As the first feudal regime of the Northern Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Northern Wei Dynasty once swept through the northern princes, and after the Former Qin, it once again unified the north, forming a confrontation with the Southern Dynasty for nearly a hundred years.
In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, with the intensification of infighting and social contradictions among the ruling class, the Uprising of the Six Towns in the North broke out, and the forces such as Erzhu Rong, Gao Huan, and Yuwen Tai rose, and the Northern Wei state was in decline and crumbling.
The protagonist of this article, Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei, Yuan Xiu, ascended the throne as emperor in this crisis-ridden predicament, and began the path of the sad end of the emperor who tried to save the crisis but was criticized and finally led to the death of the country.
1. Take refuge in the countryside and be afraid to ascend to the throne
In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the political situation was turbulent. In 528, the Northern Wei chancellor Erzhu Rong created the "Heyin Revolution", slaughtering more than 2,000 imperial nobles and courtiers, and then established Emperor Xiaozhuang's son Yuan Ziyou on the throne.
Two years later, Emperor Xiaozhuang was dissatisfied with Erzhu Rong's monopoly of power, and designed the hand blade Erzhu Rong, and the Erzhu family frantically counterattacked, killing Emperor Xiaozhuang the following year and installing Yuan ye the Prince of Changguang as emperor. Four months later, he was deposed and replaced by Yuan Gong, the Prince of Guangling, as emperor.
The chaos of the imperial court made the Erzhu Rongbu general Gao Huan see the opportunity, he took the opportunity to raise an army, capture Luoyang, crusade and suppress the Erzhu family, in order to make the division famous, in 532, he established the Prince of Anding, Yuen Lang, as emperor, and the Northern Wei Dynasty appeared the spectacle of one dynasty and two emperors.
The mutual competition between the princes, the uncertain political situation, and the change of emperors in the marquee made the royal family and nobles all endanger themselves and flee from the refugees--the master of this article, Gong Yuanxiu, was one of the members of the fleeing nobles' team, who hid in the countryside and found a village to live in seclusion.
After Gao Huan defeated the Erzhu clan and gradually controlled the situation, he began to consider how to deal with the two emperors who stood side by side with the dynasty.
Yuan Gong was established by the Erzhu clan, of course, it could not stay. Although Yuen Long was established for himself, he was a distant branch of the royal family and could not serve the public, so it was not the best choice. So an order was issued to depose both emperors, Yuen Gong and Yuen Long.
Gao Huan initially wanted to establish Yuanyue, the son of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei and the king of Runan, but heard that he was manic and difficult to control, so he could only give up.
Later, when he found out that Wang Yuanxiu of Pingyang was hiding in the countryside, Gao Huan, through Yuanxiu's close friend Wang Sizheng, went around to find out the whereabouts of Yuanxiu and sent his minister Hu Sichun to welcome Yuanxiu and return to the imperial throne.
What kind of character was Yuan Xiu, Gao Huan had to bother to run to the countryside to find him back to the emperor's throne?
Yuan Xiu was the grandson of Emperor Xiaowen and the son of Yuan Huai the Prince of Guangping. Shi Zai "Imperial shen hou, learned, good martial arts, full of scales." ("History of the North")-----------------
In the eyes of today's people, these scaly things are just a skin disease, but in the eyes of the ancients, the long scales on the body, especially the descendants of the royal family, will naturally be associated with the legendary dragon scales, which is the fate of the precious Heavenly Son, not to mention that his grandfather is still the famous Xiaowen Emperor of Northern Wei.
However, in the face of the envoys who came to greet him, Yuan Xiu was not happy. Not only was there not a hint of joy, but he was trembling and worried. Because he understood that Gao Huan wanted a nominal puppet emperor, if he was not careful, he would not only face the danger of being deposed at any time, but also risk his life.
Therefore, when Huo Sichun explained his intentions, Yuan Xiu's face changed color in fright, and asked, "General Huo Si will not sell me, right?" Huo Sichun explained in every way, but Yuan Xiu hesitated.
Hu Sichun had to go back and tell Gao Huan about the situation. In order to dispel Yuan Xiu's doubts, Gao Huan personally brought four hundred guards to come, sincerely greeted him, and wept bitterly. Only then did Yuan Xiu half-believe and accept the edict of the throne.
"Tsubaki from the Emperor's Prince Si Zheng to see the Emperor. The emperor changed color: "Not sell me yeah? "Tsubaki is white and happy." Sending four hundred horsemen to welcome the emperor into the felt tent, Chen Cheng, weeping down. Emperor Ling Sizheng took the table and said, "Seeing, we have to call it degenerate." "So the false deposed emperor Anding Wang's edict and Zen took the throne." That is, it is located outside Dongguo. (History of the North)
In order to show his sincerity, Gao Huan also specially used the Xianbei ancient system to hold an enthronement ceremony for Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu.
2. The powerful lord suppressed and escaped from the tiger's den and entered the wolf's den
After Emperor Xiaowu ascended the throne, Gao Huan was made the Grand Chancellor, the Great General of the Heavenly Pillar, and the Taishi. Although Gao Huan was in Jinyang, the government and military power were under Gao Huan's control.
There are two main types of puppet emperors in history: one is that they are talentless and incompetent, or they are young, covet pleasures, neglect political affairs, are willing to be sidelined, and are happy to worry about themselves; one is that although they have talents, they also want to personally manage the government, and they are helpless to be suppressed by the powerful ministers, and they have weak hearts.
Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu belonged to the latter category.
Although at the beginning of his reign, he knew that he was just a "nominal" emperor, but Emperor Xiaowu was after all a hot-blooded young man in his early 20s, talented and learned, and liked martial arts, watching Gao Huan's dictatorship, the Northern Wei court was manipulated by his subordinates, but he had no power and no power, and he was at the mercy of others, this kind of feeling of not being able to exert strength became more and more uncomfortable, and the contradiction with Gao Huan gradually deepened and exposed.
In order to regain power and save the endangered Northern Wei regime, Emperor Xiaowu began to use his talents.
He first made an excuse and killed Gao Huan's close general Gao Qian, who remained in Luoyang. Killing chickens and monkeys received a certain effect, frightening Gao Qian's younger brothers Gao Gao and Gao Shen to run to Jinyang Gao Huan. But striking grass and frightening snakes also pushed the contradiction between him and Gao Huan to the light.
In order to eliminate the Gao clan's forces as soon as possible, Emperor Xiaowu secretly used the high-ranking official Houlu to secretly woo He Bayue in Guanzhong, secretly ordering He Bayue to get rid of Gao Huan, and pierced his own heart, and took out some blood to send emissaries to He Bayue.
Gao Huan saw through Emperor Xiaowu's plan, and in turn sent people to woo He Bayue's subordinate Hou Mo chen yue and implement a divisive plan, instigating Hou Mo Chen Yue to kill He Bayue.
"In the second year of Yongxi, Xiao Wu secretly ordered Yue Tuqi to be a divine warrior, so he stabbed his heart and held it to Yue." (Book of Zhou)
"Shen Wu (Gao Huan) sent Zuo Cheng Zhai Song to Guanzhong, Jian Yue and Hou Mo Zhenyue. And Yue is under the command of the divine martial arts, Mitu Yue. Yue Fu knew, and first he was pleased, and Yue Nai lured Yue into the camp and discussed military affairs together. Yue Feiyun's abdomen ached, and he rose up and xu xing, causing his son-in-law Yuan Hongjing to behead Yue in the curtain. (History of the North)
After The death of He Bayue, Emperor Xiaowu, who was still unwilling, appointed his subordinate Yuwen Tai as the Kansai Daxingtai and succeeded He Bayue.
Emperor Xiaowu was still not willing to lose through several rounds of secret battles with Gao Huan. He already knew that Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai were at odds, and decided to break the boat and sneak up on Gao Huan.
In order to hide his eyes and ears, Emperor Xiaowu summoned 100,000 troops to march out of Luoyang on the pretext of sending troops to Southern Liang, and at the same time sent a secret letter to Gao Huan, pretending to attack Guanxi Yuwentai and He Basheng first.
Gao Huan saw through Emperor Xiaowu's thoughts and immediately replied that he had sent 220,000 troops to cooperate with Emperor Xiaowu's western expedition.
At this point, the two could no longer pretend to be confused, and Emperor Xiaowu knew that since Gao Huan had seen through his plan, he would definitely not be an opponent if he fought hard. Therefore, under the persuasion of his close confidant Wang Sizheng and Shizhong Hu Sichun, he decided to defect to Yuwen Tai, intending to use Yu Wentai's power to eliminate Gao Huan and regain power.
While leading his army in pursuit, Gao Huan gave Emperor Xiaowu more than 40 tables and asked Emperor Xiaowu to return to Luoyang. However, Emperor Xiaowu did not listen to any of them, and fled wildly, and on the way, many courtiers and magnates returned to Luoyang to join Gao Huan, and finally under the assistance of Yuwen Tai's troops, Emperor Xiaowu and his party finally arrived in Chang'an. It was for 534 AD.
After Gao Huan returned to Luoyang, he soon established Yuan Shanjian (元善見), the son of Yuan Qi (元亶), the King of Qinghe, as emperor, and Northern Wei split.
Emperor Xiaowu defected to Yuwen Tai, originally wanting to use his strength to get rid of the adultery, but he did not expect to just leave the tiger's mouth and enter the wolf's den. Yuwen Tai greeted Emperor Xiaowu mainly to blackmail tianzi to order the princes to provide a legal cloak for the expansion of his power, and since Gao Huan had established a new emperor, emperor Xiaowu had no need to exist.
Two months later, Yuwen Tai killed Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu with poisoned wine, and created Emperor Xiaowen's grandson Yuan Baoju (元宝炬) emperor, known as Western Wei. The once powerful Northern Wei Dynasty was officially destroyed, and Emperor Xiaowu Became the King of northern Wei.
3, deformed emotions, harm to themselves and pit three cousins
Yuwen Tai killed Emperor Xiaowu and gave a reason: incest, which is harmful to morals and morals. What did Emperor Xiaowu do to hurt his temper and desire? Having an affair with his three cousins is also the biggest stain on him to the point of being reviled and criticized by the world.
Shi Zai "Emperor Zhi in Luoye, from the sister not to marry three: one is the Princess of the Plains Mingyue, the King of Nanyang Tongshengye; the second is princess Ande, the king of Qinghe is also a princess; the third is the princess of tribulus, also a princess." (History of the North)
When Emperor Xiaowu was in Luoyang, he ordered three cousins not to marry: one was Princess Yuan Mingyue of Pingyuan, the daughter of YuanYu the Prince of Jingzhao and the sister of Yuan Baoju, the founding emperor of Western Wei; one was Princess Ande, the daughter of Yuan Yi, the King of Qinghe; and one was named Yuan Qing, whose biological father was unknown.
Yuan Xiu's father, Yuan Huai, Yuan Mingyue's father, Yuan Yue, and Princess Ande's father, Yuan Yi, were all sons of Emperor Xiaowen. Although the father of Yuan Tribulus is not clearly recorded, he is most likely also the son of Emperor Xiaowen.
In other words, Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu and his three cousins were all grandchildren of Emperor Xiaowen.
Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxiu was called empress dowager, and the harem was beautiful like a cloud, so why did he favor the three cousins? There is no clear record of the reason in the history books.
Emperor Xiaowu was proclaimed empress dowager, a puppet at the mercy of others, and Gao Huan married his daughter to him in order to control him. But this kind of political marriage is not emotional at all.
Perhaps it was the outstanding posture of the three cousins, perhaps the emotional deformity caused by political frustration and psychological repression, or perhaps in order to avoid the eyes and ears of Gao Huan's family such as Empress Gao, he pinned his feelings on the three cousins.
And this deformed emotion not only became an excuse for Yuwen Tai to murder himself, but also killed his three cousins.
Of the three cousins, Emperor Xiaowu was the most fond of Yuan Mingyue. When he fled Chang'an, for some reason, he took only Yuan Mingyue alone, and left Princess Ande and Yuan Qingquan in Luoyang.
Yuan Tribulus was grief-stricken and hanged himself.
After Yuan Mingyue fled with Emperor Xiaowu into Chang'an, because Yuwen Tai still controlled the government, Emperor Xiaowu had nothing to do, and spent all day with Yuan Mingyue Qingqing and me, indulging in pleasure, just gave Yuwen Tai an excuse to kill. Yuwen Tai first killed Yuan Mingyue on the grounds of their incompatibility, causing Emperor Xiaowu to be dissatisfied, and then poisoned Emperor Xiaowu.
"Princess Mingyue of the Plains, the king of Nanyang Baojuzhi," from the emperor into the pass, Xiang Tai made the kings of the Yuan clan take Mingyue and kill them... The emperor drank alcohol and died when he was killed. (Zizhi Tongjian)
Princess Ande, who remained in Chang'an, survived, but suffered humiliation. In 555, after Gao Yang usurped Wei to establish Northern Qi, he hated his brother Gao Cheng and poured his anger on Gao Cheng's wife Empress Yuan and Empress Yuan's aunt Princess Ande. First, he forcibly insulted Empress Yuan, and then "took Ge as the queen, ordered Wei Ande to ride on it, made people push her, and ordered the Hu people to humiliate her." The emperor also presented himself to show the crowd. (Book of Northern Qi) - forced Princess Ender to ride on a rope made of ge hemp, ordered people to push Princess Ender hard, and ordered the Hu people to insult Princess Ender in public, and then Gao Yang personally demonstrated humiliation to his subordinates, so that Princess Ender was better off alive than dead, and suffered humiliation, which is later recorded as unknown.
Wang Fuzhi, a thinker and historian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, commented that "the fornication of cultivation is not despised by human beings." "
What do readers and friends say about Yuan Xiu, Emperor Xiaowu of northern Wei? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.
(Reference historical materials: "Northern History", "Book of Zhou", "Book of Wei", "Zizhi Tongjian", "Book of Northern Qi")
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