Chapter 169 Chapter 168 Xiaowen Emperor Yuanhong

Tuobahong, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was the eldest son of Emperor Xianwen. He was born in Pingcheng (now Datong, Shanxi) in August of the second year of Tian'an (467 AD), and was established as the crown prince in June of the second year of Huangxing (469 AD).Tuobahong's mother, Mrs. Li, was given to death when he was established as the prince.Tuoba Hong was raised by his grandmother, Empress Dowager Feng.In August of the fifth year of Huangxing (AD 471), when Tuoba Hong had just turned 5 years old, his father Ba Bahong, Emperor Xianwen, gave him the throne as Emperor Xiaowen.

After Tuoba Hong succeeded to the throne, Lu Xiangfa and other ministers assisted the government. As the Supreme Emperor, his father also took care of military affairs. Five years later, Emperor Xianwen was poisoned to death by the Empress Dowager Feng, who, as the Empress Dowager, came to the imperial court as the ruler. Empress Dowager Feng is from Changle Xindu (now Jixian County, Hebei Province).Her grandfather Feng Hong and uncle Feng Ba were the kings of Beiyan Kingdom.His father, Feng Lang, surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, served as the governor of Qin and Yongzhou, and was later killed.Empress Dowager Feng was born in Chang'an. After her father was killed, she went to her aunt.Her aunt was the concubine of Emperor Taiwu of Wei Dynasty.Therefore, Empress Dowager Feng was able to receive education in the palace and was well educated. At the age of 14, Emperor Wencheng came to the throne, and she was chosen as a concubine and later became a queen.After the death of Emperor Wencheng, Emperor Xianwen Tuo Bahong came to the throne, and she became the empress dowager.In the sixth year of Heping (AD 465), after the death of Emperor Wencheng, Prime Minister Yi Hun took the opportunity to monopolize power, killing dissidents at will, and deciding state affairs.At this time, Emperor Xianwen was only 12 years old, and Empress Dowager Feng was 24 years old. She decisively killed the prime minister Yihun, took control of the state power, and became the ruler of the court.When Tuoba Hong was born a year later, she took Tuoba Hong into her palace, raised him personally, and handed over the power to Emperor Xianwen.After the death of Emperor Xianwen, Tuoba Hong succeeded to the throne when he was young, and Empress Dowager Feng came to the court again to rule.

Empress Dowager Feng herself was proficient in literature and ink, and paid great attention to the training and education of Tuoba Hong. She specially arranged for him to be a master of the Han nationality to learn Confucian classics.Tuoba Hong is smart and hardworking, likes to read, and has a high level of Chinese culture.Tuoba Hong has a filial nature, because his mother was given to death when he was 3 years old, and he still doesn't know who his biological mother is.He followed Empress Dowager Feng since he was a child, and regarded Empress Dowager Feng as his biological mother.Empress Dowager Feng didn't like Tuoba Hong at first, because he was precocious and quick-witted. The Empress Dowager worried that it would be bad for her when he grew up. She once locked him in an empty room during the severe cold, and only let him wear unlined clothes. They didn't give him food and planned to destroy him.Fortunately, the minister Shangshu tried his best to release him just now.Later, another eunuch spoke ill of Tuoba Hong to Empress Dowager Feng. Empress Dowager Feng was very angry and beat Tuoba Hong with a stick.After the death of his father Emperor Xianwen, Tuoba Hong became more and more filial to Empress Dowager Feng, no matter how big or small, he would report to Empress Dowager Feng.Empress Dowager Feng gradually began to guide the young Tuoba Hong in dealing with state affairs.

After the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were no salaries for civil and military officials.During the war, soldiers made a living by plundering; after the unification of the Central Plains, officials relied on corruption to exploit the people.The rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty gradually realized the crisis caused by corruption to the government.As far back as Emperor Taiwu, the punishment for corruption began. Later, the emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty also ordered to strictly prohibit corruption. Constant resistance.In the eighth year of Taihe (AD 484), with the assistance of Empress Dowager Feng, Tuobahong officially ordered the implementation of the salary system, stipulating that anyone who committed more than one piece of stolen silk should be sentenced to death, and anyone who "broke the law" would be executed.From the official "Banlu" in June of the eighth year of Taihe to September of this year, more than 40 officials below the governor's level who were found guilty of stealing were all executed.One of them was Li Hong, Tuobahong's uncle, who served as governor of Qin and Yi prefectures.Tuoba Hong ordered him to be taken from Rensuo to Pingcheng, summoned all the ministers, interrogated himself, and then gave him death to show his determination to "ban Lu" and prohibit corruption.For a time, all the officials who received the salary were self-policing, and the administration of officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty also appeared relatively clear.

Since the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the north has been fighting for years, the countryside has been barren, and the population has dropped sharply.The powerful landlords took the opportunity to annex the land. In order to escape the heavy corvee, the peasants often attached themselves to the powerful family, or fled and fled. This reduced the cultivated land and population directly controlled by the Northern Wei regime, and a large amount of uncultivated land was left uncultivated, which seriously affected the government's fiscal revenue.In order to alleviate social conflicts and ensure the country's financial resources, the Empress Dowager Feng and Tuoba Hong, regardless of the opposition of the conservative forces of the powerful family, determined to restrain the powerful forces and compete with them for farmland and farmers.In October of the ninth year of Taihe (AD 485), Minister Li Anshi wrote a letter to Tuoba Hong, proposing a proposal to equalize the land.Tuoba Hong immediately adopted this suggestion and implemented equalization of land throughout the country.It is stipulated that all men and women over the age of 15 can obtain the land granted by the government. The open fields are 40 mu for each man and 20 mu for women. When they are too old to work or die, the land will be returned to the government.Each man can also have 20 mu of mulberry fields for planting mulberry, elm, and jujube trees. Where there is no mulberry planting, hemp fields are given, 10 mu for men and 5 mu for women.Sang and hemp fields can be passed down from generation to generation without returning them.The slaves and maidservants received the same fields as the common people, and the cattle could also receive the fields. Each ox received 30 mu of open field, and each household was limited to 4 oxen.A new rent adjustment system was also stipulated, one husband and one woman each year had one piece of silk and two grains of millet, which was less than the original amount.This is conducive to attracting the original shady households and vagrants to become national registered households again.Since the cultivator has the land, it is greatly beneficial to the development of production and the increase of government revenue.

Tuoba Hong has been familiar with Confucian classics since he was a child, and admires Han civilization.During his reign, he promoted rites and music, corrected customs, dispatched Mushou to sacrifice to Yao, Shun, and Duke Zhou, and posthumously posthumously the father of Confucius, the world's holy nun. He also hung a portrait of Confucius in Zhongshu Province to worship in person.It also changed Zhongshuxue to Guozixue, respected Situ Weiyuan as the three elders, and Shangshu You Minggen as the fifth watch, imitating the Han nationality's three-generation system.In the 14th year of Taihe (AD 490), Empress Dowager Feng died of illness. Tuobahong followed the rules of Confucian classics, kept filial piety and mourned, and did not eat or drink for a few days. Only eat a little porridge.The Xianbei nobles advised him to follow the old rules of his ancestors for the funeral and not to mourn too much.Tuoba Hong thought that his ancestors fought north and south and paid attention to martial arts rather than culture and education. The situation is different now.The implication is that I don't want to stick to the rules of my ancestors, but I hope to work hard on "cultural governance".

Although the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty was Pingcheng, the wealth and wealth of the Central Plains attracted this emerging Cypriot regime from the very beginning.Both Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Emperor Ming Yuan had plans to move the capital to the south.But Xia and Rouran were still threatening the Northern Wei Dynasty at that time, and the conditions for moving the capital to the Central Plains were not yet ripe.After the reunification of the north, moving the capital to Luoyang has become the requirement of the situation at that time. Tuoba Hong knew that relocation was a major event, and it was bound to encounter opposition from nobles and ministers.Therefore, he summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs, falsely claiming that he would dispatch troops and generals to attack the Southern Qi Dynasty on a large scale.At this time, the civil and military ministers headed by Ren Chengwang Tuoba Cheng believed it was true and expressed their opposition one after another.Tuoba Hong was furious, and said in a stern voice: "The Sheji is my Sheji, King Ren, do you want to stand in the way?" Tuoba Cheng said not to be outdone, "Although the Sheji belongs to you, we are the ministers of the Sheji. , You can’t know the dangers of the country and say nothing!” After retiring from the court, Tuoba Hong summoned Ren Chengwang again and said to him: “What we just talked about is really difficult. Although our country is in crisis From the north, Pingcheng was established as the capital. But Pingcheng is a place for military use, not a place for civil governance. This time I am attacking the Southern Qi in name, but actually I want to take the opportunity to move the capital to the Central Plains. What do you think?" Tuoba Cheng finally understood Intent, expressing support for moving the capital.He believed that the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty flourished in Luoyang. If Wei did not get the support of the Han landlords in the Central Plains, it would be difficult to maintain his rule by force alone.Tuoba Hong asked again: "Northern people follow the old ways and don't want to change, what should we do?" Tuoba Cheng said firmly: "Only extraordinary people can do extraordinary things. Just make up your mind, what can they do?" Tuoba Hong said happily after hearing this: "Ren Cheng, you are really my wife Zhang!"

In the seventeenth year of Taihe (AD 493), Tuoba Hong led an army of 300,000 troops to the south in spite of the objections of the ministers, and arrived in Luoyang in nine days.Then, Tuoba Hong ordered ministers Li Chong, Mu Liang and others to build Luoyang, and sent Tuoba Cheng back to Pingcheng to convey the decision to move the capital to the nobles who stayed in Pingcheng.The following year, Tuoba Hong issued an imperial edict to inform the whole country of the move of the capital.Because the nobles of Pingcheng were nostalgic for their homeland and did not want to move south, Tuoba Hong went back to Pingcheng himself, and summoned all civil and military officials to find out his interests.Soon, the capital was officially moved to Luoyang.

After Tuoba Hong moved his capital to Luoyang, in order to continue the reform, he determined to change the customs and habits of Xianbei, and further studied and adopted the Han nationality's way of life and rules and regulations.In the eighteenth year of Taihe (494 A.D.), Tuoba Hong ordered that the Xianbei people be forbidden to wear Hu clothes, and they should all wear Han clothes.In the second year, an order was issued to prohibit the Xianbei people from speaking Xianbei language, and they all changed to Chinese. In the next year, Tuoba Hong changed the Xianbei people's double surname to the Han nationality's single surname.He said in the edict of changing his surname that the northerners called the soil as Tuo, and later as Postscript.The ancestors of the Northern Wei Dynasty were the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. Among the five elements, they belonged to soil, and soil was "the color of yellow, the origin of all things", so the Tuoba clan was changed to Yuan clan.Subsequently, the Baba family was changed to Changsun family, Daxi family was changed to Xi family name, Yizhan family name was changed to Shusun family name, Wu Mu family name was changed to Mu family name, Dugu family name was changed to Liu family name, and other Xianbei compound surnames were changed one by one. A change was made, and all 118 surnames of the Xianbei people were changed to Han surnames.At the same time, Tuoba Hong ordered to change the native place of the Xianbei people.All Xianbei people who moved to Luoyang were considered Luoyang people, and they were not allowed to be transported to Saibei after they died.

Tuoba Hong has been exposed to Han culture since he was a child, admires Han culture, is smart, and can study hard, so he has a high level of Han culture.He has a lot of research on ancient poetry, and his articles are well written.It is said that he can write poems and compositions while riding a horse, and he can write without changing a single word.He wrote hundreds of articles in his life.After taking office, he often composes poems with ministers, and personally rewrites poems for others.Once, when he saw more than a dozen trees beside the road, he was so excited about poetry that he immediately wrote a poem.Then, he asked his younger brother Tuoba Xie, the king of Pengcheng, to walk towards him a dozen steps away from him while composing poems. Tuoba Xie really wrote a poem, and he was very happy.

Tuobahong not only loves Han culture himself, but also often supervises Xianbei nobles to learn Han culture.For this reason, he also specially set up the Prince School, allowing the children of princes and nobles to enroll and learn Confucian classics.Under his advocacy, the Xianbei people made rapid progress in transformation.Once, Tuobahong said to Xianbei Minister Lu: "In the past, we always said that Xianbei people were rude. How could they read books? This sentence seems wrong. Now many Xianbei people can read and write. The key is to learn Don’t study.” Because Tuoba Hong actively set up schools, collected books from all over the world, conducted research and sorted them out, the northern culture began to show signs of revival. During Tuoba Hong's reign, Buddhism developed greatly.There are more than 100 monasteries in Luoyang alone, with more than 2,000 monks and nuns.Throughout the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were more than 6,000 monasteries and more than 70,000 monks and nuns.With the introduction and development of Buddhism, many grottoes were built, the most famous of which are the Dunhuang, Yungang, and Longmen Grottoes.The Dunhuang and Yungang Grottoes were established earlier. The construction of the Longmen Grottoes began in the 18th year of Taihe. After that, it went through the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang and other dynasties for more than 400 years.The roof and four walls of the Longmen Grottoes are exquisitely carved, and the Buddha statues are also beautifully shaped.Among them, Binyang Middle Cave (also known as Binyang Cave) is one of the grottoes built by Yuan Hong after he moved his capital to Luoyang.On the left and right sides of the front wall of the cave, there were originally two large-scale relief sculptures "Emperors and Empresses Respecting the Buddha". Under the attention and advocacy of Tuobahong, the calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty reached a very high level. The fonts engraved on the tombstone are strong, powerful, powerful, and unique in style. The attention and love of lovers. Tuobahong once wrote such a poem during a Southern Expedition: "The sun is shining all over the world, and the left corner of the river is alone." I rule.In order to realize his ambition of unifying the world, Tuoba Hong has launched southern expeditions almost every year since he came to power. In the 21st year of Taihe (AD 497), there was another civil strife in the Southern Qi Dynasty. Tuobahong believed that there was a gap to take advantage of, and made a big fortune in the five prefectures of Ji, Ding, Ying, Xiang, and Ji, and won 200,000 people. He personally The governor, starting from Luoyang, known as a million, went to Xinye, Nanyang, and Pengcheng.Xiao Luan, the Lord of Qi, became ill from fear and died of illness in July of the 22nd year of Taihe.At this time, the Wei army was in full swing and should have taken the opportunity to attack south.However, the Northern Wei Dynasty also had its own problems. The nomadic Gaoche people in the north raised their troops to rebel because they were unwilling to cooperate with the Wei army in their expedition to the south. After hearing the news of Xiao Luan's death, he ordered the withdrawal of troops on the grounds that "ceremony does not cut funerals". Tuoba Hong fell ill on the way to retreat due to overwork.In October, we set out from Xuanhu to make the northern expedition to Gaoche.It was November when we arrived at Yecheng.At this time, Jiangyang Wang Yuanji had resolved Gaoche's rebellion, and Tuobahong spent the winter in Yecheng to rest.He returned to Luoyang in the first month of the second year.At this time, Southern Qi Taiwei Chen Xianda and Pingbei General Cui Huijing led 40,000 troops to attack Wei in an attempt to recover the counties of Yongzhou occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty. Wei Jiangying faced the battle and was repeatedly defeated.In March, Tuoba Hong once again personally led his troops to march south, stationed in Maquan (now northeast of Deng County, Henan Province), and ordered Tuoba Jia, King of Guangyang, to go around the enemy's rear from a small path and attack from both sides. The Qi army was defeated by the enemy on both sides. and flee. Although Tuoba Hong won the Southern Expedition this time, he was exhausted after trekking and traveling, so he fell ill again.His condition worsened rapidly, and he hurried back to Gutangyuan. Tuoba Hong knew that he could not recover, so he said to Tuoba Xie, King of Gucheng, "My illness is getting worse. I must die. The world has not yet been unified. You are weak, everything depends on you, I hope you can help the prince with all your strength!" Then he ordered Tuoba Xie to draft an edict, with Shi Zhong and Beihai Wang Xiang as Sikong, Zhennan General Wang Su as Shang Shuling, Zhennan General Guangyang Wang Jiazhi was Zuo Pushe, and Shangshu Song Bian was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. They were asked to assist the government together with Taiwei Xianyang Wang Xi and Shangshu Youpushe Rencheng Wangcheng.In April, Tuoba Hong died in Gutangyuan at the age of 33.His posthumous title is "Emperor Xiaowen" and his temple title is "Gaozu".Buried in Changling.