He was the eldest son of Emperor Xianwen Tuoba Hong, and the most accomplished emperor in the history of Northern Wei, he was the seventh emperor of Northern Wei, Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong, also known as Yuan Hong, who was only five years old when he ascended the throne. There were no mothers, and due to the Northern Wei system of death, tuoba hong was made crown prince, and his birth mother Li Shi was given death. Tuoba Hong was raised by his grandmother, empress dowager Feng at the time.
Tuoba Hong was still young when he succeeded to the throne, and the affairs of the court were handled by Empress Feng (at this time, she was already the empress dowager, and was used to be called Empress Feng). History has left a strong mark. In the name of Tuoba Hong, she began to carry out a series of major reforms in social customs, politics, economy and other aspects, and consciously carried out Sinicization to eliminate the gap between Xianbei and Han. Tuoba Hong grew up under the careful cultivation of the empress dowager and had a deep relationship with the empress. It can be said that Tuoba Hong's later ruling style is the same as that of Empress Feng.
After empress dowager Feng's death in 14 years, Tuoba Hong began to take power. Everything Tuoba Hong had done before was in accordance with the empress's will. Empress Feng's death was a particularly big blow to Tuoba Hong. He was devastated and cried for three days, because before he was again, Empress Feng was not only his mentor, but also his dearest and dearest grandmother. Empress Feng's death left Tuoba Hong alone from then on. And he could only embark on the road of Northern Wei reform alone, with a heavy task and a long way to go.
Tuoba Hong first imitated the official system of the Han people and agreed on the quality of hundreds of officials, which was used as the basis for evaluating official positions and deciding on promotion or demotion. After abolishing the cruel punishments such as car splitting and waist beheading in the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, changing them to three categories of slashing, beheading, and hanging, the torture of the Yiwu ethnic groups was mitigated, etc., to prevent one person from committing a crime, resulting in the cruel situation of several tribesmen bleeding into rivers, after which Tuoba Hong began to prepare to move south to Luoyang, because the current capital city of Pingcheng is a place that is not conducive to the construction of the cultural system. There are still contradictions and conflicts between Xianbei and Han People, and only after the xianbei are completely Sinicized can they be close to the Han people, can we truly resolve internal contradictions and continue to move forward. Only by relocating those humble nobles to Luoyang, where Han culture is more concentrated, can they accept Sinicization in order to survive. Tuoba Hong knew that moving the capital would cause an uproar, and there would definitely be many people who would oppose it, so he came up with a good idea to use the capital relocation ceremony during the crusade against Nanjing to complete the Southern Expedition, and when they reacted, they were already completed, so they had to accept it.
In the eighteenth year of Taihe, Tuoba Hong announced the official relocation of the capital, but with the influx of Xianbei people, many new problems arose. The xianbei people's living customs and spiritual life are different from those of the Han people. In order to solve this problem, Tuoba Hong changed the surname of the Xianbei nobles to Sinicization, and even changed the word Tuoba to Yuan to promote the integration of Xianbei and Han. Tuoba Hong first set an example. The upper woman of Nahan entered the palace as a concubine, and the concubines given to many of her brothers were also Han women. Tuoba Hong's reforms greatly developed the economy, culture, social level, and military of the Xianbei people, and eliminated ethnic barriers.
Legend has it that Xiaowen TuobaHong died young because his beloved queen put more than one green hat on herself. According to historical records, Tuoba Hong's empress Feng Miaolian. Feng Miaolian is Empress Feng's niece and tuoba hong's elder, but this does not affect tuoba hong's love for him, even if it is out of the palace to recuperate for three years, it can still make Tuoba Hong not forget her. When he returned to the palace again, Tuoba Hong almost spoiled him. Therefore, Feng Miaolian's derailment was indeed a fierce stab in Tuoba Hong's heart, but in fact, the most fundamental reason was that Tuoba Hong overworked in political affairs and left the root of the disease in the battle, which was the ultimate reason why he died during the expedition.