Before the chaotic Period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was an even more chaotic Period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms.
Throughout history, we really can't say that after the Three Kingdoms, Sima Shi became the lord of the world, which was a good thing for the country. After the Wuhu Rebellion, the Western Jin Dynasty fell, and during the War between the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, in addition to the Control of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the Southern and Jingxiang regions of the Han Dynasty, more than twenty countries were established in the north and southwest, of which sixteen countries were strong, so this period was named "Sixteen Kingdoms" by the Northern Wei historian Cui Hong.
Then Shi Le, the emperor of the Zhao Kaiguo, was one of the most legendary emperors.
Shi Le's father was a minor leader of the Qiangqu tribe of the Xiongnu. During the Tai'an period of the Western Jin Dynasty, famine and social unrest in The Prefecture, Shi Le fled with the Hu people who were also tenants, just in time for the General Jin Jianwei to arrest the Hu people of various departments to Shandong to sell in exchange for military pay, and Shi Le, who was twenty years old, was also among the plunderers, starving and sick all the way to Shandong, and was sold to Chiping County as slaves. Perhaps Shi Le was more pleased with his master, and soon after, the master Shi Huan ordered his slave status to be relieved.
As a slave, Shi Le could not read a single character, and the history books recorded that Shi Le asked people to read the Book of Han to him:
Shi Le did not know the book, so people read the Book of Han. After hearing lily and persuading him to establish the Six Kingdoms, he engraved the seal and gave it to him, and he was shocked: "This law should be lost, and the cloud will have the world!" The Marquis of Zhiliu said, "Rely on this ear!"
It can be seen that although Shi Le has no culture, he still has his own set of experience in the strategy of the emperor.
This "illiterate" also cared deeply for the literati, and he was also the inventor of primary school and examinations. Although primary schools existed during the Shang Zhou Dynasty, like universities, they were not perfected until the Western Han Dynasty. The primary school was also formally established during the period of shile construction education. It can be seen that in the post-Zhao period, primary schools really played the role of basic education for children.
The road to Shi Le's growth and expansion is, first, pay attention to absorbing outstanding talents of all ethnic groups and adopt them for his own use, and second, he recognizes the historical traditions of China and actively imitates the Han and Jin systems. This kind of cultural mentality and institutional orientation plays a more critical role and has a more far-reaching impact.
It was precisely because Shi Le recognized the Historical Tradition of China and took the initiative to imitate it and practice it that Later Zhao was able to eliminate many separatist regimes and realize the unification of most of the northern region after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty. This success, in turn, confirms the strong vitality of China's historical civilization. It shows that during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Chineseization of the frontier nations that migrated inland was a major trend of history.
Sima Guang commented: "Le Yiyuan was cruel, rising among the hundreds of thousands, running amok in the world, and mourning the Jin Chamber. The east captures MaoXi, the north takes Wang Jun, the west chases Liu Kun, and the south lifts Yanyu, all of which are like toppling the mustard... No one else can do that. ”