Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (467 A.D. 499), surnamed Tuoba, named Hong, was a member of the Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei tribe. In 471 AD, the 5-year-old Tuoba Hong ascended the throne and was ruled by his grandmother, the Empress Dowager Feng. It took nineteen years for Emperor Xiaowen to really come to power. He continued to carry out reforms, and the country's strength grew stronger day by day, but it was still far from the goal of dominating the world.
One day in 493 AD, Wang Su of the Southern Dynasty suddenly came to the Northern Wei Dynasty. Emperor Xiaowen was in need of this kind of virtuous man who was full of wealth and knowledge, so he had a long talk with him all night. Wang Su especially said that if the Wei family wanted to dominate the world, it must move the capital to Luoyang. This coincided with Emperor Xiaowen's thoughts, and Emperor Xiaowen excitedly wrote down Wang Su's exposition:"The Northern Wei Dynasty since the Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue Dingdu Pingcheng, the population is gradually increasing, the food supply is difficult, if there is a famine year, it is inevitable to starve to death. The Central Plains has been a grain-producing area since ancient times, especially after Empress Dowager Feng implemented the equalization system, the displaced people after the war settled down and reclaimed wasteland, making agriculture in the Central Plains an important foundation of the Northern Wei Dynasty. "Emperor Xiaowen said:"I don't know what the hearts of the people in the Central Plains are? "Wang Su said:"His Majesty's prestige in the Central Plains is very high, not to mention the benefits of the Juntian system to them, just the implementation of the Yulu system, the promulgation of the law of severe punishment of **, which restricts the arbitrary plundering of officials, plus the execution of more than 40 **, won the hearts of the people. "Emperor Xiaowen said:"I don't know what the people think'Three-long system'?"Wang Su said:"Three-long system'So that the people five families as a neighbor, five neighbors for a mile, five miles for the **, these neighborhood chiefs, chiefs, party chiefs are responsible for checking household registration, collecting rent and taxes, and levying forced labor, so that the people can get rid of the tyrannical expropriation of powerful landlords, and the people are naturally supportive. "Emperor Xiaowen was very happy to hear this. Wang Su further analyzed:"Pingcheng was located in the northern frontier of Wei Tu and was often harassed by the Rouran tribes in the north. If you move south to Luoyang, when the Wei State is strong, raise troops to invade the Southern Qi, then the world can be obtained. "Emperor Xiaowen said:"In this way, I decided to move the capital to Luoyang. "Wang Su said:"I'm afraid that the ministers will oppose the relocation of the capital, won't His Majesty's move to Yecheng fail two years ago? "Emperor Xiaowen said:"This time, there will be a way. "
One day a few months later, Emperor Xiaowen summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs to the palace and announced his intention to lead troops to attack Qi. Because this southern expedition was to unify the world, the ministers had no choice but to agree. Half a month later, Emperor Xiaowen personally led an army of 300,000 to the south, traveled more than 2,000 miles, crossed the Yellow River and came to Luoyang. After the army arrived in Luoyang, everyone was exhausted, but Emperor Xiaowen was still wearing military uniforms, holding a horse whip, and riding a horse to continue to advance south. The ministers knelt down in front of their horses and begged him not to go any further. Because they knew that Nanqi had dug a ditch and built a city, preparing to fight to the death with the Wei army, and it was absolutely impossible to conquer it in a short time, and if Rouran attacked from behind again, everyone would be finished, so they persuaded him to return to Pingcheng. Emperor Xiaowen said:"I led the troops of the whole country and came all the way to Luoyang, if I returned to Pingcheng for no reason, wouldn't I make the people of the world laugh at me for being greedy for life and afraid of death? "Wang Su offered a plan, he said:"When His Majesty went out of Pingcheng, he did not tell the world that it was for the sake of destroying Qi. Now that the army has arrived in Luoyang, can you tell the world in the opinion of the ministers that Your Majesty's trip is to move the capital to Luoyang, and then consider Pingcheng? "Emperor Xiaowen pondered for a long time and said:"It's a good idea, but it's also possible. However, if you tell the world to move the capital to Luoyang, you will do what you say and do what you do. "Saying this, he pointed his horsewhip at his ministers and said:"Those who agree should stand on the left side of the couplet. "For a while, the ministers stood to the left, and Emperor Xiaowen saw that a few old ministers did not get up, so he waved his horsewhip and wanted to march south. The old ministers had no choice but to stand up and stand on the left.
A year later, Emperor Xiaowen personally led hundreds of civil and military officials to move from Pingcheng to Luoyang. After that, he took a series of reform measures, and within a few years, Luoyang became the political and economic center of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the spring of 496 AD, Emperor Xiaowen led the civil and military ministers to patrol Songyue (that is, Songshan, in the north of Dengfeng County, Henan). One day, Emperor Xiaowen was traveling in the middle peak of Songshan Mountain, and suddenly an attendant came to report: the prince killed Gao Daoyue, the middle concubine, and tried to lead the crowd to flee to Pingcheng. Emperor Xiaowen was shocked and hurried back to Luoyang. Emperor Xiaowen sent people to search the prince's mansion and found many letters from Xianbei old ministers, which contained some words that instigated the prince to rebel. Emperor Xiaowen immediately sent people to arrest those old ministers, and at the same time deposed the prince as a commoner and let him live in Wubi City, Heyang. Then, Emperor Xiaowen went to Pingcheng at night to personally interrogate those old ministers, and then he learned about the hatred of some old ministers for reform. The language, clothing, and even the surnames of these Xianbei nobles were all changed to the Han system by Emperor Xiaowen, and even after their deaths, they were required to be buried in Luoyang. Leaving his ancestors unsacrificed, Emperor Xiaowen wanted to sacrifice to Confucius, the saint worshiped by the Han people. The official system, laws, etiquette, and rules and regulations are also implemented by the Han people. These are all gone, Emperor Xiaowen also advocated intermarriage with the Han people. not only married a Han himself, but also married his five younger brothers, destroying the noble blood of the royal family. How can this be endured by the Xianbei aristocracy? The most infuriating thing is that the emperor changed his surname to Yuan. Originally, the Xianbei people called the soil as Tuo, and then it was Ba, so it was called Tuoba. The emperor wanted to say that the soil was yellow, which was the beginning of all things, so he changed his surname"Meta", calling himself Yuan Hong.
The Xianbei nobles naturally fell in love with the lazy prince Yuansui and wanted to encourage him to go to Pingcheng to set up another court. Unexpectedly, the crown prince was stopped when he ran to the city gate. After listening to the confession of the old ministers, Emperor Xiaowen gave them to commit suicide. When Emperor Xiaowen returned to Luoyang from Pingcheng, he received a secret report that the crown prince Yuansui was plotting to rebel in the city between the rivers. Emperor Xiaowen immediately ordered Ci Yuansui to commit suicide.
In the winter of that year, the mutiny in Pingcheng was also quelled by Emperor Xiaowen. In this way, many obstacles on the road to reform have been cleared. Emperor Xiaowen was a young and promising political innovator in the history of our country. His reforms promoted the feudalization of various ethnic groups in the north centered on the Xianbei nationality and the great integration of ethnic groups with the Han nationality as the main body, and made positive and beneficial contributions to the formation and development of China's multi-ethnic state. In 499 AD, Emperor Xiaowen led his army south to conquer Xiao Qi, but soon fell ill and died on the way home.