Chapter 61 7. The split of Yan Kingdom

In 396 A.D., Murong Bao, the prince of Houyan, succeeded to the throne in a crisis-ridden situation, changed his Yuan to Yongkang, and became the second emperor of Houyan.Murong Bao is like an idiot in military affairs and politics, but he is very proficient in political tactics, and he is very good at attracting people around Murong Chui (a talent in public relations?), so that Murong Chui always thought he was a worthy successor before his death. He cheated the throne into his hands. As soon as Murong Bao came to the throne, he did two terribly wrong things, so that everyone in Houyan was divorced, and finally buried the Houyan Jiangshan that Murong Chui had spent more than ten years of hard work in vain.

First of all, he ordered the examination and approval of the old registries of the Houyan clan, re-checked the household registration, and assigned all the big families who had made great contributions in the war to the management of various counties.This move seemed to be the implementation of Murong Chui's dying order. It seemed understandable, but it should not be done at this time.The gentry, who constituted an important part of the social class in the post-Yan state, complained about this, and Murong Bao's strict criminal law made the people's rebellion inevitable, and some people even secretly contacted the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Then, in order to avenge his personal grievances, Murong Bao forced the Empress Dowager Xiao Duan to commit suicide.Xiao Duan once pointed out to Murong Chui that Murong Bao is difficult to save the world, Murong Nong and Murong Long are the best candidates for the crown prince, and Murong Lin is treacherous and headstrong, he will be a serious disaster in the future and should be removed early.Murong Chui actually reprimanded Xiao Duan as Li Ji because he listened too much to the ministers around him who had been dealt with by Murong Bao. When Murong Bao became the emperor, he asked Murong Lin to say to Xiao Duan: "The queen mother often said that it is difficult to be an emperor today. Is it possible now? You should cut yourself off early!"

Xiao Duan sneered: "Of course it's easy for your brother to force your mother to be killed. I don't know if it can be so easy to defend this country! I don't hesitate to die today, I'm afraid that the country of Yan will perish soon!" After speaking, he committed suicide. Murong Bao carried out orders that should not have been carried out, killed people who should not have been killed, and made Houyan's government and the public into a mess.When Tuobagui continued to attack, his incompetence was exposed beyond redemption, and he lost his throne and life completely.

In August of this year, Tuoba Gui aggressively attacked Yan, with a total of more than 400,000 infantry and cavalry. The forward pointed directly at Jinyang in Bingzhou (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), and then divided his troops to attack Youzhou.Murongnong, the king of Liaoxi in Bingzhou of Houyan, led the army to fight, but he was no match for the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Sima Mu Yusong in Jinyang City turned his back on the battle again.The entire Yan army was wiped out, and Murong Nong's wife and children also fell into the hands of the Wei army. He returned to Zhongshan with only three followers on fast horses.

When Murong Bao learned that Bingzhou had fallen (he had not ascended the throne for five months), and the news that the army of the Northern Wei Dynasty was coming to Zhongshan, he was terrified.At this time, there were quite a few people who could come up with ideas, but when they met Murong Bao, they couldn't make up their minds. In the end, they followed Murong Lin's suggestion, built a city wall, stockpiled food and grass, and prepared to fight a war of attrition with the Wei army.Unexpectedly, Tuobagui conquered Changshan (now south of Zhengding, Hebei) with ease, and the officials of the counties and counties in Jizhou to the east of Changshan either fled or surrendered, leaving only Zhongshan, Yecheng, and Xindu (now Jixian County, Hebei) ) The three cities are still in the hands of Hou Yan.

Tuoba Gui attacked Zhongshan for a while, but only met Murong Long's tenacious resistance in the southern city. Murong Bao and others acted like turtles.Tuobagui decided to change his strategy and take Yecheng and Xindu first. It was Fan Yang Wang Murongde who guarded Yecheng in Houyan, and Tuobagui sent 50,000 troops to besiege Yecheng. The situation was very critical.Murong De had no choice but to send someone to ask for help from Hou Qin, but the Qin army did not come for a long time, and everyone in Yecheng was panicked.Murongde remained calm and personally rewarded and appeased the soldiers. The guards of Houyan were grateful and strengthened their determination to fight the Wei army to the death.At this time, General He Lailu of the Wei Army relied on being Tuoba Gui's uncle, and there was a conflict with Commander Tuoba Yi, and they each led their troops to retreat.Murongde sent troops to pursue and defeated Tuobayi, and finally stabilized the important town of Yecheng for the time being.

The Wei army's siege encountered repeated obstacles, so Tuobagui led his troops to attack Xindu. This time it went smoothly. Xindu, which had been defending for more than 60 days, surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty on the fourth day after his arrival.It took Tuobagui three months to attack the three cities before he got Xindu, almost losing all his face. (Although Tuobagui is cunning, he is far behind Murongchui in terms of military use. It is a pity that after Murongchui, Houyan is basically mediocre except for Murongde, who is barely a talent. Wei Jun fought The method used by Hou Yan was to besiege, and to evaluate it in two words, it was "ugly".)

In fact, Murong Bao's luck was not bad. At that time, Chou Ti, the military supervisor of Bingzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, heard that his uncle had surrendered to Hou Yan. Fearing that he would be implicated, he brought his troops back to the country to make trouble.As a precaution, Tuobagui prepared to retreat and sent someone to ask Houyan for peace.Murong Bao, who didn't know the heights of the heavens and the earth, should have retreated and waited for the opportunity, but suddenly he became persistent. In the name of Tuoba Gui's betrayal of Yan Guo's kindness, he personally led the army to attack the retreating Tuoba Gui.What is the capital of his counterattack?It is the tens of thousands of thieves and rascals from various counties and counties that have just been recruited. "Tongjian" says it is "recruiting troops", which is really flattering. According to me, it is "a mob".Murong Bao whimsically sent this army to attack Tuobagui's barracks and set fire to it.Wei Jun was unprepared at first, but there was chaos. Tuobagui, who woke up from his sleep, escaped from the fire barefoot.Who knew that the "recruitment army" was in disarray, and for some unknown reason, they started killing each other.Tuoba Gui, who had fled outside the camp, saw clearly, and regrouped, charging the Yan army with cavalry.How could Murong Bao's "recruiting troops" be able to resist, the sneak attack plan was unsuccessful, but instead dampened the morale of the entire army.Murong Bao led the army to retreat to Zhongshan, but was pursued by the Wei army. The defeated Yan army encountered a heavy snowstorm, and countless soldiers froze to death.Fearing that the Wei army would overtake him, Murong Bao ordered the soldiers to discard all their weapons and return to Zhongshan lightly (it was so embarrassing).

Tuoba Gui followed all the way and came back to Zhongshan City.In Zhongshan City, the main attack faction headed by Murong Long and the main defense faction headed by Murong Lin fought openly and covertly. The boring Murong Bao in the middle wanted to fight for a while, and for a while to make peace.At the critical juncture, someone added to the chaos. Shang Shulang Mu Yuhao conspired to kill the emperor, intending to support Murong Lin as the leader. When the matter was leaked, Mu Yuhao resigned and defected to the Northern Wei Dynasty. (Housyan’s two conspiracies were related to Murong Lin, but this Murong Lin was not caught. He is indeed a veteran of conspiracy, but he is only worthy of conspiracy.)

Murong Lin felt uneasy, and finally took action himself. He led troops to blackmail Murong Jing, the general of the imperial guards, and ordered him to command the imperial guards to kill Murong Bao.Murong Jing sternly refused, and Murong Lin killed Murong Jing in a rage and fled, and hid in the remnants of the Dingling people (after Murong Chui wiped out the Dingling tribe, he moved his tribe to Jizhou area). Murong Bao ordered to search for Murong Lin, but when he couldn't find his whereabouts, he panicked.His son Qinghe King Muronghui's reinforcements were in Jicheng. He was afraid that Muronglin would seize the military power first and go to the old capital Longcheng to rebel.The more I thought about it, the more frightened I became, so I discussed with Murong Nong and Murong Long to leave Zhongshan and return to Baolong City.Having made up their minds, the emperor and princes opened the gates of the city the next night and went to Jicheng to join Muronghui. Qinghe Wang Muronghui is not a fuel-efficient lamp either.Because Murong Chui liked this grandson at the beginning, he entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, and ordered Murong Bao to make Murong Hui the crown prince in the future.Murong Bao liked his youngest son, Murong Ce, and was instigated by his eldest sons, Murong Sheng and Murong Lin, to establish Murong Ce against his father's order.Muronghui held a grudge because of this, and always thought of finding opportunities to take revenge. Murong Bao bumped himself into the muzzle of his gun, really "It's not that enemies don't get together".Murong Bao faintly sensed Murong Hui's intention to rebel, but he was a step too late.Murong Hui took advantage of Murong Bao's departure from Jicheng to rest, and sent his accomplice Qiu Nigui to murder Murong Bao's right-hand men, Murong Nong and Murong Long.Murong Long was killed on the spot, and Murong Nong was seriously injured, but he was able to hold Qiu Ni back and escape from the city.Murong Hui did not do anything clean, but exposed his own intentions. Murong Bao ordered Murong Hui to be eliminated, and at the same time rushed to Longcheng with hundreds of light cavalry to fight Muronghui with Dragon City soldiers. Muronghui could not resist. After staying there, the tribe broke up and was driven to Zhongshan. Although Zhongshan City left the emperor, the soldiers and civilians still did not surrender because of Shenhebei.Kaifeng Duke Murong Xiang didn't have time to catch up with the large army, so he stayed in the city and became the main general of the city by accident.Murong Xiang didn't have much ability, but relying on the people in the city to fight to the death, he defended Zhongshan.Murong Hui fled to Zhongshan and was also killed by him. Tuobagui lifted the siege of Zhongshan, Murongxiang became proud, and simply killed Tuobagu, a hostage left by the Northern Wei Dynasty in Houyan, and changed Yuan and proclaimed himself emperor in May of the second year of Yongkang in Houyan (397 AD).Murong Xiang was not expected to be an emperor at all, he killed Kezuhuntan, a chariot general of the Houyan clan Kezuhun clan, and abused the punishment, causing civil turmoil in the city.Murong Lin took the opportunity to lead Ding Ling's army into Zhongshan, beheaded Murong Xiang, and became emperor himself. Murong Lin's emperor had only been in office for five months, and he became a "hungry" emperor. Because Zhongshan City cut off all foreign aid (Murong Xiang had fallen out with Murong Bao and Tuoba Gui before), there was nothing to eat .Muronglin and Tuoba Gui were defeated in repeated battles, and escaped from Zhongshan again and went to Yecheng.Tuobagui invaded Zhongshan, and the capital of Houyan was guarded for a year before it fell into the hands of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Murong Lin really didn't want to go to Yecheng, and he didn't care about face at this time, so he gave up the title of emperor and went to Yecheng to kowtow to Murong De.Tuobayi, who attacked Ye in the Northern Wei Dynasty, learned that Tuobagui had won Zhongshan, so he took advantage of the victory to attack Yecheng. Murongde followed Muronglin's suggestion, abandoned Yecheng, and moved 40,000 households in the city to Huatai (now Huatai, Henan) County East).As soon as Murong De left, Tuoba Yi arrived, and Yecheng entered the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Tuobayi continued to chase the Yan army, and Murongde quickly crossed the Yellow River, but Tuobayi failed to catch up. Another person who did not dare to see Murong De was Murong Bao.When he heard about Tuobagui's withdrawal in Longcheng, he thought he had an opportunity to attack south again.After several incidents in Hou Yan, the interior was riddled with holes. As soon as Murong Bao sent troops, there was a mutiny. Murong Nong was killed in the civil strife, and Murong Bao and his son Murong Sheng fled to Jicheng. Murong Chui's brother-in-law Dunqiu Wang Lanhan took advantage of the opportunity to quell the civil strife and took control of the Dragon City, and invited Murong Bao to return to the city.Murong Bao didn't know Lan Han's details, "the two evils are the lesser of two evils", so he bit the bullet and took a small path to join Murong De.When they reached Liyang, the news came that Murong De claimed to be the King of Yan, Murong Bao was so frightened that he half died, turned his horse and went back to Longcheng. He thought that Lan Han was his father's uncle and his son Murong Sheng's father-in-law, so he would not be disadvantaged, but Lan Han was the culprit behind the mutiny, waiting for him to die.The soldiers and civilians in Longcheng knew that Lan Khan was about to cause chaos and kill the king, but there was nothing he could do.The stupid Murong Bao was tricked into the city by Lan Han and killed. So far, Houyan has been divided into north and south, both in name and in fact.One theory is that after Murong Bao's death, the Later Yan died out, leaving only the Southern Yan and the Northern Yan.I personally agree with the more common view that the history of Later Yan should be counted from the year Murong Xi was killed in 407 A.D., that of Northern Yan from that year, and that of Southern Yan from Murong De's reign in 398. All of this will be discussed separately after we talk about Liangzhou.