Guanlong Group A monster group that gave birth to a three-strong dynasty
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In Chinese culture, "Tang" is a symbol that symbolizes the prosperity of the Chinese nation and the glory of China on the world stage. Therefore, we often describe the prosperous era as the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty.
Even now abroad, the settlement of Chinese is called "Chinatown", which is enough to see the status of "Tang" in the hearts of Chinese.
In the torrent of history, a great military aristocratic group was born in the fifth century AD, which was the Guanlong military aristocratic group. They were both civil and military, from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the replacement of the three dynasties was only the transfer of power within them.
So, how did this magical Guanlong aristocratic group come about? And how did he become the protagonist of the three dynasties? During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Yellow River valley experienced 200 years of war and turmoil, and was finally unified by the Northern Wei regime established by the Xianbei people.
In 471 AD, Emperor Xiaowen, the male lord of the Northern Wei Dynasty, ascended the throne, and he began to seek to carry out the reform of Sinicization, which was also the period when the prototype of the Guanlong aristocratic group appeared.
In order to strengthen his control over the Central Plains and lay a solid foundation for unification, Emperor Xiaowen presided over the relocation of the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty to Luoyang, and implemented a series of sinicization measures, including the Xianbei people learning Chinese, changing to Han surnames, and marrying Han scholars.
At this stage, the Northern Wei Dynasty realized the southward shift of its political and economic center of gravity, and this ethnic group, which originated from the northern steppe frontier, embarked on a unique path of development. At the beginning of the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in order to prevent the invasion of Rouran in the north, six military towns were set up in the border areas: Woye, Huaishuo, Wuchuan, Fuming, Rouxuan, and Huaihuang.
The capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty was still in the Pingcheng period, and these military towns formed a strong protection of the capital, and their commanders were generally Xianbei nobles.
After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, the military barrier role of the border towns weakened, and the position of the commander of the six towns plummeted. At the same time, the Xianbei nobles who moved to Luoyang were assimilated by the corrupt Han scholars and lost their enterprising spirit.
In contrast, the Xianbei people of the six towns began to be hostile to the Sinicization of Xianbei, and the Xianbei people gradually became **. Emperor Xiaowen was not aware of these problems, and in peacetime, these contradictions did not manifest themselves directly.
In 523 AD, Rouran invaded, and the six northern towns were already barren and desolate, and there was basically no military force to resist. Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty sent 150,000 troops to support, but before the supporting army arrived, the soldiers and civilians of Woye Town had already risen up.
It turned out that the soldiers and civilians in Woye Town hoped that the garrison Jing would be able to open a warehouse and release grain, and called on everyone to fight against Rouran together, but Yu Jing didn't care.
The soldiers and civilians of Woye Town rose up in a desperate situation, they defeated Yu Jing, elected Po Liuhan Baling as the leader, and launched a fierce attack on the other military towns. The uprising spread rapidly, and the six towns were soon occupied by the rebels, and the border people fled south.
In order to maintain its rule, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not hesitate to collude with Rouran to brutally suppress the rebel army and people. The elite exiles, who were still loyal to the Northern Wei court, also joined the ranks of suppressing the rebellion.
The Qihu nobleman Er Zhurong took the opportunity to rise and incorporated a large number of nobles from Wuchuan Town, and it was at that time that He Bayue, Yuwentai and others joined Er Zhurong's camp.
By suppressing the rebellion, Er Zhurong took control of the military and political power of the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, his arrogance caused the Luoyang Northern Wei royal family, Xianbei nobles and scholars to be brutally **, which caused dissatisfaction among the nobles loyal to the Tuoba clan, and rebellions broke out in various places.
In 528 AD, Erzhurong sent his nephew Erzhu Tianguang to lead a thousand people to Guanzhong to quell the rebellion. The deputy commander of this team was He Bayue, who had defected to Erzhurong to suppress the Six Towns Uprising, and he showed his strength in this counterinsurgency.
He Bayue first defeated tens of thousands of Chishui Shu troops, and then won consecutive battles, successfully killing the rebel leader Wan Qian Chounu, and other forces surrendered one after another, and Erzhu Tianguang successfully became the supreme commander of the Guanlong region.
However, Erzhu Tianguang knew that he was able to sit in this position mainly by He Batyue, so he relied on He Batyue very much, and asked the imperial court to grant He Batyue the title of Jingzhou Assassin to stabilize the situation in the Pingliang region.
When another general of the Western Expedition, Hou Mo Chen Yue, served as the assassin of Weizhou and sat in Longxi, He Bayue had become the core figure of the Wuchuan group with his outstanding military exploits, and the prototype of the Guanlong aristocracy had gradually taken shape.
However, at this time, there was a major change in the Northern Wei regime, the powerful minister Er Zhurong was killed by Yuan Ziyou, and the power of the Erzhu family was all eradicated by Gao Huan's subordinates, and Gao Huan thus mastered the Northern Wei regime.
At this time, He Batyue, who was entrenched in the pass, became a thorn in Gao Huan's side, and he took advantage of Hou Mo Chen Yue's dissatisfaction with He Batyue to sow discord, causing Hou Mo Chen Yue to kill He Batyue.
As a result, the Wuchuan Group fell into a state of leaderlessness for a while.
After Ho Batyue's death, Ho Bat-Yue's subordinates chose Ko Luo, Yu Wentai, and Ho Bat-yue's elder brother Ho Bat-sheng as their successors. Kolo declined because he thought he was incompetent.
He Batsheng was supported by Li Hu, the grandfather of Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who was very loyal to the Horba family and recommended him as a leader. However, Hobat's hesitation and hesitation cost him his chance.
In comparison, Yu Wentai was only 28 years old at the time, but he was superior in resourcefulness. When he heard the news of He Bayue's killing, he immediately rushed to Pingliang to preside over the overall situation, and the people of Wuchuan all bowed to him and joined his team.
Subsequently, Yuwentai integrated his forces and successfully pacified Hou Mo Chen Yue, becoming the undisputed leader of the Guanlong region. At this time, the northern ** was the Eastern Wei led by Gao Huan and the Western Wei led by Yuwentai, forming a confrontation between the Eastern and Western Wei.
During this period, the military aristocracy of Wuchuan and the scholar clan of Guanlong began to merge.
In the face of the strong comprehensive national strength of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Yuwentai suffered heavy losses in the war with the Western Wei Dynasty, and even almost died in the Fourth Battle of Pishan, and the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty was almost completely wiped out.
At this critical moment when there were no soldiers available and the country was facing extinction, Yuwentai had to ask the Guan Long clan for help. In order to attract the talents of the Guanlongshi clan, Yuwentai treated them very high courtesy and invited them to serve as the senior ** of the Western Wei Dynasty, which further promoted the integration of Xianbei and Han people.
In order to better integrate military forces against the Eastern Wei, Yuwentai established the Eight Pillars system, the original Eight Pillars included himself, Yuan Xin, Li Hu, Li Bi, Zhao Gui, Yu Jin, Dugu Xin, and Hou Mo Chen Chong, although in reality only six led the army.
Yuwentai was the supreme military commander, while Yuan Xin was granted the name of the Eight Pillars by the imperial family. In fact, the pillars who commanded the army were the other six. Under the Six Pillars, two more generals were set up, and under the generals, two more Kaifu were set up.
In this way, the military power of the Western Wei Dynasty was divided into six pillar states, twelve generals, and twenty-four prefectures. There was no deep relationship between Kaifu and the general, and the general was not a close confidant of the Zhu State, which effectively prevented the emergence of military oligarchs and consolidated the authority of Yuwentai.
When Yuwentai was working hard, Emperor Xiaowu plotted to move west because of the estrangement between him and Gao Huan, which was in Yuwentai's hands. Emperor Xiaowu only thought about escaping Gao Huan's control, but he never thought that Yuwentai had developed into a force at that time.
Of course, the Guanlong clique that followed him would not be willing to hand over their vested interests to others.
After Emperor Xiaowu moved westward, Yuwentai relied on the emperor's appeal to rapidly expand his Guanlong group. Although Emperor Xiaowu also sensed Yuwentai's ambitions and established a ** centered on the imperial family, since Guanzhong had become the foundation of Yuwentai, this ** did not have any influence.
As the contradiction intensified, Yuwentai poisoned Emperor Xiaowu, and then established the clan Yuan Baoju as the emperor, so as to establish his own henchmen in ** and completely control the political situation.
Many forces loyal to Yuan Wei also defected to Yuwentai, such as He Batyue's elder brother He Batsheng and Wang Sizheng, which made the Guanlong military aristocratic group begin to take shape.
In order to further consolidate his power, Yuwentai took four major measures to make the Guanlong Group finally formed. Although the Guanlong Group has begun to take shape at this time, it still needs to be further integrated and consolidated.
Yuwentai skillfully incorporated the landlord Haoqiang in the Guanlong area into his command, and at the same time, with the help of the advantages of the government, arranged some cronies to hold important positions. His efforts paid off, and most of the important positions in the court were occupied by people from the Guanlong group.
In order to stabilize the relationship within the Guanlong group, Yuwentai actively advocated marriage, such as Li Hu, Li Bi, He Bayue and other descendants all married with the Yuwen family, and a close network of in-laws was formed between the Guanlong nobles.
In addition, he also widely accepted people of insight from the Shandong Shi clan and the Southern Xiaoliang group, and after these people joined the Yuwentai forces, they quickly integrated into the group of Guanlong nobles.
With the implementation of these measures, the Guanlong military aristocracy eventually developed into a decisive force in the direction of Chinese history. The Northern Zhou regime was actually created by Yu Wentai, the founder of the Guanlong group.
After Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian replaced the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he was also born in the Guanlong aristocracy, and his father Yang Zhong was an old subordinate of Yuwentai.
And Yang Jian's wife, Queen Dugu, was also born in the Guanlong Group and is the daughter of Dugu Xin. As for Li Yuan, the Taizu of the Tang Dynasty after the Sui Dynasty, he was also born in the Guanlong aristocracy and was once a general of the Sui Dynasty, and his grandfather Li Hu was one of the Eight Pillars during the Yuwentai period.
The change of dynasties from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties was just a "**" within the Guanlong aristocratic group.