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Chapter 324: The extremely vigorous founding emperor

[The most devastating turmoil during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Galaxy II, the ending of the planner was horrifying, historical trivia, historical figures]

He launched one of the most horrific disasters in history. To vent his hatred, he starved two emperors to death and slaughtered all the officials in the court. He allowed his soldiers to plunder and corpses were scattered all over the city. The once prosperous land was uninhabited within a thousand miles, and bones piled up like mountains.

Why did all this happen? In this video, we will learn about the rebellion of Hou Jing, the great general of the Southern Dynasty.

After the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, China entered the period of Southern and Northern Dynasties, which was a period of division between the south and the north of China.

During the heyday of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Zhu family controlled the Northern Wei regime after the Heyin Incident planned and implemented by Erzhu Rong, but was later destroyed by Gao Huan. In 534, Yuwen Tai seized control of Guanlong and killed Emperor Xiaowu, and the Yuanxiu Northern Wei Dynasty split into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei.

The Eastern Wei was controlled by Gao Huan, while Yuwen Tai controlled the Western Wei regime. In addition to these two northern regimes, there was also the Liang Dynasty in the south, which had always been eager to recover the Central Plains.

Therefore, these three regimes became another Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history. It was also against this background that the ambitious Hou Jing stepped onto the historical stage.

Hou Jing was born in 503 in Huaishuo Town, which is today's Guyang County, BT City, Inner Mongolia. Influenced by the tough atmosphere of the border town, he was very kind when he was young. When the north was in chaos, Hou Jing joined Erzhu Rong.

Because he was good at military tactics, he was appointed as a vanguard and captured Ge Rong, the leader of the Northern Wei peasant uprising army, at the Battle of Hukou in 528. At that time, Erzhu Rong was indeed very powerful, but the Erzhu family was too cruel and unpopular, and was eventually destroyed. Hou Jing also defected to Gao Huan from then on.

In fact, Gao Huan had long seen that Hou Jing was an ambitious person and did not want to accept him sincerely. It was just that Gao Huan himself was in need of people, so he kept Hou Jing in the army and did not restrict the development of his power. In 542, Hou Jing was called the Grand Administrator of Henan Province, with 10 troops, and his strength was already very strong.

During Gao Huan's reign, Hou Jing had no other intentions. However, Gao Huan's son Gao Cheng always disliked him, and the two had a grudge. Hou Jing once threatened: "While the king is here, I dare not dissent; if the king is not here, I cannot work with the Xianbei children." This means that as long as Gao Huan died, he would immediately break with the Eastern Wei. Gao Huan was seriously ill in 547, and before he died, he told Gao Cheng to be careful of Hou Jing.

After Gao Huan's death, Hou Jing indeed rebelled openly and offered to surrender to the Western Wei. However, Yuwen Tai was wary of him and only agreed to surrender without sending troops to help him rebel. Hou Jing could only lead his people to surrender to the Southern Liang Dynasty on the condition of offering 13 states to the Eastern Wei.

At that time, all the officials of the Liang Dynasty expressed opposition, but Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan had always had a dream of recovering the Central Plains. In addition, since the death of Chen Qingzhi, there were no good generals in the Southern Liang Dynasty, and the King of Qin Xiao Baoyin was far away in the Western Wei Dynasty, so Emperor Wu of Liang was very willing to accept Hou Jing.

When Emperor Wu of Liang was hesitating, his favorite minister Zhu Yi added unnecessary emphasis, saying that Hou Jing's surrender of more than 10 states was like a poor boy falling in love with a rich woman, which would save him 20 years of hard work, and that it showed that Hou Jing was indeed sincere. After hearing this, Emperor Wu of Liang immediately made up his mind and issued an edict to appoint Hou Jing as the general and the king of Henan.

After the Eastern Wei Dynasty received the news of Hou Jing's rebellion, it immediately sent people to encircle and suppress him, but they were all defeated by Hou Jing in Yingchuan. Emperor Wu of Liang had a loud and wishful thinking. After he agreed to Hou Jing's surrender, he ordered his nephew Xiao Yuanming to lead 10 troops to Pengcheng to meet Hou Jing.

Of course, another purpose of this approach was to take advantage of the opportunity to march north and attack the Eastern Wei. However, not long after Xiao Yuanming crossed the Huai River, he was defeated by the Eastern Wei army, and he and his men were all captured by the Wei army.

Afterwards, the Eastern Wei did not imprison Xiao Yuanming and others, but treated them with courtesy and pointed out that Hou Jing was the culprit of the battle.

There was no conflict between the two countries, and they hoped that Xiao Yuanming could write a letter to Emperor Wu of Liang to reconcile, and then they could send everyone back. Since Emperor Wu of Liang loved Xiao Yuanming very much, he burst into tears after receiving his letter.

In addition, he had realized the disparity in strength between the two sides, so he was ready to seek peace with Eastern Wei.

At that time, most ministers, including Zhu Yi, advocated peace, but Hou Jing was the only one who firmly opposed it. Because he was worried that he would become a condition for exchanging Xiao Yuanming, he requested to lead a northern expedition many times, but was rejected by Emperor Wu of Liang every time.

He had no other choice but to send money to Zhu Yi again, hoping that Zhu Yi would propose to Emperor Wu of Liang to send troops. However, Zhu Yi only took the money and did not do anything, and did not respond.

Hou Jing was extremely angry at this time, so he forged a letter in the name of Xiao Yuanming, in which Xiao Yuanming returned Hou Jing and sent it to Emperor Wu of Liang to test his attitude.

However, Emperor Wu of Liang believed it and agreed to send him to Eastern Wei. Hou Jing then began to stall for time and plotted a rebellion with Shouyang as his base.

At this time, the aristocratic families of the Liang Dynasty were becoming increasingly corrupt and decadent, leading a life of drunkenness and debauchery.

People were obsessed with Buddhism and did not work on farming. Emperor Wu of Liang not only did not stop this, but indulged it even more. In order to support these noble families and the growing bureaucracy, the common people of the two dynasties had to bear heavy taxes and labor service.

A large number of farmers were forced to flee or become slaves. Emperor Wu of Liang was a devout Buddhist and wasted a lot of money on Buddhism, which led to a large number of people becoming monks.

Therefore, Emperor Wu of Liang was directly responsible for the weakening of the Liang Dynasty's economic and military power.

At this time, Hou Jing was still guarding Shouyang as the governor of Southern Yuzhou. He made full use of the various social contradictions in the Liang Dynasty to reduce the burden on the people and win their hearts, so that people would voluntarily join his military camp.

He also asked Emperor Wu of Liang for money and weapons many times, and Emperor Wu of Liang never refused.

However, the people who were transporting military supplies discovered that Hou Jing was expanding his army and plotting a rebellion, so they reported the matter to Emperor Wu of Liang. However, Emperor Wu of Liang and Zhu Yi and others did not take it seriously.

Hou Jing had an army of 8000 men in a short time. In August 548, Hou Jing raised an army in Shouyang under the pretext of killing treacherous officials, officially opening the curtain of Hou Jing's rebellion.

He pretended to attack Hefei, but actually attacked Qiaozhou and Liyang. He also used Xiao Zhengde, the adopted son of Emperor Wu of Liang, as an insider to break through the Suzaku Gate, and then began to besiege Taicheng, the political center of the Liang Dynasty.

Hou Jing's army was unable to capture Taicheng due to its strong defense, so they ordered a wall to be built outside Taicheng. Emperor Wu of Liang was unable to communicate with the outside world and eventually starved to death in Taicheng.

After Emperor Wu of Liang died, his grandson Xiao Gang was made a puppet emperor by Hou Jing, who ordered Xiao Gang to confer the title of General of the Universe on him and forcibly married Xiao Gang's daughter, Princess Liyang.

To vent his hatred, Hou Jing ordered his soldiers to massacre all the civil and military officials in the court and their families, a total of more than 3000 people.

He also sent people to burn, kill and loot in Jiankang, leaving corpses all over the city. This was the famous Hou Jing Rebellion in history. Under the influence of this rebellion, chain reactions such as famine and plague began to occur in various places. People were displaced, bones piled up like mountains, and the once prosperous Three Wus became a thousand miles away.

The Southern Dynasty never recovered from this. In addition, the situation of the Three Kingdoms also changed dramatically, and the situation of the South being weak and the North being strong intensified. The two northern countries became the biggest beneficiaries of this turmoil.

In 551, Hou Jing ascended the throne, but was defeated by Chen Baxian of the Southern Chen Dynasty only a year later. While on the run, Hou Jing was killed by his subordinates, who dismembered his body in the streets of Jiankang, with Princess Liyang also participating.

His five sons also did not escape the disaster. Gao Cheng skinned his eldest son alive and boiled him to death, and the other four were castrated and then drowned.

[How did the extremely vigorous founding emperor of the Chen State rise from a grassroots to become the ruler of a country? Historical trivia and historical figures]

He devoted his life to suppressing rebellions and eliminated the most terrifying Hou Jing Rebellion in the Southern Dynasty. He was another emperor who came from a grassroots background in history. He was also the only monarch in history who used his surname as the name of his country, but he could not rest in peace after his death. His grave was dug up and his body was destroyed by his enemies, and his ashes were drunk by thousands of people.

In this video, we will learn how Chen Baxian, who was of mediocre status, jumped from a small village official to become the founding emperor of the Chen Dynasty.

Chen Baxian was born in 503 into a poor family in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province.

When he was young, he had great ambitions and was not content with his current grassroots life. In order to change his fate, he read a lot of poetry and books, especially in the art of war and the art of divination. After he became an adult, Chen Baxian not only possessed talents, but also mastered martial arts.

He was wise and decisive in doing things, so with the support of the villagers, he became a small village official.

At that time, China was in a period of division between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the south, there was the Liang Dynasty controlled by Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, in the north, there was the Eastern Wei controlled by Gao Huan, and the Western Wei controlled by Yuwen Tai.

Chen Baxian was in the Southern Liang Dynasty. Xiao Yan had a nephew named Xiao Ying, who was appointed as the governor of Wuxing. Knowing that Chen Baxian was talented, Chen Baxian believed that he would have a bright future. From then on, his life took a turn and he followed Xiao Ying to work as a county official.

In 540, some areas under the jurisdiction of Southern Liang refused to obey the government. Chen Baxian, who was stationed in Songlongxun, temporarily summoned thousands of troops to suppress the rebellion and won the victory. He was then appointed as the governor of Xijiang. Of course, his goal was not limited to this. He also hoped to be appreciated by Emperor Wu of Liang.

In 541, Li Ben of the Southern Liang Dynasty launched a rebellion in Jiaozhou. Emperor Wu of Liang sent troops to suppress the rebellion, but there was no news after two years. In 544, Li Ben took control of the entire Jiaozhou and proclaimed himself the Emperor of Yue, establishing the first Vietnamese regime in history based on the Liang Dynasty system.

Emperor Wu of Liang was very unhappy, so he once again ordered the Xinzhou Governor Lu Zixiong and Gaozhou Governor Sun Jiong to attack Li Ben, but both ended in failure.

Emperor Wu of Liang was very suspicious and thought that Lu Zixiong and Sun Jiong must have colluded with Li Ben, so he executed them in Guangzhou. Seeing their boss suffer such a fate, Lu Zixiong's former generals were unwilling to be loyal to Southern Liang anymore, so they rebelled and besieged Guangzhou.

This rebellion was exactly the opportunity Chen Baxian wanted. He was studying in Gaoyao at the time, so he led 3000 soldiers and horses to rush to the rescue day and night, and recovered all the lost territories in just one battle.

As a result, he was rewarded by Emperor Wu of Liang and promoted to General Zhige.

In 544, Xiao Ying died of illness in Guangzhou. When Chen Baxian was escorting the funeral back to Beijing, he received an order to attack Li Ben, so he returned to Guangzhou to prepare military supplies. In June of the following year, the Liang army arrived in Jiaozhou. Li Ben resisted with tens of thousands of troops, but was defeated by the vanguard led by Chen Baxian.

Li Ben escaped from Dianche Lake and built a large number of warships.

The Liang army was exhausted from the long journey, and seeing the enemy's momentum, the Liang army began to be a little timid. Chen Baxian believed that although Li Ben had a large number of soldiers, most of them were new recruits collected during the migration and escape, and their morale was not stable. In addition, the Liang army had already entered the enemy's hinterland, so they could only seize the opportunity, bet everything on one battle, and win.

Otherwise, they would face defeat. After hearing this, the soldiers attacked Li Ben with the determination to win. Li Ben fled again and was eventually killed by Chen Baxian. Li Ben's brother Li Tianbao gathered the remaining 2 troops and marched towards Aizhou of the Liang Dynasty, but was also defeated by Chen Baxian.

In 548, the extremely brutal Hou Jing Rebellion broke out in the Southern Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, was starved to death in Taicheng during the rebellion. Friends who are interested in the Hou Jing Rebellion can watch the previous video.

Therefore, Xiao Bo, a member of the Liang Dynasty royal family, was welcomed to Guangzhou by Chen Baxian, hoping to join forces with him to attack Hou Jing. However, Xiao Bo had no intention of sending troops, so Chen Baxian could only seek support from Xiao Yi, the seventh son of Emperor Wu of Liang, and defeated Hou Jing's main force together with Wang Sengbian, a subordinate of Xiao Yi. Hou Jing therefore switched from attack to defense.

In 551, Wang Sengbian was afraid that Chen Baxian's reputation was higher than his own, and he felt uneasy before the two sides were ready to join forces. Chen Baxian had noticed this, but considering the overall situation, he provided 30 dan of military rations to Wang Sengbian to dispel his concerns.

The two of them thus joined forces. In March 552, the Wang-Chen coalition launched a decisive battle with Hou Jing in Jiankang. Hou Jing was defeated and killed on the way to escape.

In 555, King Xiao Yi of Xiangdong ascended the throne in Jiangling, but not long after, Jiangling was conquered by the Western Wei controlled by Yuwen Tai, and Xiao Yi died.

At this time, the Eastern Wei had already changed its dynasty to the Northern Qi. Relying on their strong military strength, they directly intervened in the internal affairs of the Liang Dynasty, and sent back the Liang Dynasty royal family member Xiao Yuanming who had been captured, and asked the Liang Dynasty to make Xiao Yuanming the emperor.

Wang Sengbian was intimidated by the military power of Northern Qi, so he obeyed everything and agreed to establish Xiao Yuanming as emperor and Xiao Fangzhi as crown prince. Chen Baxian certainly understood the intention of Northern Qi, but he failed to dissuade Wang Sengbian several times, so he killed him directly.

Afterwards, Chen Baxian abolished Xiao Yuanming and supported Xiao Fangzhi as emperor, and from then on he completely controlled the real power of Southern Liang. From this we can see that he already had the idea of ​​becoming emperor at this time.

The Liang Dynasty, which did not obey the Northern Qi, was attacked. But to the surprise of the Northern Qi, Chen Baxian's military ability was so strong that the Northern Qi was defeated and had no choice but to sign a peace agreement with the Liang Dynasty.

Chen Baxian spent his entire life either suppressing rebellions or on the way to suppressing rebellions.

After Wang Sengbian's death, his subordinates began to rebel, and Chen Baxian took more than a year to suppress them. However, just one year after the rebellion, Xiao Bo of Guangzhou and Wang Lin, the governor of Yingzhou, were dissatisfied and rebelled against Chen Baxian, but they were all suppressed.

Xiao Fangzhi was controlled and could not do anything on his own, so he simply gave up the throne to Chen Baxian in 557. The Chen Dynasty, the only dynasty in history named after a surname, was established, and the Southern Liang Dynasty was destroyed.

After the Hou Jing Rebellion, people's livelihood in the Southern Dynasty was in decline, and all aspects suffered a serious blow. So Chen Baxian worked hard after taking office, and the situation gradually improved. Unfortunately, he died of illness after only two years in office, at the age of 57.

He did not rest in peace after his death. Wang Sengbian's son Wang Ban hated him so much that he dug up his tomb at night, broke into the coffin, dismembered his body, and scattered his ashes in the pond, subjecting him to the humiliation of being eaten by everyone.