Chapter 11 Chapter Three Reforms of Emperor Wei Xiaowen

Tuoba Hong was the eldest son of Tuoba Hong, Emperor Xianwen of Wei Xianzu. He was born in Zigong, Pingcheng in August of the first year of Huangxing (467 A.D.).At the age of three, he became the crown prince.According to the custom of the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, every concubine who is the birth mother of the prince must die.His biological mother, Mrs. Li, was no exception. Tuoba Hong was raised by his grandmother, Empress Dowager Feng since childhood.His father, Emperor Xianwen, believed in Buddhism, played down his fame and honor, and often cited court scholars and monks (a general name for Buddhists) to conspire with mysteries.Quite a bit of converting (guigui) to Buddhism and transcending the secular meaning.Therefore, in August of the fifth year of Huangxing (AD 471), Tuoba Hong, who was only five years old, was abdicated the throne, namely Emperor Xiaowen.He himself became the Supreme Emperor and moved to Chongguang Palace. "Today's emperor Youchong, with all the opportunities and great politics, should be summed up by your majesty" ("Wei Shu·Xian Zu Ji").In fact, Emperor Xianwen was still in charge of the government.

Empress Dowager Feng is a literate and talented woman.But she is not open-minded enough, so suspicious.In June of the first year of Chengming (AD 476), she actually poisoned Emperor Xianwen to kill his confidant Li Yi on the pretext of killing him.Emperor Xiaowen was 10 years old at this time, and Empress Dowager Feng, as her grandmother, Empress Dowager, was proclaimed in the imperial court. Emperor Xiaowen grew up under Empress Dowager Feng since he was a child. At the age of 10, he was physically strong and had some strength.He can smash sheep's shoulder bones with his fingers, and he is good at riding and shooting. He draws a bow and shoots animals, and his arrows are flawless.Emperor Xiaowen was a little older and loved Confucian classics. "Elegant people like to talk about books, and they can't release the scrolls. The meaning of the Five Classics can be explained at a glance, and they can be learned without being taught by the teacher. Explore its profoundness" ("Wei Shu·Gao Zu Ji").He has a wide range of interests in reading, dabbling in a hundred schools of history and biography, especially likes to talk about Zhuang Lao's academics, and is proficient in Buddhist scriptures.Emperor Xiaowen was quick in writing and was good at writing poems, fu and inscriptions.He writes impromptu, can dictate immediately, without changing a word, and completes the article in one go.Emperor Xiaowen paid attention to his own moral cultivation since he was a child, and was able to treat others generously.Empress Dowager Feng saw that he was clever and smart, and she was afraid that it would be bad for her when she grew up, so she always tried to abolish the little emperor.One day in the twelfth lunar month of winter, Empress Dowager Feng shut Emperor Xiaowen, who was dressed in single clothes, in an empty house, where he was frozen and starved for three days.She also recalled Tuobaxi, the second son of Emperor Xianwen, king of Xianyang, and wanted to make him emperor.Due to the strong opposition of the ministers, her plot did not succeed.An eunuch sued Emperor Xiaowen in front of the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother Feng beat Emperor Xiaowen dozens of times indiscriminately.Despite this, Emperor Xiaowen's affection for Empress Dowager Feng remained unchanged.He never cares about other people's small mistakes, and treats each other with sincerity.Once, when Emperor Xiaowen was eating, his left and right attendants accidentally burned his hands with hot soup, and found bugs and other dirty things in the food, and he laughed it off.Emperor Xiaowen was open-minded and able to unite people.He often said: "If we can treat each other with sincerity, the northern and southern nationalities can also be as close as brothers." It is not difficult to see that Tuoba Hong has a good political quality since he was a child.

When Emperor Xiaowen came to the throne, the Northern Wei Dynasty had been established for more than 80 years.After the Tuoba tribe entered the Central Plains, in order to adapt to the relatively developed feudal economic conditions in the Yellow River Basin, Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao formulated corresponding development policies, that is, from the original production and lifestyle mainly based on hunting and nomadic animal husbandry, to the settlement of the land, Develop in the direction of agriculture, advocate the reclamation of wasteland, and encourage farming and mulberry.In the Pingcheng area of ​​the capital, it is also advocated that households with cattle and households without cattle change jobs and help each other to develop agricultural production.At the same time, Taixue was set up, Confucianism was used to train bureaucrats, and talented people from prefectures and counties were recommended, entrusted with important tasks, and the role of Han Confucianists Gao Yun, You Ya and others were brought into play, which strengthened the national strength of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Northern Wei Dynasty unified the north and expanded its territory.In the process of unifying the Central Plains, the Tuoba family received the support of powerful landlords from Han families who did not flee south in the late Western Jin Dynasty.These aristocratic families built docks, armed clans and tribes, and occupied one side.They also took the opportunity to occupy a large number of fields, forests and lakes. Many farmers who escaped from the war dragged their families and defected to the powerful families, ranging from tens of thousands of households to hundreds of households.These large numbers of tenants or tribes are "bud shade households" of aristocratic families, and aristocratic families are called "suzerains", and powerful suzerains are also called "wuzhu" or "bishuai".In this way, the "Suzerainty Supervisory System" was formed.The Northern Wei government adopted this organizational method as its local grassroots power.Over time, the disadvantages of this system gradually emerged.The suzerain exploited and squeezed the tenants or tribes, which sharpened class conflicts; because most of the Baoyin households had no household registration, the state could not collect taxes and dispatch corvees.In the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the taxation system of "nine ranks mixed together" was implemented, that is, it was divided into "three grades and nine ranks". .That is to say, "upper three-rank households enter the capital (Pingcheng), middle three-rank households enter other prefectures, and lower third-rank households enter Honshu" ("Wei Shu Shihuo Zhi").When levying rent and adjustment, the suzerain supervised "indulging the rich and supervising the poor, avoiding the strong and invading the weak" ("Wei Shu Shi Zu Ji"), and tried every means to pass the heavy burden on to the farmers.Coupled with the national oppression of the Xianbei nobles, various social contradictions continued to intensify at that time.Peasant uprisings continued all over the place.In the 13 years from Emperor Xiaowen's accession to the eighth year of Taihe (484 A.D.), there were more than ten people's riots.Even in the capital, Pingcheng, struggles broke out against the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei nationality is a relatively backward tribe in terms of social economy and culture.Class contradictions and ethnic contradictions are intertwined, which has always troubled Emperor Xiaowen and Empress Dowager Feng.They also feel that it is very difficult to continue to use the original system and method to maintain the rule, and it is imperative to change the course and carry out social reform.Relying on her rich political experience in assisting Emperor Xianwen for many years, Empress Dowager Feng started the reform of the Northern Wei Dynasty together with Emperor Xiaowen.