In July of the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen went to Yongguling to bid farewell to Empress Feng, and then he personally led a large army on the long journey of the Southern Expedition.
As we said earlier, the move to Luoyang, the most famous major event in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was actually mentioned in the Book of Wei and was not recorded too much, which is extremely abnormal.
The Book of Wei has no records, so we can only rely on ourselves to find clues in the historical materials. By combing through the historical data, it can be found that as early as May of the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen may have already had the idea of moving the capital under the pretext of the Southern Expedition. This month, Xiangyang Barbarian Lei Posi and others in the territory of Xiaoqi in the south led 1,300 households to "migrate internally", which was a common word used in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, to put it bluntly, it was the meaning of surrendering to sincerity and surrendering to the light.
The placement of these submissive barbarians in the Taihe River largely aroused Emperor Xiaowen's desire to flee Pingcheng and enter the Central Plains to create a new situation. Sure enough, half a month later, in June, Emperor Xiaowen announced that he would march south to Xiao Qi, emulating Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao's plan to open up the central plains and expand the territory.
After the news was announced, Emperor Xiaowen immediately sent people to build a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River northeast of Luoyang to do a good job in guaranteeing the army to go south. At the same time, in order to win the hearts and minds of the people in the Central Plains, he also specially issued an edict to remove military food from the seven prefectures of Xu, Shaanxi, Qi, Dongxu, Luo, and Yu. A grand military parade and military exercise were also held in Pingcheng to warm up for the Southern Expedition.
Emperor Xiaowen was going to personally take command of the expedition this time, which showed the importance he attached to this southern expedition. So the question is, the emperor is gone, who will stay in charge of the Pingcheng imperial court?
Emperor Xiaowen had already thought about this problem, and in June he made Crown Prince Tuoba Gong crown prince, leaving him in Pingcheng to oversee the country and being responsible for the daily administrative affairs of the prince staying in Taiwan. In order to celebrate the establishment of the crown prince, Emperor Xiaowen issued an edict to the heavens and the celebration, and rewarded those poor households with difficulties in life to each of them.
After the celebration, it was time to do the right thing, and Emperor Xiaowen ordered martial law in Pingcheng and entered a state of pre-war mobilization. At this moment, a good news came from the south, the Qiwu Emperor Xiao Zhao died, and his grandson Xiao Zhaoye took the throne.
It is said that people have just done a funeral, you can't call the door at this time, this is called "etiquette does not cut funerals", Confucianism attaches great importance to this, and most of the emperors who promote Confucianism can do this. For example, when the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty confronted each other, the Southern Tang Lord Li Jing died of illness in Nanchang, and the later lord Li Yu sent people to mourn the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin did not take the opportunity to destroy the Southern Tang, if at this time to take advantage of the danger of people, falling into the well would be laughed at.
Of course, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, knew this, so he immediately sent someone to Jiangnan to attend Li Jing's memorial service, send a condolence of the Great Song, and agreed to Li Yu's request, opening a green channel for Li Jing to enjoy the temple number used by the emperor.
Han people are more agreeable to the "etiquette is not funeral", but it is only the Han people entertaining themselves, the Xianbei people are not interested in this set, your family does funerals, I just fell into the well.
In August, Emperor Xiaowen went to Yongguling to resign, and then the army set out from Pingcheng to the south, "riding more than a million in foot", which is the original text in the Book of Wei, a million troops, feeling that this cow is not flying low in the sky, how much strength must be used to blow.
When talking about the strength of the troops on both sides, china's ancient wars have always had the fine tradition of bragging, first, to gain momentum and second, to frighten the enemy. In the Chibi War, The Cao Army claimed 800,000, but in fact there were only more than 200,000, and sun and Liu Allied forces claimed 200,000, but in fact there were only 50,000 people, which is a classic case.
As for how much water this million-strong army of the Northern Wei Dynasty really was? It is speculated that there were about 100,000 people in the Southern Expedition Wei Army, and this number is still more in line with the actual situation. However, from the historical records, it is found that it is not so much the Southern Expedition as it is a move. Most of the civil and military officials of the imperial court were gone, and even those humble elders and nobles who had retreated to the second line and played cards and rubbed mahjong at home all day went south with the army.
This was not lively enough, and Taiwei Tuoba Pi even suggested that the emperor bring the beauties of the harem with him, and also to dance and sing to the emperor on the road to relieve his boredom. Since ancient times, I have not heard of any emperor personally conscripting a bunch of concubines, not to mention that since the ancient army, there was a rule of not bringing women on the expedition.
Emperor Xiaowen also felt that this suggestion was too absurd, and rejected Tuoba Pi's suggestion, saying that he would not talk about the harem when he went to the battlefield, and that this matter should not be said again.
The army marched south from Pingcheng, passing through Wanzhou and Hezhou, crossing the Taihang Mountains, crossing the Yellow River at Heyang (河陽, southwest of present-day Mengzhou, Henan) and reaching the famous city of Zhongzhou, the former capital of The Wei and Jin Dynasties, Luoyang. This is the first time since Emperor Xiaowen took the throne that he stepped out of the Loess Plateau and crossed the Yellow River into the hinterland of the Central Plains. He issued edicts to the people of the four prefectures of Luo, Huai, and Wanton, and he was also promoted to a knighthood, and he was also rewarded with property, and for those in need, bachelors, and five guarantee households, he was rewarded with grain and cloth, and talented young people were directly arranged by the emperor.
After a series of homework, Emperor Xiaowen finally came to this ancient city destroyed by war, and Luoyang at this time had long been reduced to ruins after years of war. Accompanied by his courtiers and local garrisons, Emperor Xiaowen walked into this deserted ancient city for the first time in his life, and when he saw the ruins in front of him, it was difficult for Emperor Xiaowen to connect it with the Han and Wei states that were at its peak, and he did not believe that this was Luoyang, which his ancestor Desert Khan had forgotten two hundred years ago. Nowadays, the houses have collapsed, the city walls have fallen, the weeds in the city have grown wildly, the ruins of the palace hall are full of exquisite fragments of Han Dynasty wadang, and there are villagers herding sheep on the hillside in the distance.
This scene made Emperor Xiaowen feel sad from the heart, and sighed to the courtiers: The Jin Dynasty did not cultivate merit, lost the Jiangshan Sheji early, and now it is actually abandoned into this picture, and it is very sad and sad to see it.
"If JinDe does not cultivate, he has long fallen into the ancestral cult, and he has been desolate to this point, and he has lost his sorrow with sorrow."
I couldn't help but read a poem of separation and wept for it. What kind of poetry can make a generation of emperors lose their minds? This poem is very promising.