Chapter 74 Chapter 73: Gaozu Shile

Shi Le, courtesy name Shilong, his ancestors were descendants of Qiangqu, Biebu, Xiongnu. His grandfather, Ye Yiyu, and his father, Zhou Haozhu, also called Qiyijia, had served as the commanders-in-chief of the tribe.In this kind of superior family, Shi Le spent a carefree childhood.Later, Shi Le's family was in decline and forced by life, 14-year-old Shi Le began to follow his fellow villagers to Luoyang to do some small business. The edification of the family environment and the long years of business life have cultivated Shi Le's amazing courage and superb level of horseback riding and archery.Shi Le's father, Zhou Hezhu, was very rude, beating and scolding his subordinates frequently, and his subordinates were very disgusted with him.In order to ease the relationship, Zhou Hezhu asked Shi Le to take charge of the tribe.Due to Shi Le's good management, he has won the trust and respect of his subordinates.

During the Tai'an period of the Jin Dynasty, a great famine occurred in the area where the Shile tribe lived. Many people died of starvation, and those who survived wandered here and there to fill their stomachs.In order to survive, Shi Le fled from Yanmen to Yangqu with several people.Just at this time, Jianwei General Yan Yan proposed to Ma Teng of Dongying Company to capture and sell Hu people to solve the supply of the army. Sima Teng immediately adopted it and ordered generals Guo Yang and Zhang Long to take a large number of Hu people with wooden shackles and send them away. When it came to Jizhou, Shi Le was unfortunately also on the list.Zhang Long was greedy by nature, seeing that Shi Le searched all over but could not find anything of value, so he intentionally abused Shi Le.Shi Le could endure the beating, but he couldn't bear it without eating a few mouthfuls of food a day, and sometimes he was so hungry that he passed out on the road.Shi Le's good friend Guo Jing saw that Shi Le was so pitiful, so he pleaded with his clan brother Guo Yang to let him eat more.In this way, Shi Le arrived in Jizhou alive.

When he arrived in Jizhou, Shi Le had a good night's sleep. When he woke up the next day, he was informed that he had sold it to Shi Huan, a native of Chiping, Shandong.When Shi Le arrived at Shi Huan's house, he started a farming life of leaving early and returning late.When Shi Le was plowing the fields, he often heard the sound of drums and horns.Shi Le told his companion, and his companion told Shi Huan that Shi Huan felt that Shi Le was a bit special, so he filled out a release form and made Shi Le a commoner. Shi Le was deeply moved by the experience of becoming a slave first and then becoming a commoner.He thought to himself: This world is too unfair. I am a descendant of a famous family. I think I have led thousands of troops in the past, but I did not expect to be at the mercy of others.It seems that only by recruiting new troops can the family be revived.So not long after leaving Shihuan, Shi Le recruited 8 cavalry including Wang Yang, Kui'an, Zhixiong, Ji Bao, Wu Yu, Liu Ying, Tao Bao, and Lu Ming to revolt.Later, 10 people including Guo Ao, Liu Zheng, Liu Shi, Hu Yanmo, Guo Heilue, Zhang Yue, Kong Tu, Zhao Lu, and Zhi Quliu also joined this small team, known as the "Eighteen Cavalry".In the second year of Yongxing (305 A.D.), the Gongshi Fan rebelled against the Jin Dynasty. Shi Le led the "Eighteen Cavalry" to defect to the Gongshi Fan and was appointed as the former team governor.After Gongshifan was killed by Puyang prefect Gou Xi in Baima, Shi Le led herdsmen to attack the prisons in nearby counties and counties, recruited some prisoners as soldiers, and recruited refugees who fled in the mountains, forests and swamps everywhere to build an army.In the first year of Yongjia (307 A.D.), Shi Le took refuge in Liu Yuan.Shi Le was appointed by Liu Yuan as the General of the Han Dynasty and the King of Pingjin, and Shi Le was grateful to Liu Yuan.

Shi Le accidentally heard from Liu Yuan that Liu Yuan had surrendered to Wuhuan Fulidu many times, but Fulidu refused to listen.In order to win Liu Yuan's favor, he devised a plan, pretending to offend Liu Yuan, and defected to Volido.Believing it was true, Fulidu became brothers with Shi Le and asked Shi Le to lead his troops to harass other barbarians.In the process of using troops, Shi Le paid great attention to buying people's hearts and pulled many people to his side.Seeing that the time had come, Shi Le took advantage of the banquet to capture Fulidu, and then led Fulidu's troops to report to Liu Yuan and receive the reward.In order to reward Shi Le, Liu Yuan promoted Shi Le to supervise the military conquests in Shandong, and assigned Fulidu's soldiers and horses to Shi Le for management.From then on, Shi Le's soldiers began to grow stronger.

The second year of Jin Yongjia (AD 308) was the year Shile fought the most and achieved the most results.Within this year, Shi Le successively captured Wei Jun, Ji Jun, Dunqiu, Yecheng, Zhao Jun, and Zhongqiu.By the second year, Shi Le's army had grown to more than 100,000. Shi Le gathered the well-dressed figures among them, established a gentleman camp, and implemented preferential treatment policies for them. In February of the sixth year of Yongjia (312 A.D.), Shile, where troops had been stationed in Gebei for more than five months, recruited migrant workers to rush to build warships, preparing to attack Jianye (now Nanjing).It seems that heaven intends to oppose Shi Le, and the rainy season in the area of ​​Gebei has been brought forward, and the rainy season will be endless for three months.The heavy rain washed away the roads, destroyed Shile's simple barracks, washed away the rations, and brought the plague. Half of the soldiers died of starvation or disease.At this time, Sima Rui, the evil king of Jinlang, transferred the army from the south of the Yangtze River to Shouchun, and ordered Shi Jizhan, the chief of the town, to command all the troops to attack Shile.

When Shi Le heard that Jin soldiers were coming soon, he hurriedly summoned all the generals to discuss countermeasures.Shi Diaoying, the leader of the right, advocated reconciliation with Jin first, and then slowly found a way after the Jin army retreated. After hearing this, Shi Le sighed with tears and did not speak.Kui'an, the backbone general, advocated going to high ground first to avoid the flood, and then discuss the way forward. Shi Le said angrily, "The general is too timid." , we shouldn’t have built here last year, and now the heavy rain is endless, which shows that we shouldn’t stay here. Yecheng is connected to Pingyang to the west, and there are natural barriers of mountains and rivers, so we should move north to manage Hebei. Once we control Hebei , the world belongs to you. The reason why the Jin army defended Shouchun was because they were afraid that we would go south. Now that we hear that we have withdrawn our troops suddenly, we are only glad that they have a guarantee of safety and will not pursue us at all. Now we should move our luggage out first. Transship, and then slowly move towards Shouchun, wait until all the luggage is transported away, and then move the troops northward, so that nothing will go wrong.” After hearing this, Shi Le pulled up his skirt with one hand, stroked his beard with the other, and said excitedly: “Your The strategy is too clever, too clever!" Immediately promoted Zhang Bin to You Changshi, and honored him as "Youhou".

When Shi Le arrived in Yecheng and asked for Zhang Bin's opinion, Zhang Bin said: "Now the world is in chaos, wars continue, and people's hearts are not stable. It is not a long-term solution for us to run around like this. As the saying goes, those who gain land Chang, those who lost land perish. Handan and Xiangguo were the former capitals of Zhao State, and the terrain is dangerous. We can choose a place to establish the capital, and then order the generals to attack everywhere, so that we can easily establish a hegemony." Shi Le is very happy. Appreciating Zhang Bin's proposition, he entered Xiangguo.After that, he successively defeated the forces such as Wang Jun and Liu Kun who occupied the land of Hebei, so that his power grew rapidly.

In the first year of Jin Taixing (318 A.D.), Liu Cong, king of the Han Dynasty, died of illness, and his son Liu Can succeeded to the throne. Grand Sikong Jin Zhun launched a rebellion and killed Liu Can.In October of the same year, Liu Yuan's nephew Liu Yao succeeded to the throne, and Shi Le was named Da Sikong and General. Although Shi Le was loyal to Liu Yao, Liu Yao didn't trust him very much.In February of the second year of Taixing (319 A.D.), Liu Yao listened to the slander and killed Shile's Zuo Changshi Wang Xiu.When Shi Le heard the news, his face turned blue with anger, and he said to his subordinates: "For the sake of Mrs. Liu, I went through life and death, fought bloody battles, and made great contributions. But they crossed the river and demolished the bridge, and plotted against me instead! I became the king, now it seems that it is all wishful thinking. I am too stupid, in fact, it is fine for me to be the emperor, why should I be crowned by them!" So the imperial doctor order, Shangfang order, Yufu order and other official positions were set up. And let people build palaces.

Through these events, counselors Zhang Bin, Zhang Jing and others saw that Shi Le had the ambition to become emperor, so they jointly requested Shi Le to become emperor. At first, Shi Le hypocritically disagreed, but in November of the second year of Taixing (319 A.D.) , Shi Le proclaimed himself King Zhao with peace of mind, and established the post-Zhao regime.From then on, Shi Le often used the emperor's rituals and music when meeting ministers, and wore the emperor's clothes when he went out, as if he had become a real dragon emperor. In order to better rule the post-Zhao people, Shi Le ordered to give three stones of millet to every widowed old man, to give different amounts of silk to famous filial sons and grandsons and hard-working farmers, and to reduce rents for ordinary people.The common people got a little benefit.Seeing that Shi Le had established his own dynasty, the ministers were impatient and rushed to ask Shi Le for credit. Shi Le said to them: "It has been 16 years since I started my army. You have followed the South and North Wars and made great contributions. , I will never forget you, you should all be rewarded now." After receiving the reward, the ministers were all elated.

Shi Le himself is a barbarian, and he knows very well that people in the Central Plains look down on barbarians, so what should we do?He took the method of deceiving the ears and stealing the bell, calling the Hu people Chinese, and tabooed people from calling them "Hu". Although Shi Le was born in the Jie family, he knew that to gain a firm foothold in the Central Plains, he must have the support of the Central Plains landlords, so he asked Zhang Bin to be in charge of formulating the ranks of the nobles, starting with the fifth rank, and then increasing to the ninth rank .In the third year of Jin Taixing (320 A.D.), Shi Le ordered the ministers and prefectures to recommend scholars every year, one for filial piety, one for integrity, one for virtue, one for bluntness, and one for bravery, so as to enrich the bureaucracy at all levels.

When Shi Le became king, Zu Ti, the general of the Jin Conquest to the North, was preparing for the Northern Expedition.Shi Le was shocked when he heard the news, and immediately ordered the restoration of Zu Ti's ancestral grave, so as to win Zu Ti's favor.After Zu Ti heard about it, he sent Wang Yu, who joined the army, as an envoy to Shi Le to express his gratitude and agreed to reconcile the two sides.Since then, tranquility has been restored in the Yanyu area, and the people can rest and recuperate again. Years of military service made Shi Le exhausted.After the establishment of the post-Zhao regime, Shi Le felt much more relaxed, and couldn't help thinking of his childhood partners, friends in his teenage years, and fellow villagers.In November of the fourth year of Taixing (321 A.D.), Shi Le invited his old friends from Wuxiang to Xiangguo.When Shi Le visited them, he saw that Li Yang was not there, so he hurriedly sent someone to look for him.Li Yang was Shi Le's neighbor. When they were young, the two fought fiercely over the pond used for retting. Li Yang thought of these things and dared not go to Xiangguo to see Shi Le.Shi Le had already left these trivial matters out of the blue, and seeing that Li Yang hadn't come, he sent someone to look for him.When Li Yang arrived at the palace, Shi Le took him by the arm and said, "You hit me in the past, and I hit you too, and the two strokes canceled out." Then he promoted Li Yang to join the army as a captain.When talking with his elders and fellow villagers, Shi Le heard that there was still not enough food in the countryside, so he ordered the ban on wine making to save food. In December of the first year of Jin Yongchang (AD 322), Zhang Bin, the right chief, passed away.Shi Le was distraught, and broke down in tears, he said: "God didn't want to accomplish my great cause, and took away my right marquis prematurely!" Since Shi Le claimed to be the queen of Zhao in the second year of Taixing (319 AD), he broke openly with the former Zhao.In the third year of Jin Taining (325 A.D.), Shi Le's nephew Shihu attacked Shiliang and Bingzhou of the former Zhao, and killed more than 10,000 soldiers of the former Zhao. Liu Yao was so angry that he became ill.In July of the first year of Zhao Taihe (AD 328), Shi Hu led another 40,000 soldiers to attack Hedong of the former Zhao, but was defeated by Liu Yao in Gaohou.In November, Shi Le went out to fight in person, quickly defeated and captured Liu Yao, escorted him back to Xiangguo, and killed him soon after. In February of the third year of Zhao Taihe (AD 330), Shi Le proclaimed himself King of Zhao under the persuasion of his ministers, and made all his sons kings, and the ministers added titles according to their merits.In September, Shi Le proclaimed himself emperor, changed Yuan Jianping, made his wife Liu Shi the queen, and stipulated Zhaoyi, wife, noble concubine, nobleman, Sanying, Jiuhua, Shuyuan, Shuyi, Ronghua, Meiren and other harem grade and amount. In the summer of the second year of Zhao Jianping (AD 331), Shi Le arrived in Yecheng and planned to build his capital here. Tingwei Xuxian wrote a letter to persuade him. Shi Le was furious and said, "It will be difficult to build my palace if I don't kill this old man." He ordered Xu Xian to be taken to prison.Zhongshu ordered Xu Guang to say to Shi Le: "It's up to you to decide whether to adopt his words, why kill him?!" Shi Le shook his head, and said mockingly to himself: "It's so unfree to be an emperor! Ordinary people The family has money and wants to buy a new house, not to mention that I am the king of a country! This palace will eventually be built, but it will be stopped for now to fulfill the kindness of the outspoken minister." He also rewarded the court with a hundred feet of salty silk and a hundred of rice.Soon, heavy rains hit the northwest of Zhongshan, and a lot of wood rushed in. Shi Le said to the minister: "God asked me to build Yedu and sent me so much wood. What can I say!" The palace finally broke ground. Politicians always like to take stock of their own merits and demerits in their later years.After the Spring Festival in the third year of Zhao Jianping (332 A.D.), Shi Le hosted a banquet in honor of the Koguryo envoys.When the wine was in full bloom, Shi Le asked Xu Guang: "Which emperor can I compare with?" Xu Guang replied: "Your Majesty's wisdom is higher than Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty." This is too much. If I meet Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, I will definitely submit to him. A man should do things openly and aboveboard, and cannot take over the world by bullying orphans and widowed mothers like Cao Mengde and Sima Zhongda." After hearing this, the ministers shouted a few times. "Long live Your Majesty". In June of the fourth year after Zhao Jianping (333 A.D.), Shi Le suddenly fell ill and was bedridden.His nephew Shi Hu had ambitions to seize the throne, pretending to be an imperial edict, and preventing Prince Shi Hong and his ministers from visiting Shi Le.In July, Shi Le's illness worsened, and he dictated a will: "I will be buried three days after my death. During this period, marriages, sacrifices, drinking, and meat eating are not allowed, and the guards of the town are not allowed to come to the funeral; Only ordinary vehicles are used, and gold treasures and utensils are not allowed to be buried in the tomb." Within a few days, he died at the age of 60.That night, Shi Hu secretly buried Shi Le deep in the valley. It took 12 days for Shi Le to be mourned.