Like the Year of Water Flow - China's Southern and Northern Dynasties (Northern Dynasties)

The Southern and Northern Dynasties were a continuation of the confrontation between the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, and Northern Five Dynasties in the north and the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties in the south after more than 100 years of confrontation between the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which lasted for 170 years, and was a period of great division and national integration in the north and south of China.

The Northern Dynasty (386-581) was divided into Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, and Northern Wu Dynasties.　

　　The Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei tribe originally lived near the Daxing'anling Mountains in the present-day Heilongjiang and Nenjiang river basins and lived a nomadic life. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, after the Northern Xiongnu were defeated and moved west, the Tuoba tribe, under the leadership of the tribal leader Tuoba Jiefen, also gradually migrated westward into the original Northern Xiongnu garrison, that is, the Mobei region.

　　By the time of Tuoba Liwei, tuoba tribes moved south to the area of Yunzhong (present-day Tokto, Inner Mongolia), and later moved to Shengle (present-day Inner Mongolia and Linger), where they had contacts with Cao Wei and the Western Jin Dynasty, but at this time the Tuoba tribe was still in the stage of clan and tribal alliances.

Tuoba Liwei's grandson Tuoba Liwei (拓跋犄犄鲁) was made a daigong of the Western Jin Dynasty and then a daiwang by the Western Jin Dynasty for his meritorious service in helping the Western Jin Dynasty and the State Assassin Liu Kun against the Xiongnu clan Liu Cong and Shi Le of the Xiongnu clan.

After Tuoba Shiyi took the throne, he established an official system, taking a crucial step from a clan tribe to a state form.

　　Thirty-nine years after Tuoba Shiyi ascended the throne, civil unrest broke out in the Daiguo, Tuoba Shiyi was killed by his son Tuoba Yijun, and then Former Qin Zhijian destroyed the Daiguo.

After the Battle of Shuishui, with the collapse of Former Qin, the various ethnic groups that had previously been conquered by Jian Jian became independent.

　　In the first year of the reign (386), Tuoba Shiyi's grandson Tuoba Jue (guī), the grandson of Tuoba Shiyi, entangled the old ministry and held a tribal assembly at Ushikawa, that is, the restoration of the throne. In April, Tuoba Jue proclaimed himself King of Wei.

　　Northern Wei (386–534)

Tuoba Jue (386-409), the Taizu of Northern Wei, reigned for twenty-three years and was the founding emperor of Northern Wei.

　　In the first year of Tianxing (398), Tuoba Jue moved the capital to Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) and officially established the state name as Wei.

　　In the fifth year of Tianxing (402), the Leader of Ruoran, Shelun, proclaimed himself Qiudoufa Khan and established the Ruoran Khanate. Rouran constantly attacked the northern border of Northern Wei, greatly restraining the expansion of Northern Wei.

In the first year of Yongxing (409), Tuoba Jue was killed in a palace coup d'état launched by his second son Tuoba Shao the Prince of Qinghe, and his eldest son Tuoba Si killed Tuoba Shao to succeed to the throne.

Emperor Tuoba Si of the Ming Dynasty (409-423) reigned for fourteen years and was the second emperor of Northern Wei.

Tuoba Si was an accomplished emperor who had a pivotal position in the history of the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Tuoba Si conquered Rouran in the north and Liu Song in the south, attacking the city strategically, laying a solid foundation for the eventual unification of northern China by the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Northern Wei Dynasty wanted to deal with the Song state of the Southern Dynasty and the southern invasion of the Ruoran people, so it built a Great Wall in the area north of the Yin Mountains, from Chicheng (present-day Chicheng County, Hebei) in the east to Wuyuan (in present-day Qianqi, Inner Mongolia), with a length of more than a thousand kilometers, and built a series of castles in this area, of which the famous six towns were north of the Great Wall. The six military towns were Woye Town (woye town in present-day wuyuan county, Inner Mongolia) in the west, And Huaishuo Town (southwest of present-day Guyang County, Baotou City) to the east, Wuchuan Town (present-day west of Wuchuan County, Hohhot), Fumu Town (southeast of present-day Siziwangqi), Rouxuan Town (northeast of present-day Xinghe County), and Huaihuang Town (present-day Zhangbei County, Hebei). Among the six towns, except for Huaihuang Town, the rest are in Inner Mongolia. Among them, the town of Wuchuan was the birthplace of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which later influenced the direction of Chinese history.

　　In the eighth year of Taichang (423), Tuoba Si died and was succeeded by the crown prince Tuoba Tao. In this year, the Northern Wei Dynasty took advantage of the death of the Southern Song Emperor Liu Yu to invade the south, seizing the land of Hu prison, Luoyang and Shuitai in Henan.

Emperor Taiwu (423-452), reigning for twenty-nine years, was the third emperor of northern Wei and completed the great cause of unifying northern China.

In the first year of the first century (424), shortly after Tuoba Tao ascended the throne, Rouran invaded the country again. Tuoba Tao despised Rouran extremely, believing that they were intellectually inferior, fought wars only by brute force, and lost more than they won, so he mocked them as worms who could not think, and ordered the military and civilians throughout the country to insult Rouran to be renamed "worms". In order to get rid of the serious troubles in his heart, with the support of Cui Hao and others, Tuoba Tao decided to attack Rouran in the north.

In the second year of Shiguang (425), the Northern Wei Dynasty won a great victory, and the threat of Rouran was basically solved. The story of Hua Mulan serving in the army for her father in the long Northern Dynasty narrative poem "Mulan Ci" is from the period when the Northern Wei Dynasty broke through Rouran.

In the same year, Hu Xia's founder Helian Bobo fell ill and died, and his son Helian Chang succeeded to the throne.

In the fourth year of Shiguang (427), the Northern Wei army captured the Capital of Huxia, Tongwancheng (Baichengzi, Jingbian County, Shaanxi), and captured Helianchang. Helian Chang's younger brother Helian Ding fled to Pingliang (平梁, in modern Pingliang, Gansu) to take the throne.

In the third year of shenlu (430), Tuoba Tao attacked Huxia again and won the land of Guanzhong. At this time, Feng Bao of Northern Yan fell seriously ill, and his sons and his brother Feng Hong killed each other for power, Feng Bao died in fear, and Feng Hong seized power to become the new emperor.

In this year, Tuoba Tao also engaged Rouran, and the Southern Song Emperor Liu Yilong took the opportunity to revitalize the Northern Expedition (the first YuanJia Northern Expedition), which once occupied many parts of Henan, and the Wei army then launched a counterattack.

In the fourth year of Shendi (431), the Wei army regained the lost territory, and Liu Yilong was defeated and retreated. In the same year, Helian Ding was attacked by 30,000 cavalry of the Tuguhun tribe in the area of present-day Linxia in Gansu, Helian Ding was captured, and Helian Ding was sent to Northern Wei by King Tuguhun to be executed, and Bactria was declared extinct. This is the last period of the history of the Huns in China.

Subsequently, Northern Wei launched an offensive against Northern Yan and Northern Liang.

In the second year of Taiyan (436), Northern Wei attacked Northern Yan.

　　In the fifth year of Taiyan (439), Tuoba Tao destroyed Northern Liang, and northern China was once again unified.

While vigorously expanding the territory, Tuoba Tao also reused hanchen Cui Hao, Gao Yun and others to carry out reforms, and promoted the development of sinicization of the Xianbei nation. Cui Hao was an outstanding politician and military strategist of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the elder of the Three Dynasties.

In the sixth year of the Taiping Zhenjun (445), Lu Shuihu (a xiongnu) gathered a crowd against Wei.

In the process of Tuoba Tao's suppression of the Gaiwu rebellion, Cui Hao, a strong Taoist monk, saw monks hiding weapons and advocated the abolition of Buddhism. Tuoba Tao thus ordered the closure of the Chang'an Shamen, the burning of monasteries, and the destruction of Buddha statues. Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and later Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou and Emperor Wuzong of Tang both destroyed Buddhism, which is known in history as the "Scourge of the Three Martial Arts".

In the extermination of buddhism, Cui Hao's behavior caused resentment among the government and the public. Cui Hao also tried to sort out, separate and stipulate the superiority of the clan in accordance with the traditional thinking of the Han clans, and offended many humble nobles. The direct cause of Cui Hao's killing was the "Guoshu" incident.

In the "Chronicle of the State", Cui Haobing wrote a straightforward book about the history of the Tuoba clan, which was detailed and unabashed, involving the historical facts of many of the ancestors of the Great Wei Dynasty who killed and committed absurdity and fornication. Cui Hao also ordered that the contents of the book be carved on a stone tablet and erected next to the Tongqu Road, which caused discussion among pedestrians. When the Xianbei nobles saw this, they were all angry and went to Tuoba Tao to complain, and Cui Hao was arrested.

In February of the eleventh year of the Taiping Zhenjun (450), Tuoba Tao personally led a 100,000-strong southern invasion and attacked the Song City (east of Shangcai County, Henan). The Wei army could not attack for a long time, and the Song army burned the grain and grass that the Wei army transported to Ruyang, and the Wei army was forced to retreat.

In June, Tuoba Tao killed Cui Hao. Regardless of the distance of the Qinghe Cui clan, the in-laws Fanyang Lu clan, the Taiyuan Guo clan, and the Hedong Liu clan were all exterminated, and the history is called "the prison of national history". Historians generally believe that the contradiction between the Xianbei nobles and the Zhao Wei clan was the real reason for his killing.

In July, Liu Yilong attacked Wei (second Yuan Jia Northern Expedition). After a bitter battle, the two sides finally ended with a great victory in Tuoba Tao and the realization of the wish of "drinking horses on the Yangtze River".

In February of the second year of Zhengping (452), the eunuch Zong Ai was at odds with the crown prince and framed the prince and his men for intending rebellion. Tuoba Tao ordered a rectification, and the crown prince Tuoba Huang died of illness. Zong Ai was afraid of being retaliated against by Tuoba Tao and decided to strike first. Emperor Taiwu was killed at the age of forty-five.

After Emperor Taiwu's death, Shang Shu Lanyan and others believed that Tuoba Hao, the son of Crown Prince Tuoba Huang, was still young, so they recruited Tuoba Han, the third son of Emperor Taiwu, into the palace. However, Xue Ti believed that Tuoba Mao (also known as Tuoba Jun) was the grandson of the emperor and should not be deposed. Lan Yan and the others discussed it repeatedly for a long time without deciding.

Zong Ai had a close relationship with Tuoba Yu, the prince of Nan'an, the younger son of Emperor Taiwu, and took the opportunity to secretly welcome Tuoba Yu, and falsely passed on the orders of Empress Helian to summon Lan Yan and others to the palace. Zong Ai arranged in advance for thirty eunuchs to ambush them in the palace with weapons in hand, and Lan Yan and the others entered the palace, tied them up and killed them in the palace. Subsequently, Zong Ai killed Tuoba Han and established Tuoba Yu as emperor and changed his era name to Yongping. Tuoba Yu enfeoffed Zong Ai as King Feng Yi, and Zong Ai became the first eunuch in Chinese history to be crowned king.

Tuoba Yu was the fourth emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Tuoba Yu reigned only a few months ago because he was trying to regain imperial power, and Zong Ai took advantage of Tuoba Yu's opportunity to sacrifice the Zong Temple and sent Xiao Huangmen Jia Zhou and others to kill them at night. Zong Ai was also the only eunuch in Chinese history to kill two emperors.

In the palace, Shangshu Changsun Thirsty Hou and Shangshu Lu Li and others supported Tuoba Li as emperor.

Emperor Wencheng reigned for thirteen years and was the fifth emperor of Northern Wei.

In October of the first year of Xing'an (452), Tuoba Mao succeeded to the throne. Subsequently, Tuoba Mao quickly killed Zong Ai, Jia Zhou, and others, and ordered the revival of Buddhism, so that Buddhism gradually resumed its development.

In the second year of Xing'an (453), Tuoba Mao ordered the construction of the Yungang Grottoes. The Yungang Grottoes, together with the dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, the Luoyang Longmen Grottoes and the Tianshui Maijishan Grottoes, are known as the four major grotto art treasure houses in China.

In the second year of Tai'an (456), Tuoba Mao made Feng empress, and the next month, Tuoba Hong, who was less than two years old, was made crown prince. Feng was the granddaughter of The Northern Yan Emperor Feng Hong, and she was an outstanding female politician and reformer in Chinese history.

In the sixth year of peace (465), the Wencheng Emperor Tuoba Mao died at the Taihua Temple at the age of twenty-six. Tuoba Hong ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and Empress Feng was honored as empress dowager. It should be mentioned here that Feng Hou is not Tuoba Hong's birth mother.

Emperor Xianwen (465-471) reigned for six years and was the sixth emperor of Northern Wei.

After Tuoba Hong succeeded to the throne, the King of Taiyuan and the che riding general Yi Hun saw the opportunity, did not stop bullying the orphans and widows, plotted to usurp the throne, and the political center of Northern Wei faced a serious crisis.

In the first year of Tian'an (466), Empress Feng, Tuoba Pi (later changed to Yuan Pi) and others hunted down Yihun and declared that she would control the imperial government by herself. Shortly after the Northern Wei regime turned the tide, a deep rift arose between Empress Feng and Tuoba Hong's mother and son.

In the first year of Emperor Xing's reign (467), Tuoba Hong was pro-government. Soon, Tuoba Hong began to belittle many of Empress Feng's favorite male attendants, and reused and promoted his own confidants.

In the fourth year of Emperor Xing's reign (470), Tuoba Hong captured and killed Empress Feng's favorite minister Li Yi, and promoted the whistleblower Li Xin to Shangshu and participated in the state administration. The conflict between mother and son intensified, and Empress Feng used her prestige and power to force Tuoba Hong to hand over the throne.

In August of the fifth year of Emperor Xing's reign (471), Tuoba Hong was pressured to give the throne to the five-year-old crown prince Tuoba Hong, who was ridiculously only eighteen years old. However, this Emperor Taishang still held a certain amount of power, and since then he has even personally led troops to the north and south many times.

Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong (467-499) reigned for thirty-two years and was the seventh emperor of Northern Wei.

Tuoba Hong, the most accomplished emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, also occupies an important position in Chinese history. The system of Feng Lu, the system of equalizing fields, the three-chief system, the relocation of the capital, and the policy of Sinicization implemented during Tuoba Hong's reign greatly promoted the economic and social development of the Northern Wei Dynasty, promoted the great integration of nationalities, and also created conditions for the Sui and Tang Dynasties to unify the whole country. 　

In June of the first year of Chengming (476), Empress Feng sent ambush troops to forcibly put Tuoba Hong under house arrest. Tuoba Hong then died at the age of twenty-three at the Yong'an Temple in Pingcheng, and it is widely believed that he was killed by Empress Feng.

Empress Feng, who was once again in power to listen to the government, gave full play to her superb political wisdom and political talents and carried out fruitful reforms of the politics, economy, and customs of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At the same time, Empress Feng carefully cultivated Emperor Xiaowen, and eventually Emperor Xiaowen pushed the "Taihe Reform" to a climax.

　　In the fourteenth year of Taihe (490), Empress Feng died of illness and was buried in the cemetery of her choice, the Yonggu Mausoleum of Fangshan (present-day Datongbei, Shanxi).

Emperor Xiaowen was very respectful of this non-grandmother Empress Feng, and insisted on widening the tomb by sixty steps and burying it in the specifications of a monarch. Tuoba Hong also built a shou palace for himself in the northeast of YongguLing, and prepared to be buried here after his death, and he was always accompanied by his grandmother, empress dowager, who raised him.

　　Tuoba Hong further carried out the Reform of Sinicization.　　　　　　　　

In the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Tuoba Hong led an army of 200,000 to the south in the name of the Southern Expedition. After arriving in Luoyang, Tuoba Hong declared that he would continue to go south, and the exhausted courtiers knelt in front of the horse to dissuade him. Taking advantage of the reluctance of the Qunchen to go south, Tuoba Hong announced that the capital would be Luoyang.

In the eighteenth year of Taihe (494), Tuoba Hong officially announced the move to luoyang.

Tuoba Hong ordered the abolition of the old customs of humility and the complete sinicization, and the resoluteness of his will was admirable. Tuoba Hong made the Xianbei people forbid Hu costumes and changed to Han Chinese costumes; the imperial court banned the Xianbei language and changed to Chinese; and stipulated that the Xianbei nobles could not be buried in Pingcheng after the death of Luoyang, and changed their place of origin to Luoyang, Henan.

Tuoba Hong advocated intermarriage with the Han Gaomen, and ordered that the Xianbei fu surname be changed to a single-tone Han surname, the imperial Tuoba clan changed its surname to Yuan, the Basha clan changed to Changsun clan, the Daxi clan was Xi, the Yi Xi clan was Shusun clan, the Qiu Muling clan was Mu shi, the Buliu gu clan was Lu shi, the He Lai clan was He shi, the Dugu clan was Liu shi, the He Lou clan was Lou shi, the Bei Yu clan was Yu shi, the Wei Chi clan was Wei shi, and so on.

The Sinicization reform carried out by Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong was a major event that profoundly affected Chinese history and ushered in a new era of national integration. The blood of the Xianbei and Han ethnic groups blended together, giving birth to a new Han nationality that coexisted with elegance and fortitude, and the Li Tang family, which later founded the golden age of the Chinese Empire, was an outstanding representative.

They are as personable and gentle as the traditional Han Chinese, but also have the fierceness and bravery of an ancient nomadic people. With a sword in one hand and a pen in the other, they combined culture and martial arts to jointly create the tang dynasty that shone in the world.

On the first day of April in the 23rd year of Taihe (499), Emperor Xiaowen TuobaHong (元宏) collapsed in the palace of Gutangyuan on his southern expedition, at the age of three Chinese New Year's Eve.

Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke (499-515) reigned for sixteen years and was the eighth emperor of Northern Wei.

Yuan Ke was the second son of Emperor Xiaowen, Yuan Hong, who rejected the proposal of the Xianbei widows to return to their hometown, expanded the new capital Luoyang, and consolidated Emperor Xiaowen's reforms.

In the first year of the Jing Ming Dynasty (500), Yuan Ke took advantage of the fact that the Southern Dynasty was under the tyrannical rule of Xiao Baojuan, the late Emperor of Southern Qi, and sent troops to the south to attack the land of Yizhou. Yuan Ke also attacked Rouran to the north, greatly expanding the territory.

Yuan Ke, because of his deep belief in Buddhism, abolished the system of death of the son and the noble mother, allowing Empress Hu Ling, who gave birth to a crown prince, to live, but it turned out that this Hu clan brought fatal disasters to the Northern Wei regime. At the same time, due to the monopoly of foreign relatives, the country's politics are becoming darker and darker, and the turmoil is not stopping.

In the first month of the fourth year of Yanchang (515), Emperor Xuanwu died, and on the evening of the same day, the then six-year-old crown prince Yuan Xuan was the emperor, and was renamed Xiping for Emperor Xiaoming.

Emperor Xiaoming (515-528) reigned for fourteen years and was the ninth emperor of Northern Wei.

During the reign of Yuan Xue, the Six Towns Rebellion broke out in Northern Wei, and his mother Hu Shi arbitrarily rebelled, causing the Northern Wei regime to eventually fall.

Liuzhen was originally an important town set up by the Northern Wei regime to resist Rouran, and the status of tribal soldiers was very high, but with the relocation of the capital to Luoyang, the center of gravity of the country gradually turned south, and the status of the six towns continued to decline. The "fragrant food" relied on by the original state was actually reduced to a low-status town and government household, becoming a "dog ignoring" whose treatment and promotion were far inferior to those of Luoyang's humble nobles, and was even regarded as a "northerner" by the Luoyang government, so they were discriminated against.

The dissatisfaction of the generals (mostly Tuoba nobles and their members or the sons of Emperor Qiangzong of the Central Plains) who had long guarded the six towns in the north of Woye and other towns grew increasingly dissatisfied, and the former "heart of the country" six towns had become the source of unrest, and finally sounded the death knell of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

In February of the fourth year of Zhengguang (523), the nomadic tribal regime in northern Northern Wei suffered a great famine and asked Northern Wei for help, but Northern Wei refused. In April, the Rouran Khan Yujiu Lu anagui sent troops to invade northern Wei and plunder to solve the famine. Huaihuang Town was robbed and had difficulty making a living, so he had to ask the town general Wu Wei general Yu Jing for relief, but he refused, and the angry townspeople killed Yu Jing, originally the Northern Wei court thought that the border people of Liuzhen were fierce, so they decided to suppress and rectify, which eventually led to the rebellion of Liuzhen.

　 In March of the fifth year of Zhengguang (524), the residents of Woye Town broke the Six Han Tombs and called on the border people and the government households to oppose Wei in Woye Town, killed the town general, announced the establishment of political power, and changed the yuan zhen king.

The six towns responded one after another, and Gao Huan, a Humble Han chinese in Huaishuo Town and later the founder of the Northern Qi regime, also joined the duluozhou leadership team. Hu Chen, the chief of the Shuler tribe, and Wan Qian, a Xiongnu, also took the opportunity to rebel against the Northern Wei. In the process of suppressing the six towns, Erzhu Rong, the leader of Qihu (or Karma Hu), rose rapidly, and gao huan, He Bayue, Hou Jing, And Yuwen Tai, who had been collected from the troops, became Erzhu Rong's right-hand man.

In the first year of Xiaochang (525), the frustrated Northern Wei court helplessly sent envoys to Rouran to use former enemies to suppress the rebellion in the six towns, and at the same time adopted a strategy of dividing and luring them. In the end, the Broken Six Han Baling soldiers were defeated and killed by the Rouran nobles (the whereabouts of the one said are unknown). 200,000 rebels were captured and forcibly moved to the three prefectures of Ding, Ji, and Ying. Just as the three states were hit by floods and droughts, and there was nowhere to eat, DuLuozhou and Ge Rong rebelled again.

In February of the first year of Wu Tai (528), a firefight broke out within Duluo Zhou and Ge Rong, and As a result, Ge Rong killed Du Luo Zhou. At this time, the contradictions within the Northern Wei court were also out of control, and Yuan Xue was dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Hu's monopoly, and Zhu Rong entered the Jingqin King. Unexpectedly, the secret edict was discovered, and Hu Shi was furious when he saw it, and even poisoned his son with his male favorites Zheng Yu and Xu Qi, and Yuan Xue died in the Xianyang Temple at the age of nineteen. The death of Emperor Xiaoming was the beginning of the Northern Wei rebellion.

After Yuan Xue's death, Empress Dowager Hu made Yuan Xue's daughter Yuan Shu emperor, falsely claiming that she was the crown prince on the throne. The unnamed Yuan maiden actually became the tenth emperor of Northern Wei, but only a few days later Empress Hu changed the title of Yuan Zhao, the son of Yuan Baohui the Prince of Lintao, who was the eleventh emperor of Northern Wei and was known as the Young Lord. Erzhu Rong heard the news, tracked down the cause of Emperor Xiaoming's death, and invaded the capital. In April, Empress Dowager Hu and her young lord were killed by Erzhu Rongshen River. Erzhu Rong also created Yuan Ziyou the Prince of Changle, that is, Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei.

Emperor Xiaozhuang (528-530) reigned for three years and was the twelfth emperor of Northern Wei.

At this time, Erzhu Rong, in the name of welcoming the new emperor Yuan Ziyou, lured the Wenwu hundred officials to Taozhu (the bottom of the Yellow River) and surrounded them with cavalry regiments, declaring the guilt: "It is your responsibility that the country has fallen into chaos. Under the order of the cavalry, including the Northern Wei Dynasty's then first rich man, Yuan Yong, the new emperor's brother Yuan Shao, Yuan Zizheng and other crown princes, more than 2,000 high-ranking nobles and high-ranking officials were killed, known in history as the "Change of Heyin".

　　Gao Huan took the opportunity to persuade Erzhu Rong to claim the title of emperor, but Erzhu Rong hesitated. He Bayue objected and persuaded Erzhu Rong to kill Gao Huan to thank the world.

In September, Erzhu Rong led 7,000 (one says 70,000) elite cavalry, with Hou Jing as the forward, to attack Ge Rong, and Ge Rong, who was a light enemy, was defeated by Erzhu Rong's surprise troops, and Ge Rong was captured and killed.

In September of the second year of Yong'an (529), the Rebellion of the Six Towns was put down. At this time, Erzhu Rongquan fell to the opposition, and although Yuan Ziyou became emperor with the support of Erzhu Rong, he was not willing to be a puppet and was bent on eradicating Erzhu Rong and reviving the imperial power of Northern Wei.

　　In the third year of Yong'an (530), Yuan Ziyou ordered Erzhu Rong to enter the capital and took the opportunity to blade the thirty-eight-year-old Erzhu Rong's hand in the Mingguang Temple. Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Shilong and nephew Erzhu Zhao, who supported Yuan Ye as emperor, invaded Luoyang. Erzhu Zhao first locked Emperor Xiaozhuang in the pagoda of the Northern Wei imperial temple Yongning Temple, and then took him to Jinyang to be killed.

　　The following year, erzhu deposed Yuan Ye, the thirteenth emperor of Northern Wei, and established Yuan Gong as emperor (this was the fourteenth emperor of Northern Wei). Shi Gaohuan of Jinzhou supported Yuen Long as emperor (this was the fifteenth emperor of Northern Wei), changed his era name to Zhongxing, and took the opportunity to capture Luoyang.

　　In the second year of Zhongxing (532), Gao Huan changed his name to Li Yuan xiu as emperor and changed his era name to Yongxi.

Yuan Xiu (532-535) reigned for three years and was the last emperor of Northern Wei.

After Yuan Xiu succeeded to the throne, Gao Huan and the Erzhu clan continued to fight, but the Erzhu clan failed in battle, and He Bayue took the opportunity to control Chang'an.

In the first month of the second year of Yongxi (533), Gao Huan destroyed the remnants of the Erzhu clan and took control of the Northern Wei dynasty as the Grand Chancellor and King of Bohai.

In the third year of Yongxi (534), Gao Huan instructed Hou Mochen Yue to assassinate He Bayue, and Yuwen Tai defeated Hou Mo Chen Yue and marched east to occupy Chang'an. The Northern Wei Dynasty had in fact split into two parts.

In the same year, Yuan Xiu, who was not at the mercy of Gao Huan, defected to Yuwen Tai in Chang'an. On October 17, Gao Huan deposed Yuan Xiu's title of emperor on the grounds that yuan xiu had abandoned the country and fled, and established yuan shanjian as emperor, and moved the capital to Yi ten days later.

Since then, the Northern Wei Dynasty has split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei.

Eastern and Western Wei (534–557)

On December 15 of the third year of Yongxi (February 535), Yuwen Tai killed both Yuan Mingyue and Yuan Xiu on the grounds that Yuan Xiu had committed adultery and injured his sister, and established Yuan Baoju as emperor.

Unlike the Gao Huan Group, which was constantly strengthening the Xianbei, Yuwen Tai paid great attention to the Han and Xianbei miscellaneous rubbing, most of them were Xianbei nobles, and some of them were Han people who were strong and powerful. They lived in Guanzhong, intermarried with each other, and united culture and martial arts, forming a Military Group of Guanlong with the military of Wuchuan Town as the team and Guanzhong in Shaanxi and Longshan (Liupanshan) in Gansu as the region.

The Guanlong clique played a major role in Chinese history, formally adopting the xianbei previous eight-part system, with the establishment of the Eight Pillar State, except for Yuwen Tai and the nominal Yuan clan, it was actually the Six Pillar State (Li Yuan's grandfather Li Hu was one of them), and the Six Pillar State commanded two generals, a total of twelve generals (Yang Jian's father Yang Zhong was one of them).

As one of the Eight Pillar States, Dugu Xin was called the "national father-in-law" at that time, his eldest daughter married Yuwen Yu, the fourth daughter married Li Hu's son Li Xun (the son they gave birth to was Li Yuan), the seventh daughter Du Lonely Jia Luo married Yang Jian when he was fourteen years old, Du Guxin These three daughters were in Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang were all made empresses (Li Yuan posthumously named mothers), which is unique in Chinese history.

Just as the Northern Wei Dynasty split into east and west and fought each other, another nomadic people, the Turks, was quietly rising in the northwest of China and the northern steppes, after the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Rouran.

The Turkic tribes, with the blood of the Huns, migrated from the Yenisei River to the Jinshan (Altai Mountains) during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Altai Mountains resembled the helmets of the battle, "dōu móu", which was called Turk by the locals, and was named after the Turks.

The Turks were vassals of the Joran Khanate, and they were also called "forged slaves" because they forged iron for the Slave Owners of Joran. Rouran tended to decline under the blows of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and another nomadic tribe under its rule, the Gaoche tribe, established the Gaoche State (487-541) in the front of Cheshi (around the ancient city of Jiaohe in present-day Turpan, Xinjiang), and although Rouran finally eliminated this opponent after more than fifty years of war, his strength was greatly reduced, and the Turks waited for the opportunity to get rid of Rouran's control.

In October of the fourth year (546) of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Gao Huan led his army to engage Western Wei for the last time, but gao Huan fell ill due to his long-term inability to attack and heavy losses. In the same year, the Turkic leader Ashina Tumen led his men to defeat and merge more than 50,000 people in the various departments of the Gaoche State, and quickly grew.

In the first month of the fifth year of the Reign of Wuding of the Eastern Wei Dynasty (547, the second year of datong in the Southern Dynasty), Gao Huan died of illness, and his eldest son Gao Cheng took control of the government.

Only five days after Gao Huan's death, Hou Jing betrayed Eastern Wei and defected to Western Wei. Yuwen Tai was wary of Hou Jing, so Hou Jing led his troops to surrender to Southern Liang. Because Emperor Wu of Liang hoped to use Hou Jing's strength to succeed in the Northern Expedition, he gave him high treatment and made Hou Jing the King of Henan, a great general, and a jie.

Gao Cheng sent the general Murong Shaozong to attack Hou Jing, and Liang sent Xiao Yuanming the Marquis of Zhenyang to support him, but Xiao Yuanming was defeated and captured. Later, Eastern Wei proposed reconciliation and negotiations with Southern Liang, which made Hou Jing panic, and Hou Jing wrote a letter pretending to be Gao Cheng, proposing to exchange Hou Jing with Xiao Yuanming as a temptation, which Emperor Wu of Liang accepted. Hou Jing was furious and launched a rebellion the following year, stirring up the Liang Dynasty.

In April of the seventh year of the Eastern Wei Dynasty (549), Gao Cheng and his cronies began to formally seize the Yuan power through secret business.

In August, Gao Cheng was assassinated by Lan Jing and others, and his brother Gao Yang took power. During this period, the interior of the Southern Dynasty Liang was even more chaotic, the emperor Xiao Yan was imprisoned by Hou Jing and died, and xiao Xuan (chá cha), the king of Yueyang, attacked Xiao Xuan, the king of Xiangdong, and returned with a big defeat, turning to Western Wei, and Liang lost Xiangyang. Eastern Wei also took the opportunity to capture Liangsi Prefecture (梁司州, in modern Luoyang, Henan) and regain the land of Huainan.

Northern Qi (550-577) and Northern Zhou (557-581)

　 In the first year of Northern Qi Tianbao (550), Gao Huan's second son Gao Yang deposed the Eastern Wei emperor Yuan Shanjian and established the Northern Qi regime.

Northern Qi enjoyed only twenty-seven years, but after six emperors, staged various farces such as being assassinated, usurping the country, the young lord coming to the dynasty, the uncle taking the throne, the brother and the brother, the Taishang Emperor, and the Chan Rang, and the brutality, absurdity, and perversion of several emperors in his family were completely beyond people's imagination, and it was a rare "beast dynasty" in Chinese history.

As the founding emperor, Gao Yang conquered the four sides in the early period, expanded the territory, repaired the Great Wall, formulated the Law of Northern Qi, an East Asian criminal law that influenced him for more than a thousand years, and completed the "Book of Wei", one of the twenty-five histories, which is a masterpiece of eternity.

At the same time, Gao Yang is also a psychopath and a murderous madman, the most appalling thing is that he killed his favorite concubine Xue Concubine, took her bones as a lute to play, and could actually shed tears and sing: "It is difficult for a beautiful person to get again."

In the first year of the Western Wei Dynasty (552), the Turks defeated Rouran, and Ashina Tumen proclaimed himself The Khan of Yili and established the Turkic Khaganate.

Rouran was not willing to withdraw from the stage of history, and the rest of the ministry made Uncle Deng a khan and confronted the Turks. In the same year, Ashinatumen died, and his son Ashinakoro succeeded him as Turkic Khan and proclaimed himself The Khan of Ethjiki.

In the second year of the Western Wei Dynasty (553), the Turkic khaganate Ofo died, and Koro's younger brother Ashina Qianjin succeeded to the Khan's throne, known as Muzhan Khan.

In the same year, Yuwen Tai sent Yuan Zhen and others to lead an army to capture Yizhou (益州, in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) in Southern Liang. The following year, Yuwen Tai ordered The Duke of Changshan and the general Yang Zhong to attack Jiangling, capture Xiao Xuan, and support the puppet Xiao Qi to establish a "Little Liang State".

In the second year of Emperor Gong of Western Wei (555), Uncle Deng led more than a thousand families to Western Wei. Yuwen Tai captured Uncle Deng and his three thousand men, handed them over to the Turkic emissaries, and killed them all outside the Qingmen Gate.

At this point, Rou ran perished.

After the establishment of the Turkic Khaganate, it unified the Steppe of Central Asia, the State of The Cities of the Western Regions, and the Mongolian Steppe, and created a written language, the Turkic language. This was something that neither the mighty Huns nor Rouran had done before.

The creation of the script by the Turks was a major event that changed the history of the world. On this basis, the influence of the Turks gradually expanded and eventually formed a common language, Turkic. The Turkic language family, also known as the Altaic language family, today spans all of Asia, covering a vast area from Northeast Asia - the Mongolian steppe - the hinterland of Central Asia - Asia Minor, including the area north of the Great Wall of China and the entire Xinjiang region.

　　In the third year of Emperor Gong of Western Wei (556), Yuwen Tai died of illness, and his nephew Yuwen Hu took over the administration of the Western Wei state.

In the fourth year of Emperor Gong of Western Wei (557), Yuwen Jue, the third son of Yuwen Tai, accepted the "Zen Concession" of Tuoba Kuo, the Emperor of Western Wei, and established the Northern Zhou regime. The Yuan Wei (Tuoba Wei) dynasty officially collapsed.

In September of that year, Yuwen Jue, who had just become emperor, clashed with Ōtsuka ZaiYufu in order to personally rule. Yuwen Hu forced Yuwen Jue to abdicate, and Yuwen Hu made Yuwen Tai's eldest son Yuwen Yu (宇文毓) emperor. Yuwen Jue was killed.

Zhao Gui, one of the pillar states and the Duke of Chu, was dissatisfied with Yuwen Hu's monopoly on deposing Emperor Wei and contacted DuGuxin to get rid of Yuwen Hu, but was stopped by DuGuxin. However, this matter was leaked, and Yuwen Sheng of Kaifu reported it to Yuwen Hu, and as a result, Zhao Gui was executed by Yu Wen Hu, and because dugu Xin enjoyed a reputation, Yu Wen Hu forced him to commit suicide at home.

In the same year, Chen Baxian of southern Liang deposed Xiao Fangzhi and declared himself emperor in Jiankang, establishing the Chen Dynasty.

In the tenth year of Northern Qi Tianbao (559), Gao Yang died and was succeeded by his son Gao Yin, becoming the second emperor of Northern Qi.

In the second year of Northern Zhou Wucheng (560), Yuwen Hu poisoned Yuwen Yu, the Ming Emperor of Northern Zhou, and Yuwen Tai's fourth son Yuwen Yong (yong) became the third emperor of Northern Zhou. In the same year, Northern Qi's Gao Yan staged a coup d'état to depose his nephew Gao Yin and kill him the following year. Gao Yan became the third emperor of Northern Qi.

　　In the second year of the Northern Qi Emperor's reign (561), Gao Yan was seriously injured in a horse fall accident, and before his death, in order to keep Gao Yin's fate in order for his son Gao Bainian not to repeat Gao Yin's fate, he passed the throne to his ninth brother Gao Zhan, the King of Changguang, hoping to save his son from the disaster.

Gao Zhan became the fourth emperor of Northern Qi. The super bastards of Gao Zhan's shaofeng in Chinese history can be described as "the pinnacle of shamelessness and filth" in their shamelessness. He took Gao Yang's son as a hostage, coerced and persecuted Gao Yang's empress Li Zu'e, and poisoned Gao Yan's son Gao Bainian.

Empress Hu of Gaozhan was also not a fuel-saving lamp, and she not only intermarried with Gao Zhan's favored courtiers and scholars, but also hooked up with monks in the temple. After Northern Qi was destroyed by Northern Zhou, this Empress Hu and Empress Mu of GaoWei were reduced to prostitutes, and she actually uttered an incomparably "thunderous" sentence: Being a prostitute is happier than being an empress.

　　In April of the fourth year (565) of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Zhanchuan was located in the crown prince Gao Wei, who appointed himself Emperor Taishang and began a life of concentrated pleasure, and four years later he died because of excessive alcohol.

Later Lord Gao Wei was the last emperor of Northern Qi, and his behavior was extremely absurd and extravagant. Gao Wei often ordered people to solemnly play the "Song of No Worries", and even played the pipa himself, so the Northern Qi people jokingly called him "The Son of No Worries".

At this time, the Turkic state was strong, posing a growing threat to Northern Zhou and Northern Qi. The indissoluble Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, who were fighting, were forced to take out their belongings to the Turks and propose to the Daughter of the Muzhan Khan, Ashina, but the Muzhan Khan waited for the price and sold, and hesitating.

In the third year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (568), Ashina arrived at the Northern Zhou capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), and Yuwen Yong personally went out of the palace to greet her and made her empress. In July of that year, Yang Zhong, the Duke of Suiguo, died of illness, and his son Yang Jian inherited the title and stepped onto the stage of Chinese history.

　　In the first year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (572), Yuwen Yong designed to kill the powerful minister Yuwen Hu, thus truly grasping power and beginning to display his great talents.

In July of that year, Gao Wei of Northern Qi entered the rhythm of "death", and he killed Zuo Cheng Xiang Huo Luguang and his younger brother Huo Luxian. Huo Luguang was the most feared enemy of northern Zhou, and Yuwen Yong learned that Huo Luguang was dead, and even summoned a general amnesty to celebrate the whole territory.

In the same year, the Turkic Khan of Mugan died. Before his death, Muzhan Khan ordered his brother to succeed him as Khan and was called Tuoba Khan.

After tuoba khan succeeded to the throne, he appointed his nephew Regtu (son of Ashinakoro) as Erfu Khan to rule eastern Turkic, and his younger brother Tuoba Dan Khan (said to be the son of Tuoba Dan Khan) as the Khan of Buli and ruled western Turkic. In the face of the flattery of Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, Tuo Bao Khan became more and more arrogant, and he once proudly said to his subordinates: "As long as the two sons in the south often honor me, I will not be afraid of poverty!" ”。

In May of the fourth year (573) of Northern Qi's Wuping, Northern Qi emperor Gao Wei made another move, and he beheaded Gao Changgong, the king of Lanling, which accelerated the process of Northern Qi's demise.

On May 15, the third year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (574), the Zhou Wu Emperor Yuwen Yong, not afraid of the Buddhist threat of going to hell after death, resolutely issued an edict to "forbid Buddhism and Taoism, destroy all scriptures and Buddha statues, and make Shamen and Taoist monks return to the people." and forbid all obscenities, and those which are not carried out in the ceremonies shall be removed. "This is the second anti-Buddhist movement in Chinese history.

After Buddhism spread from India to China, it flourished and caused many serious social problems. First, it was incompatible with traditional Chinese Confucianism and etiquette, resulting in ideological conflicts and gradually forming new political forces protesting with the imperial court, directly threatening the imperial power. Second, a large number of people, land, and taxes are controlled by religious organizations, resulting in a decrease in the country's military resources and income transmission, and seriously eroding national strength. In this context, Yuwen Yong vigorously defied public opinion and resolutely took measures to solve the problems that endangered the survival of the country. After this prohibition of Buddhism, the Buddhist forces in North China almost swept away the ban.

Emperor Wu of Zhou's campaign to destroy Buddhism had a profound impact on the development of Chinese culture and the direction of history. First, it established the political principle of the supremacy of imperial power, cut off the possibility of theocratic regime, and established the thousand-year-old tradition of separation of church and state in the Chinese imperial dynasty; second, Buddhism began to actively Sinicize after this blow, in order to adapt to China's national conditions and become peaceful, and developed Middle-earth Buddhism on the basis of Confucian thought.

In the sixth year of Northern Zhou Jiande (577), Northern Zhou destroyed Northern Qi, ending the division of nearly half a century since the division of Eastern and Western Wei, and northern China was reunified, laying a solid foundation for the unification of China by the Later Sui.

　　In April of the first year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (578), the Turkic army attacked Youzhou, and Liu Xiong, the pillar state of Northern Zhou, led his troops to resist the battle, and the soldiers were defeated and killed.

In May, Yuwen Yong personally led the Northern Expedition, but fell ill on the march and returned to Luoyang.

On The day of Ding Youyou in June, Yuwen Yong, the Emperor wu of northern Zhou, died of illness on the same day he returned to Luoyang, at the age of six Chinese New Year's Eve. Heaven did not give this heroic and ambitious hero time to show his skills again, and his unfinished great cause of unification would be completed by Yang Jian, the Duke of Suiguo.

According to the edict, Yuwen Yong's eldest son, Crown Prince Yuwen Yun (yūn), succeeded to the throne as the fourth emperor of Northern Zhou.

Yuwen Yun was very jealous of Yang Jian's status and prestige, and even more disgusted with Yang Jian and his ministers, and when Yuwen Yun was angry, he once said to Empress Yang Lihua (Yang Jian's eldest daughter): "You must exterminate your family!" Yang Jian escaped the crisis by revealing the meaning of the domain to Yuwen Yun through the internal history doctor Zheng Yi.

　　In February of the first year of Dacheng (579), Yuwen Yun, who felt that the emperor was too constrained, sent a decree to his seven-year-old eldest son, Yuwen Yan, who changed his era name to elephant and proclaimed himself Emperor Tianyuan, and immediately concentrated on living a life of eating, drinking and fun.

　　In May of the second year of the elephant (580), Yuwen Yun fell ill and died at the age of twenty-two. Liu Fang, the Grand Master of imperial government, and Zheng Yi, the Grand Master of Internal History, forged edicts, and Yang Jian, the Duke of Suiguo, accepted the will and assisted the imperial government.

　　In the first year of Dading (581), Yang Jian was given permission by Yuwen Yanchan, the Jing Emperor of Northern Zhou, to change the name of the country to Sui, changed the name of the country to Emperor Kai, and the Northern Zhou fell.