Stirring for 400 years: when the favored subjects were in chaos in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Yuan Hui's communiqué was personally enmished to Yuan Shen

This article is the 521st in a long series of articles, Four Hundred Years of Turmoil

In addition to Yuan Yi, Empress Dowager Hu also had a relatively private lover, named Zheng Yu, who had served as Hu Guozhen's Situ Xing to join the army, with a strong body and a handsome appearance, which won the heart of Empress Dowager Hu.

When Xiao Baoyin went west, he did not know about the relationship between Zheng Yu and Empress Dowager Hu, and made him a subordinate of Kaifu.

After Empress Dowager Hu was once again regent, Zheng Yu asked Xiao Baoyin to return to the dynasty, and Empress Dowager Hu took the opportunity to leave her behind, appointing her as a counselor and a Zhongshu Sheren, and also served as the Emperor of Shang, living in the palace day and night.

Empress Hu's possessiveness towards Zheng Yu was very strong, and every holiday day, when Zheng Yu returned home, Empress Dowager Hu sent eunuchs to follow and monitor, and when her wife saw Zheng Yu, she could only talk about family affairs and had no chance to make love.

Xu Qi, a member of the Zhongshu She, was slightly literary, and originally started by flattering and following Zhao Xiu, and after Zhao Xiu fell, he was implicated and degraded to Fenghan. After returning to the dynasty, Xu Yi re-appointed zhongshu sheren, and then defected to Yuan Yi, who became the Taishou of Yanmen after Yuan Yi's death. Returning to Luoyang again, Xu Qi threw himself into the Yuan Fork again. After the fall of YuanCha, Nian Was a favored person by Yuan Yi, and Empress Dowager Hu once again summoned him as a Zhongshu Sheren.

Now, Xu Yi found a new patron and began to climb Zheng Yu. Because Xu Qi had wisdom, Zheng Yu relied on him to advise himself; because Zheng Yu had the favor of Empress Dowager Hu, he bent over to greet him, and the two looked at each other, and the power fell to the opposition, known as Xu and Zheng.

Zheng Yuguan to Zhongshu Ling and Che Qi, Xu Qiguan to the Yellow Gate Attendant, still concurrently in charge of the affairs of Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province, and the military and political edicts and orders were all responsible for him.

Xu Yi was quite resourceful and eloquent, energetic, dealing with affairs all day, rarely resting, and never feeling tired. Whenever there was an urgent edict in the imperial court, Xu Qi ordered several subordinate officials to write, walk around on the ground for a while, lie on the bed for a while, and tell each person the contents separately, let them write down, and several edicts were completed quickly, and there was no unreasonableness.

However, Xu Qi was only a little clever, not a great talent to govern the country, and every time he saw people, he pretended to be respectful and cautious, and people near and far turned to him.

On April 25, 526, the Northern Wei court took the three divisions of Yi Tong, along with Xu Qi and others.

At that time, the Northern Wei court only had the attendant Yuan Shun Gangzheng who dared to speak out and advise.

Empress Dowager Hu liked to dress up and often went out to play, and Yuan Shun once said in person: "The "Ritual" said, after the death of her husband, the woman claimed to be a non-deceased person, removed the jewelry of pearls and jade, and the clothes were not tattooed. The empress dowager's mother came to the world, nearly forty years old, and the decoration was too excessive, so why should she set an example for future generations? ”

After hearing this, Empress Dowager Hu returned to the palace in shame and summoned Yuan Shun to reprimand: "Is it because the palace has summoned you back from thousands of miles away to humiliate the palace in front of everyone?" Yuan Shun replied, "Why isn't the empress dowager afraid of ridicule from the people of the world, but only ashamed of the words of her subjects?" ”

After Yuan Hui came to power, he deeply resented Yuan Shun, and together with Xu Qi and others, he made a rumor in front of Empress Dowager Hu and made her a general of the defending army and a tai changqing.

Yuan Shun bid farewell to Empress Dowager Hu at the Western Garden, and Xu Qi stood at Empress Dowager Hu's side. Suddenly, Yuan Shun pointed at Xu Qi and said to Empress Dowager Hu, "This person is the Zai Of the State of Wei, and the State of Wei will not die, he will not die in the end!" ”

Xu Qi shrugged his shoulders, and Yuan Shun angrily rebuked: "Your little sword and pen talent is only for the use of a few cases, how can you insult your subordinates and defeat me Chao Gang!" After saying this, She rose from her clothes, and Empress Dowager Hu was silent.

With favored subjects such as Yuan Hui, Zheng Yu, and Xu Qi in charge, the northern Wei dynasty politics can be imagined, and it can be understood why the Northern Wei counterinsurgency decisions were so chaotic.

In May, due to the discord between Changsun Zhi and Yuan Chen, the rebellion was defeated, and the Northern Wei court revived the use of Yuanshen the Prince of Guangyang as the governor of Dadu and went to fight against Xianyu Xiuli, with Yuanrong the Prince of Zhangwu as the Governor of Zuo Du and Pei Yan as the Governor of Right, and both accepted yuan shen jiedu.

Pei Yan (裴延), a native of Dai Prefecture (绛州), was originally a General of Southern Qi, and returned to Northern Wei with his uncle Pei Shuye. Pei Yan was distinguished in learning, talented, filial to filial piety, a general, honest in government, and good at appeasing the people.

When Yuan Shen went out on the expedition, he let his son accompany him, and Yuan Hui took this opportunity to tell Empress Hu that "the king of Guangyang carries his beloved son and holds the army outside, and will have a different heart." ”

Empress Dowager Hu was seduced by it, and Yuanrong and Pei Yan secretly guarded against Yuanshen, and Yuanrong and PeiYan showed Empress Dowager Hu's orders to Yuanshen, who was so frightened that from then on, no matter how big or small things were, they did not dare to decide on their own.

Empress Dowager Hu sent someone to ask him why, and Yuan Shen replied: "Yuan Hui hates his subjects to the bone, his subjects are far away from the country, their relations with the imperial court are estranged, and Yuan Hui frames his subjects, and he uses all means to the extreme." Since Yuan Hui came to power, most of the courtiers' requests for instructions could not be approved. Yuan Hui was in power in the dynasty, and from morning to night he wanted to kill his subjects, so how could the subjects put down the rebellion with peace of mind? If Yuan Hui was allowed to go out of the dynasty to serve in the outer states, the subjects would have no internal worries, and Shu Ji could die in battle above the court of thieves and do his best to serve the imperial court. ”

Unmoved, Empress Dowager Hu continued to trust Yuan Hui and did not grant Yuan Shen's request.

In the summer of that year, Duluo Zhou sent the governor Cao Qizhen and others to lead an army to plunder Ji'nan. On the ninth day of July, Yu Rong, the governor of The Changjing Sect of Xingtai, and others attacked Cao Qizhen in Liyuan, and the great destruction was carried out, and Cao Qizhen and more than 3,000 generals were killed. After that, Du Luozhou led the crowd south to Fanyang, and Chang Jing and Yu Rong and others broke it again.

On August 27, infighting broke out among the Xianyu Xiuli Clique, and his subordinate Yuan Hongye beheaded him and requested his surrender. Soon, Ge Rong killed Yuan Hongye, made himself the leader, and annexed some of DuLuozhou's henchmen.

In September, Ge Rong invaded Yingzhou, and Yuan Shen followed him from Jiaojin. On September 15, Ge Rong arrived at Bainiuluo and led a light horse to raid Yuanrong and kill him. Subsequently, Ge Rong proclaimed himself the Son of Heaven, set the name of the country as Qi, and changed his name to Yuan Guang'an.

Knowing that Yuan Rong had failed, Yuan Shen did not move. Shizhong Yuanyan secretly spoke to Empress Dowager Hu: "The King of Guangyang lingers and does not enter, and he sits on the map without dividing his thoughts. There was a man named Yu Jin, who was wise and wise, who served as his military master, and when this turmoil was turbulent, he was afraid that he was not a loyal subject of the imperial court. ”

Empress Dowager Hu deeply agreed with Yuan Yan's words, so she put it in front of Shangshu Province and recruited people who could catch Yu Jin.

After Yu Jin learned of this, he said to Yuan Shen: "Now that the heroine is in the dynasty, she trusts and reuses the evil people, if she does not understand the sincerity of Her Highness, I am afraid that disaster will soon come." I requested that I go to the DPRK and surrender to the relevant official offices to confess my guilt. ”

Yu Jin went straight to the list and surrendered himself, and the relevant departments reported the situation to the imperial court. Empress Dowager Hu personally summoned Yu Jin, who took the opportunity to elaborate on Yuan Shen's loyalty to the imperial court and explain the reasons for the suspension of the army, and after Empress Hu understood the situation, she released Yu Jin.

Subsequently, Yuan Shen led his troops back and went to Dingzhou, where Shi Yangjin suspected him of having a conspiracy. After Yuan Shen learned about it, he did not dare to enter the city and stopped at the Buddhist temple south of the city.

Two days later, Yuan Shen summoned the governor Mao Yu and others and made a pact with them, agreeing to rescue each other in times of danger. As a result, Mao Yu also began to suspect him, so he secretly informed Yang Jin that Yuan Shen was plotting against him. Yang Jin sent Mao Shen to attack Yuan Shen, and Yuan Shen fled into the wilderness, and Mao Yu led people to pursue him.

Yuan Shen fled to Boling, where he happened to encounter Ge Rong's rangers and was captured by them. The rebels had long heard of Yuanshen's name and respected him, and Ge Ronggang established himself as king, which was very disgusting, and worried that his subordinates would support Yuanshen as the main one, so they killed Yuanshen.

Upon learning that Yuan Shen had been captured by the rebels, Yuan Hui immediately framed him for surrendering to the thief and arrested his wife and children. Fortunately, Yuan Shen's fu zuo Song Youdao tried his best to appeal on their behalf and was released.

As a rare person with real materials in the Northern Wei Sect's room, Yuan Shen ended up in such a fate, which made people sigh, and also proved from the side that the Northern Wei had indeed reached a hopeless point.