Chapter 33 3. Saishang Six Towns

What really ended the Northern Wei Dynasty was the "Six Towns Rebellion" from the Great Wall. The so-called "six towns" refers to the establishment of six military towns on the northern border by the Northern Wei Dynasty. They are Woye Town located in the northwest of Wuyuan, Inner Mongolia today, Huaishuo Town in the north of Baotou, Inner Mongolia, Wuchuan Town in Wuchuan, Inner Mongolia, Fuming Town is located in the northeast of Wuchuan, Rouxuan Town is located in the northwest of Xinghe, Inner Mongolia, and Huaihuang Town is located in the north of Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.

In the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, due to the strength of the north, it often went south to harass the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Therefore, from the time of Emperor Ming and Yuan, a Great Wall of more than 2,000 miles was built along the border from Chicheng in the east to Wuyuan in the west.In the era of Emperor Taiwu, a series of military towns including six towns were set up at the key points of the Great Wall to defend the capital, Pingcheng.Because the six towns at that time had the important task of defending the capital, they received special attention from the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty. There are also many opportunities, and the children of the nobles are willing to go to the six towns to join the army.

However, since Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao defeated Rou, the border town that was originally established to guard against Rou lost its imaginary enemy, and its military status plummeted.By the time of Emperor Xiaowen, the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, and the six towns even lost their function of defending the capital, and they no longer received the attention of the court. There were two types of armies in the Northern Wei Dynasty, one was Xianbei soldiers and the other was non-Xianbei soldiers. The main force was Xianbei soldiers.Due to the special care given by the imperial court, the Xianbei soldiers who joined the army in the border towns did not affect their future officials because of their military status.In addition to the nobles of Xianbei, the Gaoche tribe also played an important role in the soldiers of the six towns. Gaoche was also called Chile.

This is the early composition of Six Towns. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, the six towns became outcasts of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Those who went to the six towns to join the army were no longer the noble children of the past, but groups of criminals, and the court's caring policy was also cancelled.The social status of ordinary soldiers in border towns is getting lower and lower day by day, and they are regarded as slaves by the town generals. This made the soldiers of the six towns very upset.Yet there is something even more uneven.The political arena at that time paid attention to family background.What made the soldiers of the six towns feel aggrieved was that the branches of the same clan who stayed in the capital retained their status as noble surnames, while those guarding the frontier were "separated by the Qing Dynasty", and even their qualifications to enter the court as officials were revoked. up.

Someone wrote to the imperial court, "Don't choose qualifications for civil servants, suppress warriors, and don't let them be pre-cleared", that is to say, warriors should be completely excluded from the ranks of officials.This proposal caused great anger in Habayashi and Huben in Beijing. Nearly a thousand people gathered and destroyed their homes, and the court did not dare to intervene. In this regard, the history books call it "those who know know that Wei will be in chaos." Gao Huan, a small postman from Huaishuo Town, happened to be in Luoyang and witnessed this riot.After he returned home, he spent all his wealth to make friends with heroes, and his relatives asked him about old and strange things. He replied: "When I arrived in Luoyang, Prime Minister Yulin led the army to burn Zhang Yi's house. The court was afraid of chaos and did not ask. If this is the case, Things can be known. How can property always guard against evil?"

In addition, Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization reforms were far from reaching the Six Towns. The original Hu nationality style was still maintained here, and there was a deep-rooted hatred and prejudice against Luoyang's Sinicization reforms.This makes the future turmoil not only a bottom-up revolution, but also a fierce conflict between the Hu-Han culture. Although the contradictions have been deeply rooted, the turmoil occurred somewhat by chance. In 523 A.D., in February of the fourth year of Zhengguang Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a severe famine occurred in Rouran. The request for assistance from the Northern Wei Dynasty was not satisfied, and his Khan Anagui led 300,000 troops to attack Huaihuang and so on. Town, retreated after being counterattacked by the Northern Wei Dynasty, abducted more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians, and hundreds of thousands of livestock.Kaicao of the Northern Wei Dynasty joined the army Yu Jin led 2,000 cavalry in pursuit, until Yu confronted Yuan, repeatedly breaking Rouran, which was a rare victory in this counterattack.

Yu Jin, courtesy name Sijing, nicknamed Jumi, was the empress of Yu Li, a famous official in the Northern Wei Dynasty.His ancestors were all town generals in the Northern Wei Dynasty, his great-grandfather Yupo was the general of Huaihuang Town, his grandfather Yu Anding was the governor of Pingliang County and Gaoping County general, his father Yu Ti was the governor of Longxi County, and the uncle of Emping County.Yu Jin is "profound in nature and knowledgeable", and has a little glimpse into the history of classics, especially "Sun Tzu's Art of War".When he was young, he had a high vision and lived in seclusion. Someone persuaded him, but he said: "The post of state and county was despised by people in the past, and the position of Taiwan and Dingding will come in time. So I travel around the county and town, chatting with each other in the years to come." .” Later, he was appreciated by Dazai Yuanmu, and he was promised to be Wang Zuozhi’s talent, and he entered the official career from then on.

For this Rouran invasion, the Northern Wei Dynasty mobilized 100,000 cavalry to fight back with Shangshuling Li Chong and Yu Jin's host Yuanzuan as the commander.Li Chong chased for three thousand miles, but found nothing, only Yu Jin and Rouran fought seventeen times, and achieved some results, which were not satisfactory.He is still a small person at present, but in the future he will be one of the brightest generals of that era. People in the border towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty were looted and could not make a living, so they had to ask General Wuwei of Huaihuang Town to open a warehouse in Jing to release food for relief.Yu Jing was a senior of Yu Jin's family, but he didn't have the luck and brains of his junior. He refused to give food relief and was killed by angry soldiers and civilians.

Later, the Huns broke Liuhan and Baling also gathered people in Gaoqueshu in Woye Town to launch an uprising, killing the town general and changing Yuanzhen King, which was responded by Hu and Han soldiers and people in various towns.After breaking Liuhan and pulling up his troops, he marched to the south and sent Wei Kegu, a Xianbei native, to besiege the two towns of Wuchuan and Huaishuo. This seemingly ordinary division of troops directly affected the pattern of Chinese history.In the next few decades, Huaishuo Town will contribute to the history of China, the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, and also rewrite the history of the Southern Dynasties through the "Hou Jing Rebellion", which determines the rise and fall of the Liang and Chen Dynasties; Wuchuan Town will be even worse. Well, the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang all came from Wuchuan—think about it, what would Chinese history be like without the Sui and Tang?

Breaking Liuhan and Baling's division of troops this time, sent the Tuoba family's world in the Northern Wei Dynasty to Huaishuo and Wuchuan. All of a sudden, heroes rose up.