In the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the capital Pingcheng was an important symbol of the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty and played a very important role in the process of unifying the north.
In the process of trying to establish political power, Tuoba Xianbei lingered for a long time in the area where agriculture and animal husbandry bordered in the north, and did not rush to the Central Plains like some other minorities. In the 3rd to 4th centuries AD, the Civilization of the Central Plains had a great attraction to the Xianbei ethnic groups, who first distributed in a long border area, perhaps the deepest combination between Tuoba and Xiongnu, so they left the northeast and walked the westernmost in the grasslands, at least at the end of the force, migrated to the junction of present-day Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. On this basis, there were later dynasties. After the Dai kingdom was destroyed by Former Qin, the Tuoba did not migrate, so after the collapse of Former Qin, Tuoba Jue, the grandson of Shi Yiqian, was able to restore the country on this basis and establish northern Wei. Of course, the central area in the early Northern Wei Dynasty was still the area around Yanbei.
When Tuoba Liwei was young, he was stationed in Dingxiang No. Mori, but it seems that the city had not yet been built at that time. When Tuoba Jue first ascended the throne, he did not establish Kyoto, but in February of the first year of the ascension to the throne (386), he was "fortunate to be able to determine the grand pleasure of Xiang", although he had changed his name to King of Wei in April of that year, but it was still impossible to determine the capital. In the first year of the emperor's reign (396), the northern Wei dynasty began to take shape, "starting to build the Tianzi Banner, entering and leaving the police", and "initially establishing Taiwan Province, placing hundreds of officials". Judging from the situation of "governing the troops in the eastern suburbs", the Northern Wei imperial court already had a fixed garrison, but Tuoba Jue did not yet have the determination to set the capital. Because after the Wei army occupied Yecheng, Tuoba Jue once "went to Yicheng, toured The Stage Xie, and toured the palace, there will be the meaning of fixing the capital." However, under the balance, The Wei Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue finally abandoned the existing palace in Yicheng, and in the first year of Tianxing (398), "in the autumn and July, moved the capital to Pingcheng, the first camp palace, the construction of the Zong temple, and the establishment of the society".
Compared with Pingcheng, Yi was too deep into the hinterland of the agricultural region, which was very uncomfortable for the Northern Wei, which was not yet completely free from the nomadic society, so Tuoba Jue had to give up wisely. And the Northern Wei Dynasty, which had already established the country, and then stationed in the grassland of Shengle was obviously not a long-term solution, so the Former Qin Dynasty was an important military town for the protection of Karasuma Province, located on the edge of the agricultural area, with mountains and rivers, facing the grassland, and the Pingcheng City, which lived in present-day Shanxi and leading to Inner Mongolia, was designated as the Northern Wei Kyoto, which became a reasonable choice.
Since the establishment of the capital was related to the basic concept of the founding of the country, only when the national policy was seriously discussed, the status of Heijo's Kyoto status would not be shaken. Therefore, a controversy over the response to the famine during the reign of emperor Tuoba Si of the Ming Dynasty finally established the status of the capital of Pingcheng. In the second year of Shenrui (415), the area around Pingcheng was "Qiugu Bu deng", and Pingcheng, which was on the edge of farming and animal husbandry, would certainly have a deep feeling. At that time, Taishi Ling Wang Liang and others proposed to move the capital to Yicheng, although the main reason for Wang Liang's relocation of the capital was the saying that "to rule Yi, should be happy for fifty years", but the grain supply of Yicheng in the hinterland of the North China Plain will always be better than That of Pingcheng, so most of the courtiers are in favor.
In this regard, Cui Hao and Tejin Zhou Tang raised objections to the strategy of how the minority clans should learn the lessons of history to rule, aiming at the political key points of minority rule over a big country, because the martial arts of the early Northern Wei Dynasty mainly relied on its powerful cavalry, and Pingcheng, which was backed by the grassland, was conducive to mobilizing and commanding cavalry, so "Emperor Taizong was deeply aware of it, saying: 'Only these two people, with the same meaning as Yuan'", pingcheng's capital status was finally consolidated after the demonstration of the governing strategy.
Emperor Daowu was a man who was very good at drawing political experience from Han chinese history. He listened to Cui Hao talk about the Book of Han and mentioned that "Lou Jing said that Han Zu wanted to take Princess Lu Yuan's wife, the Xiongnu, and was kind and sighed for a long time." It is because all the princesses are married to the kingdom of the guests, and the children of the courtiers and the beauties of the Liang clan are not allowed to be still alive." Emperor Daowu learned to use and personally use political means, and used it to the maximum, so that all the princesses went to make peace! This is something that other emperors have difficulty in doing. It is precisely because of this that he was able to become a founding emperor, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was later able to unify Northern China, which is not unrelated to this.
Of course, these opinions put forward by Cui Hao and others were conducive to the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but in fact, they also had their own considerations as representatives of the shi clan. Because the capital was the center of rule, the closer it was to it, the stronger the control of the imperial court over the local area. If the capital of Northern Wei is located in Pingcheng, then north China, located east of the Taihang Mountains, because the Emperor of Tiangao is far away, the power of the Shandong Shi clan can be greatly maintained, if the capital is located in Yecheng, it is difficult to say. Therefore, the adoption of Cui Hao's suggestion was a double benefit between the Tuoba rulers and the Han shi clan.
It should be mentioned that the consolidation of Pingcheng as the kyoto of the Northern Wei Dynasty was also related to the Northern Wei policy of continuously emigrating to Gyeonggi from newly conquered territories. Around Pingcheng, these displaced people "counted their mouths and received fields" and engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, so that Pingcheng, as the capital, had abundant material support.
Emperor Daowu made Pingcheng the capital of Northern Wei, and Emperor Taiwu completed the unification of the north in Northern Wei. During this period, the northern Wei dynasty was thriving, and the superiority of Heisei as Kyoto was fully reflected.
Judging from the Wei Shu Taizu Ji, Emperor Daowu mainly did three things during his reign. The first is to carry out all kinds of political power building, especially what is necessary for an orthodox imperial dynasty. The second is related to the above-mentioned necessary façade to decorate the imperial court, emperor Daowu was enthusiastic about Confucianism and lied to the sages, because they were inseparable from the establishment of various systems. Third, he is outstanding in martial arts, which is very necessary for fighting the world.
A minority regime like the Northern Wei Dynasty, if it wants to build a country and grow strong, it must first rely on martial arts. Tuoba Jue's troops mainly pointed in two directions. One aspect of this is the pacification of civil strife and neighboring tribes, which is what a tribe is bound to go through if it wants to move towards hegemony. From the time Tuoba Jue became the acting king in the first year of the reign of the people, there have been such conquest wars almost every year since then. The spearhead of this period was mainly the nomadic people in the north, because when the main body of the Xianbei tribe pressed to the south and became more and more interested in chasing deer in the Central Plains, the remaining grasslands would not become no man's land, and new nomadic peoples would migrate in, repeating the old road of the Xianbei people, and also bringing new troubles to the latter, they were Rouran, Gaoche and other departments. Since they were all "Eastern Hu ZhiXuyu, Mao Dun Zhi Zhi Ye", but as a clan of strength is newly aggregated and developed, compared with the long-standing Xianbei Iron Horse, the strength is still very different, so The Daowu Emperor attacked them first, which is a clever strategy.
Its second aspect was to fight against Later Yan and achieve major victories. At the beginning of Wei, because they were also Xianbei, there was also a certain degree of cooperation with Murong Chui's Later Yan, such as jointly discussing Ku Moxi. However, after the Northern Wei Gradually grew stronger through military conquest, the relationship of interests changed and turned hostile to each other. For Hou Yan, preventing the emergence of powerful neighbors is a security priority. For the newly established Northern Wei Dynasty, only by overthrowing its powerful neighbors can its own survival and development be guaranteed. The immediate trigger for the conflict between the two was that Later Yan unsuccessfully asked Northern Wei for horses, and Murong Xianbei, although also from a nomadic tribe, basically left the grassland as early as the end of the Western Jin Dynasty. After Murong Chui's restoration, he mainly ruled agricultural areas, so he urgently needed war horses to maintain the combat effectiveness of his army. Tuoba Jue, of course, also realized this, and did not hesitate to turn his face to Murong Chui for this reason. At that time, Later Yan's strength was far stronger than that of Northern Wei, so Murong Chui insisted on getting rid of this trouble as soon as possible. Because Murong Chui himself was ill, he could only send Crown Prince Bao and Murong Lin (Murong) Nong and Murong Lin to lead a crowd of 80,000 people to wei, and Murong De and Murong Shao followed him with 18,000 foot riders. Tuoba Jue, while adopting Zhang Wan's strategy and deliberately showing weakness, sent envoys to Later Qin for help, when Later Yan was the most powerful, and the two weak and longitudinal were in each other's interests, and Yao Xing later did indeed raise an army.
This is a typical example of a battle in which less wins more, and this battle also became a turning point in the prosperity and decline between Wei and Yan. Tuoba Jue showed his outstanding military ability, but for those prisoners, he could not bring them back to Pingcheng, and he was afraid of putting them back to enhance the strength of the Yan army, so he killed them all. This move was in the interests of the Wei army at that time, and also showed the other side of Tuoba Jue's beastly cruelty. This may be the two-sided nature that the tyrants of the chaotic world often have.
After the defeat of Shenhepo, Murong Chui personally led a large army to attack Wei in March of the following year, despite his illness. Tuoba Jue was still the enemy advancing and retreating, and after Murong Chui conquered Pingcheng, he had to "collect more than 30,000 of his people and return them". After Murong Chui's death, his successor Murong Bao (慕容宝) was "a good man who was a good man", "soft and continuous", and the country was weakened. Tuoba Jue pro-Le sixth army of more than 400,000 Murong Bao in 396 AD, in October of the following year conquered Zhongshan, in early 398 early 398 again captured Yecheng. At this point, most of the North China Plain was owned by Wei. Tuoba Jue thus laid a good foundation for the founding of the Northern Wei dynasty, and lived up to its reputation as the "Taizu" of the Northern Wei.