After the Wei Xiaowen Emperor Tuoba Hong was reformed and Sinicized, he greatly expanded the imperial power of the Tuoba Jue family. This was a good thing for Tuoba Hong to govern, but after Tuoba Hong's death, yuan ke, who believed in Buddhism, succeeded to the throne, and the powerful Tuoba Jue family became a big trouble.
What's the trouble? In fact, it was just the political norm of that era, and the Tuoba Jue family was powerful, and infighting was naturally about to come out.
(Note: After The Tuoba Hong Revolution was sinicized, the royal family name was changed from "Tuoba" to "Yuan".) When I write about Tuoba Hong, the members of the royal family will be called Yuan. ）
Tuoba Hong was the eldest son, and had six younger brothers, namely Yuan Xi, Yuan Gan, Yuan Yu, Yuan Yong, Yuan Xun [xié], and Yuan Detail. Among them, Yuan Gan was convicted and killed during Tuoba Hong's reign, and the other five were safe and sound.
The secret decree left and right to examine his intentions, know no worries and repentance, but count his transgressions, one hundred rods, and dispense with the officials, and return the first with the king. Twenty-three years, Chinese New Year's Eve one. Give the East Garden secret utensils, fifteen garments, give three thousand horses, the Ling King, accompany the burial of Changling. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Before Tuoba Hong's death, he had hoped that his sixth brother Yuan Xun would be the chief auxiliary minister, but Yuan Xun resolutely resigned.
It should be said that Yuan Xun is a figure who coexists with reason and wisdom. At the critical moment, he was not confused by the power, but saw the killing machine behind the power at a glance.
This is Zhou Dan's escape, the king's doubts, His Majesty's love for his subjects, and his beauty for the unfinished. The subject is not so evil to donate the momentum, not so resigned to the industry, is looking forward to the bright mirror of His Majesty, thinking of the misfortune of the foolish minister forgetting to retreat. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan No. 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Tuoba Hongtuo was naturally sincere, but with Yuan Xun's power, status, strength and influence, once he became the chief assistant minister, could Tuoba Hong's heir Yuan Ke still sleep?
Yuan Ke will always worry about Yuan Xun grabbing power, in this context, how can the uncle and nephew cooperate sincerely? This must be the end of the fire and the end.
In fact, even if Yuan Xun knew the advance and retreat so well, Tuoba Jue's family was on the verge of launching a fire. As soon as Tuoba Hong died, Yuan Xi and Yuan Ke were ready to fire and Yuan Xun, because they were worried that he would rebel. However, with the concession of Yuan Xun, this fire eventually disappeared into invisibility.
Yang Wangxi was suspicious of change, stopped outside Luyang County, and entered for a long time. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan No. 9, Xianwen Liuwang
The topic returned to Tuoba Hongtuo's loneliness, Yuan Xun refused to accept the appointment, and Tuoba Hong had to appoint his other two younger brothers, Yuan Xi and Yuan Xiang, as important responsibilities as first and second assistants.
Yuan Xi and Yuan Xiang did not refuse to be appointed, and after they became the first and second assistants, they immediately huddled together and excluded the other auxiliary ministers.
and Gao Zubang, Xi was bequeathed to assist the government. Although he is the head of Zaifu, he calmly pushes the commission, has nothing to do with right and wrong, and secretly accepts bribes, and the yin is a threat, and Xi Te is very careful. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Gao Zu was on the verge of collapse, and Gu Ming was appointed as the assistant to Sikong. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
As time went on, Yuan Xi became more and more bold, and he actually wanted to extend his hand to the Forbidden Army. Yuan Xi's behavior was publicly resisted by Yu Lie, the leader of the Forbidden Army. Why didn't Yu Lie want to side with Yuan Xi? Apparently because Yuan Xi was not qualified to seize imperial power. In this context, Yuan Xi's behavior is somewhat self-sufficient.
The Xianyang King Xi was Zaifu, and at that time, he sent his servants to rumor Yu Lieyue: "The old Yulin Huben must be in and out of the army, and the leader can be sent." Lieyue: "The Son of Heaven forgives the darkness, the matter is returned to Zaifu, the leader but the zhidian is in charge of the guards, and there are edicts that dare not be violated, and the reason is selfless." --Book of Wei, vol. 31, Liechuan 19, Yu Lilei
However, YuanXi did not think so, and he thought that Yu Lie was disobedient and planned to transfer Yu Lie to other places. Although Yuan Xi was not qualified to compete for the throne, it was still certain to clean up Yu Lie. Yu Lie could not resist and had to let his son Yu Zhong ask Yuan Ke for help.
Xi Evil Was Fierce and Straight, so it was agreed that it was the envoy to hold the festival, the scattered riding of the regular attendant, the general of the conquest of the north, and the history of the Hengzhou assassin. Sejong specializes in Xi and other specialties and plots to abolish it. At the beginning of the first month of the second year of the meeting, the three dukes and fasted at the temple, sejong summoned Liezi Zhongzhi at night: "Father Qing is loyal to Yun Zhengu, the subject of the society." Ming can enter early, when there is a punishment. --Book of Wei, vol. 31, Liechuan 19, Yu Lilei
At this point, Yuan Ke already had a number in mind: the leader of the Forbidden Army was unwilling to side with the imperial family and was willing to cooperate with the emperor. And Yuan Ke was also anxious to cut out the uncles who made him sleep badly, so the two sides hit it off. Yuan Ke gave Yu Lie a task: to invite Yuan Xi, Yuan Xun, and Yuan Shu into the palace.
Nai Sent zhi ge more than sixty people down, and declared that he would summon Wang Xi of Xianyang, Wang Xun of Pengcheng, and Wang Xiang of Beihai to wei and send them to the emperor. - Book of Wei, vol. 31, Liechuan 19, Yu Lilei
This move of Yuan Ke can be described as earth-shattering, and at that time, some people thought that Yuan Ke was planning to do it. When Yuan Xiang was preparing to enter the palace, his mother, Princess Gao, followed her son and cried endlessly.
After Yuan Xiang returned home, Princess Gao said to him, "I have had enough of this kind of fearful day, can we quit?" As long as I can be safe, I'd rather sweep the streets! ”
When gao Shi was afraid, thinking that he would die, he also rode to the road, crying, and sent to Kim Yong. Gao Yun: "From now on, I don't want to be rich, but let mother and son protect each other, and work together to sweep the market." ---------------------------------
To force a woman to say such a thing, we can fully imagine how tense the relationship between Emperor Yuan Ke and several uncles was.
The outcome of the three imperial uncles entering the palace was not too bad, and Yuan Ke did not directly launch a palace coup, but officially informed the three uncles: "Shuo plans to pro-government, several uncles are hard, and they will rest and maintain their bodies in the future." ”
Naishi obeys the son, returns to the government and complains, and the rhetoric is earnest, and it is difficult to take it. Bento Litz was empty and personally inspected the aircraft. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
For this ending, Shoufu Yuanxi was not convinced. It is said that Tuoba Hong once said to Yuan Xi and others: "If Yuan Ke is not a tool, you will get him down." Whether this is true or not is unknown, but Yuan Xi obviously thinks that he can ascend to the top of the world to respond, so he conspires to rebel, and finally is killed because of the incident.
At the beginning, Gao Zu feasted idly, calmly saying to Yu Xi and so on: "My descendants, encounters are not caught, Ru and others wait and see the supplementary reason, do not let others have it." ---------------------------------
He was ashamed and speechless, so he gave death to the private. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Yuan Xi was the first to be cleared out, which meant that Yuan Ke was qualified to be pro-government. This year, Yuan Ke was eighteen years old.
After Yuan Ke pro-government, he did not continue to kill the ring. Because he clearly realized one point: killing Yuanxi was out of helplessness, and if he continued to expand the attack area, he would only consume the strength of Tuoba Jue's family. Even if they won from the competition and their strength was greatly reduced, the Tuoba Jue family could not cope with the challenges of the collateral system.
Therefore, Yuan Ke only tried to manage his own power as a way to balance the imperial family. On the surface, Yuan Ke was very mean to the royal family. But in fact, Yuan Ke was only trying his best to weaken the political power of the imperial family, but in other respects he was more preferential.
When it comes to the extravagance of the two Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the first thing that comes to mind should be the Western Jin Dynasty, Shi Chong, and Wang Kai Doufu. But in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the scale of Yuan Yong, Yuan Chen and Yuan Rong Doufu was not bad at all. If Yuan Kezhen is more mean to the royal family, where will they have the qualifications to fight for wealth?
From another point of view, under the premise of suppressing political power, these royal families still dare to fight for wealth so brazenly. If Yuan Ke didn't suppress them, what would these lawless royals do? Only God knows.
In summary, it should be said that Yuan Ke's control of the royal family has always been based on rationality, and it has been relatively successful. After several years of hard work, Yuan Ke gradually took control of the situation, and his cronies grew up. In this context, Yuan Ke began to attack the powerful royal family.
In 504, the uncle Gao Zhao framed Yuan Xiang for rebellion, and Yuan Xiang was demoted and subsequently killed; in 508, The uncle Gao Zhao, the uncle of the state, died Yuan Xun. At this point, the two powerful royals have all withdrawn from the political stage.
Later, gao Zhao's accusations, Yun Xiang and Hao plotted rebellion. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Zhao then repeatedly slandered Sejong, Zhao slandered the north and Yutong, and the south recruited barbarian thieves. The samurai then built a sword with a sword, and when the samurai drank poisonous wine, the samurai killed him. - Book of Wei, vol. 21, Liechuan No. 9, Xianwen Liuwang
Many people who are familiar with the Book of Wei and the History of the North always think that Uncle Gao Zhao, a difficult and mean little man, had it not been for him jumping up and down, Yuan Xiang and Yuan Xun would not have ended up in such a miserable end.
Those who hold this view are typically those who do not understand politics.
It is no coincidence that Yuan Ke's nickname was "Xuanwu Emperor", and it was no coincidence that Northern Wei's national strength reached its peak under Yuan Ke's control. To say that Yuan Ke is a fool at the mercy of the traitors is inevitably too small to look at him.
Trying to control a powerful royal family is an extremely dangerous thing, and there are usually only two results: one is to fight the tiger and not die but suffer from it, and the other is to bear the thousand-year-old insult of killing heavy subjects.
In this context, the wise emperor would find another way, appoint a trusted eagle dog, and let him do dirty work.
There are at least three benefits to doing so:
First, the emperor can avoid carrying notoriety, at best, to bear the fault of improper employment;
Second, in the process of the game between the eagle dog and the courtiers, the emperor has the opportunity to formulate a strategy according to the current situation, and he does not have to be at the forefront;
Third, after leading to uncontrollable and vicious consequences, the emperor can completely throw the eagle dog out to attract fire.
In the political game, there are many things that cannot be brought to the table. When the emperor is inconvenient to personally shoot, reusing the eagle dog is the best way.
The Eagle Dog is definitely a difficult breed, and the person in this position can have unlimited power and honor on the surface.
In a sense, Uncle Gao Zhao is a qualified eagle dog. Although he was Yuan Ke's uncle, he came from a humble background and did not enjoy any high-standard treatment before Yuan Ke took over the government.
Originating from the land, the time is light. And in the position of the most important, pay attention to the hundreds of words, tireless, the world is called able to do. - Book of Wei, vol. 83, Liechuan Foreign Relatives 71, Gao Zhao, etc
Under Yuan Ke's out-of-line promotion, Gao Zhao was given the opportunity to ascend to the heavens one step at a time. In the face of power, Gao Zhao did not faint, but just did his job hard and complained, compared to many eagle dogs that bite their masters, Gao Zhao can be called loyal and capable.
But the eagle dog was only an eagle dog after all, and after the death of Yuan Ke, Gao Zhao was immediately counter-attacked and counted backwards, and soon the family was destroyed.
Many people always like to look at history with a romantic eye, a good emperor appeared, a good prime minister was promoted, and the people lived a prosperous life under their bright leadership.
But the reality is that Tuoba Hong, the famous Emperor Xiaowen of Wei, was a monarch who vigorously expanded his imperial power, and his sinicization of the customs led to the strong rise of the Tuoba Jue family. In return, the vested interests of the rich and powerful were publicly recognized and protected at the legal level. As for whether the people's lives are good or bad? That's just incidental.
The wise Andiwu Emperor Yuan Ke was also an assertive monarch, and his actions led to a greater concentration of power in the Tuoba Jue clan. In the matter of appointing his uncle Gao Zhao, to suppress the imperial family, Yuan Ke was greatly successful. However, with the deepening of centralization, the power of the Tuoba family gradually increased. After Yuan Ke's death, the Tuoba Jue family, which had lost its restraints, gradually moved to the brink of collapse.
This is history.
Recommended reading of related articles in previous periods:
Empress Feng monopolized power, and Tuoba Hong endured humiliation and burden
Tuoba Hong revolutionized the customs and Sinicization, and suppressed the rebellion and vigorously centralized power