Murong Bao, the second emperor of Later Yan, commanded a major defeat at the Battle of Shanhepi, causing Later Yan to collapse
Text/Lao Zhang is on the road
01
There is a "SamheZhuang" in the "Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon", which is located in the depths of the reed pond thirty miles west of Gusu City, the location is extremely private, the environment is elegant and unique, and its purpose is the place where the lords of the Murong clan have learned martial arts in the past. According to the book, the original intention of Murong Gusu's family to build "Sanhezhuang" was not to forget the fiasco of Samhepi in that year, and to inspire Xue to restore the country.
Murong Chui's generational reign of Murong Chui of Gusu took place late in the reign of Emperor Chengwu of Later Yan, and the Later Yan general who commanded the battle was Murong Bao, the second emperor of Later Yan.
Before that, the plot was: the powerful Former Qin was defeated in the Battle of Shuishui, and the forces that had previously been conquered by Former Qin also re-pulled the flag to "rebel", and the entire Jiangbei region was chaotic into a pot of porridge. Murong Chui took advantage of the chaos to sneak back to Hebei, contact the old ministry to raise matters, and for a time the responders gathered, and it took only about a year to recover a large area of his homeland.
In 384, Murong Chui was proclaimed the King of Yan in Xingyang, Henan, and the historians, in order to distinguish them from the previous Yan state, called the Yan state established by Murong Chui Later Yan. At this point, Murong Chui officially completed the great cause of restoration, and at this time it was only 15 years before the fall of Former Yan.
Murong Chui expanded mainly to the Hebei region, and in 385 moved his capital to Zhongshan. The following year, Murong Chui declared himself emperor and soon came into conflict with the neighboring regimes of Zhai Wei and Western Yan. In 392, Murong Chui eliminated the Zhai Wei regime, and in 394, Murong Chui eliminated the Western Yan regime, which was also Murong Chui.
Later Yan's heyday did not last long, and it was severely weakened by the Battle of Hepi and thus collapsed.
02
At the time of Murong Chui's restoration campaign, Tuoba Jue, the leader of the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei clan, was also carrying out the cause of restoring the kingdom. After Tuoba Jue ascended the throne, he changed the name of the country from Dai to Wei, that is, Northern Wei. After the Northern Wei forces became increasingly powerful and intended to chase after the Central Plains, Later Yan felt threatened, which led to a confrontation between the two sides.
In the second year after the fall of Western Yan (395), Later Yan poured out an elite 80,000-strong army in the country to attack the Wei state. At this time, Murong Was bedridden, so the commander of the Northern Expedition was Murong Bao, the crown prince.
Murong Bao (355–398), courtesy name Daoyou (道佑), courtesy name Kugou (小字庫勾), was Murong Chui's fourth son, and his mother was Empress Duan of Chengzhao (Duan Empress), the second emperor of Later Yan.
In the face of the fierce Yan army, Tuoba Jue pragmatically adopted a guerrilla strategy of enticing the enemy to go deeper, gradually dragging down the fighting spirit of the Yan army. At the same time, he sent people to spread false news of Murong Chui's death among the Yan army, causing Murong Baozhong to retreat south in a hurry, only to encounter the Northern Wei ambush army at Sanhepi and suffer a major defeat. In this battle, the Yan army killed more than 30,000 people, and after being captured, more than 40,000 were killed, and only a few thousand people escaped.
After this battle, the Later Yan elite was lost, and thus collapsed. In 396, the ill Murong Chui personally invaded Northern Wei, and when he led his army through Sanhepi, he saw that there were still mountains of corpses there, so he ordered the memorials of the victims. According to the history books, at this time," "all the soldiers wept, and the sound shook the valley." Shame and vomiting blood, by being sick. ”
Soon, Murong Qi, the proud lord of the generation, fell ill and died.
The fiasco of Samhepi was not only a great shame for Later Yan, but also a pain that Murong Clan could never forget in the hearts of future generations. This is also the origin of the place name "Samhezhuang" where Murong Gusu's family lived in the "Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon".
So, as the crown prince, what is the story of Murong Bao, who commanded the Later Yan army?
03
Murong Bao had no great ambitions when he was young, and he washed horses for the former Prince of Qin. In 386, Murong Chui was proclaimed emperor and Murong Bao was made crown prince.
When Murong Chui wanted to make Murong Bao crown prince, Murong Bao's stepmother Empress Dowager Duan Yuan (i.e., Empress Chengzhao's cousin) said to Murong Chui: "The crown prince was graceful and indecisive, and was a benevolent monarch in the Taiping Dynasty, but he was not a hero of the Ji dynasty in times of crisis, and His Majesty entrusted him with a great cause, and the concubines could not see the descendants of Changda." Murong Nong, the King of Western Liaoning, and Murong Long, the Prince of Gaoyang, were his sons Zhongxian Ming, and one of them should be chosen to be crown prince. Murong Lin, the King of Zhao, was treacherous and often had the psychology of insulting the crown prince, and once His Majesty died, there would definitely be disasters. This is a family affair of His Majesty and should be considered in depth. ”
When Murong Bao and Murong Lin heard these words, they hated her very much. Later, when Duan Yuanfei said this again, Murong Chui said, "Do you want me to be the Duke of Jin?" Duan Yuanfei saw that her words did not work, so she cried and withdrew.
After Murong Bao was made crown prince, he seemed to have suddenly become wiser, he honed his character, advocated Confucianism, was good at talking, was good at writing articles, lowered his status to curry favor with Murong Chui's close courtiers in order to gain a good reputation, Murong Chui's courtiers unanimously praised him, and Murong Chui also thought that he could inherit the family business, believing that he was virtuous enough.
After the failure of The Hepi and the Later Yan emperor Murong Chui died in shame and indignation, Murong Bao naturally became the second emperor of Later Yan.
When Murong Bao succeeded to the throne, he thought that his stepmother Duan Yuanfei had said bad things about him, and the first thing he did was to send the Wei general Murong Lin the Prince of Zhao to force his stepmother Duan Yuanfei to say that you often said in front of the former emperor (Murong Chui) that the lord (Murong Bao) could not keep the throne, and threatened that if Duan Yuanfei did not die, Murong Bao would kill the Duan family. Duan Yuanfei angrily scolded Murong Bao for forcing his stepmother to kill, and certainly could not protect sheji, and then committed suicide.
After Murong Bao killed his stepmother and aunt Duan Yuanfei, in the same year (396), Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei personally led a large army to cut down Yan. The Wei army first attacked and annexed the prefecture, and the hussar general Murong Nong led an army to meet the battle, lost the battle, returned to Jinyang, and the defender Sima Muyusong closed the city gates and refused to let him enter the city. Murong Nong led thousands of men to flee back to Zhongshan, reached Luchuan, and was caught up by Northern Wei's pursuing army, except for Murong Nong, who fled back, and the rest of the army was completely destroyed.
In 397, the Wei army captured The capital of Later Yan, Zhongshan, and cut off the territory of the State of Yan.
Murong Bao fled to his homeland in western Liaoning, while his uncle Murong De fled to Henan and later established Southern Yan.
Originally, when Murong Bao was crown prince, there was a dispute over the establishment of an heir. Murong Bao did not establish an heir, and Murong Chui thought that Murong Bao's son Murong Bao of Qinghe would be versatile and talented, and Murong Chui valued him very much. Murong Chui went to attack Northern Wei, because Longcheng was the old capital and the seat of the Zongmiao Temple, and sent Murong Hui to guard Youzhou, entrusting him with the task of defending the northeast, and carefully selecting subordinate officials to assist him to enhance his prestige. On his deathbed, Murong Chui left a will and order that Murong Hui be made crown prince.
Murong Bao himself favored his younger son Murong Ce the Duke of Puyang, and Murong Bao's eldest son Murong Sheng, the Duke of Changle, because he was not made crown prince, strongly praised Murong Ce for being suitable to be crown prince, and slandered Murong Hui. Murong Bao made Murong Ce's birth mother empress, Murong Ce crown prince, and Murong Sheng and Murong Hui were promoted to king.
When the Northern Wei army invaded, Murong Bao ordered Murong Hui to lead the troops of Youzhou and Hezhou to Zhongshan. After the two places met, Murong Bao divided Murong Hui's forces among Murong Nong and Murong Long to guard Zhongshan.
The soldiers of Youzhou and Pingzhou were all grateful to Murong Hui's weide and did not want to leave him, so they all asked Murong Bao: "The King of Qinghe was born with divine martial qualities, and his strategy of adapting to changes exceeded that of ordinary people, and we swore to live and die with him, and we were grateful for the favor of the prince and the courage multiplied." Please your majesty and the crown prince and the princes to live in the palace of Ji, and send the king of Qinghe to lead us to attack the Wei army to relieve the siege of the capital, and then take Your Majesty back to the capital. ”
Murong Bao's close associates were jealous of Murong Hui's bravery, and said bad things about Murong Hui in front of Murong Bao, not allowing Murong Hui to lead troops on the expedition.
Murong Hui's generals all had a stomach full of resentment. The army began to fight inwardly, and it was impossible to continue fighting. Murong Hui would lead an army to attack Murong Bao. Murong Bao led hundreds of men and horses to flee to Longcheng.
Murong Hui was also killed by Murong Hui.
In the third year of Yongkang (398), Murong Bao's uncle Murong De sent his attendant Murong Yan (李延) to persuade Murong Bao to march south, and Murong Bao sent troops from Longcheng and appointed Mu Yuteng as the Grand Sima of the former army, Murong Nong led the Chinese army, Murong Bao led the rear army, and the infantry and cavalry totaled 30,000 people, temporarily stationed at Yi Company. Duan Subong and Song Chimei rebelled, and Murong Bao and Murong Nong fled back to Longcheng.
Murong Bao's subordinate Lan Khan secretly colluded with Duan Suoku, who led an army to attack Longcheng. Murong Bao, Murong Sheng, and others fled south.
At this time, Lan Khan supported Murong Ce to inherit the throne and sent emissaries to greet Murong Bao, who believed that Lan Khan was the brother-in-law of his father Murong Chui, and his son Murong Sheng was also Lan Khan's son-in-law, and Lan Khan must have no ill will for his loyalty. Murong Sheng resolutely dissuaded him with tears in his eyes, but Murong Bao did not listen, leaving Murong Sheng to go to Longcheng by himself, Murong Sheng saw that the dissuasion was ineffective, and quickly left here with the general Zhang Zhen and ran to hide elsewhere.
Lan Khan brought Murong Bao to a hostel outside the city and killed him at the age of 44.
(The picture in this article is a network information)