In ancient Chinese history, there was such a figure who saved the Han people in the Wuhu Chaos and was regarded as the savior of the Han people, but now he is rarely mentioned in the mainstream history books; he was the representative of the xiao brave and good war of that era, who had killed the Hu people several times with few enemies and many enemies, and the Hu people trembled when they heard his name; he issued the "Order to Destroy Hu", calling on the Han people to unite with the outside world, which eventually led to corpses all over the field and rivers of blood. He is Ran Min. Is he a hero or a butcher? Why is his story so little known now?
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, five ethnic minorities, including the Xiongnu, Xiongnu, Qi, Qiang, and Xianbei, entered the Central Plains to form a series of countries, confronting the Han regime in the south, known in history as the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms". The north under the rule of the Hu people implemented some policies to suppress the Han people, and the Han people, who were difficult to maintain their vitality, united and armed to form an army, and the leader of this "beggar army" was Ran Min's father Ran Zhan. After losing a battle with Former Zhao, Ran Zhan was killed and Ran Min was captured. Former Zhao Kaiguo Emperor Shi Hu adopted him as his adopted son, and Ran Min, who was brave and good at war, was reused and repeatedly led troops to attack Xianbei. The great defeat of the Xianbei 200,000 troops, the killing of more than 70,000 people, a moment of fame shock. Sima Guang once commented on him: "Min Xiao is brave and good at war, and has many strategies. Shi Hu loves it more than his grandchildren. “
After Shi Hu's death, Ran Min overthrew the Later Zhao regime and established the State of Wei, known in history as "Ran Wei". But in doing so, he became a common enemy of the Hu people. Therefore, Ran Min listened to the opinions of the strategists and issued a "killing order" under the banner of "Hu rebellion in the Central Plains, the whole world to discuss together". Ran Min led his troops to fight everywhere, creating a war myth of winning more with less and winning more with ten battles. First, with 3,000 cavalry to break through the Xiongnu camp and kill 30,000 Xiongnu soldiers; later, with 5,000 cavalry to defeat the Hu coalition army of 70,000, and then with 110,000 troops to attack more than 300,000 Hu troops, with more than 10,000 people to kill the Hu army 40,000, the Xiongnu almost perished, the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Yu tribes were expelled from the Central Plains. Later, Ran Min led an army of less than 10,000 men on a campaign and was surrounded by a 140,000-strong army of Former Yan. He led his soldiers to counterattack and boldly advance, fighting the Former Yan army 10 times, all of which won complete victories, creating an unprecedented and legendary record.
However, under the siege of the Former Yan army, Ran Min's troops were eventually outnumbered, and Ran Min was captured. When Murong Juan, the former Yan emperor, saw Ran Min, he said, "Why should you pretend to be emperor when you are a servant of Runu?" Ran Min rebuked, "You Yidi beasts dare to call yourself monarchs, not to mention a Middle-earth hero like me!" Murong Jun was furious and ordered Ran Min to be flogged three hundred and then beheaded. According to the Book of Jin, after Ran Min's death, all the grass and trees on the left and right of the mountain withered, and the locusts rose up, and from May onwards, there was no rain until December. Murong Juan was terrified and sent emissaries to sacrifice Ran Min, with the posthumous title of Wu Mourning Heavenly King, and heavy snow fell on the same day.
So is Ran Min a hero or a butcher? This must be seen from the historical environment at that time. During the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms" period, the depth of ethnic contradictions and the amount of accumulated grievances were far beyond the imagination of today's people. According to the Book of Jin, "Xi Ze was adulterous, Dan was cooked, and the corpses left behind blocked the Yishui River, and the river water was red and red." The primitive and barbaric behavior of the Hu people brought deep suffering to the Han people, which made Ran Min intolerable and raised troops to destroy Hu, which was also a helpless move in this era. Ran Min's exploits for the Han people are worthy of recognition, but his slaughter of Hu has become an "ultra-nationalist" in the eyes of experts today.
Fan Wenlan once commented: Ran Min Yong killed bravely, founded the country for three years, died countless people, and failure is inevitable. However, his barbaric actions reflected the Han people's resistance to the barbaric rule of the Xiongnu people, so his killing won the sympathy of the Han people. Murong Jun's offering of tribute was precisely because he was afraid of the sympathy that the Han people would give to Ran Min; the Qin and Han Wei And Jin dynasties had never committed suicide after the fall of the country, and committing suicide because of the fall of the country began with Ran Min's State of Wei, which also showed that the struggle between the Han and non-Han people was extremely acute; as for Ran Min, who galloped through the Central Plains with the strength of the region, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty only looked at the wall, it was only a tragedy in history.
Ran Min endured a thousand years of controversy over that bloody history and became another tragic figure in the situation.