Western Wei Dynasty

Western Wei Dynasty

The Western Wei Dynasty (535-556) was a local Dynasty separated from the Northern Wei Dynasty in the northern and Southern Dynasties. Yuan Baoju became emperor with the support of the ministers headed by Yu Wentai, and his name was Wei. In opposition to the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the southern Liang Dynasty controlled by Gao Huan, Chang'an (now the site of Han Chang'an City in Xi'an) was established as its capital. In 557, it was replaced by the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which lasted 22 years.

In 535, after yuwentai poisoned emperor Xiaowu of Wei and Yuan Xiu, he and other officials supported yuanbaoju as emperor and reformed Yuan Dynasty. In 551, yuan Baoju died, and the crown prince yuan qinsi took the throne. Yuanqin was killed in 554. Yuan Kuo, the fourth son of yuan Baoju, was promoted to the throne by Yu Wentai. He was a puppet. Under the Huhua movement of yuwentai, the surname of Tuoba was changed. In 556, yuwentai died and his nephew yuwenhu took power. In 557, yuwenhu forced emperor Gong of Wei to abdicate to yuwenjue, and the Western Wei Dynasty was destroyed.

During the Western Wei Dynasty, the emperors of yuanbaoju and Yuanqin adopted the strategy of attacking the north and attacking the south, which made the Western Wei Dynasty more powerful. The northern economy recovered gradually and defeated the Eastern Wei army in three battles, which laid the foundation for the unification of northern China in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the unification of China in the Sui Dynasty.

During the Western Wei Dynasty, the society was relatively stable and the national strength became stronger and stronger, which effectively resisted the attacks of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. In the second year of emperor abolition (553), Yu Wentai obtained the Shu land of Liang in the Southern Dynasty. In the first year of emperor Gong, Yu Jin won Jiangling again. At the beginning of 557, yuwenhu abolished emperor Wei Gong and established yuwenjue as the king of heaven, namely emperor Xiaomin.

National name

The name of the Western Wei Dynasty was originally“

Wei, Dawei

”Yes

Northern Wei Dynasty

The continuation of the national name. After the division of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was divided into the Western Wei Dynasty and the Eastern Wei Dynasty“

Western Wei Dynasty

”It's just a different name from the Eastern Wei Dynasty. The Western Wei Dynasty had the land to the west of Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and established its capital in Chang'an. It was located in the west of the Eastern Wei Dynasty in geographical location, so it was called the Western Wei Dynasty.

history

The establishment of the Western Wei Dynasty

In the third year of Yong'an (530), he Bayue swept the enemy of Sanqin with 2000 exhausted soldiers. After the fall of the Erzhu family, he Bayue supported his troops to Guanlong and confronted Gao Huan. In the third year of Yongxi (534), Hou Mo and Chen Yue secretly fell to Gao Huan and trapped and killed he Bayue. He Bayue's old army elected Yu Wentai to succeed him and defeated Hou Mo and Chen Yue. Later, Yuan Xiu, Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was not at peace with Gao Huan, so he entered the pass to take refuge with Yu Wentai, and appointed him as the general, Yongzhou governor and minister.

On October 17, the third year of Yongxi reign (November 9, 534), Gao Huan established yuan Shanjian as emperor and moved his capital to ye (now ye Town, southwest of Linzhang, Handan, Hebei). On December 15, the third year of Yongxi reign (February 3, 535), Yu Wentai killed yuan Xiu, Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. With the support of yuan Baoju, yuan Baoju ascended to the throne as Emperor (Wei Wendi) and reformed the Yuan Dynasty. Yu Wentai was the prime minister and the governor of all military affairs at home and abroad.

Warring Eastern Wei Dynasty

In the first spring of the first year of Datong (535), Ma Ziru, the Secretary of dahangtai in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, led his army to attack Tongguan again. Seeing that Yu Wentai was ready, he sent his troops to attack Huazhou (zhihuashan, now Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province), and fought to defeat the attack of the Eastern Wei Dynasty by relying on the great efforts of the assassin. In March of the second year of Datong, Gao Huan personally led Wanqi to attack xiazhou and moved 5000 families back. In the first month of the third year of Datong, Gao Huan led the army to set up a floating bridge over the Yellow River and prepare to cross the river to attack Tongguan. Gao Huan relied on his military strength to attack the Western Wei year after year. Although he did not succeed, Yu Wentai knew that in the long run, it would be difficult for the inferior Western Wei to support him. The most urgent task is to improve morale, enhance combat effectiveness, expand the source of troops and expand the army.

In February of the ninth year of Datong (543), Gao Huan crossed the Yellow River with 100000 soldiers. According to the array of Mangshan (now northwest of Luoyang), Yu Wentai led the attack and lost the battle in Mangshan. More than 60000 soldiers were lost, and more than half of the army was lost after several years of operation. At that time, the number of Xianbei people in Guanlong area was limited, so it was impossible to add a large number of troops. Therefore, after the Mangshan war, yuwentai began to recruit soldiers from the Han nationality. In March, he announced the recruitment of powerful landlords in Guanlong area. During the Guanlong uprising at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the powerful landlords organized rural soldiers in order to protect their own interests. After the separation of the eastern and Western Wei dynasties, these landlords' armed forces were not dissolved, but still controlled by the powerful landlords. Yuwentai, through the measure of recruiting powerful people to fill the army, turned these scattered rural soldiers into a part of the central army, which was led by the famous people in Guanlong area selected by the government. Thus, it not only strengthened the central control over the army, weakened the local forces since the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also promoted the alliance between Wuchuan military group and Guanlong landlords. Since then, in the 16th year of Datong (550), the target of conscription was further expanded to all the households with equal fields. Thus, the proportion of Han soldiers in the Western Wei army further increased.

In September of the 12th year of Datong (546), Gao Huan led an army of more than 100000 people to besiege Yubi (now southwest of Jishan County, Shanxi Province), which was defended by the Western Wei Dynasty, in order to pull out the nail in the lower reaches of Fenshui River. Wei Xiaokuan, the governor of Bingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty, guarded Yubi and resisted tenaciously. Gao Huan successively used the tactics of cutting off water channels, attacking by fire and digging tunnels. After more than 50 days of siege, more than 70000 soldiers died and failed to capture Yubi. Finally, Gao Huan got sick and had to get rid of the siege. In the battle of Yubi, Gao Huan went out and attacked a lonely city for more than 50 days. He was mentally exhausted and became ill. In the first month of the next year, he fell ill and died. Since then, the Western Wei Dynasty has reversed its past disadvantages and has become a close match with the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

After Gao Huan's death, Zicheng ascended the throne. Gao Cheng was at odds with Hou Jing, who held a heavy army. He was afraid of the weight of Hou Jing and wanted to seize his military power. The Western Wei Dynasty accepted Hou Jing's surrender. Yu Wentai was very cautious about the opportunistic Hou Jing. He assigned a large army to take over the land occupied by Hou Jing and signaled him to hand over his army and enter Chang'an. At that time, after Hou Jing's rebellion, Gao Cheng also sent a large army to advance, so Hou Jing turned to Xiao Liang, which led to a chaos of Hou Jing. In the process of pacifying Hou Jing's rebellion, the Xiao brothers fought for the throne and slaughtered each other. The Western Wei Dynasty seized the opportunity to seize the land and won Handong, Yizhou, Xiangyang (now Xiangfan in Hubei Province) and other places, controlling the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Han River.

Late rule

In the 16th year of Datong (551), yuanbaoju died and the crown prince yuan qinsi took the throne.

In 552, Hou Jing was defeated. Xiao Yi, the seventh son of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, became emperor in Jiangling (now Jiangling County, Hubei Province). Before Hou Jing was even, Xiao Yi once claimed to be an official in the Western Wei Dynasty and made an alliance with it. In the Western Wei Dynasty, jingling (now the southwest of Qianjiang River in Hubei Province) and Anlu (now Anlu in Hubei Province) were the boundary of Liang Dynasty. Please join the vassal and send protons. Yu Wentai sent his envoy Yu wenrenshu to Jiangling to ask questions. Liang Yuandi said to Yu wenrenshu that Liang had been unified and that the Western Wei Dynasty should return the occupied areas of Liang, Yi and Xiangyang to the Liang Dynasty. Yu wenrenshu also told Yu Wentai that after he had gained Liang and Yi, he thought that he should take Jianghan further. At this time, Xiao Chen, Xiao Yi's nephew, entered the Western Wei Dynasty and asked to send troops to attack Yi. So in September of the first year of emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty (554), Yu Wentai ordered Yu Jin, Yu Wenhu, etc. to attack Jiangling with 50000 horses. In November, when the city broke down, Emperor Liang Yuan was executed. The Wei army selected more than 100000 people from Jiangling to drive them back to Guanzhong, leaving only an empty city for Xiao Zhen. At the same time, it also took the Yongzhou counties under the control of the Liang Dynasty back to the Western Wei Dynasty as counties. In this way, the territory of the Western Wei Dynasty expanded to the present Sichuan and Hubei areas.

In 554, Emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty was killed and died. Yuan Kuo was named as the puppet emperor by yuwentai, and was renamed as tuobaku, namely emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty. Besides some generals who originally used Xianbei's compound surname, those who had changed their compound surname to Shan's during Taihe's reform were given Xianbei's compound surname. Those who had adopted Han's surname or were originally Han's were given Xianbei's surname, such as Li huci's Daye's, Li Bi's Tu he's, Zhao guici's Yi Fu's and Yang Zhong's Given the surname of Pu Liuru, all the soldiers under their command took their commander's Xianbei surname as their surname.

Go to the end

In March of the third year of emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty (556), Yu wenjue was established as his son by Yu Wentai. In April, he became a general. In October, yuwentai passed away, and yuwenjue's successor was Taishi and Otsuka. Yu Wentai's nephew, Yu Wenhu, began to support the 15-year-old Yu wenjue to inherit his father's throne and was assisted by Yu Wenhu. In December, Emperor Wei Gong issued an imperial edict to grant yuwenjue the title of Duke of Zhou in Qiyang.

In the first month of the fourth year of emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty (557), with the support of his cousin Yu Wenhu, Yu Wenhu forced emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty to abdicate the throne to Yu wenjue. Yu wenjue ascended to the throne and accepted the Zen throne. He officially ascended to the throne as the king of heaven. His name was Dazhou, which is the beginning of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Yu Wentai was King Wen and his mother yuan was queen. Li Fei Yuan Hu mo (Princess Jin'an, the fifth daughter of Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty) was queen.

territory

The Western Wei Dynasty followed the system of prefectures and counties in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, because of the war in the north, a large number of northerners moved southward to settle in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to avoid the chaos. Their settlement areas still used the old names of the States and counties of northern origin. As a result, a large number of overseas Chinese states, overseas Chinese counties and overseas Chinese counties appeared all over the country, resulting in the chaos of local political system. It was only after nine "earth breaking" for 200 years that this problem was basically solved. At the same time, the southern and Northern Dynasties also set up many prefectures. By the second year of Xiangxiang in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (580), there were 221 States, 508 counties and 1124 counties in the north; by the fifth year of liangdatong (539), there were 107 States and 586 counties in the south. In many areas, there are counties with states but no jurisdiction, and counties without jurisdiction; some two states have two county names in the same place or in the same place, which makes the local political system in a state of extreme chaos. After the founding of the Sui Dynasty, the local political system was vigorously rectified.

Measures

Chinese PinYin : Xi Wei