Chapter 62 8. Liangzhou Beacon

The matter of Liangzhou has to start with Lu Guang becoming king.Lu Guang was originally a general beside Fu Jian, who was ordered to conquer the countries in the Western Regions. If it weren't for the chaos caused by the Battle of Feishui, he might become another Zhang Qian and Ban Chao-like figure in Chinese history.It's a pity that history didn't give him the opportunity to be his general in the Western Regions, nor let him be an ordinary minister in the former Qin Dynasty, but forced him to become another Shi Le, Yao Chang, and Murong Chui in the troubled times. Lu Guang was inferior to Shi Le in terms of bravery, inferior to Yao Chang in terms of treachery, and inferior to Murong Chui in terms of strategy.He was able to win his own sphere of influence, relying on four words - "acting in camera".He was able to rush back from the Western Regions at the beginning of the chaos of the former Qin Dynasty, and captured Liangzhou before the separatist regimes had time to do anything; after learning that Fu Jian was killed, he ordered officials and soldiers to mourn for Fu Jian and posthumously posthumous Fu Jian. His image in front of those old ministers and generals of the former Qin Dynasty has been further improved.When he felt that he had bought enough people's hearts and accumulated enough strength, in the second year of Da'an in the former Qin Dynasty (386 A.D.), he called himself the governor of China and foreign countries, the general, the shepherd of Liangzhou, and the Duke of Jiuquan, and established sixteen in Liangzhou. The second regime in the Kingdom of China: Houliang.

During the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the area of ​​Liangzhou was much smaller than that of the Han Dynasty, and the southern part was designated as Qinzhou during the Three Kingdoms period.Even so, Liangzhou is still as large as eight counties, equivalent to today's north-central Gansu, northeast Qinghai, and parts of Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang. From east to west, these eight counties are Jincheng County (now Lanzhou, Gansu) , under the control of Xiqin at that time), Xiping County (now Xining, Qinghai), Wuwei County, Zhangye County, Xijun (to the west of Wuwei today), Xihai County (today's Zhangye area), Jiuquan County and Dunhuang County. (The reason why I took the trouble to list these eight counties is because I am very interested in the ancient Silk Road, especially the section from Lanzhou to Dunhuang. I hope that one day I can experience it on the spot, so I compare the locations of these eight counties with the map. Check it out.)

With such a large area, it is natural that some people would not accept Lu Guang.First, Wang Mu occupied Jiuquan and Dunhuang, claiming to be the Mu of Liangzhou, and then Kang Ning, the prefect of Xiping, claimed to be the King of the Huns. Peng Huang, the prefect of Zhangye, also rebelled in the second year. In less than a year, Lu Guang lost control of four counties, and it was obvious that measures had to be taken.He saw the right time and decided to lead his troops to attack Peng Huang himself. All the generals believed that Kangning was in the south (Lu Guang's capital was in Guzang, the first county of Wuwei). If Kangning came to attack again before Peng Huang and Wang Mu were wiped out, Houliang would be in a dilemma.

Lu Guang retorted: "This view is specious. If you don't take the initiative to attack now, it will be useless when the three parties really join forces to attack from the east and west. Peng Huang just rebelled, and the contact with Kang Ning and Wang Mu is not close. If you send troops suddenly, your chances of winning are much greater.” He personally led 30,000 infantry and cavalry, attacked the city for 20 days, and wiped out Peng Huang in one fell swoop.Wang Mu met Suo Gu, the prefect of Dunhuang whom he appointed, and Lu Guang took the opportunity to conquer Jiuquan. Wang Mu fled alone and was killed by his subordinates.

Lu Guangping put down the rebellion, and felt that he was still in the right place, so he hurriedly wanted to become king.He first changed Yuan to Linjia in the fifth year of Da'an (387 AD), and called himself the king of Sanhe. Then he became the king of heaven in the eighth year of Linjia (396 A.D.), set up a hundred officials, and changed the name of the country to Yuan Longfei. (The title of Heavenly King had a very special status in the Sixteen Kingdoms. Shi Hu of Later Zhao always called himself the Heavenly King of Dazhao before he proclaimed himself emperor; Fu Jian never proclaimed himself emperor in his life, so he was called the Heavenly King of Daqin. Such examples include later Beiyan These people are all posthumously titled emperor after death. I think the title of heavenly king is generally higher than king and slightly lower than emperor. It is generally a modest title used by the monarch who thinks that the world has not yet been unified, such as Shihu and Fu Jian. Therefore, Fu Jian was among the five great emperors mentioned by Bo Yang, although Fu Jian never proclaimed himself emperor.)

Lu Guang's fatal problem is that he is too suspicious of the ministers, and the punishment is extremely severe.Soon after he proclaimed the king of heaven, Liangzhou fell apart. Lu Guang's biggest foreign enemy, the Xiqin Qifu family who occupied Qinzhou, had fought frequently with Houliang along the Yellow River for ten years. annoyed.In the second year of Longfei (397 A.D.), he sent his son Lu Zuan to lead the army to crusade against Western Qin. The king of Western Qin begging for Qiangui was a master of tricks. His subordinates persuaded him to flee to Chengji (now Qin'anbei, Gansu). He was very calm and said: "Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao at Guandu, Lu Xun defeated Liu Bei at Baidi, It all depends on strategy, not on the number of troops! Lu Guang mobilized the soldiers of the whole state, but he had no long-term plans, so there was no need to be afraid. What's more, Lu Yan, the forward of Liangbing, had elite soldiers, but he was brave and resourceless. He can be restrained with a strategy. As long as we defeat this army, the whole army will retreat."

Qifu Gangui was right. Houliang’s forward general and Lu Guang’s younger brother Lu Yan underestimated the enemy. Qifu Gangui released false information saying that he had retreated to Chengji. Fight to the death.Lu Guang was frustrated, so he had to withdraw his troops and return to Guzang. Lu Guang failed to conquer the Western Qin Dynasty. The bald Wugu, the leader of the Hexi Xianbei who was originally attached to Lu Guang, claimed to be the General, the Great Chanyu, and the King of Xiping in Lianchuanbao (now Qinghai Minhe). He quickly captured Jincheng and established the Nanliang.Although the Xianbei bald tribe and the Qifu tribe are both in the Longxi area, they are not of the same clan.They originally belonged to the Xianbei branch of Mobei, and later moved to the Hexi Corridor.Some people think that "baldness" is a different translation of the same word as "Tuoba", so it seems that this department should be of the same family as the Tuoba family in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The legend about baldness in "Book of Jin" is even more interesting. The bald-haired ancestor Shou Tian was born under the quilt while his mother was sleeping. From this.

The origin of the surname is also interesting is the Juqu tribe of the Lushui Hu people.Their ancestors worked as Zuojuqu in the Huns for generations, and their descendants took this official name as their surname. Later Liang Shangshu Juqu Luoqiu is a descendant of the Juqu tribe. He went out with Lu Yan and lost the battle. Juqu Luoqiu’s younger brother, the prefect of Sanhe, Juqu Yuyu, knew that Lu Guangnian was old and suspicious, and was very worried. Regarding his brother's fate, he persuaded Luo Qiu to lead his army to Xiping (at that time, the Huns in Xiping were very powerful, so they could not pacify Liangzhou.).

Luo Qiu replied: "You are right, but our family is famous for its loyalty and filial piety in the Northwest for generations. I would rather be blamed than others." Soon, Lu Guang really listened to the slander, and put the blame for Lu Yan's defeat on Luo. On Qiu, Luo Qiu and Koji porridge were killed together. Juqu Luoqiu's nephew, Juqu Mengxun, is not as pedantic as his uncle. He is known for his adaptability. Juqu Mengxun took the coffins of his uncles back to his hometown for burial. More than 10,000 relatives from various clans came to attend the funeral.At the funeral, Juqu Mengxun cried and said to everyone: "Our ancestors have ruled Hexi since the Han Dynasty. The king of Liang was cruel and innocent, and killed innocent people indiscriminately. How can we not follow the legacy of our ancestors and avenge the shame of our two uncles?" What?" The crowd suddenly shouted long live.

Therefore, Juqu Mengxun raised troops and captured Linsong (now south of Zhangye, Gansu) and Jinshan (now Shandan, Gansu).Mengxun's cousin, Juqu Nancheng, also gathered people to respond. Because he was not powerful enough, he actively instigated Duanye, the prefect of Jiankang (now Gaotainan, Gansu) in Houliang. Duan Ye was originally a scholar, he didn't know how to fight, and he didn't have any ambitions, so he didn't want to agree.He and Nancheng had been stalemate inside and outside Jiankang City for more than half a month, and they were shaken because they couldn't get foreign aid from Houliang, fearing that they would follow in the footsteps of others, so they welcomed Nancheng into the city.Nancheng elected him as the governor of Dadu, Liangzhou Mu, and Jiankanggong.Monson led the crowd to surrender and was appointed General Zhenxi.Once Juqu Mengxun had military power, it was very different. In one year, he successively captured the two counties of Xijun and Zhangye in Houliang.So far, the counties west of Zhangye in Liangzhou are not owned by Houliang.

During this period, Guo Fu, who was under Lu Guang, also rebelled.Guo Fu was well versed in astronomy, able to pinch and count, and the folks regarded him as a saint. Once he rebelled, many followers followed him.It's a pity that the "sage" is not very useful. When he confronted Lu Zuan's army, he was defeated.Guo Fu and his followers pushed General Yang Gui to be the leader of the alliance.Yang Gui claimed to be the Great General, Liangzhou Mu, and Xiping Gong, but he was defeated again. Yang Gui defected to Wugu with bald hair, and Guo Fu defected to Qifu Gangui. The rebels in Houliang responded all the time, and Lu Guang was too tired to deal with it, and finally fell ill in the fourth year of Longfei (399 A.D.).Knowing that he would die soon, he appointed his prince Lu Shao as the heavenly king and called himself the Supreme Emperor, and made his two sons Lu Zuan and Lu Hong the Taiwei and Situ respectively. Before he died, he told Lu Shao: "Now the three bandits (should refer to the three families of Qifu Gangui, Duan Ye, and Bald Wugu) are watching. After my death, Lu Zuan will lead the army and Lu Hong will govern the government. You should be respectful." Wuwei, entrusting the heavy responsibility to two brothers, maybe peace can be achieved. If the brothers are suspicious of each other, then the Western Jin Dynasty and the Later Zhao Dynasty will be in trouble soon." He also said to Lu Zuan and Lu Hong: "Yongye (Lu Shao's character) has no ability to set things right. He is only allowed to be the king because he is a legitimate son. Now there are strong enemies outside, and people's hearts are uncertain. You brothers are of the same mind, and the country's fortune will be smooth." It can last for a long time, otherwise disaster will not be far away.” As a result, Lu Guang's words were in vain. As soon as he died, a palace coup took place, which led to the decline of Houliang.The melee in Liangzhou was inevitable.