As we all know, the Tuoba (Yuan) family from Xianbei was one of the most influential families during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Two Jin Dynasties. However, some people are curious that the Tuoba clan established a number of regimes (Tuoba Xianbei, Daiguo, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Western Wei) during the two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. So what is the difference between Tuoba Xianbei, Daiguo, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Western Wei?
In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, xianbei replaced the Xiongnu as the most powerful nomadic people in the northern steppe. Compared with the Xiongnu, Xianbei never became a unified nomadic regime. In the third year of the Qinglong Dynasty (235), Xianbei split into several parts after the death of Kebineng. Later generations generally distinguished the Xianbei tribes by the surname of the ruling family, such as Murong Xianbei, and the tribe ruled by the Tuoba clan was called "Tuoba Xianbei".
In the last year of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Wuhu (Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xianbei, Xianbei, Qiang) who entered the Central Plains were separated from the Han warlords, and the world was in chaos. However, due to various reasons, Tuoba Xianbei did not divide the Central Plains in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty and remained loyal to the central Government of the Western Jin Dynasty. In the third year of Jianxing (315), Emperor Huan of Jin crowned Tuoba Xianbei's chief Tuoba Yilu as the acting king, and Tuoba Xianbei was later known as the "Daiguo".
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Daiguo (拓跋 Xianbei) gradually became stronger under the rule of Tuoba Shiyi and went south into the Central Plains, setting up hundreds of officials and formulating laws. In the third year of the founding of the People's Republic of China (340), Tuoba Shiyi fixed the capital of Shengle City in Yunzhong, and the daiguo officially changed from a nomadic regime to a central plains division regime. In the thirty-ninth year of the founding of the people's republic of China (376), the daiguo was destroyed by Former Qin, and Tuoba Xianbei was incorporated into the Former Qin regime.
In the nineteenth year of Jianyuan (383), Former Qin collapsed due to the defeat of the "Battle of Shuishui". In the first year of the ascension to the throne (386), Tuoba Shiyi's grandson Tuoba Jue took the throne and officially restored the kingdom. In April of the same year, Tuoba Jue changed the name of the country to "Wei", which was later called "Northern Wei", and Tuoba Jue was the founding emperor of Northern Wei, Emperor Daowu. After years of fighting, the Northern Wei finally unified the north during the reign of Emperor Taiwu.
After the Northern Wei unified the north, a long confrontation with the Southern Dynasty began, and Chinese history officially entered the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the eighteenth year of Taihe (494), Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital to Luoyang, and the Sinicization reform of Northern Wei reached its peak. However, Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization reform absorbed the accumulated shortcomings of the Shi clan gate valves, resulting in the intensification of social contradictions in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the fourth year of Zhengguang (523), the "Six Towns Rebellion" broke out in Northern Wei.
Although the "Six Towns Uprising" was suppressed, the rule of the Northern Wei was also destroyed by the uprising, and the warlords represented by Erzhu Rong controlled the real power of the Northern Wei. After a fierce civil war, Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai became the final victors. However, for various reasons, both Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai honored members of the Northern Wei imperial family as titular emperors, and both of them were vassals who controlled actual power until their deaths.
Because of this, the demise of Northern Wei was split into Eastern Wei controlled by Gao Huan and Western Wei controlled by Yuwen Tai, with Eastern Wei later becoming Northern Qi and Western Wei becoming Northern Zhou. On the whole, Tuoba Xianbei was a Xianbei tribe from which Tuoba clan was born, the daiguo was a transitional regime established by Tuoba, the Northern Wei was a dynasty established by Tuoba, and the Eastern and Western Wei were the two puppet regimes after the fall of Northern Wei.