Chapter 81 Chapter 80: Civilized Emperor Murong Hao

Speaking of Murong Hao, we must first mention his father Murong Hao.Murong Xun was born in Jicheng, Changli (northwest of Yixian, Liaoning today), and was of the Xianbei nationality. He once established a separatist regime in Liaodong, and was named Pingzhou Mu and Liaodong County Duke by the Jin Dynasty.Murong Hao was established as the eldest son by his father at this time.Murong Hao is seven feet eight inches tall, has a resolute personality, is proficient in astronomy and calendar, and is good at maneuvering.In the eighth year of Jin Xianhe (333 A.D.), Murong Yu died of illness, and Murong Hao succeeded to the throne.

Suspicion of heroes is a common problem of Chinese feudal emperors.When Murong Hao first succeeded to the throne, he was afraid that others would have unreasonable ideas about his position, and he didn't trust anyone, which led to chaos within Qianyan.His elder brother Murong Han, younger brothers Murong Ren and Murong Zhao were all talented men with outstanding military exploits. Not only did Murong Hao not reuse them, but he was suspicious of them again and again, forcing Murong Han to defect to Xianbei Duan Liao.He had nothing to do with Murong Han, so he had to vent his personal anger on the other two, first kill Murong Zhao, and then send someone to monitor Murong Ren's every move.Soon, they sent younger brothers Murong You, Murong Zhi, Sima Tongshou and others to Pingguo to attack Murong Ren.But Murong Hao never dreamed that the two brothers, Young and Zhizhi, were captured by Murong Ren, and Tong Shou raised his hand to surrender, and the entire Liaodong region became Murong Ren's sphere of influence.The Xianbei tribes of Duan Liao also echoed Murong Ren from afar.

This made Murong Hao furious, and he made an oath that he would not give up until Murong Ren was eliminated.In January of the second year of Jin Xiankang (336 A.D.), Murong Hao personally led the three armies to the city of Pingguo by sea.Seeing this, Murong Ren pulled all the troops to the northwest of the city to prepare for battle, but at this moment, Murong Ren's generals led the troops to surrender Murong Hao, and Murong Hao took advantage of the sudden disturbance of Murong Ren's officers and soldiers Captured Murong Ren alive, immediately forced him to commit suicide, and returned triumphantly.

In October of the following year, Murong Hao proclaimed himself King of Yan, made his wife Duan the queen, his son Murong Jun the prince, and Feng Yi the prime minister.Then Song Hui was sent as an envoy to Later Zhao to ask Shi Hu for reinforcements at the cost of being a minister of Later Zhao's king Shi Hu to destroy Duan Liao.Shi Hu agreed to send troops.In March of the fourth year of Xiankang in the Jin Dynasty (338 A.D.), Shihu sent troops to attack Duan Liao, and Duan Liao fled to Miyun Mountain.But Murong Hao didn't keep his promise, instead of going to join forces with Shihu as promised, he led his troops to rob countless livestock and 5,000 households of Duan Liao, and brought them back to Thorn City.Seeing this, Shi Hu was very annoyed, and led his troops to attack Murong Hao in a fit of anger. When he was approaching the city of Thorns, officials from Murong Hao's 36 cities surrendered to Shi Hu one after another.Seeing Shihu's ferocious approach, some civil and military officials guarding Thorn City couldn't help feeling timid, and persuaded Murong Hao to surrender to Shihu.Murong Hao said angrily: "I am trying to seize the world now, how can I surrender!" He ordered his son Murong Ke to attack Shihu when the east was about to dawn.Shi Hujun was sleeping soundly, and when he heard the arrival of the Yan army, he was in a panic, and they all dropped their helmets and armor, and fled in embarrassment.Murong Ke took advantage of the victory and pursued, killing more than 30,000 people in Hou Zhao.In the sixth year of Jin Xiankang (AD 340), Murong Hao led an army to attack Hou Zhao again, broke through Wu Suijin, entered Gaoyang, burned, killed and looted all the way, and finally captured Hou Zhao's 30,000 households and returned to Jicheng.In the eighth year of Jin Xiankang (AD 342), after moving the capital to Longcheng (today's Chaoyang, Liaoning), Murong Hao was particularly proud. He personally led an army of 40,000 to conquer Goguryeo, and easily entered Marudu, the residence of the king of Goguryeo.Murong Hao was dissatisfied with not catching Goguryeo Wang Zhao, so he ordered to dig up Zhao's father Li's tomb, burn Zhao's palace, and then bring Li's body, Zhao's mother, wife and more than 50,000 Goguryeo subjects back to Longcheng.In February of the following year, Murong Hao sent troops to Xianbei Yuwengui again. In the end, Yuwengui was defeated and had to flee to Mobei, where he was buried in the desert.When Murong Hao rushed to Zimengchuan, the capital of the Yuwen Ministry, he danced with joy, and ordered to take away all the livestock and property of the Yuwen Ministry, and moved more than 5,000 households of his ministry to Changli.

Brother Huo Murong Han was wounded in this battle, and he has been recuperating at home since returning to Thorn City.Years of military service made him inseparable from horses and arrows. After his health recovered, he practiced horse riding and archery at home.This matter was reported to Murong Hao by someone, and he was framed for conspiracy.Before he came to the throne, Murong Hao was extremely jealous of Murong Han's outstanding military exploits, which caused Murong Han to defect to Duan Liao and Yu Wengui successively. They want to use him to eliminate Duan Liao and Yu Wengui, so they attach great importance to him and entrust him with important tasks.But after Duan Liao and Yu Wengui were eliminated, Murong Hao deeply felt that keeping Murong Han might be a threat to him, so he wanted to wait for an opportunity to get rid of Murong Han.Therefore, when someone framed Murong Han, Murong Hao pushed the boat along with the flow, and did not allow Murong Han to make any excuses, and put him to death.

Although Murong Hao showed Yan's national prestige in several battles, on the other hand, he also consumed the national power and put the country's finances into difficulties.In order to increase the country's income, in the first year of Jin Yonghe (345 A.D.), Murong Yu leased the garden to the poor people, and planned to collect the rent on a 28% basis. The country got 80% and the people got 20%.Feng Yu, a reporter who joined the army, felt that the distribution ratio was unreasonable, so he wrote a letter to persuade Murong Hao. Murong Hao humbly adopted Feng Yu's opinion and ordered that Yuan Yu be distributed to farmers with no or little land for free. Give a farm ox, if you want to work more and cultivate more fields, you can use the country's cattle for farming, and the distribution will be divided into four and six, the country gets six, and the peasants get four.In order to cultivate talents, Murong Hao established a school in Jiugong, recruiting more than 1,000 students. Murong Hao often went to the school to give lectures and examine students.Over the past few years, the strength of Yan State has greatly increased.

In the fourth year of Jin Yonghe (348 A.D.), Murong Hao, who still wanted to start a career, fell ill unfortunately.When he was critically ill, he said to his son Murong Jun: "Now there is no unity in the Central Plains, and we need to rely on virtuous people. Murong Ke is both wise and brave, and can be entrusted with important tasks; Yang Ji has good character and loyalty, and can be entrusted with important tasks." He passed away at the age of 52, with the posthumous title of "Emperor of Civilization".