At the beginning of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is an impressive sentence on this: "When it comes to the general trend of the world, it will be united for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time." ”
Later generations often said that "long-term will be united, long-term must be divided", is from here, this sentence refers to the change of people or things impermanent division and integration, indicating the development of people or things, is a certain inevitability, is considered to be the law of the development of things. And the same applies to the development of a country.
In the magnificent history of human civilization, there have been many excellent dynasties and empires, whether in the East or the West, there have been prominent imperial civilizations. However, the general trend of history is like a mighty sea, it is not transformed by human willpower, and even the strongest country in history will eventually be unable to escape the end of decay!
Among China's dynasties of more than 2,000 years, there are many examples of extreme strength among dozens of dynasties, and even stood in the forest of the world for a long time, but none of them can escape the cycle of transformation from prosperity to decline. For many countries abroad, this is also inevitable.
And this article is about one of the Western countries, the First Bulgarian Empire.
First, the powerful kingdom continued to expand, and eventually went into decline
In 681 AD, the Bulgarians established a Bulgarian state in the Mediterranean region called the First Bulgarian Empire, a dynasty that was about the same period in time as the Tang Dynasty in our country.
Since its establishment, this country has conquered and annexed other small countries everywhere, thus achieving the purpose of expanding the land area, which has also made the country's national strength stronger and stronger.
With the continuous growth of the country's power and the increasing number of annexed areas, the momentum of the First Bulgarian Empire was almost unshakable, and at its peak, the territory could be as far east as the Black Sea and as far south as the Aegean Sea.
However, prosperity and decline are the indelible truths of national development, and this cycle of history is inescapable of many great powers, and the First Bulgarian Empire is certainly no exception.
Although the expansion of the outside world allowed the First Bulgarian Empire to seize a lot of land, but due to the long period of conquest, the soldiers of the Empire were very tired, and when they were tired, the enemy country experienced a long period of recuperation, and this was the beginning of the decline of the First Bulgarian Empire.
When the Byzantine Empire in the east launched a continuous invasion of the Bulgarian First Empire, the Bulgarian First Empire at that time had already caused the treasury to be empty due to years of conquest, coupled with the fatigue of the warriors, the people were also complaining, so in the face of the strong Byzantine Empire, the strong Bulgarian Empire was gradually defeated.
Finally, in 1018, the First Bulgarian Empire was annexed by Byzantium.
After Bulgaria became a Byzantine colony, the Bulgarians who had been constantly attacking him became Byzantine slaves, completely deprived of their former status and unable to preserve even their dignity.
Under the Byzantine slaves, the Bulgarian people were humiliated, so there were often plans to escape from Byzantine control and regain their freedom. But this is not a simple matter, so many people's escape plans have ended in failure.
Among the many Bulgarians, a man named Heristo, with his ingenuity, finally managed to escape Byzantine control with 17 women and regain his freedom.
So, what kind of life did they live after they fled?
Second, 1 man and 17 women had no choice but to hide in the mountains to avoid the enemy
While Heristo was planning a dangerous escape plan, the 17 women were willing to take a risk with Heristo because all 17 of them, without exception, were widows.
Due to the fierce war between the First Bulgarian Empire and Byzantium, which led to serious casualties, and the husbands of these 17 people were killed by the Byzantines in the war, coupled with the humiliation they suffered as slaves, they were extremely angry and angry at the Byzantines.
However, even if they are bent on avenging the death of their loved ones, they cannot even guarantee their own lives, so why talk about revenge? So, under The leadership of Christo, they decided to fight and escape from Byzantine rule.
However, although they regained their freedom after successful escape, they had nowhere to go after losing their homeland, and Bezantines often searched for the escapees, so even if they regained their freedom, they could not relax.
After much thought, Herestow and the 17 women decided to hide in a cave deep in the mountains, which was deserted but occasionally had Byzantines who came to search for them, so they did not go out during the day and only came out at night to find food.
However, the night in the deep woods is undoubtedly very dangerous, so as the only man, Heristo resolutely takes on the responsibility of taking care of them, and every night he goes out to look for food. And because the women were deeply touched by Christo's efforts, they decided to live with him without relying on him.
After more than a decade, the 17 women bore many children for Heristö, so it was time for them to leave the little cave.
So, what kind of experience did they have after leaving the deep forest?
Three, come to the town to start a new life, a hundred years later its descendants founded a country
Having been hiding in the deep woods for many years, the Byzantines were no longer searching, and the small cave was no longer able to meet the needs of their large family, so Heristo decided to take them to a new place to live.
After a period of searching, They discovered a small town in Christo, and the people of this town were overwhelmingly Bulgarians who had fled! After meeting the long-lost countrymen, both sides were very excited, so Christo also decided to settle here.
Because of His excellent leadership skills, he soon became a leading figure in the town, and At that time, Christo also found that the people of the former Bulgarian First Empire were very eager for the restoration of the country, so he was determined to lead them to drive out the invaders and return to their hometown!
Under Christo's leadership, the power of the town grew day by day, but the gap between the strength of a small town and a powerful country was too large, which could not be made up overnight, so even if Christo worked very hard, he could not establish a force enough to restore the country before his death.
Fortunately, after Christo's death, a very outstanding figure appeared among his descendants, who, like Herestow, had a very strong leadership ability, and he was able to use his ingenuity to the fullest, and after becoming the leader, he devoted himself to bringing the Bulgarian people scattered all over Europe to come to him and build a great cause with him.
And after he had reunited all the Bulgarian people, he had trained to build a strong army. Eventually, led by its military genius, this army finally drove out the Byzantine invaders and reborn the Bulgarian kingdom!
At that time, it had been a hundred years since The death of Christo, and after the restoration of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, because of the great influence of Heristo, people regarded him as the god of freedom, so that even if he died, he was still respected and loved by the Bulgarian people!
brief summary
The rise and fall of a country is often not always the same, and when there is prosperity, it is also necessary to consider the arrival of the day of decay, the decline of the glorious Bulgarian First Empire, because the pursuit of strength is too anxious, and eventually led to defeat. Fortunately, there are still figures like Christo in their country.
Under The leadership of Christo, the once endangered Bulgarian First Empire preserved the flame of revival, and gradually became stronger and regained its glory in the end, all of which can be said to be inseparable from Heristo's efforts. Such an achievement, after his death, can be respected and loved by the Bulgarian people, which is the right thing to do.
Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
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