Today, let our minds go back to the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties more than 1,500 years ago, and understand the entrepreneurial road of a founding emperor.
Now when it comes to the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the impression is that it was an era of great division and great chaos, but it is precisely because of this chaotic era that many civilians have been given the opportunity to get ahead. We all know that born in the Taiping dynasty, the children of the cold door want to step by step to the peak of power can be said to be difficult to ascend to the heavens, but born in a chaotic world is different, on the one hand, the chaotic war will greatly damage the strength of the family that originally controlled the power, on the other hand, the lord of the chaotic world will also desire the talents, give the people of insight more real opportunities, let them achieve a career.
"Three Nine Heavenly Sons" Chen Baxian
The protagonist we want to discuss today is Chen Baxian, the founding emperor of the Chen Dynasty, who was called "Three Nine Heavenly Sons" by posterity to express the hardships of his entrepreneurial road. What is the "Three Nine Heavenly Sons"? It turned out that Chen Baxian only became a petty official when he was 19 years old, became a heavy minister in Guangzhou after 19 years, and became an emperor for another 19 years, and died after 3 years of reign. Chen Baxian was born in the late days, the world is difficult, if Mr. Lu Simian said:
"The difficulty of Chen's pioneering is ten times greater than that of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Three Dynasties."
"Chen Baxian's husband who cultivated water and milk, the son of Sumen Guidou", from this sentence we can see the low origin of Chen Baxian. He was a native of Changcheng County, Wuxing County (present-day Changxing County, Zhejiang), from a humble family, first as a small official in the township, and then as an administrator of the oil depot in Nanjing. These positions are essentially special households specializing in miscellaneous service, and their social status is very underground. But Chen Baxian did not give up on himself, he was good at reading military books, while playing fishing and practicing martial arts, his interests were very extensive.
It can be said that the merits are not donated, Chen Baxian was valued by the magnate Xinyu Hou Xiaoying (nephew of Emperor Wu of Liang), who once praised: "Chen Baxian's future prospects are unlimited!" In the sixth year of Datong (540 AD), Xiao Ying served as the Assassin of Guangzhou, and Chen Baxian, as his subordinate official, also came to Guangzhou. Because Chen Baxian was strong in martial arts and had a strategy, he made many military achievements in the Lingnan region and gradually developed. In the seventh year of Datong, Li Ben, a local tycoon in Guangzhou, launched a rebellion and successively captured several prefectures and counties, and the situation in the Lingnan region fell into chaos. Chen Baxian was ordered to quell the rebellion, and after quelling the rebellion, he was granted the military control of seven states and became a major vassal.
Conquered the north and conquered the north, and made many military achievements
In the second year of the Taiqing Dynasty (548 AD), the Eastern Wei general Hou Jing rebelled, and the following year captured the capital Jiankang, and Emperor Wu of Liang died of illness in a seclusion. Chen Ba, who first raised troops to rescue the emperor, united with the hao forces in the Guangzhou area, and broke through the local separatist forces, and his own strength continued to grow. In February of the third year of Dabao (552 AD), he met with the Jingzhou army led by Wang Shengjie in Jiangxi and attacked Hou Jing, winning victory.
In May of that year, Chen Baxian was made the Marquis of Changcheng County, and in September he was made the Grand General of the Northern Expedition, and the History of Southern Xuzhou was assassinated, and from then on he became a major figure in the military in the last years of the Liang Dynasty.
Attacking and killing his political enemy, Wang Monk, was a major event in Chen Baxian's path to the emperor.
Both Wang Shengxian and Chen Baxian were brilliant military experts who could win almost every battle, but the difference between the two was that Chen Baxian was born in The Cold Gate, had many tribulations, and had rich life experience and social experience. In terms of the quality of politicians, Wang is far from reaching Chen's level, so he is often subject to people.
Defeat political opponents and monopolize power
After the victory over Hou Jing, Wang Shengjian led an army into Jiankang, and his subordinates plundered and burned the palace, and the people were very disappointed, while Chen Baxian was open-minded and generous, used more generals, and knew people and good responsibilities, so he could get the death power of his subordinates to achieve his imperial cause.
In 555, Chen Ba first attacked and killed Wang Shengjian, deposed the then emperor Xiao Yuanming, and established Xiao Fangzhi as emperor, changing Yuan Shaotai to Emperor Jing of Liang. Chen Ba, who first served as Shang Shuling and a general on horseback, monopolized the power of the imperial court. After Wang was killed, his men led troops against Chen Baxian and colluded with Northern Qi forces. Chen Baxian first repelled the Northern Qi army and broke the enemy forces, achieving the final victory of the war.
In October 557, the Liang Jing Emperor Xiao Fangzhi was forced to take chen baxian and Southern Liang perished. Chen Ba, who was first called emperor and changed to Yuan Yongding, was for Emperor Chen Wu, historically known as Southern Dynasty Chen. Chen Baxian was 55 years old when he ascended the throne, and in the concept of the ancient people, he was already an old man who had suffered from wind and frost. After two years of Chen Baxian's reign, he became ill with overwork and suddenly became seriously ill, and died in June of that year, and his subjects were given the title of Emperor Wu and Gaozu of the Temple.
Chen Wu emperor Chen Baxian
During the two years of Chen Baxian's reign, he resisted the invasion of the Northern Dynasty, conquered the separatist forces at home, worried about internal and external troubles, frequent wars, and people's livelihood, which can be regarded as an eventful autumn. In terms of the people's livelihood, during Chen Baxian's reign, the country suffered many major droughts, and the water and drought were not adjusted for many years, resulting in poor people's livelihood.
On the other hand, the dynasty established by Chen Baxian was relatively cramped compared with the previous generation, and could only control the southeast, and there were still a large number of separatist forces in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. During the two years of Chen Baxian's reign, he resisted the invasion of the Northern Dynasty externally and constantly eliminated the separatist forces internally, and the situation in Jiangnan tended to be stable. Chen Baxian has made historic contributions to maintaining social stability, restoring the southern economy, and protecting traditional Chinese culture.
Territory of the Chen Dynasty
Among the founding emperors of the Southern Dynasty, Chen Baxian was the most vilified, and may be closely related to the class concept of the Mengmen clan society at that time. Chen Ba, who was first born in a poor and lowly person in the low-level society, miraculously ascended to the emperor's throne through personal struggle due to fate, and the family clan at that time still despised him. Coupled with the fact that Chen Baxian's means of obtaining power were not in line with the Confucian tradition of benevolence and righteousness, his rise was also stained with the blood of innocent people, so he was criticized by posterity.
Statue of Chen Baxian
According to historical records, after Chen Baxian's death, Wang Yan, the son of his former political enemy Wang Shengxian, gathered his father's subordinates, excavated The Tomb of Emperor Chen Wu at night, broke Chen Baxian's coffin, burned his corpse, dumped his ashes into the pond, ordered thousands of people to drink, and humiliated him to the greatest extent, which became a sensational event. Later generations also felt a lot of emotions when describing the events behind this emperor.
Chen Baxian, born in a chaotic world, experienced hardships without changing his will, from a small village official to a general in the army step by step, and then step by step to the emperor's throne, created an imperial business, supported a fragmented country, and can be said to be a generation of heroes. Chairman Mao also greatly appreciated Chen Baxian's life experience, and in his later years he repeatedly asked those around him to read history and understand the entrepreneurial road of Chen Baxian's blue wisps.