Chapter 37 third chapter

Tuoba Hong has been the emperor in name since he was sensible.But the actual emperor is Empress Dowager Feng. He has to obey Empress Dowager Feng's arrangements, act according to her face, and live carefully and on thin ice under her supervision and control.Even after taking office, he didn't dare to let go too much, and always cared about the majesty of Queen Mother Feng.And when Empress Dowager Feng died, he truly became a veritable emperor who ruled the world. While showing his great sorrow to his subjects, why didn't he feel a little relaxed and joyful deep in his subconscious mind?

In any case, Empress Dowager Feng was the forerunner of the reform of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was she who opened the prelude to the Sinicization of the Northern Wei Dynasty and achieved outstanding results; It was she who cleared away the obstacles and paved the way for Tuoba Hong's deepening of reforms... If there was no Han Chinese Empress Dowager Feng's painstaking "management" of the Northern Wei Dynasty, its development would probably be a different story. A new scene. Tuoba Hong had long wanted to do something big, and he held back and endured it until the death of Empress Dowager Feng at the age of twenty-four or five.Once the accumulated and suppressed inner potential is erupted, it will become a powerful force that is irresistible and irresistible.In this regard, "Wei Shu Gao Zu Ji" records:

After Tuoba Hong took full control of the government, the first major thing he did was to move the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty from Pingcheng to Luoyang. We can condense the content of the reforms he vigorously promoted in one word—full Sinicization.Moving the capital to Luoyang shows his determination to fully Sinicize, and it is also a turning point and a sign of whether his reforms can be thorough and successful. The Xianbei Tuoba tribe originated in a remote borderland. Their population was small. After entering the vast Central Plains, they will inevitably become a minority.If they are limited to robbery, they can come and go like the wind, completely maintaining the barbaric nomadic life and customs of the past; however, if they occupy the Central Plains for a long time and live on this land, they will have to adjust and change the past The way of survival has changed from a nomadic life to an advanced agricultural cultivation.

As far as the development process of the Tuoba clan in Xianbei is concerned, as early as the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty, they had begun to gradually adopt the Sinicization policy. The speed of their southward invasion, the progress of their in-depth progress and the degree of Sinicization almost showed a trend of simultaneous development. The Tuoba tribe of Xianbei went south and had a history of moving the capital.When Emperor Daowu Tuoba established the Northern Wei Dynasty, he established his capital in Shengle (now Helingerbei, Inner Mongolia), and then moved his capital to Pingcheng in 398 AD.In other words, Pingcheng is also the product of the Northern Wei rulers moving their capital.With the expansion of the empire's territory, the development and construction of Pingcheng was very fast.By the time of Emperor Xiaowen, Pingcheng had been the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, and the city's "houses lined up side by side" had become quite large.Pingcheng was a buffer for the transition from nomadic culture to farming culture in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is located at the junction of the two civilizations. The climate and grassland here are more suitable for animal husbandry, and it also has the characteristics of farming civilization.Going north from Pingcheng can resist the invasion of Rouran; going south can form a sweeping trend against the Central Plains.The most important thing is that it is convenient for the Tuoba family to concentrate their force and strengthen their rule over the Central Plains.

If it is limited to the existing territory and rule, Pingcheng is naturally an ideal place to establish the capital for Xianbei.However, with the development of the situation, the threat of Rouran and Gaoche in the north has been eliminated, and the territory in the south is expanding. The talented and bold Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong has clarified the strategic goal of the Northern Wei Dynasty-southern attack on the Qi Dynasty, Unified China.Pingcheng, as the political, military, and cultural center of the Northern Wei Dynasty, obviously no longer adapted to the strategic development goals at that time.Pingcheng is located in the northeast of the Loess Plateau, where the climate is cold, the land is barren, the wind and sand are severe, and there are nine droughts in ten years. The natural conditions are quite harsh; The Hengshan, Wutai, and Taiyue Mountains in the city have extremely inconvenient transportation; and the most important point is that the Xianbei nobles here are concentrated. They are conservative in thinking, corrupt in life, and adhere to the old customs of Xianbei. They have formed a stubborn force against reform.

It can be seen from this that if the Northern Wei Dynasty develops, it must be reformed; and the key to reform is to leave Pingcheng and move to the Central Plains.At that time, there were three locations to choose from: Ye, Chang'an, and Luoyang. After some weighing and comparison, Tuobahong finally settled on Luoyang, which lived in the ancient "under heaven" and had a relatively mild climate.The main reason why he valued Luoyang is probably because there are the largest number of Han scholar-officials here, and it is the center of Han culture; in addition, Luoyang is close to the Southern Dynasty, which is also convenient for him to use troops at any time.

Only by leaving the stronghold of conservative forces can we successfully implement the reform strategy of overall Sinicization.This reminds us of the proposal to move the capital in the early days of the Republic of China. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries planned to move the capital from Beijing to Nanjing, away from the stronghold of feudal culture, in order to promote China's democratization process. failed to materialize. Tuoba Hong knew very well that if he rashly proposed to move the capital to Luoyang, he would inevitably encounter strong opposition from the Xianbei nobles.Moving to the south means that they give up their existing family business, the living environment they are used to, and their "martial arts" skills of riding, shooting and nomadic... Many Xianbei nobles believe that the world of the Northern Wei Dynasty is based on Pingcheng For those who were beaten from horseback, if they left Pingcheng, they would very likely lose their warlike and brave national characteristics. Not only would it be difficult to rule the Han people, but they would be assimilated by them.Ordinary Xianbei people have not received the edification and education of Han culture since childhood like Tuoba Hong. They often have a contemptuous and disapproving attitude towards Han culture in the condescending attitude of conquerors, and they don't have the same attitude in Tuoba Hong's heart. That sense of crisis and urgency.As long as they can suppress the Han people, they can do whatever they want, be free, and have fun.Therefore, Tuoba Hong said worriedly: "Northern people love their country, and they suddenly heard that it will be moved, so they have to be alarmed." If the capital is moved by force, if it is not done well, it may lead to an unmanageable civil strife.In order to achieve the goal of moving the capital smoothly, Tuoba Hong had to rack his brains, think over and over again, and came up with a quite ingenious plan.

In May 493 A.D., Emperor Xiaowen summoned a group of ministers and announced the Southern Expedition to Xiao Qi.He ordered Taichangqing Wang Chen to divination the good or bad of the Southern Expedition, and as a result, he got a hexagram "Ge".So, Tuobahong said loudly: "The Tangwu revolution should be in line with the sky and in line with people, which one is better." Xianbei veteran and emperor Rencheng Wang Cheng raised objections on the spot, but he was immediately suppressed sharply.After retiring from the court, he summoned Rencheng Wang Cheng alone, and the two had a heart-to-heart conversation.Emperor Xiaowen said that although Pingcheng was a place of military use, it could not achieve the effect of "cultural governance". He wanted to use the Southern Expedition as an excuse to move the capital to Luoyang, change customs, "so Guangzhai Central Plains", and hoped to get his support.The results of the summons showed that Rencheng Wang Cheng not only no longer opposed it, but also became an active supporter of moving the capital.

Everything that followed began to be carried out in full swing according to the plan that Emperor Xiaowen had arranged long ago: In July 493 AD, Emperor Xiaowen personally led 300,000 infantry and cavalry from Pingcheng to conquer the Southern Qi Dynasty.The weather has been bad, and it has been raining non-stop.The road is muddy and rough, and the hazy sky is like an iron pot on the top of the head, which makes people almost breathless. The humid climate in the south makes these pampered Xianbei nobles and their officials who are used to living in the north very uncomfortable. Feeling tired.The army marched southward slowly, and after walking for more than a month, they finally arrived in Luoyang.Resting in Luoyang for a while, Tuoba Hong deliberately chose a rainy day to put on his armor and mount his horse, and ordered the army to move on with his whip.Hearing that the southern expedition would continue, the degenerate nobles of Xianbei were terrified, and all knelt in front of Tuoba Hongma, begging the emperor for mercy not to go south.Immediately afterwards, it is inevitable to stage a live drama of admonishing, getting angry, and admonishing again.Seeing that the time had come, Emperor Xiaowen proposed his exchange conditions: "If you don't march south, you can move the capital to Luoyang." Stand on the right.With an order, almost all lined up to the left; there were not none standing on the right, but there were only a very small number of solitary people.The Xianbei nobles and civil and military ministers on the left all fell on the ground, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and shouted "Long live".Seeing this, Tuoba Hong formally announced to the world that the Northern Wei Dynasty would move its capital to Luoyang.

In this way, this important decision was accomplished brilliantly in a live drama written and acted by him.The Xianbei nobles who stayed in Pingcheng—the old and the young, even if they were dissatisfied, because the army was taken away by Tuoba Hong and had no capital to resist, they had no choice but to let it go. In October 493 AD, Emperor Xiaowen ordered the construction of Luoyang.In March of the following year, he returned to Pingcheng to the north, once again persuaded the relevant Xianbei nobles and ministers of civil and military affairs, and made more specific arrangements for the southward migration and left-behind personnel, and gradually implemented the southward migration plan.

In September 495 A.D., marked by the emigration of Pingcheng's civil and military officials and harem Fendai to Luoyang, one of the most important decisions of Emperor Xiaowen's sinicization reform - the three-year capital relocation measure was completed.