Chapter 7 6. Tuoba Siping fights against the outside world

Qinghe King Tuobashao brutally killed his father, but he was a teenager after all, so he was a bit flustered.According to the traditional customs of the Xianbei people, the leader of a tribe is passed on through the method of "brother ends up with younger brother", but Tuoba Gui prefers the succession system of the Han people, so he arranged for the eldest son Tuoba Si to be his prince (It is said that there is another reason for Tuoba Gui to set up Tuoba Si, that is, he loves Tuoba Si's eldest son, Tuoba Tao who will become Emperor Taiwu of Wei in the future, and hopes that he can inherit the throne in the future and achieve the great cause of Wei's unification of the world) .At that time, Tuoba Shao was not sure how many veterans and important officials in the court would support him, and what the people's opinions were.He discussed with his entourage and decided to take a risk to make a test.

The next day, the gates of the palace were not opened until noon.Tuobashao falsely preached the imperial decree and ordered civil and military officials to gather in front of the Duan Gate outside the palace and stand facing north.Tuoba Shao asked the officials anxiously through the palace gate: "I have an uncle and an elder brother, who do you want to support?" When the princes and ministers outside heard this, they couldn't help being stunned, and no one dared to say a word for a long time.Grand Duke Sun Song of Nanping reacted a little faster and replied: "We are willing to support His Royal Highness."

Only then did everyone wake up like a dream, knowing that the emperor had passed away, but they didn't know the details, so they stood at the bottom and pretended to be dumb.Only Tuoba Yi's younger brother, Yin Ping Gong Tuoba Lie left crying bitterly.The news spreads in Pingcheng, and the life and death of the crown prince is still uncertain. A civil unrest is about to break out. Tuobashao heard that people were uneasy and was afraid, so he took out a large amount of cloth and silk to reward the princes and ministers, hoping to get strong support.Tuoba Si, who had been incognito among the people for a long time, learned that there was a change in the palace, so he quietly rushed back from the outside, secretly observing the movement inside and outside the palace.

Tuoba Si didn't dare to reveal his identity easily, he hid in the mountains during the day, and stayed at the home of his bodyguard Wang Luoer at night.Wang Luoer has a neighbor named Li Dao, who also secretly helped Wang Luoer serve Tuoba Si, and sent him back to the mountain in the morning.Li Dao is an enthusiastic person, but his awareness of secrecy is not enough.After such a period of time, the common people nearby heard about this incident and knew that Tuoba Si was not dead, so they ran to tell each other happily, and the news accidentally reached Tuoba Shao's ears.Since Tuoba Shao started the rebellion, what he was most worried about was that his elder brother would come back to settle accounts with him, so he immediately sent people to arrest Li Dao and behead him; kill him.

Tuoba Shao controlled the power in the court, but he couldn't control the people's opinions, and the prince-supporting faction finally gained the upper hand.Wang Luoer ran errands for Tuobasi, sneaked into Pingcheng, secretly reported the situation to the ministers, and contacted Anyuan General Antong and others, and secretly made arrangements.Everything was ready, Tuoba Si marched towards Pingcheng with his entourage, and as soon as he arrived in the west of the city, a horse came to report: Tuoba Shao has been captured by the guards around him, waiting to be dealt with.Although Tuoba Si is gentle and kind, he is unambiguous in dealing with his political enemies, let alone the chief culprit who killed his father and emperor.He issued an order to execute Tuoba Shao, his mother He Shi and a dozen of his followers and staff.

In the sixth year of Tianci in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 409), the heir of Tuoba became the emperor.He is one of the three monarchs in the early Northern Wei Dynasty. His father, Tuoba Gui, is an entrepreneur, and his son, Tuoba Tao, is a Tuba. However, its role cannot be underestimated. The newly enthroned Tuoba Si continued to implement Tuoba Gui's policies. He built a large number of houses in Pingcheng and other places, and moved the Xianbei people and other Hu people outside the Great Wall to the Kanto region.This is a coercive official immigration policy aimed at restoring and developing the long-destroyed Central Plains, but the resistance encountered is directly proportional to its far-reaching significance.The officials at that time did not understand the people's attachment to their homeland, and they did not know how to organize "neighborhood committees" to do ideological work. In the process of implementing policies, most of them adopted rigid and coercive methods, which caused resentment among some local people.Some rogues took the opportunity to stir up emotions, many young people fled and gathered outside, and organized bandits or robbers appeared in many counties.

Tuoba Si was very troubled by the problems of the people, and he didn't want to go all out to suppress them, so he discussed with the ministers: "I originally wanted to eliminate harm for the people, but it's a pity that those officials made things bad, so that chaos occurred frequently. Now the violation There are too many people, it is impossible to arrest and kill them all. I mean appease through amnesty, what do you think?" Hou Qu, a native of Yuancheng, said: "It is a great crime for the people to flee and become robbers. Now if they are not convicted, they will be pardoned, which is to 'seek the bottom for the sake of the superior' (that is, putting the cart before the horse, not the behavior of the person who implements the policy) , I’m afraid it’s inappropriate. According to what I see, it’s better to kill the chief culprit and pardon the rest of the party. This is enough to stabilize the world.”

Cui Hong from Qinghe (this is also the Cui family of Qinghe, the eldest son of Cui Hao, a well-known Han official in the Northern Wei Dynasty), said: "The purpose of a sage monarch to lead the people is to stabilize and unite, not to compete with the people. Victory or defeat. Although pardoning a crime is not a positive move, it is easy to execute. Hou Qu means to punish first and then pardon, it is better to get all done with one move of pardon! If someone is not honest after being pardoned, it will be impossible to kill again at that time It's too late." Tuoba Si agreed with Cui Hong's suggestion and carried it out according to the plan. Sure enough, many people stopped causing chaos. As for the few who continued to make chaos and sabotage, Tuoba Si was no longer soft-hearted, and sent General Yu Li to lead 10,000 troops to pacify them. , quickly resolved the unstable factors.

On the one hand, the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out internal migration to achieve a reasonable allocation of resources, and on the other hand, it attacked the invading Rouran cavalry and "purified" the external environment. Shelun, the leader of Rouran’s tribe (the leader of Rouran’s original surname is Yu Jiulu, so Shelun’s full name is Yu Jiulu Shelun, this word comes from the Xianbei word “Mugulu”, which means bald head, which may have originated from the northern Xianbei people The custom of not keeping hair. The Northern Wei Dynasty was called "Suolu" or "Suotoulu" by the southern history books. "Suolu" refers to the Hulu who claimed the head. This custom of the Donghu has been used until the later Qing Dynasty) was originally the son of the Northern Saibei Luoyan Heti who belonged to Tuoba Gui.Tuoba Gui distributed the tribes of Yanheti to other tribes and forced them to migrate. This policy aroused strong dissatisfaction among the sons of Yanheti.She Lun and his brothers led their troops and abandoned their father and fled into the desert. After several twists and turns, they defected to the tribe of their uncle Pihouba.

Pihouba and Yanheti are blood brothers, but they have long been divided into two big tribes, and they don't trust each other.He placed Shelun and others in a remote place in the south of the tribe, and sent his four sons to strictly monitor them.Unwilling to be subordinated, Shelun planned to kill Pihouba and several of his sons, annexed the tribe led by Pihouba, and then went deep into Mobei. At that time, Tuobagui was busy fighting Houyan and Houqin in the south, and had no time to look north.Shelun took the opportunity to attack from all sides, and his momentum gradually became stronger. In the fifth year of Tianxing in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 402), Shelun finally unified the entire Mobei area, and called himself "Qiu Dou Fa Khan" (the word "Qiu Dou Fa Khan" comes from the In the Xianbei language, it is equivalent to the meaning of "the founding monarch") and became the first monarch of the Rouran Khanate.

The founding of Rouran posed a huge threat to the northern frontier of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Since then, the two countries have wrestled in the vast Mobei for more than a century.Taking advantage of Tuoba Gui's murder and the restlessness of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Shelun invaded the Great Wall and looted a large number of people and livestock.Tuoba Si stabilized the situation and naturally launched a retaliatory counterattack.In the second year of Yongxing (AD 410), he sent his grandson Song to lead an army to the Northern Expedition, smashing the Rouran cavalry, killing Shelun and fleeing Mobei, where he died on the way.Shelun's son Duba was still young, and the elders of the tribe decided to support Shelun's younger brother Hulu, the second ruler of Rouran, "Aikugai Khan" (meaning "beautiful appearance" in Xianbei language).Hulu realized that the political situation had stabilized after the new leader of the Northern Wei Dynasty ascended the throne, and he could not trouble the Northern Wei Dynasty for a while, so he could send someone to repair it with Tuoba Si the next year. Tuoba Si readily accepted Rouran's letter of surrender, and the north was temporarily pacified, and he could finally turn his head and look at the Central Plains.Before the unification of the north, the Northern Wei Dynasty's military operations against Rouran served to solve worries for the future.In the eyes of the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a country without a fixed territory like Rouran is difficult to eliminate in a short period of time. As long as the offensive posture is maintained periodically, it will not become a greater worry; they think more about how to Eliminate the small countries that ruled the Central Plains.It was only then that Tuoba Si discovered that during the years of internal and external troubles in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south had undergone a lot of changes: after Liu Yu took power, he quickly went north to attack the small country Nanyan, killing Murong Xianbei This family shocked the northern countries that had been entangled with each other for many years.It has been many years since these barbarians have encountered such a strong southerner that they fear.