Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty

In the storm of the Great Central Plains Uprising in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the original Northern Wei Dynasty was dying, but a "misplaced" Han took the opportunity to rise up and become a hero in the North. The trend has had a profound impact-Gao Huan, the "Taizu" of the Northern Qi regime. Speaking of Gao Huan's "misplacement", in fact, this is what many people who do not understand the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties do not understand.Gao Huan was originally a Han, and his seizure of power, on the surface, was the first time a Han took power after the North fell to the "Five Hus" hundreds of years ago.However, after he came to power, he adopted a policy of "Great Xianbeiism" that extremely discriminated against the Han people. This situation, and Gao Huan's own background, seemed unbelievable on the surface. In fact, looking at the history of the Gao family's fortune, This situation is not surprising at all.

Gao Huan, courtesy name He Liuhun, was born in Jing County, Hebei Province.After he made his fortune and established a political power, in order to win over the aristocratic family in the north, he often called himself the "Gao family in Hebei", but he was actually a commoner.Later, he was sent to the Huaishuo area of ​​Inner Mongolia because of his crimes. At that time, Huaishuo was an important town for the Northern Wei Dynasty to defend against the invasion of the Rouran ethnic group in the north. The main ethnic group of the local residents was the Xianbei ethnic group stranded in the northern frontier.Gao Huan grew up in such an environment. He was powerful in martial arts since he was a child, and he was brave and ruthless but extremely resourceful. Although he was a Han, he made many Xianbei friends. ambition.For example, once, he got a job as a messenger and was ordered to deliver a letter to a Xianbei official. When the official was happy, he rewarded him with a piece of meat. According to the rules at that time, the Han people accepted the reward from the Xianbei to kneel down. Gao Huan didn't care about those who came down to give thanks, and took the meat on his own, and ate it swaggeringly.The result of this was that Gao Huan was beaten to death. His friends laughed at him, but he replied: I will definitely ride on his head in the future, so why should I kneel down to him?After this incident got out, most of the local people laughed at this Han kid as crazy, but a local rich girl fell in love with him.The identity of this girl is not ordinary, she is Lou Zhaojun, the daughter of the Lou Zhao family, a wealthy family in Xianbei. At that time, Gao Huan was just a hard labor in charge of building the city wall.Not only did the two meet in secret, Lou Zhaojun also gave financial support.Xianbei people are very concerned about "free love" at this point. Although their family status and status are not worthy, the love between the two of them did not encounter too much resistance, and they got married smoothly.

But this marriage of "a rich girl falling in love with a poor boy" had a great impact on Gao Huan's life.First of all, Gao Huan is no longer a lowly commoner in the local area. Instead, he has become the son-in-law of the Lou Zhao family. With a different status, he naturally began to be respected in the local area. Moreover, Lou Zhaojun is a very intelligent woman. Use money to subsidize Gao Huan and let Gao Huan get to know the heroes of the world. Gao Huan's earliest team to fight the world began to develop from then on.More importantly, with the relationship of the Lou Zhao family, Gao Huan also got a chance in his official career, and he was appointed as a local team leader.He really started to make a fortune when the Six Towns Uprising broke out in 523 AD.

The main forces of the uprising in the six towns were the Xianbei military households guarding the border. The Huaishuo area, which also served as a military town, also responded one after another. The rebel army, and later joined Ge Rong's rebel army, and was once a "comrade-in-arms" with Yu Wentai, the founder of the Western Wei Dynasty.Gao Huan is generous and loyal, with a bold personality, and treats his soldiers with confidence, so his generals are desperate to serve him. Because he has lived in the Xianbei-inhabited area for a long time, his ideas and living habits are Xianbei-style, so the Xianbei generals do not regard him as an outsider.With these advantages, Gao Huan quickly gained a foothold among the Xianbei warlords.Another important advantage he has is that Gao Huan's father-in-law, the Lou Zhao family, is a hereditary officer of Xianbei, and many generals of the Xianbei clan are old subordinates of this family. Like a duck to water.

Another advantage of Gao Huan's success is his vision of people. His position in the Ge Rong Uprising Army rose rapidly. During Ge Rong's heyday, Gao Huan also had a team of thousands force.During years of contact with Ge Rong, he concluded that Ge Rong was not the lord of the British. Although Ge Rong was a heroic man, he was very popular with his generals, but he himself had no strategic vision. Everywhere he went, he wanted to kill and destroy. people's hearts.Therefore, Gao Huan harbored the heart of rebellion.Before the decisive battle between Ge Rong and Er Zhurong, Gao Huan concluded that Ge Rong would be defeated with his unique vision, so he decisively decided to defect to Er Zhurong. His arrival was like sending a new force to Er Zhurong. The subsequent ending also proved his judgment. Er Zhurong, who had only 7,000 people, defeated the 300,000 Ge Rong army.

Gao Huan was appreciated by Er Zhurong because he "stands on the right team" at the critical moment.After Ge Rong's uprising failed, Gao Huan was ordered by Er Zhurong to recruit Ge Rong's remnants.At that time, most of Ge Rong's generals were ethnic minority soldiers from the six towns in the north. They had fought for generations to make a living. It was obviously impossible for them to put down their swords and guns and become farmers. However, they continued to serve as soldiers and fought as "traitors" It is hard to guarantee that one day they will not be liquidated, and Gao Huan, who also has the status of a "traitor", naturally became their best refugee.In this way, Gao Huan raised nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses at once, and owned a vast territory from Shandong to northern Hebei, although at this time, he was still in name under Er Zhurong.

Gao Huan's life opportunity came again after Er Zhurong was killed in 530 AD.At that time, Er Zhurong, relying on his achievements in pacifying the Ge Rong Uprising, had already controlled the power of the Northern Wei Dynasty and suppressed the gentry in the Northern Wei Dynasty.However, although Er Zhurong pacified Ge Rong, he had few troops and could not control the vast Hebei land for a while, so the regime in Hebei land suddenly became a "vacuum" zone.At that time, in the northern Shandong and Hebei regions, due to the long-term war, many people died, and the Han aristocratic families flocked to protect themselves and wait and see the current situation.Although Er Zhurong is powerful, it is difficult to control these places for a while.And this just gave Gao Huan a chance.In 503 AD, Er Zhurong was killed by Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei Dynasty who was unwilling to be a puppet because of his monopoly power. Er Zhurong's nephew Erzhu Zhaoxing took revenge and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei Dynasty. into civil strife.

At this time, Gao Huan, on the surface, was obedient to Er Zhuzhao, and first offered to appease the remnants of the rebel army in the six towns in the north. Originally, Er Zhuzhao was very suspicious of Gao Huan, but Gao Huan was very good at performing, and repeated it again and again. Sandi showed his loyalty, even cried bitterly, expressing his allegiance, Er Zhuzhao finally relieved Gao Huan, and with this relief, the once powerful Erzhu family was finally sent to a dead end. When Er Zhurong was killed, the Xianbei soldiers in the six towns in the north hated the Erzhu family with gnashing teeth. Involvement, killing innocents, all these gave Gao Huan a chance.The relationship between Gao Huan and the soldiers of Six Towns is very special.First of all, he himself was a soldier from the Six Towns, and he was an important general around Ge Rong, so he had a very close relationship with these soldiers.And his family relationship is also very special. Needless to say, his wife Lou Zhaojun, the Lou Zhao family is the "old superior" of the soldiers of the Six Towns. Gao Huan's sister-in-law is also not simple.At that time, the Duan family was a very influential family in the north, especially known for its economic prosperity, and getting the support of the Duan family was equivalent to getting the largest "purse" in the north.At the same time, another sister of the Lou Zhao family married Dou Tai, a nobleman from Xianbei, Hebei.With these supports, Gao Huan returned to Hebei like a fish in water, and soon recruited an army and established his own territory.This situation naturally attracted Er Zhuzhao's attention. In 531 AD, after suppressing the Tuoba royal family's resistance, Er Zhuzhao decided to solve Gao Huan's problem and sent troops to attack Gao Huan. At this time, Er Zhuzhao's strength He was very strong. His subordinates were the most powerful "Qihu" soldiers in the north at that time. These people were descendants of the Jie tribe back then. They had strong combat effectiveness and defeated the Xianbei elite several times.But Gao Huan knew that it was not only the combat ability that determined the outcome of the war, but also the unity and morale of the soldiers, so Gao Huan played a trick.As soon as Er Zhuzhao entered the army, Gao Huan deliberately spread rumors, saying that Er Zhuzhao came this time to change the entire Xianbei people in Hebei into slaves and send them to Shanxi to fill the army. Heart of death.Afterwards, Gao Huan rectified the army and formulated strict military regulations, the most important of which was to strictly prohibit plundering Han people in order to win the support of the local Han people. The important force is the Gao clan of the Hebei clan.The status of the Gao family in Hebei is not simple. Not only do they have a prominent family background, they also have a powerful Han army. The Gao family's Han army has always been the leader in the northern army. Claiming to be from the Gao family in Hebei Province, and they belong to the same family, and then recognized the two helmsmen of the Gao family, Gao Ang and Gao Gan, as uncles, and asked his son Gao Cheng to visit them with the courtesy of uncles. After a lot of painstaking efforts, Gao Huan finally earned With the support of this family, the Gao family's Han army, which was later commanded by Gao Gao, has long been the elite of Gao Huan's army.

Relying on the unity of the army and the support of the Han family, Gao Huan started the war with Er Zhuzhao.In the first few small-scale wars, both sides won and lost each other, but Gao Huan became stronger as he fought more and more. He had the support of aristocratic families, so he had the guarantee of economy and soldiers, while the Erzhu family often relied on suppression and plunder for survival. way, has long been lost.In 532 A.D., a war broke out between the two sides in Yecheng. At this time, the Erzhu family fought to the death and gathered an army of 200,000 to attack Gao Huan. At this time, Gao Huan only had more than 50,000 people, but Gao Huan was not afraid.He adopted the strategy of fighting to the death, blocking all the retreat routes of his army with donkey carts, and then led the army to charge bravely. Gao Huan's army, who had no retreat route, wiped out the entire Erzhu family in one fell swoop. He also died in this battle.Since then, Gao Huan has completely grasped the power in the north.After the victory, Gao Huan established Yuanxiu, king of Pingyang, as emperor, and was known as Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty in history.Since then, the actual master in northern China was once surnamed Gao.

After defeating the Erzhu family, Gao Huan supported the new emperor. In fact, he once had the opportunity to unify the entire north.At that time, the power in the Guanzhong area of ​​northern China was He Bayue, the general of the Erzhu family. He had already established himself as king in Guanzhong, and he did not listen to the Erzhu family's dispatch.Originally, Er Zhuzhao ordered He Bayue to attack Gao Huan from the flank. If this move was successful, Gao Huan's fate might have to be rewritten, but He Bayue refused to carry out the order and chose to wait and see instead.It would not be difficult for Gao Huan at that time if he took advantage of the remaining prestige of destroying Er Zhuzhao and took advantage of the emperor in the name of ordering the princes to pacify the Guanzhong area in one fell swoop.But Gao Huan did not choose to enter Guanzhong. After receiving He Bayue's superficial surrender, he was satisfied with the status quo. If this continues, there will be no later Western Wei Dynasty.At this time, Gao Huan made another mistake. The close minister who bought He Bayue killed He Bayue, causing the Guanzhong area to fall into chaos again. Yu Wentai, who was also a hero, took the opportunity to fight against Gao Huan.

Of course, Gao Huan's biggest mistake was his policy towards the emperor. After Emperor Wei Xiaowu ascended the throne, Gao Huan, as the supporter, was in power and seemed to have swept the north.But this Emperor Wei Xiaowu was not honest, and he was unwilling to be reconciled to his puppet status. Instead, he wanted to regain power.For this situation, Gao Huan did not do anything in advance, and let Emperor Wei Xiaowu mess around. As a result, the two families started a war. How could the puppet emperor be the opponent of the real power minister? Tai took the opportunity to support Emperor Xiaowu of Wei, established the Western Wei Dynasty, and fought against Gao Huan.It was only then that Gao Huan realized that Yu Wentai, who had been ignored by him before, had become his archenemy. Of course, Gao Huan also responded quickly. After Emperor Wei Xiaowu fled, Gao Huan made Yuan Shan, the son of King Qinghe, the emperor, known as Emperor Wei Xiaojing in history. stabilized his regime.Prior to this, in order not to bear the notoriety of "rebellion", Gao Huan had apologized to Emperor Wei Xiaowu many times and invited Emperor Wei Xiaowu to come back, but Emperor Wei Xiaowu refused.But this Emperor Wei Xiaowu made a miscalculation. Yu Wentai who accepted him was also a hero, and his relationship with Emperor Wei Xiaowu soon fell to freezing point.This Emperor Wei Xiaowu used the name of incest, his younger sister refused to let her marry, and stayed with her to be his wife. This behavior of being inferior to a beast naturally aroused criticism.Yuwentai once conspired to kill several sisters around Emperor Wei Xiaowu to eliminate the ugliness of incest. Emperor Wei Xiaowu was furious when he found out, and wanted to overthrow Yuwentai's regime.This time it was even worse, Yu Wentai immediately ordered his subordinates to poison Emperor Xiaowu of Wei to death, and changed the new emperor Nanyang Wang Yuanbao to be Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty. . In the early days of the confrontation between the Eastern Wei and the Western Wei, the strength of the Eastern Wei was far stronger than that of the Western Wei. Gao Huan, who had been a soldier all his life, also wanted to take this opportunity to eliminate this threat and unify the north.From 536 AD to 546 AD, Gao Huan launched 5 large-scale wars against the Western Wei Dynasty. Each time there were more than 200,000 troops, but the result of the war was that every battle would be lost.At this time, Yuwentai adopted the government and military system and other ruling methods. Although the power of the entire regime was weaker than that of Gao Huan, the cohesion of the regime was stronger. Therefore, as a result of the five wars, the Western Wei Dynasty escaped the doom of subjugation again and again, while the Eastern Wei Dynasty Lost troops and lost generals.Throughout Gao Huan's life, he never defeated the Yuwen family, but his descendants were eventually destroyed by the Yuwen family. The Eastern Wei Dynasty established by Gao Huan and the Northern Qi Dynasty established by his descendants are most criticized by later generations for their "Great Xianbei Doctrine" policy. Compared with the Western Wei Dynasty who credited the Han people, continued to win over the Han people in Guanzhong, and adopted Sinicization reforms in the economy, what the Gao Huan family did was exactly the opposite. Gao Huan from the beginning to the establishment of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and even the establishment of the Northern Qi Dynasty by his descendants, although he also deliberately wooed the Han people in the north. Looking at the overall policy, it is mainly to suppress the Han people in the north. Whether it is the Han people in the north or even the Han soldiers in the army, discrimination and suppression are the mainstream.For example, Gao Gao, a member of the Han nationality in the north who he worshiped as his uncle, once refused to let Gao Ang participate in the decisive battle with the Western Wei Dynasty. Sheng fought back Gao Huan's judgment, but Gao Huan's "ethnic tendency" can be seen.It was Gao Gao who guarded Northern Yuzhou together with Liu Gui, a Xianbei Hun. During an army battle, some Han soldiers died. After Liu Gui knew about it, he said, "Why don't you die if you are a rich man?"It means that the life of the Han people is only one penny, and when they die, they die, and they are so angry that they want to kill Liu Gui on the spot.In Gao Huan's army, Gao Ang was the only famous general of the Han nationality. He was despised by the famous Xianbei generals under Gao Huan's command in the early days. Later, he won their respect by virtue of his illustrious military exploits. However, the status of the Han people in the entire Eastern Wei Dynasty and even the Northern Qi Dynasty It didn't change because of him.After Gao Angxuewo fought on the battlefield, the Western Wei Dynasty, who had fought with him all his life, actually celebrated it with the whole country.Although Gao Huan respected Gao Ang himself, his degree of favor was far inferior to that of the Xianbei generals under his command.For example, Gao Ang's death occurred in the Northern Yuzhou War in 538 AD. At that time, Gao Ang was severely injured and had a chance to escape. Gao Gao was at odds and refused to open the door for him, resulting in Gao Gao's heroic sacrifice.Although Gao Huan regretted it afterwards and gave Gao Ang a heavy reward, but for Gao Yongle who caused Gao Ang's death, he only lightly pursued the responsibility and gave him a lighter punishment of demotion.Even if a hero like Gao Ang is like this, the status of the entire Han people under Gao Huan's rule can be imagined. In fact, in the early days of Gao Huan's ascension to the throne, in order to realize the "harmony" under his rule, he still did a lot of work, the most important work was to make peace.For example, Gao Huan often said to the Han people: "Xianbei soldiers are strong men hired by you. They fight for you. Don't hate them." To Xianbei generals, Gao Huan said: "The Han people are your slaves. They provide you with food and clothes, why do you still bully them?" This method of peace was good at first, but as time went on, the effect became much worse, because at this time the main contradiction in the Northern Qi Dynasty had not changed.This contradiction is actually a continuation of the Six Towns Uprising that year, that is, the contradiction between the low-level soldiers of the northern Xianbei and the aristocratic families at that time. Under the appearance of the ethnic contradictions in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the root is still a class contradiction. The root of Gao Huan's "Great Xianbeiism" lies here.From Gao Huan's own situation, although he is a Han Chinese, he has lived in the Xianbei residential area for a long time, and his thoughts and lifestyles have been highly Xianbei-oriented. It is Xianbei language.Gao Huan's wife's family, the Lou Zhao family, was a family of Xianbei warlords. Gao Huan's fortune was largely due to the contacts of the Lou Zhao family.His direct army was also composed of soldiers from the six northern Xianbei towns. From top to bottom, Gao Huan was the spokesperson of the Xianbei warlord class at that time.Therefore, in terms of national governance policy, although he has to rely on the local Han aristocratic families, fundamentally speaking, he has to safeguard the interests of the warlords in the six towns of Xianbei.It is well known that the source of the uprising in the six towns was that the Xianbei soldiers in the six towns in the north were not satisfied with the oppression of the aristocratic family. In the era of Gao Huan, the Xianbei aristocratic family had been completely destroyed by the wars of Er Zhurong, Ge Rong and others. In fact, the main force of the gentry family is the Han gentry family in the north. In this way, the contradiction between the two parties will continue in Gao Huan's Northern Qi court.When Gao Huan was alive, he used more balancing means to deal with this contradiction. For the Xianbei warlord family, he mostly adopted a policy of appeasement, and for the northern gentry, he adopted a method of combining grace and power.For example, Du Bi, a wealthy family of the Han nationality at that time, once exposed to Gao Huan the behavior of the Xianbei army generals who looted and oppressed the people. To punish Du Bi, Du Bi was so frightened that he begged for mercy before pardoning him.Gao Huan didn't ignore the behavior of the arrogant Xianbei soldiers. In order to frighten these military leaders, Gao Huan deliberately found an actor to beat them publicly in front of the generals, saying "Scream!" You send troops to plunder", use this trick of "killing a chicken for the monkey to see" to frighten these military leaders.Even so, during Gao Huan's reign, these arrogant soldiers who helped him conquer the world became domineering. In order to prevent the Han scholar-bureaucrats from submitting to the Southern Dynasty, Gao Huan simply adopted a policy of connivance towards the Han scholar-bureaucrats, allowing them to expand their land and plunder their population. In this way, "both sides will benefit", and Gao Huan's court will be temporarily "harmonious".Of course, it is the harmony on the surface. In 546 AD, Gao Huan, who failed to attack the Western Wei Dynasty, died of illness on the way back to his teacher.His death also marked the further rise of the "Great Xianbei Doctrine" in the Northern Qi Dynasty.After Gao Huan's death, his son Gao Cheng came to the throne, and was stabbed to death by a slave soon after. Gao Yang, who came to the throne, abolished the puppet Emperor Wei Xiaojing, proclaimed himself emperor, and established the Northern Qi Dynasty, which was only 27 years old.During these 27 years, the Northern Qi Dynasty changed six emperors one after another. Many of these emperors were known for their licentiousness and cruelty.However, there are two fundamental reasons for the short life of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The first is that the "Great Xianbeiism" in the imperial court is becoming more and more intense.In the history of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there were more than 100 central ministers, 90% of whom were Xianbei, and even the official language was Xianbei. In the Northern Qi Dynasty, where the Han population had an absolute advantage, such a rule was destined to be difficult to last.At the same time, the Northern Qi Dynasty suppressed the Han scholar-bureaucrats vigorously. In the Northern Qi Dynasty, there were three coups in which the Han scholar-bureaucrats attempted to seize power, all of which ended in the failure of the Han noblemen.What is more serious is that the land equalization system and the system of renting and mediocrity since the Northern Wei Dynasty were completely destroyed in the Northern Qi Dynasty. It was destroyed by the Northern Zhou regime in 577 AD. What is also "misplaced" is that the Gaohuan family of the Han nationality implemented a complete Xianbei ruling policy in the north, and the Yuwen family of Xianbei people implemented a complete Sinicization policy in the Western Wei Dynasty. Their painstaking efforts have been rewarded. Reward: Defeat the Northern Qi Dynasty and unify the North.