Some people asked me: Why did the foreign tribes not choose to invade during the Three Kingdoms War, but instead invaded the Jin Dynasty after the great unification?
The period of war and chaos in the Three Kingdoms is generally from the abdication of Emperor Xian of Han in 220 AD, cao Pi's claim to the throne, and ended in 280 when the Jin Dynasty swallowed Wu. If you push it further, from the beginning of the war at the end of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Three Kingdoms to the Jin Dynasty, that is, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 AD, to the end of the Jin Dynasty in 280 AD.
This period is less than a hundred years, but also a hundred years of the Han nationality's devastation, so why is it that from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the establishment of the Three Kingdoms and then to the return of the three families to the Jin, this process of Chinese and foreign nationalities is so peaceful?
First of all, it has to be mentioned that the Han Dynasty's suppression of the surrounding foreign tribes, especially the Xiongnu, was very fierce. Especially during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu and Xianbei were beaten apart, which greatly lengthened the cycle of foreign power growth. In addition, there were constant conflicts between foreign tribes, and the weapons in the Central Plains were backward and the population was insufficient, so although the chaos came at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the foreign tribes were not fully prepared.
Secondly, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, and although the Han Dynasty has fallen apart, the princes of all walks of life are still fighting with foreign tribes. Taking Cao Wei in the north as an example, Jian'an sent Zhang Liao to defeat the foreign tribes in the twelfth year and abduct a large number of people, and Jian'an sent Cao Zhang, northern Expedition Karasuma in the twenty-third year, and Kirby, the king of Xianbei, was frightened and directly claimed as a vassal. Including the Xiongnu, who have appeared on the stage of history many times, also surrendered to Cao Cao twice in the second year of Xingping and the seventh year of Jian'an, and the foreign tribes were like couriers, sending grain to people when they came.
Not only Cao Wei, in fact, in the stage of the confrontation of the Three Kingdoms, the Shu state and the Wu state were also very good at suppressing foreign tribes. The Shu kingdom's main response at that time was the Southern Man, and the story of Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng was derived from this. In addition to Meng' gain, the Shu state also faced the Liao junman in the Huaishui area, the Dai people near Jingnan, and the Langzhong people, all of which eventually attached themselves to the Shu Han regime and became the military force of the Shu Han.
The pressure of the State of Wu relative to the invasion of Cao Wei and Shu foreign tribes was not so great, mainly to deal with the anti-Wu Han and foreign mixed Shanyue, but also by Sun Quan many times, and later also surrendered to Eastern Wu, becoming the war readiness of the State of Wu.
It can be seen that no matter how Wei Shu wu fights, the policy of the various regimes towards foreign tribes is still relatively consistent, basically until you obey, which is also the most important reason. Whether it is qiang, xiongnu, or karma, southern man, and shanyue, there is a big gap in strength and Wei Shu wu, to put it bluntly, it is impossible to fight, and it is impossible to talk about any invasion.
Later, Sima Shi usurped power to establish the Jin Dynasty, and in the early days of the Jin Dynasty, although Sima Yan brought about a brief period of Peace and prosperity, the social status quo of corruption, Zhumen wine smelling, and frozen bones on the road was not eradicated. Despite this, at that time, the Xianbei chief launched a rebellion known as the Qin Liang Rebellion, and the final result was suppressed by the Jin general Ma Long.
Finally, we all know that after the return of the three families to the Jin Dynasty, it will be the Rebellion of the Eight Kings and the Five Hu Chaos...
During the Three Kingdoms period, although we had an absolute advantage over foreign nationalities, we have to deny that since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number of Han Chinese has declined sharply in the chaos of war. At the time of the unification of the Jin Dynasty, the population of the whole country could not be compared with that of the Han Dynasty, only a fraction of it was left, and the yuwei of the Han Dynasty had been exhausted. The northern ministries also completed unification, and when it was time to exert great efforts to vigorously develop, Emperor Hui of Jin sat on the dragon chair with a brain paste. Coupled with the already weakened national strength and more serious infighting, the famous generals could not go to the battlefield but were exhausted in the door valve fight. During the Three Kingdoms period, the political consensus of external consistency also did not exist, the demographic advantage was gone, the equipment advantage was gone, and the political environment was rotten.
Coupled with the large reduction in population, the ethnic minorities in the north migrated in large numbers, although initially as slaves of the Jin people. But soon the number of slaves exceeded the number of Jin, and after the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, these foreigners took the opportunity to raise troops and soon occupied half of China.
The Jin Dynasty is often referred to as the darkest period in Chinese history, and the Western Jin Dynasty soon perished. By the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the land area had been seriously reduced, the northern region had been in turmoil for many years, the dynastic changes were frequent, and the Han chinese army that had made various foreign tribes feel frightened in the past was gone.
?
Therefore, in general, there are three reasons for the period of relative peace and security of foreign tribes:
First, the Han Dynasty is in the form of a god of death, Yu Wei still exists, and foreign tribes are not opponents.
Second, the warlords of all walks of life are powerful, talented, and foreign nationalities do not have a climate.
Third, in the early days of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan's rise to power was also considered to have made a difference, and the foreign tribes did not have the opportunity.