Chapter 65 11. The Ending of Hou Yan

As mentioned in Chapter 7, the Great War between Yan and Wei between 396 and 398 A.D. ended with Tuoba Gui of the Northern Wei Dynasty "making a fortune" in the Central Plains.In the Murongchui era, the land of the seven states in the Kanto region (strictly speaking, more than five states) was wiped out by Tuoba cavalry.In the first ten years of the fifth century, the situation in the Kanto region was basically a confrontation between the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Eryan Kingdom. Before 407 AD, the two Yan kingdoms were the Southern Yan and the "Zhongxing" Later Yan, and then the Southern Yan and the Northern Yan. .After replacing the last four emperors and heavenly kings, the Murong family finally said goodbye to this title in 410 AD. "I am a hero, my son is a good man", this sentence is okay to describe the first three generations of monarchs in the Northern Wei Dynasty, but to describe the last monarchs of Yan State, it is more appropriate to use "I am a hero, my son is a bastard".Murong Chui held the seven states of You, Ping, Ji, Bing, Qing, Yan, and Xu, and dominated the Guandong, so mighty; in the era of Eryan, the two Yan kingdoms combined could barely be regarded as the land of three states, and Hou and Beiyan owned Pingzhou ( present-day eastern Liaoning) and eastern Youzhou (present-day western Liaoning and northeastern Hebei), Nanyan owns Qingzhou and a very small part of the north of Yanzhou and Xuzhou.Since Jizhou was occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty, the two Yan countries could only face each other across the sea, and they did not see each other for a few years.

After Tuobagui defeated Houyan in the third year of Huangshi (398 AD), he moved the capital from remote Shengle to Pingcheng, and then announced in December of that year that he would no longer be king, but emperor.The two monarchs of Yan, Murong Sheng and Murong De, also proclaimed themselves emperors to show their independence from each other.Murong Sheng became emperor three months before Tuobagui; Murong De was six months after Tuobagui. There was an element of luck in Murong Sheng's coming to power.Since he is the son of Murong Bao, Lan Khan had no reason to spare him after trapping Murong Bao and Prince Murong Ce's family.But he is also the son-in-law of Lan Khan, this dual identity makes him look a bit special.

When he went to Longcheng to mourn, his subordinate Zhang Zhen advised him not to go.Murong Sheng said: "I'm at the end of the road now. Lan Han is a very stupid vulgar person. He will definitely think about his family and can't bear to kill me. After this period, I will have my own time." When Murong Sheng saw Lan Khan, Lan Khan wanted to kill him, his wife Yishi and daughter Lan Fei came to him in tears to intercede, and Lan Fei kowtowed and begged her brothers to intercede.Lan Han was moved with compassion, let Murong Sheng go, and made him a servant, and treated him as before.Lan Ti and Lan Nan, Lan Khan's brothers, always proposed to kill Murong Sheng, but Lan Khan didn't listen, but Lan Ti was often rude to Lan Han, and Murong Sheng took the opportunity to alienate him. The contradiction is not small.

At this time, Murong Chui's nephew Taiyuan Wang Murong Qi got the opportunity to meet Murong Sheng, and Murong Sheng let him escape from Longcheng secretly.Murong Qi raised an army in Jian'an and pulled thousands of troops. Lan Han originally wanted to send Lanti to suppress him, but Murong Sheng said to him: "Murongqi is only a child, how could there be such a big disturbance, there must be a response. Lanti is always frivolous and arrogant, don't you understand? , how can we let him go?" Lan Khan thought: Oh, that's the truth, so he asked people to arrest Lanti and kill him, and sent General Qiu Nimo instead.When Lan Nan and others saw Lan Ti being killed, they became frightened and rebelled, defeating Qiu Nimu's army.

Lan Khan sent his son Lan Mu to quell the rebellion. Lan Mu advised Lan Han to get rid of Murong Sheng. He conspired and told Murong Sheng that Murong Sheng escaped the catastrophe by claiming that he was ill.Lan Mu had no choice but to have someone monitor Murong Sheng's activities. Lan Mu's tricks were exhausted, and finally there was one thing. His so-called confidantes Li Han, Wei Shuang and others were originally Murong Sheng's old friends, and secretly communicated with Murong Sheng.Before Lan Mu dispatched troops, Lan Han and his son were very drunk. Murong Sheng took the opportunity to go to the bathroom to climb over the wall and enter Lan Mu's residence in the East Palace (the palace's protective facilities are bad enough, and it's so easy to enter) , together with Li Han and others killed Lan Mu.

Some of the soldiers who stayed in the East Palace and were ready to go, when they saw Murong Sheng appearing and Lan Mu was killed, they immediately rushed to Lan Khan's bedroom and hacked Lan Khan to death.Murong Sheng ordered the execution of all the Lan family (only Concubine Lan saved Murong Sheng's wife, Ding, from death because she spared no effort to protect Murong Sheng's wife Ding, and Ding interceded for her), and took charge of the government as the king of Changle. Pause for now.But the entire Yan Kingdom has no affinity to speak of. Murong Sheng summoned Murong Qi back to Longcheng, but Murong Qi joined forces with Ding Ling and the Wuhuan tribe to resist. Murong Sheng sent troops to defeat Murong Qi, captured him alive, and gave him suicide.

Murong Sheng became emperor, and soon after Gaohu, the prefect of Yan County (Jicheng), rebelled and surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty (this Gaohu is the ancestor of the Gao family who established the Northern Qi Dynasty in Kanto at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, this is a later story), and later There is only one Liaoxi County left in Youzhou of Yan.Murong Sheng felt that he couldn't even talk about a corner of Pian'an, and even made the emperor look very embarrassed, so he changed his name to the common people's king. (This title is really funny. If you call it a commoner, it means you are nothing. The so-called "relegated to a commoner and will never be hired", but you have to add the word "king of heaven" after it. It is simply nondescript. Some people say that Murong Sheng is the emperor. That’s called bleak management, when you earn less, you lose more.)

The monarch Murong Sheng is better than Murong Bao, but not much better.On the one hand, he can listen to advice, on the other hand, he is very mean to the generals under him, and likes to be suspicious. Once he met with his officials and said: "Everyone, just tell me what you think of me, and let me refer to it." Ding Xin, a fifteen-year-old minister, said: "It is the wish of a minister to not be arrogant at the top and not to be dangerous at the top." It means that you are in a high position but not arrogant, which is our greatest wish. Murong Sheng smiled and said, "Ding Shangshu is so young, why does he speak like an old man?"

In the end, Murong Sheng still won by short.During his reign, there were frequent mutinies. The last time he led his own soldiers to fight, he had already won, but he accidentally hit a hidden weapon of a rebel and was seriously injured.Before he died, he made an agreement with Queen Ding that Murong Chui's youngest son, seventeen-year-old Murong Xi, would succeed him as Heavenly King. The reason why Murong Xi stood out was not because of his great ability, but because he had committed adultery with the Ding family. When he became the Queen of Heaven, he quickly killed his elder brother Murong Yuan, who had a good chance of ascending the throne, and the former prince, Murong Ding, the son of Murong Sheng.Murong Xi likes the new and dislikes the old again, he fell in love with the nobleman and concubine of Xinna, the two daughters of Zhongshan Yin Fumo, and ignored the older Empress Dowager Ding.Empress Dowager Ding became angry, and discussed with her nephew Ding Xin to abolish and establish a new emperor. The matter was leaked, Ding Xin was killed, and Empress Dowager Ding was also forced to commit suicide.Murong Xi didn't do it, he just killed Murong Bao's son to avoid future troubles.

Murongxi then became more presumptuous and overhauled the palace and royal gardens for the two concubines. The eldest concubine's life was not good and she died without much "enjoyment".Of course, Murong Xi loved Empress Xiao Fu even more. Empress Xiao Fu was an avid traveler, so he would take her on trips in micro-services all day long, and when he couldn't get enough of the fun, he took her to war again. When Hou Yan attacked Goguryeo, Murong Xi ordered people to attack the city with chariots and tunnels, saying: "When the city is captured, I will go in with the queen in chariots, and no soldiers are allowed to go up the city first." Therefore, the city cannot be attacked no matter what. If they don't come down, they will lose a lot of soldiers.

Murongxi went to attack Khitan, which had just begun to emerge at that time, and saw that it was powerful, and wanted to retreat. Xiaofu said that I would quit, and before he had finished his game, Murongxi abandoned his luggage and attacked Goguryeo with light cavalry. Unfortunately, he suffered another disastrous defeat. Can't enjoy it. All the ministers who advised him were killed by Murong Xi.The palace built by Murong Xi after he was a young Fu became higher and higher, and the lifespan of the Yan Kingdom became shorter and shorter. Xiaofu also died of illness not long after, and Murongxi cried to death, more sad than his dead mother.He sent people to check the eyes of the ministers, and those who did not shed tears were punished. All the ministers had spicy things in their mouths to stimulate the lacrimal glands.His sister-in-law, Murong Long's wife, Zhang Shi, was a very virtuous woman, and she was forcibly taken to be buried with her. When it was his turn to go to the funeral, Murong Xi followed the hearse on foot with disheveled hair and bare feet.The coffin was so big that it couldn't get out of the city gate, so Murong Xi ordered the north gate to be burned down. Such a tyrannical monarch made the soldiers in Longcheng unbearable. General Feng Ba and others pushed Murong Bao's adopted son, Gao Yun from Goguryeo, to take the lead, and closed the city gates to prevent Murong Xi from entering the city.Murong Xi yelled: "These rats dare to rebel, let's see how I deal with them!" At the same time, the Luo army fought back overnight, but he couldn't attack the north gate, and immediately panicked.Murongxi fled wearing common people's clothes, but failed to escape. He was caught and killed by Gao Yun's soldiers in the woods. Murong Chui endured humiliation for more than ten years to establish Houyan, but his descendants died so hopelessly. If the old hero Jiuquan knew it, it would be no wonder if he didn't come back from anger.