Chapter 71 17. Looking at Chang'an with Tears

As a representative of the northern gentry, Cui Hao’s prominent background has been mentioned in the previous article (for the Cui family of the Qinghe clan, please refer to Cui Wei in the third chapter of "Murong Xianbei").Under the environment at that time, his thorough analysis of history and current events was comparable to that of Zhuge Kongming in his previous life. After Tuoba Si failed to prevent the Jin army from advancing westward, he asked him for advice: "Can Liu Yu really win the crusade against Yao Hong?" Cui Hao replied, "Of course." Tuoba Si asked: "Why?"

Cui Hao said: "At the beginning, Yao Xing liked false fame and seldom had practical use. His son Yao Hong was even weaker and sicker, and everyone betrayed his relatives. Liu Yu took advantage of the dangers of others, and the soldiers were fine and brave. How could he be invincible?" After hearing this analysis, Tuoba Si became interested and asked him: "How is Liu Yu's talent compared to Murong Chui's?" Cui Hao said: "Better than him. Murong Chui relied on his father and brother's foundation to restore the old country, just like nocturnal moths throwing themselves into the fire. With a little help, they can achieve great things. Liu Yu came from a humble background and had no soldiers to use. , but he was able to destroy Huan Xuan, capture Murong Chao in the north, and destroy Lu Xun in the south. If it weren't for his extraordinary talents, how could he be where he is today?"

Tuoba Si went on to say: "Liu Yu has already entered the customs and is in a dilemma. I will use elite cavalry to attack his Pengcheng and Shouchun. I'm afraid Liu Yu can't do it?" Cui Hao shook his head and said: "In today's situation, there is Helianbobo in the west, and Rouran in the north (Rouran is also a branch of Donghu, originally located in the Orkhon River and Tula River Basin in the extreme north, and moved with the Northern Wei Dynasty. When we came to Mobei, after its leader Shelun wiped out the neighboring tribes, he named himself Khan in the fifth year of Tianxing in the Northern Wei Dynasty [AD 402], and became the greatest enemy of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the north), and they all coveted us for a long time. And we There are no good generals in the country, and they may not be able to deal with Liu Yu, so it is better to wait and see."

What is rare is that Cui Hao can also predict from the cultural difference that Liu Yu will not really occupy the north. He said: "After Liu Yu destroys Yao Hong, he will definitely rush back to usurp the throne. The Han and Hu in the Guanzhong area are mixed, and the folk customs are tough. Liu Yu Yu wants to put what Jingyang did in the Yongqin area, but it will not work at all. No matter how many soldiers are stationed, it is impossible to change the cultural differences. Your Majesty just wait, the Qin land will fall into our hands sooner or later .” After hearing this, Tuoba Si couldn't help shouting: "Ai Qing is too thorough in predicting the facts!" (The later facts also proved that Cui Hao really predicted things like a god.)

Cui Hao also said: "I have commented on the influential figures in modern times in private: Wang Meng ruled the former Qin Dynasty, it was Guan Zhong of Fu Jian; Murong Ke assisted the young master, it was Huo Guang of Murong; " Tuoba Si asked again: "Then what about Helian Bobo?" Cui Hao said: "He Lianbobo lost his country and family, and defected to the Yao family. But he didn't want to repay his kindness, took advantage of the fire to loot, and made enemies on all sides. This is just a villain. Even if he can be fierce for a while, he will be swallowed by others in the end." It's just a color."

Tuoba Si was very happy after hearing this, and talked with Cui Hao late at night, gave him ten goblets of fine wine and a liang of refined salt, and said: "I taste your words like this salt and wine, so I want to enjoy it with you." (Cui Hao's words, spoken at this time, pointed out the direction of development for the Northern Wei Dynasty. Judging from its content, it can really read the taste of "crossing sixteen countries, cooking wine and talking about heroes". The small countries in the north have declined one after another. At that time, although the Tuoba family’s Northern Wei Dynasty had not been fully sinicized, they had begun to search for a new way to solve China’s problems with the assistance of these Han people.)

After Liu Yu arrived at Tongguan, he attacked the Hedong area of ​​​​the Later Qin Dynasty along the way, and Chang'an on the other way.Wang Zhen'e, a naval general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who went straight to Chang'an along the Weihe River, was the grandson of Wang Meng. In a certain sense, the former Qin Dynasty died in the Later Qin Dynasty. The elements of revenge and the fun of history also lie here. The Jin army came to the Wei Bridge in the north of Chang'an and quickly went ashore. The Wei River was fast-moving, and the boats quickly disappeared. At this time, Yao Hong's defenders still had tens of thousands of people.Wang Zhen'e said: "Our family is all in the south of the Yangtze River. This is the north gate of Chang'an. It is thousands of miles away from our hometown. The boats, clothes and food have all gone with the current. Now that we have won the battle, everyone has achieved fame. No, not even the bones can go back, everyone work hard!" Wang Zhen'e personally led the army, and after the defeat, Qin Yaopi's defenders and Yao Hong's army collapsed without a fight.

Yao Hong was about to surrender, and even his eleven-year-old son, Yao Fo Nian, understood Liu Yu's intentions, and told him that surrender would be difficult, and self-determination was better.Yao Hong couldn't make up his mind, so Yao Fo-nian jumped off the wall of the palace and committed suicide.Yao Hong, who didn't have the courage to commit suicide, took his wife, children, and officials to surrender in front of Wang Zhen'e, and finally got the same fate as Murong Chao, but his performance before and after surrender was not half of Murong Chao's. Liu Yu killed the Hou Qin clan who surrendered to him, and almost lost the already unreliable hearts of the northern people.The rest of the post-Qin family, as well as Sima Xiuzhi and Huan's descendants who had fought with him for power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, all defected to Tuoba Northern Wei Dynasty.As Cui Hao said, the huge differences between North and South China at that time, even if Liu Yu was superior, it was difficult to change even a little bit by force.So Liu Yu's heroic legend basically ends here.Helian Bobo, who had already planned to capture Chang'an, is making careful arrangements to take over Chang'an.

He Lianbo watched Liu Yu attack Qin with the posture of sitting on a mountain and watching tigers fight. He proudly said to the officials: "Liu Yu will definitely destroy Qin. But Liu Yu can't stay for long, he will definitely withdraw his troops, leaving only his children and The Ministry will guard Guanzhong. When the time comes, I will take action again, and Guanzhong will be like nothing." He resolutely mobilized his troops and marched into An Ding.Liu Yu sent someone to make friends with him and became brothers. He asked his Zhongshu servant Huangfu Hui to write a well-written reply letter, secretly memorized it, and dictated the written text in front of the Eastern Jin envoy.Liu Yu was deceived by his little tricks, and sighed: "I'm not as good as it!"

Liu Yu made a long-term plan in Chang'an, and wanted to slowly clean up the situation in the northwest. However, at this time, his confidant, the left servant of Shangshu who stayed behind in the court, shot Liu Muzhi and died of illness. As Helian Bobo said, he left his 12-year-old (!) son Liu Yizhen to guard Chang'an, Wang Xiu, Wang Zhen'e and others led troops to assist him, and he himself led the troops to rush back to Jiankang to accept Xiangguo, Song Duke's title. One month after he left, Wang Zhen'e and Shen Tianzi, who had made the most contributions in the army left behind in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, attacked each other.First, Shen Tianzi spread the word that Wang Zhen'e was originally from the north, and wanted to kill all the soldiers in the south, trapping and killing Wang Zhen'e, and then Wang Xiu got rid of Shen Tianzi.

He Lianbo's army had gone south at this time, and the young Liu Yizhen listened to the rumors of his subordinates who were at odds with Wang Xiu and killed Wang Xiu, so the Jin army could no longer stop Xia's attack.He Lianbo adopted the strategist Wang Maide's strategy, cut off the Jin army's southward retreat with a small force, and then sent troops to approach Chang'an.Liu Yu sent a general to summon Liu Yizhen to retreat. The Jin army lost its fighting spirit and was defeated by the Xia army in Qingni. Liu Yizhen had to escape alone. He Lianbo entered and occupied Chang'an, built an altar in Bashang, that is, the throne of emperor, and changed Yuan Changwu.Later, he rejected the proposal of the ministers to use Chang'an as the capital and returned to Tongwan.The violent emperor built a huge palace in Tongwan, and named the south gate as Chaosong Gate, the east gate as Zhaowei Gate, the west gate as Fuliang Gate, and the north gate as Pingshuo Gate. After learning that Chang'an was lost, Liu Yu, who had vowed to start the Northern Expedition, completely gave up this plan after seeing his son return safely.His first concern is personal fame, not the unity of the world.The first reaction he could make was to stand at the head of Jiankang City and look at the north and cry bitterly; Chan let the emperor take his place, and transformed himself into Emperor Wu of Song Dynasty. (On this point, Liu Yu's cleverness is much worse than that of Cao Cao and Sima Yi before.) The 105-year rule of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the Jiangnan area has come to an end. All the efforts of the Northern Expedition since Zu Ti's time have all failed. (The Northern Expedition in Chinese history, if you think about it carefully, there were probably only two barely counted victories, one was Zhu Yuanzhang’s extermination of the Yuan Dynasty, and the other was Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition. For a hundred years, they were dragged down by the "Western captives" Beiyuan in the desert, and were defeated by the "Eastern captives" Manchuria. The next time, the unity was even less solid. Although it was unified in name, it was riddled with internal cracks. In a few years, the Northeast was lost to Japan, and the next unification will become the traditional North-South model.) The year Liu Yu proclaimed himself emperor and founded the Southern Dynasty was 420 AD, and the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms was also coming to an end.