Chapter 165 Chapter 164 Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao

Tuoba Tao, courtesy name Foli, was the eldest son of Tuobasi, Emperor Mingyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty.When he was young, he was smart and capable, open-minded and generous.In the seventh year of Taichang (422 A.D.), 15-year-old Tuoba Tao was named King Taiping, established as the crown prince, and awarded the rank of General Xiangguo to manage political affairs.Soon, Tuoba Si fell ill, so he was allowed to rule the government.In the second year, Tuoba Si died of illness, and Tuoba Tao became emperor. In the first year of Shiguang (424 A.D.) when Tuoba Tao came to the throne, Dayan, the leader of Rouran, led 60,000 cavalry troops to invade Yunzhong (now Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia), killing people and plundering land.After hearing the news, Tuoba Tao, who was only 17 years old, personally led the troops, traveling day and night, and rushed to Yunzhong in only three days and two nights.Before the team had time to rest, Dayan's large cavalry rushed over and trapped Tuoba Tao's soldiers and horses. The situation was very critical, and the soldiers of the Northern Wei Dynasty panicked.Tuoba Tao was calm and composed on the horseback, and arranged according to division.Seeing that his young commander was not afraid in the face of danger, the soldiers quickly settled down.Under the command of Tuoba Tao, he shot and killed Rouran's forward commander. Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Da Tan had to lead his army to retreat.In the second year, Tuoba Tao personally sent troops to conquer Rouran.In order to achieve the effect of making quick decisions and catching the enemy by surprise, he resolutely ordered the general to leave all the luggage, and only take 15 days of dry food, to march forward on light horses, and attack Rouran through the desert. After hearing the news, Da Tan panicked and led the crowd to the North fled.

Tuoba Tao took the initiative to attack Rouran, and the largest one was in the second year of Shenlujia (429 AD).At that time, important officials inside and outside the court did not agree with this military action.Zhang Yuan, Xu Bian, etc. used the unfavorable celestial phenomena as an excuse to predict that the expedition to Rouran would be defeated.Cui Hao, a Han minister who supported the Northern Expedition, also used astronomical divination to refute Zhang and Xu one by one.At this time, Liu Song was also preparing to invade the Northern Wei Dynasty. Tuoba Tao made a decisive decision and said to the ministers: "Liu Song is too busy to take care of himself, and the northern invasion will not pose a big threat. Even if we can come, if we don't destroy Rouran first, we will suffer from the enemy. "Ordered to send troops to conquer Rouran.This attack caught Rouran Datan by surprise, burned the tent hastily, and ran westward with his troops.Tuoba Tao commanded troops, 5,000 miles from east to west, and 3,000 miles from north to south, and divided his troops vertically and horizontally to search for his remnants.There were more than 300,000 Rouran tribes conquered by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and millions of horses, cattle and sheep were captured.Hundreds of thousands of people from the Chile Department (Gaoche Department) also surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty.These surrendered tribes were all moved by Tuoba Tao to the border thousands of miles south of Monan, where they engaged in farming and animal husbandry under the military supervision of the Northern Wei Dynasty.They pay a large amount of tribute to the Northern Wei Dynasty every year, resulting in mountains of felt and fur goods in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the price of horses, cattle and sheep has also dropped significantly.The war to unify the Yellow River Basin in the Northern Wei Dynasty reached a climax after repelling Rouran.

In the fifth year of Shenlujia (AD 432), Tuoba Tao led the army to conquer Beiyan, which was separated from Liaodong and Liaoxi, disintegrated the big county controlled by Beiyan, and moved more than 30,000 households to Youzhou (near Beijing today) ).In the second year of Taiyan (AD 436), Tuoba Tao sent troops to Beiyan again. Feng Hong, the king of Beiyan, fled to Korea and was killed immediately.At this time, there was only one Beiliang regime in the entire Yellow River Basin, which was in conflict with the Northern Wei Dynasty.When Juqu Mengxun was in power, Beiliang was still relatively powerful, and Tuoba Tao also maintained a superficial friendship with him.After Mengxun's death, his son Mu Jian succeeded to the throne. He was fatuous and incompetent, and the state government gradually became desolate. Tuoba Tao saw that the time had come, so in the fifth year of Taiyan (AD 439), Luo weaved 12 charges against Mu Jian and personally led the army to crusade .Mu Jian knew that it was difficult to resist, so he bound his hands together with the ministers and pleaded guilty to Tuoba Tao.On the one hand, Tuoba Tao untied him and served him with courtesy. On the other hand, he led the army into the city and took over 200,000 households. He sent Leping Wang Pi and Zhengxi General He Duoluo to guard Liangzhou. 30,000 households moved to Pingcheng, Kyoto, and Beiliang died, ending the long-term split in the north.

As the Northern Wei Dynasty took control of the Central Plains and unified the north, Tuoba Tao clearly realized that only by building schools, opening museums to teach scriptures, and improving the Sinicization level of Xianbei officials can he accept the ideas and theories of Han feudal rule in the Central Plains.Therefore, not long after he succeeded to the throne, the regime of the Northern Wei Dynasty was still fighting from the south to the north. In the third year of Shiguang (AD 426), the Taixue was established in the east of the capital city, and the Confucian patriarch Confucius and his disciple Yan Yuan were worshipped in the academy.In the fifth year of Taiping Zhenjun (444 A.D.), Tuoba Tao issued another edict saying: The Northern Wei Dynasty has been busy with military affairs for a long time but not culture and education, which is not conducive to rectifying rural customs and formulating norms of action.From now on, from princes and ministers to high officials, the descendants of princes and nobles must go to Taixue to receive education and study classics and history.Tuoba Tao paid more attention to the Sinicization education of the heir to the throne.He personally selected Gao Yun, a master of Confucianism who is proficient in classics and history, as the master of Prince Tuobahuang.Under Gao Yun's teaching, Prince Huang has a deep knowledge of Confucianism, classics and history, and has a strong interest in Han culture.After Tuoba Huang's death, Tuoba Tao hired the famous Confucian Li Ling to teach the emperor's grandson Tuoba Jun.

After the Northern Wei Dynasty unified the north, most of the local officials were Tuoba nobles.They don't have any legal concepts, and they embezzle and blackmail at will.Tuoba Tao regarded the revision of laws and the rectification of officials as the symbol of Sinicization and the key to establishing the ruling order.As early as the fourth year of Shenlujia (AD 431), he ordered Situ Cui Hao to change the laws and regulations; 20 years later, he ordered Prince Shao Fu Youya and Zhongshu Minister Hu Fanghui to change the laws and regulations.Tuoba Tao said to them: When formulating punishments, lenient, strict, sparse, and dense must be moderate, and those that are not conducive to the people must be deleted.Based on this principle, You Ya and others revised 391 laws and regulations.

Tuoba Tao issued edicts many times, admonishing local officials to try to reduce the burden on the people, be strict with self-discipline, and not neglect their duties.I am also the first to take the lead in frugality. The usual food and clothing expenses are just enough, not about ostentation.At that time, the ministers had asked to strengthen the capital and repair the palace, and also quoted from it: "Tiangong set up dangers to defend his country (Tiangong nobles set up steep castles to defend their country)." The words of Xiao He in the Han Dynasty were used as The proof said: "The emperor's home is all over the world. If he is not magnificent or magnificent, he has no prestige (the emperor regards the four seas as his country. If the palace is not magnificent, he cannot show his majesty)." Tuoba Tao replied: "There is also a saying in the ancients, 'Only in kindness, not in danger (national security lies in benevolent governance, not in the steepness and firmness of the city wall)'. Xia's city wall was built with steamed soil, which was as hard as a stone, but I was the same. Eliminate him. Does the safety of the country lie in the city walls? Now that the world has not yet been fully unified, it is a time when the power of the people is needed, and I will not do large-scale construction projects." Tuoba Tao's usual rewards are all genuine Those who are devoted to the country and sacrifice their lives for the sake of death, as for relatives and ministers, they never give superfluous items.

Tuoba Tao also aimed at the bad style of officials who bend the law for personal gain and protect each other. In the third year of Taiyan (AD 437), Tuoba Tao issued an edict and announced that all officials and people in the country can report and report officials who do not act according to the law.In addition, governors were set up in various states and counties to supervise and inspect local officials.In the fourth year of Taiping Zhenjun (AD 443), Tuoba Tao decided to let the 16-year-old Prince Huang be his deputy to take charge of state affairs.He also issued an edict to let the old heroes and heroes enjoy generous treatment for retirement and pension, and to promote virtuous young people to enrich the ranks of officials.This strategic measure allowed the relatively conservative older generation of Xianbei officials to come down and supplemented the young nobles who had received Han culture education, which was of great significance to the regime construction and social development of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

In his later years, Tuoba Tao used the prince Tuoba Huang as his deputy to take charge of the state affairs.Tuobahuang is smart and capable, meticulous in politics, and handles state affairs in an orderly manner.However, Tuoba Huang and Zong Ai, an eunuch favored by Tuoba Tao, have always been at odds. Seeing that Tuoba Huang has gained more and more trust from Tuoba Tao, Zong Ai is afraid that it will be unfavorable to him after Tuoba Huang ascends the throne of God, so he often goes to Tuoba Huang In front of Tao, he falsely accused the prince of plotting to murder his father in order to ascend the throne as soon as possible.Although Tuoba Tao trusted the prince, how could he be careless about such a matter of life and death, and in a fit of anger, he executed all the dozen or so ministers under Tuoba Huang who were helping to handle government affairs.As a result, Tuobahuang was overly frightened, terrified day and night, and became bedridden. He died of illness in June of the first year of Zhengping (451 A.D.).

Shortly after Tuoba Huang's death, Tuoba Tao found out that there was no rebellion and knew that the prince was innocent. He was very sad for his early death. , love him very much.Zong Ai saw that Tuoba Tao was very regretful for blaming the prince, and was afraid that he would blame herself, so she secretly planned to strangle Tuoba Tao to death when he was drunk and lying alone in Yong'an Palace.After his death, Tuoba Tao was buried in Jinling in the middle of the cloud, with the posthumous title of "Emperor Taiwu" and the temple title of "Shizu".