Gong Hong: The man who surrendered and achieved the hegemony of the Empire

Surrender is not a lovely word in the dictionary, it is a metaphor for weakness and failure. People always relish the benevolent men who would rather die than serve the country, and sneer at those who raise their hands and raise the white flag. However, if you look at the peaks on the side of the ridge and look at the problem from different angles, the results will be different. Surrender also depends on the subject used, such as for politicians, and temporary compromise is a strategy, which is a means for politicians to attack by defending and retreating, which cannot be achieved unless they have a broad mind and a hidden attitude. Politics, like war, is not right or wrong, only wins and losses. The winner and the loser are talking about the ultimate effect, to see who laughs last. This is the style of "family", not the style of "soldiers". This was the case with the former Qin king Gong Hong during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, who relied on three surrenders, left and right in the chaotic world, from a caokou who occupied the mountain as the king, to a strong man in the wind and clouds, and created an imperial inheritance of infinite scenery for the Zhi family. The Former Qin Empire finally swept away the Six And decided the Central Plains, composing the most brilliant page in the history of the Yu people.

Gong Hong (285-350), also known as Guangshi, was a native of Linwei (present-day Qin'an, Gansu), whose ancestor was "the chief of Xirong" (Book of Jin), and was also from an aristocratic family. The original surname of Pu Hong, the origin of the surname is very interesting, the neighbor saw that there was a large amount of pu grass in the pond in his home ("Pu Sheng in the pond"), he "called it the Pu family", so "because he thought it was a clan". When the flood was born, it caught up with the continuous rain, and there was a folk song at that time that sang "If the rain does not stop, the flood will rise", so it was named Hong. Pu Hong's change of surname to Gong (苻) was based on his three surrenders, and after his wings grew stronger, he changed his surname to 苻 with the words "Cao Fu Ying Wang" (see the Book of Jin above). In fact, this is just a kind of gimmick, just like Han Gaozu's "beheading of the white snake" and "Chen Sheng Wang" of Dazexiang, he is making some public opinion preparations for himself to be called emperor, so that the name can be justified and the world will return to his heart.

Born in a chaotic world, He Hong practiced an extremely flexible way of dealing with the world. The flexibility of Gong Hong is vividly expressed in the experience of his three surrenders in his lifetime. The three surrenders, with different backgrounds and the same effect: the first was not out of the heart, but forced by the situation; the second was to taste the sweetness and gladly accept; the third, although in form it belonged to the forced helplessness, but had a familiar old way. Three surrenders, each time allowing him to turn the crisis into a safe and dangerous situation at a critical moment, and the result of each time was to step forward and reach a new height. It is not difficult for us to see from the fact that Hehong hong is flexible and sensitive, tolerant and generous, as well as his persistence in ideals and dedication to the great cause of the future.

But most of those who can achieve hegemony have a broad heart. Since childhood, Xiang Hong had a generous personality and was quite scheming, and when he grew up, he was even more "charitable" and "multi-powered", very kingly, and "Xiao Wu was good at riding and shooting" ("Book of Jin"), and was a master of all-rounders of literature and martial arts, so he was "fearful of the crowd" ("Tongjian"), and gained high prestige in the local area. The people's style is fierce, and they can fight good battles is the commonality of the People of the Qi people, and it is not unusual to be good at riding and shooting. The special feature of Gong Hong is more reflected in the "good charity" and "multi-power strategy", he started with "good charity", and then relied on "multi-power strategy" to finally achieve things.

Heroes are born in a chaotic world, but the birth of heroes is not accidental, and opportunity always favors those who are prepared for the strong. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, there was chaos, wuhu gushed in the central plains, the masses rose up together, and wars were frequent. Gong Hong ,"A man who scattered thousands of gold and summoned heroes and masters" (Book of Jin) pulled up a team and became the King of the Mountains. However, in the end, it was only reckless and did not have much strength, and the Xiongnu Liu Yao sent troops to Long Right, and Gong Hong attached himself to Former Zhao. This time of surrender, he completed the transformation of Caokou into a regular army, and was awarded the title of "Marquis of Zhiyi" by Liu Yao. If this surrender was not his intention (the persecution and persuasion of the clansmen Pu Guang, Pu Tu and others played an absolute role), then the next two surrenders, Gong Hong was like eating sweets, and he was handy.

After Liu Yao was defeated by Later Zhao Shihu, XiangHong retreated to the area of Longshan (located in southern Ningxia), shihu came to attack, and Xianghong saw that the situation was not good, so he did not hesitate to surrender his weapons and surrender. Shi Hu was overjoyed, made him a champion general, "entrusted with western affairs" ("Book of Jin"), and entered the power center of Later Zhao. In the chaotic world, he had to rely on strength to speak, and Gong Hong was able to gain a foothold in Hou Zhao and gain the weight of Shi Hu, thanks to his keen political acumen. He once suggested to Shi Hu that "the relocation of Haojie in Guanzhong and the Inner Shijing Division of Qiangrong" was to move the capable people in Guanguan and the forces of the Qianghu ethnic groups to the capital of Yidu (in present-day Linzhang County, Hebei), which had two advantages, one was that it could recruit talents, stabilize the Beijing Division, and strengthen the strength of Later Zhao; second, it could effectively contain the remote Qianghu forces. A simple sentence, but you can see that Xiang Hong's gaze is like a torch, and his sensitivity to the situation. Therefore, Shi Hu appointed Gong Hong as the general of Long Jun and the governor of Liu Renren, and asked him to supervise the matter specifically. Later, Gong Hong's military achievements were outstanding, and he was also made the Duke of Xiping County, and his subordinates were given the title of Marquis of Guannei by more than 2,000 people, and Zhi Hong became the marquis of Guannei, and his power fell for a while, becoming a powerful faction of Later Zhao.

Although Gong Hong's third surrender was forced to be helpless, it objectively accelerated the establishment of his imperial hegemony. As Shi Hu's power grew stronger and stronger, he became so jealous of Ran Min that Ran Min (who later issued the "Order to Kill Hu" and destroyed Emperor Ran Wei of later Zhao) suggested to Shi Hu to get rid of Shi Hong in order to avoid trouble, but Shi Hu did not listen (which also showed that Shi Hu had great trust in Jian Jian). When Shi Zun took the throne after Shi Hu's death, Ran Min encouraged Shi Zun again, and Shi Zun could not afford ran Min, so he removed him from the post of governor of Hongdu. Seeing that the situation was not good, and there was no confusion in Later Zhao, he withdrew to Fangtou (枋頭, in present-day western JunXian County, Henan) and sent envoys to surrender to the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Gong Hong quickly gained a foothold in Fangtou and began to cultivate and develop his own forces, relying on the prestige of the past, some displaced people successively surrendered, and soon "the crowd reached more than 100,000" ("Tongjian"), gradually becoming a powerful figure who divided one side.

There is strength and of course charm, in fact, Xiang Hong's attitude quickly took a 180-degree turn. After Ran Min and Shi Zhao turned their faces, Shi Jian replaced Shi Zun as emperor, and wanted to win him over, and made him the governor of Guanzhong, the general of The Western Expedition, the pastor of Yongzhou, and the assassin of Qinzhou. This time, Gong Hong ignored it and said to his subordinates dismissively, "I can't bear to be the evil son of heaven" (Tongjian), can't I become the emperor myself? The tone became so hard that in the eyes of the road guards, on the one hand, Zhi Hong was still angry with Hou Zhao; on the other hand, When Zhi Hong had his own team, he had the bargaining cost; more importantly, Zhi Hong was both well-winged at this time, had the ambition to dominate, and no longer wanted to look at other people's faces. The Eastern Jin Dynasty also attached great importance to Gong Hong, and appointed him as the General of the Northern Expedition, the Governor of Hebei, the Assassin of Jizhou, and the Duke of Guangchuan County, specializing in the Northern Expedition. It should be said that both sides had their own minds, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty took advantage of The suspicion of Xiang Hong, wanted to use Hu to control Hu, watch from the sidelines, and seek fishing profits; and the fall of Xiang Hong to Jin was only a temporary expedient strategy, relying on large trees to cool off, so that they could become famous, so as to take advantage of the chaos to seize Guanzhong and establish their own hegemony. In fact, soon after He Hong left the army, he called himself the Great General, Da Dan Yu, and the King of The Three Qins, leaving the Eastern Jin Dynasty royal family aside.

Man is not as good as heaven. Poor Hero I, calculating his life, in the chaotic world left and right, in the battle, he was able to maneuver with ease, but he did not expect to finally overturn the ship in the gutter. He who had always relied on surrender, but in the end he died at the hands of the descending general Ma Qiu, which cannot but be said that history has made a big joke for him. Ma Qiu was originally a general of Later Zhao, ran Min Huo and Later Zhao, Ma Qiu was captured by Gong Hong and appointed as a military division. Ma Qiu was still very capable of military division, and the strategic idea of capturing Guanzhong was derived from Ma Qiu's suggestion. However, Ma Qiu's ambitions were also very great, and he always wanted to "want to merge with his (Gong Hong)" ("Tong Jian"), grabbed power, and finally poisoned him to death during a banquet. When He was dying, Hehong said to his son Zhijian, "I die, and Ru rushed into the pass" (Tongjian), explaining his last words: The policy remains unchanged and Guanzhong is seized. Subsequently, according to The Testament of Gong Hong, Gong Jian defeated the Qiang forces represented by Yao Yizhong, monopolized Guanzhong, and established a powerful Former Qin Empire. Later, Jian Jian destroyed the Former Liang and Dai States, captured the Liang and Yi Prefectures of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and won a strong victory in the confrontation with Murong Former Yan, completing the only unification of the north during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period. It can be said that Gong Hong's final establishment of the Former Qin hegemony is indispensable.