The situation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Two Jin Dynasties was turbulent, and along with this was an endless stream of strange people and strangers. Among these people, the experience of the Later Zhao Ming Emperor Shi Le is particularly legendary, and he is also the only strange man in Chinese history who has transformed from a slave to an emperor. In fact, when Shi Le was a teenager, Wang Yan, the prime minister of the Western Jin Dynasty, had already seen that he was by no means an extraordinary person, and if he was not eradicated, he would become the "gravedigger" of the empire, and the facts finally verified his judgment. Today, we will talk about this anecdote.
Shi Le was the only strange man who transformed from a slave to an emperor
Shi Le was born in the Xiongnu Beibu Qiangqu tribe (i.e., the Qiang tribe), and his grandfather Ye Yiyu and father Zhou Yuzhu both served as minor leaders of the tribe. According to the historical records, Shi Le was born with a different appearance, and when he was born, the red light filled the house, and the white qi was connected directly from the sky to the court, and everyone who saw it was amazed ("When Le was born, the red light filled the room, and the white qi belonged to the atrium from heaven, and those who saw it were salty and different. "See Book of Jin, Vol. 14, Zaiji No. 4 Shi Leshang").
Shi Le had little ambition and liked to travel, and when he was only 14 years old, he followed his villagers to Luoyang to sell. At this time, although the Western Jin Dynasty was very strong on the surface, it was actually corrupt and dangerous in political affairs, but all people of insight knew that great changes were about to happen. Shi Le felt that the situation in the Central Plains was getting worse and worse, and in addition to sighing, he once relied on the Upper East Gate to make a long whistle, in order to express his heart, and his voice was long and clear, so that the listener was not moved ("In the fourteenth year, he went with the Yi people to sell Luoyang, and leaned on the East Gate. Ibid.).
Wang Yan believed that Shi Le would inevitably become a major problem for the country
It just so happened that the prime minister Wang Yan (Shang Shu Zuo Shu) passed by here, and was very surprised after seeing this scene, and waited until after a while to wake up, and turned back to the attendant next to him and said: "The Hu child who just shouted at the Upper East Gate is very special, judging from his appearance and voice, this person has extraordinary skills and great ambitions, and if it is not eradicated, it will become a major problem for the country in the future." ”
After Wang Yan realized the seriousness of the problem, he sent people to arrest Shi Le on a fast horse, but when he sent people to the Upper East Gate, he found that Shi Le had already left, and Wang Yan was remorseful after hearing it ("Wang Yan saw the difference, and Gu said left and right: "Hu Yan, the xiang, I see that his voice and vision have a strange ambition, I am afraid that it will be a disaster for the world." "If you send it away, you will be gone." Ibid.).
After Shi Le escaped from Wang Yan's pursuit, he followed the villagers back to the tribe. More than ten years later, there was a great famine in Hezhou, coupled with the turmoil of the situation, Shi Le followed the villagers to other places to beg for food, only to be captured by the men of Sima Teng, the assassin of Hezhou, and was sold to the family of Shi Huan, the landlord of Chiping, as a farming slave, but Shi Huan believed that Shi Le was a strange man, so he was given personal freedom before long.
Shi Le repeatedly fought against the Jin army and became a great enemy of the Western Jin Dynasty
After Shi Le was freed, he was still a servant and begged for food, and was forced to become a robber because of his livelihood. After that, Shi Le successively attached himself to the Jin Dynasty general Gongshi Fan and the leader of the people's rebellion, Ji Sang, and after the two were defeated and killed one after another, he turned to the Han Zhao regime established by the Xiongnu (called Han in the early period, and renamed Zhao in the later period, that is, Former Zhao). After Shi Le returned to Han Zhao, he gave full play to his military talents, struggled all the way, counterattacked all the way, and gradually became the largest warlord north of the Yellow River while repeatedly defeating the main force of the Jin army.
In the fifth year of Yongjia (311), Shi Le was ordered to attack the Jin capital Luoyang again, and encountered the main force of more than 100,000 Jin troops led by the chancellor Wang Yan at ningping city in KuXian County, which was also another "encounter" between the two more than 20 years after the separation of the Upper East Gate. Wang Yanben did not have the talent to unify the army, and the purpose of this march was to flee, not to fight the enemy, so it was defeated from the beginning.
Shi Le defeated the main force of the Jin army and captured Wang Yan and others
Sure enough, not long after the two armies fought, Shi Le defeated the Jin army and captured all the ministers, including Wang Yan. Wang Yan was in the position of prime minister, and at this time, he did not want to kill himself to become a ren, but instead knelt down to Shi Le for survival to survive, and also urged the latter to claim the title of emperor, acting shamelessly and filthily. Shi Leben was a "hardcore fan" of Wang Yan, and today when he saw that the "idol" behaved so badly, he was greatly despised in his heart, and while scolding him sharply, he directly "turned the corner".
The Russian army was broken by Shi Le, and the prince of Lehu met with him and asked Yan Yijin why... Yan said that he was less hesitant and wanted to spare himself, because he was persuaded to call himself an honorific title. Le Fury said: "The name of the king covers the four seas, he is in a heavy position, and he is young and strong, so as for the white head, why should he not hesitate to say anything evil in the world!" Destroying the world is a king's sin. "Make the left and right out." Book of Jin, Vol. 43, Liechuan XIII.
Shi Le not only despised Wang Yan's personality, but also knew that these ministers would certainly not be used by him, so he ordered them all to be buried alive. When Wang Yan was dying, he was very remorseful about his past of talking about the wrong country, and sighed to the people around him: "If I didn't usually advocate flashiness and vanity, and tried my best to help the world, I wouldn't be where I am today." "Sincerely!
Wang Yan was initially treated favorably by Shi Le, but was soon killed
After Wang Yan and others were killed, Shi Le, together with the generals Liu Yao and Wang Mi, attacked the city of Luoyang, and while capturing Emperor Huai of Jin, he also burned Luoyang and slaughtered the city, resulting in the killing of more than 30,000 princes and hundreds of officials, known in history as the "Yongjia Rebellion". Eight years later (319), the full-fledged Shi Le betrayed Former Zhao and established Later Zhao, ascending to the throne of Tianzi by the body of a slave, which can be described as legendary.
Although history cannot be assumed, we are still very interested in speculating that if Wang Yan had captured Shi Le and put him to death, would the Western Jin Dynasty have successfully escaped the disaster and not perished quickly?