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Hou Jing's Rebellion: The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, indirectly bringing about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty

author:Iwaiwa Yoshifumi

For the emperor, it is not difficult to exert efforts to govern, but if you adhere to the true colors for a long time, almost no one can do it. Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who worked hard to govern, was only a few years old, and then he forgot about it. If Li Shimin lived for a few more years, he might end up with Tang Xuanzong, and the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out in advance. Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu was no exception, and he was dimwitted in his later years, especially when it came to accepting Hou Jing. In 547, Hou Jing's "marriage proposal" failed, and he rebelled, and the 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, but indirectly brought about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Hou Jing's Rebellion: The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, indirectly bringing about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty

Hou Jing, a member of the Qi clan, was short in stature, but unusually brave and good at war, and was a member of the Eastern Wei clique. Hou Jing had a heavy army in his hands, and there were thirteen prefectures (local units) in his jurisdiction, and his power was very powerful. During Gao Huan's lifetime, Hou Jing also obeyed the Eastern Wei court and kept his duties. After Gao Huan's death, Hou Jing looked down on Gao Cheng and led his troops to surrender to Western Wei. However, Hou Jing was capricious, and Western Wei did not really accept him.

Both Eastern Wei and Western Wei could not be mixed, and Hou Jing decided to go south to surrender to Emperor Wu of Liang and offer thirteen states. In this regard, the internal debate within the Southern Liang clique was fierce, and the chancellor believed that Hou Jing was unreliable, that he was capricious and could not raise tigers. Moreover, Hou Jing rebelled against Eastern Wei and sacrificed thirteen states, and Eastern Wei must send troops to fight for it, and Western Wei will also take advantage of the fire to loot, and Southern Liang can only beg for bitter food.

The courtiers objected to the acceptance of Hou Jing, and Emperor Wu of Liang believed that he should be allowed to submit to the imperial court for two main reasons. First of all, it took thirteen states effortlessly, and the tentacles of Southern Liang forces extended to the hinterland of the Central Plains to prepare for the future unification of the whole country. Secondly, after the death of Chen Qingzhi, who "thousands of troops and horses avoided white robes", the Southern Liang clique did not have a general who could get his hands on it, and Hou Jing just made up for this. In this way, Emperor Wu of Liang sent troops north to accept Hou Jing.

Sure enough, as the courtiers expected, Emperor Wu of Liang accepted Hou Jing, Gao Cheng immediately sent troops to pursue, Western Wei also took advantage of the fire to loot, and Southern Liang suffered heavy losses. At the Battle of Hanshan, Southern Liang's 100,000-strong army was destroyed, the commander Xiao Yuanming was captured, and Eastern Wei took back all thirteen states. In this way, Hou Jing only took 800 soldiers and horses to surrender to Southern Liang, and Xiao Yan gained more than he lost.

Hou Jing's Rebellion: The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, indirectly bringing about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty

In 548, Southern Liang reconciled with Eastern Wei, and Gao Cheng put forward a condition, that is, to return Hou Jing, and Emperor Wu of Liang agreed. This was not right, Hou Jing came to Run to Southern Liang, and Xiao Yan actually sold Hou Jing for political needs. In this way, Hou Jing decided to rebel and was unwilling to sit still. When Hou Jing raised an army, there were only 8,000 soldiers and horses, but Emperor Wu of Liang did not care about the battle situation, and suffered a crushing defeat.

After Shouyang raised an army, Hou Jing did not attack Huainan, but directly attacked Nanjing, trying to capture Xiao Yan alive. Hou Jing's army was fierce, and the general Yang Kan proposed to Emperor Wu of Liang a strategy to break the enemy: "Send 2,000 elite soldiers to guard the quarry, prevent the rebels from crossing the river, and intercept it in the north of the river; send the main force to directly attack Shouyang and attack Hou Jing's base camp." In this way, Hou Jing could not retreat, and the rebels were bound to be in chaos. Unfortunately, Emperor Wu of Liang did not accept it, and he had been in the empty door for a long time, and he had long lost his fighting spirit.

After Hou Jing crossed the Yangtze River, he marched all the way, with the support of poor peasants along the way, and the number of soldiers and horses increased to 100,000, and the momentum was huge. Why was Hou Jing able to expand his troops? The reason is very simple, Hou Jing killed the door valve family, released a large number of slaves, and also took out grain to help the poor, which will naturally be supported by the people at the bottom. So, why did Hou Jing want to slaughter the Gate Valve family? This is a very profound question, and one of the reasons is marriage problems.

When Hou Jing betrayed Eastern Wei, Gao Cheng killed dozens of people in his family, and Hou Jing came to Southern Liang alone. Hou Jing needed the warmth of his family and someone to help him wash and cook, so he asked Emperor Wu of Liang to marry him. It is reasonable to say that the emperor has great power, so whoever marries Hou Jing must marry honestly; even if the woman is not satisfied with Hou Jing's short stature and dislikes his old age, she must thank the lord Long En.

Hou Jing's Rebellion: The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, indirectly bringing about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the emperor did not do what he wanted, because of the existence of the door valve family, the emperor's authority was not as strong as that of the family family. Hou Jing wanted to increase his value, hoping to marry the women of the Wang, Xie and other large families, but Emperor Wu of Liang could not agree; the Wang, Xie and other large families even attacked them in groups, and Hou Jing could only give up and could not get married. In this way, Hou Jing was very dissatisfied with the Gate Valve family, and at this time, when the army rebelled, he naturally wanted to kill them all.

With 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command, Emperor Wu of Liang ignored the battle, and Hou Jing soon attacked Nanjing and besieged the inner city. The inner city of Nanjing was strong, and the famous general Yang Kan insisted, and Hou Jing could not take it in a short period of time. Unfortunately, Yang Kan died of illness in the middle of the way, and the reinforcements from all sides stagnated, and the inner city was finally breached. At this time, Emperor Wu of Liang did not run away, but sat down to chat with Hou Jing, looking down on life and death.

After attacking Nanjing, Hou Jing put Emperor Wu of Liang under house arrest and did not send food to the palace women, leaving him to starve to death. At the same time, Hou Jing supported three puppet emperors, one of whom was his father-in-law Xiao Gang (Emperor Jianwen). Princess Liyang, Nian Fang is 14 years old, while Hou Jing is 49 years old, a tree of pear blossoms pressed begonias. In 551, Hou Jing poisoned Xiao Gang and established himself as emperor with the name of Han.

However, Hou Jing's foundation was unstable, and he was destroyed under the joint attack of Xiao Xuan, Chen Baxian, and Wang Shengquan. In 552, Xiao Xuan invaded Nanjing, Hou Jing fled, was killed by his subordinates, and the three-year-long Hou Jing Rebellion ended. The Gate Valve family hated Hou Jing very much, and Xiao Xuan unloaded Hou Jing's body in eight pieces and threw it in the city of Nanjing, and many people competed to eat his flesh, including Hou Jing's wife, Princess Liyang.

Hou Jing's Rebellion: The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang was starved to death, indirectly bringing about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty

Emperor Wu of Liang fainted in his later years, causing the "Hou Jing Rebellion", which greatly affected the course of Chinese history. First of all, the Gate Valve Clan suffered a huge blow, and it was captured by the Shu clan Chen Baxian to prepare for the establishment of the Chen Dynasty. Moreover, the three-legged pattern of Southern Liang, Eastern Wei and Western Wei was broken. During Hou Jing's rebellion, Western Wei took advantage of the situation to expand its power, while Eastern Wei was unable to participate in sharing the dividends of Hou Jing's rebellion due to sharp internal contradictions.

In the "post-Three Kingdoms era", Southern Liang had the strongest economic strength and was expected to unify the Central Plains, but Hou Jingzhi's chaos buried everything. Eastern Wei was the strongest militarily, but there were too many internal contradictions, and it would only slowly lead the army. Western Wei was different, Yuwen Tai integrated the various factions within the Guanlong Group, and the group was vigorous and developed rapidly. During Hou Jing's rebellion, Western Wei took the opportunity to expand its power and occupy many territories in Southern Liang, and its power was greatly enhanced.

In 557, Yuwen Jue replaced Western Wei and established Northern Zhou. In 581, Yang Jian replaced Northern Zhou, established the Sui Dynasty, and destroyed Southern Chen, eventually unifying the Central Plains. In 618, Li Yuan forced Yang You to abdicate and give way to Xian, replacing the Sui Dynasty and establishing the once-flourishing Tang Dynasty. Whether it is Yuwen Jue, Yang Jian, or Li Yuan, they are all Guan Long Group. The rise of the Guanlong clique was closely related to Hou Jing's rebellion. In other words, Hou Jing's rebellion indirectly brought about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Bibliography: Ancient Chinese History

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