Chapter 163 Chapter 162 Daowu Emperor Tuobagui

It is said that when Tuobagui was born, he was twice as heavy as a normal baby, and he could speak very early, so he was very popular with his grandfather Shi Yiqian.When he was 6 years old, Shi Yiqian was murdered due to tribal civil strife, and Dai Guo was divided into two parts, led by Liu Kuren and Liu Weichen respectively.Tuoba Gui and his mother belonged to Liu Kuren's tribe.At this time, Tuoba Gui, although he was still young and living under the fence, had already shown his extraordinary demeanor. After several years of Tuobagui's mother and son living in the Kuren tribe, Liu Kuren was killed by Yan general Murong Wen and others. Liu Kuren's son, Liu Xian, took the lead and plotted to kill Tuobagui.Tuobagui had received a secret report beforehand, so he made a plan with his mother, He Shi, to prepare a banquet at night, invite Liu Xian to drink, and make Liu Xian drunk.Tuobagui took the opportunity to flee to the Helan tribe with several old ministers Qingqi, and defected to his uncle He Na.Seeing that Tuobagui is a mature young man with extraordinary knowledge, He Na is both surprised and happy, and supports him vigorously, hoping that he can rejuvenate his family and country and regain his homeland.

Tuobagui worked hard in the Helan tribe and won the hearts of the people, making people from far and near close.The leaders of all ministries made a joint request to He Na, willing to recommend Tuoba Gui as the leader.He Ne naturally agreed.Tuobagui conveniently held a tribal meeting in Niuchuan (now Xilamlin River, Inner Mongolia) in the first month of the eleventh year of Taiyuan (386 A.D.), and ascended the throne as Daiwang, with the title of Dengguo.After Tuobagui ascended the throne, he ordered his eldest grandson Song to be the master of the south, and his uncle Sun Puluo to be the master of the north.He also appointed Zhang Gun, a Han Chinese, as Zuo Changshi, Xu Qian as Right Sima, and Changsun Daosheng, the younger brother of Changsun Song, as attendants and advisers.As a result, under the leadership of Tuoba Gui, the Dai Kingdom, which had perished for more than 10 years, was revived.Tuobagui felt that Niuchuan was too remote to do much, so soon after he came to the throne, he moved his capital to Shengle (northwest of Helinger County, Inner Mongolia today), occupying the vast grassland area east of Hetao.In April of the same year, he changed his name to Wei and called himself King Wei.He was only 16 years old.

The emerging Northern Wei regime was surrounded by strong neighbors, with the Dugu tribe in the south, the Helan tribe in the north, the Kumoxi tribe in the east, the Tiefu tribe in the Hetao area in the west, the Rouran tribe and the Gaoche tribe in the north of Yinshan Mountain, and the Taihang Mountains and Taihang Mountains. To the east and west, there are Hou Yan of Murong Chui and Xi Yan of Murong Yong.Taking advantage of the conflict between Hou Yan and Xi Yan, Tuobagui formed a friendship with Hou Yan to contain the invasion of Xi Yan; later, he allied with Xi Yan to curb the expansion of Hou Yan, thus maintaining the security of the south.At the same time, he devoted himself to internal operations, trying to stabilize his position.

However, civil strife broke out soon after he came to the throne.Tuobagui's uncle and Shi Yiqian's youngest son, Kudu, colluded with Liu Xianbu in order to fight for the throne, trying to replace Tuobagui.Caused great commotion.Tuobagui was afraid that the internal disaster would not end, and the conspiracy would be difficult to prevent, so he had to cross Yinshan Mountain, go to the Yihelan tribe, and send someone to ask Yan for help.Tuobagui and Tuoba Kudu entered the grassland area east of Hetao with the support of Houyan and Xiyan respectively.This area is not only strategically important, but also the main supplier of war horses.Therefore, for his own benefit, Murong Chui, the Lord of Later Yan, immediately sent his son to lead troops to rescue.But at the same time that Tuobagui asked for help from Houyan, Kudu also contacted He Rangan, commander of the Helan tribe, to attack Tuobagui.At this time, there were caves in front of the Tuoba tribe, and there were gangsters in the back. The situation was very critical, and all the tribes were terrified and lost their fighting spirit.The young Tuoba Gui remained calm in the face of danger. In order to get rid of the danger of being attacked by the enemy and avoid Rangan, he hurriedly marched hundreds of miles to the upper reaches of the tributary of the Sanggan River. While waiting for a favorable opportunity, he sent someone to get in touch with the son of Murongchui , Meet and attack the cave duh.In October of the eleventh year of Taiyuan (AD 386), Tuobagui and Murongchui's son joined forces and defeated Kudu in Gaoliu (now northwest of Yanggao County, Shanxi).Ku Duo led the remnants of the defeated generals and fled westward, attached themselves to the Tiefu tribe of the Xiongnu, and was later killed by the Tiefu tribe.

The victory of the Battle of Gaoliu brought the Tuoba tribe back to safety, the Tuoba tribal alliance was consolidated and developed, and the royal power was also strengthened.In the second year, Tuobagui took advantage of the victory again and defeated Liu Xian and Liu Weichen, the sons of Liu Kuren of the Dugu tribe, who occupied Mayi (northwest of Shuo County, Shanxi).Occupied the grain-producing areas from Wuyuan to Guyangsai (the Yellow River Hetao).In the fifteenth year of Taiyuan (390 A.D.), he conquered the Helan tribe occupying the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain.In the sixteenth year of Taiyuan (AD 391), he conquered the Tiefu tribe of the Xiongnu who occupied the west of Hetao.In this way, in five years, Tuobagui eliminated several strongest opponents on the grasslands in southern Mongolia and northern Shanxi, and his power grew day by day.Later, Tuobagui annexed weak tribes such as Kumoxi, Gaoche, and Hetulin, not only obtained a large amount of land, but also captured a large number of people, and obtained hundreds of thousands or millions of horses, cattle, and sheep. Waiting for livestock has greatly enriched his own strength.

In June of the nineteenth year of Taiyuan (AD 394), Murong Chui sent troops to destroy Xiyan, occupying most of the central and southern parts of Shanxi today.In this way, only the Northern Wei Dynasty can compete with Hou Yan in North China.Dazzled by the victory, the ruler of Houyan thought that he could wipe out the Northern Wei Dynasty in one fell swoop just like Xiyan.Therefore, in July of the 20th year of Taiyuan (395 A.D.), Prince Murong Bao commanded 80,000 fine riders, and went straight to Hetao to attack the Northern Wei Dynasty.At this time, the Tuoba tribe was still living a nomadic life. When they heard Murong Bao came to attack, the Tuoba tribe moved away to Henan (now the Ikezhao League of Inner Mongolia).Murong Bao's army went to Wuyuan, but they couldn't find the main force of Tuoba Gui's army.At this time, rumors of Murong Chui's death came, and Houyan's army was in a state of turmoil.Murong Bao was eager to go back and inherit the throne, so he ordered the withdrawal of troops.Tuobagui took this opportunity to lead his fine riders across the river and rushed to Canhebei, where they surrounded the camp of the Yan army overnight.The Yan army was unprepared and eager to return to the east, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit. Under the sudden attack of Tuobagui's army, the entire army was wiped out. Except for Murong Bao who escaped alone, almost all 40,000 to 50,000 people in the Yan army were killed on the spot. , all food, goods and weapons fell into Tuoba Gui's hands.The result of this battle changed the balance of power between the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Later Yan Dynasty.In the 21st year of Taiyuan (396 A.D.), Murong Chui personally led an army to avenge, and went straight to the cloud, but Tuoba Gui still avoided the front, and led the crowd back to the Yinshan Mountains to preserve their strength.Although Murongchui captured Pingcheng (now Datong City, Shanxi Province) for a time, he still couldn't find a chance to fight Tuoba Gui. In the end, he had to lead his troops back because of his serious illness, and died on the way.Since then, Houyan's military decline has never been restored.At this time, Tuobagui was only 25 years old.Not long after Murong died, Tuobagui took his superior cavalry and drove into the Central Plains.

In July of the 21st year of Taiyuan (396 A.D.), Tuobagui proclaimed himself emperor in Shengle and changed his name to "Huangshi".In August, taking advantage of Murong Chui's new death and Houyan's internal chaos, he personally led an army of more than 400,000 to attack Houyan.In September, the Wei army captured Houyan Bingzhou (now southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi).In October, he led his troops out of Jingxing Pass (near Jingxing County, Hebei today).The army of the Northern Wei Dynasty was like a broken bamboo all the way. The guards of Houyan either abandoned the city and fled, or surrendered. Only the three cities of Yecheng, Xindu and Yandu Zhongshan were closed and defended.Tuobagui thought that a quick attack would hurt soldiers, and a slow attack would cost food and rice, so he sent troops to pacify Xindu and Yecheng first, and then take Zhongshan.Murong Bao still relied on the city to refuse, and the two sides had a stalemate in Zhongshan City for nearly a year. In September of the first year of Emperor Jin'an Long'an (397 A.D.), the food in Zhongshan City was exhausted, and Tuobagui ordered Fujun General Tuoba Zun to attack and take it. Around Zhongshan, the crops were harvested, and the famine in Zhongshan was even worse.Soon, the city of Zhongshan fell and Houyan perished.

After Tuobagui pacified Zhongshan, he divided his troops and plundered land, occupying all the former lands of Houyan in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.The remnants of the Murong clan had to stay away. One branch, led by Murong Bao, retreated to Longcheng (now Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province) and established the Beiyan regime. ) established the Nanyan regime.In this way, Tuobagui took the throne from AD 386 until Ping Zhongshan destroyed Houyan in AD 379. In just 10 years, he developed the Northern Wei Dynasty into the most powerful regime in the north. In December of the first year of Tianxing (398 A.D.), after making various preparations, Tuobagui moved his capital to Pingcheng, which was the throne of emperor.He adopted the suggestion of Cui Hong, a scholar of the Han nationality, and declared that Changyi, the youngest son of the Yellow Emperor, was granted the title of Beitu and was the ancestor of the Tuoba tribe, so he claimed to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor.Tuobagui yearned for the civilization of the Han people very much, so when he built Pingcheng, he followed the design blueprints of Chang'an, Luoyang, Yecheng and other famous cities in the Central Plains.He summoned the minister in charge of the construction many times and personally inquired about the specific projects of the construction.The last Pingcheng built used millions of pieces of wood and had 12 city gates. There were spacious palaces, quiet fish ponds and beautiful pavilions in the city and its suburbs, all of which were given magnificent names, such as Ziji Hall. , Mica Hall, Jinhua Room and so on.

When Tuoba Gui returned to the country, the ethnic minorities who entered the Central Plains had already embarked on the road of feudalization and Sinicization.If the Tuoba tribe wants to survive and develop, they must follow the various ethnic groups in the Central Plains and learn from the Han people.Tuoba Gui, who had experienced the pain of destroying the country, clearly saw this.Therefore, he took many measures to promote the rapid transition of Tuoba's slavery to feudalism. First of all, he developed agriculture and paid attention to farming.In the first year of Dengguo (386 A.D.), Tuobagui "received the public class farming" in the Shengle area, developed agriculture, and extended these experiences to the north of Hetao.In March of the ninth year of Dengguo (394 A.D.), he ordered his cousin Tuobayi to farm in the Hetao Plain from Wuyuan to Guyang.Tuobagui had strict control over the villages, and specially set up a supervisor.Neither the Tuen Guan nor the Tuntian people had land ownership.Except for a part of the proceeds from farming to the state, the rest is distributed to the villagers in a certain proportion.Since the people in the farmland are not all unpaid labor and can get a certain amount of remuneration, this measure is very popular, so the harvest is also very large. In order to promote the Tuoba tribe's animal husbandry economy to gradually shift to an agricultural economy, the transition from slavery to feudalism Favorable economic conditions have been created.

Tuobagui's second powerful measure to accelerate Sinicization was to "separate the tribes and divide the land for settlement".From the first year of Dengguo (386 A.D.) to the first year of Tianxing (398 A.D.), Tuobagui ordered many times to forcibly disband the tribal organizations related by blood, so that the herdsmen of each tribe would be separated from the original tribal leaders, and they would be reorganized according to the original tribal leaders. The place of residence is organized, and the government allocates land to them, allowing them to engage in farming or settled grazing.In this way, except for a very small number of members of the Tuoba tribe who rose to bureaucratic aristocrats as close servants of the emperor, most of them became farmers who paid taxes and military service as the land was divided and settled. The degree of feudalization of the Tuoba tribe also Then it deepened.

Tuobagui's third measure is to dictate the land and develop production.In the early Northern Wei Dynasty, due to the great military victory, a large number of people were captured.After Tuobagui took away the residents of the conquered area, except for a small number of prisoners of war who were rewarded to the nobles, ministers and generals as the spoils of the monarch, making them slaves, shepherds, scribes, and miscellaneous people, most of the rest They were regarded as "new citizens" and migrated with them.The government distributed cattle and farm equipment to these "new people", and assigned them acres of land according to their population, allowing them to cultivate the fields within a designated area, and set up special commanders to govern them. In his later years, Tuobagui began to be blindly confident and self-willed, and his personality became very suspicious and suspicious.He is often worried that others will covet his throne.In the third year of Tianxing (AD 400), he issued two imperial edicts, one of which said: "People think that Han Gaozu ruled the world as a commoner, which is wrong. Han Gaozu became emperor because of the destiny. Without the destiny, he tried to If you don’t divide, you will suffer.” Another edict repeatedly stated: fame, wealth and titles are the end, and morality is the root, and the cart and the cart cannot be reversed.Command the ministers to speak morally and not to be greedy for fame and fortune.Emperor Daowu took the theological dogma of destiny and morality as spiritual medicine stones, but these medicine stones could not bring him complete peace.He constantly suspected that his subordinates were disloyal to him, and worried that they were plotting something wrong.Those ministers, generals, and Tuoba royal family with great achievements and reputations became objects of his suspicion.Once suspected, they will be exiled in light cases, and decapitated in severe cases. Tuoba Gui's cousin, Tuoba Yi, was originally the most famous general in the Northern Wei Dynasty. He made great achievements in the Battle of Canhebei and the Battle of Destroying Yan. He enjoyed high prestige both among Tuoba nobles and Han ministers Therefore, Tuobagui became increasingly suspicious.In the sixth year of Tianci (409 A.D.), the divination official said to Emperor Daowu: "There will be abnormal changes in astronomy this year, and there may be ministers rebelling." A sense of precarity.Tuobayi was worried that the disaster would reach him, and panicked, so he fled alone, but in the end he was chased and killed by Emperor Daowu. As early as when Ku Duo and Tuoba Gui were competing for the throne, Lord Gaoyi Moti shot a letter to Ku Duo with an arrow and said: "Tuoba Gui is still a three-year-old calf, how can he be a heavy-duty cart!" He expressed his willingness to support Ku Duo.This letter was intercepted by Tuobagui, who has always held a grudge against it.In the fifth year of Tianci (408 A.D.), someone reported that Moti had a luxurious residence, was proud of others, and despised the emperor. Tuobagui took advantage of the problem and sent someone to send him the arrows that Moti had used back then, and asked him: "You See how my three-year-old calf is doing now?" Mo Ti and his son knew that they would not survive, so they wept at each other, and they were beheaded soon after. As time went on, Tuobagui became more and more suspicious, and often executed ministers on trumped-up charges for minor incidents.He Diqian, an adult from the north, was imprisoned in Chang'an for many years by the Later Qin Dynasty. After returning to Pingcheng, Tuobagui saw that he was wearing Qin people's clothes and spoke with a Qin people's accent, so he thought that he admired the Later Qin Dynasty and sent He Digan along with him. His brother was killed together.Minister Sikong Gengyue was accused of having gorgeous clothes and imitating the behavior of the emperor, and he was immediately executed.When the court was discussing matters, Tuobagui also killed people at every turn.As long as he suddenly remembered the fault of a certain minister, he would push him out and execute him. Even when he saw someone's face was abnormal and his breath was not smooth; In front of Tianan Temple.His atrocities caused people in the court to be unable to protect themselves. Ministers and officials were all worried about disasters and ignored the government. Tuobagui often took Hanshi powder in his later years, hoping to live a long life and become immortal.In fact, this cold food powder is a poisonous substance made of minerals such as cinnabar and quartz.During the onset of toxicity, his temperament became more manic and moody. He often did not eat for several days, did not sleep for several nights, talked to the wall alone, and even beat people to death with his own hands.He likes to ride in a rickshaw, holding a sword while riding, hitting the heads of the pullers from behind, killing one by one, sometimes dozens of people die every day. The more he murdered, the more he worried about others murdering him, so he often changed his dormitory, even his ministers and cronies did not know where he lived, only his concubine Wan Wan knew where he lived.Unexpectedly, Wan Wan had an affair with his second son Tuoba Shao.Tuoba Shao was fierce and cruel by nature, and was the son of Mrs. He, the younger sister of Empress Dowager He (Tuobagui married his aunt).In October of the sixth year of Tianci (AD 409), Mrs. He was imprisoned by Tuoba Gui. She asked someone to inform Tuoba Shao and let him try to rescue her.That night, Tuoba Shao found Tuoba Gui's residence with tens of thousands of people as his internal response, and stabbed him to death.Tuoba Gui was only 39 years old at this time.In September of the second year of Yongxing (AD 410), he was posthumously titled "Emperor Xuanwu" and buried in Jinling, Shengle, with the temple name Liezu.In the fifth year of Taichang (420 A.D.), his posthumous title was changed to "Emperor Daowu".In the fifteenth year of Taihe (AD 491), the temple name was changed to "Taizu".