In 530, Yuanhui, the Prince of Northern Wei, assisted Emperor Xiaozhuang and ventured into a "decapitation operation" in the Mingguang Palace in the imperial capital Luoyang, successfully killing Erzhu Rong, a powerful minister who controlled the power of Northern Wei and "Cao Cao cao and Dong Zhuo", and eliminating many of his henchmen.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > pulling the emperor to take a risk</h1>
In Yuan Hui's view, Erzhu Rong, as the head of the Erzhu clique, once he was killed, his relatives and henchmen would also fall and scatter. As a very trusted minister of the clan office trusted by Emperor Xiaozhuang, if he could play an important role in the action of killing Erzhu Rong, he could not only resolve the crisis of the Yuan clan, but also take this opportunity to replace Erzhu Rong and become the number one power minister in the dynasty.
Therefore, he had repeatedly instigated Emperor Xiaozhuang's son Yuan Ziyou to deal with Erzhu Rong. Under the "magic sound infusion of the brain", Emperor Xiaozhuang worried about getting rid of Erzhu Rong every day, and as a result, he thought about it day and night, and even dreamed that he had cut off ten fingers with his sword, and rushed to find Yuan Hui to interpret the dream.
In the face of the panicked emperor, Wang Yuanhui of Chengyang interpreted this dream as a "sign of great luck" with selfish intentions, which strengthened Emperor Xiaozhuang's determination to devote his life to assassination of Erzhu Rong.
The ancient capital of Luoyang has witnessed countless struggles and conspiracies
Wouldn't it be easy to assassinate Erzhu Rong, who had a strong army in hand and many henchmen? Emperor Xiaozhuang and Yuan Hui's gang carefully planned for this, willing to take risks, concocted the lie that the empress and Erzhu Rong's daughter Da'erzhu clan had a son early, and put Erzhu Rong and others who had relaxed their guard into the palace, and successfully netted them all.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > success is in power</h1>
After the success of this adventure, Yuan Hui became a powerful vassal under one person and above ten thousand people. However, at this time, he also exposed the treacherous nature of power, such as monopoly, greed for goods, and self-indulgence. He did not allow anyone to threaten his position, and firmly controlled the authority to communicate with Emperor Xiaozhuang.
In the face of the courtiers' suggestions and suggestions on military and political affairs, Yuan Hui not only did not seriously consider and participate in the planning, but instead advised Emperor Xiaozhuang not to adopt it. Over time, the courtiers inevitably became cold and lost their enthusiasm for loyalty to the country.
In the "Mulan Poem", "the twelve turns of the strategy, the reward of one hundred and thousand strong" is a major driving force for the soldiers to fight
What is even more shocking is that this prince, who was born rich and never bad money, suddenly became a scrooge who slammed the door, and when he issued rewards, he either deliberately issued them thinly, or cut them halfway after multiple rewards, and even had strange behavior of recovering them after the rewards were issued. In this way, the money of the Northern Wei court was spent, but it did not play a favor to the courtiers, but it led to the dissatisfaction of the recipients and greatly damaged loyalty.
For this prince, Li Miao, the young secretary of the Taifu Dynasty, commented well: "Chengyang is originally from the bee's eye, and the jackal will return to Lu Ye!" "
Historically, in addition to the "king killer and father killer" who received the evaluation of "bee-eyed jackals", there was also Wang Dun, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who forced the palace and plotted rebellion.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > I fled in the face of a great disaster</h1>
At this time, although the Erzhu clique had lost its former leader and was faintly showing signs of division, its strength was still not comparable to that of the Northern Wei court. When there was still a slight respite in the Northern Wei court, for this huge threat that was close at hand, the Yuan Emblem, as the pillar of the imperial court, did not pay any attention to it and did not take any proactive action.
In front of Emperor Xiaozhuang, Yuan Hui often made a look of wisdom beads in his hands and bamboo in his chest, and said boldly: "Why don't the little thieves worry about getting rid of them?" While cajoling the emperor, he gradually anesthetized himself.
In this way, the last glimmer of hope slipped away from the hands of the princes who covered their ears and stole the bell. When Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Zhao's army was pressed, Yuan Hui realized that he had underestimated the cohesion of the Erzhu clique. This previously breezy courtier was at a loss for words in the face of the enemy's counterattack, and could only sit still in worry and panic every day.
The imperial capital Luoyang, which was high in the pond, could not resist Erzhu Zhao's advance
Eventually, Erzhu Zhao led his army across the Yellow River and attacked the imperial capital Luoyang. What was astonishing was that the leader of the Janissaries guarding the Imperial City, Zongmu Yuanquan, had already secretly communicated with Erzhu Zhao, and as soon as he saw him enter the city, he immediately led the Janissaries to defect and disperse.
At this time, Emperor Xiaozhuang helplessly watched the rebellion of the people and surrendered, but he could not even find a horse. In desperation, the Ten Thousand Multipliers had to run out of the Cloud Dragon Gate alone to find a way to live. At this moment, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Yuan Hui was riding a horse from not far away, and hurriedly shouted for help.
However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. At this time, the Yuan Emblem seemed to have suddenly suffered from cataracts, put on noise-canceling headphones, and his eyes and ears became ornaments, completely treating the emperor as air. The last "life-saving straw" in the eyes of the emperor kept floating by, and he almost said "I don't know you".
Yuan Hui drifted away with self-care, leaving Emperor Xiaozhuang with a dashing back
At this time, Emperor Xiaozhuang recognized the true face of the Yuan Hui, but it was too late. Soon, he was captured by Erzhu Zhao, collapsed in the jinyang three-level buddhist temple, and his Northern Wei dynasty quickly came to an end.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the wrong country and the wrong king</h1>
So, in everyone's opinion, what kind of person is this Yuanhui Prince? Xiao Wu felt that he was a powerful, but very ignorant and incompetent egoist. He lacked an in-depth understanding of the Erzhu clique, and he did not have the ability to govern the country and quell the rebellion, and even the Janissaries could not control it, which could be said to be neither knowing the other nor himself, and there was no traitorous courtier, but no traitorous courtier.
The ability of the Yuan Emblem was quite different from that of the descendants of the traitorous courtiers
He encouraged Emperor Xiaozhuang to take great risks to launch the assassination of Erzhu Rong, not so much to save Northern Wei and the imperial family, but to seize the position of a powerful vassal in the Northern Wei court.
When the speculation was successful and he held power, Yuan Hui isolated himself from China and foreign countries, acted arbitrarily, regarded the national treasury as private property, and did not think of long-term plans; at the moment of great trouble, he resolutely abandoned Emperor Xiaozhuang and chose to escape, fully showing the ugly face of a self-interested traitor.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > power desires are hard to fill</h1>
Speaking of this, some people may ask, since Erzhu Rong's power is monstrous and the Northern Wei court is in danger, why doesn't this prince, who is eager for power and dares to speculate, not turn to the powerful side and be a dragon hero?
Regardless of the patriotic and family-loving heart of the Prince of Northern Wei, it was Yuan Hui's fierce desire for power that was at work.
First of all, among the Northern Wei emperors, there were quite a few people who defected to Erzhu Rong, and the yuan bird mentioned above was one of them, not to mention Erzhu Rong's spokesman in the imperial court, Dazai Yuan Tianmu. As a distant branch of the royal family, they had neither a knighthood nor a reputation before they surrendered to Erzhu Rong, and their glory and wealth came from the patron Erzhu Rong, and their loyalty was obviously more recognized by the benefactor.
Genealogy comparison of Yuan Hui with Yuan Tianmu and Yuan Dove (homemade image)
In contrast to these people, Yuan Hui's great-grandfather was the crown prince of Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao, the father of Emperor Wencheng Tuoba Tao (pronounced "Jun"), who was posthumously considered a core member of the imperial family. Yuan Hui himself was a courtier of The Northern Wei Emperor Yang and Emperor Xiaozhuang, and was also one of the important members of the Yuan clan, and it was obviously difficult to make Erzhu Rong, who had the intention of claiming the title of emperor of Wei, fully trust and entrust him with heavy responsibilities.
At the same time, Yuan Hui is inferior to Yuan Tianmu in terms of personality, ability, and knowledge, and even if he wants to change the court, it is difficult to show the mountains and dew in the Erzhu clan group where famous courtiers and stars are gathered.
As a person with a prominent background and a strong desire for power, he would never be willing to crawl in Erzhu Rong's suspicious eyes and succumb to a collateral disciple like Yuan Tianmu. For him, only by betting on the side of the Northern Wei court to eliminate Erzhu Rong would he have the opportunity to take over the authority of the country.
Emperor Xiaozhuang was young, his experience was too shallow, and he was forced by the situation to rely heavily on a few close subjects such as Yuan Hui, so that he was repeatedly harmed by this seemingly loyal prince and actually self-interested, and step by step embarked on the road of no return of defeat and death.
The Northern Wei Dynasty, which was riding iron horses, was gone forever
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the end</h1>
Ironically, the fleeing Yuan Hui did not understand the principle of "difficult not to surrender", and defected to his former old subordinate Kou Mi. The upper beam is not right and the lower beam is crooked, and Kou Mi is also an egoist like the Yuan Emblem. He seems to be respectful to his old boss, but in fact he has a conspiracy. He first fabricated the lie that "the official arrest is coming", which frightened the bold prince into running away. After Yuan Hui left, he immediately secretly sent someone to intercept him in the middle of the road and gave the corpse to Erzhu Zhao. Imagine if Emperor Xiaozhuang under the Nine Springs could have had the privilege of seeing the Book of Wei and the History of the North, and reading this passage, would he have laughed and chanted a poem:
Good and evil will eventually be rewarded, and the heavenly path is good for reincarnation. Look up in disbelief, who has the heavens spared?
References: Book of Wei, History of the North, Zizhi Tongjian
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Want to know more about Emperor Xiaozhuang and Erzhu Rong? You can read the following articles:
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