In March 549, Hou Jing tore up the armistice agreement, diverted the waters of Xuanwu Lake to flood Taicheng, and led his army to attack from all sides. Liang made Xiao Jian's shu Shu Dong Xun and Hao Qiang Xiong Tan Lang the leading party, guiding Hou Jing to attack Taicheng from the northwest corner tower. At this point, Taicheng fell.
Hou Jing, who had just entered Taicheng, was actually quite disciplined. Because he knows very well: he must not tear his face with the Xiao royal family, otherwise all his actions will lose their meaning.
This is actually not difficult to understand: Southern Liang is an empire with 2.6 million territories, and if Hou Jing only knew how to slash and kill indiscriminately, no one would support him. At that time, Hou Jing had only one way to die.
Therefore, Hou Jing's greatest wish at this time was that Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu could cooperate with him and establish a new government together. But the stubborn Xiao Yan refused to cooperate, and in desperation, Hou Jing could only choose another collaborator.
Hou Jing's second choice was Xiao Gang the Crown Prince, who was the legitimate successor of Southern Liang, and supporting Xiao Gang was definitely much stronger than supporting a traitor like Xiao Zhengde. More importantly, Xiao Gang had been the crown prince for nearly twenty years, and if he mediated in the middle, there might still be the possibility of peace between Hou Jing and the rich warrior clan.
The real difficulty is that the Xiao royal family in various places has already taken action, and at this time, Southern Liang may repeat the warlord melee at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty at any time. If Hou Jing, Xiao Gang, and the Noble Clan could unite as one, they would have great hopes of surviving the current difficulties.
According to historical records, Hou Jing and Xiao Gang swore in front of the Buddha statue that they would never betray each other.
The emperor is on the throne, Jing and the emperor ascend to the Cloud Hall, and the Buddha is sworn for the cloud: "From now on, the monarch and the subject have no guesses, the subject does not live up to His Majesty, and His Majesty must not fail his subjects!" -----------------
In my opinion, whether it is Hou Jing or Xiao Gang, they should be sincere when they swear. In other words, they never want the other to betray themselves, and they don't want to betray each other.
At this time, Hou Jing had already deposed Xiao Zhengde, and if he betrayed Xiao Gang again, he would have no allies, and although the bottom society supported him, the combat transformation power of the bottom society was questionable.
If Xiao Gang betrayed Hou Jing, his wolf-like brothers and nephews would be able to easily defeat the isolated Hou Jing. At that time, Xiao Gang is afraid that there is only one way to die, although he is a legitimate prince, he only became an emperor after cooperating with Hou Jing, and the ambitionists will definitely borrow the topic to play, and even count Xiao Yan's death on Xiao Gang's head.
As long as we clarify these interest relations, we can conclude that there is a certain basis for Xiao Gang's cooperation with Hou Jing.
But the cooperation between Hou Jing and Xiao Gang has a premise, that is, the two sides must coexist on an equal footing. In other words, Hou Jing had military power and the support of the underclass, and the central government could not treat Hou Jing as a courtier. For this result, the Xiao royal family except Xiao Gang was generally reluctant to accept it.
Initially, Xiao Zhengde, who was deposed by Hou Jing, conspired with Xiao Fan to carry out an armed coup, but because the news leaked, Xiao Zhengde was killed, and Xiao Fan died of an epileptic attack.
King Zhengde of Linhe complained that Hou Jing had betrayed himself, and the secret book summoned King Fan of Poyang to make soldiers enter; Jing covered his book, decayed the ugly, and killed Zhengde. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji XVIII
Subsequently, Xiao Qing failed to assassinate Hou Jing and was killed by Hou Jing.
Jing he did swim on the bell mountain, drew a bow to shoot birds, and killed them because he wanted to shoot the scenery, the string was broken, it did not start, and the scenery was felt. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji XVIII
Later, when Hou Jing led an army on a campaign, Xiao Huili conspired with Liu Jingli, Xiao Xun, and Xiao Xun to launch a coup d'état in the capital, and was killed by Hou Jing's chief strategist Wang Wei.
The King of Nankang, with Jiankang's emptiness, conspired with the crown prince Zuo Wei general Liu Jingli, Marquis Xixiang, and Marquis Xun of Dongxiang to raise troops against Wang Wei. Wei received the reason, saluted, persuaded, and the brother qi yang hou Tongli, and killed him. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji XIX
After these three events, Hou Jing began to alienate Xiao Gang. The history books say that Hou Jing suspected that Xiao Gang was involved in the conspiracy, so he had the idea of abolishing the establishment.
But in my opinion, Hou Jing did not doubt Xiao Gang, he just saw through Xiao Gang.
At the beginning, Xiao Yan's crown prince Xiao Tong died early, and in order to ensure that his position was not threatened, Xiao Yan did not make a grandson, but chose his third son Xiao Gang as the crown prince.
According to the evaluation of the history books, several of Xiao Tong's sons were fierce and fierce people, especially his third son Xiao Qi [chá], who was called "the hero's ambition and the strategy of the overlord" by the history books. If Xiao Tong's son became a grandson, Xiao Yan feared that he would retire early.
But Xiao Gang was different, this was a person with a meek temperament, a penchant for literature, and some indecisiveness in doing things, such a person was less likely to threaten Xiao Yan's rule. But even so, Xiao Yan still wantonly divided his powers, making Xiao Gang, the prince, have no authority.
The alliance between Hou Jing and Xiao Gang was not favored by the noble warriors, and after some game, the old forces of Southern Liang resolutely decided to abandon Xiao Gang and form a powerful political group centered on Xiao Gang.
Hou Jing initially chose to cooperate with Xiao Gang only because Xiao Gang was the rightful prince. However, after contact, Hou Jing found that Xiao Gang did not fully represent the Xiao royal family, and many people did not buy his account. In this context, Hou Jing felt that he had chosen the wrong person, and Xiao Gang might be a qualified puppet, but he was by no means an excellent partner.
In this context, Hou Jingcai began to alienate Xiao Gang and had the idea of abolishing It.
As early as when Xiao Gang ascended the throne as emperor, Hou Jing married Xiao Gang's daughter Princess Liyang and was extremely fond of her. Hou Jing's chief strategist discovered this tip and advised Hou Jing to pay attention not to chill the hearts of his brothers.
Princess Liyang, the daughter of Emperor Jingshang, obstructed political affairs, and Wang Wei repeatedly advised. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji 20
This was a headless and brainless remark, but Hou Jing immediately understood: Wang Wei was not trying to persuade him to cheer up, but to persuade him not to step on two boats.
Wang Wei was Hou Jing's chief strategist, and Hou Jing's series of strategies were all planned by Wang Wei. Whether from the perspective of the strategy itself or from the implementation results of the strategy, Wang Wei is known as a first-class talent.
Hou Jing's favor for Princess Liyang was able to provoke Wang Wei to speak out, which showed that Hou Jing's behavior made his subordinates feel afraid.
After invading the capital, Hou Jing originally planned to establish an emperor of the Xiao clan, respect the vested interests of the Xiao clan, and appropriately adjust the policy of infringing on the rich clan. The purpose was to keep The Southern Liang in a state of indifference, and then take the opportunity to strengthen its own concubine power and finally control the entire Southern Liang.
But Hou Jing's approach has two drawbacks:
On the one hand, Hou Jing supported the xiao royal family members to control the capital; on the other hand, the Xiao royal family controlled the main local government of Southern Liang and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the central government.
On the one hand, Hou Jing openly ignored the rules of the game of the rich warriors; on the other hand, Hou Jing tried to win over the rich warriors.
In summary, we can draw a conclusion: the state that Hou Jing hoped for could not exist for a long time, and Hou Jing's concubines were all from the bottom, and they had an intractable gap with the noble clan.
In addition, not long ago, Hou Jing had written an essay asking for the life of the lower society; after entering the capital, he pardoned all the slaves in the north, which further deepened his estrangement from the rich and powerful warriors.
In this context, Hou Jing actually wanted to have a good relationship with the Xiao royal family, and then to have a good relationship with the rich warrior clan, this effort was doomed to be futile, Hou Jing's old subordinates would also be cold, and finally they could only make Hou Jing not a person inside and out.
Wang Wei hoped that Hou Jing would alienate Princess Liyang, in fact, he would speak out on behalf of Hou Jing's concubines, hoping that Hou Jing would stand back by his brother's side and not obstinately go to the old forces of Southern Liang.
Anything can be given up, but the basic disk cannot be given up, and Hou Jing still knows this. When Wang Wei found Hou Jing, Hou Jing immediately felt the danger. Based on Xiao Gang's misuse and the adverse reactions of his old subordinates, Hou Jing finally decided to completely draw a line with the old forces of Southern Liang, and the way to draw a line was also more straightforward: to call himself emperor.
It is difficult to say whether Hou Jing's act of claiming the emperor is correct, but Hou Jing is faced with a dilemma after becoming emperor. There are many ways to break with the old forces, but Hou Jing always seems to like to do things to the extreme.
When Hou Jing did this, did his concubines approve of it? Obviously not. As I said long ago, if Hou Jing was isolated and helpless, with his little strength, it would be impossible for him to compete with the old forces of Southern Liang.
Before Hou Jing planned to become emperor, he also found that his strength was insufficient, so he had a whimsical idea and hoped to re-establish Xiao Gang. But the question is: Hou Jing deposed Xiao Gang for no reason, and now he wants to bring Xiao Gang back silently, what does he think of the throne? If the emperor could be manipulated by him in this way, Xiao Gang's reputation would definitely fall to the bottom. At that time, what use would Hou Jing have in establishing Xiao Gang?
Jing wanted to restore the throne to the throne and made Dong his grandson. Wang Weiyue: "If we abolish major events, how can we change evil in numbers!" "It's over. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji 20
In desperation, Hou Jing had no choice but to launch a great purge of the Xiao royal family. Such a move made Hou Jing more isolated, but at this point, Hou Jing could not turn back.
Many of the old brothers who had faithfully followed Hou Jing's side began to find a way out for themselves, because they found that if they continued to follow Hou Jing, there was no hope in sight.
The development of the matter was not unexpected, Hou Jing claimed that less than a year after the emperor, he was defeated by Chen Baxian and Wang Shengquan, and was killed by his subordinates in the process of fleeing, ending his life of black and white.
At the end of the article, we comment on Hou Jing according to the convention.
Hou Jing started as a low-level soldier, and later relied on his personal ability and leadership appreciation to cross the north. After the defeat in the north, he fled to the south with eight hundred remnants of defeated soldiers, but turned the south upside down.
However, when all the dust settled and Hou Jing had more than 100,000 troops, he was suddenly defeated by Chen Baxian and Wang Shengwei, and finally died.
It is said that Hou Jing also looked up to the sky like Xiang Yu and sighed: "The death of heaven is not a crime of war!" ”
Jing Yue: "I used to defeat He Basheng, break Ge Rong, Yangming River, Shuo, Dujiang Platform City, descending Liu Zhongli like a palm; today I am also dead in heaven!" ---Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji XX
This lament is very reasonable, but we must say it all: Hou Jing's failure is due to Providence, and Hou Jing's success is actually due to Providence.
When Hou Jing was preparing to flee south, it was difficult to say that he still had any grand plans to carry out, because hou Jing at that time was a standard outlaw, and if he could live one more day, even if it was one day, what qualifications did he have to consider the future?
But Hou Jing had good luck, his appearance caused all the contradictions in Southern Liang to erupt in a concentrated manner, and he cleverly seized various opportunities, so in the first few rounds of the game, Hou Jing made a lot of money.
Many people admire Hou Jing's military ability, in my opinion, Hou Jing's military ability is very strong, but that was when he was in the north, Hou Jing in the south did not show his super military strength. The reason why Hou Jing was able to win consecutive battles in the south was mainly because various factions in the south were acquiescing to his behavior, so Hou Jing had been using his ingenuity to break the situation.
But even when Hou Jing was at his most brilliant, he saw no future and had to continue to maintain cooperation with the old forces of Southern Liang. When he finally decided to give up cooperation, he lost everything in an instant.
The history books do not have a high evaluation of Hou Jing, but in my opinion, after Hou Jing fled south, there were two things that were very beautiful.
1. In the process of attacking Taicheng, Hou Jing was ghostwritten by his chief strategist and published a famous essay. Judging by the pattern of his words, this is a passage that is comparable to Luo Binwang's "Seeking Wu Shuo for Xu Jingye".
According to the Zizhi Tongjian, Xiao Yan was "ashamed and angry" after seeing this article, which proved that the article still came to an idea. This article is full of grievances for the bottom society, in addition to cracking down on the rich warriors, it is also full of ridicule for Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan was too long-lived, so in order to ensure that his power was not shaken, he did many things that were difficult for outsiders to accept. For example, the text reads, "Build a floating map, Baidu, and make the four people hungry."
Xiao Yan worshipped Buddha in order to centralize power, which I analyzed yesterday, but worshipping Buddha is at the expense of starving the people. Although Xiao Yan finally realized this problem, Buddhism was originally just a religion, but it was promoted by Xiao Yan, and it had to be said that Xiao Yan's move was too selfish.
At the same time, he pointed out: "The government is made by bribery, the eunuchs are prosperous, and the monks are solid", and in the way of comparison, the eunuchs are compared with the monks. These two classes were the biggest beneficiaries of Xiao Yan's centralization of power, but they also hurt the vested interests of the imperial family and the noble clan.
During the siege, the imperial army was heavily assembled near the capital, but no one was willing to come to the rescue. How much of a sin did Xiao Yan have created, so much so that everyone wanted him to die quickly? In addition to the selfish intentions of the royal white-eyed wolf, Xiao Yan also had to pay the price for some of his past actions.
Second, Hou Jing's cold and cold confrontation with the heroic warrior clan made him have the image of a civilian hero at that time. Since the beginning of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Langya Wang clan has begun to emerge temporarily, even to the extent of "the king and the horse are in the world", and the Chen Jun's Xie clan has also risen before and after the Battle of Shuishui.
When it comes to the noble family, the Langya Wang clan and the Chen Junxie clan can be described as unique. However, after the Hou Jing Rebellion, these two powerful clans were cleared out of the historical stage.
If we contact Erzhu Rong in the north to clean up the Luoyang Noble Clan, we have to ask a question: Is it time for the Noble Clan to be on the verge of extinction? Can't it be said that Hou Jing and Erzhu Rong are both coincidences, right?
The deeper reason is that the north and south have been inheriting the peace for a long time, and the rich and powerful people have squeezed out too much living space, so that they have been unanimously opposed by all classes. Whether it is ErZhu Rong or Hou Jing, they are all representatives of this public opinion, even without these two people, I am afraid that there will be other good men who will stand up for Skywalker. From this point of view, in the late period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was inevitable that the influence of the noble clan would gradually weaken.
The reason why Hou Jing is a civilian hero, in addition to cleaning up the rich warrior clan, Hou Jing's performance really adds a lot.
According to the custom at that time, before the emperor was proclaimed emperor, the powerful subjects would always recognize a person with a very high status as the ancestor. For example, Liu Yu said that he was a descendant of Liu Jiao, the King of Chuyuan in the Western Han Dynasty; Xiao Daocheng said that he was a descendant of Xiao He, the famous Xiangxiang of the Western Han Dynasty; and Chen Baxian recognized himself as a descendant of the Chen clan of Yingchuan.
Is their claim true or false? I agree with Sima Guang's point of view, this kind of words can be listened to, and if you are serious, you will lose.
But Hou Jing was obviously an exception, and he was reluctant to recognize his ancestors. When someone persuaded Hou Jing to recognize a good ancestor, Hou Jing said that my family had been a commoner for generations, and there were no nobles in the ancestors at all.
Wang Wei asked for the establishment of the Seven Temples, and Jing Yue said, "What is the Seven Temples?" Wei Yue: "The Son of Heaven sacrifices the Seventh Ancestral Examination." And asked the Seventh Dynasty to keep it secret, Jing Yue: "In my past life, I will not remember it, but I will remember my father's name; and he is in Shuozhou, so he must come here!" The crowd laughed. - Zizhi Tongjian, Liang Ji 20
People often take this history as a joke and use this way to prove that Hou Jing is a vulgar and ignorant barbarian. But in my opinion, he is by no means a joke, but reflects Hou Jing's positive and pragmatic mentality.
What lineage? What origin? Hou Jing did not believe in that set, the reason why Hou Jing was able to succeed was not because of what his grandfather's name was and who his father was, but because Hou Jing seized the opportunity left to him by the situation through his own efforts and hard work. Although Hou Jing ultimately failed, Hou Jing was ten times stronger than the so-called nobles who ate vegetarian meals! hundredfold! A thousand times! Ten thousand times! Ten thousand times!
What is the prince who will have a kind of xiangning? This is called the prince's general Xiang Ning has a kind of hu. How many emperors in history would dare to shout such a chant?
Hou Jing was by no means a warrior, he had always been known for his strategy. In this way, Hou Jing bitterly mocked those rich warriors. Turning over the history books of that era, besides Hou Jing, who had this kind of boldness?
Of course, we can't blindly mythologize Hou Jing, and the reason why Hou Jing did this kind of thing is probably just to get closer to his low-level concubines. But even so, from the perspective of the discourse, Hou Jing's behavior can be called deafening.
Recommended reading of related articles in previous periods:
Hou Jingnan fled to Liang Guo, and Xiao Yan took advantage of the fire to rob him
Xiao Yan pressed forward step by step, and Hou Jing rebelled again
The royal family ate inside and outside, and Xiao Yan was trapped in the isolated city
Hou Jing drew the bottom layer together, and Xiao Yan died of exhaustion and starvation