The two countries that once originated from the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty, went to opposition, and at the same time, Xiao Liang in the south also caused the Central Plains to fall into a situation of three kingdoms.
Xiao Liang aside, the Western Wei Dynasty was clearly lagging behind the Eastern Wei Dynasty in all respects at first. However, just over forty years later, the Western Wei (Northern Zhou) changed from being an all-round backwardness to a superiority in strength, and finally destroyed the Eastern Wei (Northern Qi).
Why, then, was the Western Wei Dynasty able to transform from a weak country into a powerful state in just forty years? Why do two dynasties with the same roots have such different fates?
Gao Huan, a gangster from a poor background, was once thought to be unknown in the long river of history because his brother-in-law grew up in the life of a jailer. However, his life was changed by a marriage.
His union with the Lou family not only allowed him to get a rich dowry, but also helped him make friends with heroes in troubled times, which became the key to his future success. Gao Huan's life began to leap forward and became an indispensable figure in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Gao Huan, who emerged in the troubled times, why was she favored by Miss Lou? The reason is simple, and that is his outstanding appearance. The Northern Qi royal family is famous for handsome guys, and the King of Lanling has left a legend in the history books, and Gao Huan, as the first generation, is naturally no exception.
When the rebellion broke out in the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty, although Gao Huan was involved in the rebellion, he had a unique eye and saw the weakness of the rebellion, so he got out in time and took refuge in Er Zhurong. Er Zhurong's ability and army undoubtedly provided Gao Huan with strong support, far better than the choice of staying in the rebel army.
Erzhurong rose to prominence in the Six Towns Rebellion, and the people around him began to advise him on his side, with the goal of achieving greater power. He saw the contradiction between Emperor Xiaoming and Empress Dowager Hu, and persuaded Er Zhurong to clear the king's side.
After Er Zhurong listened to his advice, the chaos in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty officially began. Er Zhurong marched into Luoyang, deposed the young emperor, killed the Empress Dowager Hu, and then established Yuanzi as the emperor, which is Emperor Xiaozhuang.
At the same time, Gao Huan also rose with Er Zhurong's power, and was named the Jinju Assassin History, and had his own territory. From then on, he stopped relying on others and began to plan for his future.
However, Emperor Xiaozhuang was dissatisfied with Erzhurong's act of killing him, which led Erzhuzhao to attack. When Er Zhuzhao was about to kill Emperor Xiaozhuang, Gao Huan wrote a letter against it.
Although he had only one place in Jinju and could not compete with the powerful Erzhu Zhao, he succeeded in drawing the Xianbei and Han ministers who had been convicted by Erzhu Zhao into his camp by writing letters.
In addition, he also seized the opportunity to absorb the remnants of the rebels in the Six Towns, so as to improve his strength and have the strength to compete for the world.
Gao Huan rose to prominence in the wars of the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and every choice he made was the best solution, thanks to his innate strategic ability. Whether it is a person or a thing, it is a stepping stone for him to climb upward.
In the second year of Yongxi (533), he successfully defeated Erzhu Zhao, ended Erzhu's rule over the Northern Wei Dynasty, and established Yuanxu as emperor, that is, Emperor Xiaowu. However, Gao Huan did not stay in the capital Luoyang, but returned to his base in Jinyang to control the government remotely.
This made Emperor Xiaowu feel uneasy, especially under the sowing of discord by the super rebel Hu Sichun, which eventually led to the ** of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Emperor Xiaowu Yuanxuan was a person with a unique anti-bone spirit, his followers were loyal to Erzhurong first, and after Erzhurong died, he switched to Yuanyue, the king of Runan, after Erzhuzhao broke Luoyang, he took refuge in the Erzhu clan again, and then after Gao Huan took power, he killed the Erzhu clan as proof of joining Gao Huan.
It can be said that he is a person who "has milk and is a mother", but after Gao Huan stabilized the government, Hu Sichun began to feel uneasy, worried that his past experience would make Gao Huan have bad thoughts, so he tried his best to promote the conflict between Emperor Xiaowu and Gao Huan.
Emperor Xiaowu was young and vigorous, and naturally did not want to become a puppet in the hands of others, so he secretly recruited troops, accumulated strength, and declared to the outside world that he wanted to conquer Southern Liang, but in fact, his real goal was to go north to attack Jinyang and seize power.
In the eyes of Gao Huan, who is good at scheming, this kind of inferior act of seizing power is simply the behavior of a younger brother, Gao Huan did not give him a chance, but personally led the troops south in the name of "Qingjun's side".
Hu Sichun is an anti-bone boy who dares to challenge authority, and under the pressure of Gao Huan's army, Emperor Xiaowu is faced with a difficult choice. If you stay, you can only be deposed and "killed" on the same day; If you go, where can you go?
Someone suggested that he defect to Nanliang, but this sounded like a joke, how could an emperor take the initiative to defect to the enemy country? It was also suggested that he defect to He Batsheng in Jingzhou, but his distrust of him and Jingzhou's defense problems led him to refuse.
After thinking about it repeatedly, Emperor Xiaowu decided to defect to Yuwentai, after all, he thought he was good to Yuwentai. This self-feeling of Emperor Xiaowu comes from the fact that when the Erzhu clan was weakened, Guanzhong was in the hands of He Batyue, although He Batyue and Gao Huan did not agree, but they were still nominally loyal to Emperor Xiaowu of Gao Huanli.
Emperor Xiaowu naturally did not miss this opportunity, and began to sow discord, gradually pitting the Horbats and Gao Huan against each other. Gao Huan was also wary of Emperor Xiaowu's discordant scheme, and asked Hou Mo Chen Yue in Guanzhong to assassinate He Bayue, blocking the opportunity for Emperor Xiaowu to continue to sow discord, and indirectly prompting Hou He Bayue's subordinate Yuwentai to control Guanzhong.
Yuwentai's control of Guanzhong was inseparable from the decisions of Emperor Xiaowu, who repeatedly swore loyalty to the imperial court. However, the true loyalty of the powerful ministers in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty is doubtful.
Some people questioned Emperor Xiaowu's decision to flee west, arguing that Yuwentai was fledgling and might not want to be controlled by the imperial court. Even in the face of the dilemma of being flanked between the front and back, Emperor Xiaowu still chose to flee west without hesitation.
When Gao Huan arrived in Luoyang, it was empty. In the face of Emperor Xiaowu's westward rush, Gao Huan tried many times to persuade him to return, and wrote more than 40 letters, but Emperor Xiaowu did not respond.
In the end, Gao Huan established Yuan Shanjian as the emperor, known as Emperor Xiaojing in history, and the Northern Wei Dynasty. Yuwentai controlled the Western Wei in the Guanzhong region, while Gao Huan controlled the Eastern Wei in Luoyang.
At the beginning, the strength of the Western Wei was weaker than that of the Eastern Wei. After the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty launched five large-scale wars for the sake of legitimacy. Despite the mutual victories and defeats, these wars diminished the power of the Eastern and Western Wei dynasties.
At that time, the power of the Western Wei was extremely weak, and when the family was separated, the Eastern Wei occupied the richest area in the eastern part of the north, and the Western Wei could only rely on the central land, and the population was far greater than that of the Western Wei.
Originally, there was a huge disparity in military strength between the two sides, but Yuwentai relied on the strength of Huaishuo Town, but it became stronger and stronger in previous battles, and even made the other party unable to resist. However, the fourth battle of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Battle of Bishan, posed a great threat to them.
Although the Eastern Wei Dynasty was defeated in the early stage, Gao Huan even almost lost his life, but later turned defeat into victory, defeating the main force of the Western Wei in one fell swoop, and the entire Western Wei Dynasty was defeated by more than 40,000 people and captured more than 60,000 people.
Although the Battle of Bishan left Yuwentai's family with no money, it laid the foundation for the emergence of the government military system. If Gao Huan had taken advantage of the victory to pursue at that time, he might have been able to destroy Yuwentai in one fell swoop, but he chose to give up, thinking that the fatigue of the men and horses, coupled with the possible ambush, would not be worth the loss.
Gao Huan firmly believed that the next time would be better, but he didn't know that this failure inspired Yuwentai's determination to reform, especially the implementation of the government military system. Three years later, Gao Huan attacked Western Wei again, but was thwarted by Wei Xiaokuan's defenses, which also became the end of his life.
In just over 60 days after his death, the power of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was handed over to his son Gao Cheng, and Gao Huan's death also became the beginning of the general change in the world.
Gao Huan's final battle: The Battle of Yubi City Gao Huan's death temporarily quelled the war between the Eastern Wei and Western Wei that lasted for more than ten years, and won a respite for the Western Wei. Although Yuwentai carried out reforms in the Western Wei Dynasty, it took a peaceful external environment and ample time for these systems to be effective.
If Gao Huan does not die, this war may continue, and the Eastern Wei may drag down the Western Wei. Therefore, Gao Huan's death brought valuable time to the Western Wei Dynasty. In addition, after Gao Huan's death, the distrust between Gao Cheng and Hou Jing triggered the Hou Jing Rebellion, which led to the almost destruction of Southern Liang.
This was a great opportunity for the Western Wei, as civil strife in the Southern Liang allowed Yuwentai to occupy the important Yizhou and Jingzhou. At this time, Yuwentai mastered Guanzhong and Yizhou, which were the foundation of the Qin and Han dynasties.
The occupation of Jingzhou cleared the huge obstacle to the destruction of Chen later.
After the Hou Jing Rebellion, the Eastern Wei and Western Wei took the opportunity to occupy the lands of the Southern Liang, but the internal chaos of the Eastern Wei prevented it from developing steadily. After Gao Huan's death, the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties were mired in civil strife, accumulating strength for the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties.
The Western Wei and Northern Zhou gradually grew stronger during this period, while the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi gradually weakened in the midst of civil strife. Eventually, the successor of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi, was destroyed by the successor of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou, thirty years after Gao Huan's death.
Why did the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty have different destinies despite having the same origin?The key is that their Hu-Han fusion methods are different. The Northern Zhou and Northern Qi took completely different routes.
Gao Huan seized power with the support of the Xianbei nobles, so the privileges of the Xianbei nobles must be recognized, including doing evil and being the best. In the courts of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, the Gao royal family and the Xianbei aristocracy were dominant, and this situation never changed, and the interests of the Han people could only be ranked behind the Xianbei people.
This is the reason why the Eastern Wei and Western Wei have the same origin and different lives.
In the era of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Xianbei aristocracy was no longer the collective it was back then. They posed a serious threat to the rule of the Northern Qi Imperial Family, which neither wanted to see them surpass them in strength and prestige, but could not do without their military support.
This contradiction led to the frequent suppression and counterattack of the Xianbei nobles by the Northern Qi royal family. For example, Hu Luguang resisted the attack of the Northern Zhou Dynasty on his own, but was eventually killed, because his power was too great, he often overstepped the behavior, and threatened the emperor many times to ask for rewards, even if his military merits were high, he could not prevent being killed, which was also a microcosm of the Northern Qi's suppression of the Xianbei military aristocracy.
Hu Luguang was a famous general of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but the Northern Qi Dynasty, like the Northern Wei Dynasty, implemented a non-pay system for **, and they could only live through corruption. Although Gao Huan had the will to change this status quo, due to the unique political environment of Xungui and Northern Qi, his idea could not be realized.
The emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who succeeded Gao Huan, could not solve this problem, whether out of concern or for their own pleasure. In contrast, on the basis of inheriting the Sinicization reform of Emperor Xiaowen, Yuwentai further deepened the reform and completed the last step of Emperor Xiaowen - the integration and output of resources, which eventually led to the formation of the Guanlong Group in the future.
In China in the 6th century AD, Yuwentai and Gao Huan were the founders of the Northern Zhou and Eastern Wei dynasties, respectively. They were all Xianbei people, but they adopted very different political and military strategies.
After the establishment of Yuwentai in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he relied on the government military system to let the people fight for their own interests, achieved military victories, and changed the social status of the people.
The people of the Northern Qi Dynasty produced food for the Xianbei nobles, and their victories and defeats did not have much to do with them. This led to the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi being in different positions in terms of army combat effectiveness and troop replenishment.
The Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty were two countries of the same origin and species, and their military strength came from the rebels of the Six Towns of Xianbei. Gao Huan and Yuwentai are also brothers in the same school, both work under Er Zhurong, and both rely on Er Zhurong's army to embark on the road of competing for the world after Er Zhurong's death.
However, after a defeat, Yuwentai began to think about change, and finally found a real solution to the integration of Hu and Han. Gao Huan, on the other hand, relied too much on the strength of the Xianbei warriors, and both the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi were typical of the temperament of the Hu regime.
In general, the different strategies of Yuwentai and Gao Huan reflect their different thinking and solutions when facing the problem of Hu-Han integration.