The Fenhe River is an important river in Shanxi Province, which crosses the province from northeast to southwest and finally flows into the Yellow River. On the cliff at the confluence of the Fenhe and Yellow Rivers there is a village called Baijiazhuang, and our story today begins with this Baijiazhuang.
Baijiazhuang is an ordinary small mountain village that can no longer be ordinary, belonging to the Sun Township of Jishan County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi, the village is located on the slope of Liugou on the east bank of the Fenhe River, facing the Fenhe River, surrounded by ravines on three sides. The people of Baijiazhuang know that their hometown is a place with a story, and a deep ditch has been washed out of the cliffs outside the village due to years of rain. Whenever a torrential rain passes, the villagers are always surprised to find that many bones have rushed out from under the cliffs.
Over time, the people in the village knew about the discovery of human bones, and then traced back to the source, people finally found the origin of human bones, it turned out that there was a mass burial pit on the cliff, densely packed human bones were pressed together, exposed outside, every time it rained heavily, it would wash down some bones.
After figuring out the source of human bones, but still not knowing the origin of these bones, the locals simply call it "mass grave", what kind of people left this mass grave, and how many years have they been silently buried here? Who are they?
These doubts not only plague the villagers, but also arouse the curiosity of many ancient visitors, and tourists often come to look for the legendary mass grave. Later, the cultural relics department suddenly came to the village and erected a cultural relics protection monument outside the village, and several eye-catching large characters attracted people from the past.
Ruins of Yubi City
The simple five words, but led to a dusty iron-blooded past for more than a thousand years, is that mass grave related to this Jade Wall City?
The story begins on a snowy winter night 1400 years ago.
In November 546 (the fourth year of Eastern Wei Wuding and the twelfth year of Western Wei's unification), in the camp outside Yubi City in the northwest of today's Baijiazhuang, Gao Huan, the Grand Chancellor of Eastern Wei, laid down a banquet and summoned the generals of Wenchen to drink together. Gao Huan forcibly attacked Yubi City for three months, killing and wounding 70,000 people, but Yubi City did not move at all. Grief-stricken, Gao Huan was helpless and had to borrow wine to pour sorrow. During the banquet, the veteran Hu Sijin stood up and sang a famous folk song of the Shule people, which is also known as the famous "Shule Song".
The Shule River, under the Yin Mountains.
The sky is like a vault, and the cage covers the four fields.
The sky is clear and the wilderness is vast.
Wind blowing grass low to see cattle and sheep.
The song greatly touched Gao Huan, and while playing the beat, he sang along with it, singing while shedding tears. The tiger fell in Pingyang, the hero was late, and the hero since ancient times was lonely, and what I wanted to say was Gao Huan's mood at this time.
I believe that some people have already guessed, yes, the mass grave is left by Gao Huan, and inside is his seventy thousand elite soldiers. Before saying why Gao Huan wanted to attack Yubi City, it was necessary to briefly review the general plot of the front, otherwise it would be confused.
We know that after the return of the Three Kingdoms to the Jin Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty completed another great unification, but this unification was only a flash in the pan, and soon fell into the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" in which the sky collapsed, followed by the Wuhu Chaohua and Yongjia Nandu, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was partial to the south of the Anjiang River, and the north was caught in the Sixteen Kingdoms Scuffle.
More than a dozen regimes fought back and forth for more than a hundred years, until the rise of another powerful nation ended this protracted melee, that is, the Xianbei Tuobabu. This nation later established the Northern Wei Dynasty, which opened the prelude to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was the first of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Northern Wei later moved its capital from Pingcheng, Shanxi to Luoyang, Henan, and forty years later Northern Wei split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, with the actual ruler of Eastern Wei being the aforementioned Gao Huan, and the head of Western Wei being Gao Huan's nemesis and old friend Yuwen Tai. Both of them claimed to have inherited the Northern Wei Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji, and both wanted to destroy each other quickly. The war between the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties had been fought for decades, but because the two were evenly matched, no one could swallow the other, and the war became a protracted war.
The great battle that occurred in Yubi City was the last battle in Gao Huan's life, and it was also his unforgettable shame, which could be called the "Waterloo" of Gao Huan's life.
The Battle of Yubi City, also known as the Battle of Yubi, was the largest war between the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and also the most tactical battle in the history of ancient Chinese warfare, which can be called a classic example of war in the era of cold weapons.
The Battle of Yubi took place in 546, the fourth year of Eastern Wei Wuding and the twelfth year of Western Wei's unification, just twelve years after the northern Wei split. In August of that year, the 50-year-old Eastern Wei chancellor Gao Huan, regardless of his physical condition, insisted on conquering Western Wei again, vowing to pull out a nail inserted by Western Wei into the hinterland of Eastern Wei, Yubi City.
Yubi City was very important, so important that Gao Huan gritted his teeth and hated it to the bone. As we mentioned earlier, Baijiazhuang, where Yubi City is located, has a dangerous terrain, is easy to defend and difficult to attack, surrounded on three sides, backed by the Fenhe River, Yubi City is eastern Wei territory on three sides, and only Yubi City is alone on the east bank of the Yellow River, controlled by the Western Wei army.
At that time, the dividing line between Eastern and Western Wei was roughly bounded by the Yellow River, that is, the boundary of today's Shaanxi Province in Shanxi, the east bank of the Yellow River was the territory of Eastern Wei (except Yubi City), and the west bank of the Yellow River was the territory of Western Wei. In this way, it was embarrassing, and Yubi City was like a sharp knife inserted into the hinterland of Eastern Wei, guarding the confluence of the Fenhe River and the Yellow River, and entering the Fenhe River to directly pound the Eastern Wei town of Jinyang (present-day Taiyuan), and retreating to defend the territory on the west bank of the Yellow River.
Moreover, as long as Yubi City was in his hands, Gao Huan did not dare to attack the Western Wei mainland with confidence and boldness, as long as he dared to come, the Yubi City garrison would immediately rush to Attack Jinyang, or cut off his retreat and close the door to fight the dogs. Now you should know why Gao Huan had to take Yubi City dead or alive, yes, at all costs.
In August 546, Gao Huan gathered heavy troops to personally attack western Wei again, and the army directly attacked Yubi City, from September to November, the soldiers fought from wearing short-sleeved pants to wearing cotton clothes and mink, Yubi City actually did not move, Gao Huan was angry!
The Western Wei general who guarded Yubi City was named Wei Xiaokuan, this old brother was a god man, and he had no backup to withstand the two-month onslaught of Gao Huan's hundreds of thousands of troops, and Gao Huan exhausted all kinds of means, storming the ladder, digging tunnels, building siege vehicles, fire attacks, persuasion, dissension, threats...
All of them were useless, and Gao Huan's blood pressure soared, and Gao Huan, who was ashamed and angry, used even the most despicable means to take Wei Xiaokuan's captured nephew Wei Qian to the city and threaten Wei Xiaokuan to kill your nephew if he did not surrender.
Wei Xiaokuan was still indifferent, and the whole army and people in the city were deeply touched to see the commander so resolute, and one by one they hated each other and their morale was high.
Gao Huan was completely out of the way, this surname Wei was a stinky stone that could not be cooked and smashed, and he was really angry. Seeing that winter was approaching, the army attacked the city in March, the grain and grass had long been in a hurry, the bullets were exhausted, and the number of soldiers killed was as many as 70,000. The tragic situation in front of him made Gao Huan silently shed two lines of old tears, and ordered people to dig a large pit and bury the fallen soldiers collectively.
This is the origin of the Baijiazhuang mass grave.
Dealing with the aftermath of the soldiers, Gao Huan himself fell ill due to excessive grief, this battle could not be fought, Gao Huan on the sickbed had to order a quiet withdrawal, and the Battle of Yubi ended with the victory of Western Wei and the defeat of Gao Huan.
Gao Huan returned to Jinyang in November against the wind and snow, his condition continued to deteriorate, and finally ran out of oil after the Spring Festival, and died of hatred in Jinyang Xiangfu at the age of 52, leaving us prematurely, and the beloved Uncle Huan went all the way.
As for Wei Xiaokuan, who defeated Gao Huan, he became famous in one battle and rushed to the top of the list of Western Wei gods of war in one breath, becoming a prominent figure in Chang'an City. This boy was young and energetic, and his longevity was his only shortcoming, living to the Sui Dynasty in one breath, and also helping Yang Jian to suppress the anti-Yang struggle of the Northern Zhou imperial family.
Yubi City became the biggest regret in Gao Huan's life, and it was even more regrettable that after his death, his descendants did not take Yubi City, and finally they were destroyed by Yuwen Tai's descendants. The monument in front of the mass grave in Yubi City will never be erected again, the country will be destroyed and the family will die, and those soldiers who have fallen behind will eventually become lonely souls and lie under the loess of Yubi City.
The bucket turns to the stars, and in the blink of an eye, it has been a thousand years.