Chapter 164 Chapter 163

In the seventh year of Dengguo in the Northern Wei Dynasty (392 A.D.), Liu Gui, the favorite concubine of Emperor Daowu Tuobagui, gave birth to a son.Emperor Daowu was overjoyed because of the birth of his eldest son, and immediately ordered the people of the world to celebrate together, and named the child Si, and established him as the prince, hoping that he could inherit his great cause.This child later succeeded Emperor Daowu as the second emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba heir of Emperor Mingyuan. Tuoba Si was smart and magnanimous since he was a child, and he behaved politely, so he was very much loved by Emperor Daowu.In the sixth year of Tianxing (AD 403), he was named the king of Qi, paid homage to the state, and added a chariot and a general.At first, Emperor Daowu, fearing that the Queen's party would monopolize power in the future, would cause civil strife in the court, and ordered Liu Guisheng to die shortly after Tuoba heir was born.Later, he told Tuoba Si: "In the past, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to make his son emperor, so he killed the mother of the child. The main reason was to prevent women from participating in the state affairs, so as to avoid rebellion by relatives. You will inherit my inheritance in the future, so I followed the example of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, mainly to make long-term plans for your future rule." Tuoba Si was very filial to his mother, and when he heard the news, he burst into tears and couldn't stop himself, which made Emperor Dao Wu very angry.After Tuoba Si returned to the palace from his father, he missed his mother and cried day and night.Emperor Daowu wanted to summon him again after he knew about it.When Tuoba Si was about to enter the palace, his followers persuaded him: "The emperor is in a fit of anger now, there may be accidents when you go, why not go out and hide for a while, and it will not be too late to see the emperor when his anger subsides." So Tuoba Si left the palace and went on a tour in other places.

In the sixth year of Tianci (409 AD), Emperor Daowu was killed by his second son Tuoba Shao.After hearing the news, Tuoba Si rushed back to the capital, contacted the ministers and killed Tuoba Shao, quelled the palace coup, ascended the throne, and changed his Yuan to Yongxing. After Tuobasi ascended the throne, he advised on farming and mulberry, rested with the people, and vigorously restored and developed agricultural production.In the third year of Yongxing (411 A.D.), Tuoba Si issued an edict saying: "If you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace. If people are hungry and cold, and fear that the food at home will not last for a day in the morning, what they worry about is how to eat and wear warm. Where is the time to talk about benevolence and righteousness? Only when men farm and women weave, and complement each other internally and externally, can a family be satisfied."

He also ordered to reduce the number of court ladies, and let a large number of court ladies go out of the palace to distribute to widowers.In the second year of Shenrui (415 A.D.), an edict was issued: "The ancients said that if the people are rich, the king will have more than enough. There has never been a country where the people are rich and the country is poor. In recent years, there have been frequent frosts and droughts, and food harvests have failed. Many people suffer from hunger. The cold is hard to survive. The state should distribute cloth and grain in stock to help the poor.” After General Xi Jin defeated the Yueqin Beini tribe, Tuoba Si moved more than 20,000 families of the Yueqin Beini tribe to the vicinity of Daningchuan , the state handed out farm implements according to the population, distributed farmland, and forced them to carry out agricultural production.Tuobasi himself often made inspection tours, personally interviewing the elders of the people and asking about their sufferings.In order to prevent the landlords and officials from corrupting and harming the people, he not only sent central officials to patrol the four directions, supervise and inspect, but also ordered that if the guard did not obey the law, the people could directly go to the palace to appeal.The property of the guard, if it was not produced in his own home, will be confiscated as stolen goods.Severely punish the governors who did not complete the government's taxation tasks on time, and they are not allowed to collect from the people, but they are compensated with their family's property.

These measures relieved the burden of farmers to a certain extent, eased the contradictions between the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the people, and also made a large number of refugees enclose.In the second year of Shenrui (415 A.D.), more than 5,000 families of refugees from Henan belonged to them. Di tribe tycoons Xu Junnu and Qi Yuanzi also led more than 30,000 tribes to send envoys, and more than 5,000 families from Donghu and Shu They also surrendered one after another. Although Emperor Daowu established a powerful Northern Wei regime with martial arts and cultural governance, he unified most of Northern China.But at that time, there were still many small separatist regimes in the north.Bordering the Northern Wei Dynasty are Beiyan, Beiliang, Houqin, Nanyan and Xia, etc., and to the north of the Northern Wei Dynasty is Rouran, which is growing stronger.After Tuobasi succeeded to the throne, he felt that the Northern Wei Dynasty had just entered the Central Plains and still needed to consolidate its rule and gain a firm foothold. Therefore, while resting with the people internally and developing production, it also adopted a policy of appeasement externally.In the tenth year of Yixi (AD 414), envoys were sent to Tongqin, Rouran and Beiyan, and General Pingnan, Xiangzhou Inspector Wei Guzhen and Eastern Jin Taiwei Liu Yu were sent to communicate with each other.The purpose of Tuoba Si to send envoys is naturally to hope to live in harmony with all parties.

At that time, among the surrounding separatist regimes, Xia and Rouran were the two rivals of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Not long after Tuobasi came to the throne, Rouran invaded the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.In the second year of Yongxing (AD 410), Sun Song, the great general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was besieged by Rouran in Niuchuan, and Tuoba Si went out to fight in person, and the enemy general led the crowd to retreat. In the second year of Shenrui (415 A.D.), many people died of starvation due to successive years of winter drought near Pingcheng.Many people advocated moving the capital to Yecheng (north of today's Anyang City, Henan Province).Tuoba Si summoned a group of ministers to discuss. Cui Hao said: "Moving the capital to Yecheng can avoid this year's famine, but it is not a long-term solution. Dividing the south and moving the troops will make the Quartet feel contemptuous, and the people The water and soil are not acclimatized, and there must be many deaths due to the disease. Moreover, after the defense of Pingcheng is weakened, if Xia raises troops to invade the south, Pingcheng will inevitably be in crisis, and the imperial court is thousands of miles away, so it is difficult to rescue, and it will definitely cause great damage to us." Tuoba Si listened. Following Cui Hao's suggestion, in order to prevent Rouran from invading the south, they still stayed in Pingcheng, and only moved the hungry people to Dingzhou, Xiangzhou, and Jizhou for food.

In the eighth year of Taichang (AD 423), Liu Song of the Southern Dynasty competed with the Northern Wei Dynasty for Henan, and Rouran took the opportunity to invade the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.Tuobasi ordered the construction of a Great Wall from Chicheng (now Chicheng County, Hebei) to Wuyuan, which stretched for more than 2,000 miles, and set up many towns to prevent Rouran from going south and defend Pingcheng.During Tuobasi's reign, Longji consolidated his foundation, and always took defensive and peaceful measures against Rouran and the surrounding separatist regimes. Tuoba Si, like his predecessors, often takes Hanshi powder in order to live a long life and become immortal.Toxicity gradually accumulates, frequent attacks, and the body gradually declines.Tuobasi himself was very worried, fearing that the palace would be changed after his death, so he secretly asked Cui Hao in the seventh year of Taichang (AD 422) and said: "There have been many disasters in recent years, and my illness has not recovered for several years. If something happens to me, what should I do?" Cui Hao replied: "We should establish a prince early, choose a capable man to be his master, and loyal ministers to be his guests and friends, and gradually let him take over the affairs of the country. In this way, on the one hand, the emperor On the other hand, once the emperor lives long, he can also make the country have a stable leader, and the people can rely on them, so naturally there will be no turmoil." Cui Hao thinks that the prince Tuoba Tao is already dead. Nearly 12 years old, he can take on great responsibilities and should be established as the prince.Tuobasi also secretly asked Sun Song, the Duke of Nanping, who also believed that Tuobatao was old and capable, and he would definitely be able to convince others.

So Tuoba Si followed the advice of the two ministers and made Tuoba Tao the crown prince in May of the same year, and let him live in the main hall to listen to the government and serve as the deputy head of the country.He also arranged Changsun Song, Shanyang Gong Xijin, and Beixin Public Security as Zuo Fu, Cui Hao, Taiwei Mu Guan, and Sanqi Changshi Dai Ren Qiudui as You Bi, assisting Tuoba Tao in handling major state affairs.Tuoba Si himself avoided living in the West Palace, observing and evaluating secretly.He was very happy to see that Tuoba Tao was young, enlightened, calm and decisive, and all the ministers also supported him with all his strength. He said to the courtiers next to him: "Changsun Song is highly respected and has a history of four generations; Xi Jin is famous for his wisdom and eloquence; Mu Guan is good at political affairs and understands my intentions; Cui Hao is knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and can understand heaven and man; Qiu Dui has no great talent, but he is fair and rigorous. I asked these six people to assist the prince, so naturally there is no Don’t worry about the future. I can rest assured to patrol the four directions with you, crusade against rebellion, recruit submissiveness, and achieve success in the world.” Tuobasi also sent Liu Jie from the east and west, Gu Bi from the door, Lu Luyuan, Zhilang, etc. to be loyal and diligent Officials, let them take orders from the prince, and divide the codes confidentially.He intended to train the crown prince, and when the ministers had any difficult matters to ask him to make a ruling, he avoided answering and said to the ministers: "I don't know this question, you should ask your lord."

In January of the eighth year of Taichang (AD 423), Tuoba Si died of illness in the West Palace of Pingcheng at the age of 32.Buried in Jinling in the clouds, he was given the posthumous title of "Emperor Ming Yuan" and the temple title of "Taizong".