Chapter Seventy-Six: The Voice of the North

In 400 A.D., after several years of warfare, Murong De, the lord of the Southern Yan Kingdom, occupied the land of Qilu, ascended the throne and became the emperor, and set the capital Guanggu (now Qingzhou, Shandong), and took the attack as the defense, and constantly took advantage of the civil strife in the Eastern Jin Dynasty to conquer the city, so that the Southern Yan gradually stabilized.

In 405 AD, Murong De, the founding emperor of Southern Yan who had been fighting horses all his life, died, because he had no heirs, he ordered his nephew Murong Chao to inherit the throne.

However, the Southern Yan Emperor Murong Chao had good intentions, but could not eliminate the hidden worries in the country, the minister Feng Fu had a premonition that Gongsun Wulou had the intention of seizing power in the government, so he entered the palace and admonished Murong Chao: "The minister has heard that the people of the royal family should not be stationed in other places, and the people with shallow qualifications should not serve in the court. And Gongsun Wulou and the emperor are not related, from a humble background, but he assists in political affairs in the court, and the ministers are very uneasy! ”

When Murong Chao heard this, he remained silent, thinking in his heart: I don't know that Murong Zhong is talented and virtuous, and it is precisely because of this that I ordered him to stay away from the court, but you recommend him to return to the court, I don't know what his intentions are, and I will ask Gongsun Wulou what he thinks of Murong Zhong before making a decision. After thinking about it, he said to him: "What Qing Zhi said is very important, I have my own decision, and Qing will step back first." ”

After Feng Fu left, Murong Chao hurriedly went out of the palace, came to the mansion of Gongsun Wulou, and asked him what he thought of Murong Zhong, Gongsun Wulou was already jealous of Murong Zhong's fame, and was afraid that he would return to the dynasty to obstruct his arbitrary political affairs. Feng Fu's words were taken as the wind by the Southern Yan Emperor Murong Chaoquan.

In 407 AD, the auxiliary minister Feng Fu died of illness,

Seeing that Emperor Murong Chao was very jealous of Murong Zhong of the clan, he wanted to provoke trouble and make his own profits, and impeached Murong Zhong several times in the court for plotting against him, supporting the army and respecting himself, Murong Chao was convinced of this, and he reused Gongsun Wulou even more.

Murong Zhong was terrified when he heard that Gongsun Wulou, the minister of the central government, was constantly slandering himself in Qingzhou, so he secretly contacted Murong Fa, who was guarding Yanzhou, and waited for an opportunity to rebel.

Southern Yan Emperor Murong Chao learned that the two wanted to rebel, so he ordered Murong Zhong to return to the capital Guanggu to serve, Murong Zhong knew that he would die when he returned to the dynasty, so he simply said that he was ill and did not return, and secretly stepped up the collection of food and grass, recruiting soldiers, Murong Chao saw that Murong Zhong did not obey the edict, he was furious, and killed all the ministers who had frequent contacts between the court and the court, and ordered the clan Murong Zhen to lead the troops to crusade against Murong Zhong, Murong Fa and others, the two also raised troops to resist when they heard the news, but in the end, because of the haste of the incident, they were defeated one after another, Murong Fa fled to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Murong Zhong went to Hou Qin.

Murong Chao pacified the rebellion of Murong Zhong and Murong Fa, and was afraid of rebirth in the country, so he planned to formulate strict laws, restore corporal punishment and the nine-grade official system, and strengthen the control of the ministers of the DPRK and the central government, and the guards of various places, but the opposition of the ministers of the DPRK and the central government was very strong, Murong Chao had no choice but to give up, but he was unwilling, and simply entrusted all the national affairs to the fifth floor of Gongsun, but he enjoyed himself in the palace, trained the kabuki, enjoyed the song and dance, and sent the kaki in the palace to the Later Qin Emperor Yao Xing, and made a good relationship with him.

However, the nepotism of Gongsun Wulou and the placement of clan brothers in the middle of the court made Nanyan Guozheng out of the hands of Gongsun Wulou, and the ministers wanted to add officials to the knighthood, all of them bribed and flattered him, and even the princes of the clan were afraid of Gongsun Wulou. The people of Nanyan have a proverb that says: "If you want to be a marquis, serve the fifth floor."

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve in 409 AD, the Southern Yan Emperor Murong Chao feasted the courtiers in the palace, and when the princes and courtiers gathered together, enjoying the song and dance, Murong Chao sighed again and again about the scarcity of kabuki, and regretted giving the kaki to Yao Xing, so that he could discuss with the courtiers at the banquet to invade the Eastern Jin Dynasty, plunder the population, and enrich the kabuki. Minister Han Zhuo advised: "The first emperor was lost due to the fall of the Central Plains, and the country was restored to the land of Qilu. Today, the emperor should abide by the rules, rest with the people, wait for the God-given opportunity, and then raise troops to conquer, and never move troops to fight and build a strong enemy! ”

Murong Chao said unhappily: "I have made up my mind, don't wait for you!" ”

Immediately ordered the general Gongsun Gui and others to lead elite cavalry to invade the Eastern Jin Dynasty, plundered several cities on the border of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and seized a number of food for the people.

Just when Murong Chao was indulging in silk and bamboo wind music, the civil strife in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was plundered by his troops, gradually calmed down, and the national strength gradually recovered.

If you know whether the Eastern Jin Dynasty will send troops to the Northern Expedition and what the national fortunes of the Southern Yan are, please see the next chapter.