In the third year of Yongxi (534), the first regime of the Northern Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, northern Wei, collapsed, and it enjoyed 148 years of the country. However, it is interesting that the demise of the Northern Wei Dynasty was not usurped by the powerful ministers, not overthrown by the rebel army, not destroyed by the enemy country, but split into two regimes, "Eastern Wei" and "Western Wei". So why did the Northern Wei Split into the "Eastern Wei" and the "Western Wei"?
In the fifth year of Zhengguang (524), the far-reaching "Six Towns Rebellion" broke out in Northern Wei. Although the Six Towns Uprising ultimately failed, the border town haoqiang, represented by Erzhu Rong, grew stronger in the process of suppressing the uprising. Moreover, although the Liuzhen rebellion failed, the soldiers of the Six Towns developed into a military group that could influence the political situation of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the representative figures were Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai.
It can be said that the Northern Wei after the Six Towns Uprising, like the Eastern Han Dynasty after the Yellow Turban Uprising, was about to die in name only, and Erzhu Rong played the role of Dong Zhuo according to the script of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty. In the first year of Wu Tai (528), Erzhu Rong killed Empress Dowager Hu of Northern Wei and Emperor Yuanzhao, as well as more than 2,000 Northern Wei dignitaries, known in history as the "Change of Heyin". The real power of the Northern Wei Dynasty fell completely into the hands of Erzhu Rong.
In the third year of Yong'an (530), Erzhu Rong was beheaded by Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei and several Northern Wei loyalists. Although Erzhu Rong, who was holding Dong Zhuo's script, was completely offline, Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Shilong and nephew Erzhu Zhao picked up Li Daoguo's script. Emperor Xiaozhuang was killed by these two men three months after Erzhu Rong's death, and Northern Wei's loyal subjects were also purged by these two men, and Wei's qi was exhausted.
Since there are Dong Zhuo, Li Dai, and Guo Feng, there will naturally be Cao Cao. However, two people who got Cao Cao's script at the same time in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty were Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai. From the first year of Putai (531) to the second year of Zhongxing (532), Gao Huan took advantage of the unpopularity of Erzhu Shilong, Erzhu Zhao, and infighting to capture the Northern Wei capital Luoyang, and then completely eliminated the Erzhu clique.
After the elimination of the Erzhu clan, the actual power of Northern Wei was controlled by Gao Huan. In the first year of Taichang (532), Gao Huan made a lifelong regret decision to appoint He Bayue as the Great Xingtai of Guanxi, giving He Bayue most of the western Wei dynasty with the Guanzhong region as the core. The first general under He Bayue's command was Yuwen Tai, the one who took Cao Cao and half of Liu Bei's script.
After He Bayue entered Guanzhong, he soon became a major threat to Gao Huan, and Yuan Xiu (Emperor Xiaowu), the last emperor of Northern Wei who was controlled by Gao Huan, also wanted to use He Bayue to overthrow Gao Huan. Therefore, in the third year of Yongxi (534), Gao Huan took advantage of the contradiction between He Bayue and Hou Mochenyue, the second largest force in Guanzhong, to provoke Hou MochenYue to ambush and kill He Bayue. Gao Huan thought that he would be invincible in the world after that.
However, what Gao Huan did not expect was that Yuwen Tai took over all of He Bayue's army and power with the fastest speed and the smallest cost after He Bayue's death, and then destroyed Hou Mo Chen Yue in the shortest time. The elimination of Hou Mo Chen Yue caused Gao Huan to completely lose control of the Guanlong region, and Yuwen Tai completely ruled Guanlong, which can be described as "a hero under today, only black otters and huan'er".
Yuwen Tai's presence not only made Gao Huan uncomfortable, but also made the Northern Wei Emperor Yuan Xiu feel that he still had a chance to defeat Gao Huan. In July of the third year (534) of Yongxi, where Yuwen Tai had complete control of Guanlong, Yuan Xiu planned to lead an army to attack Gao Huan, who had set up a "hegemonic palace" in Jinyang, and also demanded that Yuwen Tai raise an army to respond. However, Gao Huan discovered Yuan Xiu's army in advance and immediately led an army of 200,000 to Luoyang.
Yuan Xiu had to go to war with Gao Huan before Yuwen Tai's reinforcements arrived, and the military deployment was wrong, and Yu Wentai predicted that the emperor would be defeated after learning of Yuan Xiu's deployment. And the battle situation was indeed as Yuwen Tai expected, and Gao Huan completely defeated Yuan Xiu without much effort. However, Yuan Xiu could not fight a war, but was very good at escaping, and Gao Huan failed to capture the last emperor of Northern Wei.
Yuan Xiu, who fled to Guanzhong, made peace with Yuwen Tai at DongyangYi in Chang'an, and Gao Huan completely lost the Northern Wei emperor. In order not to lose the advantage of "holding the Heavenly Son hostage to order the princes", Gao Huan "absented" yuan xiu and installed Yuan Shanjian, the great-grandson of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, as emperor. Because Gao Huan claimed that Yuan Shanmi was the legitimate emperor of Northern Wei, the name of the country after Yuan Shanmi ascended the throne was still "Wei", and the history was called "Eastern Wei".
Yuan Xiu and Yuwen Tai naturally did not recognize Yuan Shanjian as emperor, and Northern Wei was already "two emperors standing side by side" at this time. Yuan Xiu originally thought that Yuwen Tai was taking Liu Bei's script, but when he arrived in Guanzhong, he found that Yuwen Tai was also taking Cao Cao's script. As a result, the relationship between Yuan Xiu and Yuwen Tai soon deteriorated to the point where it was difficult to coexist. In December of the third year of Yongxi (February 535), Yuwen Tai poisoned Emperor Yuan Xiu.
After Yuan Xiu's death, Yuwen Tai installed Yuan Baoju, the grandson of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, as emperor. Because Yuwen Tai also claimed that Yuan Baoju was the legitimate emperor of Northern Wei, the name of the country after Yuan Baoju ascended the throne was also "Wei", which was called "Western Wei" in history. Since Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei was the last Emperor Yuan of Northern Wei to be recognized by both the East and the West, later generations regarded Yuan Xiu's death as the official demise of Northern Wei.
Yuan Zenmi and Yuan Baoju, who nominally succeeded Yuan Xiu to the throne, were only recognized by one side, and were also the puppets of Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai, respectively. Later generations did not regard Yuan Shanmi and Yuan Baoju as emperors of Northern Wei, but as the first emperors of "Eastern Wei" and "Western Wei". Northern Wei was also split into "Eastern Wei" and "Western Wei" because of Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai, two people who took Cao Cao's script.