Chapter 589: Emperor Wu (I worked overtime at the company, so I rushed this one out. It’s just to make up the word count, so I’ll skip it)

Of course, there are quite a few talented people here that Su Ye is a little jealous of.

He organized and trained an elite force called "Beifu Soldiers"; in the Battle of Feishui, he first defeated Luo Jian, and then pursued the victory and defeated Xie Xuan, the treasure of the Xie family, the Former Qin army.

There is also the protagonist who "gets up and dances upon hearing the cock-crow".

He led his troops to the Northern Expedition and received responses from people everywhere. Within a few years, he recovered a large area of ​​territory south of the Yellow River. In the end, he died of grief and anger. The recovered land was eventually captured by Later Zhao. He was a famous general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Liu Kun resisted the invasion of Hu bandits in Jinyang City and created the legendary story of using Hujia to repel the enemies, but ultimately failed to save the Western Jin Dynasty from defeat due to his weak strength.

Of course, there is another heavyweight figure at the end, Liu Yu, who is as bold as a tiger!
"Thinking back to those days, with swords and spears, and the courage to swallow the vast expanse like a tiger," the poet Xin Qiji depicted the shocking scene of Liu Yu swallowing the barbarians in his poem.

He is also known as the strongest monarch during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Many people feel that if Liu Yu had not died suddenly of illness, history would have been rewritten.

There would not have been the chaotic situation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties later, and there would have been no Yang Jian in the Sui Dynasty.

There is some controversy about Liu Yu's life experience in history. Some say that he was originally born into a scholar-official class, while others say that he was born in poverty and started from scratch.

As the saying goes, a hero should not be judged by his origins. Just like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang in history, they relied on their own efforts to fight their way from the bottom to the top of power.

It is said that Liu Yu was from a noble family and that he had the blood of the "Liu royal family" flowing in his veins.

This was mainly because of the Five Barbarians Invasion in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, which caused the Central Plains to be trampled and ravaged by the barbarians, leading to the disintegration of the Han Dynasty.

Even the descendants of the royal family are no exception, their fate is closely linked to the entire Central Plains.

The famous "Yixi Reform" in history was launched by Liu Yu and his adviser Liu Muzhi after he ascended the throne.

Regarding the tax and land-based reforms at the time, Liu Yu, who came from a poor family, never forgot his past hardships and he deeply understood the importance of land to the people.

Liu Yu revived the imperial power and ended the aristocratic politics that began in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Of course, many people’s first impression of Liu Yu is his military achievements, especially his troop training and tactics. He always won by winning steadily and was able to turn danger into safety even when he was at a disadvantage.

In that turbulent and war-torn era, Liu Yu created one miracle and myth after another, making the Hu people terrified.

On the battlefield, it was always the cavalry that chased the infantry, but the naval infantry under Liu Yu were invincible.

In the battle with the Hu people, Liu Yu did not confront them head-on, but responded flexibly and achieved technical innovation.

Liu Yu combined four types of troops, namely water, chariots, cavalry and infantry, and bows and arrows to fight together, defeating the once outstanding warriors of the Northern Wei Dynasty and leaving only pairs of bones.

The military strategy created by Liu Yu is the famous "Queyue Formation"!
It’s a pity that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was one of the periods when the power of the aristocratic families was the strongest. For people living in this era, it was extremely difficult to change their fate.

It just so happened that Liu Yu lived in such an era. Even though he overcame all obstacles and won every battle along the way, he was already 36 years old when he really came to prominence.

He was truly born at the wrong time, and the fact that his chief strategist Liu Muzhi quietly left when Liu Yu needed him the most was undoubtedly another heavy blow!
"Ding! The fifth set of era summoning cards: the Northern and Southern Dynasties era!
Including members: Yuwen Tai, Yuwen Zhi, Yuwen Yu, Yuwen Jue, Yuwen Yong, Yuwen Hu, Yuwen Shenju, Yuwen Zhen, Yuchi Jiong, Dugu Prajna, Dugu Mantuo, Dugu Xin, Dugu Shun, Li Bing, Yang Zhong, Zhao Gui, Ashina Tumen"

The Northern and Southern Dynasties was an era of chaos, division, and integration.

Unlike the Kaiyuan Period and the Kangxi and Qianlong Periods of Prosperity, this period was full of blood, conspiracy and war.

However, heroes are made by the times. They cultivate themselves internally and conquer externally, unify the north, and with a long rope in hand, they can tie up the blue dragon.

After decades of chaotic rule by Yuwen Hu, the Northern Zhou Dynasty was poor and weak, with a population of only 10 million, while the Northern Qi Dynasty had a population of 20 million during the same period.

You have to know that in ancient times, people were the productive force, the source of soldiers, and the foundation of a country. Therefore, Yuwen Yong expanded on the basis of his father Yuwen Tai's reforms, and eventually made the Northern Zhou Dynasty stronger and unified the north.

In the third year of Jiande, Emperor Yuwen Yong issued an edict to "ban Buddhism and Taoism, destroy all Buddhist scriptures and statues, and order monks and Taoists to return to secular life. At the same time, Confucianism was made the state religion, and all obscene sacrifices were banned, and those not recorded in the ritual code were eliminated."

This is the famous "Emperor Wu's Destruction of Buddhism" incident. For a time, all the Northern Zhou temples were demolished and all the monks returned to secular life.

At that time, the number of people actually controlled by the Northern Zhou temples accounted for 10% of the Northern Zhou population. Many of the working population worked in the temples, which loosened the relationship between this group of people and the state and was not conducive to state control.

So, under the slogan of destroying Buddhism, Emperor Yuwen Yong directly issued an edict to confiscate Buddhist temples and relegated monks to secular life. This liberated productivity, expanded the army's manpower, and expanded the country's foundation, laying a solid foundation for the Northern Zhou Dynasty's attack on the Northern Qi Dynasty.

After a series of reforms by Emperor Yuwen Yong, the Northern Zhou Dynasty gradually became stronger. In contrast, the Northern Qi Dynasty opposed Sinicization and promoted Buddhist art, which aroused the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people.

This also gives the war political legitimacy and justice.

In the fourth year of Jiande, Yuwen Yong led his troops to attack Northern Qi.

Unfortunately, the commander-in-chief Yuwen Yong fell ill, and the Northern Zhou had to withdraw its troops.

Although this expedition against Northern Qi did not achieve much success, it allowed Yuwen Yong to deeply understand the political and military chaos of Northern Qi, and strengthened his determination to attack Northern Qi.

After his failed campaign, Yuwen Yong could not sleep at night, thinking about his grand plan for the world all night long.

The following year, Northern Zhou attacked Northern Qi for the second time, and Yuwen Yong once again led the army in person.

It took a year for Northern Qi to be destroyed and Northern Zhou to complete the unification of the north.

At the same time, the Northern Zhou Dynasty also sent troops to attack the Chen Dynasty, recovering the territory annexed by the Southern Chen Dynasty in the war, and controlling the area north of the Yangtze River in one fell swoop!
Although he unified the north, Yuwen Yong still had great ambitions.

He wants to unify the country and unify China!

Now that Southern Chen is in the bag, the biggest enemy is the Turks in the north.

So in the first year of Xuanzheng, Yuwen Yong personally led his army to the north to fight against the Turks.

History is more exciting because of regrets.

During the Northern Expedition against the Turks, Yuwen Yong suddenly felt unwell.

Not long after returning to Beijing to recuperate, he passed away, ending his short life at the age of thirty-six.

He left this wonderful era with regret, and before he could train a "successor", a great leader fell.

Yuwen Yong was the most capable emperor during the turbulent times of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. His character, methods, etc. were extremely outstanding. He was able to go from being a puppet emperor to almost completing the great cause of unification.

Few emperors throughout history have been able to accomplish such a feat.

It’s a pity that she died young and eventually became a concubine of Yang Jian.

If he could live ten more years, there might not have been a future Sui and Tang dynasties.

(End of this chapter)