Several Chinese emperors who almost unified the world
In the long history of China, countless regimes have risen and fallen, and hundreds of emperors have left their footprints on this stage. Among them were emperors who pioneered great things, whose exploits influenced history, and incompetent monarchs, who led to the decline of the country.
Some emperors were too ambitious, which led to the end of the prosperous era. What's more, the indulgence in luxury and pleasure has caused the people to live in misery. Among these emperors, there are pioneers, pioneers, conservatives, reformers, those who are prosperous, those who sit on empty seats, and those who can get by.
However, despite the vicissitudes of history, there are few successful kings from ancient times to the present. Most monarchs have left regrets in the long course of history, their ideals and ambitions have not been realized, and their achievements have not lived up to expectations.
History has no ifs, we cannot carry out actual simulations, we can only conduct verbal analysis, and we regret the regrets of history.
Among the kings who have established their foundations since the Qin Dynasty have had several highly regarded leaders. Their success depends mainly on whether they achieve the unity of the world, otherwise their influence will be greatly reduced.
In addition, to have a place on the list of emperors in history, one must either have a profound impact on future generations or have an outstanding performance in the field of culture. This includes promoting new land policies, reducing taxes, and encouraging the revitalization of the private sector.
In general, it is necessary to have both civil and military skills in order to be able to obtain this honor. However, not all entrepreneurs are so lucky, after all, the chosen ones are only a few.
Some kings failed to realize their great ideals because of bad luck in the process of starting a business, leaving behind historical regrets. Next, we will take a look at the emperors who almost achieved the unification of the world.
Fu Jian, who had great ambitions, was the greatest emperor of the Sixteen Kingdoms period and an indispensable pioneer in the history of the former Qin Empire. His family background is prominent, he is not only a former Qin clan, but also the grandson of the founder Fu Hong and the nephew of the founder Fu Jian.
However, in the face of many difficulties and dangers, he resolutely staged a coup d'état, successfully overthrew the brutal rule of Fu Sheng, and ascended to the throne of the former Qin ruler.
As a ruler, Fu Jian showed extraordinary talent and courage, and he promoted the rule of culture in an attempt to change the image of the brutality of minority rulers. He adopted an active policy to encourage agricultural production and reduce taxes on the people, so that the economy of the Guanzhong region recovered rapidly.
He also vigorously promoted Confucian education and restored Zhou rites, so that the culture of the Guanzhong region could flourish and develop. Under his leadership, the former Qin state grew rapidly, from a weak Guanzhong regime to the largest power in the world.
Then, he began to expand his territory, put down internal rebellions, conquered Longxi, and made the Xiongnu and other tribes submit, solving his worries. Under the opportunity of the Third Northern Expedition to Qianyan, Fu resolutely decided to attack Qianyan.
He sent Wang Meng to lead the main army out of Hedong and fight a decisive battle with the main force of Qianyan. Wang Meng won more with less, defeated Murong Ping's main force of Qianyan, and easily advanced to the hinterland of Qianyan.
Then, the Former Qin army advanced all the way, and within a few months, it destroyed the largest country in the Kwantung region. After that, Fu Jian continued to expand his territory, successively destroying Qiuchi and Bashu, and advancing the territory of Former Qin to the Yelang border.
He also made several attempts to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, captured many strategic points, and occupied most of the country's territory. However, the success made Fu Jian a little flustered, and he decided to push forward the pace of great unification in spite of the instability of the national situation.
Between 382 and 383, he sent the general Lü Guang to command the elite troops to pacify the Western Regions, and he himself recruited the whole army and labor, and led hundreds of thousands of troops to divide into multiple routes, trying to decide the world in a war.
Although Former Qin achieved a series of brilliant achievements under Fu Jian's leadership, his ambitions ultimately led to his defeat. Although this battle to unify the world once gave the former Qin an advantage, in the end, due to internal and external pressure, the former Qin went into decline.
However, Fu Jian's heroic deeds and far-reaching influence are still praised by future generations.
The Battle of Weishui was a great defeat caused by the fragmentation of the former Qin army. Fu Jian personally led the Chinese army out of Huainan, although the morale of the army was not high, but it still had a certain combat effectiveness.
However, because of the long march, when the vanguard troops reached the front, the follow-up troops were still coming. In order to eliminate the Beifu soldiers, the front-line commander ordered the troops to withdraw one after another and give up the river beach to the Beifu soldiers.
However, this retreat caused panic in the rear army, thinking that the front army had been defeated, so rumors spread in the army, and the rear army instantly scattered and fled. When the front army saw the rear army fleeing, they were also very panicked, thinking that they had been cut off by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so they also fled for their lives in a hurry.
This is the Battle of Weishui, hundreds of thousands of troops of the former Qin Dynasty were defeated without a fight, and the Northern Fu soldiers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the northern defenders took advantage of the situation to pursue and recover a large amount of land.
Yuwen Yong, a great emperor in the history of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, succeeded to the throne under the control of the powerful minister Yuwen Hu. He knew that he could not do anything, so he chose to endure and wait.
After 12 years of hibernation, he successfully got rid of Yuwengo, mastered the government, and implemented the reform of the Juntian system and the government military system, increasing the number of soldiers and effectively improving the military strength.
In addition, he was not afraid of the powerful, resolutely abolished Buddhism, and led the whole people to change their thinking in a positive direction. Through his hard work, the Northern Zhou Dynasty achieved a huge rise in a short period of time.
Yu Wenyong, the founding emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was brave and wise. He was well aware of the importance of unifying the north, and after several years of tentative attacks, he finally divided his troops into multiple routes in 576 and successfully conquered Jinyang, the land of Longxing in the Northern Qi Dynasty.
The following year, he commanded a large army to attack Yecheng, the capital of Northern Qi, destroying Northern Qi and unifying the north. However, just as he was about to make a big difference, he died of illness during the Northern Expedition to the Turks, which caused the Northern Zhou to begin to decline.
In the end, with the help of the resources accumulated in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, his relative Yang Jian established the Great Sui regime and unified the world.
Although Cao Cao did not claim the title of emperor during his lifetime, he was posthumously proclaimed emperor after his son Cao Pi became emperor. He was a prominent figure in the late Han Dynasty and rose from Yanzhou during the Great Turmoil of the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
He skillfully used military and political means, defeated many princes, and unified the north. Although he had a chance to unify the world, he unfortunately missed two crucial opportunities.
The first opportunity was that Cao Cao, after unifying the north, went south to take Jingzhou, leaving only Jiangdong and Sichuan in the world. Cao Cao and Sun Quan fought a decisive battle at Chibi.
However, this battle was not used to the southern climate by the northern soldiers, a large area was infected, and the southeast wind blew in the cold winter of Layue, which gave the Eastern Wu a chance to attack, and finally Zhou Yu burned Chibi, and Cao Cao was defeated and retreated to the north.
The second chance was that Cao Cao annexed Zhang Lu's Hanzhong and took the Longnan Heights a few years after the Battle of Chibi. At that time, Liu Bei had just taken Bashu, and the people's hearts were unstable, and they could not completely unify it.
Cao Cao only had to send a large army to rush into Shu, and Liu Bei would be difficult to resist. However, Cao Cao, who was in his twilight years, was physically and mentally exhausted, and gave up this opportunity despite the advice of his strategists. Two years later, Liu Bei freed up his hands and captured Hanzhong, causing great trouble to Cao Cao and his descendants, and Cao Wei was never able to unify the world.
Liu Yu, the first emperor of the Southern Dynasties, had the opportunity to achieve the unification of the world, becoming the first leader in history to successfully carry out the Northern Expedition and complete the unification. He was born in a poor family, and in his early years, he enjoyed idleness and gambling, and later joined the Beifu army, and was promoted to the upper class of the Beifu army by virtue of his outstanding military exploits in quelling the Sun En Rebellion.
Subsequently, Huan Xuan usurped the throne, and Liu Yu seized the opportunity to defeat Huan Xuan with the weak, successfully defeated Huan Xuan, restored the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and became the de facto ruler of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
After that, he pacified Huan Xuan and Liu Yi successively, recovered Bashu, and after successfully unifying the south, Liu Yu began his northern expedition.
After two years of Northern Expedition, Liu Yu successfully broke through Guanggu and swept away the Southern Yan. After that, he went south to attack Lu Xun's Northern Expedition and successfully pacified the south. Then, in order to achieve full success, he began the Second Northern Expedition, successfully passing through the Huai River into the Yellow River, and attacking Later Qin to the west.
He successfully defeated the Northern Wei Dynasty with the help of the Moon Array, continued westward, and successfully destroyed the Later Qin Empire. When Liu Yu occupied Guanzhong, only a few weak states in the northwest and a slightly stronger Hu Xia regime and the rising Northern Wei Dynasty remained.
These people are obviously not the opponents of Liu Yu's army, Liu Yu only needs to run Guanzhong, and then gradually recover Hebei, he can complete the unification of the world. However, at this critical moment, Liu Yu's advisor Liu Muzhi died, which forced him to abandon the Northern Expedition and rush back to Jiangnan to begin his path to usurpation.
The Tang Dynasty was founded by descendants of the Later Han Dynasty.
Li Cunxuan, later Tang Zhuangzong, was the only emperor in Chinese history who had the opportunity to unify the whole world. In the Battle of Luzhou, he resisted valiantly and successfully defeated Zhu Wen's main force and saved the fate of Hedong.
After several years of hard work, Hedong led by Li Cunqiao rose rapidly, and he first pacified Liu Rengong and his son in the Youyan region, and then forced the three towns of Hebei to submit. In ten years of struggle, he fought many decisive battles with Hou Liang, and finally completely defeated Hou Liang, ascended the throne and became emperor, and established the second regime of the five dynasties - Hou Tang.
Li Cunmiao's Shatuo cavalry was strong, they regained Longxi successively, and then took advantage of the chaotic situation in the southwest region to send a large army and take Bashu without blood.
As a result of these exploits, Li Cunmiao's forces have occupied seven-tenths of the country's total. However, there were still several regimes in the southern part of the Yangtze River, including Yang Wu in southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui, Ma Chu in Hunan, Nanping in Jingzhou, Wu Yue in Zhejiang, Min in Fujian, and Southern Han in Guangdong.
Li Cunmiao originally had the opportunity to sweep the whole world in one go, but after he won Houliang, he began to indulge in enjoyment and entertainment, and no longer continued to develop.
It is undoubtedly a regrettable thing that Hou Tang was unable to complete the unification despite his huge advantage.
Although Wan Yanliang has a poor historical evaluation, his decisive decision-making in China has caused a lot of criticism. Although many nobles were dissatisfied with Wan Yanliang, his performance in the history of the Jin Kingdom was still outstanding.
He was thoughtful, capable, and resourceful, and he was one of the best among the emperors of the Jin Kingdom. After Yan Liang ascended the throne, he took many measures, including the promotion of Sinology, the development of agriculture, the rectification of the government, the strict reform, the improvement of the financial system, and the large-scale Sinicization of the Jin State.
He also moved the capital to Yanjing, strengthened the centralization of power, and consolidated the legitimacy of the Jin State's rule in the north. However, the reforms caused contradictions within the Jin Kingdom, and many nobles were dissatisfied with Wan Yanliang.
In 1161, Wan Yanliang ignored the internal contradictions and forcibly launched a southern expedition, and the Jin army was divided into four routes, all the way out of Dasanguan, ready to enter Sichuan, all the way to Xiangyang, all the way to the sea to attack Lin'an.
Wan Yanliang personally led the main force out of Shouchun, the Jin army reached 600,000, known as million, the felt tents were connected, the sound of cymbals and drums was endless, and the distance was vibrating. However, the feints of several route armies, first the naval army was defeated, and then the Jin army's partial division was defeated by Yu Yunwen at Quarry Rock.
In order to sweep away the decline, Wan Yanliang led the main force to attack forcibly and went directly to Guazhou. However, during the launching of the river-crossing operation, Wan Yanliang was killed by his subordinates who were dissatisfied with him, and thus the most powerful southern expedition of the Jin State was interrupted.