430 AD
Liu Song Northern Expedition: Hurriedly went out to fight and was seriously injured and returned
In 430 (the seventh year of Yuan Jia), Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong ordered the founding general Zhi Yanzhi as the main general to lead the first Northern Expedition, intending to recover the lost land in Henan occupied by Northern Wei.
Liu Yilong reigned for thirty years, advocated frugality, vigorously developed the economy, and turned Jiangnan, where the Han Dynasty was still a barbaric land, into a land of anointing, and rice production overwhelmed the north. Twenty-seven years before Yuan Jia, the Jiangnan state under his rule reached its peak and was known as the rule of Yuan Jia, which was a model for the rule of the Six Dynasties. But Liu Yilong's ambition was not just to create a peaceful and prosperous world, but to recover the Central Plains like his father Liu Yu.
After Liu Yilong eliminated the power of the vassals in 426, he put the Northern Expedition to Northern Wei on the agenda. After breaking the Rou in Northern Wei, Liu Yilong joined forces with The Xiongnu Emperor Helian Ding, intending to attack Northern Wei together.
The former dynasty general Tan Daoji was both the founding father of the country and made many military achievements, and repeatedly fought against the Northern Wei army and won victories. However, he had participated in the abolition and murder of Liu Yizhen, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, and Liu Yilong, who was jealous of him, did not trust him. Therefore, Zhi Yanzhi, who had fought Lu Xun and had been a general in Jingzhou for a long time, was regarded as a concubine by Liu Yilong and was appointed as the main general in the Northern Expedition.
After the First Northern Expedition, the Song army smoothly entered the Yellow River waterway from the Huai River. Northern Wei Tuoba Tao first stood still, allowing Liu Song's army to take luoyang, Hu prison pass, and sliding platform without any trouble. Tuoba Tao saw that Liu Song's army had no intention of crossing the Yellow River north, so he decided to attack Hu Xia's hometown of Pingliang first, forcing Helian Ding, who was in the coalition army, to return to the rescue. Sure enough, Helian Ding heard the wind and returned to the dynasty, was defeated in the middle of the way, fled to Tianshui, the Northern Wei army recaptured Guanzhong, the north-south attack was lifted, and at this time began to attack the Song army.
The rapidly assembled strength of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the fragility of the Xiongnu Xia Kingdom caught Liu Yilong off guard, and Zhi Yanzhi, who was guarding the slippery platform, used his eye disease as an excuse to privately decide to withdraw his troops from the slippery platform. Liu Yilong arrested Yanzhi and sent Tan Daoji to immediately support him, but the main force of the Song army retreated before the battle, and the people were already scattered. Within a few months, the slide was lost, the first Northern Expedition was declared a failure, and Tan Daoji was supported by Qing Shui with reinforcements.
Tan Daoji was very calm in the face of the Northern Wei army that came to surround them, when Northern Wei received reports from surrendered soldiers that Liu Song's defenders had no food, and sneaked into Liu Song's barracks late at night to spy on the truth. Tan Daoji ordered his soldiers to use sand as rice to weigh and sing loudly to confuse Northern Wei spies, frightening the Wei army from encircling the attack and calmly taking the Song army back to the division safely.
After the First Northern Expedition, the Song and Wei exchanged envoys for twenty years, and there was no major war, and the Southern Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were generally stable. Emperor Wen of Song, seeing that the country's strength had almost recovered, ordered the Northern Expedition again in 450. However, at this time, the great general Tan Daoji, who had frightened the Northern Wei army, had already been condemned by his family because of Liu Yilong's suspicions, and it was difficult for the Song army to resist the Wei army. After the start of the Second Northern Expedition, the Song army could not attack and slide for a long time, and the Yellow River defense line was scattered, and finally the Second Northern Expedition ended in failure. This Northern Expedition caused great damage to all parts of Jiangbei, and the people of Jiangnan also lived in fear and shock, and could not be calmed down for a long time.
In 452, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei was killed, and Emperor Wen of Song learned of the Northern Wei coup and thought that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he plotted to go north again. However, even if the internal political power of the Northern Wei Dynasty was unstable, the Song army's attack was still fruitless.
The following year, Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, who had just experienced the defeat of the Third Northern Expedition, was working in the palace, and the crown prince Liu Shao and the rebel soldiers broke in, Liu Yilong was killed in the rebellion of the prince, and the prosperity of Yuan Jia was completely over.
Conclusion: The main goal of the three Northern Expeditions that Liu Song took the initiative to attack was to recover the lost land in Henan, but all three of them ended in failure, which also consumed a lot of Liu Song's national strength, had a serious impact on the economy, and made the people live in fear. After the death of Emperor Wen of Song, Song fell into the chaos of infighting, and Northern Wei gradually gained military superiority and gradually seized Song's northern territory.
Liu Song Northern Expedition: A war of revenge that destroyed 30 years of prosperity
431 AD
Fall of Western Qin: The weakest State of Qin in history
In 431 AD, the Monarch of Western Qin surrendered to the Xia Kingdom at the end of the twilight, and Western Qin perished.
As the monarch of Western Qin, Qifu was incompetent, and after succeeding to the throne, he often abused torture, causing western Qin to be torn apart internally, and many of his subordinates defected. Shang Shu Xin Jin once followed Qifu Twilight to fight birds, because the sky was dark, the projectile from the slingshot accidentally hit Twilight's mother in the face, and Qifu Twilight killed Xin Jin's whole family in a fit of anger. The indiscriminate killing of Qifu Twilight can be understood as his venting of his inability to control the situation, because his father Qifu Blazing Rock left him with a mess that was difficult to clean up.
Back in 426, five years before the fall of Western Qin, Qifu Zhipan launched a war against Northern Liang in an attempt to occupy the Hexi Corridor. After Northern Liang was attacked by Western Qin, he asked for help from the Xia kingdom in Guanzhong and agreed to attack Western Qin together. Taking advantage of The emptiness of Western Qin, the xia army defeated and captured Alive Western Qin's Qin Prefecture Assassin Shi and Nan'an Taishou, directly encircling the Qin capital Paohan. When Qifu Zhipan received the news, he hurriedly retreated, and the Xia army crossed the Yellow River to seize Xiping, killing 5,000 Western Qin troops and abducting more than 20,000 households.
The borders of Western Qin were not peaceful either, and first TuguHun rebelled and defected to the Tuguhun King. Immediately afterwards, the Longxi people Xin Huan drove away the general Ji Bi of Zhengnan and occupied the city of Nansheng. The Qiang people of Taoyang also took advantage of the chaos to betray Western Qin and threw themselves into Northern Liang. Ji Bi was ordered to appease the Qiang people, but was attacked. At this time, Shangzhou Assassin Shi and Douhe Taishou Yao Mao surrendered to Northern Liang. In the midst of internal and external difficulties, Qifu Blazing Pan could not afford to be ill, and Qifu Twilight thus succeeded to the throne.
When Beiliang heard that Qifu Blazing Pan had died of illness, he immediately invaded Western Qin and attacked ledu City. Western Qin Xiangguo Yuanji led 3,000 cavalry to the rescue, and as soon as he entered the city, the city was surrounded by the Northern Liang army. The Northern Liang army could not attack for a long time, so it cut off the water source of Ledu City, and the defenders in the city died of thirst and starved many people. Yuanji's Qiang general Qiti secretly colluded with Northern Liang and threw ropes from the city wall to help Northern Liang soldiers enter the city, fortunately Yuanji found out in time and led his troops to repel the Northern Liang army.
Knowing that he would be unable to resist the Northern Liang army, Qifu Twilight sent emissaries to seek peace, released the northern Liang generals who had been captured before, and returned to temporary peace.
In the summer of 429, the Northern Liang monarch Mengxun once again sent troops to attack Western Qin. At the end of the twilight, he stayed in Xiangguo Yuanji Town to defend the capital of the country, and led his troops to retreat to Dinglian. At this time, Nan'an Taishou Zhai Chengbo and Xi'an Taishou Mo's young relatives rebelled one after another, and Tuguhun in the south responded to Northern Liang, led troops to invade Western Qin, and begged for the enemy at the end of the abdomen.
Qifu Twilight personally led troops to defend Dinglian, counterattacked the Northern Liang army, and captured the Northern Liang Prince depressed and revitalized the country. At the same time, The Western Qin General Duan Hui repelled Tuguhun. Western Qin once again turned the danger into a disaster.
The crisis in Western Qin was far from over. The external troubles eased slightly, and the internal worries immediately emerged. Qifu Twilight's younger brother Qifu Keshuluo and uncle Qifu Shiyin conspired to assassinate Qifu Twilight, and the matter was revealed, and the two were executed. This incident caused The Beggar Tou to begin to suspect the members of the Beggar family, and all those who complained were killed.
There were successive droughts and earthquakes in Western Qin, and in this case, Qifu Twilight felt that Western Qin could not stay any longer and wanted to defect to the Northern Wei Tuoba clan. So Qifu Twilight burned the city and marched towards Northern Wei with his men. To the east of Western Qin, helian Ding, the lord of the Xia state, was under attack from Northern Wei and continued to retreat westward, stopping Western Qin's large army near Nan'an, and qifu Twilight could not imagine it, so he had to retreat into Nan'an City.
The cronies of Qifu Twilight died and fled, guarding an isolated city, and Qifu Twilight became a lonely family. Having eaten all the grain, Qifu Twilight could only open the city gates and surrender to the Xia Kingdom, and Western Qin perished.
Conclusion: Western Qin surrendered to the Xia Kingdom and withdrew from the stage of history. Although the history of Western Qin was short, the rule of Beggar Xianbei promoted the ethnic integration of the Longyou region. At the same time, western Qin officials promoted Buddhism, built the Bingling Temple Grottoes, and accepted the high monks' Fa Xianxue, which effectively promoted the spread of Buddhism in Gansu, Qinghai and other places.
Hu Xia captured and killed Qifu at the end of the twilight, and Western Qin perished
439 AD
Tuoba Tao unified the north: The Northern Wei version of Jian Jian
In 439, The Northern Wei Emperor Tuoba Tao unified the north, and the Northern Wei dynasty confronted the Liu Song regime in the south, officially opening the Southern and Northern Dynasties period.
The predecessor of the Northern Wei Dynasty was the daiguo of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms. Later, Former Qin was defeated by The Eastern Jin Dynasty at the Battle of Shuishui, and the northern regime that was originally unified by Former Qin was once again divided, and Tuoba Jue, who was the acting royal family, also took the opportunity to rise up and restore the country, changing the name of the country to Wei, known in history as Northern Wei.
Since then, Tuoba Jue has been busy for the great cause of reunification, and although he has made countless military achievements, he has countless political powers in the north, and it is really difficult to easily subvert it. It was not until the reign of the third emperor Tuoba Tao that Northern Wei completed the great cause of unifying the north.
Why did Tuoba Tao achieve the goal of unifying the North? First of all, before that, after infighting, many countries were successively annexed and annihilated by other countries, and Tuoba Jue had laid the foundation for Tuoba Tao's unification, defeated the most powerful Later Yan and Later Qin at that time, and dominated Northern China, so when Tuoba Tao succeeded to the throne, except for Hu Xia, Western Qin, Northern Liang, and Northern Yan, all parts of the north were already occupied by Northern Wei. Not only that, Tuoba Tao was also a king with great talent, and when he took the throne at the age of sixteen, he decided to exert great efforts to lead the Northern Wei dynasty to glory. He has long planned a military route to unify the north, hoping to take over the northern countries in one fell swoop. In addition, Tuoba Tao ascended the throne at a young age because his father Tuoba Si had a short life and died at the age of thirty-two. Tuoba Si carried out the first civil war between the Southern and Northern Dynasties, taking Luoyang, Hucheng, and Shuitai from Liu Song, causing the boundary between the two countries to move south a lot. After Tuoba Si's death, the Cause of the Northern Expedition fell to Tuoba Tao.
After Tuoba Tao took the throne, he spent about four years training troops while studying the timing of troop dispatch. At that time, there were too many regimes in the north, and where the army wanted to attack was the biggest difficulty at that time. Tuoba Tao was not absolutely sure, and did not dare to rush to send troops. Finally, Tuoba Tao found a breakthrough and first attacked Hu Xia, and then successively destroyed the states of Rouran, Northern Yan, and Northern Liang, and unified the north.
Why did Tuoba Tao take this offensive route? Because at that time, Hu Xia first broke out of unrest, Hu Xia king Helian Bo died, his son in order to fight for power and seize the throne, fell into civil unrest, located in the southwest of Western Qin took the opportunity to attack Hu Xia to the east, did not expect Tuoba Tao to take the opportunity from the east to attack Xiadu, so that Helian Bobo's third son Helian Chang was captured, and the fifth son Helian Ding ran to Pingliang (present-day Pingliang, Gansu), unexpectedly resisting the attack of Northern Wei.
At the same time, Rouran, who was located in the northern border, also took advantage of the chaos to invade the south, and Northern Wei had to give up attacking Hu Xia, go deep into the desert, and defeat Rouran. Hu Xia went to war with Western Qin and destroyed Western Qin. Although Hu Xia escaped for a while, he did not last long for the national life. Tuguhun in the west judged the situation and wanted to curry favor with the increasingly powerful Northern Wei, so he attacked Hu Xia and captured Helian Ding and sacrificed it to the Northern Wei.
After destroying Hu Xia, Tuoba Tao set his sights on Northern Yan in the northeast. At that time, there was a coup d'état within Northern Yan, and The Northern Yan king Feng Hong killed his nephew to seize power, usurped the throne as emperor, and killed as many as a hundred family members of the crown prince Feng Yi, resulting in rebellion and separation, and was feared by the people of the whole country. So Tuoba Tao took the opportunity to send troops to attack Northern Yan in one fell swoop.
Northern Liang, who was located in the northwest, feared the power of Northern Wei, and asked his sister Princess Xingping to marry Northern Wei in order to seek peace with Northern Wei. Tuoba Tao also betrothed his sister Princess Xu of Wuwei to the Northern Liang monarch Mu Qian.
Tuoba Tao originally thought that the goal of northern unification had been achieved, but unexpectedly, the monarch in Northern Liang, Frustrated Canal Mu qian, not only violated the yin and yang, but also made overtures to Liu Song in the southern dynasty, and on the other hand, he also secretly had an affair with his sister-in-law, wanting to secretly poison and kill Princess Wuwei. Unable to bear it, Tuoba Tao ordered an army to attack Northern Liang. The strength of The Depressed Canal Muqian could not compete with the Northern Wei, and the Northern Liang State was quickly attacked, the Northern Liang was destroyed, and Tuoba Tao completed the great cause of unifying the North.
Conclusion: Tuoba Tao unified the north, making the Northern Wei a unified regime in the north that confronted Liu Song in the Southern Dynasty, and opened the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Tuoba Tao