Chapter 34 Thirteen. Suspicious court incidents

Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao did not die in the year of Mao (that is, the year of Xinmao, 451 AD) as said in the nursery rhyme. It can be seen that the so-called prophecy of the prophecy is nothing but the conjecture of the folks. However, he is indeed here. One year lost his prince Tuobahuang. Tuoba Huang is the eldest son of Tuoba Tao. Since the Northern Wei regime has formed the tradition of pre-establishing the eldest son since Tuoba's heir, Tuoba Huang was established as the crown prince when he was five years old.Facts have proved that this decision is quite correct. Tuoba Huang has been smart and intelligent since he was a child, and he never forgets the books he has read and the words he has heard.When he grew up, he loved to read ancient classics and history, and he was familiar with righteousness. In these respects, he was very similar to his contemporary Emperor Liu Yilong of the Southern Dynasty, but he was a little more bookish than his father.

As mentioned earlier, in Tuoba Tao's many battles against Beiliang and Rouran, Tuoba Huang served as the supervisor of the country and stayed in Pingcheng. He can already be regarded as half of the monarch of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Tuoba Tao used troops abroad, and Tuoba Huang often had good opinions and suggestions, and Tuoba Tao adopted them a lot.In all aspects, this prince is not only qualified, but his future is limitless.But at this moment, something happened. The so-called "reverse the fight and give others a handle", the cause of the accident has to be blamed on Tuobahuang himself.Tuoba Huang acted shrewdly and capablely, but he was ruined by the word "smart".He trusts his subordinates and indulges their behavior; at the same time, he handles private fields and manors through these people, and seeks benefits from them.As a ruler who is under one person and over ten thousand people, such behavior seems too modest.Gao Yun once persuaded him: "The heaven and the earth are selfless, so they can carry all things, and the king is selfless, so they can accommodate all people. Your Highness is the crown prince of the country and an example for all people; but now he runs private land, raises livestock, and even goes to the market. Go to the market to haggle with the common people. There are already a lot of gossip and rumors outside, and sooner or later it will not be good for His Highness. The world belongs to His Highness, and His Highness is rich in the world. What do you want? If the fields, manors, and items sold are distributed to the poor, then no one will slander His Highness."

In my opinion, Tuoba Huang, who is quite business-minded, should have been born in today's commodity economy society. He refused to listen to Gao Yun's earnest advice, and was still clinging to the interests of every field, and finally something bad happened.He has two capable subordinates, one is called Qiu Ni Daosheng (note that Qiu Ni is the surname and Daosheng is the first name), and the other is called Ren Pingcheng.These two people are very favored, and Tuoba Huang has entrusted them with many things, and they have done a good job.But they did not know why they offended the emperor's eunuch Zong Ai.It is said that this Zong Ai is cruel in nature, relying on the emperor's favor and trust in him, he commits crimes everywhere, even Tuoba Huang hates him very much.The relationship between the imperial party and the princelings is very tense.

Zong Ai half-collected and half-fabricated a pile of criminal evidence (probably including running private land, etc.), and sued Tuoba Tao, saying that the people under the crown prince had committed illegal acts and must be severely punished.Tuoba Tao immediately made a case, arrested Qiu Ni Daosheng, Ren Pingcheng and a bunch of people from the Eastern Palace, and executed them all.After the incident broke out, Tuoba Huang was worried and anxious all day long, and died not long after, at the age of twenty-four.Tuoba Huang's death is still a mystery. There are two completely different records about his death in the official history.The usual viewpoints are all taken from the "Book of Wei". In fact, there is only one sentence, which is recorded in "Book of Wei · Eunuch Biography · Zong Ai Biography": "When Shizu was furious, Gong Zong (Tuoba Jun, the son of Tuoba Huang, gave him The posthumous temple name) is so sad." Judging from this passage, Tuobahuang's death seems to be very simple, because he was frightened to death by the East Palace official case caused by the conflict between Zongai and Qiuni Daosheng and others , or smothered to death by the induced depression.However, there are two problems here: 1. If Zong Ai just framed Qiu Ni Daosheng and others to the emperor, why did the emperor go to war and kill the prince's subordinates, and was "very angry"?2. Tuoba Huang, who was originally trusted by the emperor (at least according to the narration in "Wei Shu"), had no chance to speak during the whole incident, but died like this when he was only 24 years old What?

Therefore, this ambiguous sentence in the "Book of Wei" is very suspicious, and the death of Tuobahuang is probably not caused by a small personal grievance between an eunuch and one or two officials.Tuoba Huang's son Tuoba Jun later became emperor, and the official historians of the Wei State probably "took it for the venerable" on these details. So we looked up "Song Shu Suolu Biography" and found another kind of record, this time it was really a piece of news: when Tuoba Tao was marching south, Tuoba Huang sent people to the barracks without telling his father Collecting spoils has gained a lot of benefits.Not wanting to be denounced (probably that Zong Ai), Tuoba Tao was furious and ordered to go to the East Palace to search for stolen goods.Tuoba Huang was afraid, so he sent an assassin to murder Tuoba Tao, but Tuoba Tao found out.Tuoba Tao falsely claimed that he had been killed, and ordered someone to call the prince to welcome the funeral, caught him halfway and locked him up, and killed the prince after a while.

If the record is true, then Tuoba Huang's death is completely self-inflicted, in other words, he is another victim of court power struggle.Of course, with regard to the internal affairs of the Northern Wei Dynasty, most of the historians of the Song Dynasty collected inaccurate second-hand materials, which would be distorted and not worthy of full trust. It is recorded in "A Brief Introduction" that the actual crime of the prince was the fornication of the harem, so even these two history books cannot agree on the caliber.In fact, the official histories of Wei and Song are not completely contradictory. Looking at it comprehensively, we can outline a general framework, namely: Tuoba Huang indulged his subordinates (of course, it may also be out of his original intention) to make a fortune in war (Maybe there are other crimes), Tuoba Tao was told by Zong Ai.Tuoba Tao killed people in the Eastern Palace, and the prince suspected himself, so he wanted to murder Tuoba Tao.Unexpectedly, the plan failed, but was discovered by Tuoba Tao, and the prince was arrested, or suffocated to death, or ordered to die, or executed, the specifics are unknown.

Such a conjecture is relatively more logical. Tuobahuang's premature death can be regarded as a general outbreak of the conflict between the imperial party and the princeling party that has accumulated since the promulgation of the Buddha Order.It is very likely that there was a bloody court struggle here, but it is a pity that it is difficult to find more clear clues in the historical materials that have been handed down to today. The real cause of Tuobahuang's death can only be left to future generations to continue to study.In fact, even regarding the cause of Tuoba Tao's death, the narrations in the two official histories are contradictory. On the contrary, "Song Shu" has no serious information on this issue, only saying that Tuoba Tao died of illness. The "Book of Wei" blamed the emperor's death on the eunuch Zong Ai.

The whole thing is also suspicious.Tuoba Tao's father, Tuoba Si, died of illness not long after the southern expedition. Northerners, especially nomads, were not used to the southern climate, and it was not uncommon for them to die of illness. Tuoba Tao was nearly fifty years old, and although he was in good health, But after all, he is the emperor, pampered and pampered, and it is not impossible to die from a hidden disease due to an accidental ailment.But in this way, it is difficult to explain Zong Ai's series of behaviors after Tuoba Tao's death. So we still follow the official statement of the Northern Wei Dynasty and explain the ending of this mighty emperor on horseback.After Tuoba Huang's death, Tuoba Tao probably felt a little regretful, and he never re-established a prince, but he was very interested in making Tuoba Huang's eldest son, Tuoba Jun, who was only thirteen years old, as the grandson of the emperor, and let him inherit his throne. throne.Zong Ai was afraid that the emperor would overturn the case in the future, and would put all the blame on himself, so he sneaked into the palace, killed Tuoba Tao, and announced to the public that the emperor died of a sudden illness (the eunuch guarded the emperor day and night, and wanted to kill the emperor. , it can really save a lot of trouble).

Now that the emperor is dead, the next problem is who to be the king.Tuoba Tao had eleven sons in total, and six of them grew up. In addition to the prince Tuoba Huang, the following were Jin Wang Tuoba Fuluo, Qin Wang (later renamed Dongping King) Tuoba Han, Yan Wang (later King of Linhuai) Tuoba Tan, King of Wu (later named King of Nan'an) Tuoba Yu, King of Chu Tuoba Jian, the second son of King Jin has passed away, and the oldest is King Qin.But according to Tuoba Tao's meaning, it is about skipping the son's generation and establishing the eldest grandson Tuoba Jun.Shangshu Lanyan, Shizhonghe, and Xueti thought that an elderly monarch should be supported, and he would not be mourned due to constipation, so he called Tuobahan into the palace and prepared to take the throne.

After thinking about it, Xue Ti felt that it was not appropriate, and suggested that it is better to establish the eldest grandson.These few people were hesitant, but Zong Ai, who was guilty and guilty in the inner palace, made up another idea.He had a good relationship with the King of Wu, so he privately welcomed Tuoba Yu to the palace, falsely passed on the Queen's secret edict, and ordered Lan Yan and three others to enter the inner palace to discuss matters. Shang Shu and the servants never took the eunuch seriously, so they came here obediently.As soon as he entered the palace, he heard a group of people rushing up behind him, pushing them to the ground, binding them firmly, and doing it in the hall - it turned out that the eunuchs under Zong Ai had been waiting behind with sticks for a long time.Zong Ai ordered the eunuchs to search out Tuoba Han hiding in the palace and kill him.

Tuobayu was established as emperor, and he made Zongai the great Sima, the great general, the grand master, and the governor of all Chinese and foreign military forces, and he was also named King Feng Yi.Because he won the wrong position, he took money from the treasury to reward the officials, thinking that he would be able to secure the throne, but instead aroused everyone's suspicion (exactly the same as Tuoba Shao who killed his father before).Zong Ai dared to bully others when Tuoba Tao was in power, so he didn't really care about Tuoba Yu.After half a year, Tuobayu was worried about Zongai's domineering and domineering, and planned to deprive him of his power.Zong Ai noticed something, took the opportunity of Tuoba Yu to go to the ancestral temple in the east of the city, and ordered the little eunuch Jia Zhou next to him to kill him overnight. (One person killed two emperors in a row, and Zong Ai tied the record set by Liu Yu as an eunuch. This record was not broken until the end of the Northern Dynasty by Yu Wenhu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. This is a later story.) The regicide incident is very secret, only Habayashi doctor Liu Ni knows.Liu Ni persuaded Zong Ai to make Tuoba Jun the emperor, Zong Ai said in surprise: "You are so stupid, if Tuoba Jun is established, those of us who have enemies with Tuoba Huang will not all be unlucky! Let's take a look among the princes. Whoever is more virtuous will set up one." Liu Ni was worried, so he found Yuanhe, the minister in the palace, and Lu Li, the minister in the south (the son of Lu Tong who rode to Chang'an alone), and decided to launch a coup.The three had learned from the past and acted cautiously. They first sent heavy troops to guard the palace, and then secretly connected Tuoba Jun to Pingcheng.When everything was finished, Liu Ni rushed back to the ancestral temple in the east of the city, and shouted at the guards who were still waiting there: "Zong Ai killed the King of Nan'an. It's a big treason. The emperor's grandson has ascended the throne, and all the guards are ordered to return." The palace captures Ni." The soldiers rushed into the palace, arrested the eunuchs involved in the regicide, and exterminated Zong Ai, Jia Zhou and others.Zong'ai's organs were exhausted, and he also took his own life into it. Tuoba Jun successfully became the fifth emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, this is Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty.This year is 452 AD, the twenty-ninth year of Liu Song Yuanjia.