Thank you for the invitation, the establishment time of the Northern Wei Dynasty can be said in two ways, one is that in 338 AD, Tuoba Shiyi established a dynasty state, which was later destroyed by Former Qin. Second, in 386 AD, Tuoba Jue took advantage of the fragmentation of Former Qin to proclaim himself the Acting King of Niuchuan and re-establish the Dai Kingdom, which was later renamed Wei and historically known as Northern Wei. Here we are mainly talking about the latter, because this Northern Wei later unified the north, and profoundly influenced the later Sui and Tang dynasties, and is an important dynasty that inherits the past and the future in the era of the great integration of the southern and northern dynasties of The Wei and Jin dynasties in China. Whether it was the daiguo established in 338 or the Northern Wei dynasty that was renamed after the restoration of the state in 386. They were all built in the Central Plains in northern China north of the Yellow River, a small country along the southern steppe of the desert (now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region). In 338, when Tuoba Shiyi established the Daiguo, the Central Plains were mainly competing for dominance between Later Zhao and Former Yan (of course, there were also some other small states). In 386, when Tuoba Jue restored the kingdom, that is, when the Northern Wei Dynasty was established, the Central Plains were mainly dominated by the hegemony of Later Qin and Later Yan.
The importance of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Chinese history, I think, is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Unify the north and end the years of war in the central plains of the north
From the outbreak of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" in the Western Jin Dynasty to the establishment of the Former Zhao (Han Zhao) by the Xiongnu Liu Yuan in 304 to open the prelude to the "Five Hu Chaohua"; the northern Central Plains land was in flames for many years, and after the collapse of the Western Jin Dynasty's rule in the Central Plains, before and after Zhao; before and after Yan; before and after Qin and Qin, and more than a dozen other countries sang and sang I appeared. Although Former Qin briefly unified the north (less than ten years) in the middle of the way, it was not until 439 AD that the Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao reunified the north, ending years of war and chaos, and the Central Plains entered a relatively stable era. Of course, the era of stability and peace brought by the Northern Wei Dynasty was not long (nearly one hundred years), but it was also this hundred years that laid the foundation for the later reunification of China.
Gaxian Cave, the birthplace of the Northern Wei Tuoba Department
Ethnic integration has reshaped the centripetal force of a unified China.
During the Period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, it was a strangulation related to the survival of the nation at that time. The Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xianbei, Xianbei, Qiang and other ethnic groups around the Han people broke through the barrier and killed the central plains, the core area of Han chinese residence, while a large number of Han people died in war and massacre. The living space of the Han people from the Yanhuang era through the condensation and expansion of the Xia and Shang Dynasties encountered the crisis of the first extinction!
In the early period (most typical of the Later Zhao established by the Qiang people), these peoples tried to use the most primitive killing to conquer the Han people and rule the Central Plains by force. However, they soon encountered fierce resistance from the Han, even though many Han people moved south to avoid disaster, but many Han people still insisted on staying in their hometown to resist foreign invasions, as evidenced by the large number of forts built in the northern Central Plains. At the same time, the "order to kill Hu" issued by the Ran Wei regime established by Ran Min also made these ethnic groups feel the terrible anti-devouring of the Han nation. Coupled with the large number of Han Chinese, the natural conditions of the Central Plains are not suitable for their original nomadic way of ruling. These peoples who entered the Central Plains gradually realized that they were integrated with the Han nation, and learned and relied on the elite class of the Han nationality to rule over the vast number of Han people in order to truly and effectively control and conquer the Central Plains.
After the Former Qin established by the Xian people successfully unified the north by relying on this model, the Hu regime that entered the Central Plains in the later period invariably deepened the degree of Sinicization. The Tuoba Xianbei Northern Wei was particularly prominent in this regard, for example, from the restored Tuoba Jue to the three generations of emperors who unified the north, all relied on Cui Hong, Cui Hao and others from the Cui family of Qinghe. Coupled with the famous Sinicization reform of Emperor Xiaowen, this fusion of Sinicization was pushed to a climax, and the so-called Sinicized Xianbei and XianbeiHan people were also born. Since then, until the unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, these Sinicized and integrated ethnic groups have become integrated with the Han people, and it is difficult to distinguish them. This is also an important reason why the Sui and Tang Dynasties were able to not only pacify the southern unification of all of China but also usher in the era of strong unification of the Sui and Tang dynasties, because it was this deep national integration of the Northern Wei That reshaped the national centripetal force for China's reunification.
Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor Tuoba Hong (元宏)
In summary, if there is no unified north of the Northern Wei And vigorously promoted The Sinicization policy. Wars between the various ethnic groups in Wuhuhua may take a longer time. Even because of the long-term division, it may lead to the dissipation of national centripetal forces and eventually to a European-style multi-ethnic split (of course, this is less likely).