Henan Yanshi's Shuiquan Grottoes are forty kilometers south of the ruins of Luoyang City in Han Wei, chiseled in the Northern Wei, and many inscriptions of statues and merits have been left in the caves, one of which is december 9, the third year of the Western Wei Dynasty (537), during the Eastern Wei and Western Wei dynasties, Luoyang belonged to the Eastern Wei for a long time, and when the two Wei broke up, the demarcation point was more than two hundred kilometers west of Tongguan, how could there be an inscription of the Western Wei era number around Luoyang?
【Yanshi Shuiquan Grottoes】
【Inscription of the Three Years of the Western Wei Dynasty of the Shuiquan Grottoes】
Coincidentally, the Gongyi Grotto Temple, 50 kilometers east of the ancient city of Luoyang in Han Wei, was also carved in the Northern Wei Dynasty, leaving a lot of inscriptions from the Northern Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and there are also several inscriptions of the Western Wei Dynasty, such as March 8 in the fourth year of the Great Unification (538) and April 15 in the fourth year of the Great Unification (538).
【Gongyi Grotto Temple Four-Year Inscription】
【Position of the inscription of the fourth year of the unification】
【Gongyi Grotto Temple Empress Dowager Buddha Map】
【Location of Shuiquan Grottoes and Gongyi Grottoes Temple】
"Datong" is the era name of the Western Wei Emperor Yuan Baoju, Yuan Baoju does not appear much in history, but his original empress Yifu is familiar to many people, and a beautiful statue in the Maijishan Grottoes is said to be based on Yifushi
【Mai Ji Shan is said to be a statue of Yi Fu Shi】
【Shaanxi Fuping Yuanbao Torch Yongling Tomb】
During the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties, Gao Huan of eastern Wei and Yuwentai of Western Wei were constantly at war, and the first line of competition from Tongguan to Luoyang was the most fierce
【Hebei Ci County Gao Huanyi Pingling】
【Shaanxi Fuping Yuwen Taicheng Mausoleum】
In the autumn of the third year of the reign (537), the Western Wei general Du Guxin attacked Luoyang, and Du Guoxin was known as the most cattle old man, his son-in-law was the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian, the grandson was the Sui Emperor Yang Guang, and the other grandson was Tang Gaozu Li Yuan
【Shaanxi Libo Collection of Dugu Xin Multi-faceted Seal】
【Tombstone of Dugu Xin collected by Guobo】
The following summer, Eastern Wei began to counterattack, and the general Hou Jing led his troops to retake Luoyang, encircling Dugu xin and others at Jin YongCheng, which was a satellite city of Luoyang, and still had some remnants of the city wall
【Remains of the City Walls of Kim Yong Castle】
【Location of Kim Yong City】
After Hou Jing entered Luoyang, he began to burn the city, and less than two-thirds of the houses survived
【Ruins of Taiji Hall in Luoyang City, Han Wei】
Yuwen Tai personally led troops to rescue Luoyang, Li Bi was the forward, Li Bi was not famous in history, and his great-grandson was even more famous, Li Mi, the leader of the Wagang Army at the end of the Sui Dynasty
【Li Mi's Epitaph collected by Henan Museum】
The two sides fought a decisive battle at the Yellow River Bridge north of Luoyang, known as the Battle of heqiao, the Western Wei army could not resist Hou Jing's offensive, Yuwen Tai's horse was shot by a stray arrow and chased down the horse, the retinue also ran away, the pursuing soldiers approached, the governor Li Mu jumped off his horse to take the horse whip to beat Yu Wentai, disguised as a punishment for deserters, Eastern Wei soldiers saw from a distance that they did not think that Yuwen Tai was a high-ranking official, turned elsewhere, Yuwen Tai escaped in danger
Li Mu has a younger brother named Li Xian, a few years ago Li Xian's tomb was found in Guyuan, Gansu, unearthed many exquisite artifacts, iron swords, glass bowls, etc., among which the Western style gilded gold and silver pot is a witness to the cultural exchange between China and the West, which often appears in major exhibitions over the years
【Gilded gold and silver pot excavated from the tomb of Li Xian in Guyuan, Ningxia】
DuGuxin and the others did not know whether Yuwen Tai was alive or dead, and led the troops to retreat, and the Western Wei general Li Hu who received him later also led the troops to retreat, and the Eastern Wei reoccupation of the Luoyang region, Li Hu was the grandfather of Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu
【Li Hu Yongkang Mausoleum, Sanyuan County, Shaanxi】
Hou Jing occupied Jin YongCheng and once again set fire to the city, and Luoyang was no longer the Luoyang of the past
There was also a Western Wei general who participated in the Battle of Heqiao called Dou Luen, and recently we can see many reports that the Dou Luen family cemetery was found in the Xixian New Area of Shaanxi Province, and the stele head and stele with tombstones were unearthed, and the stele body has long been entered into the Xianyang Museum, and the inscription has a record "Three years after the unification, there was the Battle of Shayuan." For four years, there was the Battle of River Bridge. ”
【New potato Lune tombstone head】
The war lasted from the autumn of the third year of the reign (537) to the summer of the fourth year of the reign (538), nearly a year, and the above inscriptions happened to be within this time frame, and the short inscriptions could also confirm history
The time can also be more accurate, gongyi grotto temple also has a statue inscription on September 5 of the fourth year of the Eastern Wei Tianping (537), and the inscription that appeared in the Shuiquan Grottoes in December of the same year is the year number of the third year of the unification; the most recent inscription after the war also appeared in the Gongyi Grotto Temple, the sixth year of Tianping (539) □, it seems that the war did not affect the enthusiasm of the faithful to create statues, just change the era name, perhaps the more soldiers and horses are in chaos, the more they need the blessing of the gods
Nine years after the Battle of Heqiao, the Eastern Wei official Yang Xuanzhi revisited Luoyang, which was already full of barren grass, and wrote a copy of "Luoyang Jialan" to reminisce about the prosperity of the past
Also in this year, Gao Huan died, his son Gao Cheng succeeded him as Chancellor, Hou Jing and Gao Cheng were at odds, turned to Yuwen Tai, and soon turned to The Southern Dynasty Liang Wu Emperor Xiao Yan, still uneasy, Southern Liang Taiqing In the first year (548), Hou Jing launched a mutiny, imprisoning Liang Wu Emperor Xiao Yan and causing him to starve to death
【Tomb of Emperor Xiao Yan of Southern Liangwu in Yangsu, Jiangsu Province】
Two hundred and seventy years later, Tang Xianzong firmly believed in Buddhism, spent a lot of money to welcome the Buddha bones, Han Yu went to the "On the Table of Buddha Bones" to advise, the text said that before the introduction of Buddhism, there were more emperors with high life, and after the introduction of Buddhism, there were always short-lived emperors, only the Liangwu Emperor Xiao Yan reigned for a long time, and finally was starved to death by Hou Jing, Tang Xianzong was very angry after seeing it, and wanted to kill Han Yu, and after Pei Du and others fully advised, he changed to the degraded official Chaozhou
【Tomb of Han Yu in Mengzhou, Henan】
There is also a Western Wei inscription at the Gongyi Grotto Temple, which dates to April 8, the second year of the Western Wei Dynasty (536), a year before Dugu xin occupied Luoyang, could it be that Western Wei had also occupied Luoyang before? Looking at the other inscriptions in the cave, slightly earlier than the date of the second year of the Unification, there is The Third Year of the Eastern Wei Tianping (536) March 3rd, and a little later there is the Eastern Wei Tianping III (536) April 15th, leaving only a gap of more than a month for the Western Wei, the Western Wei once lightning occupied Luoyang and withdrew? There are still many details of history that need to be explored
【Inscription on March 3rd of the Third Year of The Balance】
Gao Changgong, the King of Lanling, also became famous for the Battle of Luoyang, but it was not the Battle of Heqiao, but it took place more than twenty years later
Gao Changgong was Gao Huan's grandson and Gao Cheng's son, at this time Western Wei had become Northern Zhou, Eastern Wei had become Northern Qi, northern Zhou troops attacked Luoyang, Gao Changgong was ordered to rush to the aid, led 500 people to break through the enemy line, and lifted the siege of Jin Yongcheng
【Hebei Ci County Gao Chang Gong Shinto Monument】
Gao Changgong wore a mask when fighting, fierce and fierce, and the soldiers made the Lanling King's entry song to commend his merits, and the music was introduced to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, and it has been passed down to this day, and the performers still wear masks on their heads and dress up as Gao Changgong
【Japanese Performance of Lanling King Entry Song】