Tuoba Hong, emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was the greatest emperor in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and his Sinicization reform made outstanding contributions to Chinese history, and was widely praised by later historians. However, his cruelty in dealing with his son Yuan Ke was reproachful and caused great criticism. Due to his incomprehension of the Sinicization policy, Yuan Ke clashed fiercely with his father, so much so that he was deposed as crown prince and demoted to a Shuren and imprisoned in Heyang. However, a year later, Tuoba Hong did not remember the love of father and son, listened to the rumors of lieutenant Li Biao, and sent the Zhongshu attendant Xing Luan and the Xianyang Wang Yuanxi to Heyang with the edict and poisoned wine to give Yuan Ke to death, which made the posterity feel sorry. Tuoba Hong's desperate behavior has also become a rare stain on his life.
Yuan Ke (元恂) was the eldest son of Tuoba Hong, whose original name was Tuoba Gong (拓跋恂). After the Sinicization reform, the Tuoba clan of the Northern Wei dynasty was changed to the Yuan clan, so he also changed his name to Yuan Ke. Unlike Tuoba Hong's worship of Han culture, Yuan Ke is extremely Han culture and stands on the opposite side of Tuoba Hong in terms of Sinicization reform policies. He was tall and fat, often mixed with conservative xianbei nobles, and resolutely opposed the Sinicization reforms. He refused to read Han books, nor did he want to speak Chinese, pass on Han clothes, and even tore up all the Han clothes that Tuoba Hong gave him, and still untied his hair as a braided hair, stubbornly maintaining the old customs of freshness and humility. He also disliked the weather in Luoyang and clamored to return to the old capital of Pingcheng in the north. Tuoba Hong's zhongshu son Gao Daoyue persuaded him many times, but he had no intention of repenting, but instead held a grudge.
Yuan Ke took advantage of Tuoba Hong's tour of Song Mountain to conspire with the left and right to secretly prepare to rush out of Luoyang City and return to the old capital Pingcheng. Fearing that Gao Daoyue had tipped off Tuoba Hong, and resenting his previous persuasion, he assassinated Gao Daoyue before the action. However, this incident still alarmed the forbidden army guarding Luoyang, and the leader of the forbidden army, Yuan Yu, immediately blocked the imperial palace and the gates of Luoyang, so that Yuan Ke could not leave the city. At the same time, Shangshu Lu Xuan chima reported the situation in Luoyang to Tuoba Hong, so Tuoba Hong was furious and changed his itinerary to return to Luoyang. Tuoba Hong disposed of Yuan Gong severely, and also asked Yuanxi, the King of Xianyang, to take his place in his staff to rebuke Yuan Gong, and beat him to the skin. Afterwards, Yuan Ke was deposed as a Shuren and moved to Heyang for captivity. In April of the following year, Tuoba Hong listened to Li Biao's rumors and sent people to execute Yuan Gong.
Judging from the records of historical documents, the contradiction between Tuoba Hong and Yuan Ke is mainly in the sinicization policy. However, Yuan Gong did not directly commit obvious acts of rebellion, but first deposed from the crown prince to a commoner, and then gave poisoned wine to commit suicide, which made many people not understand the reason why Tuoba Hong did so. Tuoba Hong has a good reputation in history, in addition to the merits of the Sinicization reform, he is also a king known for his benevolence. However, in his attitude towards his son, Tuoba Hong did not have the kindness of the past, but instead killed his son completely, which was very inconsistent with his consistent governing style. Many people believe that Tuoba Hong was too fond of the Han gate valve ministers, and listened to the rumors of Lieutenant Li Biao, and only then did he make such a desperate operation.
Although this statement was reasonable at the time, Tuoba Hong did excessively spoil the Han ministers, but it was too exaggerated to say that he killed his son because of Li Biao's words. Tuoba Hong is both a Ming Jun and a Ren Jun, and he has a certain standard for doing things. Especially after the Sinicization reform, Tuoba Hong actively promoted the political system of the Han court in the affairs of the imperial court, so he was no longer the tyrant who killed people in the grassland. Judging from Tuoba Hong's ruling style, he will not take such drastic measures as killing people unless he has to. Moreover, Yuan Ke was his son, and the father-son relationship had taken their relationship a step further, so how could they be easily shaken by Li Biao? Even if Yuan Ke had made a mistake before, but he had already been imprisoned, what reason was there to kill?
Judging from the historical documents, Yuan Ke actually did not have obvious acts of rebellion. Although he opposed the Sinicization reforms, he did not directly attack Tuoba Hong. Although he assassinated Gao Daoyue, this was only to get rid of Tuoba Hong's control over him and seize the opportunity of Tuoba Hong's tour to escape from Luoyang. These acts proved that Yuan Ke was opposed to the Sinicization reform, which was also a relatively serious crime at that time. However, he was punished afterwards, and he was deposed as crown prince and relegated to the rank of shuren and imprisoned in Heyang. It is reasonable to say that this matter has come to an end, and the imprisoned Yuan Gong cannot turn over any waves. Under these circumstances, Tuoba Hong still did not remember the love of father and son, and resolutely executed his son, which was very vicious.
The mainstream view of history believes that Li Biao's rumors moved Tuoba Hong, which made Tuoba Hong make such a desperate decision. In fact, judging from the historical materials, Li Biao's words are not entirely slanderous. He reported that Yuan Gong was still plotting against the left and right, and this possibility did exist. As early as the month when Yuan Ke was deposed as a Shuren, the xianbei nobles who supported Yuan Gong were already seeking rebellion. At that time, Hengzhou Assassin Shi Mutai and Dingzhou Assassin Shi Lurui conspired with each other to secretly collude with the Zhenbei generals Yuan Siyu, Marquis Yuanlong of Anle, Hou Yuanye of Fulu County, Yuan Chao of Xiaoqi and Marquis Hetou of Yangping, Yuan Leping of Shooting Sound, Yuan Ba, former General of Pengcheng Town, and Taishou Yuanzhen of Dai County, and plotted to promote a rebellion by Wang Yuanyi of Shuozhou.
Among the participants in this rebellion, the vast majority were conservative and humble nobles, the backbone of the active opposition to the Sinicization policy. However, due to the violation of Yang Fengyin by Yuanyi the Prince of Yangping, he ostensibly joined the anti-Han rebel clique and privately informed Tuoba Hong, so that this rebellion was suppressed by Yuancheng the Prince of Rencheng. Judging from the timing of this rebellion, the preferred figure of these people is likely to be Yuan Gong, and it was only because Yuan Ke could not escape from Luoyang City to join him, so he had to choose Yuan Yi. Judging from the process of Yuan Ke's escape, he selected three thousand well-equipped imperial horses to go north lightly, which showed that it was not simply to flee back to Pingcheng, but to have a deeper consideration. It can be seen from this that Yuan Ke probably went with his own henchmen to join the rebels, but it was only because of the blockade of the Forbidden Army in Luoyang that it was defeated.
Since the Yellow River has already been waged by the humble nobles and officials who have already engaged in a rebellion, will they come a second time? Judging from the historical environment at that time, this possibility is very large. Judging from Tuoba Hong's reaction after the rebellion, he also made a compromise. He no longer required the Xianbei nobles to stay in Luoyang all year round, allowing them to live in Luoyang in the autumn and return the tribe in the spring, which was then known as "Yan chen". This shows that Tuoba Hong still carried out a series of pacification measures after the rebellion to calm the dissatisfaction of the humble nobles in the north. But it is clear that such political measures cannot completely cut off the anti-Sinicization path of the conservative Xianbei nobles, whose rebellions can occur at any time. Yuan Gong, the deposed prince imprisoned in Heyang, north of the Yellow River, was probably their biggest political motivator.
Originally, Yuan Ke was the backbone of the opposition to Sinicization, and he was both the eldest son and the deposed prince, so he had a very high status in politics. If the conservative Xianbei nobles used Yuan Ke as a banner of rebellion, it would have great political appeal, and many Xianbei nobles of the middle faction and the tribal leaders of the northern tribes would join in. In this way, this will make the Northern Wei face a situation of division between the north and the south, which will be the biggest crisis since Tuoba Hong took the throne. Judging from the time point of execution of Yuan Gong, it was officially Tuoba Hongxi's tour of Chang'an. Three days after his return from Chang'an, he ordered the conscription of 200,000 soldiers from the five prefectures of Ji, Ding, Ying, Xiang, and Ji to prepare for another southern expedition to Southern Qi. Combined with the two historical events, Tuoba Hong was obviously clearing the worries of the Southern Expedition.
Yuan Gong's first escape took place while Tuoba Hong was inspecting Mount Song, and he was likely to rebel again when Tuoba Hong's southern expedition. At that time, the new crown prince Yuan Ke was only fourteen years old, and had only been on the throne for three months, and it was impossible to stabilize the rear of northern Wei. The Tuoba Hong's southern expedition would take away hundreds of thousands of troops, which in turn would lead to an emptiness of troops north of the Yellow River. Under such circumstances, he would naturally be very suspicious of Yuan Gong and feel nervous about a little wind and grass. Although the history books say that Yuan Ke also left a letter to defend himself before committing suicide, the content of this letter was not made public. From a political and war point of view, even if Yuan Ke really did not conspire with the northern Xianbei nobles, Tuoba Hong would not rest assured that he would be imprisoned in Heyang.
Heyang is located north of the Yellow River, across the river from Luoyang, and its geographical location is very important. If Yuan Gong was taken by the rebels here, then Northern Wei was on fire in the backyard. If this incident occurred at the critical moment of Tuoba Hong's southern expedition, it was likely to make him face the danger of being attacked on his stomach and back. Therefore, for various reasons, Tuoba Hong, as an emperor, will definitely give priority to his political ambitions and choose to give death to Yuan Gong to ensure the stability of his throne. Yuan Gong's death not only cut off the idea of the conservative forces of the Xianbei nobles, but also played a deterrent role, so that they did not dare to rebel easily. As for whether Yuan Gong died unjustly, this was no longer important to Tuoba Hong. As a politician, he will not easily believe that Yuan Ke will change his position and enter the tide of Sinicization.