Chapter 29 11. Unification of Liaodong

Murong Hao was naturally overjoyed to have Murong Han's help when he was enjoying the spring breeze, and he was canonized as General Jianwei.Murong Han is highly skilled in martial arts and has great strategy, and he understands Murong Hao's strategic direction very well, that is, to conquer the forces behind him, such as Goguryeo and Yuwenbu, and then look for opportunities to use the original image.With this helper, Murong Hao is much easier than before. Whether Murong Hao had any intention of going south to take the Central Plains at that time is actually hard to say.On the one hand, as a branch of the Xianbei people, the Murong family has always regarded Liaodong and its eastern and northern regions (roughly equivalent to what we call northeast China and northern Korea today) as their sphere of influence, and unified this region or at least became The suzerainty of this region was the common aspiration of all Liaodong and Xianbei ministries including the Murong family at that time; on the other hand, after a certain degree of Sinicization in terms of production methods and political systems, the Murong family did have a strong interest in the culture of the Han people in the Central Plains. There is interest and yearning, and thus a sense of identity.In this way, the Murong family looked at the changes in the situation from the perspective of the Han people, and wanted to go south to the Yellow River Basin to fight against the Later Zhao. This can be seen from Murong Hao’s several letters to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, where he proposed to work together to break Zhao. Of course, this can also be understood as an excuse used by Qianyan to establish its legal status in the Northeast.

Murong Hao built a new capital, Longcheng, in the north of Liucheng according to the style of the Han imperial city, and sent envoys to the Eastern Jin Dynasty to ask him to be named General and King Yan. Yu Liang had passed away at that time, and his two younger brothers, Yu Bing and Yu Yi, were in power.Most ministers in the Eastern Jin Dynasty believed that since the Han Dynasty, there has been no such thing as a king with a different surname, and the generals have always served in the court, and there is no reason to send them to "border towns".However, the authority of the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been completely lost since the Yongjia Rebellion. Emperor Cheng of the Jin Dynasty felt that Murong Hao was "loyal" to him and should be rewarded.Given the strength of the Murong family, the nerdy ministers in the Eastern Jin dynasty could only be talking.

Yu Bing received a letter from Murong Hao, reprimanding him for holding a lot of power in the country, but he didn't know how to avenge the country. Favors, so he also wrote to Emperor Cheng asking to agree to Murong Hao.Five years after Murong Hao claimed to be the King of Yan, he received a legitimate title of Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. (How about it, is it very similar to the period when King Zhou Weilie entrusted the three Jins as princes? The weak "central government" and the powerful "separatist regimes of the princes" are similar situations, but the scale of the war is already different. Sixteen China is like the second Warring States period in Chinese history. The previous one was a war of the Han people or the Huaxia people, but this time it was a war in the entire Han cultural circle at that time.)

In the eighth year of Xiankang (342 A.D.), Emperor Cheng of Jin Dynasty, Murong Hao moved his capital to Longcheng, preparing to crusade against Goguryeo and the Ministry of Yuwen with the attitude of "king of Liaodong".Murong Han suggested to Murong Hao that since Yidou returned to power, the Yuwen Department has incompetent generals, no fighting spirit in the army, and is declining day by day, and he has first-hand topographical information when he was in the Yuwen Department.Although Yuwenbu belonged to Houzhao, after all, Houzhao was beyond reach. Eliminating Yuwenbu can be said to be an easy task, but Goguryeo is closer, and Yuwenbu is close to each other.If the Ministry of Yuwen was attacked first, Goguryeo would probably take advantage of the vacancy and attack areas where Yan's defense was weak. If there were fewer troops in the country, it would not be enough to defend, and more troops would not be enough to attack, so Goguryeo is a serious worry.It is better to take Goguryeo first, and then destroy the Yuwenbu. The Yuwenbu is far away, and its strength is barely enough to protect itself. It is impossible to take advantage of the fire.It will be easy to deal with Goguryeo, and then go back and clean up the Yuwen Department.Murong Hao agreed.

There are two roads to attack Goguryeo from Liaodong, the north and the south, the north one is flat and wide, and the south one is steep and narrow.Murong Hao once again obeyed Murong Han's plan, and the main force attacked Goguryeo from the unexpected southern route. The defensive troops encountered were only old and weak soldiers led by King Gao Zhao of Goguryeo. They could not withstand the impact of Qianyan's elite troops and soon collapsed .Gao Zhao fled alone, leaving his mother and wife in the hands of Yan Bing.The former Yan army directly occupied the capital of Goguryeo, and then turned around and wiped out the remaining Goguryeo troops who stayed in the North Road to resist.

Murong Hao couldn't find Gao Zhao for a while, and knew that he couldn't stay in Goguryeo for a long time, so he came up with a poisonous plan, dug up Gao Zhao's father's grave, and brought his body back to China.This trick really worked, and half a year later, Gao Zhao sent his younger brother to pay tribute to Murong Hao, only to get back his father's remains, while his mother was still detained in Qianyan as a hostage. From then on, Goguryeo, which was once prominent in the Northeast during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, basically had to accept the rule of Yan State.This Goguryeo later re-emerged by taking advantage of the decline of the Yan State and the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and once entered the Goryeo period that was proud of the history of North Korea or South Korea.In fact, in my opinion, Goguryeo or Goryeo also originated from the Donghu branch. In fact, it is closer to Xianbei countries like Qianyan. Qiu Chi mentioned earlier, and Tuyuhun mentioned later.The ancestors of the Korean nation today are mainly the "Three Hans" mentioned in "Hanshu" and "Three Kingdoms", namely Mahan, Chenhan and Bianchen (Benhan), distributed in today's South Korea and the southern part of North Korea, in fact They were only three big tribes during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and it was not until the Northern and Southern Dynasties that Silla and Baekje gradually formed.Therefore, during the Tang Gaozong period, only Goryeo was destroyed but not Silla, and there are also historical roots that can be investigated.

Now that Goguryeo has fallen, Murong Hao can deal with the remaining Yuwen Department with peace of mind. In the second year of Jianyuan (344 A.D.), Emperor Kang of Jin (the younger brother and successor of Emperor Cheng of Jin), Murong Hao took Murong Han as the vanguard general, and the three armies marched towards the Ministry of Yuwen together. Yuwen Yidougui asked for help from Shihu in the far south, and at the same time sent the fierce general She Yegan to lead the elite troops to fight.Murong Hao sent a messenger Kuai Ma to inform Murong Han: "It is better to avoid the edge and take advantage of the opportunity."

Murong Han waved his hand and asked the messenger to report back to Murong Hao: "I know that Sheyegan is very famous in the Yuwen Department, and Yidougui entrusted all the elite soldiers in the country to him, which is the pillar of a country. I have been in the Yuwen Department for several years , Knowing about this person, in fact, has a false name and nothing to be afraid of. As long as we defeat She Yegan, we can greatly damage the morale of the Yuwen Department." The two armies met, Murong Han went out to challenge She Yegan, and the fierce battle between the two was in full swing At that time, Murong Ba, a young general in Murong Hao's formation, was killed, and She Yegan was unable to guard against it, and was immediately beheaded by his horse.

(In ancient wars, there were very few scenes where the generals were singled out. This kind of immediate singled out originated from the tribal wars of the northern nomads. In fact, it was a relatively backward way of fighting. The purpose was often to defeat the morale of the opponent, but the so-called "thousands of An army is easy to get, but a general is hard to find". The single-handed battle method is actually used less and less often. Unfortunately, due to the exaggeration of novelists in historical novels, it makes people feel that this is a very common practice. The way to win, illusion!)

This Murong Ba was less than 20 years old back then, and was the fifth son of Murong Hao. He made his debut earlier than Murong Ke who appeared earlier. He entered the battlefield at the age of thirteen (?!) The Southern Expedition and the Northern War have made great contributions (seeing generations of heroes of the Murong family, one has to lament that "heroes come from young men since ancient times"), but the story about him has just begun. The head of the Yuwen Department was killed, and the soldiers collapsed without a fight.The former Yan soldiers took advantage of the victory to pursue and conquered the capital of the Yuwen Ministry. Before Yidou returned, he fled to Mobei and died of old age before receiving reinforcements from Later Zhao.

Some of the survivors of the Yuwen Department were moved to the Changli area by Murong Hao. The descendants of this branch became the founders of the Northern Zhou Dynasty at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Yuwen Department has always been the most bearded among the three Liaodong tribes, so this dynasty is very distinctive. Xianbei Dynasty.The other part stayed in the Mobei area to continue their nomadic life. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the two major nomadic peoples in Northeast China-Xi and Khitan. very familiar. The arduous task of unifying Liaodong lasted two generations and was finally completed in the hands of Murong Hao, but Qianyan suffered a lot in the last battle.Murong Han was shot and wounded by Yuwen's random arrows during the war, and he returned to the country and fell ill.Someone falsely accused Murong Hao of Murong Han's preparation for rebellion. Murong Hao's suspicion of Murong Han did not diminish because of his merits, so he took this opportunity to give Murong Han suicide.This talented general could not be reused by Murong's opponents, and was ostracized by Murong's here. He couldn't find a master who could give full play to his talents in his whole life, and finally died of hatred.