A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 524: Inheriting the title of Bai Kingdom, four kings and two princes fell in Guanzhong

In the third year of Taining, when the Jin court was still fighting for power, Bai Yan, who was already in his octogenarian years, supported his heavy body and made the last rule in his life.

In order to prevent the proliferation of titles, Bai Yan formulated the "Bai Kingdom Title Inheritance System" based on the rule of "three generations of blessings are cut off".

The "Inheritance System" stipulates that all Baiguo titles, except those explicitly granted hereditary, will be reduced every three generations until they are reduced to one of the twenty noble titles.

Furthermore, the commonly used fiefdom system in the world was abolished and replaced by the food fief system, that is, instead of setting up a country, the imperial court allocated taxes from the counties and counties where they were located and gave them corresponding honors.

The Bai Kingdom decided to follow the twenty-level nobility system of Qin and Han Dynasties. As an ordinary title, there was no fiefdom and it only had the function of tax reduction and exemption.

Among them, the two highest ranks, Guannei Marquis and Guanwai Marquis, have become the dividing line between ordinary titles and special titles because they have the qualifications for admission to the Baizong.

Those below the marquis within and outside the pass, including the marquis inside and outside the pass, have ordinary titles and have no fiefdoms, while the subsequent ones above the marquis of Ting have special titles, enjoy food and fiefdoms, and no longer own a country.

In order to alleviate the resistance of the domestic aristocratic families and also show the Bai family's sincerity to other clans, Bai Yan began to grant titles to many people.

The three tribes of Su, Yuan and Quan, who had been following the Bai family for thousands of years, were granted the title of Duke Founder of their clans. They would live with the country and live in the city for thousands of households.

The remaining chiefs of the Bai clan who have long since dissipated their divine seals are county princes. The remaining 23 major clans, including Zhang, Hei, Yuan, Liu, Mo, Fan and Cui, choose the person who has contributed the most to the country among them. Most of them are heroes close to the Bai clan. , all are county officials.

The rest of the Xiuwu Bai clan, the Luoyang Bai clan who lives in Chaoge, and the Qiuci Bai clan who is far away in the Western Regions are all named county officials. There are also a group of meritorious officials who have dedicated themselves to the country, such as Yuan'an, etc., who are all named county officials. Fifty-six people.

There are more than a hundred people who have been granted the title of marquis.

It is worth mentioning that the Cui family has two dukes. Cui Kun, who is far away in Bingzhou, and the Cui family in Qinghe, who have the highest official status in the court, are both dukes.

This allowed some people with quick thinking to discover King Bai's intention, which was obviously to separate Cui Kun and the Cui family of Qinghe.

At the same time, the Bai family's sons were awarded the title of duke, his four sons were all county dukes, and his eleven grandsons were all county dukes. The rest of the people with the divine seal on their foreheads, although they did not hold office, were at the lowest level Tinghou.

In one day, the number of Bai family's disciples was one hundred, and twenty were princes.

In order to better suppress the local area, defend the border, and resist foreign enemies, Bai Yan decided to select the most capable Bai family members from the clan to go out of the town.

Prince Bai Zhai supervises the country and has an overview of the country's affairs;

Change Xiangguo Gong Baishu to Qiyang Gong, go out to control Yecheng, suppress Sizhou, and serve as Chaoge's right wing;

The second son Anping Gongbai then went out to suppress Yewang and suppressed Hanoi as the left wing of Chaoge;

The third son, Guangping Gong Baiyi, went out to Zhending to guard against Cui Kun in Bingzhou;

The fifth grandson, Bai Shu's younger brother, Bai Wu (the fifth among the Bai family), Dongwu Gong Bai Lin, left the town of Yicheng to guard against Duan Pixi of Youzhou;
The seventh grandson, Bai Qi, Shanyang Gongbaiji, went out to the plains to guard against the south of the Yellow River;

The tenth grandson, Bai Shi, Cheng Ping Gong Bai Ji, went out to suppress Xiang State and suppressed Ji Province.

The great-grandson, Bai Shu's eldest son, Anyang Gong Bai Kai, left the town of Nanpi to guard against Leling of Later Zhao;

Three years of Taining
November

Under the heavy government affairs and constant thinking, Bai Wangyan became ill from overwork and died of illness at the Cheng'an Hall of the White House in Chaoge at the age of ninety.

Since the Bai Kingdom had effectively separated from the Jin court, there was no original request to the court. After discussion between the officials of the Bai Kingdom and the Crown Prince Bai Zhai, they were given the posthumous title of "Mingjing", which was "King Bai Mingjing".

November 20
Under the eyes of everyone in the Bai Kingdom, Bai Yan's coffin passed through the spiritual channel and was buried in the Bai Kingdom's ancestral mausoleum. Under the witness of the officials, Bai Zhai carved a jade pendant himself and placed it in the mausoleum. He also left more than a hundred boxes of books and exited. tomb.

After leaving the ancestral mausoleum, Bai Zhai and others went directly to the Bai Temple. Witnessed by the ancestors of the Bai family, Bai Zhai inherited the position of King Bai and began the period of filial piety.

During Bai Zhai's filial piety period, all government affairs of the Bai Kingdom were handed over to Prince Bai Shu, and the Bai Kingdom entered a period of silence.

Silently digesting the initial decisions of the Jizhou counties, wooing officials who divided the states and Youzhou, and even the Bai Kingdom's secret envoys appeared in the distant Western Regions and the cold Liaodong.

With Bai Shu's acquiescence, Bai State also started trade with Later Zhao. The two sides established a mutual market in Gaotang. Bai State and Later Zhao fell into a stable period of diplomacy.

Seeing Bai Guo's silence, the Jin court also devoted itself to the governance of Jiangnan. Shi Le, who had no threat from the rear, began to continuously and tentatively attack Liu Yao in Guanzhong.

The first year of Xianhe
October
Shi Sheng, the governor of Sizhou appointed by Shi Le, attacked and killed Yin Ping, the former governor of Henan Province, and plundered more than 5,000 households in Xin'an County.

Since then, the two countries began to fight on a large scale, and Hongnong County, which is the border between the two countries, became a battlefield between the two countries.

December

Li Ju, the governor of Jinsi Prefecture, and Guo Mo, the prefect of Yingchuan, who had been repeatedly defeated by Shi Sheng, thought over and over again and decided to send envoys to rely on the former Zhao because their backers in the court lost power.

In order to accept Li Ju, Guo Mo and others as well as the Jin Dynasty's territory in Sizhou and Yingchuan, Liu Yao began a large-scale attack on Later Zhao.

The second year of Xianhe
March
Liu Yue's troops sent by former Zhao were defeated by Shi Hu, and more than 9,000 people were captured and killed.

Soon Li Ju and others were defeated by Shi Sheng and had no choice but to rush to the Jin court. A large number of his troops surrendered to Later Zhao.

By May, the former Zhao's offensive against the latter Zhao ended in failure, and Shi Le took over the four states of Si, Yu, Xu, and Yan in Henan.

Xianhe three years
May
Shi Le sent Shi Hu to attack Xin'an, and based on the advantage of the cavalry, he quickly moved to Tongguan, intending to seize this pass and open the road to Guanzhong.

Shi Hu's attack was very urgent, and the defender of Tongguan was in danger. Liu Yao personally led the elite troops from all over the country to rescue Tongguan, and defeated Shi Hu at Tongguan.

Taking advantage of Shi Hu's defeat, he regained Hongnong and Xin'an all the way, and defeated the army of Shi Sheng, the governor of Zhao Sizhou, in the west of Luoyang, and came to Luoyang City. At this time, Shile's army was scattered in Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Yuzhou to defend against the Bai Army and Jin Army.

After hearing that Luoyang was besieged and that Shi Hu and Shi Sheng were defeated by Liu Yao one after another, the whole country of Zhao was shocked.

Seeing this, Shi Le ignored the dissuasion of his adviser Cheng Xia and insisted on rescuing Luoyang himself. He ordered Taobao, Shi Cong, and Shi Kan to wait until they met in Xingyang, and then he led his troops to attack Jinyong City in Luoyang.

December

After several months of mobilizing troops and generals, Shi Le finally gathered a hundred thousand troops in Xingyang and prepared to attack Chenggao to break the siege of Luoyang.

At this time, it had been six or seven months since Luoyang was besieged. There were very few troops in the city, but with the persistence of Shi Hu and Shi Sheng, they were still not broken by the former Zhao army.

December 11

Shi Le arrived at Chenggao. After investigation by scouts, Shi Le discovered that Liu Yao had no defenders, so he sneaked with light troops, successfully attacked Chenggao, and stationed his army in Chenggao City.

Shi Le was extremely careful and secretive in deploying his troops this time, just to achieve the purpose of the surprise attack, so it took more than six months.

So when Shi Le led 30,000 forwards, quietly crossed Luoshui and sneaked to a position only a hundred miles away from Luoyang, Liu Yao began to prepare for defense.

December 15th
From the Jie people captured on the front line, they were even more frightened after they learned that Shi Le was leading an army to attack.

So he broke the siege of Jinyong City in Luoyang and formed an array in Luoxi.

Before setting off from Xingyang, Shi Le said to his adviser Xu Guang:

"Liu Yao's best strategy is to set up a large army to defend at Chenggao Pass; to intercept it with private troops at Luoshui is the next best thing; if he sits in Luoyang, I will capture him alive."

Now I see Liu Yao arrayed in the west of Luoyang. I am very happy and think that this battle will be won.

Then, together with Shi Hu, Shi Kan, and Shi Cong, they attacked Liu Yao in three groups.

Although there is not much difference between Liu Yao and Shi Le's soldiers and horses, Shi Le's soldiers are more elite than Liu Yao's. Coupled with the cavalry trained by Shi Le for many years and the prosperity of the Central Plains, the soldiers' armor is much higher than Liu Yao's.

Guanzhong has been ravaged many times since the Yanhan period. The prefectures and counties Liu Yao occupied were all bitter and cold places, so naturally they were not as good as Shile.

Therefore, Liu Yao was defeated as expected, and he was captured alive by Shi Le and taken to Kaifeng for imprisonment.

Xianhe four years
Liu Xi, the former Prince of Zhao who stayed in Chang'an, was shocked when he learned that Liu Yao had been captured, so he abandoned Chang'an and rushed west to Gui. All the towns in the expedition abandoned their defensive positions to follow, causing chaos in Guanzhong.

May
The former Zhao generals who stayed in Chang'an believed that the demise of the former Zhao was a foregone conclusion, so they surrendered the city of Chang'an to the later Zhao.

Then Shi Le sent Shi Hu to attack the remaining forces of the former Zhao in Guanzhong.

August
The last army of the former Zhao Dynasty was completely destroyed by the sacrifices of the former Zhao Dynasty Sima, the Great Chanyu, and Nanyang King Liu Yin.

All the princes and ministers of the former Zhao Dynasty were hunted and killed by Shi Hu.

September
Shi Le killed Liu Yao in the bustling city of Kaifeng. After hearing this, the counties in Guanzhong surrendered and Guanlong was completely pacified by Shi Le.

At the same time, Di King Pu Hong and Qiang leader Yao Gezhong also heard the news and came to surrender.

However, Hedong County was seized by Bai Yi, Duke Anping of the Bai Kingdom, who took the opportunity to send troops to Gaodu, entered Hedong and took it into his hands, while Pingyang County was recovered by Cui Kun, the governor of Bingzhou.

This land in Hebei is all under the flag of Baiguo.

The Bai Kingdom and Shi Le formed a situation where they were governed across the Yellow River.

It's just that the Bai Kingdom has a stronghold on the south bank of the Yellow River, Gaotang; the Later Zhao has a stronghold in Hebei, Leling.

In addition to the Jin court in the south and the Han Dynasty in the Shu region, the whole north formed a situation where the Bai Kingdom and the Later Zhao Dynasty were competing for hegemony, the Liang Kingdom and Dai Kingdom were vassals, and Murong and Yuwen were wandering.

That is, the Four Kings and Two Dukes:
Bai Zhai, King of Bai, Shi Le, King of Zhao, Zhang Jun, King of Liang, Tuoba Huna, King of Dai; Murong Xin, Duke of Liaodong, and Wen Mogui, Duke of Chifeng.

Among them, Bai Guo and Zhao Guo were the northern powers, and all forces bowed to these two countries.

The Liang Kingdom was entrusted to the former Zhao Dynasty by Liu Yao, and now it also surrendered to the later Zhao Dynasty. At the same time, it also submitted a petition of surrender to the Jin court and occupied Liangzhou and Longxi areas.

The Kingdom of Dai was granted by the Jin court. After Tuoba Yi died, the throne was passed to Tuoba Heli. However, Tuoba Helai also died not long after, and the position of King Dai fell to Tuoba Helai's son, Tuoba He. In that hand.

In order to preserve the country of Dai, Tuoba He sent envoys to Bai Zhai many times to show the goodwill of the two countries.

Bai Guo was wary of Cui Kun and Duan Pixi, so he accepted Tuoba Huna's overtures and made no move to attack Dai Guo.

In addition to occupying Dai County, Dai State also occupies the Monan region, and its strength is also impressive.

The Yuwen tribe and the Murong tribe were forces outside the Central Plains. Among them, the Murong tribe had initially been Sinicized, established an official system, and accepted the title of Duke of Liaodong from the Jin court.

The Murong tribe controls the Liaodong counties and the Korean island. The Liaodong Protectorate under the original Yanhan has been disbanded. The Goguryeo, Korean and other ethnic groups need to pay tribute to the Murong tribe every year, and their strength is also impressive.

The Yuwen tribe is semi-Chinese, and only some elites have a Sinological background. They control the western grasslands of Monan, have good relations with the Tuoba tribe, and often confront the Murong tribe with weapons.

The Ministry of Yuwen also inherited the Dukeship of Chifeng that the Jin court conferred on them. They were vassals of the Jin court, but in fact they had not sent anyone to the Jin court for decades.

(End of this chapter)