Chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms: 十六国大乱 Part 1

Jin Dynasty lady's fashion extracted from the Scroll of "Ode to the Nymph of the Luo River" 

by the Jin dynasty painter Gu kaizhi. Due to the high intensity of the infighting among the Jin

royal family, the dynasty's northern territories were overtaken by the invading 5 Hu tribes 

of powerful nomads. For the next century and half, northern China became a battleground 

of rival steppe warlords while the exiled Jin dynasty looked helplessly on from 

the south. The chaotic war for supremacy was later known as the 16 Kingdoms.

Art by 陸曼陀 Danling★Lu

Music: The Monastery

In this chapter, we will tell 2 stories, one is the story of the northern tribes, of background servants coming to the fore, and a grand Battle Royale among themselves. Of supremacy and war where only one will remain. All in all, a heroic Great Men narrative. A litany of powerful Kings and intrigues. 

And another, the story of the Han in the north: of a people making due, endlessly evolving while still stubbornly holding on. This one will be one more ethnographic in nature. After all, despite be relegated to be mostly stateless in this age of "barbarian" kings, they were still very much a part of the fabric of north. For the first part of this narrative, we will focus on the wars of the nomadic Kings from the north. The latter- concerning the Han in this era could be found here.

THE GREAT CHAOS

Attire of a Jin dynasty prince. The noble princes of the Jin dynasty held immense powers and ruled their fiefs as essentially their own private kingdoms. When a massive civil war called the War of the Eight Princes erupted among them, the whole northern China was blanketed in chaos. During this time, the various steppe mercenaries that served these princes asserted their claim in these regions. After the death of these 8 Princes, the northern tribes filled in the respective power vacuum once occupied by the now vacant princes.

WAR OF THE EIGHT PRINCES

A more extensive article examining the War of the Eight Princes could be found here, there are also plenty of YouTube videos that covered this subject. In short, the Sima Clan of Jin dynasty made governing the empire a family enterprise, where each clan Prince effectively held a province onto themselves as their own private kingdom. However, when an empress started purging the many imperial princes a civil war erupted that lit the north in flames. 

They sought to destroy each other, destroying each other with soldiery from the steppes, each wielding a kingdom at their disposal. In the end, they did, all of the princes laid dead while steppe Kings sprouted from their vacant states. But their perverse Battle Royale would not end, the destruction and punishment would not end for centuries to come. 

WITHIN THE GREAT WALLS-  IN THE BACKDROP

Before we delve in depth into the 16 Kingdoms era, one important thing to keep in mind is the naming convention of this era. Especially many kingdom's names that have: "Former" and "Later" appear before them. For the most part it is because~ in the middle of our story, an energetic kingdom - Former Qin-  will briefly unify all of the north under its sway, absorbing many of the existing kingdoms. But, after the sudden collapse of Former Qin, many states that had briefly been vanquished will re-emerged in this former domains, the resurrected states will be distinguished by the prefix of "Later-" in their name.

The key note about the various "barbarian" tribes that dominated this era is that they are not some "Barbarians at the Gates" scenario, where undiscovered or vulturine tribes suddenly spilled into China. Like that of Cimbri and Teutons to Rome, nor like the Great Conspiracy where many external tribes made an alliance in concert against an outside empire. But rather, it is that of an uprising from a semi- assimilated class within. The traditional Chinese naming of "Uprising of the Five Hu Barbarians" aptly describes this more as an internal revolt rather than that of foreign invasions from external Migration peoples. For one thing, the said- (5 "Barbarians" consisint of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang peoples) had already been living in Han, Three Kingdoms, and Jin for centuries at this point.

SETTLEMENT OF THE FIVE HU WITHIN THE GREAT WALLS

Simply, they had already been here: during the Han, during the 3 Kingdoms era, and during the Jin, but many outside the timelines simply did not pay attention to them in the backgrounds. Ever since Emperor Wu of Han's half a century long war against the Xiongnu Empire, whole nomadic peoples have been relocated within the Great Walls. Often prized for their skills in horse archery- which was both second to none and hard to emulate because it requires a lifetime to master- steppe peoples were frequently deployed as auxiliary or vassal troops serving the Han dynasty. Over time, hundreds of thousands of whole tribes were settled within Han lands or settled right around the Han dynasty Great Walls. They were to act as buffer vassal states and act as intermediaries to tribes beyond the walls. They served great northern lords like Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and the Jin emperors in much of their campaigns.

JIN ASCENSION- UNIFYING THE THREE KINGDOMS

In 266, Sima Yan- later known as (Emperor Wu of Jin) formally established the Jin dynasty and made himself its emperor. His reign was to be one of internal unity and external security. 14 years into founding the dynasty, he conquered the southern Kingdom of Wu- the last of the 3 Kingdoms holdouts in 280, thus ending the Three Kingdoms period. 

An ethnographic political map of the 5 Hus (the 5 "Barbarians" consisting of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang peoples) - After the destruction of the northern Xiongnu in the early 1st century AD, many Xiongnu tribesmen were settled within the Han Great Walls along the pastures of the northern bend of the Yellow River (light green). The same was done to many other tribes the Chinese dynasties fought with. During the 3 Kingdoms era, the kingdom of Cao Wei and Jin settled many Xianbei (orange) Jie, (black) and Di (yellow) people throughout northern China. 

Jin's unification of China followed with Sima Yan's victory against the Xiongnu in 284, where 30,000  southern Xiongnu surrendered en mass and were settled in Xihe (in Shanxi- along the northern bend of the Yellow River) This was followed 2 years later when 100,000 Xiongnu also submited to him at Yongzhou and were resettled. In 289, Sima Yan received the submission of the Xianbei Chieftan Murong Hui, making his Xianbei tribes vassals that served in the Liaodong region.

WAR OF THE 8 PRINCES

JIN- CHAOS IN IMPERIAL HEARTLANDS

Sima Yan's quarter century reign over an internally unified China provided a much needed respite for the war- ravaged realm. Unfortunately, the nation immediately descended into anarchy following his death in 290 AD, because Sima Yan left his throne to a mentally handicapped heir, power in reality existed in the hands of the regent Empress Jia Nanfeng. When she tried to consolidate her power by murdering and purging many of the Jin princes, the various princes- who as previously mentioned controlled their provinces as their own kingdoms took the matters to their hands. After Empress Jia's death, civil war erupted across northern China." 

On each side, are great armies led by a powerful Jin prince. But if we examine closer? Behind them, are legions of steppe soldiers of theses various Hu "barbarian" peoples. From this moment on, the steppe soldiers emerged from the backgrounds and became the new master of northern China. 

Music: First Blood

ENDGAME OF THE WAR OF THE 8 PRINCES

THE STEPPE SOLDIERS BECAME THE NEW MASTERS

At this time, many Xiongnu tribesmen served as a substantial bulk of the military in the Heibei region. Since the later Han era, the empire feared the concentration of a large number of Xiongnu tribesmen together inside the empire would prove disastrous. In Cao Cao's time, he was keen to deploy the Xiongnu's 5 tribes on various military fronts, eager to reward the chieftains for their services but even such rewards often are dubious, since he would keep the chieftains in the imperial capital as hostaged guests so they would not cultivate local power against his interests. 

Muscle: A very prominent figure whose career marked the early Sixteen Kingdoms period. Ethnic Jie general Shi Le,  muscle of Former Zhao, taking advantage of the death of the last of the 8 Prince's death, he attacked the 100,000 strong army guarding Sima Yue's coffin returning to Luoyang, killing the entire army. With the annihilation of the Jin imperial army in the Jin heartland, Luoyang and then Chang An was sacked and Northern China fell into the hands of the steppe lords. Later, Shi Le would form a state of his own in the east.

In 304, at the height of the end game wars between the remaining 3 Princes, Liu Yuan, a key ethnic Xiongnu general serving under Jin Prince Sima Ying convinced Sima Ying that if he would be allowed to slip away and ride to all the 5 separated Xiongnu tribes deployed across northern China, he would swear he'd rally them to come to Sima Ying's aid. Unfortunately, when Liu Yuan did manage to unite all of the Xiongnu tribes under his own personal banner, he declared independence from all of the Jin princes and instead formed his own state of Zhao (we will hence refer to it as Former Zhao.) 

Former Zhao was very capably led, and under the new Former Zhao ruler Liu Cong, Zhao aggressively exploited the chaos in the Jin realm. By 309, The Xiongnu armies defeated the Jin armies on the field and pushed all the way up to the gates of Luoyang. In 311, as the War of the Eight Princes winded down, when Sima Yue, the last of the surviving 8 Prince died and the Jin throne was occupied by a newly installed young emperor, the Liu clan ordered one of their most capable generals, the ethnic Jie commander Shi Le to attack the 100,000 Jin imperial army escorting Yue's coffin back to Luoyang. The imperial army was completely annihilated in the ambush and Shi Le soon rode into Luoyang unopposed, abducting the Jin Emperor Sima Chi (Emperor Huai,) and looting and killing 30,000 civilians as they went. After torturing the young hostage emperor Sima Chi, Liu Cong then killed him. With the taking of Luoyang, the whole heartland of the empire was taken by Former Zhao, the Jin had no armies in the region, and above that? No emperors either. The establishment of Former Zhao and displacement of the Jin from their seat at Luoyang marked the beginning of the 16 kingdoms. 

Music: No Way Out 

 

BEGINNING OF THE 16 KINGDOMS

NORTH BECAME DOMINATED BY THE XIONGNU ZHAO KINGDOM

THE NEW JIN COURT AT NANJING

The Dawn of a Bloody New Era: Jin empire (gold) in 317 AD after it was ejected from Luoyang and the whole north was lost. At the time, various steppe people (orange) began to carve out their own dominions in the north Around the same time, in the southwestern part of the Jin realm, taking advantage of the chaos in the north, an ambitious governor at Chengdu declared his own state of Cheng (blue) in Sichuan. According to most traditional Chinese historians, the creation of both Former Zhao and the secession of Cheng marked the beginning of the 16 Kingdoms period.

SIEGE OF CHANG AN- NORTH FALLS

For 1 year after the sack of Luoyang the Jin had no emperor. But Former Zhao did not waste any time and embarked on a war of unification across northern China. After a rapid series of campaigns, the Former Zhao took much of Central China. Under its prince Liu Yao, its armies swiftly rode to Chang An- often seen as the 2nd imperial capital. There, another member of the Jin imperial family ~ Sima Ye (Emperor Min of Jin) and his personal court had escaped to and took the area around the city. Liu Yao swiftly enveloped the city and initiated a long siege of attrition. The besieged Sima Ye desperately wrote to many Jin commanders south of the Yellow and Huai rivers to come to him and put down to Zhao usurpers but none came to his aid. His kin Sima Rui who was a commander in Jiankang (modern Nanjing) made excuses and did not come to his aid. Leaving him to die.

However, 1 of the Jin's vassals, did unexpectedly answer the call on Emperor Min's behalf. The ethnic Xianbei tribe of Dai from beyond the Great Walls pledged loyalty to be beleaguered Jin Emperor. Note: the Dai and its Touba ruling family were the ancestor of the Kings who later would become the Northern Wei kingdom. At this time, the Toubas of Dai lived beyond the Great Walls and kept to their nomadic ways. Tuoba Yilu (拓拔猗卢) - weary of a likely Former Zhao supremacy assisted various Jin holdouts in the north against Zhao hegemony. 

Despite the pledge of Dai aid, in 316, after year of attrition and suffering, the situation in the besieged Chang An became untenable, where even a small handful of rice costs as much as pounds of gold. Exasperated, Emperor Min surrendered to Prince Liu Yao and the Zhao besiegers. Despite the surrender, the Zhao forces sacked the city and massacred its defenders, killing the loyalist Jin generals. It was reported in the Book of Jin that bones were left everywhere. Like with his young predecessor Emperor Huai, Emperor Min was also tortured and killed by Liu Cong of Zhao. The taking of Chang An in 316 ended Western Jin, and laid the path for Former Zhao to unify most of the north.

Meanwhile, Sima Rui, who had let his kin to die in the north, now declared himself Emperor Yuan of Jin in the south, consecrating the Eastern Jin headquartered at JianKang (Nanjing) using the Yellow River to prevent northerners from breaching to the south. The year 317 marked the division of the north and the Eastern Jin court in the south.

THE TWO ZHAOS- BLOOD FEUD IN THE NORTH

THE WOOING OF LIANG

THE STIFLING OF JIN

Music: Scaling the Ziggurat

A ROYAL SLAUGHTER

What followed next in the north was something that no one probably expected. Right at the triumphant moment of Former Zhao's meteoric ascension, the state suffered a sudden backstab of intrigue. In 318, when the capable ruler Liu Cong- the conqueror of the north died, one of of the Former Zhao ministers~ Jin Zhun initiated a shocking bloody massacre that slaughtered nearly all of the imperial Liu family. Jin Zhun soon declared himself the Heavenly Prince (ruler) of Zhao and in order to secure his position,  even sent out messengers to Easter Jin informing them that he intend to turn the Zhao state to them. The Jin readily took the promised opportunity, but before Jin Zhun was able to accomplish his goals. He was attacked on two sides from two of the most dangerous Former Zhao generals that he had failed to massacre~ The conqueror of Chang An Liu Yao and Shi Le, who controlled the eastern and western fronts of the state.

Jin Zhun, despite his abilities as a minister was no match for two of the most dangerous generals and was soon defeated. Shi Le expertly destroyed Jin Zhun's armies with minimal casualties. Liu Yao, a cousin of Liu Cong, soon declared himself emperor, and after capturing and killing Jin Zhun, slaughtered all of Jin Zhun's family. In the grand scheme of drama, this should have been the end, a bloody (but necessary) restoration to normalcy after a bump in the road. However? What had happened until now was only a sampler to the true bloody massacre that was about to happen: A bitter divorce that was about to split the north.

A BITTER DIVORCE 

The victorious Former Zhao generals returned as heroes, and- knowing that Shi Le was instrumental to the restoration of the realm back to the Liu clan's fold, Liu Yao promised to elevate Shi Le to the lofty position of the Prince of Zhao (a ducal position.) Shi thus sent an ambassador to Liu Yao's recently taken capital to receive the gifts. But, after a cordial feast with the ambassador, one of Liu Yao's own ministers warned Yao that the man was likely really here to assess the weakened state of Liu Yao's defenses. Warning that since Liu Yao does not have many troops around him nor in the capital, the ambassador was really here to probe for weaknesses before Shi Le attacks. Shocked, Liu then sent out his soldiers and massacred the ambassador's entourage. 

Shi- Le, who had by this point being instrumental in conquering and pacifying the lands of Zhao for the sitting Liu Clan, was furious at the killing of his ambassador. And after publicly speaking of the injustice that was done to him, declared total war against the Former Zhao, this time? with the now sole explicit aim of properly wiping out all of the Liu from northern China. 

AND NOW THERE WERE TWO

THE BLOOD FEUD OF ZHAO

Thence, there were two Zhaos. One- the Former Zhao belong to those of the Xiongnu Liu Clan who made their headquarters at Chang An, while in Hebei, the Later Zhao ruled by Shi Le, and his ethnically Jie clansmen. The war that followed between Former and Later Zhao would be an extremely brutal affair. After the wars of the Three Kingdoms period, the disastrous wars of the 8 Princes, the wars of conquest of Former Zhao, now the former imperial heartlands of Jin was at the mercy of a blood feud between two Zhaos bent on each other's total annihilation. 

Dog of War: as Shi Le's s army grew, he increasingly trusted his young distant nephew Shi Hu as a general, and under the violent but talented Shi Hu, Shi Le's army became known for its causal cruel treatment of civilians through loot and rape but it was also properly whipped into shape, rarely losing battles. Just as Shi Le was instrumental as muscle and kingmaker for the Liu Clan of Former Zhao, Shi Hu would be instrumental to his uncle Shi Le (...in more than one way as well.)

Later Zhao's conquest was to be very brutally conducted. The Jie tribesmen's conquest would be characterized by casual savagery, where whole towns were pillaged and looting and rape were common. Under Shi Le's best general, his nephew Shi Hu, Later Zhao forces frequently mass slaughtered prisoners and whole cities, including once butchering 30 thousand soldiers of a surrendered army. Despite this, Shi Hu was also very efficient in his results, often able to come back with victories or expertly taking many cities. 

Music: Refuge

LIANG- THE WILD CARD IN THE WEST

In the west of the realm, in the arid and often mountainous and desert- marred Hexi corridor of modern Gansu Province, the ethnic Han~ Zhang clan held this strategic area as their private domains. While the blood feud between the two Zhaos raged, in 323, Liu Yao- who still held sway of Former Zhao at Chang An launched an attack against the weaker Zhang domains in Gansu. After overawing them with his demonstration of force, Liu Yao received their pledge of vassalage. Thereafter, after feeling satisfied with the pacified state of this potentially hostile front, Liu Yao raised the Zhang patriarch as Prince of Liang, for historians this territory would thereafter be known as Former Liang. 

Guzang was a major city that remained the political center of Liang throughout this age. The Liang state (near modern Dunhuang) was situated in the mountainous and arid western regions beyond the Yellow River. A barren landscape of dotted shrubbery and small bisecting rivers, this Hexi Corridor is strategically vital for it could only be invaded in 2 directions by major armies. Even though it was a poor region for farming, it was nonetheless a key choke point for trade along the Silk Road. Over time it became a sanctuary for refugees.

Liang's supplication to Former Zhao however were not to last. The next year in 324, the patriarch Zhang Mao fell ill and as he laid dying-  sensing the region's potential as a wild card, Eastern Jn, Former Zhao, Later Zhao, all sent ambassadors to Liang and competed to confer the next Liang patriarch the title of various ducal titles, with the explicit intention of making the region their vassal in the coming wars. 

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

In the south, Sima Rui, the 1st Emperor of Eastern Jin faced a highly disgruntled court and the whole swaths of entrenched southern nobility. It should be remembered that the south was the last to be conquered by the Jin and that in living memory had been stubbornly loyal to the kingdom of Wu of the Sun clan. With the taking of the Jin imperial heartlands and the continual exodus of northern refugees and norther nobles, the southern lords actively disobeyed and sidelined these strangers.

The frequent disobedience from these southern military landowning families are further exacerbated by the fact that the Eastern Jin court's affairs were heavily under the control of the influential Wang clan, Wang Dun, despite being a northern refugee noble-  monopolized so much power that he led many of the southern lords to open rebellion against his liege and forced Sima Rui's court at sword point to give near total concessions to them and became mere figureheads in the rigged court.

Music: Reunion 

After Sima Rui's death in 323, the 23 year old successor Emperor Ming- after being warned of Wang's ambition to take the throne for himself, preempted their schemes. Instead, Ming organized a counter plot in 325 with bands of loyalists in the court and preemptively attacked the Wang clan's private armies. The young Emperor personally led his battles, and crushed Wang Dun's armies. Wang Dun soon died of sickness, Ming then vigorously attacked again, this time utterly destroying the Wang clan's armies and killing their generals.

Thereafter, for the first time in 2 decades, Jin royal authority briefly restored. However, only a year after his total victory over the Wang clan, the promising 26 year old Emperor Ming who had only ruled for 3 years died, leaving the Jin realm in the hand of his 5 year old son. Again, the head of Jin dynasty was a weak puppet in the hands of powerful handlers. Jin then further sank into decline. The glimmer of hope was just that, a glimmer. A period of intensive warfare would follow.

CLIMACTIC DUEL OF THE TWO ZHAOS

LATER ZHAO ACHIEVES SUPREMACY IN THE NORTH

Despite loosing the east tracks of his territories, Liu Yao kept on his offensives. In 328, Liu Yao's forces decisively repelled Shi Hu's Later Zhao forces after several hard fought bouts. After blowing Shi Hu away, the Former Zhao forces then besieged Louyang (then under Shi clan's control) and isolating it from Later Zhao in the north, east and west. Liu Yao's was thus able to wedge back into the central plains and secure a staging point from where to spill in more of his troops.

To the northwest, in the Liang territories, the Liang saw their chance to overthrow their vassalage to the Former Zhao, under the young patriarch Zhang Jun, the Liang army attempted to swoop down and take the west of Former Zhao, however Liu Yao already anticipated their treachery and deployed a great army in anticipation of their gambit. Humbled, the Liang army did not commit to invading Former Zhao. Despite this, their timidity was not matched by another, for the enraged Shi Le himself personally came riding with all of his crack generals. He would throw all of them in here to obliterate Former Zhao once and for all.

Music: Cat and Mouse

Shi Le- by this time still a shrewd war maker, was furious at the loss of his central territories. Despite being over 50 and warned by any of his advisers, chose to personally lead the new campaign against Former Zhao, swearing to killing Liu Yao once and for all. For the central plains campaign, Shi deployed dozens of his closest kinsmen (nearly all proven career commanders) and their great armies, including personally leading an army of 40,000 to retake Luoyang. His combined armies numbered over a hundred thousand with over 27,000 cavalry. Their fresh campaign began brilliantly, and the whole army swiftly crossed the Yellow River (the natural northern barrier for Luoyang) completely catching Liu Yao off guard, 

FURY OF SHI LE- THE BATTLE UNDER LUOYANG'S WALLS

Shi Le's crossing was so rapid and unexpected that thousands of his men raced to Luoyang without the besiegers even taking note of it. While the vast majority of Liu Yao's troops were still deployed to the west of the metropolis preparing for a siege. Realizing this, and realizing the surprised he had achieved without the other's notice, Shi Le committed to an all out assault using his surprise and initiative. Shi sent out his best generals and cavalry barreling westward all toward Liu Yao's forces, using the city's walls as a line of defense if there was ever a need for them to regroup.

Liu Yao's entire army was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a full army attacking them and many blocks of soldiers were blown off the field of battle. Despite this, it did not turn to an all out route. Part of his army was able to overcome the initial shock of the surprise attack and respond with disciplined fighting. To their credit, the fighting lines eventually shifted to under the western walls and gatehouses of Luoyang. Shi Le commanded from a vantage and watch the swirl of battle beneath the walls, sending out and committing reserve troops where ever they are needed, and at times, even personally riding out to relieve troubled spots with his vanguards. Liu's forces faced a total collapse, with Later Zhao report that they had took some 50,000 severed heads from Liu's troops. 

By contrast, Liu Yao at this time did not expect a battle to occur and had been blind drunk in his camp. When the battle broke out, Liu was clueless as to where his horse was carrying him, until he fell off his horse as his lines collapsed. Liu was personally captured by Later Zhao troops. After Shi Le failed to persuade Liu Yao to go to his capital at Chang An and convince the city to surrender, Shi had Liu executed, then he took Chang An. The deprivation of the 2 imperial cities and key resource sectors left Former Zhao at the brink of total collapse.

Music: Will of Tengri

The Crown Prince of Former Zhao was left with only a tiny sliver of existence in the largely barren western lands. After instigated several rebellions of the Hu and Han population around Chang An against Later Zhao, the Shi clan raced to finish the Liu clan once and for all. As soon as the rebellions are incited- Shi Le's nephew Shi Hu swept into the area and massacred anything that opposed Shi Le's rule. But the bloody Shi Hu was not finished, he then led a headlong pursuit, where by he killed the Liu Crown Prince and some 3,000 Former Zhao courtiers, completely erasing Former Zhao from the map and wiping out its court. A year later in 330, Shi Le declared himself Emperor (not merely as Heavenly Prince 王 of Zhao, but Emperor of a whole vast united realm. 

SUPREMACY OF LATER ZHAO IN THE NORTH

Shi Le ascended to his throne with lofty appraisal of himself. After his coronation he asked his courtiers for comparisons with the best Chinese emperors, when pointed to the likes of Gaozu of Han- Liu Bang, he rejected the association. He also mocked the likes of Cao Cao and Sima Yi, whom he saw as mere scheming usurpers. Instead, Shi Le compared himself to the Guangwu Emperor of Han.

With Shi Le's ascension as emperor, he soon awarded his kinsmen with prestigious titles and appointment. However Shi Hu- who was decisive in putting down many anti- Shi Le forces, and was a vanguard of many conquests, felt slighted, for he was only given some slight promotions and flowery titles, but not much in raw wealth, power, nor prestige, especially compared to many lessers whom he felt did not deserve titles that eclipsed his own. Deeply upset, Shi Hu was reported to have told his sons that if Shi Le ever dies he would take the throne. 3 years later, when Shi Le fell sick and was on his deathbed, Shi Hu made his move.

The very day Shi Le died, Shi Hu immediately made his move. Before Shi Le was even buried Shi Hu marched on the palace with his son and systematically began to kill all of Shi Le's closet kinsmen and generals (it should be pointed out, his own distant kinsmen as well,) including the Dowager Empress. Shi Le was then buried in an unmarked grave upon an unmarked hill that night. Shi Hu's massacres continued with torturing most of Shi Le's bloodline to death, leaving only his branch of the family in tact. This was further extended to many of the other kinsmen generals who once served Shi Le and whom Shi Hu felt threatened by. His imperial purges quickly followed with a series of military purges as well, slaughtering many of his kinsmen's trusted aides and generals- it continued with him besieging and slaughtering many Shi Le's loyal soldiers in Luoyang. Afterwards. Having forced the state, its military apparatus, its court, and its people all at sword point to bent their knees to him, Shi Hu then assumed dictatorial power over Later Zhao. Shi Hu's reign was marked by casual brutality, frequent massacred, crippling taxes, draconian laws, the murder/ execution of several of his own Crown Prince, and the rather lurid predilections one of his Crown Prince practiced. 

Music: The Descent

THE CANKERED HOUSE OF SHI HU

Shi Hu often had a rather strange relation with women, a violent and quick tempered megalomaniac prong to drinking and violent debaucheries. He often frolicked with women, even going so far as forming an inner court (court of minister) with women dressed in ministers' garbs, he also raised a guard of thousands of women cavalry guards and dressed in soldier's armor. Despite these strange habits, when compared to his Crown Prince, Shi Hu was dealing with another dimension of aberrations.  

SHI XIE- AN ORGY OF BLOOD

After freshly killing his own appointed Crown Prince in 337, Shi Hu chose another of his sons, Shi Xie 石邃 (other times spelled as Shi Sui) as a new replacement. Externally, Shi Xie played the part of a flatterer, endlessly rendering flattery and seeking approval from his megalomaniacal father. He lived the life of an untouchable idle youth who hunted and spent his time in drunken leisures. In reality, Shi Xie's indifferent exterior belied a psychotically violent level of cruelty. Because he has his own private court, he was prone to behead servant and officials for minor wrongs. Despite this, his casual treatment of servants was not even comparable to his treatment of his concubines. According to the Book of Jin compiled during the Tang dynasty, Shi Xie often collected the fairest women in the land, dressed them in the fairest clothes, then had them beheaded for his gratification.

Reportedly after Shi Xie beheaded them, he would wash the blood off these freshly severed heads then aesthetically display these beauty's heads upon bejeweled dishes for his guests. The records mentioned his friends and soldiers feast on muttons and (other versions saying they ate the beauty's corpses) while the freshly severed, sightless head was pass around to elicit admiration from the guests, as proof that: for their sakes, Shi Xie~ as a host, had indeed been good enough to have killed a rare and coveted beauty worthy of their enjoyment. 

Unfortunately for Shi Xie, his casual violence eventually led him into conflict with his father. Because Shi Hu was often contradictory in his wishes, people would be punished regardless if they do one thing or do the opposite. Often Crown Prince Shi Xie would be whipped doing one thing then if he did the opposite also whipped for it. Since often whatever he does he was still severely whipped, Shi Xie plotted to assassinate his father. Shi Hu discovered this and killed Shi Xie's co-conspirators, but initially pardoned him. However, Shi Xie refused to apologize, and this enraged Shi Hu, who deposed him and then beheaded him, along with his wife Crown Princess Zhang and his 26 children, burying them all in one large coffin. He also killed some 200 subordinates of Shi Xie. Shi Xie was but 1 of the executed Crown Princes to come.

YAN- THE TIGERS DOMAIN AT LIAODONG

MURONG HUANG'S CHOICE 

In the east, on the far eastern frontier of Later Zhao, a clan of then little noted tribesmen made what is today's Liaodong Peninsula their domains. After initially pledging their fealty to Emperor Wu of Jin in 289, the Murongs then became the undisputed masters of the tiny strip of land in northeastern China arching into North Korea. In time, their domains would receive the name of Former Yan, named after the ancient Spring and Autumn/ Warring States kingdom of Yan that once existed in the region. But at this point of our narrative? ~that name, nay, that title has to be earned in the war to come. 

Music: Warzone

In late 337- the same year where he purged his 2 Crown Princes, Shi Hu entered into an alliance with the Former Yan prince Murong Huang to attack the northern Xianbei Duan tribe. In 338, the joint forces defeated and practically wiped out the Duan, but Shi Hu, angry that Murong Huang withdrew his forces early, launched an all out assault against Yan with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The capital of Yan at Jicheng was swiftly besieged and surrounded, with orders from Zhao to wipe Former Yan out. Besieged, Prince Murong Huang contemplated escaping and abandoning the capital, however, a loyal adviser persuaded him to do the opposite. Instead, the small Yan forces took the fight to Zhao.

Instead, the Beleaguered Yan forces utterly destroyed the Zhao Army. Despite being besieged from 4 directions by a vastly larger force, for 20 long days, the Yan soldiers repelled the invaders with ferocity. None of the walls nor gates were breached and the Yan stood firm. The Later Zhao army had not expected this level of dogged resistance, nor did they prepare supplies for a long siege. When supplies began to ran out, the Zhao besiegers abandoned the siege and marched back in an organized retreat.

Wiping out Yan (Purple) was almost a none starter for Later Zhao and its generals.

Yan was territorially insignificant, and cannot even compare its population, productivity

or potential army size to the states that Later Zhao had easily vanquished before.

Efficiency: Yan had hosted many refugees who poured into the region during the conflict in the central plains to the relatively safe domain of the Liaodong backwaters, Murong Huang's father Murong Hui treated the ethnically Han refugees with kindness and tolerance, and most chose to stay, greatly strengthening his power. By the time of Murong Huang's rule, the court and administration was modeled after that of Jin's- albeit more efficiently.

However, the Yan forces sallied from their capital, and in 2 prongs (1 led by Huang's son Murong Ke) assaulted the retreating Zhao columns. The Zhao retreat soon turned into a complete route, and the Yan reported killing over 30,000 Zhao soldiers. After Later Zhao's withdrawal, Murong Huang recaptured the cities that had rebelled. He also took over cities formerly ruled by the Duan, extending into modern northern Hebei. Yan had stopped a giant. Zhao had failed to considered one of the key pillars of the Yan state, a brood of militarily capable princes.

330s was a period of bloody trials for Murong Huang. Huang was a daring proven commander and rose to his position after he vanquished his brothers in a civil war. In order to unseat him, many of his brothers joined the rival Duan clan. Despite being force to fight on his backffot against thousands of enemies, Huan survived several ambushes from his brothers and managed to either still triumph or slip away. Many times he outwitted the superior Duan forces, and was able to play his traitorous brothers. In early 336- only 1 year before the Zhao- Yan war, Murong Huang made a daring surprise attack, personally leading his army across the frozen Bohai Sea and attacked his brother Murong Ren's Duan army from an unexpected direction, capturing him and forced him to commit suicide.

In 339, Shi Hu launched another massive invasion to destroy Yan. At the time, a famous enemy of Yan- Duan Liao, chieftain of the remaining Duan sent conflicting requests to Later Zhao and Former Yan, requesting surrender, when the Later Zhao and Former Yan forces engaged, Duan decided to side with the Murong forces and joined his army with that of Murong. At the foot of the Miyun Mountains (Dense Cloud Mtn, Cloud Shroud Mts) Later Zhao was ambushed and was again resoundingly defeated with tens of thousands of losses. When Duan Liao later tried to rebel against Huang, Huang had him killed.

JIN'S EXPEDITION AGAINST LATER ZHAO

The wars of consolidation in the north meant that the south was largely spared of the high strife of war. Especially considering the extreme closeness of the Jin imperial capital at Jiankang (Nanjing) to the northern kingdom's boarders.

In 339, A key Jin adviser and military governor Yu Liang, who had long watched the development of the Zhao- blood feud- and now the Jin/ Yan wars assessed that the previous round of headaches the Jin had experienced to the northern invaders was nothing, and that "States of Former Zhao and Cheng (the separatist Jin state in the west) were nothing, but Later Zhao is a fatal existential threat." Seeing that Zhao was tied up in battles, Yu requisitioned some 100,000 soldiers in a proposed expedition against the north. However under feeble Regency, the Jin court opposed it. Stating that former Jin armies- even with greater numbers and with smaller enemies forces still lost, now? with the Zhao being commanded by more competent commanders it's even less likely Jin will prevail.

Music: The One

Yu Liang defied the court's rejection and invaded the north anyway- But to his horror, his invasion was anticipated by Shi Hu, who counter attacked by racing to several major Jin holdout cities on the Jin/Zhao border along the major rivers, the Zhao inflicted heavy losses upon the Jin, and after capturing the last of the major Jin cities along the Huai River- and within the sight of Yu's army on the other bank, Zhao proceeded to burn the cities and butcher the citizenry en mass before the exasperated Jin soldiers. Instead of gaining any territories, the Jin lost hundreds of kilometers of land from the Yellow River to the Huai River. Now, the northern invaders were dangerous close to Jiankang. Yu, humiliated and stricken with guilt, offered to have himself demoted, and while Emperor Cheng of Jin refused, Yu became despondent and died on the first day of the lunar new year in 340. But for Shi Hu, his attention already returned to once again exterminating the troublesome Yan. This time, the whole of northern China would be marshalled as Shi Hu's hammer. 

ZHAO'S TITANIC HAMMER- 

To crush the troublesome Yan, Shi Hu in 340 marshalled for a titanic invasion. In order to accomplish his megalomaniacal goals, Shi Hu ordered that 3 out of ever 5 males in the realm be forcefully impressed for the eastern campaign. Shi Hu also taxed his people to the breaking point, requisitioning all kind of horses, for the campaign, and executed anyone who hides horses or grain or refused confiscations were killed. For the 340 invasion, Shi Hu gathered an army of 500,000, 10,000 ships, river boats, horses 40,000. (Book of Jin)

And again, the Zhao army was defeated and driven off the field. Having firmly secured Yan from the latest gambit by the Zhao, Murong Huang contemplated raising his tribe to a higher station. During the time of his father Murong Hui, who had pledged submissions to Emperor Wu of Jin in 289, the Murongs became the only domain in northern China still under titular Jin rule. Thus they carried the Jin-bestowed title of the Duke of Liaodong. A title that he himself received from Jin at his ascension. 

RISE A PRINCE OF YAN

To broaden his hold on power over the north, in 339, Murong Huang married his sister to Tuoba Shiyijian, the Xianbei Prince of Dai, cementing an alliance between the two Xianbei powers. He also sent messengers to the Jin capital to formally request from Emperor Cheng the Prince of Yan title—explaining that he needed it to increase his authority over the people but that he was still loyal to Jin. However the Jin court was struck with timidity regarding this request fearing that if they recognized Huang as Prince of Yan, then it would also by extension legitimize other northern kingdoms. After several months of heated debate between his ambassador and the Jin courtiers,  in 341, Emperor Cheng relented and decided to grant Murong Huang the princely title. Jin confirmed his position as the Prince of Yan, military governor (of the Jin) in the north, and other and gifts.

TERROR OF THE NORTH

After conferring his position as Prince of Yan, the Former Yan state embarked on a series of military conquests against its regional neighbors. During the winter of 342, Murong Huang sent his armies east with a great army of 40,000 in a multi pronged invasion, while another 15,000 from the north and conquered the nearby Korean Gugoreyo kingdom's capital, Hwando, capturing 50,000 Goguryeo men and women to use as slave labor in addition to taking the queen mother and queen prisoner.

Though the Gugoreyo king Gogugwon had escaped from capture, in order to ensure his obedience, Murong Huang ordered the body of late King Micheon- Gogugwon's father be dug up and relocated his  royal remains and all the burial gifts to Yan. Guguryeo then agreed to become Former Yan vassals. and in turn, Huang returned the remains of the King, but kept King's mother and queen as hostage. 

Chanfron and barding (horse armor) of a northern Chinese cataphract, note the tall and ostentatious plume Jisheng 寄生, lit. "parasite" on the horse's hip. The Xianbei elites who ruled northern China frequently deployed cataphracts in their battles. 

Jisheng discovered from cataphracts from Liaodong regions, and (right) later Gugoryeo flags on the back of the Korean cataphracts.

In 344, with his kinsmen leading the war effort, Murong Huang decisively defeated and subjugated the powerful Xianbei Yuwen tribes to its north west, sending them to the barren deserts between Former Yan and Dai. The Former Yan forces forcibly moved the Yuwen tribe south and merged them into Former Yan's own population. By this point, the Murongs were kings in all but name, since they had already received the homage of Korean kings and whole cast of chieftains. To ensure fair laws and great efficiency throughout the small kingdom. Former Yan codified its laws, provided a channel for the justice and law from arbitrary punishments and ensured the stability of society. 

LATER ZHAO'S DESPERATE INVASION OF LIANG

SHI HU SLAUGHTER OF HIS OWN FAMILY

After the catastrophic defeat of the 500,000 invasion, Shi Hu- never to be outdone by his own mistakes nor dulled by his own hubris ordered another massive invasion force to be raised. In 342, Shi Hu continued a large number of construction projects, and further ordered major conscriptions, with plans to attack not only Jin but both Former Liang in the west and Former Yan in the east. This time, rather than pushing many of his subject to the breaking point, broke many of them to pieces outright. To fund the expedition, Shi Hu further raised the already crippling Tax rate. Families were expected to mandatorily contribute a number of sons, 2 cattle, a heavy portion of rice, and 1 horse, and many equipment's. Any families that cannot fulfill this backbreaking amount would be put to death. It was recorded that many in the north chose to hanging themselves to escape the punishment of not being able to fulfil such a demand. However, in 344, after believing the court astrologer Zhao Lan that a campaign would bring ill fortune, cancelled the campaign plans.

In 346, Zhang Jun, the patriarch of Former Liang died, the Later Zhao generals Wang Zhuo (王擢) and Ma Qiu attacked Former Liang with intent to conquer it, but after some initial successes, they were repelled by the Former Liang general Xie Ai (谢艾). Another attack by Ma in 347 was also repelled by Xie. Of the 16,000 invading force personally commanded by the Crown Prince Shi Xuan, 10,000 died from attrition. Later in 347, believing a Buddhist monk's words that the Hu (胡, broad term encompassing non-Han) were about to lose their power to the Han and that the Han needed to be suppressed, further forced the Han men to engage in great labor .

SHI HU AGAIN MASSACRED HIS OWN CHILDREN, AND GRANDCHILDREN  

In 348, the conflict between his second son the Crown Prince Shi Xuan and a half brother Shi Tao came to a horrifying resolution. Though Shi Xuan had much power he was deeply jealous of the attention Shi Tao received. Shi Tao was born from another concubine and was often his father's favorite. After a heated dispute, Shi Xuan brutally assassinated Shi Tao in a Buddhist temple- disembowling him and stabbing his eyes out and considered assassinating Shi Hu as well. 

Shi Hu immediately suspected Shi Xuan, and his suspicions were fanned by that Shi Xuan glibly showed no sign of mourning for Shi Tao. Shi Hu detained Shi Xuan and arrested his followers, discovering the detailed assassination plot against himself as well. Shi Hu then carried out a most cruel execution of his own Crown Prince. Shi Xuan was placed near a wooden platform with a ladder leading up to it. His hairs and tongue were then pulled out, and then he was dragged up the ladder onto the platform. A rope was threaded through his pierced jaw, and then he was hoisted onto a wooden pyre. His hands and feet were then cut off, his eyes gouged out, and his abdomen sliced open and entrails allowed to flow out, mirroring how how Shi Tao appeared at his death. Then, a great fire was set on the pyre, and Shi Xuan was burned to death. 

Shi Xuan's mother Empress Du was reduced to commoner status, and Shi Xuan's wife, many concubines, and sons were all executed, including his youngest, whom even Shi Hu had always dolted on and was was considering pardoning—but the executioner grabbed the child and executed him too. Shi Hu, shocked by his young grandson's death, grew severely ill. Shi Xuan's servants and retainers were all executed as well, and the Crown Prince's guards were exiled to the Liang frontiers. Under recommendations, Shi Hu named his 8 year old youngest son Shi Shi 石世 his heir. Reasoning that his own sons over 20 all wanted to kill him, and by the time Shi Shi grow up to an age where he could kill him, he would already be dead anyway. 

Music: Reaching Roth

JIN UNDER ABLE STUARTSHIP OF GENERAL HUAN WEN

Back in the court of Easter Jin, a supremely capable minister rose to a position of prominence at this time, an expert of both military as well as civil abilities, Huan Wen- a military governor attacked the feebled state of Cheng in battle. After driving off the Cheng forces off the field, Huan did not give his enemies any respite and then force march hi Jin soldiers in a headlong pursuit and took the Cheng capital of Chengdu, absorbing it back to Jin control.

The bloodied Li clan that ruled Cheng then surrenders to the Jin fold, thereafter maintained a small degree of regional autonomy as aristocrats but was denied access to become a true threat again. With the reunification of the south under Jin rule, finally, Jin was able to fully and solely turn  its attention to the north. Finally, the South was poised to strike back as one.

FAREWELL TO MURONG HUANG

In 348, Murong Huang, the Prince of Jin grew ill and died, passing the Yan mantle to his teenage son Murong Jun. At the time of Murong Huang's death, the state had long consolidated its power around its Crown Prince- who had cultivated good relations with his supportive brothers. Yan sat as the hegemon over several tribes and kingdoms in its periphery, and was primed~ bristling for expansion. 

By the time Shi Hu received this piece of news, he too was sickly and dying. In 349, after making his two of his remaining sons Regents to the young heir Shi Shi, Shi Hu signed off major duties to the court and his Regents. However, his wishes were not in keeping with the interests of his Empress and her own clique of courtiers. As a result, this block of the inner palace soon monopolized all of Shi Hu's court's power. The last days of Shi Hu were left as he laid powerless and sickly dying, while virtually all decisions were made without his consent. Little did Shi Hu know, just one year later, Yan would expand deep into Central China, including to the very heartlands of the Zhao capital, the very bed where he was dying on. Little else did Shi Hu know- in his death he would kill 2 more thing. His whole kingdom and his people. His heirs, his family, even his race will not survive only 2 years after his passing.

Thank you for your interest in having read this far into the long, uneven, and (you got to admit) unpredictable narrative. Hopefully you can appreciate my efforts in piecing together the disorienting patchwork of biographies, profiles on kingdoms, lurid details and quotations into a somewhat coherent narrative. Follow us next chapter as we examine the unravelling of the Later Zhao state, and the rise of the next great power in the North: the Former Qin. I thank all my Patrons for their support and patience as I piece these out from my spare time. And if you are new to my work and like what I do~ Well, you reading this far is already enough for me. Good to know there's another kindred spirit out there and I am not crying into the wild alone. 

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