Liu Yuan's plot
Lishi County, Luliang City, Shanxi Province, is the birthplace of Liu Yuan, where he grew up and later migrated with his father to Chiqiao Village, Jinyuan District, Taiyuan City.
A few years later, Liu Yuan raised troops in the ancient city of Jinyang to destroy the Western Jin Dynasty and officially proclaimed himself emperor - Gaozu of the Later Han Dynasty.
Liujiabao Village in Xiaodian District, Taiyuan City is the castle of Liu Yuan's soldiers, and Liujiabao is named after it.
Liu Yuan, a gravedigger in the Western Jin Dynasty, was born in the Xiongnu, why did he claim to be the emperor of the Han family?
In Chinese history, there is such a special person, he was born in the Xiongnu tribe, but he called himself the emperor of the Han family, he is Liu Yuan, why was Liu Yuan born in the Xiongnu but called himself the emperor of the Han family?
Liu Yuan was born in a special period, it was the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the heroes competed for the deer, wars were frequent, his father Liu Bao, was the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, led the tribe to live in today's Shanxi Xinzhou.
Liu Yuan's family background is not simple, his mother is a descendant of the princess of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Yuan's body has the blood of the Huns and the Han family.
Liu Yuan was brilliant since childhood, he loved to learn, and was familiar with books such as "Historical Records", "Hanshu", and "The Art of War", and he also lived in Luoyang for a period of time, which made him deeply feel the charm of Central Plains culture.
Liu Yuan was also appreciated by Sima Zhao, a powerful minister of Cao Wei, however, fate was always full of twists and turns, and after the death of Liu Yuan's father, Liu Bao, he was canonized as the commander of the left division and continued to lead the left division of the Xiongnu.
Under Liu Yuan's governance, the left part of the Xiongnu gradually became sinicized, and many people with lofty ideals and Confucian scholars came to him.
In 290 AD, Sima Yan died of illness, the dementia emperor Sima Zhen ascended the throne, history went to an extreme, in order to win over Liu Yuan, Yang Jun let Liu Yuan lead the five Xiongnu departments, which made Liu Yuan effortlessly regain control of the entire Southern Xiongnu.
In the following ten years, Liu Yuan relied on his own ability and knowledge to govern the five Xiongnu tribes in an orderly manner.
The wheel of history did not stop turning, the princes of the Sima family rose up one after another to stand on their own, and this melee lasted for a full seventeen years, and in these long years, Liu Yuan gradually rose and became a powerful force.
In 304 AD, Liu Yuan was appointed as the northern single Yu, with full authority over the entire Southern Xiongnu, Liu Yuan was not satisfied with the status quo, he chose to stand on his own and began a magnificent life.
Under the banner of "restoring the Han dynasty", he declared himself the rightful heir of the Shu Han regime, and in 308 AD, Liu Yuan officially proclaimed himself emperor and established his own state, Han Zhao.
After Liu Yuan became emperor, he led a large army to sweep all the way through Shanxi, Henan and other places, but in the end he still suffered a setback, in the Battle of Yiyang, Liu Yuan's army was defeated by the Western Jin army, forced to withdraw, Liu Yuan fell ill and died in 310 AD.
After Liu Yuan's death, his son Liu He ascended the throne, but soon after another son Liu Cong staged a coup d'état and established himself as emperor, the last bit of afterglow of the Western Jin Dynasty also came to a complete end, in 311 AD, Liu Cong commanded the army to capture Luoyang, and in 316 AD, the Han and Zhao armies captured Chang'an again, and the Western Jin Dynasty was finally destroyed.
The reason why Liu Yuan was born in the Xiongnu but wanted to call himself the emperor of the Han family was that he never forgot that his mother was a Han Chinese, mainly because he had the blood of the Xiongnu and the Han family flowing in his body.
Author: Wang Gongjian.