Chapter 19 Chapter 19 The Great Unrest in the Central Plains in the Late Northern Wei Dynasty

According to the law of development of Chinese feudal society, the decline and demise of a powerful feudal dynasty all began with the peasant uprising that swept across the country.For example, the demise of the Han Dynasty originated from the peasant uprising at the end of its period; the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty was also the death knell of the Fangla Uprising (Water Margin is not counted as a novel), and the subsequent demise of the Yuan Dynasty originated from the vigorous peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty; the Ming Dynasty The demise of the Qing Dynasty began with the Peasant War in the late Ming Dynasty that swept across the country; the demise of the Qing Dynasty also began with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.Peasant uprisings rarely have the effect of changing the dynasty, but they can toss a declining dynasty to the brink of death.

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties era, the powerful Northern Wei Dynasty seemed to have created a miracle. They once swept across the north and were invincible. They even went deep into the south of the Yangtze River and almost wiped out the Southern Dynasty that was entrenched in the south.After the reform of Emperor Wei Xiaowen, they transformed rapidly, won the recognition of the Han scholar-official class, and once created a prosperous economy and splendid civilization.However, only a few generations after the death of Emperor Wei Xiaowen, the Tuoba family of the Northern Wei Dynasty quickly went to collapse and perish. The puppet that was played, the unified northern China, once again fell into a long period of separatism and war. The origin of all this was the uprising of soldiers from the six towns in the late Northern Wei Dynasty.

When it comes to the military uprising in the six towns, we have to ask how the Northern Wei Dynasty declined.In fact, the direct cause of the decline of the Northern Wei Dynasty is not unrelated to the famous Sinicization reform of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei Dynasty. Speaking of Emperor Wei Xiaowen's sinicization reform, historians of all dynasties mostly praised it.This is indeed the case. From the perspective of long-term interests, Emperor Wei Xiaowen's sinicization reform eliminated the ethnic boundaries in the north, promoted the integration of the Xianbei and Han nationalities, and allowed the Xianbei's enterprising spirit to blend into the blood of the Han nationality. The recovery and vigorous development of the economy in northern China is nothing but good for the entire Chinese nation.It is no exaggeration to say that after the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Great Sui Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty were both founded by the Sinicization reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

But too much is too late, and the same is true of Emperor Xiaowen's reforms in the Northern Wei Dynasty.As far as the development of the Northern Wei Dynasty is concerned, although the reforms of Emperor Wei Xiaowen benefited the entire Chinese nation a lot in the following hundreds of years, its negative effects were quickly borne by the Northern Wei Dynasty.But there is only one reason: Emperor Wei Xiaowen did it. The Sinicization reform of Emperor Wei Xiaowen began in 490 AD after the death of the famous "Queen Dowager Feng Wenming".In fact, before this, after Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Sinicization process of the Northern Wei Dynasty continued.In the period of Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong of the Northern Wei Dynasty, he himself was a young man who had grown up after reading Han Confucian classics. His admiration for Han culture began when he was very young.And his behavior in the world is completely in accordance with the requirements of Confucianism. For example, after the death of the Queen Mother, he followed the Confucian rules and did not eat a meal for several days. Some ministers persuaded him to follow the etiquette of the Xianbei people, but he flatly refused.Moreover, in the edict of keeping filial piety, it has been stated that the subsequent ruling program "lights military strategy and emphasizes culture and education".In other words, the large-scale sinicization reform has been full of wind and rain since then.

Of course, the Sinicization reform was not only because of Emperor Wei Xiaowen's personal preference. Under the situation at that time, the biggest threat to the Northern Wei Dynasty was the Southern Dynasty regime.In the Southern Dynasties at this time, after the Liu Song and Southern Qi Dynasties, although the regime of the whole country changed and there were many bloody conflicts, the power of the Southern Dynasties rose, and it has not stopped for decades. For many years, because of the relative stability of the Southern Dynasties, In addition, it is an "orthodox" regime, which has always been the favorite object of the northern Han people.For example, during the Northern Expedition of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, the local people in Henan greeted the Northern Expedition army with pans and pans. It can be said that many Han people in the north at that time yearned for the Southern Dynasty regime.After the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, although harsh laws were enacted to prevent the northern Han people from fleeing to the south, large-scale fleeing occurred from time to time. The direct result of this situation was that the population in the north decreased sharply and the population in the south increased sharply.Although there were many wars in the Southern Dynasties, the rulers of all dynasties took economic development as their top priority. This period was a period of very rapid economic development in southern China. The population and economic strength of the south rose rapidly, and they already had the tendency to overwhelm the north.If the Northern Wei Dynasty could not make adjustments in its ruling policy and ethnic policy, it is very likely that it will be wiped out by the Southern and Northern Expeditions in time.A typical example is Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In the case of serious class conflicts in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang, who only occupied the Yangtze River, was able to defeat the powerful Yuan Dynasty in one fell swoop.It is conceivable that if the ruling policy cannot be adjusted, such a fate is likely to be staged in the Northern Wei Dynasty in advance.

Therefore, after Wei Xiaowen Emperor Tuoba Hong came to the throne, the main problem he faced was how to win the hearts of the northern Han people, especially the support of the northern aristocratic families.In the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was the first to have a cooperative relationship with the northern aristocratic family. However, during the period of Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao of the Wei Dynasty, the Cui Hao case involved a lot of people, which made the relationship between the entire northern aristocratic family and the Tuoba Dynasty of the Northern Wei Dynasty All dropped to freezing point.Although the emperors of the past dynasties tried their best to repair the rift with the northern aristocratic family, they had little effect, and even the entire aristocratic family fled to the south.If this situation continues, the middle power of the entire northern ruling class may be completely evacuated. If that is the case, the Northern Wei Dynasty will cease to exist.

Therefore, when many people in later generations are admiring Tuoba Hong's "great talent and general plan" and "dare to be the first in the world", we must see that the gradual Sinicization of the entire Northern Wei Dynasty is a process that has continued since the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty.The large-scale sinicization reform was a choice that the Northern Wei Dynasty had to make in order to survive in Tuobahong's generation.No matter who is in power during this period, as long as he is a mature politician, he has to take action in this regard, because this is a major issue related to the survival of the entire regime.

So after Tuoba Hong came to power, large-scale reforms began immediately.First, in 492 AD, Tuoba Hong established the legitimacy of the Northern Wei regime by discussing "rounds".The so-called discussion of "rounds" is to determine that the Northern Wei Dynasty is the "orthodoxy" that inherited the Western Jin regime. This behavior can be said to be the first time since the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms.Before, no minority emperors valued the legitimacy of their rule over the Central Plains. They often believed that what they possessed was their own.But the Northern Wei Dynasty was different. Tuobahong recognized the entire Northern Wei Dynasty as the orthodox dynasty representing the Central Plains Dynasty, and also recognized that the Xianbei people were no longer foreign peoples, but native peoples living in this land of the Central Plains.This was an important part of the Northern Wei Dynasty's win over the gentry in the Central Plains, and it had a profound impact on later generations.The minority regimes that came to dominate the Central Plains later often adopted the same method to establish the legitimacy of their own control of the Central Plains.

Only "legality" is obviously not enough. Another step for Tuoba Hong is to move the capital.Compared with simple "inheritance", moving is a major event involving the whole body, and moving the capital involves the collective interests of the entire Northern Wei royal family.If there are many conflicts of interests involved, there will be great resistance, and even Tuoba Hong's son, Prince Tuoba Xun, also opposes this proposition.The capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty was originally Pingcheng, Shanxi. This was the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was an important town to defend against the invasion of the Rouran people in the north. There were many wars all the year round.The warlords who commanded the local army also had a lofty status in the court of the Northern Wei Dynasty, surpassing the civil servants and gentry. Once the capital was moved, the status of these soldiers who were the pillars of the country would inevitably be marginalized.In order to move the capital, Tuoba Hong tried his best to take away the entire central organization and elite troops on the grounds of the Southern Expedition, regardless of the opposition of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. Under the hard persuasion of Tuobahong, Tuoba Hong offered to move the capital as a condition in exchange for agreeing to the ministers' request to withdraw troops. Compared with the two evils, the ministers could only agree, and this whole-body reform would be completed. A key step has been taken.Afterwards, Emperor Wei Xiaowen began the process of overall Sinicization, including starting from the Tuoba family, taking the lead in changing the Han surname, requiring Xianbei nobles to wear Han clothes, and to use Han characters. Xianbei people under the age of 30 in the country must learn Chinese.The official language of the government has also been changed to Chinese, and at the same time, civil governance has been promoted, the power and status of civilian officials have been enhanced, and the power of generals has been weakened.For the elite troops he brought from the north, he adopted the method of equal-field system, allocating land for them to cultivate and transforming them into farming life.In this way, the entire Northern Wei Dynasty changed from a militarized feudal regime to a civilized country advocating the rule of law. Less than 10 years after his reform, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Xianbei gentry and the Han gentry had already communicated with each other. No, not only the nobles intermarried with each other, but also the exchanges between common people became more and more frequent, and the gap between ethnic groups was gradually eliminated.The rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty also shifted to emphasizing farming production and encouraging agricultural development. The famous land equalization system and rent-yong modulation were promoted throughout the country during this period. The national power of the Northern Wei Dynasty grew rapidly, the population increased rapidly, the economy became more and more prosperous, and the country was booming. .Emperor Wei Xiaowen wanted to improve the strength of the entire Northern Wei Dynasty through Sinicization reforms, and truly eliminate the ethnic gap between the North and the South, preparing for his future unification of the North and the South.After he completed the primary purpose of the reform, in 499 AD, Emperor Wei Xiaowen sent troops to attack the Southern Qi Dynasty, and died of illness after losing the war at the age of 33.

Emperor Wei Xiaowen, who died of illness with regret, did not expect that in his vigorous Sinicization reform, just because of two small omissions, it would plant the root of the decline and even demise of the entire Northern Wei Dynasty. The first omission of Emperor Wei Xiaowen was to control the military power of the Northern Wei Dynasty at that time. In the era of Emperor Wei Xiaowen, the control of military power adopted the method of land equalization and rent adjustment. On the one hand, the peasants were allocated land, and then the peasants supported the soldiers.At the same time, the 150,000 elite troops he brought from the north were reorganized by him into the imperial guards, settled down in the Henan area, and became the main force of the Gongwei regime. He thought that through these measures, the Northern Wei royal family could be firmly established. To hold on to the power, it seemed to him to be infallible in doing so.But he was wrong about one thing: once these elites who were invincible on the northern border enter the rich Han land, especially under the superior material conditions of the Central Plains, coupled with the long-term peaceful life, it is inevitable that their combat effectiveness will deteriorate. The first generation of the army can still retain the martial spirit, but their second and third generations will gradually erase the blood of their ancestors and indulge in a life of pleasure.On how to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army, Emperor Wei Xiaowen didn't make too many arrangements, maybe he didn't have time to make arrangements, after all, he only lived to be 33 years old.

Emperor Wei Xiaowen had no time to make arrangements, but the development of history made arrangements for him.The Xianbei army, which he had left in the north to guard against the Rouran invasion, had been completely marginalized because of the implementation of the reform.The treatment and status of these soldiers are vastly different from those of the army that followed Emperor Wei Xiaowen into the central government. People are more popular than others, and it is impossible for these people not to be angry.At the same time, after the Northern Wei Dynasty turned to an agricultural economy, the country established a complete agricultural production development system. It is inevitable that the Xianbei soldiers on the frontier, who used to live on nomads and fighting for a living, fell into a difficult life, and the seeds of resistance were planted accordingly. up.More importantly, these "six towns" guarding against the Rouran nation have been living in large and small battles for a long time, and the military's strong combat effectiveness has been maintained. In life, it has already become rotten. This situation is like the "emphasis on the outside and light on the inside" before the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty. Once a rebellion or mutiny occurs, the situation is very dangerous. Another omission of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty was that he did not expect that the entire Northern Wei Dynasty, especially the royal family in the Northern Wei Dynasty, would quickly deteriorate and degenerate after the Sinicization reform.Not only is the hard-working spirit of the Xianbei nation gone, but even its extravagance is even worse than that of the corrupt Han gentry class. In the new Luoyang capital city built by Tuoba Hong, when the capital was first moved, there were only more than 2,000 Xianbei people living in Luoyang, but by the time of Tuoba Hong's death, the number had surged to more than 10,000.The main ones are the Xianbei civil servants and aristocrats who benefited from the Sinicization reform. These people tasted the sweetness through the feudal economic reform and became the rapid rise of the Northern Wei Dynasty.The notorious extravagance of the Western Jin and Eastern Jin Dynasties was soon repeated in the Northern Wei Dynasty: for example, Gaoyang Wang Yuanyong’s residence was as luxurious as the imperial palace, and he spent tens of thousands of dollars on a meal, which has already caught up with the Western Jin Dynasty. Those dignitaries during Sima Yan's reign.Wang Yuanchen of Hejian likes to get rich with people. He has nearly a hundred horses in his home, most of which are purchased from Persia and Eastern Rome. The manger used to feed the horses at home is made of gold. The utensils used by the ministers for banquets were all made of gold and precious stones, including agate and pearl utensils purchased from Central Asia.Yuan Chen sometimes lamented that he was not born in the same era as Shi Chong, the richest man in the Western Jin Dynasty, otherwise he would have to compare who is richer with the richest man in the Western Jin Dynasty.Another prince, Yuan Rong, saw that Yuan Chen's family was richer than himself, and he was so angry that he couldn't get sick after returning home.On the hospital bed, he kept chanting every day: Why is his family richer than mine. Corruption is unavoidable for such a court, not only the royal family, but even the queen mother of the world. For example, the Queen Mother Hu of the Northern Wei Dynasty built a Buddhist temple in Luoyang. The size of more than 1,000 rooms cost more than 200 yuan. ten thousand dollars.Every door of this Buddhist temple is made of pure gold, and even the Buddha statues are inlaid with pearls and diamonds. There are more than 100 Buddha statues measuring eight feet, all of which are made of gold.Of course, this period also left behind classic civilization achievements. The famous Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang were both built during this period. The wind of extravagance is so severe that the direct impact is the rapid corruption of the entire country.For example, when Emperor Xuandi of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the son of Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei Dynasty, was in power, the people at that time satirized that the government's management of personnel transfers had become a market for selling officials.For example, only 6 years after the death of Emperor Wei Xiaowen, the official position in the Northern Wei Dynasty had a clear price tag: for example, the price of Dajun at that time was 2,000 silk, 1,000 for the second county, and 500 for the lower county. In 519 AD, Cui Liang made silk. When the Ministry of Rites was in charge of the book, the prices of these official posts had tripled, and even the official posts in Xiajun had risen to 1,500 horses.The more money you spend when buying an official, the more you will naturally earn when you become an official. Even the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty were well aware of the corruption situation in the Northern Wei Dynasty.The Empress Dowager Hu, who was once in charge of the state power in the Northern Wei Dynasty, once said when Wang Yuanzhen of Hejian was the governor of Dingzhou, "This man is very greedy, so he almost moved the local palace here."This shows the depth of corruption in the Northern Wei Dynasty at this time. The corruption in the Northern Wei Dynasty naturally brought serious disasters to the common people.When Empress Dowager Hu was in power, the taxes of common people in the Northern Wei Dynasty increased sharply, and the taxes that a farmer had to pay had increased nearly 8 times compared with that of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei Dynasty.Many royal families in the Northern Wei Dynasty were more enthusiastic about engaging in the usury business, lending money to farmers and charging high interest rates. As a result, the suffering of the common people naturally deepened. In contrast, it was the soldiers of the six towns guarding the north at this time who suffered more. We have repeatedly mentioned the six towns, and here is a detailed explanation of the six towns.Since the Northern Wei Dynasty went south to the Central Plains, the north has always been facing the threat of Rouran.During the period of Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, he once launched a large-scale Northern Expedition, which once beat Rouran to the brink of death. However, at the critical moment, he chose to withdraw his troops and go south.The result of this is that Rouran, which was hit hard at the time, retained the vitality of revival. By the time Emperor Wei Xiaowen moved the capital in 490 AD, Rouran had become a huge threat to the Northern Wei Dynasty.An important reason why Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital was that Rouran often invaded the northern border of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and even threatened the capital Pingcheng many times. In order to make the country have a stable environment, he chose to move the capital.In order to defend against Rouran's attack, the Northern Wei Dynasty built a Great Wall of more than 2,000 miles north of Pingcheng, and later built military strongholds extensively in key places in Yanbian. The key military strongholds are the so-called "six towns", including Huaishuo Town, Wuchuan Town, Fuming Town, Rouxuan Town, Huaihuang Town, and Woye Town.These six towns are the key points of the Northern Wei Dynasty's defense to move southward. During the period when the Northern Wei Dynasty established the capital Pingcheng, the troops stationed in the six towns were the most elite troops in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Because they had the important task of guarding the capital, their treatment was equivalent to that of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The officers of the Forbidden Army and the commanding army are all nobles of the Xianbei nationality, who have hereditary and lofty status in the Northern Wei army, and the soldiers are also treated very high.Beginning with Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Wei Dynasty, an unwritten rule of the royal family in the Northern Wei Dynasty was that the emperors of all dynasties would inspect the six towns every year and reward the soldiers and generals of the six towns. Now that the capital of the country has moved, of course this rule has survived in name only. After the relocation of the capital in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the six towns that originally occupied an important position have become corners forgotten by the country. Especially with the implementation of the Northern Wei Dynasty's policies such as the land equalization system and rent adjustment, the frontier soldiers who originally enjoyed tax-free privileges also had to Like the civilians in the interior, fulfilling the task of paying taxes on food, the economic burden is getting heavier, the treatment is getting lower and lower, and the life is getting poorer.As for the hereditary local generals who led the troops, they were old nobles of the Xianbei nation in their early years and had a high reputation for generations. Because of the relocation of the capital, their identities were marginalized. resentment.What disappointed the troops of the Six Towns most was that before the capital was moved to the Northern Wei Dynasty, because of the significance of the Six Towns defending Pingcheng, once the soldiers of the Six Towns made meritorious service in the war, they were likely to be promoted and even have the opportunity to enter the central government as officials. With the relocation of the capital in the Northern Wei Dynasty, this opportunity no longer existed.The Northern Wei Dynasty began to emphasize the rule of literature from Emperor Xiaowen of Wei, and adopted the strategy of using literature to control military forces. The soldiers fought hard, but gained little benefit. They had weapons in their hands, which naturally became a ticking time bomb in the northern part of the Northern Wei Dynasty. What the Northern Wei government did during this period was equivalent to adding fire to this bomb.Before the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, for ordinary Xianbei soldiers, it was a supreme honor for the Xianbei people to be able to serve in the six towns, even to become an ordinary soldier in the six towns.The opportunity of the six towns to guard the border was originally fought by the Xianbei people. Later, with the capital relocation in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the status of the six towns naturally became less and less valuable, and the soldiers often fled.In order to consolidate the defense of the north, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not intend to change the status and life of the soldiers in the six towns in the past. Instead, it adopted the method of drinking poison to quench thirst.Collect criminals in the interior and send them to the six towns to fill up the army, which is used to enrich the border defense of the six towns.Later, Gao Huan, a generation of hero who held the Northern Wei emperor hostage and controlled the Eastern Wei regime, was dispatched to Huaishuo Town in this way, but later became one of the gravediggers of the Northern Wei regime. The political corruption of the Northern Wei Dynasty also affected the six towns.The most prominent point is the corruption of the military officers in the six towns. These days, the generals who led the troops far away from the emperor turned their main energy to making money when their official careers were hopeless.For example, after the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital, it also implemented the land equalization system in the six towns, allocating land to the soldiers of the six towns, but most of these lands were occupied by the officers of the six towns, and most of the soldiers who should have owned the land were reduced to serfs.Who wants to stay in such a place?As a result, a large number of soldiers fled one after another, and some soldiers chose to revolt. Just one month after the death of Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong of the Northern Wei Dynasty, that is, in 499 AD, an uprising of the local Gaoche tribe broke out in Woye Town, one of the six towns. Although this uprising was quickly suppressed by the Northern Wei Dynasty, it laid the groundwork for the subsequent large-scale uprising. The fuse that really led to the uprising in the Six Towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty was the Rouran invasion in 523 AD.In the spring of this year, the Rouran people, who had threatened the Northern Wei Dynasty for a long time, launched a large-scale invasion of the six towns. This time, the Rouran people used nearly 100,000 elite cavalry to sweep the six towns all the way.What about the Six Towns?In the entire six towns, the shortage of soldiers was as high as half, and the generals fled the battle one after another. How could such an army resist the enemy's invasion?As a result, Rouran ravaged the six towns, plundering tens of thousands of people and millions of livestock. It can be said that they returned with a full load. What made the Northern Wei Dynasty embarrassing was that even Yuan Prison, the highest military officer stationed in the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was also taken away by the Rouran people. The great shame and humiliation naturally aroused the wrath of the Northern Wei court.At this time, the court of the Northern Wei Dynasty did not reflect on its own problems. Instead, it believed that the officers and soldiers of the six towns were incompetent, and even ordered to stop the distribution of rations for the officers and soldiers of the six towns.You must know that the six towns at that time had just experienced the military disaster in Rouran, and the material loss was extremely serious. It was time to distribute food relief, but the Northern Wei Dynasty did the opposite. The resentful soldiers of the Northern Wei government had no choice but to turn against it. The rebellion in the six towns took place in the summer of this year. First, the soldiers in Huaihuang Town asked the local governor Yu Jing to distribute rations, but Yu Jing refused. The soldiers who were cornered killed Yu Jing and raised the banner of rebellion. , All of a sudden, there was a domino effect, and the entire six towns rebelled in one go.Among them, the Xiongnu soldiers in Woye Town broke Liuhan Baling and led the soldiers to kill the guarding generals. They called themselves "true kings" and formally fought against the court of the Northern Wei Dynasty.The composition of this rebel army is very complicated, mainly composed of Huns and Han people, and most of the members are criminals who committed crimes in the interior and were exiled here.Their momentum was also very strong, and they captured Woye Town at once, and gained the support of several other towns, becoming the most powerful of the many rebel armies.The next year, Helian En, a soldier from Gaoping Town, killed the town general and raised the rebel flag. This rebel army was the descendant of Helian Bobo, the Huns who founded the Great Xia Kingdom. The rebellion in the six towns triggered a chain reaction throughout the northern part of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The contradictions that had been hidden for decades in the prosperity of Emperor Wei Xiaowen's reforms all broke out at once.Even the Dingling people in the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi also rebelled. These Dinglings had been living as slaves in the Taihang Mountains. At this time, they raised troops under the leadership of their leader Liu Sheng.The composition of this rebel army is very interesting. The leader of the rebellion is Ding Ling, but among the tens of thousands of rebel troops, Ding Ling only has a few thousand people, and the vast majority of them are Han farmers who have fled here for many years.Combined with the uprising that broke Liuhan Baling, we can see that the so-called six-town uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty is by no means an "ethnic contradiction" as some people call it. The core contradiction is still a class contradiction. The people resisted the anti-riot movement of the entire Northern Wei court. The reason why this uprising was so loud is not unrelated to the corruption in the Northern Wei Dynasty.Wherever the rebel army went, the local guarding officials all fled. The Northern Wei army, which had been victorious in all battles, was already vulnerable at this time.After breaking Liuhan Baling's uprising, he first conquered Huaishuo Town, killed the local defenders, and then annihilated the Central Army transferred from Henan in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the battle of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.The pampered inland army of the Northern Wei Dynasty was no longer the opponent of the northern frontier army.Under Lien Chan's losing streak, the Northern Wei government did not hesitate to make a "traitorous" decision, that is, to ask Rouran in the north to send troops to help the Northern Wei suppress the Six Towns. This is a very ironic thing, inviting its enemies to help In the history of Chinese feudal society, it is probably absurd to suppress the army that was originally used to defend oneself.But the "absurdity" soon had an effect. In 525 A.D., Rouran gathered an army of 100,000 and launched a fierce attack on the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty that broke Liuhan Baling. In the end, they lost the enemy and fought a big defeat in Wuyuan. After that, the Central Army of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Rouran people attacked back and forth, and finally forced Poliuhan Baling to collapse, and 200,000 people in the six towns were captured. After the defeat, his whereabouts are unknown, and the Six Towns Uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which lasted for two years and four months, failed. After the failure of the Six Towns Uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Wei Dynasty quickly changed its face.During the uprising, in order to divide and disintegrate the rebel army, the Northern Wei Dynasty promised to treat all the rebels who put down their arms as civilians, and to allocate land and divide areas for them to live in. However, after 200,000 rebels were captured, the Northern Wei Dynasty immediately reneged. . The 200,000 rebels were relocated to the Hebei area. The Northern Wei Dynasty used the local Xianbei garrison in Hebei to monitor them. They still lived like serfs.The Northern Wei Dynasty believed that these people could be controlled by this method, so that they would no longer cause chaos, but the actual effect was to add fuel to the fire. The main ethnic groups in the Six Towns Uprising were the Xiongnu and Gaoche ethnic groups who had been oppressed by the Northern Wei Dynasty for a long time, as well as some Han and Xianbei ethnic groups. However, the army sent by the Northern Wei Dynasty to monitor them was the Xianbei army guarding the Hebei area.The Northern Wei Dynasty probably forgot that, like the soldiers of the Six Towns, the Xianbei army in Hebei Bian Town also suffered heavy oppression for a long time. The suffering they suffered was no less than that of the soldiers of the Six Towns. , The vigor and vigor of the uprising in the six towns will undoubtedly arouse resonance in their hearts.And the treachery of the Northern Wei government had already aroused the anger in the hearts of the troops surrendered in the six towns. They would naturally regret their original decision to surrender to the Northern Wei. A new riot was destined to come again. As a result, just 6 months after the soldiers from the six towns moved to Hebei, that is, in August of 525 AD, the northern uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty resurged. Luo Zhou.He is a town soldier in Rouxuan Town, and participated in the uprising in the six towns. At the same time, Xian Yu Xiuli, a soldier from Wuyuan, also rose up.It is worth mentioning that the scale of the uprising this time was larger than that of the previous year, because the Xianbei army, which was responsible for monitoring the surrender of the six towns, also participated, and soon became the main body of the war.In the next three years, the rebel army successively occupied Youzhou, Dingzhou, Yingzhou, Cangzhou and other areas, and the entire Hebei Province in the Northern Wei Dynasty was completely reduced to the hands of the rebel army.The reason why it fell so quickly was because there were basically few large-scale wars. The fixed script was that the rebel army arrived, the local defenders surrendered, and then joined the rebel army. This rebel army was once known as 1 million, the actual strength is no less than 300,000.Moreover, the main personnel have changed from the multi-ethnic groups in the six towns in the early years to the Xianbei people in Hebei during this period. The continuation of the uprising and the policy of the uprising army also had an important impact on the political situation of the entire Northern Wei Dynasty.The main governing institutions of Hebei Province are the aristocratic families of the Han nationality. In the face of this great uprising, the rebel army mainly adopted the policy of killing the gentry to vent their anger, which aroused strong resistance from the gentry, especially the Han gentry, who often dispersed. The family wealth recruits bravery from the countryside to protect itself.The Gao family in Hebei even raised a Han army of 10,000 people to fight against the rebel army.The result of this was that the Gao family's Han army not only grew stronger, but later became the main force for Gao Huan to establish the Eastern Wei Dynasty.There were also some Han gentry who, after failing to fight against the rebels, turned their guns and led their troops south to compete with the Xianbei gentry in the Henan area. As a result, the whole north became a mess.The rebel army, the protagonist of this turmoil, also split during the uprising process. First of all, Du Luozhou, who took the lead in the uprising, was a low-level Xianbei military officer. During the uprising process, his main policy was to kill aristocratic families, but Recruit civilians under the rule of aristocratic families as officials.But Xianyu Xiuli was from Ding Ling, and he hated the aristocratic Xianbei family who oppressed Ding Ling, and the landlords caught by him were generally not spared.What is more special is Ge Rong, who was born as a town general and also from the Xianbei family, but among the three leaders, he has the most long-term vision and knows how to win over the famous local families. The different methods of the three people also brought about different results: Xian Yu Xiuli, who became the leader first, was assassinated by a spy bribed by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Du Luozhou, who succeeded the leader, died at the hands of his comrade-in-arms Ge Rong. After mastering the power of the rebel army, he adopted a different approach from the previous leaders. He warmly invited the local nobles in Hebei to come out to serve him, and married his daughter to the Yang family of the Hebei nobles in an attempt to win over the local nobles.However, Ge Rong did a very bad job of restraining his soldiers. His soldiers still continued the policy of the rebel army. Ge Rong couldn't last long.In the era of Ge Rong, the uprising army reached its peak, with 300,000 people at one time.In 528 A.D., Er Zhurong, a warlord of the Jie nationality, usurped the power of the Northern Wei Dynasty and emptied the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty. If Ge Rong could take the opportunity to go south at this time, it is very likely that the Northern Wei Dynasty would be wiped out in one fell swoop, but Ge Rong did not do so. On the contrary, they have been fighting mobile in the Hebei area, attacking the fortresses of local aristocratic families.Er Zhurong, who was respite, launched an attack on Ge Rong at random. In the famous battle of Yecheng, Er Zhurong only used 7,000 cavalry to defeat Ge Rong's main force of hundreds of thousands, and Ge Rong was captured. Death, the vigorous Northern Wei uprising failed like this. But Er Zhurong, who suppressed the great uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty, never dreamed that in this victory, a general of the Ge Rong tribe who defected to him would eventually destroy the entire family of the Er Zhu family. He is the founder of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, a generation of heroes Gao Huan.