In 304 AD, the protracted "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" had lasted for thirteen years, and it was in this year that on the outskirts of Luoyang, a middle-aged man, after leaving Luoyang City, hurriedly ran to a place called "Zuo Guocheng", named Liu Yuan, who was a lieutenant under Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu. At a time when the situation of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" was becoming more and more disorderly, at the behest of Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, he went to collect the elite troops of the "Five Xiongnu Divisions" to come to the aid of the battle.
However, even Sima Ying himself did not think that Liu Yuan's departure was like "a fish into the sea, a dragon ascending to heaven", this ambitious Xiongnu leader meant that there was no possibility of going back at the moment of his departure, and this person's departure was also the beginning of the "Yongjia Rebellion", which sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, could not have imagined.
In 304 AD, Liu Yuan, with the support of Liu Xuan and others, succeeded the Xiongnu to the position of "Da Dan Yu", and used the Lishi Fortress as the foundation to raise an army against the Jin, and the situation in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty became more and more disordered and confusing, all of which heralded the beginning of the great chaos in the world.
At that time, the Xiongnu nobles supported Liu Yuan's succession with the intention of wanting Liu Yuan to restore the foundation of the Xiongnu like the "Hu Han Evil Shan Yu" of that year. However, what everyone did not expect was that liu Yuan did not posthumously honor the Xiongnu Shan Yu such as "Hu Han Evil Shan Yu" in the same year of his succession, but on the grounds that the brotherhood oath that had been proposed between Han and Hungary was used as the reason, and put forward the political slogan of "brother dies and brother Shao, can not care", clarified the purpose of his military campaign, and posthumously honored Liu Chan as the Emperor of Xiaohuai.
From the current point of view, in fact, Liu Yuan and Liu Chan did not have much relationship at all, so why did Liu Yuan want to establish the country as "Han", and why did Liu Yuan posthumously honor Liu Chan? Today we will discuss this issue:
Liu Yuan was a Xiongnu and had nothing to do with Liu Chan at all, so why didn't he pursue the ancestors of the Xiongnu people, Mao Dun Shan Yu, Hu Han Evil Shan Yu, and others after he raised an army, but he wanted to honor a person who had nothing to do with it?
(1) First of all, from the perspective of the situation at that time, Liu Yuan's rebellion was already substantially different from that of Hu Han's evil Shan Yu, and at this time Liu Yuan was no longer pinning his hopes on restoring the foundation of Hu Han evil Shan to dominate the grasslands at that time, what he wanted to do was to "usurp the jin and replace it" like Liu Bang and Cao Cao.
In this case, in addition to absorbing the Xiongnu, the main thing is to get the support of the Han scholars and the people, so in this case he must use the reputation of the "Han Room".
Although the Han Dynasty had been extinct for a hundred years at that time, but the influence of the Han Dynasty for more than four hundred years did not disappear because of the demise of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei's confrontation with Cao Wei for more than forty years in the land of Sichuan and Shu was the most powerful ironclad evidence, and because sima's tyranny in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty caused the masses of the people to rise up and attack it, many people in this situation were more yearning for the "moral government" of the "Han Room", so for Liu Yuan, who was born in the name of "Han Room" through the shell can quickly help him grow his strength and absorb the scholars.
(2) Secondly, ideologically speaking, although Liu Yuan is a Xiongnu, from the history books, he really does not have the characteristics of the Xiongnu, and if he puts aside his bloodline, he is really a Complete Han Chinese, and he has a very deep cultural attainment in him.
It can be seen from the "Book of Jin" that Liu Yuan himself loved to learn, and he had dabbled in the precious classics of the Han family such as the "History of History", "Book of Han", and "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and also had his own unique insights in thinking. Therefore, at that time, many celebrities had a deep friendship with Liu Yuan, such as Wang Hun and Wang Ji of the Taiyuan Wang clan, which fully showed that Liu Yuan still had a great sense of identification with Han culture.
And from Liu Yuan's son Liu He "eager to learn, Xi Maoshi, Zuo Shi Chunqiu, Zheng Yi" we can see that there were already many people among the Xiongnu nobles at that time who had a very high degree of Sinicization, and if they put aside their bloodline, they were actually no different from the Han people, so we can see that even if Liu Yuan did not get much opposition at that time with the "Founding of the State of Zong Han", it shows that many people still agree with Han culture.
(3) From a political point of view, Liu Yuan's army needs a rationalization reason, and the "brotherly alliance" between Han and Hungary was undoubtedly an opportunity, and the Han Dynasty had already perished, so Liu Yuan used the agreement of the Han-Hungarian alliance to justify his army with his brother destroying his brother.
At the same time, as the first point says, borrowing the name of the Han Dynasty can quickly help him absorb the Han people and recruit talents through this, and the name of the Huns may be supported by the Huns, but at that time, the contradictions between hu and Han were becoming increasingly acute, but they could not get the support of the Han people.
Therefore, based on some historical materials in the Book of Jin, the above conclusion is the reason why the author believes that Liu Yuan took "Han" as the national name and posthumously honored Liu Chan.
Leaving aside various factors, Liu Yuan was indeed a qualified politician, and Liu Yuan's "Zonghan Founding State" did recruit talents for him, and at the same time, because of Liu Yuan's deep understanding of Han culture, he had a lot of kindness to the people, and this was also a major reason why Liu Yuan was able to successfully win the support of the Hu han people at that time.
Of course, because Liu Yuan's rebellion opened the beginning of the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms" chaos, Liu Yuan was criticized. However, in my opinion, Liu Yuan's rebellion was caused by the Western Jin Dynasty's own various "death" behaviors, even if there was no Liu Yuan, it would be difficult to have Wang Yuan, Zhang Yuan and others, it can be said that Liu Yuan's rise of troops is an inevitable event of history.
Liu Yuan's "Zonghan Founding State" can be described as of great significance in history, before Liu Yuan, no ethnic minority was able to live in the Central Plains, and no ethnic minority could get the support of the Hu and Han people at that time, it can be said that Liu Yuan's "Zonghan Founding State" side had a great influence on the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms"
It has enlightening significance for the recognition of the ancestors of the minority regimes in the sixteen countries, and has promoted the development and integration of the nation
Before Liu Yuan, no ethnic minority was able to enter the Central Plains, and because the contradictions between Hu and Han were sharp at that time, he did not adopt the opinions of Liu Xuan and others at that time, but instead put forward the idea of "brother and brother Shao", and more importantly, Liu Yuan no longer worshiped the Xiongnu's Mao Dun Shan Yu and Hu Han evil Shan Yu from then on, but instead took Liu Bang and others as his ancestors. It can be said that Liu Yuan's actions looked shocking in that era, and even if it is now, please forgive me, I am a little incomprehensible.
However, this move had a significant impact on the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty regime during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the subsequent minority regimes had to have something to do with the Central Plains regime in order to gain a foothold in the Central Plains and gain the support of the scholars, and Liu Yuan's "ZongHan Founding State" was the most common practice of ethnic minorities in the Sixteen Kingdoms period to close the relationship between the Han people, and it could also alleviate the contradictions at that time to a certain extent. For example, Helian Bobo called himself a descendant of Dayu and gave the country the name "Xia"; the "Five Yans" established by the Xianbei people called their ancestors "Descendants of the Xiong Clan Miao", and so on.
Liu Yuan's move to "establish a state of the Zonghan Dynasty" was instructive for the minority rulers of the Sixteen Kingdoms period at that time. Their act of "recognizing their ancestors" undoubtedly brought them closer to the Han people, and in this regard, they also promoted ethnic integration; at the same time, they were able to gain a foothold in the Central Plains Dynasty.
Of course, whether their ancestors are really as they say only God knows, after all, the age is so old that no one knows unless there is a "time machine" to trace the roots.
Breaking the shackles of orthodox thinking of the Han Dynasty, it provided a foundation for ethnic minorities to enter the historical stage, and also had a profound impact on "moral government"
Before Liu Yuan, no ethnic minority was able to enter the stage of history, although the Western Jin Dynasty was not popular at that time, but after all, he belonged to the orthodox dynasty of the Han people, so in this situation, Liu Yuan first had to break the shackles of people's thinking and recognize his orthodox status.
Therefore, Liu Yuan had already put forward the proposition that "Emperor Fu had no difference in Yixia and everyone could become an emperor on the basis of the fact that "Dayu was born from Xirong, and King Wen was born in Dongyi", and on this basis, he pulled out the proposition that Yixia was no different and that everyone could become an emperor (essentially like Chen Sheng's "Prince Xiangning has a kind of hu").
This provided the foundation for ethnic minorities to enter the historical stage, and also broke the shackles of people's ideological general use of the Han nationality as the orthodox dynasty; at the same time, Liu Yuan's hereditary inheritance of the orthodox dynasty did not lie in the national attributes or bloodlines but on whether the successors could carry out "moral government" And at that time, it was also widely supported by all ethnic groups in Hu and Han.
We can see that even in the era of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, which was constantly in war, there was occasionally a situation of "criminal law and political clarity", precisely because a small number of emperors were able to abide by the "moral government" proposed by Liu Yuan, rest with the people during their reign, and resume production, such as the later Former Qin Fu Jian, in my opinion, was a firm supporter of the "moral government" idea put forward by Liu Yuan.
Of course, Liu Yuan was indeed a rare "Ming Jun" among the minority regimes during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, but it is also undeniable that his appearance made the situation during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period more and more disordered.
His ideas allowed ethnic minorities to enter the stage of history, but not all emperors were able to abide by Liu Yuan's ideas and ideas, and from another point of view, they were indeed the creators of turmoil.