After Yao Cang's death, the crown prince Yao Xing raised Later Qin's career to a higher level; after Murong Chui's death, the crown prince Murong Bao divided Later Yan.
Why this difference? Based on the perspective of heroic history, the answer is very simple: because Murong Bao's talent is inferior, Yao Xing is talented.
But real history is clearly not that simple.
The reason why Murong Bao could not carry forward Murong Chui's cause was largely because Murong Chui had too many restraints and constraints on him; the reason why Yao Xing was able to carry forward Yao Chang's cause was largely because Yao Cang had been going all out to support and help him.
Murong Chui repeatedly restrained and restrained the crown prince Murong Bao, but Yao Cang would go all out to support and help the crown prince Yao Xing.
Why this difference? Based on the perspective of the heroic view of history, the answer is very simple: because Murong Chui has no foresight, Yao Cang has a long-term vision.
The reason why Yao Cang would go all out to support and help the crown prince Yao Xing was because Later Qin had at least two other people who could compete with Yao Cang, and they were Yao Cang's younger brothers, Yao Shuode and Yao Xu.
In this situation, the crown prince Yao Xing only had the opportunity to become the second emperor of Later Qin if he fully inherited all the powers of Yao Cang. If Yao Cang dared to repeatedly restrain and restrain the crown prince Yao Xing like Murong Chui, Yao Shuode and Yao Xu would probably wake up laughing when they fell asleep.
The reason why Murong Chui repeatedly restrained and restrained the crown prince Murong Bao was because Later Yan had no one to compete with Murong Chui.
In this situation, as long as the crown prince Murong Bao was able to inherit Murong Chui's main power, he had the opportunity to become the second emperor of Later Yan by challenging his father Murong Chui. Since this was the case, Murong Chui naturally had mixed thoughts when he supported murong bao the crown prince.
Although Yao Cang was the emperor of Later Qin, his two powerful younger brothers had always been able to compete with him. The relationship between Yao Shuode, Yao Xu, and Yao Cang was between subordinates and allies. On this point, we only need to look at the list of auxiliary ministers after Crown Prince Yao Xing succeeded to the throne.
After crown prince Yao Xing succeeded to the throne, the auxiliary ministers were Yao Min (姚旻), Yin Wei (尹伟), Yao Huang (姚晃), the general Yao Damu (姚大目), and Shangshu Di Bozhi (尚書迪伯支).
Is there anything wrong with this list of auxiliary ministers? Of course. Because Yao Shuode and Yao Xu were the two most powerful people in Later Qin, they were not on the list of auxiliary ministers.
Why are these two people's names not on the list of auxiliary ministers? And why did these two people not fight for the power of the auxiliary government?
The reason is actually very simple, these two people are not members of Yao Cang's family, and the transfer of power after Yao Cang's death is not directly related to them.
When Yao Xing fought a decisive battle with the Former Qin Emperor Gong Deng, Yao Xing's main assistants were Yin Wei and Di Bozhi, and there was nothing to do with Yao Shuode and Yao Xu.
Former Qin and Later Qin had been fighting, and neither Gong Deng nor Yao Cang had been able to take advantage of the situation and fight equally. From this point of view, the decisive battle between Yao Xing and Zhi Deng was definitely a war related to the fate of the two major empires of Former Qin and Later Qin.
However, in this war that decided the fate of the Empire, the two most powerful princes of the Empire, Yao Shuode and Yao Xu, were actually on the sidelines. Why is that? Apparently, Yao Xing did not want them to put their hands in the central government. The main members of Yao Cang's lineage (The Auxiliary Ministers who had not received Yin Wei and Di Bozhi) also supported Yao Xing's choice.
If Yao Shuode and Yao Xu were yao cang's subordinates, yao cang had no reason to exclude them from the list of auxiliary ministers, nor could he exclude them from the list of auxiliary ministers.
If Yao Shuode and Yao Xu were Yao Cang's subordinates, they would have no reason to play supporting roles in the war that concerned the fate of the Empire.
After Yao Cang's death, Yao Shuode personally went to see Yao Xing, indicating that he had no intention of competing for power in the central government and was willing to continue to submit to the crown prince Yao Xing. Yao Shuode's intention was clear: he hoped to cooperate with Yao Xing, did not want to threaten Yao Xing's position, and hoped that Yao Xing would respect his own position.
Shuo De said: "The prince is wise and wise, and he will not worry about it." Imabari is not destroyed and the flesh and blood attack each other, it is self-destruction. I have only died, and I will not do it in the end. "Then he went to see the pleasure, and sent it away with good courtesy." - Zizhi Tongjian, Jin Ji 30
At the time of Murong's revival, the main members of Murong Chui's line were detained in the northwestern region (Murong Hong and Murong Chong, etc.) by the Former Qin emperor Jian Jian. Later Yan was basically established by Murong Chui, and members of the Murong clan of other factions were either in Former Qin or in Western Yan. In this context, the entire Later Yan could not find anyone who could compete with Murong Chui.
In other words, soon after the establishment of Later Yan, imperial power was already highly concentrated. This should have been a good thing, but unfortunately: Murong Chui's desire for power was extremely strong, but he was too old, so he was worried that the crown prince Murong Bao would seize power.
It was precisely with this concern that the contradiction between Murong Chui and Murong Bao became irreconcilable. Because within Later Yan, the emperor and the crown prince did not have a common enemy, and the contradiction between them was the main contradiction of Later Yan.
On the surface, there was no essential difference between Yao Xing of Later Qin and Murong Bao of Later Yan when they succeeded to the throne. Within the empire, Murong Bao had Murong De, Murong Lin, and Murong Hui to fight with him; Yao Xing had Yao Shuode and Yao Xu to fight with him. Outside the empire, they were all threatened by strong enemies, with Northern Wei on later Yan's side and Former Qin on its side.
But a closer look reveals that their internal and external troubles are actually not the same.
Later Qin's Yao Xing completely inherited Yao Cang's power, because none of the auxiliary ministers left by Emperor Yao Cang could compete with Yao Xing. Yao Cang's powerful faction, which could compete with the crown prince Yao Xing, was killed by Yao Xing with Yao Cang's acquiescence. For example, Wang Tong, Wang Guang, Gong Yin, Xu Cheng, mao Sheng and others.
These few people did not make any big mistakes on the surface, but they had the strength to threaten Yao Xing, so they were tragically killed.
Yao Xing's practice was severely reprimanded by Emperor Yao Cang, but it was only reprimanded. If someone shouts "strong protest" and "strong condemnation" every day, there may still be people who take it seriously in the first few days, and after more times, no one will take it seriously.
Cang Fu said, "Brother Wang Tong, in my state, there is really no other ambition; Xu Cheng and other famous generals of the former dynasty, we use them, why kill them!" - Zizhi Tongjian, Jin Ji 30
The other members of Yao Chang's family did not disagree with Yao Xing's approach, because they all knew that they would face threats from Yao Shuode and Yao Xu at any time. Only by supporting Yao Xing with all his might could it be possible for yao Cang's family to continue to control the country.
Yao Cang dared to indulge the power of the crown prince in this way, and Murong Chui obviously did not dare to indulge the power of the prince in this way.
Murong Bao, the Prince of Later Yan, inherited only a part of Murong Chui's power, so much so that from the central to the local level, there were powerful imperial families (Murong Hui and Murong De) who could compete with him.
Later Qin's main enemy was Former Qin's Zhi Deng, who was the legitimate heir of Former Qin. From this point of view: in the war for control of the northwest, as long as it wins a military victory, it can successfully gain control of the northwest region.
In this context, the major factions of Later Qin (Yao Xing, Yao Shuode, and Yao Xu) all had a sense of proportion in their hearts, and if there was infighting between them, they would only cheapen Former Qin. And when Yao Xing led his own line of strength to defeat Gong Deng, his own strength increased exponentially. In this context, Yao Shuode and Yao Xu naturally could no longer compete with Yao Xing.
Yao Xing has always respected these two uncles, but this is also out of political tenderness. Although Yao Xing raised the status of these two people very high, the main power of Later Qin was gradually held in Yao Xing's hands.
The main enemy of the Later Yan Empire was the Northern Wei Tuoba Jue, who at this time was still only a nomadic economy. From a common sense point of view: this kind of regime invading the Central Plains is usually a large-scale plunder. Because neither economically nor politically, nomadic states have the ability to rule over vast agrarian civilizations.
In this context, the major factions of Later Yan were only worried that the military strength of their own lineage would be seriously damaged, but they did not mind that the military strength of other factions would be seriously damaged. This created an illusion among the major factions of Later Yan that their main enemy was not northern Wei.
From the objective facts, their views are not wrong. Later Yan became fragmented after infighting, but Northern Wei could only occupy a part of it. If Later Yan had not split, Northern Wei might not have been able to occupy even this part.
After the fall of Later Yan, there was Northern Yan centered on Longcheng in the north, and Southern Yan centered on Guanggu in the south, and in the northern territory that once belonged to Later Yan, the shadows of forces such as Goguryeo and Moxi were always wandering. In the southern territory that once belonged to Later Yan, we can easily see the figures of Later Qin and Eastern Jin.
But this view of the Later Yan power faction has a premise, that is, the infighting between them must have a winner. But unfortunately: Hou Yan has been infighting for so long, but there is no real winner. Although Northern Wei could not completely swallow Later Yan, the demise of Later Yan could not be avoided.
This was not the difference between Yao Xing and Murong Bao, but the difference in the objective environment. Analyzing problems only with the heroic view of history, it is difficult to understand the various different situations faced by Later Qin and Later Yan.
Previous articles to read:
After the defeat of Hebei Pi, Murong Chui established Later Yan
Internal factions were numerous, and the Jianjian soldiers were defeated
Former Qin was born with original sin, and the great unification was not welcomed