Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen: The Tragic Life of Hu Lujin, God of War in Yinshan Mountain

The era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties was not only an era of wars, but also an era of cultural prosperity, especially the folk songs related to the grassland ethnic groups. During this great integration of ethnic groups, they were widely sung in the Central Plains and Han. It is still widely circulated today, the most famous of which is the famous "Chilechuan". This song reflects the life of the grassland people. For many years, there have been many issues that have been debated, such as who its author was and when it was created. However, there is one issue that any historian has no doubts about.In the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a person who sang this song. In that era of raging wars, he established his own meritorious service on the battlefield. He was called a generation of war god. This outstanding figure is the famous "Yinshan God of War" Hu Lujin .

Judging from the comparison of many famous generals in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, I am afraid that there is no general who is more qualified to sing this song than Hu Lujin. This is not because of military achievements, but because of his birth.This song itself is a folk song of the Hulu tribe, and the Hulujin who sang this song is the well-deserved pride of the Hulu tribe. Hu Lujin was born in 488 A.D. in the Northern Wei Dynasty. He was a native of Shuozhou, Shanxi. His ancestor was Behouli, the well-known leader of the Chile tribe in the north.By the time of Hu Lujin's generation, his family has basically been ruined.When he was young, Hu Lujin once served as a town general in the six towns in the north. The Chile ethnic group he belonged to was actually a branch of the Dingling ethnic group, an important ethnic group in the six towns uprising.In the long-term national policy of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Dingling clan has always been the target of suppression. Under such a situation, as a Dingling member, Hu Lujin did not have many opportunities to emerge in the early years.The turning point in his life was thanks to the great uprising in the six northern towns that began in 523 AD.At that time, Hu Lujin, as a warrior of the Dingling tribe, also participated in this war.In the famous Battle of Wuyuan, he participated in several important battles, and even covered the breakout of Liuhan Baling. After the failure of breaking Liuhan Baling, Hu Lujin, like most prisoners of war, was placed in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Hebei area was under surveillance by the local Xianbei army.Different from others, Hu Lujin has been reused. One is that at the last moment of the battle, seeing that the general situation is over, he led his subordinates to surrender voluntarily; He was once ordered to escort the visiting Rouran Khan, and performed shooting and hunting for Rouran Khan on the road. He was praised by the Rouran people who were good at riding and shooting, and presented him with a precious bow.It is worth mentioning that he also has a unique ability. For example, he can accurately judge the number of enemies when he sees flying dust, and he can judge how far the enemy is from him when he hears the sound of war horses. This unique ability , It also helped him win wars after wars.

After failing to break the Six Hans and pulling up the mausoleum, Hu Lujin was reused by Er Zhurong, the powerful minister of Xianbei at that time, and the reason for his reuse was that he was "stocky".Compared with the domineering and domineering generals of the Northern Wei Dynasty at that time, Hu Lujin was very obedient, no matter what the leader said, he would carry out it, and rushed forward no matter how difficult the battle was, he was a rare honest man.So later, when the prisoners of war relocated to Hebei rebelled again, Hu Lujin not only did not participate, but rushed to the front line of suppressing the rebellion.At that time, the leader of the Hebei Uprising was Du Luozhou, a prisoner of the Six Towns Uprising. At the beginning of the uprising, he gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses. Zhou Lian fought several battles, but he was defeated again and again, and finally held back the rebel army, buying time for the counterattack of the Northern Wei Dynasty.At this time, the Northern Wei emperor was emptied, and Er Zhurong, who held the power of the court, admired Hu Lujin very much, and canonized him as the governor.Later, he took part in the battle to quell Ge Rong, and helped Er Zhurong, who had only 7,000 people, defeat the 300,000 rebel army of Ge Rong. Gao Huan's surrender, perhaps he didn't expect that the surrendered soldier in front of him in the past would become his master in the future.

Although Er Zhurong appreciated Hu Lujin a lot, Hu Lujin was a very principled person.After the Ge Rong Uprising was suppressed, Erzhu Rong's power fell to the government and the public. Hu Lujin could not understand Er Zhurong's monopoly power.Later, there was turmoil in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Er Zhurong was killed first, and then Hu Lujin followed Gao Huan and went to Hebei to develop together. His own team, Hu Lujin at this time, had completely followed Gao Huan's side and became his right-hand man.In 532 A.D., Gao Huan and the Erzhu family broke out in the battle of Yecheng, which determined each other's fate. Gao Huan raised all his troops to fight, ordered Hu Lujin to stay behind, and appointed him as the governor of the six towns.The strength of this battle was very different, and Gao Huan was not sure. When he was about to go to the battle, Gao Huan said to Hu Lujin seriously: In case I can't come back this time, my children will be entrusted to you.Faced with this situation, Hu Lujin burst into tears and vowed to repay Gao Huan's trust.The war finally ended with Gao Huan's victory, and Gao Huan immediately supported Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and began his path to sole power.At this time, Gao Huan was worried about the old department of the Erzhu family in the Guanzhong area - the Hebayue department.At that time, Hu Lujin was ordered to command heavy troops to monitor Guanzhong to prevent sudden attacks by the Guanzhong army. During this period, Hu Lujin, who was good at fighting, had become Gao Huan's minister.

With the escape of Emperor Xiaowu of Wei, supported by Gao Huan, northern China was formally divided into two regimes, the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. After the establishment of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, as the general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the most important battle Hu Lujin participated in was the war between Gao Huan and Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty.As early as 535 A.D., when Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty fled westward to Guanzhong and took refuge in Yuwentai, Yuwentai, who was fledgling, wanted to take this opportunity to defeat Gao Huan in one fell swoop.In the name of helping the emperor to quell the chaos, Yu Wentai launched an attack on Gao Huan, but he hit a hard nail at the beginning - Hu Lujin.At this time, Yuwentai had an edict from the emperor to call on the world, his morale was very strong, and his army was also composed of soldiers from six towns with rich combat experience. The two sides fought in the Yubi area.At this time, Gao Huan only brought more than 50,000 troops, nearly half less than Yu Wentai. At that time, everyone advised Gao Huan to avoid the enemy's edge temporarily, but Hu Lujin objected.Hu Lujin believes that Yuwentai at this time does not understand our reality. If we back down, he must know our details. When the time comes to attack with all our strength, we will be at a disadvantage in numbers and it will be very difficult to win, so Hu Lu Jin Li rejected all the arguments and suggested to take the initiative to attack, and when Yu Wentai couldn't figure out the reality, he gave him a heavy blow.He took the initiative to ask Ying to be the vanguard, and Gao Huan accepted Hu Lujin's opinion. As a result, Hu Lujin led thousands of cavalry in his headquarters to launch a fierce attack on Yuwentai, breaking through Yuwentai's army at once. rout.It is worth mentioning that the battle itself was very dangerous. Yu Wentai himself was shot in the head of a horse by Hu Lujin with an arrow, and he fell off the horse. Otherwise, I am afraid that there would be no famous Western Wei Dynasty in history.

Hu Lujin's meritorious service this time is of great significance to Gao Huan himself and even the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty. At that time, Gao Huan beat Emperor Wei Xiaowu away, and he became a traitor in the eyes of the world. Failure, and at this time his foothold in the north is unstable, it is likely to be the disaster of his entire regime, and the scene of the Erzhu family's rapid decline is likely to repeat itself on him.But at the critical moment, Hu Lujin stabilized the battle situation for Gao Huan and won the battle that must be won. Later, even in Gao Huan's later years, he talked about Hu Lujin's exploits more than once, and repeatedly challenged Gao Huan. The son said: "If it wasn't for Hu Lujin back then, our whole family would have been wiped out by the Yuwen family."

Another flash in Hulujin's life occurred in 537 AD. This time it was still a battle between Gao Huan and Yu Wentai. This battle took place in Heyuan, known as the Battle of Heyuan in history.Before this battle, the Yuwentai tribe suffered heavy losses. The Guanzhong Plain area he separatized suffered a severe drought unseen in a century. Gao Huan and even the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty in the Eastern Wei Dynasty believed that this was a god-given opportunity to destroy Yuwentai. .Only Hu Lujin kept a clear head. He resolutely opposed taking this opportunity to crusade against Yuwentai. Instead, he suggested that Gao Huan pile up grain on the border and recruit the victims of the Western Wei Dynasty. When stating the reasons, Hu Lujin said: "Yuwentai was hit by a natural disaster, and it was a time when people were in a state of confusion. At this time, they rashly launched an attack. They were forced to die, and they would definitely share the same hatred." But this crusade It was still activated, and Gao Huan led an army of 200,000 into the territory of the Western Wei Dynasty in multiple ways. As a result, Yuwentai adopted the method of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, resisting and dealing with Gao Huan.Under such circumstances, Hu Lujin once again put forward the correct suggestion. He suggested that Gao Huan march slowly and distribute food along the way to appease the refugees. In this way, Yuwentai can break through without attack.This correct suggestion was still not adopted by Gao Huan. On the contrary, Gao Huan, who was eager to destroy Yuwentai, threw off other troops, and only led 30,000 elites to the Heyuan area to fight Yuwentai for a decisive battle.Hu Lujin followed all the way as a trusted general. In the Heyuan area, Gao Huan finally captured Yu Wentai as he wished, but at this time Yu Wentai set up a trap. He ambushed the elite army in the reed field in an attempt to lure Gao Huan Enter this dead place, and then you can encircle and annihilate them.Although Gao Huan saw through the trap, he chose to take the initiative to attack because he underestimated Yu Wentai's combat effectiveness.As a result, the 30,000 Eastern Wei army was defeated in the reed field, and Gao Huan himself was surrounded. Under the severe situation, Gao Huan refused to admit defeat, and tried to fight again with the whole army, but Hu Lujin concluded that the battle was lost. up.In order to allow Gao Huan to escape safely, Hu Lujin took the risk of "offending" and desperately shot Gao Huan's horse, let Gao Huan's horse run wildly, and carried Gao Huan to escape the danger first. After a bloody battle, Yu Wentai's reinforcements were finally blocked.The process of this battle also made Yu Wentai deeply moved, and even regretted that he did not have such a capable general as Hu Lujin by his side.

The Battle of Yubi in 546 A.D. made the song "Chilechuan" famous all over the world.In that battle, Gao Huan, who was personally recruited, besieged the important town of Yubi in the Western Wei Dynasty for 5 months but failed. Seeing that reinforcements from the Western Wei Dynasty were coming, the morale of Gao Huan's army was low. Once collapsed, the 80,000 troops would be out of control.Hulujin personally came forward to give lectures to the soldiers, and sang the song "Chilechuan" for everyone on the spot. As a result, in the majestic singing of Hulvjin, the morale of the soldiers was greatly boosted, everyone was excited, and finally fought bravely and rushed out. broke the anti-encirclement of the Western Wei Dynasty.It is worth mentioning that Gao Huan, who has never been emotional, was also moved to tears by this situation, and couldn't help singing along in Xianbei dialect.

Hu Lujin's repeated military exploits earned him the trust of Gao Huan.Especially the singing in 546 A.D. not only helped boost the morale of the Eastern Wei army, which was demoralized at that time, and rushed out of the enemy's siege, but also allowed Gao Huan, who was already in his twilight years, to see the time of his youth again. Less than a month after this incident, a generation of hero Gao Huan passed away. The fate of Hu Lujin has also changed because of Gao Huan's death.After Gao Huan's death, Gao Huan's sons abolished the nominal emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty and changed the Eastern Wei Dynasty into the Northern Qi Dynasty.Although Gao Huan repeatedly told his sons to trust Hu Lujin when he was alive, the fate of their entire family has changed.In the early days of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Hu Lujin was first ordered to lead troops to resist Rouran's attack. After winning, he was canonized as Xianyang County King and once served as the prime minister.The Northern Qi Emperor at that time was Gao Yang, a famous tyrant in the history of Northern Qi. He was brutal by nature. Once in court, he even wanted to assassinate Hu Lujin, a dignified prime minister, with a spear, and almost became a victim of the tyrant's "killing game".Fortunately, Hulujin got a good death in the end. Some of his daughters and granddaughters became queens, and his son Huluguang became a general. However, in 573 AD, the tragic fate of the Hulu family came. Framed, their whole family was framed for treason, and the whole family was ransacked and beheaded.It is worth mentioning that when the incident happened, the entire Hulu family kept in mind Hulujin's admonition of "loyalty to the royal family". No one complained and resisted. The family is loyal to the extreme.