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Today, let's talk about a famous politician and reformer in Chinese history, Tuoba Hong, emperor xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who did not hesitate to kill his son who was made crown prince in order to reform, leaving a story that people admire and lament.
(Statue of Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong)
In 494, Emperor Xiaowen officially moved the capital to Luoyang, and after the capital was moved, a large number of Xianbei people also entered Luoyang from the old capital Pingcheng, but problems also emerged. For example, the Xianbei people's braided hair left guard, the so-called "left guard", refers to the front of the collar to the left, and the Han people since the Spring and Autumn Period, the collar will be hidden to the right to show the difference between barbarians. In the Commentary on the Thirteen Classics, it is mentioned that "Siyi Zuoyuan" refers to the difference between the dress of the ethnic minorities in the four directions and the Han people. For example, Xianbei was originally a nomadic people, and men wore hakama pleats in order to facilitate riding, and women wore small sleeves with collars and collars. In addition, most people do not understand Chinese and are very inconvenient in language communication.
It was early winter, and after the Xianbei people who had left their family businesses moved to Luoyang, they faced the problem of accommodation and food, and after settling in Luoyang, they could not live as nomadic as they did in the north, and they were not good at agricultural production... All kinds of problems do not need to be solved immediately, otherwise, these relocated Xianbei people will return to the north because they are incompatible with the Central Plains, and then the people's hearts will be turned away, and the rule of the Tuoba family will be in crisis.
Emperor Xiaowen knew better than anyone the problems he faced, so he reused a group of Han scholars before moving the capital. In order to speed up the reform, he carried out a series of reforms and Sinicization under the guidance of these people, the content of which was roughly as follows: it was forbidden to wear Hufu and change to Hanfu; it was forbidden to speak the Xianbei language and unify the Chinese language; to encourage intermarriage with the Han people; after death, he could not be buried back in Pingdu, but must be buried in Luoyang; and the location of the Xianbei people's hukou was changed to Luoyang, Henan. Since then, these humble people have all become luoyang people in Henan.
(Moved to Luoyang)
Emperor Xiaowen's reforms naturally attracted the dissatisfaction of the imperial family and the Xianbei nobles, of which Prince Yuan Gong was the most eye-catching.
Yuan Ke was born to Emperor Xiaowen and the Lin clan, according to the Northern Wei ancestral system of "the death of the son and the noble mother", shortly after his birth, his mother Lin shi was given death, and he was always cared for and raised by his grandmother Empress Feng. For Yuan Gong, Empress Feng had always been very spoiled, not as strict as Emperor Xiaowen. Therefore, Yuan Ke has an arrogant personality since childhood and does not like to read.
In July 493, Emperor Xiaowen made Yuan Ke crown prince and moved the capital to Luoyang with him. In order to implement the Sinicization reform, Emperor Xiaowen often went on tour, at which time Yuan Ke was responsible for staying in Luoyang and doing some ancestral temple sacrifice ceremonies.
The history books record that Yuan Ke was born "tall and fat", and the wet and hot weather in Luoyang made him very uncomfortable, and he could not wear the hakama folds of freedom of movement, so he often remembered the old capital Pingcheng, and complained about the relocation of the capital behind his back.
After Yuan Gong settled in Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen ordered the Han minister Gao Daoyue to be his close attendant to urge him to learn Han culture. Gao Daoyue was a sincere man, and when he saw that Yuan Ke had no intention of reading, he always advised him. Yuan Gongzheng complained about Emperor Xiaowen's drastic Sinicization reforms, and seeing that Gao Daoyue was constantly supervising his own studies, he turned his complaints into hatred for Gao Daoyue.
(Prince Yuangong)
In August 496, Emperor Xiaowen left for Songshan, and Yuan Ke stayed behind in Luoyang.
The weather was hot, and the fat Yuan Gong, with Emperor Xiaowen in luoyang, tore all the Han clothes he had given him, wore hakama folds, dressed himself with a xianbei "braided hair zuo yuan", and refused to speak Chinese, still maintaining the old custom of xianbei. Some conservative aristocrats saw that Yuan Gong was like this, so they followed suit and also made up zuo gong.
Gao Daoyue saw yuan gong like this, and he was bitterly persuaded. However, Yuan Ke had long been resentful of Gao Daoyue, so he took advantage of Emperor Xiaowen's absence and conspired with his entourage to kill Gao Daoyue with his own hands. Fearing that Emperor Xiaowen would blame him, he took his retinue and took a royal horse and prepared to flee back to the old capital Pingcheng overnight, only because the leader Yuan Yu guarded the city gate and attempted to escape.
After the incident, Shangshu Luxiu did not dare to despise it, and immediately quickly stepped up his whip and reported the matter of Yuan Ke to Emperor Xiaowen, who was on a tour of Song Mountain.
Emperor Xiaowen was shocked by Yuan's affair, and he thought that because of the Sinicization reform, the Xianbei nobles were very dissatisfied with themselves because they had violated their interests, but they had to use high-pressure means to implement it. Now that Yuan Gong was the crown prince, he took the lead in contradicting himself, which just found an excuse for those conservative and humble nobles. Thinking of this, Emperor Xiaowen was sad and sad.
(Emperor Xiaowen on tour)
The enraged Emperor Xiaowen immediately returned to Luoyang to summon Yuan Gong and counted Yuan Ke's sins, and finally blamed him for more than a hundred rods, deposed him as crown prince, demoted him to a commoner, exiled him to the Heyang area, ordered people to guard, and lived with only coarse tea and light rice to maintain his food and clothing.
After Yuan Gong was deposed, those conservative xianbei nobles who were dissatisfied with Emperor Xiaowen's reforms took the opportunity to win Yuan Gong over and secretly plot rebellion. However, this matter was leaked and was secretly reported to Emperor Xiaowen, who was on a tour of Chang'an.
Emperor Xiaowen knew that as long as Yuan Ke lived, he would inevitably be constantly drawn and used by the Xianbei conservative forces, which would be counterproductive to his own sinicization reforms in full swing. So with a long sigh, he ordered the people to go to Heyang with the edict and poisoned wine, and gave death to Yuan Gong.
In fact, in the process of reform, Emperor Xiaowen had earlier deposed Feng Qing because Empress Feng Qing refused to speak Chinese, but Crown Prince Yuan Ke did not take this as a warning, and also rose against the wind, and it was no wonder that Emperor Xiaowen wanted to kill the killer.
(Humble aristocrats who dare not oppose change)
After Emperor Xiaowen killed his son, the Xianbei nobles no longer dared to make noise about Emperor Xiaowen's reforms.
It was this determination of Emperor Xiaowen that made the Sinicization reform of the Northern Wei successful, promoted the great integration between the nationalities, and thus allowed the Northern Wei to advance from primitive tribes to feudal society, maintaining the national fortunes of a century and a half.