The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 532 The Troubles of the Northern and Southern Dynasties

Upon hearing that the two capitals had been recovered, an unprecedented gleam appeared in Liu Bei's bloodshot eyes.

The two capitals were his obsession; he dreamed of taking them back.

Moreover, the two capitals have too much political significance; recovering them is no different from unifying the entire country, and the rest can be called suppressing a rebellion.

Liu Bei hurriedly asked, "How come the recapture of the two capitals failed again?"

Guan Xing said, "After Liu Yu captured Chang'an, his good assistant, like Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, who was in charge of the rear and acted as prime minister, passed away. Liu Yu was worried about something happening in the rear, so he had to withdraw his troops and return to the capital. Not long after he returned, the generals left to guard Chang'an started fighting among themselves, and Chang'an fell again."

"But Liu Yu had no time to deal with that. He had something more important to do when he returned to the capital: to usurp the throne from the Sima family. Liu Yu successfully ascended the throne based on his military achievements and exterminated the entire Sima family to establish the Song Dynasty, historically known as the Liu Song Dynasty."

"As mentioned before, Liu Yu came from a humble background and rose to power too late. He died of illness not long after ascending the throne. His successors were all oddballs with mental illnesses. They did nothing but fight amongst themselves all day long. One of them, Liu Ziye, was cruel and murderous. He executed ministers, imprisoned princes, locked his own uncle in a cage and made him the Pig King, forcibly feeding him pig feed. Not only that, he also had an affair with his licentious and dissolute sister, Princess Shanyin. Other emperors of the Liu Song dynasty were even worse than Liu Ziye. Some even committed patricide. It would be against all reason if such a dynasty did not perish."

"In the end, the Liu Song dynasty was usurped by a man named Xiao Daocheng, who became the Southern Qi dynasty. The emperors of the Southern Qi dynasty were even worse than the emperors of the Liu Song dynasty. In the end, the Southern Qi dynasty was usurped by a man named Xiao Yan, who became the Southern Liang dynasty. There were hardly any normal people among the emperors of the Southern Dynasties; they were all a bunch of mentally ill people."

Liu Bei listened with a sense of sorrow and asked weakly, "What about the Northern Dynasty? We can't count on the Southern Dynasty. Has the Northern Dynasty never produced a hero who could turn the tide?"

Guan Xing said, "The Northern Dynasties experienced three brief periods of unification after the War of the Eight Princes. First, Shi Le, a Jie ethnic minority who came from slave background, unified the Central Plains and established the Later Zhao. However, at that time, various ethnic groups lived together in the Central Plains, and the ethnic conflicts were so deep that they could not be reconciled. Not long after Shi Le died, the Later Zhao version of the War of the Eight Princes broke out, and the Central Plains was once again destroyed."

"After decades of chaos, a Di ethnic group member named Fu Jian, with the help of Prime Minister Wang Meng, who was as famous as Zhuge Liang, established the Former Qin and unified the Central Plains. After unification, Fu Jian, full of confidence, ignored Wang Meng's dying words and insisted on launching a southern expedition against the Eastern Jin. As a result, he suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fei River, and the newly unified Central Plains disintegrated. Fu Jian himself was even killed by his former subordinates. The Former Qin was short-lived and died in an instant, and the Central Plains fell into chaos again."

The four men were so angered by Guan Xingzhi's words that their livers ached. Liu Bei gritted his teeth and said, "Why is it either the Jie or the Di people? Are there no Han heroes among them?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "Not for now. After the fall of the Former Qin, the Xianbei people rose up again. Under the leadership of the Tuoba royal family, they unified the Central Plains and established the Northern Wei after three generations of hard work. The emperor of the Northern Wei was much smarter than his predecessors. During his reign, he continuously Sinicized and actively integrated with the Han people, fully absorbing everything about the Han people and trying to become a part of the Han people. However, he absorbed too much and also absorbed the dross."

"Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who was the most Sinicized, not only moved the capital to Luoyang, but also established the same system of selecting officials as the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This led to power being controlled by a few powerful clans, and lower-ranking soldiers losing their upward mobility, which in turn drove the border troops to revolt."

"To put it simply, the Xianbei nobles who came to Luoyang with Emperor Xiaowen looked down on their former poor relatives who were guarding the border, which led to the rebellion of the Six Garrisons, who were guarding the grasslands and preventing the Hu people from rebelling. This triggered the Six Garrisons Rebellion, which destroyed the Northern Wei Dynasty."

"After the chaotic fighting of the Six Garrisons Rebellion, two powerful rulers emerged: Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai. Gao Huan was a Han Chinese who had become Xianbei and occupied the Central Plains, while Yuwen Tai was a Xianbei who had become Sinicized and occupied Guanzhong. The two fought several battles and each had their victories and defeats. After their deaths, their successors usurped the puppet emperors of the Northern Wei that they had supported and established the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi dynasties."

"At this time, Xiao Yan in the south had already usurped the throne and established the Southern Liang. There was a general under Gao Huan of the Northern Qi named Hou Jing, who was a Jie people who had become Xianbei. After Gao Huan died, he rebelled, but was defeated by Gao Huan's son. He fled to the Southern Liang with eight hundred remaining soldiers. Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, gladly accepted him. Then the Southern Liang was destroyed by Hou Jing, and even Emperor Wu of Liang himself was trapped by Hou Jing and starved to death."

Liu Bei was astonished and said, "What nonsense! Eight hundred men wiped out the unified Jiangnan region? Are you kidding me?"

This was the unified Jiangnan region, which completely occupied half of the Yangtze River, and it was wiped out by eight hundred people?

Guan Xing sighed, "It sounds absurd, but reality is just that surreal. The responsibility for the fall of the Southern Liang Dynasty mainly lies with Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan himself."

"Xiao Yan was a devout Buddhist, to the point of being obsessed. During his reign, he built temples on a grand scale, the extravagance of which was astonishing. He even became a monk several times, forcing his ministers to go to the temples to invite him."

"Six hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties, how many pavilions are shrouded in mist and rain. Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, built temples, which wasted the people's money and led to an empty treasury. More importantly, he indulged his sons and nephews in their debauchery. His sons and nephews committed murder, arson, and even plotted rebellion, but he just laughed it off without any punishment. As a result, when Hou Jing besieged Jianye, those sons and nephews he had indulged not only did not come to his aid, but also secretly provided Hou Jing with money and food, hoping that Hou Jing would kill him as soon as possible, and then use the pretext of avenging him to attack Hou Jing and seize the throne. Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, who was known as Xiao Bodhisattva, died in such a frustrating way."

"The Southern Liang, which possessed half of the country and whose population had grown to over 20 million due to the migration of its elites south during the War of the Eight Princes, was fully capable of confronting the Central Plains head-on. Yet, it was destroyed by Hou Jing's 800 men. Isn't that laughable?"

Liu Bei's hand holding the sword trembled, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging from the excessive force.

With over 20 million people, he would be laughing in his sleep if he had that many people. But what has this damned Xiao Bodhisattva done?

Why are the descendants of Han Chinese getting worse and worse with each generation?

Compared to this bunch of useless people, his son Liu Shan was a rare wise ruler, wasn't he?

Liu Bei asked in a hoarse voice, "And then what happened? Xiao Yan died, and his children and grandchildren must have raised an army to defend the emperor and punish Hou Jing, right?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "No, we have to get rid of our competitors first, and eliminate our own brothers to prevent them from stealing our credit. That's why the princes of the Xiao family fought even more fiercely after Xiao Yan died, giving Hou Jing a chance to catch his breath and wreak havoc on the land of Wu, turning the grain-producing area of ​​Wu County into a desolate place."

"After various chaotic battles, a man named Wang Sengbian and a man named Chen Baxian joined forces to quell Hou Jing's rebellion. Hou Jing was killed by his subordinates, and his body was sent to Jianye, where it was eaten by the people of the city."

"Then Wang Sengbian first seized power, and finally Chen Baxian killed Wang Sengbian and took power. He then annihilated the 100,000-strong army of the Northern Qi and established the Southern Chen Dynasty. The last dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, was born."

"Back to the north, as mentioned before, the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons gave rise to two great rulers, Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai. Gao Huan died before Yuwen Tai. Not long after Gao Huan's death, the Hou Jing Rebellion broke out. Yuwen Tai seized the opportunity to conquer Bashu and even took over parts of Jingzhou, thus laying the foundation for his imperial career."

"Nevertheless, the Northern Qi, established by Gao Huan's descendants, was still the strongest of the Three Kingdoms in terms of overall strength. Its population, troops, and supplies completely overwhelmed the Northern Zhou, established by Yuwen Tai's descendants. However, Gao Huan's descendants, like Liu Yu's descendants, were a bunch of lunatics. Some were obsessed with cross-dressing and liked to run naked. Some made their concubines strip naked and lie on the table for their ministers to admire. Others, even after they had already breached the city walls, ordered their soldiers to retreat first, waiting for their beloved concubines to come and watch the beautiful sight of the breached city. As a result, they gave the defenders a chance to counterattack and successfully plugged the breach. Their actions were unimaginable to any normal person, let alone heard of. The Northern Qi was therefore known as the Beastly Dynasty."