Chapter 23 V. The Crisis of Later Zhao

After Shi Le unified the north, the situation in the world was surprisingly similar to that of the Three Kingdoms period, that is, the later Zhao lived in the north, and its territory was equivalent to that of Cao Wei; the Eastern Jin Dynasty was in the southeast, and its territory was similar to that of Dong Wu; After Hanzhong and Ningzhou (that is, the southern and central lands of the Three Kingdoms), the territory has also been expanded to the jurisdiction of the Shuhan of the Three Kingdoms.In addition, there are some surrounding small countries, mainly the Dai State of the Tuoba clan in the north of Bingzhou, the Zhang clan regime in Liangzhou, and the Murong clan and Duan clan in Liaodong, which are still not clear about the Xianbei tribe.Shi Le's Hou Zhao State seemed to be the most powerful country at that time, but its internal crisis was the most serious. The problem lies in Shi Le's policy of ethnic oppression.

Shi Le started as a Jie people and established the post-Zhao state. In the Jin Dynasty, the Jie people had the lowest status among the Five Hus. Implement a policy of ethnic oppression.Shi Le believed that Hou Zhao was a country of Jie people, who regarded Jie people as the people of the country, strictly prohibited people from using characters such as "Hu" and "Jie", and appointed Jie people in the ruling class.The Jie people can run amok and rob the Han people, even if they rob the Han family, they can be pardoned as innocent. Once, a drunk barbarian broke into the gate of the palace on horseback. Shi Le was furious and asked the law enforcement officer (that is, the gatekeeper) of the palace gate: "The majesty of the monarch's order spreads to the world, let alone in the palace gate Now! Who was the one who rode in just now, why did you let him go?"

The law enforcement was terrified, and replied: "Just now a drunk barbarian broke in. I can't stop him at all. It's really hard to talk to a barbarian." Shi Le laughed and said, "It's hard for a barbarian to talk to him." Shi Le's law enforcement against the palace gate is still not guilty. However, Shi Le was very interested in the culture of the Han people, and there were a large number of Han people around him, especially the low-level gentry among the Han people. For these gentry, his prohibition was not strictly enforced. Fan Tan, who joined Shi Le's army, was a Han Chinese, and his life was very poor.Shi Le promoted him to an official position and invited him to the palace to meet him, only to see him wearing tattered clothes.

Shi Le asked in surprise, "Why is Fan Canjun so poor!" Fan Tan was honest by nature, so he replied very bluntly: "I just met a group of Jie thieves, and almost all my property was robbed." Shi Le comforted him with a smile and said, "The Jie thieves are robbing things like this! Let me compensate you for their losses." Fan Tan suddenly remembered the ban, and was so frightened that he quickly kowtowed to Shi Le to plead guilty.Shi Le absolved him of his crime and said, "My ban is for ordinary people, not for you old scholars!" Finally, he was given chariots, horses, clothes, and a lot of money.

Shi Le's two-handed policy against the Han people finally won the support of the Han scholars.Despite the existence of hidden dangers, the north has entered a short period of recuperation after the war, and the scene of the early Zhao Dynasty is prosperous. After Shi Le had been emperor for several years, he began to think about his successor. Shi Le's prince is his second son Shi Hong.This Shi Hong is very different from his father, good at writing but not good at martial arts.Shi Le was very worried, and said: "The world is not peaceful today, and we should not favor civility over martial arts." So he specially arranged for famous scholars at that time to teach the prince the art of war and swordsmanship, but Shi Hong's nature could not be changed.

Shi Le often sighed to Xu Guang, the secretary of Zhongshu: "Daya (Shi Hong's character) is dark and weak, and he doesn't look like the son of a general at all." Xu Guang comforted him and said: "Grandpa Han took over the world immediately, but Emperor Xiaowen kept the world in silence. The descendants of saints should not be easy to kill. This is the way of heaven." Shi Le was happy after hearing this. Xu Guang persuaded Shi Le: "The crown prince is benevolent, filial and respectful, but Zhongshan Wang Shihu is cruel and cunning. I am afraid that the crown prince will not own the throne in the future. I think it is better to gradually weaken Shihu's power and let the prince participate in the government earlier." Although Shi Le agreed in his heart A view, but no actual action.

Shi Hong's uncle, Shi Hong's uncle, remonstrated with Shi Le: "The king of Zhongshan is brave and courageous, and quite capable of maneuvering. There is no one in the Manchu Dynasty who can match him in civil and military affairs. According to my observation, in his eyes, except for your majesty, he has no respect for other people. They treat it like nothing. This man has been in command of the army for a long time, and his prestige is well known inside and outside, but his temperament is unkind, cruel and easy to kill. Now his sons have grown up and began to control the military. When His Majesty is here, naturally Something will happen, I am afraid that in the future he will not be willing to be subordinated to others and assist the young master. Your Majesty should make a decision early to avoid endless troubles."

Shi Le was very impatient with the people around him evaluating his capable generals in this way. He only said: "Nowadays the world is not peaceful and wars are incessant. Daya is young, so he should be supported by capable people. The King of Zhongshan has made great achievements and is also a relative. I Just about to entrust him with a heavy responsibility, why is it so unbearable as you said? I think you are afraid that you will not be able to monopolize the power when you assist the young master in the future? You don't have to worry too much, I will let you be the minister of life."

Seeing that Shi Le misunderstood his meaning, Cheng Xia burst into tears. He said, "What I said was for the sake of the community, but Your Majesty thought I was doing it for my own self-interest. What a shame! Although the King of Zhongshan was raised by the Empress Dowager Big, but not His Majesty's own flesh and blood, after all, you can't trust too much. He also relies on His Majesty's supernatural power, and does his best. His Majesty bestows glory and wealth on his father and son. It is enough to think that Cao Wei appointed Sima Yi and his son, and finally died in his hands. The situation back then is so similar to today, so in the past, wouldn’t King Zhongshan be the biggest beneficiary in the future? If His Majesty doesn’t get rid of King Zhongshan, sooner or later the country will no longer be eaten by blood.” Shi Le still refused to listen to this dangerous statement.

When Cheng Xia saw Xu Guang in private, he said worriedly: "The emperor won't listen to us, the crown prince is in danger, what should we do?" Xu Guang said: "The king of Zhongshan hated us two very much. If he takes power in the future, not only will the country be in trouble, but we will also be in trouble. We must find a way to let the emperor get rid of this stone tiger." (scribes Typical thinking, unable to use their own efforts to change their destiny, and can only hope for a holy decree from those in power.) After all, life-saving is the most important thing, and the two continued to look for opportunities from Shi Le.

One day, when Shi Le met Xu Guang, his face was gloomy and unhappy. Xu Guang took the opportunity to ask, "Why is your majesty still so unhappy when he wiped out the land of the eight states?" Shi Le sighed, and said, "Wu and Shu haven't settled down yet, and the Sima regime hasn't been eliminated. I'm really worried that future generations will judge me as a monarch who failed to unify the world. When I think of this, I can't help but feel uncomfortable. what." Xu Guang hurriedly said: "I thought your majesty was worried about the troubles of his confidants, but unexpectedly, he was also worried about the troubles of his siblings. Why do you say that? Please think about it, your majesty, Cao Wei inherited the Han Dynasty and became the orthodox of the world; although Liu Bei separated Bashu, However, it cannot be said that the Han Dynasty did not perish; although Sun Wu ruled across the river, it was far inferior to the power of Wei. His Majesty commanded the two capitals and was the emperor of the Central Plains. Similar to Sun Quan, these are just minor troubles of siblings, nothing to worry about. The real trouble is the King of Zhongshan, Shihu, who is second only to His Majesty in military prowess. There is a contemptuous look, and he is not a loyal minister at all. After ten thousand years, your majesty, there will be accidents, this is a worry in your heart, I hope your majesty will make a decision as soon as possible." What he said was so logical that Shi Le was speechless, but he still had no intention of weakening Shi Hu's power.Later, although he made some small adjustments, let the prince take part in politics, and let the Zhongchang attendant Yan Zhen assist the prince in making major decisions, which limited Shi Hu's power, but there was no substantial change. In the same year when Murong Xin died, Shi Le was also dying of a serious illness. Shi Hu took the opportunity to enter the court, and falsely passed on the imperial edict, and all officials and princes were not allowed to enter.Before Shi Le died, he probably felt Shi Hu's conspiracy faintly, but at this time, he was unable to do what he wanted, so he could only leave a weak last word for Shi Hong and Shi Hu brothers, asking them to use Sima as a lesson to protect the country together. An Ding, and hope that Shi Hu can remember Zhou Gong and Huo Guang's actions, and don't give any excuses to future generations. Shi Hu nodded in agreement, and Shi Le passed away.Shi Hu immediately hijacked Shi Hong out of the palace, first arrested Cheng Xia and Xu Guang who were the most disliked, and ordered his son Shi Sui to lead troops into the palace for defense. Shi Hong was so frightened that he wanted to give up the throne to Shi Hu.Shi Hu replied: "The emperor is dead and the crown prince takes the throne. How can I mess up the etiquette!" Conclusion, how can I say this first!" Shi Hong came to the throne tremblingly, and Shi Hu immediately ordered Cheng Xia, Xu Guang and others to be beheaded.Shi Hong also appointed Shi Hu as the prime minister, king of Wei, and Da Shanyu, and made Wei Jun and other thirteen counties the state of Wei. In this way, Shi Hu became the actual quasi-emperor. Although Shi Hong was the emperor, he no longer had the majesty to speak of. Shihu monopolizes power, and there are many people who oppose it in China. First, Empress Dowager Liu and Shi Le's adopted son Shi Kan conspired to raise an army. Shi Kan fled to Yanzhou on purpose, supported Nanyang King Shi Hui as the leader of the alliance, and jointly raised the banner of righteousness against Shi Hu.However, when he came to the city of Yanzhou with a small number of troops, he found that the city had already been prepared and could not conquer the city, so he had to flee south to Qiaocheng. Roasted alive.The Liu family was also informed and was killed by Shi Hu. Then Wang Shisheng and Shi Lang of Hezhong sent troops from Guanzhong and Luoyang to attack Shihu respectively. Shi Sheng claimed to be the governor of Qinzhou and surrendered to Jin to rebel against Zhao; Pu Hong, the leader of the Di people in Guanzhong, took refuge in Zhang Jun of Liangzhou.There was chaos in the middle school for a while, Shi Hu asked his son Shi Sui to stay in Xiangguo, and personally led 70,000 infantry and cavalry to defeat Shi Lang, captured Shi Lang, cut off his hands and feet, and then killed him. Shi Hu sent Liang Wang Shi Ting as the vanguard to attack Shi Sheng. Shi Sheng's general Guo Quan and the Xianbei Shegui tribe (this Xianbei should be the Xianbei tribe of Longxi) joined forces to resist. After the defeat of the Zhao army, Shi Ting died in battle.Unexpectedly, the Xianbei people were secretly bribed by Shi Hu, and they suddenly attacked Shi Sheng. military. At this time, there were more than 100,000 households of Di and Qiang people in the Guanzhong area. Shi Hu did not dare to underestimate Pu Hong who was attached to Zhang Jun in the west, so he sent general Ma Qiu to attack. After resisting Zhao's powerful attack, he led his people to surrender to Zhao, and asked Shihu to move the big households in Guanzhong, as well as the Di people and Qiang people to the Guandong.Shi Hu agreed, and ordered Pu Hong and Yao Yizhong, the leader of the Qiang people, to lead the people of their respective tribes to move eastward. Later Zhao's ruling center has always been in Kanto. A deep foreshadowing.