As we all know, the Sinicization reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty eliminated the Han people's bad feelings towards the rulers of the "Hu" nationality, eliminated the most difficult ethnic boundaries in the Central Plains in the past, and promoted ethnic integration.
Not only that, at the same time as the Sinicization reform, Emperor Xiaowen also changed the official system, so that the original chaotic Xianbei old system could be orderly; The law was changed to abolish torture such as beheading and beheading, and removing cruel laws such as clan punishment and sitting; It also promulgated the Juntian Decree, which fundamentally changed the economic structure of Xianbei......
It can be said that Emperor Xiaowen revitalized the rigid slave Xianbei dynasty through reforms. It should be a matter of course to unify the north and south of the great river, and it should come naturally before the appearance of the Great Sui and Tang Dynasty.
However, only twenty-five years after the death of Emperor Xiaowen, the Six Towns Rebellion broke out, and thirty-five years later, the Northern Wei Dynasty collapsed. Why was the reform so successful, and why did the Northern Wei Dynasty only last for more than 30 years?
If it is explained in one sentence, it is entrusted to non-people!
Prince Yuanke was not his first choice, not even his second choice.
The former crown prince Yuan Sui was first deposed and then given death because of his opposition to his reforms. And his second choice, Pengcheng Wang Yuanxian, refused to obey the edict again.
Yuan Xian was the sixth brother of Emperor Xiaowen and one of the two most trusted clans of Emperor Xiaowen in his later years, the other being Yuancheng, the king of Rencheng, both of whom were the most active supporters of Emperor Xiaowen's reform and made significant contributions to the reform.
The history books say that Yuan Xian was studious and diligent all his life, had good conduct, was honest and honest, loyal to the country, filial piety to his mother, benevolence to the people, brother to brother, and friend, and was worthy of the previous generation of virtuous kings and a perfect person.
But he has a small shortcoming, that is, he is "pedantic", foolish and loyal, and pedantic.
In the twenty-first year of Taihe (497), Emperor Xiaowen sent troops to attack Qi, so that Yuan Cheng stayed behind, and Yuan Xian was the general of the Chinese army and accompanied him on the expedition. In the following year, Emperor Xiaowen was seriously ill, and Yuan Xian not only served the decoction in person, but also set up an altar to worship heaven and earth, and was willing to exchange his life for the life of the emperor's brother Yangshou.
According to the story of Zhou Gong, he sued heaven and earth, and asked for his life, begging for his life...... He often sits on the side, day and night, and must taste it first, and then enter the palace with his hands. ”
- Book of Wei
In the twenty-third year, Emperor Xiaowen returned to the south, and on the way he instructed Yuan Xian: "The heir is young and weak, and the society depends on you." "And let him be the auxiliary king, the general affairs of the military state.
At that time, Yuan Ke was seventeen years old, although the prince had few opportunities to contact the government for the short day, but he had reached the age of pro-government, and Emperor Xiaowen could say such words as "the heir is young and weak", which obviously contained the meaning of "if he is not talented, he can take it himself".
But Yuan Xian resolutely resigned.
And the reason is just that he is afraid that he will get the name of "shaking the Lord", "the crime must be punished", he also cited historical events as an example, saying that "the great sage of the former Zhou Dynasty, becoming the king to the bright, is still doubtful, and the situation is subordinate!" ”
Emperor Xiaowen thought about it again and again, and finally agreed to his request, but he still felt uneasy, so he personally wrote an edict to the prince, asking him to listen to Yuan Xian's opinions in everything, and not to revert to the story of the king to be jealous of Ji Dan, and he could allow his uncle to resign and retire after a hundred years.
Yuan Xian's concerns were not unreasonable, Emperor Xiaowen died on the way back to Luoyang, and he was the only one with his relatives, and his identity was "the envoy and the governor of the Chinese and foreign military", Hugh said that the officials of the East Palace were afraid that he was ambitious, and even his brother Xianyang Wang Yuanxi was also prepared in Luoyang to prevent him from carrying out a coup d'état.
As long as he doesn't have the intention to replace him, it is impossible to be at ease with the auxiliary government.
After Yuan Ke ascended the throne, he asked him to be the prime minister, and he repeatedly asked to act according to his will. In the end, Yuan Ke asked him to go to Dingzhou to do the assassination history, and stayed away from the court. At this time, Emperor Xuanwu still understood and respected this uncle. Of course, this also has a lot to do with his resolute resignation from the edict of the auxiliary king and Emperor Xiaowen.
Seeing that Yuan Xian was unwilling to assist the government, Emperor Xiaowen also made "proper arrangements", he first gave Empress Feng (Empress Dowager Feng's niece) to commit suicide, in case she would hang the curtain and be honored in the future, which was also a tradition of the Northern Wei Dynasty; Then, he left Yuan Cheng and six others as auxiliary ministers.
But what he thought was a proper arrangement was very unreliable.
Emperor Xiaowen's designated ministers were Rencheng Wang Yuancheng, Xianyang Wang Yuanxi, Beihai Wang Yuanshen (brother of Xianyang Wang), Guangyang Wang Yuanjia (grandson of Emperor Taiwu, an elder in the clan) and Wang Su and Song Ben.
Although Yuan Cheng is not a jealous and jealous person, he is a cautious eye, and he will repay him, and he is very unconvinced by Wang Su because of old trivial things. Before Emperor Xiaowen's bones were cold, he claimed that Wang Su had rebelled and immediately restricted his actions on the basis of a false accusation against him.
However, Xianyang Wang Xi was afraid of this talented cousin, so he took the opportunity to find out that Wang Su did not rebel, and dismissed Yuan Cheng's official on the charge of "prohibiting Zaifu without permission" and drove him to Yongzhou to do the assassination.
Beihai Wang Yuanshen is a pure martial artist, archery is very powerful, when Emperor Xiaowen let his brothers and courtiers test archery, only he hit a hundred shots. But he has no political acumen, walks his dogs, grabs people's fields, and digs people's ancestral graves, so that the people's resentment boils, and he is extremely unpopular with the people.
Guangyang Wang Jia is a soy sauce player, although he has a gentle temperament, is respected because of his seniority, and is easy to get along with, but he has no opinions, no sense of existence, and is like a shadow.
And Song Ben died less than a year after the death of Emperor Xiaowen.
Between several ministers, there are either many contradictions, or they have done nothing, and it is obviously impossible to rely on them to assist the young master.
In the first year of Jingming (500), Pei Shuye, the general of Shouyang of Southern Qi, surrendered to Wei, and Emperor Xuanwu ordered Yuan Xian and Wang Su to lead troops to Huainan. Soon, Yuan Xian returned to Luoyang to take the credit of Shouyang and served as a nominal Situ; Wang Su was transferred to Yangzhou to guard Shouyang. The following year, Wang Su died in Shouyang.
The six ministers who care for their lives are almost only one Xianyang King left.
However, Yuanxi is an arrogant, lascivious, greedy and lawless person.
At the beginning of the second year of Jingming, Yuanxi sent domestic slaves to lead the army to Yu Lie, and asked him to be the honor guard of the Yulin Army. Yu Lie didn't give it. Yuan Xi sent someone again, saying that he was the uncle of the Son of Heaven, and he spoke like an edict. Yu Lie still didn't give it. Yuan Xi was angry and was transferred to Yu Lie to be the assassin of Hengzhou. Yu Lie said that he was sick and closed his door.
Yu Lie's son, Yu Zhong, is a general of the Su Guard and a close minister of the emperor. So, Yu Lie asked his son to persuade Emperor Xuanwu to govern as soon as possible to prevent incidents.
Yuan Shen and Yuan Xi were brothers, but they disagreed, and he also took the opportunity to expose his brother's evil to the emperor, and said that King Pengcheng was very popular and should not be an auxiliary government.
Emperor Xuanwu took the opportunity to order Yu Lie to bring more than 60 guards to the Zhige, and summoned Yuan Xian, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shen into the palace, announced that they were pro-government, and then politely dismissed Yuan Xian; Jin Yuanxi was the Taibao, promoted but seized power; Shengyuanxiang is a general, and he is still a scholar, which can be regarded as reuse.
Although the seizure of power was not bloody, it was a real palace coup. The leading guards sent the prince into the palace, and everyone who saw it thought it was an "escort", and those who were a little nervous, such as Shangshu Zhang Yi and Xing Luan, were afraid of being implicated, and once escaped from Luoyang City.
Emperor Xuanwu was in power, but the insatiable King of Beihai was the prime minister, and the left and right cronies of the Son of Heaven, Ru Hao, Wang Zhongxing, Kou Meng, Zhao Xiu, Zhao Yong, etc., all used power and affairs, and Wei's politics was getting worse and worse.
In particular, his cousin Gao Zhao single-handedly worsened the Northern Wei court.
Gao Zhao is Emperor Xuanwu's uncle, and his sister is Emperor Xuanwu's biological mother Gao, and in the twenty-first year of Taihe, Gao died suddenly on the way from Pingcheng to Luoyang. This is the poisonous hand of Empress Feng, so that in the future, the Gao family will not compete with him for the position of the queen mother.
But her mind was in vain, because Emperor Xiaowen was worried that she would gain power, so he gave her to death before she died.
Before Emperor Xuanwu ascended the throne, because of the existence of Empress Feng, he had never met with the Gao family, and after he ascended the throne, he summoned Gao Zhao, Gao Xian and their nephew Gao Meng.
The Gao family was not a high-ranking nobleman, but suddenly became wealthy, and was at a loss for a while, and when he entered the palace, he had a lot of foreign appearances, which was cited as a joke by the people of the time. Although their status is high, they do not have much power, especially they are not looked down upon by the princes of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
However, the rebellion of King Xianyang that occurred in the second year of Jingming made Emperor Xuanwu even more suspicious of the clan, and the power of Gao Zhao and other relatives also rose.
Yuan Xi has been worried about his fate since he lost power, and his subordinate Liu Xiaogou often told him some "news" from the palace, saying that the emperor advocated killing him left and right. Yuan Xi was even more afraid, so he discussed rebellion with his brother-in-law Li Boshang and Yang Jishi, the king of Di.
In May, it happened that Emperor Xuanwu went to the north to hunt, and they closed the city gates, discussed raising troops, and at the same time made the eldest son Yuan Tong go to Hanoi to raise troops.
After Yuan Tong left, they had a repetition and different opinions, and Yuan Xi had to decide not to do anything for the time being. Unexpectedly, as soon as Yang Jishi went out, he rushed to Beibei to denounce. At this time, Yuan Tong was in Hanoi, freeing prisoners and distributing weapons, which was in full swing.
When Emperor Xuanwu got the news, he immediately sent someone to take Yuan Xi, and after personal interrogation, he ordered him to commit suicide, and Yuan Tong was also killed by the Hanoi magistrate.
After Yuanxi's death, Emperor Xuanwu relied more and more on Gao Zhao. Because Gao Zhao had very few relatives in the DPRK and China, he tried to win over a group of people and attack a group of people. Zhao Xiu, a free-rider, and Yuanshen, the king of Beihai, were successively knocked down by him, and Ru Hao, Liu Guan, Chang Jixian, Chen Saojing and others were also falsely accused and executed by him for "plotting rebellion" with Yuan Shen.
After that, Gao Zhao persuaded Emperor Xuanwu to guard against the kings of the clan. Emperor Xuanwu obeyed, and he sent Su guards to garrison the palaces of the kings, and from then on, the prince's situation was almost no different from that of a prisoner. Pengcheng Wang Yuanxian's advice was ineffective, and he was depressed in his heart, so he could only close the door.
However, Gao Zhao's arrogance became more and more arrogant, he lived in Shangshuling, and married Princess Gaoping, the aunt of Emperor Xuanwu; The niece first became a nobleman when she entered the palace, and then became a queen. It is said that Queen Yu at that time was killed by Gao Zhao.
In August of the first year of Yongping (508), King Yuanyu (uncle of Emperor Xuanwu and brother of Yuan Xian) was beaten by Empress Gao because of his concubine Li, and he himself was beaten by Emperor Xuanwu with five canes, so he rebelled.
Emperor Xuanwu didn't want to kill him, but he just sent him to Luoyang to be imprisoned, but he didn't want to be intercepted and killed by Gao Zhao secretly on the way.
Before Yuan Yu was defeated and died, Yuan Xun was killed because he was implicated. Changle Taishou Pan Seng Gu is the person he recommends. The governors of Changle and Jizhou were both in Xindu, and after the rebellion, Pan Shenggu was involved. Gao Zhao was originally the most jealous of King Pengcheng, and he slandered him many times, but Emperor Xuanwu didn't believe it.
However, this time he has a nose and an eye, and he said that King Pengcheng not only connected Yuanyu in the north, but also contacted the Shaomin in the south, with bad intentions. Pengcheng Wang's subordinates Wei Yan and Gao Zuzhen were bribed by him and came forward to testify. Emperor Xuanwu didn't believe it at first, but when he saw a witness, he believed it, so he sent poisoned wine and forced King Pengcheng to commit suicide.
King Pengcheng refused to drink it, saying, "The Supreme Sage, he will not kill me for no reason, someone must make false accusations." He repeatedly demanded that he argue with the informant. The messenger refused, and ordered the samurai to ring his sword. King Pengcheng was helpless and shouted: "Wronged emperor! Loyal and killed! Under the heavy blow of the knife ring, he could only drink the poisoned wine. The messenger was afraid that he would not die, so he ordered the samurai to add a sword. After dawn, it was only said that he died drunk, and sent someone to wrap the body in a quilt and send it back to the house.
Emperor Xuanwu also pretended to be sad in an attempt to hide people's eyes. However, everyone in the world knows that "Gao Linggong killed the virtuous king in vain!" ”
The wicked have their own harvest. In the first month of the fourth year of Yanchang (514), Emperor Xuanwu died of illness, and the six-year-old crown prince Yuanxu ascended the throne. Yu Zhong, the leading general, consulted with Cui Guang in the service and asked Wang Yuanyong of Gaoyang and Wang Yuancheng of Rencheng to come out to preside over political affairs.
At this time, Gao Zhaozheng led the troops to attack Yizhou, and he received a document calling him back to Beijing, although he knew that it was not good, but he did not have the courage to rebel, so he had to return to Beijing and enter the palace. Yuan Yong and Yu Zhong had already arranged it, ambushed more than a dozen armor soldiers, and killed him in the mourning hall without much effort.
Gao Zhao's autocratic power, counting from the pro-government of Emperor Xuanwu, in the first and last fourteen years, the political atmosphere of the Northern Wei Dynasty has been extremely corrupt. In the future, there will be a pile of problems, and it will never be able to restore the prosperity of Taihe.
In particular, Emperor Xuanwu was on his deathbed and changed the ancestral system of the Northern Wei Dynasty to set up a son and kill his mother, which led to the evil Empress Dowager Hu coming to power, and finally buried the entire Northern Wei Dynasty.
Although Emperor Xiaowen is martial and strategic, he is doing everything, but he is not a person.