Erzhu Rong (493 – November 1, 530), of the Qihu people, was a famous general and courtier in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Erzhu Rong's ancestors lived in this part of Erzhu Chuan (present-day northern Shanxi) and took the place of residence as their surname. Erzhu Rong's ancestors were tribal chiefs, and during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, Erzhu Rong became a tribal chieftain, began to recruit troops, and in the subsequent process of suppressing the peasant revolt, he continued to grow his strength and formed a powerful Qihu army.
In August of the second year of the Northern Wei Dynasty (526 CE), Erzhu Rong raised an army to attack The Prefecture (present-day Xin County, Shanxi), and set himself up as an official, and the military grew stronger, and the imperial court could not control it. In the first year of Wutai (528 AD), taking advantage of the opportunity that Emperor Xiaoming was poisoned by Empress Dowager Hu, Erzhu Rong, under the pretext of avenging Emperor Xiaoming, led an army south from Jinyang to welcome Yuanziyou the Prince of Changle as emperor, and for Emperor Xiaozhuang, he appointed himself as a servant, the governor of Chinese and foreign military forces, a general, Shangshu Ling, and the king of Taiyuan, and arbitrarily ruled the government. Under the pretext of plotting rebellion against Wang Yuanyong of Gaoyang, he besieged and killed more than 2,000 princes and hundreds of officials, and once held Emperor Xiaozhuang hostage. Soon after, he also studied in Jinyang. Although he lived in a foreign domain, he placed a large number of close henchmen in the imperial court, occupied important positions, spied on the movements, and remotely controlled the government. In September of the same year, hundreds of thousands of rebels broke Ge Rong. He was promoted to the rank of Grand Chancellor and Governor of Hebei Province. In September of the following year, the Hanlou rebel army of Ge Rongbebu was defeated.
Erzhu Rong's strength became stronger and stronger, and it also aroused the envy of Emperor Xiaozhuang more and more, and the contradictions between the monarchs and courtiers also became larger and larger. In September of the third year of Yong'an (530 CE), Erzhu Rong led an entourage of more than 30 people into the hajj and was killed by Emperor Xiaozhuang's close associates who had ambushed him in advance.
Erzhu Rong's evaluation in history was not good, and he was classified as a traitor, but his outstanding military ability was affirmed, especially under his account, there were four generals, and his descendants were all founding emperors, which influenced the development of Chinese history.
Yuwen Tai (507–556), courtesy name Hei Otter (一作黑泰), a native of Wuchuan (present-day Wuchuanxi, Inner Mongolia), was a Xianbei, an outstanding military figure, military reformer, and commander of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the de facto ruler of Western Wei, and the founder of the Northern Zhou regime. In his early years, he joined the Liuzhen Rebellion with Erzhu Rong, and later entered Dingguanlong from Hebayue, and his descendants were based in Guanzhong. In 534, Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei went west to Chang'an, defected to Yuwen Tai, and was awarded the title of Grand Chancellor. In December of the same year, Yuwen Tai killed Emperor Xiaowu and made Yuan Baozhi emperor, serving Western Wei and the capital Chang'an. From then on, Yuwentai was despotic for 20 years and died in 556. His son Yuwen Jue forced Tuoba Kuo, the Emperor Gong of Western Wei, to cede the throne to himself, and set the name of the country as Zhou, which was historically known as Northern Zhou.
2. Gao Huan
Gao Huan (496–547), courtesy name He Liuhun (何六浑), was born in Bohai (present-day southern Jingxian County, Hebei). Northern dynasty Eastern Wei courtiers. Because of his ancestors' violations of the law, he moved to Huaishuo Town (northeast of present-day Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, guyang, Inner Mongolia) and became a Xianbei Han Chinese. He served in the Duluo Zhou Rebellion, and then returned to Ge Rong as a close governor. Later, he was sentenced to erzhu Rong, and the remnants of the six towns were reorganized, suppressing the rebellion of the displaced people in Qingzhou, and serving as the chief of the third town and the assassin of Jinzhou. He tried his best to reconcile Han-Hu relations, relying on the Xianbei and Han high gates to expand his political power. In the second year of Putai (532), the remnants of Erzhu Rong were eliminated in one fell swoop, and the Northern Wei dynasty was controlled by the Chancellor of the Great, and In the third year of Yongxi (534), Yongxi forced out Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei, established Emperor Xiaojing and forced him to move the capital to Yecheng. Gao Huan specialized in the Eastern Wei dynasty for 16 years. His son Gao Yang replaced Eastern Wei to establish Northern Qi.
3. Yang
Yang Zhong (507–568), courtesy name Yu, was a native of Hongnong Huayin (present-day Huayin, Shaanxi), the thirteenth grandson of Yang Zhen, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, a general of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, and one of the generals of the Twelve Provinces of Western Wei during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Initially with the Erzhu clan and the lonely letter conquest. When the Northern Wei Dynasty split the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, Yang Zhong joined the Western Wei camp and was reused by Yuwen Tai. He successively captured Dou Tai with his army, attacked Shayuan, and defeated Southern Liang, and because of his merits, he was promoted to the general of the Western Region, the military governor of dudu, and the general of the Hussars, and was given the title of Duke of ChenLiu County, and was given the surname of Puliuru. After the establishment of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yang Zhong successively served as Xiao Zongbo, Grand Sikong, and Great General of the Pillar State, and was enfeoffed as the Duke of Suiguo. Yang Zhong led his army to defeat the Northern Qi army many times, and once captured more than twenty cities and pools in Northern Qi.
4. Li Hu
Li Hu (?-551), surnamed Li (李氏), was a Chinese poet. A native of Chengji, Longxi (present-day Qin'an, Tianshui, Gansu), he was one of the Eight Pillar States of Western Wei, and was made a duke of Tang. The history books compiled by the Tang Dynasty record that the current one is called the gate valve, the Xiantui Eight-Pillar State, which was prosperous at that time, was incomparable. When he was young, he was a gentleman, ambitious, loved to read but was not good at memorizing chapters and sentences, preferred to ride horses and shoot arrows, made friends, because his family was not bad, he was very light on the outside of money, and he was willing to be charitable, and having this quality was a talent that could be created, and later he was deeply used when he was working under his fellow countrymen and predecessors, the governor of the capital, He Bayue. Li Hu's grandson Li Yuan declared himself emperor in 618 to establish the Tang Dynasty.
These four people all followed Erzhu Rong and gained a prominent position, laying a good foundation for their later descendants to be called emperors in advance.