In 549 AD, Jiankang, the capital of Southern Liang, was captured by the rebel Hou Jing.
The 86-year-old Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, an old man who believed in Buddhism all his life, lamented two "lotus" sighs due to hunger before his death, longing for a cup of honey to quench his thirst, but failed to do so.
Emperor Wu of Liang painstakingly managed the imperial capital of the Southern Dynasty for 48 years, and it fell into ruins in a few years, with more than 100,000 men and women in the city, and less than 4,000 people left when the rebels entered the city.
In order to raise food, Hou Jing sent troops to plunder the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River, and after the gold and silk grain were robbed, they plundered people for food, or sold the population to the north. For a while, there was no one for thousands of miles, the white bones were like hills, and the prosperity of the Southern Dynasty was gone.
The Southern Liang was torn apart, losing nearly two-thirds of its territory in just a few years, part of which was occupied by the Northern Qi (formerly the Eastern Wei Dynasty), and part of it was obtained by the Western Wei Dynasty (later evolved into the Northern Zhou Dynasty), and there was a scoundrel Hou Jing who killed the clan in Jiankang and established himself as the emperor, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties were about to become the Eastern and Western Dynasties.
The inspirational history of a village official Chen Baxian's road to fame is inseparable from the appreciation of Xiao Ying, the new Yu Hou of the Southern Liang clan. Xiao Ying used to be a guard, and Chen Baxian, who was from a poor family, once said: "This person will be ambitious." ”
Chen Baxian was just an inconspicuous grassroots cadre when he was young, and he once worked as a lisi in a small village. But he had a dream and once went to Jiankang to work as a storekeeper at an oil depot.
However, the restrictions of small cities and the challenges of big cities hit him a wall, and he returned to Wuxing to work as Xiao Ying's secretary. Chen Baxian constantly recharged in his busy work, and trained himself into an all-round talent, good at history, military books and magic.
His life was not all smooth sailing, but he persevered and eventually became Emperor Wu of Chen.
In 540, Xiao Ying served as the assassin of Guangzhou. The 38-year-old Chen Baxian decided to go to Lingnan with him. In the past, nothing was done, but as long as you find the right direction, it is still possible to make a splash.
Chen Baxian seems to have been born for the battlefield. Soon after arriving in Guangzhou, Li Ben, a local tyrant in Jiaozhou (located in present-day Hanoi, Vietnam), rebelled against Liang and took control of the entire North Vietnamese region. When Emperor Wu of Liang heard of this turmoil, he ordered Xiao Ying and others to send troops to quell the rebellion.
However, Xiao Ying's subordinates suggested sending troops in the autumn and winter, but Xiao Ying ignored the advice and sent troops in the spring and summer, which led to a crushing defeat of the Liang army and the death of six or seven percent of the soldiers. Liang generals Zhou Wenyu and Du Shengming were dissatisfied with the punishment of their superiors, and launched a mutiny and besieged the city of Guangzhou.
Both are fierce men. Zhou Wenyu's original name was Xiang Mengnu, a native of Zhejiang, who followed his father-in-law Zhou Hui into the army, and fought dozens of times in one day. After seeing Zhou Yun's death, Zhou Wenyu desperately recaptured his father-in-law's body, and no one dared to approach.
Du Shengming was also a fierce general in the Guangzhou army, and he and Zhou Wenyu jointly raised the anti-flag. Xiao Ying hid in the city and didn't dare to come out, so she could only hope for Chen Baxian. No one thought that Chen Baxian would become a miracle in the Battle of Guangzhou.
With only 3,000 elite soldiers, he quickly rescued, defeated the rebels, and captured Zhou Wenyu and Du Shengming. The two of them bowed to Chen Baxian and became the core backbone of his account.
When Emperor Wu of Liang heard the news, he praised it and specially sent painters to the front line to paint a portrait of Chen Baxian for him to enjoy. Chen Ba first got rid of the mid-life crisis, and let the world remember his name.
If he hadn't gone south to Guangzhou with Xiao Ying, maybe he would have been a small official for the rest of his life. Soon after, Chen Baxian's Bole Xiao Ying died of illness while serving in Guangzhou.
Chen Ba first personally escorted Xiao Ying's coffin back to Jiankang, and then continued to crusade against the Jiaozhou rebellion, got rid of the local ** forces led by Li Ben, and continued to be promoted.
On the eve of Hou Jing's rebellion, Chen Baxian also served as the military commander of the seven counties. The new leader Xiao Bo just wanted to shrink to Guangzhou and support the army for self-respect, but Chen Baxian did not listen to the opposition and resolutely embarked on the journey of going north to quell the rebellion.
History has proven that this was the right decision.
In 551 B.C., the Guangzhou volunteers led by Chen Baxian formed the East Road Counterinsurgency Army, and joined forces with Wang Sengbi's army to fight against the traitor Hou Jing.
Like the grievances and hatred between the Gao clan and the Yuwen clan in the Northern Dynasty, the rivalry between Chen Baxian and Wang Seng has also attracted much attention.
In the process of crusading against Hou Jing, Wang Shengbi had reservations about Chen Baxian, a border guard from Lingnan, fearing that he was a copy of Hou Jing.
But Chen Baxian dispelled Wang Sengbi's doubts with his actions, he brought 500,000 stone military rations, and saw that the Western Route Army was short of food and grass, so he took the initiative to give them 300,000 military rations.
Wang Seng was moved by Chen Baxian's righteousness, and they set up an altar to swear an oath to resist Hou Jing together. Hou Jing** was originally a rabble, and their victory was inseparable from the internal strife in Nanliang.
When Jiankang was recovered by the Wang and Chen coalition forces, Hou Jing fled by boat with his henchmen. The sheep and the bird mixed in, and he lied to the crew while Hou Jing was sleeping, saying that I knew the road here, and then commanded the fleet to drive towards the shore.
Yang Yu is Hou Jing's enemy, and he is here for revenge. When Hou Jing woke up, he found that the boat had not gone to sea at all, and he was asking why, when he was cut down by the sheep. After Hou Jing's death, his body was eaten by the people of the capital, and there were no bones left.
Emperor Liang Yuan's reign was short, only two years. In 554, Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty led an army to capture Jiangling and captured him. At that time, his son Chen Chang, who was an official in Jiangling, was also captured to Chang'an along with the common people in the city.
Yuwentai supported Emperor Liang Yuan's nephew Xiao Jing in Jiangling and established the "Western Liang" puppet court, and Emperor Liang Yuan was suffocated to death under the humiliation of his nephew. Before he was defeated, he did a bad thing.
He has read a lot of books in his life, has a collection of 140,000 ancient and modern books, and is a literary and artistic youth like Li Houzhu and Song Huizong. When he was defeated by the Western Wei army and couldn't recognize his own mother, he said: "I have read thousands of books to have today's end." ”
Books were ordered to be burned, and many precious books were destroyed in this disaster. Later scholars often scolded Emperor Liang Yuan for this reason.
After Yuwentai captured Jiangling, Chen Baxian and Wang Shengbi, the two most powerful military generals of Southern Liang, had the opportunity to compete for the throne, but they chose to go their separate ways, which eventually led to the demise of Southern Liang.
At the foot of the Purple Mountain, there was a heroic leader on the ancient battlefield, and he was Chen Baxian.
In 555 AD, after Chen Baxian took control of the Southern Liang court, he insisted on holding the city of Jiankang, and in the face of the siege of various warlords from the Northern Qi and Southern Liang, he led the fierce generals Zhou Wenyu and Hou Andu to carry out a fierce counterattack.
He sent 3,000 elite soldiers to secretly cross the Yangtze River, captured the warships and military equipment of the Northern Qi army, and personally led the iron cavalry out of the city to attack the Northern Qi military camp.
Under the adversity of besieging the city on three sides, Chen Baxian fought hard with the armies of all walks of life for nearly a year, and the situation finally reversed, he sent troops in time to besiege the Northern Qi army camp, cut off its water drawing road, and forced the Northern Qi to negotiate peace with him, and then divided the troops to attack, and broke the Southern Liang Thorn History and the county guard of the army, and finally won more with less, and defeated the various armies besieging Jiankang.
Two years after Chen Baxian killed Wang Shengbi, he forced Emperor Jing of Liang to take the throne, established himself as emperor (known as Emperor Wu of Chen in history), and established the Southern Chen regime. Nan Chen, the last dynasty of the Southern Dynasty, is also the only dynasty in Chinese history to use the emperor's surname as the name of the country.
Chen Baxian's heroic deeds will forever be engraved in the long river of history.
Chen Baxian, a virtuous monarch based on the rule of culture and benevolence, he consolidated the political power, restored the economy of the south of the Yangtze River, and implemented a lenient and simple government affairs unless there was an urgent military situation.
He also granted amnesty to the world, releasing long-held prisoners back to their places of origin; Give the widows and lonely people in the society 5 grains per person; exempted the peasants from overdue rents and debts; People were sent to reclaim the fertile soil in Danxi and Lanling counties and inspect them in person.
He is strict with himself, usually eats and drinks, there are only a few dishes, the harem does not have silk and bamboo orchestras, since the beginning of the army, he has obtained jade silk and other valuables are all rewarded to the soldiers, and he does not take a penny.
However, his kindness also allowed him to be treated unfairly in the power struggle. His tolerance has not been forgiven by the descendants of Wang Shengbian, perhaps the struggle for power is so cruel that there is no emotion at all.
04.Nan Chen, a forgotten history Chen Baxian, although his reign was short, opened a new era. One might think that Nan Chen was just a small court in a corner of the country and did not have much influence.
However, when the north was unified and the Sui dynasty was about to establish a new unified empire, the existence of Nan Chen seemed somewhat out of place. Scholar Bai Yang once commented on Nan Chen: "Nan Chen is the only regime in the Southern Dynasty that has not produced a tyrant. ”
In the situation of weak south and strong north, Nan Chen held the last Han regime in the south, ending the war since the Hou Jing Rebellion, and for 32 years, five generations of emperors were committed to recovering the losses of the Hou Jing Rebellion and restoring the economy, all of which laid a solid foundation for the unification of the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor Wen of Chen inherited the political philosophy of his uncle Chen Baxian, worked diligently and loved the people, ate well and successfully pacified the remnants of the separatist forces in the south of the Yangtze River, cleaned up the chaotic situation left by the Hou Jing Rebellion, and created the last rule of the Southern Dynasty - "Tianjia Zhizhi".
Chen Qian's younger brother, Emperor Xuan Chen, was the last aspiring emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and during his reign, the situation in the north changed, with the state of Qi weakening and the state of Zhou becoming strong.
Chen Ji was ambitious and launched two Northern Expeditions, once capturing Huai, Si and other places, but due to his eagerness, he was finally defeated by the Northern Zhou.
He was the longest-reigning emperor of Nan Chen, reigning for 14 years, although he failed to expand the territory, but the country was relatively stable, and the social economy continued to recover and develop.
Nan Chen, although forgotten by history, was the last Han regime in the south and made an important contribution to the development of Chinese history.
Portrait of Emperor Chen Xuan, his son Chen Houzhu was keen on poetry and songs, good at music and rhythm, raised a group of literati and beauties, and created the popular golden song "Yushu Backyard Flower", but later generations regarded it as the sound of the dead country.
Like the previous Southern Chen Emperors, Empress Chen ruled the country with a policy of leniency and benevolence, and granted amnesty to the world ten times, making the south prosperous for a time.
However, the confrontation between Nanchen and the Sui Dynasty after the unification of the north was like a grasshopper shaking a tree, and in 589, the Sui army sent 500,000 troops south, and Han captured the tiger to attack Jiankang and destroy Nanchen.
After Han Baohu entered the palace, Empress Chen fled for his life in a hurry and hid in the well with his favorite concubines Zhang Lihua and Kong Guiren.
When the Sui army found out, they pulled Chen Houzhu out of the well, and his concubines and close ministers were executed, while Chen Houzhu was able to save his life and was taken to Luoyang under house arrest, where he died peacefully.
Chen Baxian was brave and fearless, but Chen Shubao, the last monarch of Southern Chen, was known for his comedic characters, and even Emperor Wen of Sui was amazed to hear of his absurdity when he died.
The death of Nan Chen does not represent the disappearance of the spirit of the Southern Dynasties. After Emperor Wen of Sui destroyed Chen, he got the Qing Shangle of the Southern Dynasty and praised it: "This Huaxia Zhengsheng also!" In addition to the Qing Shangle, the Liang Chen system of the Southern Dynasty was also one of the important ** of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
In addition, the Southern Dynasties also promoted the economic and cultural development of the south of the Yangtze River, and played an important role in the formation of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Scholar Fan Wenlan once said: "During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties, the Yangtze River basin was developed, which provided important support for the development of the feudal economy of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and also promoted the prosperity of the Sui and Tang cultures. ”
Without Nan Chen's recovery from civil strife, the Sui and Tang dynasties might have been delayed for a while, and might even lack a major boost. The existence and demise of Nan Chen were all in order to conform to the trend of history.
If it were not for the prosperity of Wuyue, the rivers and lakes of Jingxiang, the vast sea and sky of Lingnan, and the land of abundance in Sichuan and Shu, history might have been different. In general, although Nan Chen is dead, the spirit of the Southern Dynasty still exists.
The Southern Dynasties made important contributions to China's economic development and cultural prosperity, and were an important period in Chinese history.