479 AD
Xiao Daocheng established Southern Qi: to save money and not eat meat
In 479, Xiao Daocheng forced the Song Shun Emperor Liu Zhunchan to take the throne, established himself as emperor, and established Southern Qi.
Calling Emperor Xiao Daochenggui the King of Qi, who specialized in imperial politics, caused dissatisfaction among many people. The famous general Shen Youyi was loyal to the Song Chamber and prepared to unite many people to fight xiao Daocheng. In December 477, Shen Youzhi and others raised an army, and when Xiao Daocheng learned of this, he immediately ordered the army to fight back. Shen Youzhi's army was unable to break the siege for a long time, morale was low, and gradually fled, and Shen Youzhi had no choice but to return to Jiangling (江陵, in present-day Jingzhou, Hubei). On the way, he heard that Gangneung had been occupied, and he was cornered and committed suicide. At this point, xiao Daocheng's obstacle to becoming emperor was completely cleared.
After the abdication of Emperor Shun of Song, Xiao Daocheng officially became emperor. He reigned for only three years, and his achievements were remarkable. The first is to sum up the lessons of the demise of Liu Song and advocate frugality. As a powerful courtier of the previous dynasty, Xiao Daocheng had a lot of experience of the drawbacks of Liu Song's rule. After the establishment of Southern Qi, he summed up the lessons of Liu Song's failure, and once instructed the crown prince Xiao Yi to be vigilant against the lessons of fratricide in Liu Song's clan and to love his brothers. Xiao Daocheng also advocated frugality, changing the gold, silver, and copper things in the palace to iron products, so that all the private workshops that produced gold leaf and silver leaf stopped production. Xiao Daocheng has done the ultimate in slamming the door and eats vegetarian food every day. He not only led by example, but also set strict demands on the people. In order to promote frugality, he issued 17 prohibitions, and those who wore embroidered shoes at that time were not allowed to go to the streets. At the same time, Southern Qi also leniented punishments, so that the people could recuperate and recuperate, and the economy developed.
Secondly, to rectify the household registration, Xiao Daocheng accepted the suggestion of the minister Yu Juzhi and implemented the "Nationality Inspection Law", taking the household registration of Yuan Jia in the twenty-seventh year (450) as the standard, setting up a procurator to sort out the household registration, and those whose household registration was untrue were along the Huai River.
In order to strengthen the defense, Xiao Daocheng also re-strengthened Jiankang City, making it a real fortress. He ordered the outer city made of fences to be torn down and replaced with bricks. It also changed the style of Jiankang City, forming a structure based on the central axis and symmetrical left and right buildings.
In 482, Xiao Daocheng died of illness. The Southern Qi he established lasted only 23 years, the shortest-lived of the four southern dynasties. Even so, Southern Qi still had a certain influence in history: the power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was controlled by the shi clan, known as "door valve politics". And Xiao Daocheng is not a traditional scholar, but a military origin. He rose to power by leading his troops and established political power. After the establishment of Southern Qi, Xiao Daocheng used the Han clan, which opened up a passage for the Han clan to rise. Xiao Daocheng's reign provided an example for the later Qiwu Emperor Xiao Zhao to inherit. Southern Qi thus appeared taiping rule. Although its reign was short, it played a role in the economic development of the south.
The later rulers of Southern Qi acted absurdly and chaotically. The ruling mistakes of Southern Qi, objectively speaking, provided a reference for later rulers. It was precisely with experience and lessons that the later Sui and Tang Dynasties were able to achieve institutional changes.
Conclusion: After Xiao Daocheng established Southern Qi, he vigorously developed the economy through frugality and rectification of household registration, laying the foundation for the later southward shift of the economic center of gravity in the south.
Northern Qi, Southern Qi, silly and unclear!
494 AD
Xiao Luan established himself as emperor
In October 494, Xiao Luan, the Prince of Southern Qi and King of Xuancheng, deposed the young emperor Xiao Zhaowen and established himself as emperor as the third son of Emperor Gao of Qi, changing yuan jianwu to Emperor Qiming.
Xiao Luan sat on the throne on the corpses of two emperors, one was Xiao Zhaoye and the other was Xiao Zhaowen. In July 493, Emperor Wu xiao zhao was critically ill, and before his death, he entrusted Xiao Luan to assist the emperor's grandson Xiao Zhaoye to ascend the throne.
Xiao Luan grew up as a brother who grew up with Emperor Qiwu. Xiao Luan lost his father as a teenager and was raised by his uncle Xiao Daocheng, the father of Emperor Wu of Qi, who regarded him as his own. Xiao Daocheng immediately claimed that the empress dowager made Xiao Luan the Marquis of Xichang, and made him a servant and participated in the affairs of the dynasty. During Xiao Zhao's reign, Xiao Luan again made important posts in the financial, taxation, military, and government departments of Southern Qi. It can be seen that Xiao Daocheng and Xiao Zhao's father and son have great trust in him, and Xiao Luan does have a certain ability.
The reason why Xiao Zhao entrusted Xiao Zhaoye to Xiao Luan was also no way. In the first month of the year of his death, his eldest son, Xiao Changmao, died of illness. Xiao Changmao was the crown prince, and after his death, there were two new crown princes, one was Xiao Zhaoye, the eldest son of Xiao Changmao, and the other was Xiao Zhaoliang, the second son of Xiao Zhao.
Xiao Ziliang was older, and through the history of Huang Andhuang, he was surrounded by a group of talented scholars, such as Shen Yue, Xie Xian, Wang Rong, etc., who were known as the leaders of the literary circles of the Southern Dynasty, but Xiao Ziliang had a problem, he was too obsessed with asking immortals and asking questions, eating the Buddha, and often summoned a group of courtiers and monks to gather in his mansion to fast and chant, and Emperor Qiwu was afraid that he would not have the ability to govern the country. Later, when Emperor Wu of Liang was seriously ill, Wang Rong, who was then Zhongshulang, also tried to support Xiao Ziliang with a false edict, but was discovered by Xiao Luan, who failed and lost his life.
Xiao Zhaoye, who was young, had to give him a right arm, and Emperor Qiwu chose Xiao Luan. On his deathbed, he appointed Xiao Luan as a servant and a shang shu ling. Shortly after Xiao Zhaoye ascended the throne, he was made a general of the Zhen Army, and Qi's political affairs were all decided by Xiao Luan.
It should be objectively said that Xiao Luan's seizure of power was not all caused by his greed for power, but mainly because Xiao Zhaoye was really an unsupportable Ah Dou, spending all day eating, drinking and having fun, as if to make up for the hardships of pretending to be filial piety in front of his father and grandfather. There are several examples to prove it. One is that after he succeeded to the throne, he especially liked to spend money, especially to reward the people around him, which were often hundreds of thousands of rewards. In less than a year, the hundreds of millions of dollars saved by Emperor Qiwu were squandered by him, and many treasures were smashed and played with by him, trying to have fun. He also liked cockfighting and running naked, often spending thousands of dollars to buy cockfighting, and often hanging naked and wearing small pants in the palace. In addition, his private life was very promiscuous, he had an affair with huo shi, the favorite concubine of his deceased father Xiao Changmao, and the palace was still in and out of the nuns from time to time.
This kind of behavior, Xiao Luan also endured for a long time without a seizure. Xiao Zhaoye's repeated exhortations were ignored by Xiao Zhaoye, and Xiao Luan was angry enough to kill the eunuchs Xu Longju and Qimu Zhenzhi, who were playing for the tiger around Xiao Zhaoye. Xiao Zhaoye did not dare to disobey on the surface, but in his heart he had begun to be dissatisfied with Xiao Luan, and he was also afraid that Xiao Luan would usurp the throne and stand on his own. So be prepared to strike first.
The first trick that Xiao Zhaoye thought of was to kill Xiao Luan. At that time, Zhongshu Ling He Yin was the cousin of Empress He Jingying and was deeply trusted by Xiao Zhaoye. Xiao Zhaoye found He Yin and plotted to kill Xiao Luan, but as a result, He Yin was timid and hesitant, and in the end things were not done, and the news was leaked. Xiao Zhaoye then planned to use the second trick to arrange Xiao Luan to the remote Xizhou, so that he could not control the affairs of the DPRK.
Xiao Luan already felt something was wrong at this time. This little emperor was immoral and incompetent, he could not bear it, and he could not bear to destroy the Great Wall and destroy Xiao's family business.On July 20, 494, Xiao Luan launched a coup d'état to kill Xiao Zhaoye. The next day, in the name of Empress Dowager Wang Baoming, he issued an edict posthumously demoting Xiao Zhaoye as the King of Yuling, and proposing to make Xiao Zhaowen, the second son of Xiao Changmao and the Prince of Xin'an, emperor. Four days later, Xiao Zhaowen, who was only fourteen years old, succeeded to the throne, promoted Xiao Luan to the position of Taifu, led the general and Yangzhou Mu, and became the King of Xuancheng.
At this time, Xiao Luan had already tasted the taste of supreme power and began to covet the throne. Although Xiao Zhaowen was on the throne, the power of the government was in the hands of Xiao Luan, and even Xiao Zhaowen's living and eating had to seek Xiao Luan's permission. Once Xiao Zhaowen wanted to eat steamed fish, taiguan ling said that he did not get Xiao Luan's order, and even did not give him food.
On October 10 of the same year, Xiao Luan could not hold back, and once again issued an edict under the guise of the empress dowager, saying that Xiao Zhaowen was young and sick, did not know political affairs, and was difficult to take on heavy responsibilities, deposed him from the throne, and demoted him to the throne of Hailing, and Luan entered the palace as Xiao Daocheng's third son to succeed to the throne.
Conclusion: Xiao Luan's self-proclaimed status as emperor undermined the imperial orthodoxy of southern Qi and triggered a rebellion by Wang Jingze afterwards. After his son Xiao Baojuan succeeded to the throne, he was suspicious and killed innocents indiscriminately, which eventually led to Xiao Yan's rebellion and the destruction of the country in Southern Qi.
Xiao Luan: Lost his parents and was raised by his uncle, in order to seize the throne, killed all of his uncle's descendants
Xiao Luan's last days: killing the clan again, countering the rebellion, and paving the way for Xiao Baojuan
495 AD
Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization Reform: Hu People Change Customs
In 495, Tuoba Hong, the Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, announced the relocation of the capital to Luoyang, officially implementing the policy of Sinicization.
At the beginning of Emperor Xiaowen's reign, Empress Feng, who really controlled the government, was a Huhua Han, and in order to strengthen the centralization of power and consolidate her own position, Empress Feng implemented the Han system. After Emperor Xiaowen seized real power, he continued to implement the sinicization policy according to the will of his grandmother Empress Feng. In addition, he was influenced by Empress Feng, and he read poetry and books since he was a child, and especially liked Han culture. Therefore, for him, the implementation and optimization of the Hanhua policy is imperative.
Emperor Xiaowen was worried about being opposed by his subjects, so he made some preparations to carry out Sinicization reforms. First of all, Emperor Xiaowen wanted to move the capital to Luoyang, because he felt that luoyang had more Han Chinese and could learn the orthodox Han culture. So he thought of the excuse that he could use the Southern Expedition and first moved south with a large army. However, as soon as he proposed the idea, Emperor Xiaowen encountered opposition from many ministers, including the important ministers Tuoba Cheng and Taiwei Tuoba Pi. These ministers objected because since the promulgation of the System of The Servants, soldiers no longer needed to plunder the city to obtain money, and they could live on the salary paid by the government. So they are content with the status quo and lack interest in the South China Plan.
Emperor Xiaowen was helpless, so he ordered Tai Chang to calculate a gua at the moment and calculate the "ge" gua. Tuoba Cheng and others believed that Gua Xiang represented that the Northern Wei Dynasty needed reforms in order to strengthen the national fortunes. Only then did he change his mouth and agree to the South Expedition.
That night, Emperor Xiaowen found Tuoba Cheng and told him that the Southern Expedition was actually an excuse to move the capital, hoping that Tuoba Cheng could support him. Tuoba Cheng learned that Emperor Xiaowen's southern expedition was false and the reform was true, and decided to support Emperor Xiaowen's reform. Therefore, he stayed in Pingcheng as a countermeasure when Emperor Xiaowen led the Southern Expedition, testing the ideas of the Xianbei nobles and recommending them to learn Han culture.
On the other side, Emperor Xiaowen led his troops to the south and deliberately took the route to Luoyang. The soldiers who trekked all the way through the mountains and rivers gradually could not stand the long distance and put forward the proposal of the garrison to rest and recuperate. Emperor Xiaowen "logically" led the army to settle in Luoyang, and pretended to ask the soldiers, are you going to continue to move forward? Or will you move the capital to Luoyang and then think about it in the long run? These tired soldiers heard about it and chose to stay in Luoyang.
Therefore, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang. In order to solve the problem of Luoyang's lack of warhorses, Emperor Xiaowen also moved the Hexi Ranch south and established the Heyang Ranch (present-day MengXian County, Henan) in the north of Luoyang, ensuring the military strength of the capital.
The humble nobles who arrived in Luoyang, because they listened to Tuoba Cheng's advice, did not reject Han culture. In addition, in order to smoothly promote the integration of Hu and Han, Emperor Xiaowen led the Xianbei nobles to marry the Han family with the example of himself and his five younger brothers. At the same time, the "Nine Pins Zhongzheng System" of the two Jin Dynasties was adopted, so that the Xianbei nobles and the northern Han clans enjoyed a very high status. The Xianbei nobles believed that their status had improved after the Han system, and they gradually accepted the Sinicization policy.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Xiaowen's self-proclaimed perfect Sinicization policy was met with a backlash from border generals. Dissatisfied with the policy, they sent troops to rebel against the imperial court. The military unit "Six Towns" in the north, located north of Pingcheng and south of the Border of Ruoran, guarded the border and defended the country. Since the announcement of the Sinicization policy and the relocation of the capital to Luoyang, the "Six Towns" have been far from the capital, and their status is far inferior to that of the Sinicized Xianbei nobles and Han clans, and even those who have been sent to the "Six Towns" to serve in the army believe that they have been assigned to the frontier and no longer have a sense of glory. Therefore, the "Six Towns" accumulated a strong sense of resistance, and after the death of Emperor Xiaowen, war broke out, almost destroying the national strength of northern Wei and becoming the end of this Sinicization reform.
Conclusion: The Sinicization reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty achieved the integration of Hu and Han, but almost subverted the Northern Wei Dynasty.