Chapter 46 Chapter Forty-six Post-Death of Zhao Xing

Liu Yao, who was known as a thousand-mile horse in his youth, has become a hopeless waste in his later years due to years of alcoholism.In stark contrast to him is Shi Le of the "Later Zhao".Shi Le was sold to Shandong as a slave when he was young, and he experienced countless hardships.Later, when he was working on a ranch, he took the opportunity to steal a horse and escaped, and started his career as a bandit.With such a background, he is naturally illiterate.However, he practiced it personally, and realized the attitude of being a man, how a general should fight a war, and how a politician should run a state affairs.

Although he couldn't read, he set up academic officials and asked them to devote themselves to reading Chinese classics and history books, so as to gain knowledge. Compared with Liu Yao who only knows how to drink, there is a world of difference. In addition, Shi Le also created an organization called "Junzi Camp".The Junziying was a volunteer army in the state of Jin, while in Houzhao in Shile, it was an advisory group composed of well-educated Han people. Not only did he care deeply about Chinese civilization, but he also paid a lot of attention to Buddhism, which was introduced from the West and was just beginning to be popularized.According to legend, he was very protective of Fotucheng, who was born in Kucha (now Kuqa) in the Western Region, and often took him to the battle.Some of them may think that Buddhist monks are conjurers and the like, and they want to rely on their spiritual power to win the battlefield; but it is more likely that Shi Le, who has tasted all the bitterness of the world, does so for the purpose of paying homage to the Buddha. Cheng asked questions about life's troubles.

Shi Le claimed to be the "King of Heaven" after he conquered the former Zhao Dynasty.He was proclaimed emperor later.Shi Le died in 333 AD. Shi Le had a son named Shi Hong. Because his heart was so kind, even his father Shi Le sighed and said: "Son of General Hong Fei's family." It is of course a good sign to be kind-hearted, but such a person is often not suitable to be the lord of troubled times. Shi Le also has a nephew named Shi Hu, who serves as the "Shan Yu Yuan Fu" who assists the emperor.Unlike Shi Hong's docile personality, Shi Hu is a fierce person by nature, and he is completely indifferent when he sees many people bleeding profusely on the battlefield.This kind of person is really daunting, and it is best not to live with him, but perhaps only such a person is qualified to be the king of troubled times, right?

After Shi Le died, Shi Hu killed the crown prince Shi Hong, and claimed to be the king of heaven and took full power. General history books seem to record the deeds of the monarchs with short-lived regimes—especially the subjugated monarchs—even worse than the actual situation. The founders of long-lived dynasties such as Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing were all people with strong personalities.In fact, it is impossible for a character who is not strong enough to win the world.Of course, such people have done many eye-catching things, but since the dynasty they created can last for two or even three hundred years, and those who organize records or write history are all subordinates of this dynasty, they will naturally regard The "evil" part of the founder is deleted, and the "good" part is greatly expanded.

The history of a short-lived dynasty is written by the historians of the next dynasty. This "next dynasty" often overthrows or seizes the power of this short-lived dynasty by force. Whitewashing, and thus, depicting the previous regime as corrupt to the point that it must be overthrown—this is often the case. After Zhao Shihu died, his country also perished. Therefore, history recorded him as a person who was more cruel than a beast.Of course, such records will be exaggerated, but I am afraid it is not without factual basis.Because, in fact, most of such people are tyrants. Shi Hu moved the capital to Ye and built magnificent palaces and gardens.He once had a record of mobilizing an army of 180,000 during hunting.In addition, there are many records of visits to retainers' mansions and occupation of their wives, cutting off the heads of beautiful women and cooking them with beef and mutton. Isn't such behavior creepy?

However, Tucheng, a monk from the western regions revered by Shi Le, also stayed in Later Zhao during the Shihu era and served as a consultant.Fotucheng shouldn't just sit back and watch Shihu act like this.What's more, Shihu did once have Confucian scholars annotate ancient books to make them popular. Shi Hu, a warrior in troubled times, has a strong personality. When he gets angry, he can do anything. He has done what the leader of a country should and would do—isn't that the actual situation? Among the many sons, Shi Hu especially dotes on Shi Tao.Shi Xuan, who was established as the prince by Shi Hu, sent an assassin to kill Shi Tao because he was worried that his status would be taken away.Shi Hu, who lost his love, was extremely angry, and ordered a thorough investigation into Shi Tao's murder.Of course, relevant personnel in the court were severely tortured, and it turned out that Shi Tao was killed under the instigation of Shi Xuan.

"Prince Xuan is also your son—" Although Fotucheng tried his best to persuade him, Shihu, who was furious and irrational, could no longer listen. "As the saying goes, all are brothers in the world. Since other people who have no blood relationship are also brothers, then brothers, parents and children are also other people! Why should I worry about others!" After Shi Hu uttered such plausible words, he slaughtered his own flesh and blood, Shi Xuan.Not only that, when he killed his son, he also forced many court ladies to accompany him and watch the whole process with appreciation.

China is divided into two parts, North and South.In the south is the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was expelled from the Central Plains. Although the Eastern Jin Dynasty was short-lived, it had the actual achievement of unifying China, so it regarded itself as Chinese orthodoxy.The north is the so-called "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms". Most of the rulers of the regime are ethnic groups outside the Great Wall. After they became stronger in the north, they began to attempt to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south to realize their dream of unifying the world. After Zhao Shihu became the hero of the north, of course he also planned to march south.Due to the proper resistance of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the border of the Huaihe River has never been breached.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a regime of desperation. At the beginning of the dynasty, the northerners who came in desperation did not get along well with the local aborigines.The fact that exiles had tax-free privileges aroused considerable indignation among the natives.The idea of ​​the government's regulation is that the rent tax is related to the land, and the exiles do not have household registration in the south, so they do not have to pay the tax.Later, because Yu Bing enacted the "Land Judgment Law", set up registration for exiles, and abolished their tax-free privileges, the regime with many loopholes was slightly consolidated.This is also one of the reasons why the Eastern Jin Dynasty was able to resist the forces of Later Zhao Shihu who came from the south.

On Shihu's side, there are environmental factors that cannot only focus on the south. This is the era of great national migration.It is very difficult for the nomadic and mobile peoples beyond the Great Wall to predict when and where they will appear with what kind of force.Although Shi Hu's Hou Zhao has become the overlord in northern China, he has to be wary of the Xianbei people who are gradually rising behind him. "Pay special attention to the movements of the Xianbei people." The Han Chinese Staff Group of the Junziying repeatedly made such remarks. "The Xianbei are nothing, I will beat them to pieces!"

Shi Hu said confidently. Some people say that the Xianbei people are a semi-nomadic Tungusic people. In fact, the theory of "Turkish people" should be more powerful.The Xianbei people in this era have not yet been unified and are divided into several tribes, among which the larger ones are as follows: · Murong Department ·Department ·Alopecia Department · Department of Yuwen · Begging Ministry · Tuoba Department When Shihu said that he wanted to beat them to pieces, he intended to make the tribes of Xianbei who were so divided to kill each other, so as to achieve the goal of breaking each one. "Those Han people in Junziying seem to be worried that I will destroy Jin..." The Han people in the Junzi camp are indeed in a very complicated state of mind.Because they failed to flee with the team, they stayed in the Central Plains and had to serve as the post-Zhao of Shihu of the Jie tribe.Even so, they still hold the concept of "we are the retainers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty" in their hearts.After Zhao attacked the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was too embarrassing for them.This is the reason why they tried to divert Shihu's attention from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The Murong tribe of the Xianbei nationality was relatively isolated among the same tribe at this time. They were entrenched in the Shenyang area in northeast China today. Later, the Tuoba tribe, who established the powerful dynasty of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was active on the Mongolian Plateau at this time.In other words, the Murong Department was sandwiched between the Duan and Yuwen Departments.Duanbu also formed an alliance with Yuwenbu and also had contact with Goguryeo in an attempt to encircle Murongbu. Therefore, Murong asked Shihu's posthumous Zhao for help. Shi Hu thinks this is a great opportunity to intervene in the internal strife of the Xianbei clan, increase his own power, and then achieve his long-cherished wish to crusade against the Eastern Jin Dynasty. "Okay, okay, I'll beat the Xianbei to pieces!" Shihu pretended to turn his attention from the south to the north.Of course the Han people in the Junzi camp were overjoyed. "Using barbarians to control barbarians", they will smile at this, right?However, what Shi Hu thought in his heart was: —You mindless fellows!I'm just dealing with the north first, and then of course I'll turn to the south again.This time I must cross the Huaihe River!I went to the north to bring the soldiers and horses from there! Shihu's intervention in the internal strife of the Xianbei tribe can be said to be the beginning of his failure. The Shihu Queen Zhao's army, which was attacking to the north, defeated the Duan tribe of the Xianbei tribe with the momentum of the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves.However, this military operation is not to relieve Murong's crisis. ——I came here specially to rescue, but the Murong Department was not sincere enough to me. Shi Hu used this as an excuse to send his troops into the Murong Ministry's domain. He wanted to take this opportunity to seize the land of the Duan Department and the Murong Ministry together as a source of military rations and personnel needed for the Southern Expedition—this is Shi Hu. Wishful thinking. The head of the Murong Department at that time was named Murong Hao.He concentrated his forces to attack the Hou Zhao army whose battle line was too long. After repelling them, he took advantage of the victory and pursued the Hou Zhao army relentlessly, and obtained the territory that belonged to Duanbu. Because of Shi Hu's intervention, the Murong Department was able to escape the predicament of being double-teamed in the past, and its power suddenly increased.The Murong tribe led by Murong Hao later entered the Central Plains and established the "Qianyan" dynasty, which was short-lived but powerful for a while. It was Shi Hu who completely failed in his plan.He was reaping the fruit of his own life. After being repelled by the Murong tribe who asked him for help, he had no choice but to return to the Central Plains.He originally tried to obtain the capital of Nanzheng, but he returned empty-handed.Not only that, but he also lost many soldiers because of this Northern Expedition. When he saw the crowd secretly delighted in the gentleman's camp, Shi Hu was so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke. "I won't let you be complacent!" Shi Hu was a little impulsive. Shi Hu, who went to the northeast to seek capital for the southern expedition but failed, now turns his goal to the northwest. As mentioned above, Zhang Gui, a senior official of the Jin State, saw that a great turmoil was about to occur in the Central Plains, so he took the initiative to choose the post of Governor of Liangzhou in the northwest of the border to take up the post.Due to the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Zhang family of Liangzhou became independent and then established a dynasty, which is called "Qianliang".The dynasties in northern China in this era are collectively called the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, which shows that they are all dominated by peoples outside the Great Wall—only the Qianliang Dynasty among them is the Han dynasty. Qianliang strangles the entrance and exit of the Western Regions, and because of the east-west trade, the country is quite prosperous.Shi Hu noticed this cold front. ——The army of Xingxi Expedition. When Shi Hu made this decision and gave the order, it wasn't just the Han people in the Junzi camp who showed a disconsolate expression. After the Southern Expedition and sending troops to the Northeast, it is time to go to the Northwest again.Years of battles were not aimed at defending the homeland, but a blind expedition.What's more, there has never been a victory in the war over the years.The tragedy of the Northeast's defeat is still fresh in my memory.The whole territory of Hou Zhao was filled with an atmosphere of war weariness. "This time, the target is the Han people who are not good at fighting. We will surely win. Let's move forward bravely!" Shihu motivates soldiers so much.Qianliang is indeed a Han regime, but Shi Hujun also had the experience of being unable to defeat the Eastern Jin army who were also Han.What's more, the Qianliang at this time was in the era of Zhang Chonghua, and there was a famous general named Xie Ai under him. Shihu appointed Shi Ning as the general who conquered the west, and awarded Ma Qiu, who was known as a fierce general, to advance westward.Ma Qiumeng is fierce, but he is not a wise general. What's worse, the generals under his command have no fighting spirit at all.Seeing the former Liang general Xie Ai sitting on a stool and commanding the army in a leisurely manner, the rear Zhao soldiers couldn't help suspecting that there would be ambushes nearby, so they didn't dare to advance. "Rush! Everyone, hurry up!" Although the impatient Ma Qiu yelled again and again, the soldiers still hesitated.Zhang Hao, the deputy general of the former Liang, saw the opportunity and cut off the retreat of Zhao's army in a roundabout way. Later Zhao Sui lost Du Xun, Ji Yu and other generals successively, and suffered a big defeat. Shi Hu also awarded Sun Fudu, Liu Hun and other generals 20,000 steps of cavalry to go to help Ma Qiu, but was repelled by the former Liang army led by Xie Ai. This happened two years before Shi Hu's death.One year before Shi Hu's death, the aforementioned prince Shi Xuan was punished for killing Shi Tao. Shi Hu died in 349 AD.The talented sons such as Shi Xuan and Shi Tao have died one after another, and the rest of the sons, such as Shi Shi, Shi Zun, Shi Jian, Shi Zhi, etc. who are ineffective, are fighting endlessly for the position of the post Zhao Guozhu.As a result, the more powerful Ran Min became the final winner.Ran Min is not Shi Hu's son, his father is a Han named Ran Zhan, who was adopted as his adopted grandson because Shi Le favored him. After taking over the throne, Ran Min restored his original surname to Ran, and killed all the Shi and Jie clans.It is said that the corpses of more than 200,000 people who were killed were thrown out of the city and left to be eaten by wild dogs and jackals. Ran Min changed the name of the country to Wei, but in just three years, he was defeated by the Murong tribe of Xianbei.