After Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei assassinated Erzhu Rong, Northern Wei did not return to the state of imperial power as desired, but fell into national chaos. In this round of chaotic warfare, not only was Yuan Ziyou killed, but even the Erzhu clique that controlled the imperial court was also destroyed in the war, and Northern Wei was also divided into two Wei states, Eastern and Western Wei. As the victor of this chaotic war, Gao Huan was not only the main contributor to the overthrow of the Erzhu clique, but also played a pivotal role in the process of the northern Wei division. Since Gao Huan was originally a subordinate of Erzhu Rong, after Erzhu Rong's death, he broke away from the Erzhu clique and raised the banner of rebellion against the old lord, and many Northern Qi history books gave a positive evaluation to this. However, judging from the historical texts, Gao Huanzuo was not as righteous as the Northern Qi history books said, but a move to take advantage of the fire and loot.
After Erzhu Rong quelled the rebellion in the four directions, annihilated the Yuan army, and expelled the famous Southern Liang general Chen Qing, he began to usurp the throne of Northern Wei step by step. However, at the most critical moment of waiting for the arrival of the crown prince, he was lured into the palace by Emperor Xiaozhuang's Yuan Ziyou on the grounds that the prince was born, and was assassinated by the opposing princes and ministers. The assassination of Erzhu Rong immediately disrupted the overall situation of the Erzhu clique, and the political clique that controlled the military and political government of Northern Wei was a sign of division. On the question of how to deal with the assassination of Erzhu Rong, two opinions appeared within the Erzhu Group. One was represented by Erzhu Rong's younger brother Erzhu Shilong, who believed that he would withdraw from Luoyang and return to Jinyang to reorganize his army. The other is that Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao, represented by him, wants to lead an army to attack the palace to avenge.
After much debate, the military clique left behind by Erzhu Rong showed a tendency to split into separate positions. Erzhu Shilong retreated with Luoyang's men and horses, and after leaving the city to reorganize his army, he returned to Luoyang and killed luoyang. Erzhu Shilong's move caused the entire Erzhu clique's army to formally break with the Northern Wei court, and the generals who led the troops sent troops to besiege the Northern Wei army, and the Northern Wei was immediately caught in a scuffle. In this scuffle, Emperor Yuan Ziyou was killed, and the Northern Wei court was once again controlled by the Erzhu clique. In order to compete for the dominance of the Northern Wei court, the Erzhu clique also split into several military groups and began an internal political struggle. Gao Huan seized this opportunity to break away from the Erzhu clique, raised the banner of rebellion against the old lord, and finally ascended to the position of a powerful minister.
The history books of Northern Qi gave gao huan a high evaluation of his betrayal of the old lord, and even put him on the hat of loyalty and patriotism. However, the actual situation is very different from this statement, Gao Huan betrayed the old lord not because of loyalty to the Northern Wei at all, but took the opportunity to break away from the control of the Erzhu clique and strive for his own independent warlord status. At the same time, he also wanted to profit from the fishermen in this melee and expand his power and territory. Prompted by this ambition, Gao Huan made the decision to break away from the Erzhu clique and raised his troops to target Erzhu Zhao, the largest force in the Erzhu clique. Gao Huan's rebellion also provoked a climax of rebellion against the Erzhu clique by various forces in the Northern Wei Dynasty, making him eventually the beneficiary of the melee, ascending to the high position of Eastern Wei's powerful ministers, and laying the foundation for the establishment of Northern Qi.
Gao Huan was originally a Han chinese of the Gao clan in Bohai, and his family was also a famous Han family during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and in history, there was a saying that the Gao clan of the world came out of the Bohai Sea. However, due to his grandfather's guilt, he was exiled to Huaishuo Town, which made Gao Huan's family one of the soldiers in Huaishuo Town. Huaishuo Town was one of the six towns of Northern Wei, and it was also an important defensive line established since the Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue to resist the invasion of the Northern Ruoran tribe from the south. It received great attention in the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the resources of all sides of the imperial court were tilted here. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, he carried out the famous Sinicization reform, which led to the transfer of the country's political center to Luoyang. As a result, the political status of Huaishuo Town was sharply reduced, and the soldiers in Huaishuo Town also lacked political preferential treatment, making Gao Huan a disciple of the broken settlement.
In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the famous Six Towns Uprising occurred, and the core reason for this was the intensification of the contradictions between the Six Towns of Northern Wei and the Luoyang Imperial Court. Gao Huan seized the opportunity to join the rebel army and traveled everywhere to have his own army. In the rebel army, he successively followed Generals such as DuLuozhou and Ge Rong, but gave up for various reasons. In the end, he absconded with his men and horses, and defected to Erzhu Rong, the chief of the Northern XiuRong clan who surrounded and suppressed the rebel army. Gao Huan suggested that Erzhu Rong take advantage of the great chaos in the world to raise an army and qing the side of the emperor in the name of revenge against Empress Hu, so that he could achieve hegemony. Erzhu Rong was very happy to hear this, so he cultivated Gao Huan as his confidant general. Gao Huan made great contributions under Erzhu Rong, was highly valued by Erzhu Rong, and even participated in the massacre of the Northern Wei princes and ministers of the Heyin Rebellion.
After the assassination of Erzhu Rong, the Erzhu clique launched a retaliatory counterattack against the Northern Wei court, killing the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Ziyou and his supporters, and re-establishing a new emperor. After regaining control of the Northern Wei court, there was a split within the Erzhu clique, and Erzhu Rong's brothers and nephews competed with each other for power and profit. The most powerful of these were Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Rong's younger brother Erzhu Shilong, and cousins Erzhu Dulu and Erzhu Zhongyuan. These forces were infighting, but they gave Gao Huan the opportunity to rise. His rebellion took advantage of the fact that the internal war of these Erzhu cliques was unfolding, which was typical of taking advantage of the fire and robbery and the profit of the fisherman, and had nothing to do with loyalty and patriotism. It was only because Northern Qi was founded by Gao Huan's son Gao Yang that the Northern Qi history books coated Gao Huan with grease and powder.
In fact, after the change of Heyin, Gao Huan began to expose his ambitions. At that time, there was also a dispute within the Erzhu clique over how to deal with the Northern Wei court. Gao Huan took the initiative to persuade Erzhu Rong to claim the title of emperor, which caused a great backlash within the group. Although this statement is controversial, some people believe that Gao Huan said it, but at least it shows that Gao Huan supported Erzhu Rong's claim to the throne. As the main participant in the heyin revolution and the spokesman who supported Erzhu Rong's claim to the throne, Gao Huan fundamentally had nothing to do with loyalty and patriotism. In Gao Huan's life, he was never a loyal and patriotic good, but an ambitious warlord. He had betrayed the Six Towns Rebel Army many times, and after defecting to Erzhu Rong, he was the main force in suppressing the Six Towns Rebel Army.
Judging from the historical background, Gao Huan seized the opportunity of the internal division of the Erzhu clique to break away, and then integrated the six towns to surrender the army and raised the banner of the crusade against the Erzhu clique, which was a military speculative decision and the result of the complete exposure of his ambitions. At that time, Erzhu Zhao and Erzhu Shilong were arguing endlessly, and Erzhu Dulu and Erzhu Zhongyuan supported Erzhu Shilong, making it difficult for Erzhu Zhao to control the situation, although he was powerful. A considerable part of the Erzhu clique's army was surrendered after Erzhu Rong suppressed the rebel army in the six towns. These armies were unruly and often rebelled, which became Erzhu Zhao's worries. Erzhu Zhao and Erzhu Shilong and others fought, not only to face the front-line war, but also to prevent the rebellion of the six towns, which was a dilemma at both ends. It was Gao Huan who seized this opportunity to successfully break away from the Erzhu Group.
Gao Huan first tricked Erzhu Zhao into handing over the army of the six towns to him, and then he took the army of the six towns away from the army and headed east on the grounds of the shortage of grain in Hebei, Shanxi. In the end, he instigated the rebellion of the Six Towns Army, refused to join the Civil War of the Erju clique, and successfully mastered this elite army. With this army, Gao Huan had the basis for his rise, and only then did he have the matter of repeatedly defeating Erzhu Zhao, pacifying the Erzhu clique, and controlling the Luoyang imperial court. Judging from the development of the whole thing, Gao Huan seized the opportunity of the contradiction between Erzhu Zhao and the other leaders in the group, and made full use of his advantages of being born in the six towns, so that he could successfully control the army and break away from Erzhu Zhao's army. Erzhu Zhao, on the other hand, was busy fighting for power with other cousins and did not pay attention to Gao Huan's ambitions, which made him successful and bigger.
Gao Huan was the most ambitious warlord of the late Northern Wei Dynasty, and his thirst for power was exposed at a young age. He was a typical military opportunist and the one who could best seize military opportunities. Although Erzhu Zhao was considered to be the most capable general in the Erzhu clique, Erzhu Rong did not have a high evaluation of him. Erzhu Rong believed that Erzhu Zhao would bring up to three thousand troops, and beyond this number he could not control it. Moreover, Erzhu Rong also believed that Gao Huan was the only one in this military group who could reorganize the army on his behalf. Later, Gao Huan repeatedly defeated Erzhu Zhao, and even if Erzhu Zhao joined forces with other cousins, he was repeatedly defeated, which showed the accuracy of Erzhu Rong's vision. Therefore, Gao Huan's rebellion against the Erzhu clique was premeditated, and it was also driven by its ambitions, and had nothing to do with the so-called loyalty and patriotism.