Chapter 32 2. The Decline and Fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty

Emperor Xiaowen's reforms promoted the Sinicization process of the Hu people in the north, promoted the integration of various ethnic groups in the north, and laid the foundation for the establishment of unified dynasties such as the Sui and Tang Dynasties.However, although these reforms will be left to later generations, they cannot be accepted by ordinary people of that era because they touched the society at that time too much.The sorrow of a wise man is that he has a sharper vision than ordinary people, and can penetrate deeper history and future—but the people around him can't see it.So a wise man is doomed to be lonely.

Emperor Xiaowen was such a lonely reformer.In his time, all kinds of overt and secret objections came and went, and even his own son opposed his reforms, so that father and son killed each other.In 499 A.D., Emperor Xiaowen personally led an army to resist the attack of the Southern Qi general Chen Xianda. Although he won the victory, this great reformer also died of illness on the way back to his teacher.The halfway reforms came to an abrupt end, and another troubled world began. After the death of Emperor Xiaowen, his son Yuan Ke succeeded him as Emperor Xuanwu. When Emperor Xuanwu succeeded to the throne, he was only ten years old, and his relative Gao Zhao was in power. In order to consolidate Emperor Xuanwu's throne, he massacred the clan kings.Several brothers of Emperor Xiaowen, such as Wang Yuanxi of Xianyang, Wang Yuanxiang of Beihai, and Wang Yuanxie of Pengcheng, were all killed, and cracks began to appear within the ruling class of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

In 515 AD, Emperor Xuanwu died and was succeeded by his son Yuanxu as Emperor Xiaoming.Emperor Xiaoming was younger than his father when he succeeded to the throne, only six years old.Under the plan of Rencheng Wang Yuancheng, the princes of the Yuan clan murdered Gao Zhao, the powerful minister, and the Empress Dowager Hu, the mother of Emperor Xiaoming, came to listen to the government.Empress Dowager Hu is a famous promiscuous heroine in Chinese history. After her death, she pursued her posthumous title of "Ling", so she was also called "Queen Ling" in history books. During her reign, the national power of the Northern Wei Dynasty declined rapidly.

In 520 AD, the Empress Dowager Ling was imprisoned by her brother-in-law Yuancha and eunuch Liu Teng.However, Yuan Cha and Liu Teng were even more outrageous. They were corrupt and bribed public officials. They were compared to Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty by people at that time.Yuancha and Liu Teng fell from power after four years, and the Empress Dowager Ling returned to the court to listen to the government. Luoyang City changed its master like a revolving lantern. At that time, Yuan Hui was Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and he sold officials publicly. The chief official of a big county could sell two thousand silk, one thousand silk for a smaller county, and five hundred silk for the worst one.Yuan Hui's business was so good that even the Ministry of Officials was called "Shicao" by the people at that time - a farmer's market for selling officials.Because the supply is in short supply, the Ministry of Officials has accelerated the replacement of local officials, forcing the officials to desperately make money as soon as they arrive in the local area-there is a danger of not being able to recover the cost if the action is slow.

There is a Mr. Yuandan from the clan, who is the governor of Qizhou, and he is not doing his job properly.One day he asked the monk who had returned from gathering herbs: "What news is there?" The monk was a monk, so he dared not lie: "It is said that you are greedy, I hope you will be replaced by the court as soon as possible..." Mr. Yuan Dan was very moved. Injustice: "Actually, I am very responsible... There are 70,000 households in Qizhou. Since I took office, the average household has not earned 30 Wen. How can it be considered greedy?" This is true, there are still people in the court who are known as "General Hungry Tiger" and "Servant of Hungry Eagle". How much can he get for a small state governor on Yuan's birthday?

It is said that Wang Yuanchen of Hejian was the richest man in the capital at that time. The people who ate at home were all imported goods from the Western Regions, and even the mangers were made of silver.This guy may be too rich, so he felt that there was no pursuit in life, so he sighed to others: "I don't hate that I didn't see Shi Chong, but I hate that Shi Chong didn't see me!" Who is Shi Chong?The winner of the Western Jin Super Rich PK Tournament. However, social wealth is always limited. When it is excessively concentrated in the hands of some people, it will cause extreme poverty for other people.

Whenever troubled times come, even God will come to join in the fun.In those years, floods, droughts, plagues, and earthquakes continued every year, people were displaced and died, and rebellions and uprisings occurred everywhere. A cursory flip through the book reveals that there have been as many as seven major rebellions in the past twenty years: In the third year of Jingming, the barbarians in Luyang revolted; In the third year of Zhengshi, Lu Gou'er, a Qiang native from Qinzhou, rebelled, with a crowd of more than 100,000 people; In the third year of Yongping, Liu Guangxiu, a recluse in Qinzhou, rebelled;

In the fourth year of Yongping, Liu Longju, a mountain hu in Fenzhou, rebelled; In the third year of Yanchang, Liu Sengshao, a monk in Youzhou, rebelled; In the fourth year of Yanchang, Jizhou Shamen Faqing revolted; In the second year of Zhengguang, Dimin in East Yizhou and South Qinzhou revolted. The largest of these was the rebellion launched by Shamen Faqing in Jizhou.Faqing encourages killing, and proposes that killing one person is called the Bodhisattva of One Residence, and killing ten people is called the Bodhisattva of Ten Residences. His troops are very special. Marrying nun Hui Hui as his wife, it is reasonable to say that he has a deep connection with Buddhism, but he just likes "slaughtering temples, beheading monks and nuns, and burning scriptures and statues"-it is said that this is called "the birth of a new Buddha and the removal of all demons".

Although these rebellions and uprisings were put down by the Northern Wei Dynasty, they opened the prelude to troubled times.