The 24-year-old Tuoba Jue was full of spirits, looking at the corpses of the Yan army all over the field, and his face was full of smiles. The elite of the 100,000 Yan army was defeated by the Northern Wei Dynasty and had the confidence to build a country. At this time, Tuoba Jue wanted to release the captured 40,000 Yan soldiers, but under Wang Jian's persuasion, he killed 40,000 Yan soldiers and was ashamed of his uncle Murong Chui.
In the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, there were many emperors with great talents, such as Fu Jian, Murong Jun, Murong Chui, Tuoba Jue, Yao Xing, Helian Bobo, and so on. Among them, Murong Chui and Tuoba Jue are the most conspicuous, and their successful stories of "recovering the country" are talked about.
Tuoba Jue and Murong Chui have a lot of intersections. Tuoba Shiyigan, Tuoba's grandfather, married Murong Chui's sister Murong and gave birth to a son, Tuoba Wei. Tuoba Jue, Tuoba Wei's widowed son, his mother is Helan.
In 371, he was killed in a fight with the Assassins at a banquet and defending his father's sword. At this time, the Helan clan was succeeded by Tuoba Shiyiqian, and it is difficult to say that it was succeeded by Tuoba Han.
A few months after his death, he was born. Five years later, Fu Jian's army came to destroy Tuoba "Daiguo", and Tuoba became a prince in distress, and he was displaced from his mother Helan clan.
In order to control Daibei and win people's hearts, Fu Jian put the Helan family's mother and son back, and when Tuoba Jue grew up, he took over the headquarters and worked for Qianqin. At this time, the two of them successively begged for a life in Helan and Dugu, waiting for an opportunity.
In the year of Helan's pregnancy, Fu Jian's army defeated Qianyan. The year before, Murong Chui fled from Qianqin because of the blows of Murong Ping and the Empress Dowager Ke Zuhun and became Fu Jian's celebrity and served as Jing Zhaoyin.
Tuoba Jue and Murong Trai are both fallen princes, but Murong Trai is in a much better situation. Moreover, at this time, Murong Chui was already a god-of-war level figure, and his military ability was on a level with Han Xin and Bai, and Huan Wen was a defeated general under him.
In 383, Fu Jian wanted to go south to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but his ministers strongly opposed it, including his younger brother Fu Rong. However, in order to take advantage of the chaos to restore the country, Murong Chui instigated Fu Jian to conquer in person, and said: "There are Han Xin and Bai Qi everywhere, are you still afraid that you won't be able to destroy Jin?" ”
There are Han Xin and Bai Qi everywhere, and Murong Chui is quite confident. Objectively speaking, purely in terms of military ability, Deng Qiang, a famous general of the former Qin, can be compared to it; Murong Chui, as a submissive, is also of this grade, and he is a super celebrity.
When Murong Trai said this, Fu Jian was very happy, and immediately said: "You are the only one who can realize my great cause." When Murong Chui fled to Chang'an, Fu Jian went barefoot to greet him, just like Cao Cao greeted Xu You, saying that the other party was helping him fight the country.
Murong Chui knew that Qianqin was unstable, so he had to persuade Fu Jian to march south, and his intention could be imagined. As a result, Fu Jian was defeated in the Battle of Weishui, and the Murong family took advantage of the situation to raise troops and pull flags in Hedong, Hebei, and Guanzhong at the same time, and Murong Chui was one of them.
The former Qin fell apart, and Murong Chui and Tuoba Jue were preparing to restore the country. Murong Chui is obviously much smoother, his military ability is strong, he can have a high prestige among the Murong Xianbei people, and his sons are not bad.
What's more, the competitors, Murong Jun's descendants Taila, Murong Wei, Murong Hong, and Murong Chong are not enough to achieve great things. In this way, the Xianbei tribes in Guanzhong and Hedong were controlled by Murong Yong, a distant branch, which removed the "legal" obstacles for Murong Chui to ascend the throne.
Tuoba, a 15-year-old boy, also has plans to return to the country, but his strength is too small. At this time, in order to control the north, Murong Chui prevented the steppe nomadic cavalry from moving south, and supported Tuoba to return to Daibei and form his own kingdom.
In 386, the third year of Murong Chui's establishment of "Hou Yan", Tuoba Jue was proclaimed king in Daibei. However, Tuoba Jue's situation is not good, and he is surrounded by strong enemies: the Lonely Department, the Helan Department, the Gaoche Department, the Kumo Xi Department, the Tiefu Department, the Xiyan, the Later Qin, and the Houyan Department, all of which are not fuel-efficient lamps.
In addition, Tuoba Shiyigan's descendants are not the only ones who have Tuoba Shiyigan, he also has many competitors and is supported by foreign aid. For example, his uncle Tuoba Gudu, with the support of Liu Xian of the Dugu Division, led 30,000 soldiers and horses to kill him, preparing to seize the throne.
Surrounded by strong enemies, the internal people were unstable, the general Huan rebelled, and Tuoba Jue was once in a desperate situation. In order to survive, Tuoba Jue once moved closer to the Helan Department, but his uncles were even more unreliable, and Liu Xian and Tuoba Cave were aggressive.
There was a crisis, and Tuoba Jue thought of his uncle Murong Chui, so he sent someone to Zhongshan to ask Houyan to send troops. In order to control Daibei, Murong Chui promised to send troops to help his relatives of the "grandchildren", and let Murong Lin lead 6,000 elite cavalry north to attack Liu Xian and Tuoba Cave.
In terms of character, Murong Lin is worse than Lu Bu, and often cheats his father and brothers. However, Murong Lin's vision and military ability are very strong, Murong Chui successfully restored the country, and Murong Lin contributed a lot, but he still has to cheat his father and likes to do bad things.
Tuoba Jue was fighting aggressively with Liu Xian and Tuoba Cave, and his troops were insufficient, and he was gradually at a disadvantage, and his army was unstable. When Murong Lin arrived at the battlefield, Tuoba Jue released the news in time, and the morale of the Wei army soared, and they were sure of victory.
When Murong Xianbei returned to the country, Murong Lin performed well, repeatedly defeated strong enemies, and became very famous. When Liu Xian and Tuoba learned that the Yan army was coming, they hurriedly withdrew their troops and built a camp in Gaoliu to block the Wei and Yan coalition forces.
Liu Xian and Tuoba Cave were not stable in camping, and the coalition forces had caught up and launched an attack. Murong Lin attacked Liu Xian's Hun cavalry, killing more than 2,000 people, and the Huns fled. Seeing the defeat of his allies, Tuoba Cave had no intention of holding out and fled to the Tiefu Department for refuge.
Tuoba Jue chased after him, and Liu Weichen, the leader of the Tiefu Clan, did not want to set himself on fire and kill the head of Tuoba Cave. The Tuoba Cave was scattered, and all of them belonged to Tuoba Jue, and the Northern Wei Dynasty escaped the crisis of losing the country.
After the Battle of Gaoliu, Murong Chui named Tuoba Jue as the king of Xidan Yu and the acting king, but Tuoba Jue did not accept it. Tuoba Jue was ambitious and wanted to establish a great cause, so he naturally would not accept the canonization, so as not to be controlled by others in the "name", which was not conducive to future development.
Tuoba Jue is eloquent, and Murong Chui also knows it, but he is still willing to help him and maintain the balance of power between Daibei and the grassland. After that, Murong Lin sent troops many times to help Tuoba conquer Kumoxi, Helan Tribe, Sutu Neighboring Tribe, and Suxi Tribe.
Fighting side by side, Murong Lin also realized that Tuoba Jue was powerful, and he would be a strong opponent in the future. Because, when the coalition army conquered the Helan Department, Tuoba Jue did not give Houyan face, and quarreled with Murong Lin on the issue of prisoners of war, as if he was the king.
In 391, Tuoba Jue attacked and destroyed the Tiefu tribe, and his strength became stronger, and friction with Houyan began. Murong Trai detained the envoys of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Tuoba Jue allied with Murong Yong of Western Yan and sent troops to help him resist Murong Trai.
In 394, Murong Chui attacked and destroyed Murong Yong, and Tuoba Jue's army was still halfway, and the two sides did not go to war. However, Tuoba Jue constantly provoked Houyan and sent troops to raid the Houyan border, which angered Murong Chui.
At this time, Murong Chui was 70 years old, and he was too old to do anything about Tuoba. However, Murong Chui couldn't withstand the persuasion of Murong De and Murong Lin, so he decided to send troops to recruit Tuoba Jue to clear the way for future generations.
Why did Tuoba provoke Hou Yan? The reason is very simple, it is to build an empire and give the Northern Wei Dynasty the capital to survive. Houyan is a strong country, and if Tuoba wants to establish hegemony, how can he bypass this hurdle?
Houyan has strong national strength, many heirs of Murong Chui, and many talents. Once the Later Yan completed the integration of power, how could the weak Northern Wei have a chance of surviving? In this way, Tuoba Jue seized the opportunity of Murong Chui's old age and slowly consumed the big tree of Houyan.
In 395, Murong Chui took the crown prince Murong Bao as the main commander, and took Murong Nong and Murong Lin to the expedition, with 80,000 troops. Murong De and Murong Shao led 18,000 soldiers and horses to follow, and the whole army approached 100,000 and killed the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The 100,000 Yan army is the elite of a hundred battles, and it is the family base of Murong Chui who established Houyan, and its combat effectiveness is very strong. Murong Nong, Murong Lin, Murong De, and Murong Shao are also a generation of famous generals, but Murong Bao is not strong, otherwise Tuoba Jue will end up worrying.
When Tuoba Jue heard that the Yan army was coming, he took the initiative to abandon the capital and retreat to the west of the Yellow River to lure the enemy deeper. After Murong Bao captured more than 30,000 households in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the whole army pursued and confronted Tuoba Jue across the river, preparing for a decisive battle.
The two sides confronted each other across the river, and Tuoba Jue used his strategic skills to send cavalry to cut off the Yan army's grain route, and captured the envoy from Zhongshan, so that Murong Bao lost contact with his father. Then, Tuoba Jue forced the envoy to the riverbank to spread the news of Murong Dying's death.
When the Yan army went out, Murong Chui was already terminally ill and could die at any time. At this time, the connection between Murong Bao and the capital was cut off, and it was impossible to judge whether the information was true or false, but Yan Junren was panicked. Murong Lin couldn't get used to Murong Bao, and he was clamoring to leave, and Yan Jun had no fighting spirit.
Murong Bao had no choice but to burn down the camp and retreat overnight. Tuoba Jue seized the opportunity of the Yellow River to freeze, personally led 20,000 elite cavalry to launch a pursuit, and seized the commanding heights of Shenhepi in advance, but Murong Bao knew nothing.
At dawn the next day, when the Yan army was still sleepy-eyed, Tuoba Jue personally charged and rushed from the top of the mountain. The Yan army was defenseless, the formation was chaotic, and they fled one after another, the soldiers fell into the water, the horses trampled on the people, and tens of thousands of people were killed and wounded.
Luoyang Gong Tuoba Zun led 2,000 cavalry, set up a formation on the retreat of the Yan army in advance, captured more than 40,000 Yan troops, and less than 3,000 escaped. In the fierce battle, Murong Shao broke through to cover the prince and died on the battlefield, and Murong Bao fled on horseback.
In this battle, the Yan army was almost completely annihilated, in addition to 40,000 soldiers were captured, there were thousands of high-ranking civil and military officials, and Hou Yan was wounded. Shi Zai: "There are thousands of civil and military generals such as the king of Luyang, the king of Guilin, the king of Guilin, and the Yin Guo of Jiyin, and there are thousands of soldiers and armor and food. ”
At first, Tuoba Jue also wanted to release the 40,000 Yan army, but felt that what Wang Jian said made sense, so he killed all of them in Shenhepi. At this point, Murong Chui's entrepreneurial veterans have lost everything, and Yan Jun has a "fear of Wei" mentality.
Murong Trai was unwilling to fail, how could a generation of war gods leave regrets in their old age. Moreover, if you don't clean up Tuoba, Houyan will become a lamb to be slaughtered in the Northern Wei Dynasty after a hundred years. In this way, Murong Chui decided to personally conquer and let Murong Long go south from Longcheng and transfer the Longcheng cavalry.
In 396, Murong Chui personally conquered, dug Taihang Mountain, directly killed Pingcheng, beheaded the general Tuoba Qian, and captured more than 30,000 people. When Tuoba Jue learned that Murong was coming, he fled again, avoiding the fight. However, when Murong Chui saw the tragic situation of Shenhepi, he was furious and his condition worsened, so he could only return to the court and died of illness halfway.
Murong Chui died and Murong Bao succeeded to the throne, which was a great joy for the Northern Wei Dynasty. Tuoba Jue immediately led 400,000 horses, pulled all the men to the battlefield, and killed them directly to Hebei, starting the battle of the destroyed Houyan.
Tuoba Jue has strong military ability, Murong Bao is mediocre, and there is no suspense about victory or defeat. For more than a year, Tuoba Jue perished Houyan and seized Hebei and Shandong, and Murong Xianbei fell to the bottom again.
From the peak to its demise, Houyan was planted in the hands of Tuoba Jue in just 2 years, and as for the Southern Yan and Northern Yan established by the remnants of Murong Xianbei, they were no longer worthy of being the opponents of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 410, Liu Yu destroyed Nanyan; In 436, Tuoba Tao destroyed the Northern Yan.
Tuoba Jue wiped out the Later Yan, which was already the first power in the north, and it was only a matter of time before the Northern Wei unified the Yellow River Valley. Yao Xing of Later Qin was also a generation of heroes, but he was not Tuoba Jue's opponent, and he was beaten in the Battle of Chaibi and "hugged the river and cried", and he did not dare to cross the river to rescue Yao Ping, and the Qin army was annihilated.
Helian Bobo (Liu Bobo), it's okay to harass Yao Xing, but it's no fun to fight Tuoba Jue. Tuoba Jue exterminated the Xiongnu Tiefu Department, his father Liu Weichen and his more than 5,000 tribesmen were killed, Helian Bobo had a deep hatred with the Northern Wei Dynasty, but he did not dare to provoke Tuoba Jue and find justice for his grandfather.
Tuoba Jue was able to establish the Northern Wei Dynasty without the help of his uncle Murong Chui, but Tuoba Jue still stepped on the body of Houyan and established his own dynasty. From the perspective of relatives, Tuoba Jue is ashamed of Murong Chui; From the perspective of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba just did what he had to do, which is the law of survival in troubled times.
Murong Chui is not like this. Fu Jian was kind to Murong Chui, did not kill him because of Wang Meng's "golden knife plan", and let him hold important positions with heavy troops. However, Murong Chui's "Han Bai everywhere" pitted Fu Jian; After the Battle of Weishui, Murong Chui killed Fu Feilong again, revived the Yan Kingdom in the eastern part of the country, and was so angry that Fu Jian scolded, saying that Murong Chui was old and a thief.
The kings of the Tuoba and Murong Chudu eras successfully "restored" the country after the Battle of Weishui, and they were very skilled. Murong Chui lost to age, and he started his business at the age of 58, and he didn't have time to consolidate his results; Tuoba rose before he was 16 years old and rebuilt the "Dai Guo", and there was time to achieve great things.