Chapter 20 Two, Liaodong three

Liaodong is the place where the Xianbei people rose, and it is also the area where the Xianbei forces have been the most powerful in history.By the Three Kingdoms period, Liaodong had formed three tribes centered on the three major families (note that the three tribes of Liaodong mentioned here and the three tribes of Xianbei mentioned above are not the same concept), and they are from east to west according to their geographical location: Yuwen Xianbei, Murong Xianbei and Duan Xianbei.Just like the situation of China's three-legged confrontation at that time, the situation in Liaodong Xianbei was also a struggle between the three countries, and they refused to give in to each other.

Murong Xianbei is located in the middle of Xianbei in Liaodong.In the early years of Cao Wei, Mo Huba, the leader of the Murong family, led his troops to move to the west of Liaoning. ) Jianguo. There are roughly three theories about the origin of the "Murong" surname. According to the "Book of Jin", the local people often wear a hat called Bu Yaoguan. Mo Huba thought it was very beautiful, so he tied up his hair and wore this hat. When people saw Mo Huba, they would call him Bu Yao. Because of his impure accent, the name was passed around and he was called Murong. Mo Huba didn't mind, so he simply took Murong as his surname. Murong's descendants also added that it means "Mu Eryi's virtue follows Sanguang's appearance".

The two books Yao Weiyuan's "Northern Hu Surnames" and Bai Niao Kuji's "East Hu Nationality" both think that the history books are just the Murong tribe's claim that they put money on their faces, which is not credible.Both books believe that "Murong" comes from the Xianbei language, "North" believes that it is the name of an early tribal chief, and "Dong" believes that it is derived from the pronunciation of "Fu" in Xianbei.Judging from the naming customs of the Hu tribe at that time, I think the idea of ​​the chief's name is more reasonable.

When Mo Huba's grandson Murong She returned, he was named Xianbei Grand Chanyu by Emperor Wu of Jin because of his meritorious service in the conquest. Murong's tribe moved to the northern part of Liaodong County, and then began to be influenced by Han culture. After Murong Shegui's death, his younger brother Murong Nai seized the opportunity to seize the Shanyu position that should have belonged to Murongxin, Shegui's son, and sent someone to murder Murongxin.Murongxu escaped the catastrophe only when he fled to a Han family in Liaodong.Soon, Murong Nai was killed by his subordinates, and Murong Xin was welcomed back and became the leader of the Murong Department.

Murong Xing was an eye-catching figure when he was young, and was once hailed as a talent who "is a weapon of fate and helps the times".After he came to power, he did have plans to achieve a great cause. The first thing he wanted to do was to crusade against Yuwen Xianbei. Yuwen Xianbei came from beyond the Liaodong Great Wall in the northeast of Murong Xianbei, and the place is more remote than Murong Xianbei.Although it is known as the Xianbei tribe of Donghu, its language is quite different from Xianbei, but it is similar to the Huns, and it is said to be a distant relative of the Southern Huns Shanyu.The Yuwen Department and the Murong Department have always been at odds, so Murong Xin will send troops to attack the Yuwen Department as soon as he comes up.However, the strength of the Murong Ministry was still relatively weak at that time, and Murong Xin specially wrote to Emperor Wu of Jin to ask for support.Emperor Wu of Jin didn't want trouble in Liaodong, so he didn't grant his request.Murongxu was furious, and led his troops to break into the Han settlements in western Liaoning and loot them.Emperor Wu of Jin concentrated all the troops in Youzhou to attack Murongxin. Murongxin was hard to resist and returned in a big defeat. Only then did he become more honest in front of the Jin Dynasty. (Unfortunately, this kind of "honesty" was only limited to the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin. Like Liu Yuan and others, Murongxin also waited for the opportunity to change.)

Afterwards, Murongxin turned his attention to the expansion of the Fuyu Kingdom in the northeast. The king of the Fuyu Kingdom was forced to commit suicide under the iron cavalry of the Murong tribe, and the Fuyu Kingdom was once destroyed.Murongxin absorbed the power of Fuyu Kingdom and greatly enhanced his own strength. The Murong tribe is located between the Yuwen and Duan clans, both of which are stronger than the Murong tribe.On the one hand, Murongxin asked Emperor Wu of Jin to surrender and obtained the official position conferred by the Jin Dynasty. On the other hand, he temporarily used money to deal with the successive attacks of the two ministries. Also forged an indissoluble bond.

Murongxin moved to Dathorn City, where he taught the tribesmen to farm, and made laws and regulations similar to those of the Han people, changing the customs of the Xianbei people as nomads.Murong Xin waited in peace for more than ten years, and history finally created an opportunity for him. In the first year of Jinhui Emperor Tai'an (302 AD), Yuwen Mogui, the leader of Yuwen Xianbei, unified the Donghu tribes outside the Great Wall and called himself Shanyu, becoming the most powerful force outside the Great Wall, so he prepared to invade Murong who was next to him. department.Yuwen Mogui sent his younger brother Yuwen Quyun to attack the border cities of the Murong tribe, intending to eat up the Murong tribe.Murong Xin knew his opponent very well, and he personally led the troops to attack Yuwen Quyun's leader Su Yan, and defeated his opponent in the first battle.

This Suyan originally looked down on Murongxin, but of course he was angry and annoyed after being defeated this time. He quickly gathered an army of 100,000 people to attack Murong's department and surrounded Murongxin in the city of big thorns. Murongxin's subordinates were very afraid. , I feel like the country is going to perish.Murong Xin didn't care at all, instead he said to them: "Although Suyan has a lot of soldiers, they don't have any rules at all. It's already in my calculations. Just fight hard, you have nothing to worry about!" " This sentence seems light and simple, but it hits the weakness of Yuwen's army.The morale of Murong's army was greatly boosted from top to bottom. Murongxin saw the timing, put on his armor, and led his troops out of the city to meet the enemy.Although there were many troops in Suyan outside the city, they had never seen such an elite opponent.Murong's army has been chasing hundreds of miles, capturing and beheading tens of thousands of soldiers.Yuwen Quyun's army had to retreat beyond the Great Wall, far away from Murong Xin's limelight.Murong Xin became famous in the first battle, and some famous people nearby voted under his command.

Due to the weakening of the control power from the Central Plains regime, the northern nomads, especially the emerging tribes, were in turmoil, mergers and growth in the early fourth century AD.The Yuwen Department and the Murong Department, one outside the Great Wall and the other inside the Great Wall, are both consciously expanding their power and territory, but the methods they adopt are not the same.When Murong Xin conquered a tribe or force, he often paid attention to digestion and absorption. It took several years to reorganize their army and integrate their people. The same is true for different cultures.However, the Ministry of Yuwen adopted the old-fashioned nomadic conquest method. The army that had just conquered was thrown into a new conquest war. If it goes well, the large number of people is of course an advantage, but if it goes wrong, it will mess up itself.Two ways of conquest determine the outcome in this war.

It is not difficult to see that due to geographical reasons, the Murong Ministry's method is closer to the traditional conquest method of the Central Plains forces.Although somewhat inaccurate, I still think that these two conquests are just a miniature version of the two conquests that have alternately appeared in Chinese history for thousands of years—the conquest of farming peoples and the conquest of nomadic peoples. .The outcome of a war may be just accidental, but if we broaden our horizons and look at the long-term development of history and culture, we may be able to perceive the necessity contained in this accidental.