Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 374 Descendants of Emperor Gaoyang

Xiao Baoyin has been very upset recently.

Mo Zhe Tiansheng and Hu Chen, the two rebels who had been entangled with him for many years, were pacified by Su Ze like a landslide. However, Xiao Baoyin did not feel any joy in his heart. Instead, he fell into deep panic.

Obviously, he was the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition appointed by the court, but he had not achieved any success in these years in Guanzhong, and instead, he had lost many armies.

However, Su Ze, who was originally only a detachment of the army, won victory after victory and now has wiped out all the rebel forces in Guanzhong.

In the past, Xiao Baoyin once had the ambition to keep the enemy at bay and establish his own regime in Guanzhong, but now he is left with only confusion about the future.

How could he resist Su Ze with only the territory of Yongzhou?

Not to mention that the people of Yongzhou were not on his side. Now the gentry in Guanzhong had all defected to Su Ze. He was afraid that before the battle even started, he would be tied up by one of his subordinates and presented to Su Ze.

Return to Luoyang?

All the elite troops of the imperial court were killed in the Battle of Wulu, and it was heard that Ge Rong had already sent troops to Xindu.

Xindu, located in the west of Jizhou, is the western gateway of Jizhou. Once Xindu is lost, the rebels can attack Xiangzhou.

Xiao Baoyin had fought on the southern front for a long time, and he was well aware of the importance of Xiangzhou.

If Bingzhou is the north gate of Luoyang and Tongguan is the west gate of Luoyang, then Xiangzhou is the east gate of Luoyang.

As for why Xiangzhou is so important, it is of course because of the Yellow River.

After the Battle of Wulu, Ge Rong gained the support of some noble families, and his warfare changed from being passive and taking beatings to having certain strategic plans.

For example, the plan to attack Xindu and advance into Xiangzhou was proposed by Xing Gao, who had just surrendered to Ge Rong.

The current situation of the rebels is that they have occupied Dingzhou, Jizhou, Yingzhou, and Yanzhou, and are fighting for Hengzhou, which was originally a fertile land of the Northern Wei Dynasty and also the base camp of the Hedong gentry.

The attitude towards Ge Rong in areas such as Youzhou and Yingzhou in the northeast was also rather ambiguous.

Bingzhou and Sizhou were under the control of Erzhu Rong. With the natural barrier of Taihang Mountain and Erzhu Rong's military prowess, Ge Rong was not prepared to attack Erzhu Rong.

The territories of Xuzhou, Southern Yanzhou, and Eastern Yuzhou had all been occupied by Xiao Yan of Southern Liang, and the Northern Wei also lost control of the area south of the Bian River.

The key to the survival of the Northern Wei court was the Yellow River.

Going along the Yellow River, areas such as Xiangzhou, Jizhou, Qizhou, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou were still under the control of the Northern Wei court.

The Northern Wei Dynasty’s political decrees could also be delivered to these states via the Yellow River waterway.

Similarly, food and soldiers from these areas could also be transferred along the Yellow River.

This is actually similar to the An-Shi Rebellion. After An Lushan invaded Luoyang, he was unable to capture Suiyang, which allowed the Tang Dynasty to receive blood transfusions from the Jiangnan and Qi and Lu regions through the Grand Canal, thus persisting until the situation was reversed.

Xiangzhou was the last bastion against Ge Rong's rebels after the defeat in Yanzhou.

Once Xiangzhou is lost, Luoyang's eastern gate will be wide open, and Luoyang will completely lose contact with the states along the Yellow River.

It can be said that from this time on, Ge Rong was no longer a refugee leader who fled and fought everywhere, but had an overall strategic plan and was really going to destroy the rebellious forces in the Northern Wei court.

Xiao Baoyin had finally escaped from the prison of Luoyang, so why would he voluntarily go back?
Xiao Baoyin regretted it very much. It would have been as easy as killing an ant for him to crush Su Ze back then. Why did he let him grow so powerful?

Furthermore, Xiao Baoyin even felt that if he had not fought several battles and consumed Mo Zhe's natural strength, Su Ze would not have been able to take advantage of him and grow to this extent.

Xiao Baoyin has selectively forgotten that he was beaten up by Mo Zhe Tiansheng and that Su Ze defeated Mo Zhe and his son in Longxi County and Liangzhou and helped him out.

The elegant and gentle Duke Danyang who was once known for his gentle manners has long gone. Mean, selfish and suspicious of his subordinates may be Xiao Baoyin's true nature.

The more Xiao Baoyin thought about it, the more he blamed himself.

He was a close relative of the Southern Qi royal family and had a noble status, but because Xiao Yan usurped Qi, he was forced to go into exile in the enemy country.

Although he was treated with courtesy by the Northern Wei Dynasty and even had a princess marry him, Xiao Baoyin could not get rid of the insecurity of fleeing to another country.

When he first defected to the Northern Wei, Xiao Baoyin accumulated some military merits in the war against Southern Liang on the southern front by virtue of his daring to fight and kill. He gained the trust of the Northern Wei high-level officials and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition.

The feeling of insecurity he had felt during his escape came back to him again, but this time Xiao Baoyin had no way to escape.

Even the Northern Wei royal family could seek refuge with the Southern Liang, so should I seek refuge with the Rouran? It would be better for me to die.

There was no fighting on the front line, and Xiao Baoyin finally moved the office back to Chang'an City, but he still did not return to his Danyang Mansion because he did not want to see his wife.

During these years of war, although his station was in Fufeng County, not far from Chang'an, he basically never saw his wife, Princess Nanyang.

Maybe it was because of the discord between the couple in the past, but later on Xiao Baoyin simply didn't want to pretend anymore. The affection between him and his wife was just a means to gain the trust of the upper class of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Now Princess Nanyang had no status in the royal family and could not help him at all. Xiao Baoyin was even more unwilling to let her see his miserable appearance.

Princess Nanyang did not throw a tantrum or rush to Xiao Baoyin's residence. She just stayed in the mansion and kept weaving brocade, training the female workers who could weave brocade, and then asked her trusted maid to bring food and clothes to Xiao Baoyin every day.

In his own villa, Xiao Baoyin spent his days drunkenly, apart from hanging out with his concubine.

August, the third year of Xiaochang.

When the news that the court conferred the title of Duke of Gaoping County and General Zhengxi on Su Ze reached Chang'an, Xiao Baoyin smashed several pieces of porcelain in his villa and became even drunker than before.

But Xiao Baoyin didn't know that the Yuhu Shao he drank was also sold by merchants from Xiazhou.
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Xiazhou, inside Yongle City.

The news that Su Ze was awarded the title of Duke of Gaoping County caused a carnival in the entire Yongle City. In fact, since Emperor Xiaowen's reform, the value of the title of "Duke" has been declining. Not only the title of Duke, but even the title of King has become less and less valuable, and is more like an honorary award.

This is also a historical trend. Since the Jin Dynasty, the titles of kings, princes and other nobles have not been actually conferred. The place names before the Duke are not real fiefs, but just symbols of respect and inferiority.

A single-word title named after an ancient country or a state is of course the most honorable. For example, if Su Ze was given the title of Duke Xia, it would be more honorable than the title of Duke Gaoping.

The larger counties are more noble than the smaller counties.

For example, Xiao Baoyin was the Duke of Danyang County. Danyang was a famous county in the world, so it was naturally better than the remote Gaoping County. Therefore, in terms of title, Xiao Baoyin was still more honorable than Su Ze.

But all this was done while the court still had control.

For Su Ze, being granted the title of Duke of Gaoping County was an unexpected surprise.

Obviously, the Northern Wei court seemed to have forgotten that the times were now in chaos.

In times of chaos and in times of peace, two completely different sets of rules are used.

In the government hall, a middle-aged man dressed in Confucian scholar's clothes was talking to the ministers:

"According to the temple system, 'the emperor has seven temples, the princes have five temples, and the officials have three temples.' Since the Duke of Gaoping County has been conferred the title of Duke, he should build an ancestral temple."

Everyone nodded.

"The temples of the father, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather and first ancestor. The first four are family temples, and the last temple is the first temple."

Everyone nodded. They didn't know where Su Ze found the Confucian scholar who was so proficient in Confucian etiquette.

[Officials who quoted from classics]

Name: Sutong;
Grade: Orange;
Effect 1: Quote from classics. This follower is proficient in various Confucian classics and can quote classics to prove his own views;

Effect 2: Etiquette, 'With etiquette, I now know how precious it is to be an emperor? '.

Comment: "The most important affairs of a country are war and sacrifice."

Price: 500 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of 10 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins is required. You can equip Confucian classics to increase your abilities.

The orange follower continued:

"It is easy to build a temple for the Duke of Gaoping, but I would like to ask how to build the original temple for the Duke of Gaoping?"

The first temple? It means recognizing the ancestors. Everyone looked at Su Ze. Recognizing the ancestors was a very important thing.

For example, the Yuan clan of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Tuoba clan was the Shiwei tribe of the Xianbei, and it is said that their ancestors lived in stone caves.

During the reign of Emperor Taiwu, envoys from the Wulohou people informed the Northern Wei emperor that there were old ruins left by the ancestors of the Tuoba Xianbei in the northwest of where the Wulohou people lived. They also said that the ancestral stone temple of the Tuoba people still existed, and that people from nearby areas often went there to pray.

Afterwards, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty sent the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Li Chang to the northern foot of the Greater Khingan Range to investigate the ancestral stone temple of the Tuoba people as mentioned by the Wulohou people.

Li Chang not only found the so-called ancestral stone temple, but also held a ceremony to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth here, and engraved prayers on the walls of the stone temple.

Then, Emperor Taiwu took out the history books and found Emperor Huang.

"In the past, the Yellow Emperor had 25 sons, some of whom were assigned to the various ethnic minorities, and some were assigned to the barbarians. Changyi was the youngest son and was granted a land in the north. His state had a mountain called Daxianbei, so he took that as his name."

These two things determined the ancestors of the Northern Wei royal family.

First of all, the discovery of the ancestral stone chamber of the Tuoba tribe showed that the Tuoba clan was the orthodox Xianbei and the oldest tribe of the Xianbei.

Then he brought out the evidence from historical books, saying that the Xianbei were established by the descendants of Huangdi and were the orthodox Chinese.

From then on, the first temple of the Northern Wei Dynasty was dedicated to Huangdi.

ancestors?

How would Su Ze know who his ancestors were?
Su Tong continued:
"In the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu granted Zhuanxu Gaoyang's descendants the title of Fensheng in the State of Su, so the Duke of Gaoping is a descendant of Gaoyang!"

Su Ze himself was a little confused. How did he become a "descendant of Emperor Gaoyang"?

But the important officials all nodded.

Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors, was also a descendant of Huangdi.

But why didn't they hold memorial services for Huangdi like the Northern Wei royal family?

Su Tong's next words shocked everyone again.

"Jin is the virtue of gold, and my Great Wei is the virtue of fire."

The theory of the Five Virtues was proposed by the great Confucian scholar Zou Yan, who combined Confucianism with the theories of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements to form a "historical law" of the change of dynasties.

The Northern Wei Dynasty claimed that it inherited the legal system from the Jin Dynasty, and fire produces gold, which is the virtue of fire.

And Zhuanxu is the god of water.

Zou Yan said: "The one who replaces fire must be water, and the sky will first show that water vapor will prevail."

(End of this chapter)