Chapter 24 115 The Huns called Emperor Han

In the same year that Li Xiong became king in Chengdu (AD 304), Liu Yuan, an aristocrat of the Xiongnu in the north, also became independent from Jin and proclaimed himself King of Han. Since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, some Huns lived scattered in remote northern counties. They got along with the Han people for a long time and accepted the Han culture.The Xiongnu nobles believed that the previous generation had made peace with the Han Dynasty many times, and they were relatives of the Han Dynasty royal family. Later, they changed to the Han Emperor's surname-Liu.After Cao Cao unified the north, he divided the 30,000 tribes of the Xiongnu into five tribes, and each tribe had a commander. Liu Bao, an aristocrat of the Huns, was the commander of one of them.

Liu Yuan is the son of Liu Bao. He has read many books of the Han people since he was a child. He has great strength and high martial arts skills.After Liu Bao died, Liu Yuan succeeded his father.Later, he served as a general under the Chengdu King Sima Ying (one of the Eight Kings) of the Western Jin Dynasty, and stayed in Yecheng to take charge of the five Hun troops. After the melee of the Eight Kings began, some nobles from the Xiongnu tribe held a meeting in Zuoguo City (now Lishibei, Shanxi) to discuss.An old nobleman said: "Our Xiongnu became brothers with the Han people from the Han Dynasty. After the Wei and Jin dynasties, although the descendants of the Xiongnu Shanyu had a title, they did not have their own size of land, no different from ordinary people. Now Civil strife broke out in the Jin Dynasty, killing each other. This is a good time for us Huns to restore their status!"

Everyone thinks his idea is right, who should take the lead?Everyone discussed it and thought that Liu Yuan had talent and high prestige, so it was appropriate to recommend him as Shan Yu. The nobles sent an envoy to Yecheng to tell Liu Yuan what everyone wanted and invite him to come back.Liu Yuan was very happy, so he asked Sima Ying for leave on the pretext that he wanted to go back to the Huns to bury his father.Sima Ying disagreed, so Liu Yuan had no choice but to let the envoy go back first, and asked the five Huns to gather troops and move south. Later, Sima Teng, governor of Bingzhou, and general Wang Jun of the Jin Dynasty contacted the nobles of Xianbei to attack Sima Ying. Sima Ying failed and fled to Luoyang.Liu Yuan asked Sima Ying to go back and bring the Huns to help him fight, and Sima Ying let him go.

In 304 AD, Liu Yuan returned to Zuoguo City, and everyone supported him as the Great Chanyu.He gathered 50,000 horses and personally led the south to help the Jin army attack the Xianbei soldiers.Someone asked him, why didn't he take this opportunity to destroy the Jin Dynasty, instead of helping the Jin army? Liu Yuan said: "It is not as easy to destroy the Jin Dynasty as it is to destroy the dead, but the people of the Jin Dynasty may not turn to us. I think the Han Dynasty has the longest history and has a great influence among the people. Our previous generation is the Han Dynasty. Brothers of the royal family. Now that the Han Dynasty has fallen, we may win the hearts of the people in the name of inheriting the Han Dynasty."

Everyone heard it and thought it was a good idea.Liu Yuan declared himself King of Han. Liu Yuan proclaimed the Queen of Han, and quickly captured several counties such as Shangdang, Taiyuan, Hedong, and Pingyuan, and his power grew stronger and stronger.Some anti-Jin forces of various ethnic groups with relatively small forces also came to join Liu Yuan. In 308 AD, Liu Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor Han.In the second year, the capital was moved to Pingyang (now southwest of Linfen, Shanxi), and the troops were concentrated to attack Luoyang.Although the common people in Luoyang hated the decadent Western Jin Dynasty, they did not want to be ruled by the Xiongnu nobles.Therefore, Liu Yuan's two attacks were fiercely resisted by the army and the people of Luoyang, and he had to retreat.

At that time, Sima Yue, the last king among the eight kings, was still fighting each other with a group of ministers.The little troops left by the Jin Dynasty were almost consumed. Later Liu Yuan died, and his son Liu Cong succeeded him as the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and sent generals Liu Yao and Shi Le to attack Luoyang.The soldiers and civilians in Luoyang resisted bravely, but after all they were outnumbered.In 311 AD, Luoyang City was finally captured, and Emperor Huai of Jin was made a prisoner. After Liu Cong entered Luoyang, he killed a large number of officials and people of the Jin Dynasty. Once, Liu Cong held a banquet and asked Emperor Huai of Jin to pour wine for everyone in the green clothes worn by servants.Some of the survivors of the Jin Dynasty saw it and couldn't help crying bitterly.Liu Cong saw that the survivors of the Jin Dynasty still had such affection for Emperor Huai, so he killed Emperor Huai when he became ruthless.

After the death of Emperor Huai of Jin, officials of the Jin State in Chang'an supported Sima Ye, the nephew of Emperor Huai, to inherit the throne. This was Emperor Jin Min (sound min). In 316 AD, Liu Cong captured Chang'an.Emperor Min of Jin also suffered the same fate as Emperor Huai, and was killed after being humiliated.The Western Jin Dynasty lasted for fifty-two years and finally perished. After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, people of all nationalities in the north (mainly the Huns, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang) revolted one after another. The upper class among them took the opportunity to rise up and establish political power like Li Xiong and Liu Yuan. A total of sixteen separatist regimes emerged, which were called "Sixteen Kingdoms" in history (formerly known as the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and Hu was a general term for ethnic minorities in ancient times).