governor of Gaozhou who blocked his advance, and won the support of local barbarian leaders Mrs. The various barbarians, which we will describe in detail in "Three Parts Return to the Sui Dynasty"), traveled down the Ganshui River and joined forces with Wang Sengbian in Pancheng. At this time, Chen Baxian's army had grown to more than 30,000 people, with 5,000 crossbows, 2,000 ships, and 500,000 shi of grain and grass. His strength was outstanding.Wang Sengbian's army was short of food, so Chen Baxian gave him 300,000 shi as a subsidy. Wang Sengbian's army was greatly motivated, defeated Qing's rebel army, and captured Yuzhang and Xunyang.

In February of the first year of Chengsheng (552 A.D.), Xiao Yi, king of eastern Hunan, got everything ready and ordered a large-scale conquest of Hou Jing. All the troops set out from Xunyang, and the warships stretched hundreds of miles away with great momentum.Wang Sengbian and Chen Baxian, the main force, made a blood alliance on the river and marched eastward side by side. Hou Zijian fought against Wang Sengbian on the small island south of Shougushu. Hou Jing sent someone to warn Hou Zijian: "The Jingzhou army is good at water warfare. You should not fight with them on the water. Ren Yue lost the battle last year, which is the disadvantage. If the infantry and cavalry confront them, our army will surely win. You can set up camp on the shore and lure them to fight on land." (Hou Jing, who is at a disadvantage, is quite clear about military tactics)

According to Hou Zijian's plan, he abandoned the boat and went ashore, closing the camp and leaving.Wang Sengbian was not fooled either, and stayed in Wuhu for more than ten days, neither advancing nor retreating.After hearing the news, Hou Jing and his party believed that the Jingzhou army was afraid, and ordered Hou Zijian to prepare for the water battle. When Wang Sengbian arrived in Gushu, Hou Zijian led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to challenge on the shore, and sent another 1,000 small boats full of soldiers to attack.Wang Seng refused to accept the move, and ordered his small boats to retreat, leaving the big boats to anchor on both sides of the Yangtze River.Hou Zijian's navy thought that Wang Sengbian was about to run away, so they scrambled to catch up. Wang Sengbian stood at the bow of the ship, waved the battle flag, and the big ship on the shore sailed towards the center of the river, cutting off the return of the rebels in an instant.The rebel army was in chaos, and Wang Sengbian commanded the boat to rush forward.In a fierce battle in the middle of the river, the rebel army was defeated and thousands of soldiers drowned to death. Hou Zijian escaped alone.Wang Sengbian's various naval forces entered the Qinhuai River on the back of the tide, and the former army approached the Chanling Temple outside Jiankang City.Chen Ba first learned the lesson of Liu Zhongli's failure, crossed the Qinhuai River, and set up a camp under the stone city. Hou Jing had no other generals besides Wang Wei and a few others, so he had no choice but to "conquer in person", leaving Wang Wei to guard Taicheng, and led 10,000 infantry and 800 cavalry to the west of the city to fight Wang Sengbian and Chen Baxian. Chen Ba first offered a plan: "We have few enemies, so we should divide our troops to lure the enemy to force the weak." He ordered the generals to disperse their troops, and Hou Jingjun bravely charged the Liang army's camp. , Du Kan and other troops attacked Stone City with cavalry.Hou Jing led more than 100 cavalrymen under him to rush to Chen Baxian's battle formation desperately, but Chen Baxian's army was well-organized and without any flaws, Hou Jing's army lost its position and retreated to Taicheng. When Hou Jing came outside the city gate, he didn't dare to enter the city and stand firm. He ordered Wang Wei to be summoned from the city, and blamed him: "You called me emperor and killed me." He turned to leave. Wang Wei grabbed his horse's rein and bemoaned: "Since ancient times, there has been no emperor who defected. Now the guards in the palace can still fight. Did they just run away like this?" Hou Jing sat on the horse and sighed: "I think back then, when I was in the north, I was famous for defeating He Basheng and Ge Rong; when I came to the south, I crossed the Yangtze River and captured Taicheng. , broke Liu Zhongli on the south bank of the Qinhuai River, and you have seen it with your own eyes. What happened today, I am afraid that God will kill me. If you guard the city well, you may have a chance to turn the tables!" , and the gap between Liang Wudi's "self-gain, self-lost" is too big.) Looking up at the palace wall, Hou Jing couldn't help hesitating and sighing for a long time.He put his two sons born in the Southern Dynasty in leather bags, hung them on the back of the saddle, and fled eastward to Wujun with his horse.As soon as Hou Jing left, Wang Wei and the others didn't even bother to make a comeback. They each looked for ways to survive, and Liang Jun captured them one by one within a few days. Hou Jing fled desperately, but was intercepted again on the road, and most of the cavalry were killed or injured. Finally, he and dozens of defeated soldiers found a few boats, pushed his two sons into the water, and planned to cross the sea to survive. Only Yang Kun, Wang Yuanli, Xie Weirui and others remained among Hou Jing's cronies.Yang Kun is the son of Yang Kan. After Hou Jing gained power, he took Yang Kan's daughter as his concubine. Yang Kun was Hou Jing's brother-in-law and was appointed as the governor of Kuzhi.Hou Jing lost power and fell, Yang Kun didn't want to work for Hou Jing anymore, discussed with Wang and Xie, and decided to kill Hou Jing to protect himself.The three of them fell asleep in Hou Jing, and the boatman was diverted to go north.Hou Jing woke up, climbed onto the deck in a daze, and was shocked to find that the direction was wrong.Yang Kun drew his sword and yelled: "I have been serving the king for many years, and I have achieved nothing so far. I want to use your head to make a fortune." Hou Jing wanted to dive into the water, but Yang Kun cut him with a knife.Hou Jing got up and ran towards the bottom of the cabin, Yang Kun added another spear from behind, and assassinated the evil wolf king Hou Jing. When Hou Jing's body arrived in Jiankang, it was chopped into several sections by Wang Sengbian. The head was sent to Xiao Yi in Jiangling, and his hands were sent to the Northern Qi Dynasty (Xiao Yi had already made good contacts with the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. Hou Jing's body is a good " Meeting Ceremony"), and his body was displayed in the market in Jiankang.Which of the people in Jiankang City doesn't have a kinship feud with Hou Jing?Everyone scrambled to cut up the meat and eat it. It didn't take long for the bones and belts to be divided. Princess Liyang is only seventeen years old, clearly still a child, she also expressed her willingness to eat her husband's meat with everyone to vent her hatred, but she failed to snatch it.Li Shangyin said: "Princess Liyang is fourteen years old, and she will look at the same wall after Qingming warms up." There seems to be a bit of envy between the lines.In fact, women in troubled times, even if they are princesses and queens, are doomed to a lifetime of tragedy. For Hou Jing's important minister Wang Wei, Xiao Yi once wanted to take it for his own use.Someone reminded that when Wang Wei wrote the call to action for Hou Jing, he once satirized Xiao Yi's blindness.Xiao Yi was furious, nailed Wang Wei's tongue to a pillar, cut open his stomach, and cut it into meat sauce. (Wang Wei scolded Gao Cheng when he wrote an article back then. Gao Cheng was not only not angry, but lamented that he failed to discover talents; Xiao Yi claimed to have read thousands of volumes, and his love for talents was not as good as that of "Xianbei children".) Only a few generals such as Ren Yue and Xie Daren were spared from death, and they will be reused in the future. After Hou Jing died, Wang Sengbian entered Taicheng.While he was proud, Wang Sengbian sent troops to plunder the people. The people were robbed and had nowhere to eat and clothing, and they wailed all over the place.The army burned down the palaces in the city at night. After the fire, all the jewels, jades, and ceremonial chariots disappeared.As for where he went, it was self-evident. (Xiao Yi's so-called "Wang Shiping Chaos" is just a Liang Dynasty version of "burning the Old Summer Palace".) Hou Jing was eliminated, and the chaos in the Southern Dynasties did not end.