Erzhu Rong was able to turn the political scene in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty because the Erzhu clan and the Northern Wei royal tuoba clan already had a very deep relationship.
Erzhu Rong, Zi Tianbao, Northern Wei Qi Hu Xiu Rongbu people. Its tribe originated from the Southern Xiongnu, and its ancestors during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Juerzhu Chuan, thought it was a clan. Erzhu Chuan has always been the residence of nomadic tribes in the north, and the Erzhu family is the tribal chief of the region. During the Reign of Northern Wei Taizu, Erzhu Rongzhi's Gaozu Erzhu Yujian assisted Northern Wei Taizu Tuoba in attacking Later Yan ?,? captured Jinyang and Zhongshan?,? and because of his meritorious service, Northern Xiurong became a fief of the Erzhu family.
During the Reign of Northern Wei Taizu, Erzhu Rongzhi's Gaozu Erzhu Yujian assisted Northern Wei Taizu Tuoba in attacking Later Yan ?,? captured Jinyang and Zhongshan?,? and because of his meritorious service, Northern Xiurong became a fief of the Erzhu family.
Ever since Erzhu Yujian led his troops to conquer Tuoba Jue, the Erzhu tribe had become a strong force in Tuoba Xianbei's southern conquest of the northern war, and his ancestors and grandchildren had been serving Tuoba Xianbei for generations. In addition to the close military relationship, the Erzhu clan and Tuoba Xianbei also had an in-law relationship, which further strengthened the close relationship between the Erzhu clan and the Tuoba clan.
In the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang and promoted the Sinicization reform of Northern Wei. However, the Erzhu clan did not move south with Emperor Xiaowen, but continued to stay in Xiurongchuan, and still maintained the original tribal way of life. This was because after the Northern Wei imperial family moved south, they needed the Erzhu clan to continue to stay in Xiurongchuan, and used the Erzhu clan to defend the northwestern border, command and command the military defense of the area, and defend against the Rouran people in the north.
By the time of Erzhu Rong's father, Erzhu Xinxing, the Erzhu family had more than 8,000 private slaves and tens of thousands of horses, which was a famous warlord family at that time.
After Erzhu Xinxing's death, Erzhu Rong attacked the Duke of Liang County. According to the Book of Wei - Biography of Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Rong "and long, good at shooting and hunting,
Every time an oath is set up, it is the law of military Chen, and the order is solemn, and the crowd does not dare to violate it. ”
Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty believed in Buddhism, built a Buddhist temple in Luoyang, favored monks, and there were more than 2 million monks and nuns in the country. Emperor Xiaoming also reused people such as YuanYong (侍中元雍), Zhongshu Ling (中常侍) Liu Teng (中常侍), and Zhongshu Ling Zheng (中書令郑俨), who were greedy for money and lustful, and whose talents were shallow, and the government was extremely corrupt, provoking the people's rebellion.
In the fourth year of Emperor Xiaoming's reign, the Xiongnu broke the Six Han Tombs in Woye Town, the Chieftain Hu Chen of the Shule Clan rebelled in Gaoping Town, and the Qiang people Mo Fold Dati rebelled under the oppression of Northern Wei. The rebel army defeated the Wei army in a row?, and the government and the opposition shook. At this time of crisis, Erzhu Rong spread his family wealth and ?,?" Zhao He volunteered bravely?,? to give him clothes and horses", organized an armed force, and suppressed the peasant uprising. In this process, Erzhu Rong continued to recruit talents, and soon had 10,000 ?,? of elite cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry?,? and formed a military group composed of Gao Huan, Yuan Tianmu, Erzhu Zhao, He Basheng, He Bayue, Ling Lieyanqing and others.
In February of the first year of Wu Tai's reign, Emperor Xiaoming was poisoned to death by Empress Dowager Hu. Under this pretext, Erzhu Rong marched into Luoyang, killing Empress Dowager Hu and more than 3,000 of her princes and ministers, and making Yuan Ziyou emperor, known in history as the "Change of Heyin". After that, Erzhu Rong eliminated the largest peasant rebel army led by Ge Rong, and then pacified the peasant armies such as Xing Gao in Shandong and Wan Qian ugly slaves in Guanzhong?,? eliminated the Northern Wei Emperor Yuanhao, who was plotting to restore, and consolidated the Northern Wei regime.
Emperor Xiaozhuang was very jealous of Erzhu Rong?,? murdered Erzhu Rong on September 25, 530, the third year of Yong'an ( 530 ). Erzhu Rong was only 38 years old at the time of his death. His eldest son, Erzhu Bodhi, was also killed?,? died at the age of 14.
Emperor Xiaozhuang's killing of Erzhu Rong naturally caused dissatisfaction among Erzhu Rong's men. As a result, Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Shilong and other troops attacked Luoyang?,? captured and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang. Shortly thereafter, Erzhu Rong's generals Erzhu Zhao, Gao Huan, and Yuwen Tai fought each other for the distribution of power, erzhu Zhao was defeated, and Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai established Eastern Wei and Western Wei respectively.
Erzhu Rong was different from some warlords at that time, but a figure with vision and a heart. He reused Yuan Tianmu and Gao Huan, who were "neat in decree and generally popular", and the three brothers He Bayun, He Basheng, and He Bayue, who had "He Ba Three Jies", to change the decline of the Northern Wei army, so that his army "ordered solemnly, and the crowd did not dare to commit crimes".
After the "Heyin Revolution", Erzhu Rong's military strength reached its peak and became the most powerful military and political group at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, the strong situation of the Erzhu clique did not last long, and with the assassination of Erzhu Rong by Emperor Xiaozhuang Yuanziyou, the Erzhu clique quickly declined from prosperity to decline, and the Erzhu clique rose from prosperity to prosperity to demise, during which there were only a short period of more than ten years.
Although Erzhu Rong was powerful, he was arrogant and powerful?,? arrogant, and careless, and neglected to take precautions, which was the root cause of his killing.
In fact, the news of Emperor Xiaozhuang's plot to kill Erzhu Rong had already been leaked, and Erzhu Rong's men had also advised him to guard against it, but Erzhu Rong did not think so, "every time emperor entered the Gurudwara?,? there were only dozens of people, and none of them held armies", and finally in the third year of Yong'an (530), he was killed by Emperor Xiaozhuang once during the ?,? of Emperor Xiaozhuang.
Erzhu Rong was quite superstitious and revered divination. He launched the "Aftermath of the Heyin Revolution" and was fully capable of claiming the title of emperor. However, Erzhu Rong concluded that he did not have the destiny of the Son of Heaven based on divination, "it was Emperor Yingzhuang", and as a result, he was killed by the emperor he had established, which was also what he did not divinate.
After Erzhu Rong's death, what caused Erzhu Rong's group to decline rapidly?
First, there was infighting in the Erzhu clique. In the Erzhu clique, Erzhu Rong's military ability and political wisdom are relatively high, so when he is the core of the group's leadership, he can still effectively control the operation of his military and political clique, and basically can control the emergence of potential separatist tendencies or centrifugal factors within the clique. However, with the murder of Erzhu Rong, potential power struggles and centrifugal tendencies within the Erzhu clique began to surface, especially the power struggle among the leadership intensified, and even within the Erzhu family, there were fights between Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Tianguang, Erzhu Zhongyuan, Erzhu Du and others.
The Erzhu clique is a military and political clique that has started primarily by attacking by force, and the overall political quality of its leadership is not high, especially the core leadership. This is also an important reason for the rapid decline of the Erzhu Group.
As we all know, the strength or weakness of a political-military bloc generally depends mainly on the quality of the leadership of this bloc. Since the Erzhu clique is a very closed force group based on the tribal system, and its leadership is basically derived from the Erzhu tribe with strong Huhua colors or the xianbeihua Liuzhen military generals in its vicinity, the pure military combat strength of such a force group may be very strong, and they may be invincible in the field battles of attacking cities and plundering land, and once the situation is stable and the country is governed, its innate inadequacy of lacking good policies for governing the country will be revealed. Therefore, the political wisdom of the leadership of the Erzhu clique is not enough to lead this clique to have greater development, especially the Erzhu figures who are in the most core part, almost all of them are martial artists with field strength and no talent in the state, and in addition to Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Tianguang, and Erzhu Shilong are far-sighted, ?" The only thing that is in contention is power, what is good is wealth, what is disappointing in the world, what is resentful, what makes the fierce enemy tolerant, what is the inner obstacle of the heart, what is the shadow of the outside. It is the Battle of Guang'a, and the leaves fall on the ice; The Battle of Hanling, which collapsed. ”
The bureaucracy of the Northern Wei Dynasty was wiped out because of the "change in Heyin", and the state apparatus was basically paralyzed. Although Erzhu Rong later took measures, including apologizing to the imperial court and adding officials to the ranks of the victims, he attempted to rebuild the state bureaucracy. However, in the end, due to the "Heyin Revolution", the northern Wei bureaucracy had been basically destroyed, so Erzhu Rong's measures were not enough to rebuild the state apparatus. Under these circumstances, Erzhu Rongsui began to recruit officials again, trying to build a new political system, but due to the backwardness and barbarism of the Erzhu clique itself, there was no policy for governing the country at all, and its selection of officials did not have any statutes at all and could only be nepotism.
Most of the members of the Erzhu clique were Xianbei Hu people, so there was an irreparable gap or irreconcilable contradiction between it and the Luoyang Hanhua clique, and the ruling measures taken by the Erzhu clique after controlling the Northern Wei dynasty were all inherited from the anti-Sinicization forces in the six towns and ran counter to the Sinicization reforms carried out by Emperor Xiaowen. As the supreme leader of the group, Erzhu Rong, in the process of controlling the government, not only did not try to bridge the gap between the two, but instead adopted a series of aggravated confrontations. As a result, the conflict between Hu and Han intensified, and eventually led to the defeat of the Erzhu clique. If Erzhu Rongdang could realize this and take corresponding countermeasures, then this once-mighty military and political clique would not disappear in an instant, after all, blindly relying on force could not last long. Therefore, the differences and conflicts between the Hu and Han cultures are the deep causes of the rapid decline of the Erzhu group.
Although the Erzhu clique was fleeting in the political arena at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it had an extremely far-reaching historical impact.
Gao Huan was the backbone of the Erzhu clique, and it was in the process of accompanying the Erzhu clan's eastern expedition to the west that Gao Huan accumulated a huge army
Li, Erzhu's decision-making mistakes provided convenience for him to further expand his strength. Similarly, the capital that Yuwentai started with is basically the old department of the Erzhu Group. Therefore, after The death of Erzhu Rong, the two major military and political groups formed with Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai as the core are the biggest political legacies left by the Erzhu clan after the political stage activities at the end of Wei, the confrontation pattern in northern China after the fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and in a sense, it is also the internal struggle that began after the Erzhu clique was divided into two.
The political changes in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty provided conditions for the Erzhu clan to rise up in time, and in a specific socio-political context, a military and political group with Erzhu Rong as the core was soon formed. This clique flourished by force, and with its strong military strength, it once controlled the government of northern Wei. However, due to the backwardness and barbarism of the Erzhu clique itself, it was not able to adjust its ruling policy in a timely manner after it came to power, but continued to adhere to its policy of violent massacres and openly opposed the mainstream of Sinicization, which caused unanimous opposition from various forces in the government and the public and all social strata. With the killing of the group's founder, Erzhu Rong, this once-mighty military-political group soon fell into a state of disintegration.
The reasons for the decline and decline of the Erzhu clan from prosperity to decline are manifold, and the antagonism and conflict of the Hu-Han culture are the deep factors in it, and in the cultural sense, the defeat of the Erzhu clique is the result of the confrontation between the Huhua forces and the Hanhua forces, and it is the differences and conflicts between the Hu-Han cultures that cause the final defeat of the Erzhu clan.
Although the Erzhu Group is fleeting on the historical stage, its historical impact is very far-reaching. The two major military blocs of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi and Western Wei and Northern Zhou, which were split and bred by the Erzhu clique, once again formed a confrontational situation in northern China, and the political pattern of east-west confrontation not only weakened the military superiority of the Northern Dynasty over the Southern Dynasty to a certain extent, but also made the situation under the heavens evolve into a political pattern established by the three kingdoms of Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Southern Liangchen, thus continuing the situation of China's division and slowing down the process of China's reunification again.