After the Western Jin Dynasty unified the country, it was only stable for more than twenty years, and then the famous Rebellion of the Eight Kings broke out. A bunch of princes of the Sima family directly confused the Western Jin Dynasty in order to attack each other for power.
At this time, a group of Hu people, led by the Xiongnu, Qiang, Xianbei, Xianbei, and Qiang, saw the opportunity and resolutely went south to occupy a large area of land in the Central Plains, and each established its own dynasty, which was the era of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms.
The Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms, specifically, have the following:
5 cool countries: former cool, back cool, western cool, southern cool, northern cool.
4 Yan kingdoms: Former Yan, Later Yan, Southern Yan, Northern Yan.
3 Qin states: Former Qin, Later Qin, and Western Qin.
2 Zhao states: Former Zhao (Han Zhao) and Later Zhao.
There were also two regimes, Bactria and Chenghan.
In fact, in addition to these 16 regimes, during this period, there were also Zhai Wei, Ran Wei, Qiu Chi, Shu Shu, Dai Guo (the predecessor of Northern Wei), Western Yan and so on. In this way, in the era of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, there were actually more than 20 separatist regimes.
Among so many regimes, the name of the country is the same, but there are too many different sects. For example, the 5 cool countries have nothing to do with each other at all:
Former Liang was built by the Han Zhang Rail, Hou Liang was built by Lü Guang of the Hu people, Xi Liang was built by the Han Li Kuan (ancestor of Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty), Nan Liang was built by the Xianbei tuoba Wugu, and Northern Liang was built by the Xiongnu people Depressed Canal Mengxun.
However, the Yan kingdoms in the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms were all built by the Xianbei Murong clan, which is more special. How good is Murong Shi? Why did it come to establish 5 decent separatist regimes in succession?
I. Former Yan, the ancestor of several other Yan states.
The Xianbei Murong clan needed to collectively worship their great benefactor Sima Yi. Why? Because after Sima Yi slaughtered the Gongsun Yuan clan in Liaodong Province, he killed all men over the age of 15 in Liaodong, and all officials were also killed.
Even so, after he hurried back, he did not garrison the local army or send officials to manage Liaodong. There were only a bunch of old and weak women and children left in this place. The Xianbei Murong clan, who lived in western Liaoning, took a fancy to this good place at a glance, and without saying a word, they migrated to Liaodong with their own tribes.
From then on, the Xianbei Murong clan took root in Liaodong. During the Sima Yan period of the Western Jin Dynasty, civil unrest broke out among the Xianbei Murong clan. The grand chieftain Murong Shigui died and was supposed to be succeeded by his son Murong Xigui, but Murong Shigui's younger brother Murong Nai seized power and forced Murong Xi to flee.
Two years later, Murong Xi's supporters killed Murong Nai and brought Murong Lai back. After that, Murong Xi led the Xianbei Murong clan to settle in the Liaoning region for a long time, living a life of fishing, hunting and farming.
During the rebellion of the Eight Kings of the Western Jin Dynasty, Murong Xi saw the opportunity to claim to be Da Shan Yu without saying a word, and at the same time accepted the official titles of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so as to prepare for both hands.
After that, Murong Xi's son Murong Hao succeeded to the throne, and internal struggles within the Murong family resumed. Murong Hao's younger brother Murong Ren (慕容仁) divided Liaodong into two, so Murong Xianbei split in two. After 3 years of internal struggle, Murong Hao finally destroyed his younger brother and once again completed the unification of the Xianbei Murong clan.
At this time, Murong Hao found that Former Zhao and Later Zhao were self-reliant, which was really eye-watering! Therefore, he also openly established himself as the King of Yan and established the State of Yan, the capital of Longcheng, which was the early days of Former Yan.
After Murong Juan's death, his son Murong Juan succeeded to the throne, and after defeating Later Zhao several times and capturing Youzhou, Murong Juan moved the capital to Jiji. During Murong Juan's reign, his younger brother Murong Ke defeated and slaughtered ran Min of the Ran Wei regime, which greatly increased Murong Juan's confidence and openly declared himself emperor.
After the deaths of Murong Juan and Murong Ke, their younger brother Murong Chui defeated huanwen's Northern Expeditionary army in the Eastern Jin Dynasty at the Battle of Fangtou, killing more than 30,000 enemy troops. Unfortunately, Murong Chui was later forced to flee from Former Yan. Since then, Yan has been in a slump.
After Murong Juan's death, Murong Wei, who succeeded to the throne, was a puppet, and the power was in the hands of Murong Juan's uncle Murong Jue and the empress dowager Kezuhun, who would do nothing but seize power, and eventually Wang Meng of Former Qin led his troops to destroy Former Yan, and Former Yan was 34 years old.
Second, Hou Yan, the strongest of the five Great Yan countries.
Murong Chui, this is a talent that the Xianbei Murong Clan absolutely cannot ignore. He was murong hao's fifth son, and could be described as both civil and martial. Unfortunately, he was deeply jealous of his brother Murong Juan since he was a child.
After Murong Chui grew up, he made many military achievements, but he still could not be reused. His wife Duan Shi was also tortured to death by Murong Juan's empress Dowager Kezuhun. Later, during the reign of the Kezuhun clan and Murong Jue, they also killed Murong Chui, who had made great contributions in the Battle of Fangtou.
Unable to avoid cannibalism, Murong Chui had no choice but to flee from Yecheng, planning to go to the ancient capital Longcheng to avoid the wind. As a result, as soon as he arrived in Handan, he was reported by his youngest son Murong Lin.
In desperation, Murong Chui had no choice but to flee to Former Qin with his son and nephew. Former Qin Jian was very good to Murong Chui, and even though King Xiang of Qin set up an inexplicable golden sword plan, Murong Jian still treated Murong Chui kindly. After Wang Meng's death, Murong Chui no longer had any worries.
At the time of the Battle of Shuishui, Jian Jian led more than 800,000 troops to the south to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but was defeated by Xie An and Xie Xuan with an army of 80,000, and Former Qin collapsed in an instant.
In order to repay Zhi Jian's kindness, Murong Chui handed over the 30,000 troops in his hands unscathed to Zhi Jian, and at the same time escorted Zhi Jian to the north. After that, Murong Chui went north to establish the Later Yan Empire and restored the foundation of the Yan state.
The Later Yan in Murong Chui's hands was too strong, and he defeated the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Former Qin successively, destroyed the Western Yan, and once became the most powerful regime in East Asia at that time.
At this time, Xianbei Tuoba was against the water, and also planned to restore the foundation of the ancestral country in the past. Everyone had a heart that wanted to be the boss, so Later Yan and Northern Wei began to fight. After Murong Chui's son Murong Bao beat Tuoba Jue, the 70-year-old Murong Chui was still on the battlefield.
As soon as Murong Chui came, he dug through the Taihang Mountains and detoured to defeat the 30,000 troops of Northern Wei. This frightened Tuoba Jue, who hurriedly planned to go to the grassland to take shelter. Unexpectedly, at this time, Murong Chui died on the road, which can be described as a blessing to Northern Wei.
Tuoba Jue, who had slowed down, attacked The city of Later Yan's capital, Zhongshan, without saying a word, and divided Later Yan in two. Since then, Yan has been in a slump, although it has experienced 6 more monarchs, but it has always been in civil strife, after the last emperor of Later Yan, Murong Xi, was killed, and Later Yan was replaced by Northern Yan, and the state remained for 24 years.
Third, the Southern Yan and the Northern Yan are both products of the Later Yan.
First, Nanyan.
It has just been said that after Murong Chui's death, Hou Yan was divided in two. So how is it divided? After Murong Chui's death, Murong Bao succeeded to the throne. As a result, the upper mountains of the capital were conquered by Northern Wei, and Murong Bao had to flee to Longcheng with his cronies and let his uncle Murong Dezhen defend yecheng.
Murong De was not a fool, he felt that Murong Bao had run away, could this city be defended? So without saying a word, he also ran to the slide and called himself the King of Yan. As a result, Hou Yan was divided into two, Murong Bao of Longcheng and Murong De of Shuitai.
During Murong De's reign, Southern Yan was relatively stable. Under his efforts, he successively captured Yanzhou, Qingzhou and other places. Unfortunately, after the 70-year-old passed the throne to his nephew Murong Chao, Southern Yan also began to decline.
Murong Chao felt that the territory was not big enough, and actually started the idea of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Don't look at which fierce man was in power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time, he actually provoked Liu Yu, who was known as the "Emperor Killer".
At this point, Liu Yu immediately led the army to the Northern Expedition, and Murong Chao had no power to fight back. The little bit of family property that Murong De had saved was all given to liu Yu, and Southern Yan was destroyed from then on, and Guo Zuo was only 12 years old.
Second, Northern Yan, not Murong Shi, originated from Murong Shi's Yan state.
What about Beiyan? Murong Bao had many sons, but he adopted an adopted son named Murong Yun. Although Murong Yun followed Murong Bao's surname, he was a descendant of the Goguryeo clan and his original surname was Gao, so he was also known as Gao Yun.
Murong Bao's younger brother Murong Xi (慕容熙), after the ruined Later Yan became emperor, was tyrannical and unpopular at all. At this time, the powerful minister Feng Bao launched a coup d'état, killing Murong Xi and installing Murong Yun, who had a good relationship with him, as emperor.
Feng Bao's heart was relatively dark, Murong Clan had so many descendants, none of them were standing, but murong Bao's adopted son Murong Yun. Its purpose was clear: first, Murong Yun was easier to control, and second, Murong Yun was not the true emperor of the Murong clan, and it would be convenient to replace him in the future.
Northern Yan's military and political power fell into the hands of Feng Bao, so when Murong Yun was killed by his favored subjects, Feng Bao naturally became the emperor of Northern Yan.
In the more than 20 years that Feng Bao ruled Northern Yan, Northern Yan was also very stable. He has a record-setting story of having more than 100 sons. This time, the throne will always fall into the hands of his son, right?
Unexpectedly, even if there are more than 100 sons, it is not safe. After Feng Bao's death, his black-hearted brother Feng Hong, in order to seize the throne, slaughtered more than 100 of Feng Bao's sons.
At this time, Northern Wei had already set its sights on Northern Yan, and Feng Hong was powerless to resist, so he had to abandon the city and run to Goguryeo. Goguryeo did not want to offend northern Wei, and Feng Hong was killed in such a vacuum. Northern Yan was also not destroyed, and the country remained for 30 years.
Fourth, Xiyan, a existence that is not worrying.
After the fall of Former Yan, in addition to Murong Chui's desire to restore the country, in fact, many descendants of Murong Chui planned to restore the country. This may be the reason why Murong Fu in the Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon considers restoring the country all day long?
Murong Hong, the founding prince of Western Yan, was the son of The Former Yan Emperor Murong Huan and the younger brother of Murong Wei. After the fall of Former Yan, Murong Hong submitted to Former Qin. After the Battle of Shuishui, Former Qin was broken up, and Murong Chui returned to Hebei to establish Later Yan. After Murong Hong learned of this news, he did not say a word and pulled up a team to establish the Western Yan regime in shaanxi.
Unfortunately, a year later, Murong Hong was killed. The founding prince was thus eliminated by his subordinates, which directly led to the instability of the Western Yan regime. Another of Murong Juan's sons, Murong Chong, succeeded to the throne, and as a result, Murong Chong was also killed a year later.
After that, the civil strife in Western Yan continued, and before it became strong, it began to decline:
Although Duan Sui, a Xianbei man, claimed the title of king, he could not stop his subordinates at all, and he was also killed not long after.
After that, Murong Yan succeeded to the throne and was killed by Murong Tao.
After Murong Yao succeeded to the throne, he was beheaded by Murong Yong.
Murong Zhong had just succeeded to the throne and was killed again.
The good guys Xiyan have little territory, the strength is not strong, but the horizontal leverage of infighting.
Eventually, Murong Yong succeeded to the throne, and Western Yan barely stabilized for a while. Unfortunately, Murong Yong was Murong Chui's opponent, and this brother was still not satisfied, but took the initiative to declare war on Murong Chui, and as a result, he was subdued by Murong Chui. Western Yan perished in an instant, and Guozuo was only 10 years old.
Because the state is too short, coupled with the strength is too weak, and there is constant civil strife, 7 emperors have been changed in 10 years, how good can this regime be? Therefore, when historians counted the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, they did not count the Western Yan, which was really embarrassing enough.
Summary: Humble Murong Shi, entrepreneurial spirit is not endless.
The Xianbei Murong clan, starting from the establishment of Former Yan in 337 AD until the fall of Northern Yan in 436 AD, was mixed for nearly 100 years during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, which is definitely a strong stroke in history.
It is worth mentioning that although the Murong clan has ups and downs, the descendants of their family have always been unwilling to work for others. Even if they are their own family, they are not willing. Murong Shi had a spirit of entrepreneurship, and one infected one by one, so that the 5 Great Yan Kingdoms were a hundred years old.
References: Book of Jin, Zizhi Tongjian