Chapter 134: The Art of Domination
Su Ze said: "Emperor Mingyuan once thought that Pingcheng was not the base of a hegemon, and asked important officials to prepare to move the capital. Cui Hao, an important official at the time, wrote a letter to answer your question."
Emperor Mingyuan was Tuoba Si, the son of Emperor Daowu Tuoba Gui. At that time, the Northern Wei Dynasty only occupied part of the land such as Hengzhou, Bingzhou, and Jizhou, and had not yet obtained the foundation of half of the world as it does today.
Cui Hao was the most famous Han minister in the early Northern Wei Dynasty. He served in the reigns of Emperor Taiwu, Emperor Mingyuan and Emperor Daowu, and was highly valued by the three emperors. His memorial also clarified the strategic position of Pingcheng.
Su Ze said: "Cui Hao first explained the significance of Pingcheng to the north. Pingcheng can be used to attack Rouran. Since Emperor Daowu, our Great Wei has continuously attacked Rouran, gained population and livestock, and rapidly expanded."
"But Cui Hao pointed out that Pingcheng's greatest role is as a deterrent to other regions."
Princess Shouyang asked back: "Deterrent power?"
Su Ze said: "Cui Hao said that the Great Wei was still weak at that time, with elite soldiers but few in number, and the talents it had could only govern the three states. Forced expansion would make people see its true strength, and thus fall into a land of four wars and be besieged by enemies from all sides. Gathering a large army in Pingcheng, it can intimidate the northern states at any time. Once any of them have different intentions, it will immediately send elite cavalry to attack southwards, which can deter other forces that have disloyal intentions."
Princess Shouyang exclaimed after hearing this: "What a brilliant plan! Cui Hao is indeed a wise minister of the country!"
Cui Hao's strategy was indeed very powerful. Later, Erzhu Rong and Gao Huan did not enter Luoyang and stationed their troops in Jinyang, which was the same deterrence strategy.
This strategy can even be traced back to when Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, and then used the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to threaten Luoyang at all times, thereby using a backdoor listing to hold the emperor hostage and control the princes.
Therefore, it is nonsense to say in history books that Erzhu Rong had no political talent. He launched a surprise attack on Luoyang when it was empty, quickly established a new emperor, and then retreated to Jinyang to maintain deterrence over Luoyang. This set of political intrigue can be said to have reached its peak. Later, when Gao Huan set up the Overlord's Office in Jinyang to remotely control the Luoyang court, he was just imitating Erzhu Rong's old wisdom.
The only miscalculation of Erzhu Rong was that he supported a threatening emperor and then became overconfident in his control over Luoyang and the palace, which led to his eventual downfall.
If I have the opportunity to control Luoyang in the future, I must also be careful about these problems.
Luoyang, as the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty where royal family members, ministers and officials had been deeply rooted for nearly twenty years, was definitely not a place that could be completely controlled by simply deploying a troop and a few cronies.
Su Ze's thoughts had just wandered when Princess Shouyang brought him back to reality:
"Captain Su, what happened to a wise minister like Cui Hao?"
Su Ze was stunned for a moment, then pointed to a dome-shaped building in the distance on the city wall and said, "That is the altar for worshipping heaven and earth. Emperor Taiwu asked Cui Hao to compile the national history. After Cui Hao compiled the national history, he engraved all the compiled national history on stone tablets and placed them on both sides of the road around the altar."
"When the people discussed the history of the country, Emperor Taiwu executed Cui Hao for the crime of 'violently attacking the state of Yang', and also implicated his five clans including relatives, in-laws, subordinates, servants, etc., a total of hundreds of people were implicated and executed."
"what!"
Princess Shouyang was frightened by this bloody prison, but Su Ze knew that "violently spreading national history" was just a charge on paper. In fact, Cui Hao was killed because of the struggle between the Han-style reformists who had emerged during the reign of Emperor Taiwu and the anti-Han-style reformists among the Xianbei upper class.
The death of Cui Hao was not only a blow to him and his family, but also a purge of the Han Chinese clans in the north by the Xianbei high-ranking officials.
The Qinghe Cui family was severely damaged as a result, and lay dormant until Cui Guang began to return to officialdom.
At the same time, Cui Hao's relatives, such as the Fanyang Lu family, Taiyuan Guo family, and Hedong Liu family, were also implicated and killed. These families also began to decline from this time and moved away from the center of the Northern Wei court. In the era of Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao, there was still great resistance to the sinicization reform, and the royal family did not reach a consensus on sinicization, which led to the execution of Han ministers such as Cui Hao.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the Sinicization faction gained the upper hand, and it was the turn of Yuan Xie and Mu Tai, who opposed Sinicization, to be executed.
It can only be said that without absolute power, any reform is extremely dangerous. This struggle over sinicization is not just a struggle of national culture, but a struggle of interest groups. This struggle lasted until the Sui and Tang dynasties before it had its final result.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the city wall. Su Ze quickly opened the system, and the store was finally refreshed!
Purple!
No way? Is the metaphysical card drawing really useful?
Su Ze looked at Princess Shouyang who was bathing in the sunset beside him. The girl with a beautiful face, plain palace dress and Buddhist beads in her hands had a special charm. Su Ze suddenly thought of Princess Chenliu who was far away in Luoyang, and felt a sense of guilt for secretly accompanying his innocent sister-in-law shopping.
Su Ze decided to send Princess Shouyang back to her residence first, and then carefully look at the new merchandise in the store. He cupped his hands and said:
"Your Highness, we should go back."
Princess Shouyang held the Buddhist beads in her hands, clasped her hands together and chanted a Buddhist name, then asked, "Captain Su, if Emperor Xiaowen had not left Pingcheng, would the world be better?"
Su Ze stared at Princess Shouyang in the sunset. He was not sure whether she was naive or scheming to ask such a profound question.
For the sake of the purple product, Su Ze still answered Princess Shouyang's question.
"If Emperor Xiaowen doesn't leave Pingcheng, the world will only get worse. Pingcheng is too small to control the empire."
Su Ze was talking about Pingcheng, which actually refers to the system. Emperor Xiaowen's reforms were due to the fact that the old system of the Northern Wei Dynasty was unable to manage this larger empire, so he had to carry out the Hanization reforms.
It was a pity that this reform was interrupted halfway due to the death of Emperor Xiaowen. When it was resumed, it was already the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Princess Shouyang said, "I understand. Everyone has their own suitable position. If you have great ability, you should move to a higher position. If you don't have enough ability, you should be willing to stay dormant. This is what Captain Su said today, right?"
Su Ze stared at Princess Shouyang suddenly, and saw a smile on her face as she said:
"Thank you Captain Su for speaking for me. Let's go back."
After sending Princess Shouyang back to her residence, Su Ze walked on the streets of Pingcheng. Is the output quality of your Yuan family princess a little too high?
However, it is a hundred times more difficult for women to leave their names and deeds in history books than for men, so how could they be ordinary people?
Oh, right, the store!
Su Ze quickly opened the shop, and when he looked up he saw the follower shining with purple light!
Follower!
One purple, one blue and five green!
Today I owe 2k, a total of 4k
(End of this chapter)