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Chapter 352 Are Luo Cheng and Luo Shixin the same person?

In politics, Murong Ke was extremely loyal to the Former Yan regime and never had any thoughts of usurping power. In the 359th year of Murong Jun's reign, Murong Jun knew that he was seriously ill and did not have much time left.

The only thing he was worried about was Crown Prince Murong Wei, because in the later period of Murong Jun's rule, there were very serious contradictions within the Former Yan and the party struggles were particularly fierce.

Moreover, when Murong Jun was dying, there were two major rivals outside the Former Yan, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Former Qin Dynasty, who had been eyeing the throne covetously. At this time, the crown prince Murong Wei was only 9 years old and could not effectively handle the government.

Murong Jun then summoned Murong Ke and said, "Qin and Jin have not yet been pacified, and the crown prince is young. I intend to follow the example of Duke Xuan of Song and hope to entrust the affairs of state to you."

Some people speculated that Murong Jun's decision was a test of Murong Ke, but I personally think that he still trusted Murong Ke quite a lot because he deliberately mentioned Song Xuangong in his conversation with Murong Ke.

Before his death, Duke Xuan of Song encountered almost the same problem as Murong Jun: the crown prince was young and unable to govern. So he said to his younger brother: "After the father dies, the son inherits, and after the elder brother dies, the younger brother inherits. This is the universal principle of the world."

This means that it is moral to pass the throne to his younger brother. So he passed the throne to Duke Mu of Song. But more importantly, after ensuring the development of the country, Duke Mu of Song finally passed the throne to Duke Xuan of Song's son in order to express his gratitude for Duke Xuan of Song's kindness and trust.

Murong Jun mentioned Duke Xuan of Song, and his intention should be to pass the throne to Murong Ke first, and then return the throne to Murong Wei after the country is fully stabilized. His entrustment is very sincere. He expressed the deep friendship and trust between brothers through the story of Duke Xuan of Song, believing that Murong Ke can better develop the Former Yan and believe that he can pass the throne to his son in the future.

If Murong Jun had not mentioned Duke Xuan of Song and had not expressed this trust, it would indeed have been a test.

However, Murong Ke firmly rejected Murong Jun's decision, saying: "Since Your Majesty believes that I can take on the important task of stabilizing the country, you should also believe that I can better assist the young master." Murong Jun was very happy to hear this. Murong Ke took charge of the government after Murong Jun's death.

Grand Tutor Muyugen had made great military achievements, but he was dissatisfied with the position of Chief Regent Murong Ke, and attempted to get rid of Murong Ke by disrupting the government.

He first tried to instigate Murong Ke to seize the throne and create distrust between the emperor and Murong Ke, but Murong Ke was not fooled and directly rejected Murong Gen's proposal and expressed his loyalty to the emperor.

After this plan failed, Mu Yugen tried to alienate the relationship between the emperor and the empress dowager, lying to the empress dowager that Murong Ke and others were planning a rebellion, and suggested that the empress dowager kill Murong Ke and others. But the empress dowager still listened to the emperor's advice.

Someone suggested killing Murong Gen, but Murong Ke considered the overall situation and thought that the emperor had just died and this would be very detrimental to the stability of the regime, so he chose to endure.

However, later on, Muyugen urged the emperor and the empress dowager to abandon the Central Plains and return the capital to the old city. Murong Ke could no longer tolerate this, so he secretly reported his crimes and sent people to kill Muyugen and his followers.

This further illustrates Murong Ke's loyalty. He could tolerate all kinds of frame-ups by Mu Yugen, but he would never let Mu Yugen bring disaster to the country and the people. If the emperor followed his advice, it would mean that the Former Yan would give up control of key resources and would be seen as a sign of retreat and weakness. The prestige and international status of the Former Yan would be seriously reduced, and other countries would take the opportunity to launch military aggression against the Former Yan. Therefore, Murong Ke's killing of Mu Yugen was a great protection for the Former Yan regime.

After that, Murong Ke went anywhere with only one attendant, and never had additional guards around him, just to prove his loyalty to the imperial power. Even when he was seriously ill, he was still worried that Murong Wei had no real power.

From the above content, we can see that whether in terms of military ability, political level, or personal character, Murong Ke's overall quality was absolutely top-notch during the period of the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms, with almost no stains.

However, if one must find a flaw in him, it would be his behavior during the war with Goguryeo.

At that time, Murong Ke adopted the tactic of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, and successfully raided the Goguryeo capital Marundo City, and burned down the Goguryeo royal palace after conquering it.

The King of Goguryeo, who was at the front, immediately came back to help after hearing the news and surrounded Murong Ke's army. But Murong Ke did not panic at all.

Because when he captured Maru City, Murong Ke not only kidnapped the king's mother, but also dug up the body of the king's father. So when he was besieged by the Goguryeo army, Murong Ke used this as a bargaining chip to force the Goguryeo king to make concessions.

In the war strategy of the time, kidnapping the enemy's parents was indeed an effective psychological tactic intended to force the enemy to surrender or make some kind of concession.

However, in a culture that emphasizes filial piety and ancestor worship, such behavior would be considered an extremely serious offense, especially digging up ancestral graves, which is an extreme and immoral behavior in terms of moral ethics.

Therefore, Murong Ke's behavior did damage his moral image. But in the period of the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms, which was full of killing and evil, his overall quality was already very good.

[History is so true that Luo Cheng was actually the youngest hero in the Sui and Tang dynasties. He was already a fierce general on the battlefield at the age of 14. Historical trivia and historical figures]

His historical prototype is not inferior to the description in the novel. In the novel, he has the title of "cold-faced and silly", but in reality, he is the youngest hero in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties.

At the age of 14, he could carry more than 100 kilograms of weight and jump on a horse, and he was both wise and brave. At the age of , he was awarded the highest title of the Tang Dynasty for his merits. This person was Luo Shixin, a young and fierce general in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties.

In the novel, Luo Cheng has a distinguished family background, noble birth, handsome appearance, and an arrogant and cold personality. With his superb marksmanship and high martial arts, he earned the nickname "Cold-faced and Cold-gun".

However, Luo Cheng did not exist in real history, and his prototype is generally believed to be Luo Shixin, a young hero in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties.

Luo Shixin was born in 603 AD, during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. He was a native of Licheng, Qizhou (now Licheng District, JN City, SD Province). However, he was not a nobleman as described in the novel. According to historical records, he was loyal and upright, and was extremely brave in his youth. Historical records also have detailed records of his heroic deeds in his youth.

During the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, heavy corvee labor and military service led to increasingly intensified social contradictions. In 611 AD, severe floods occurred in Shandong and Henan, submerging more than 30 counties and making people's lives even more difficult. Against such a difficult background, Wang Bo formally launched an uprising in Changbai Mountain. Zhang Xutuo, a general of the Sui Dynasty, was ordered to fight against the uprising.

Luo Shixin took this opportunity to meet Zhang Xutuo and asked to join the army. He was only 14 years old at that time. However, there is a controversy here: this happened in 613 AD. According to this calculation, Luo Shixin should have been 10 years old at that time, but the literature records that he was 14 years old.

In any case, in Zhang Xutuo's eyes, Luo Shixin was just a young boy who didn't even have the strength to wear armor, let alone go to the battlefield. In order to prove himself, Luo Shixin put on two sets of armor in front of him, and was able to fly on a horse with a long sword hanging on his body.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the weight of iron armor was generally between 28 and 35 kilograms. Luo Shixin wore two sets at a time, carrying at least 56 kilograms. Even so, he could still move very flexibly, which shows how strong this 14-year-old boy was. Zhang Xutuo praised Luo Shixin's performance and ordered him to go to war.

Soon, Zhang Xutuo and the enemy army fought at Beishui. Luo Shixin's performance on the battlefield was totally unlike that of a 14-year-old boy. As soon as the enemy lined up, he stepped forward and knocked down several people at once, and he even cut off the head of one of them.

In order to intimidate the enemy, Luo Shixin actually threw the enemy's head into the air, then impaled the head with a spear, and then walked in front of the enemy's formation with the spear in his hand, scaring the enemy so much that they dared not act rashly.

Zhang Xutuo saw this and took the opportunity to launch an attack, eventually defeating the enemy. Luo Shixin also had a habit of killing enemies: every time he killed someone, he would cut off the opponent's nose, and after the battle, he would report the number of noses as military merit.

As a result, he became Zhang Xutuo's top general, and he and Zhang Xutuo would charge into every battle together. In order to see the two of them, Emperor Yang of Sui ordered painters to draw the scene of their battle.

The following year, Lu Mingyue led the rebels southward, directly entered Hubei, and stationed troops in the suburbs. Later, Lu Mingyue stationed more than 30 camps with a very strong force. Zhang Xutuo was ordered to suppress the rebellion again. However, this battle was not smooth.

After more than 10 days of confrontation, he ran out of food and grass, so he planned to pretend to retreat and set up an ambush if the enemy pursued him. However, this mission was too dangerous and no one dared to take the order. In the end, it was Luo Shixin and Qin Shubao who stepped forward.

Afterwards, Zhang Xutuo withdrew his troops as planned, and Luo Shixin and Qin Shubao each led more than a thousand men and horses to hide in the reeds.

As expected, Lu Mingyue led his army in pursuit. After Lu Mingyue's army had gone far away, Luo Shixin and Qin Shubao immediately attacked their camp and killed countless enemy soldiers. Finally, when the rebel army was in chaos, they set fire to more than 30 camps.

After receiving the news, Lu Mingyue immediately withdrew, and Zhang Xutuo seized the opportunity to counterattack, eventually defeating the enemy and killing countless enemies. Lu Mingyue fled with only a few hundred cavalrymen. Luo Shixin and Qin Shubao were undoubtedly the greatest contributors to this battle.

Two years later, the famous general Zhang Xutuo died in battle. Luo Shixin moved around a lot, first joining Pei Renji, and then following Pei Renji to join Li Mi in 617. Later, Li Mi was defeated by Wang Shichong, and Luo Shixin was captured, but Wang Shichong treated him well and made important use of him.

However, Wang Shichong was a man who loved the new and disliked the old. After completely defeating Li Mi and gaining more generals, he no longer valued Luo Shixin and even took away his warhorse and gave it to his nephew. As a result, Luo Shixin led more than 619 people to surrender to the Tang Dynasty in 1000 AD.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Shichong's sphere of influence was around Luoyang, which was equivalent to controlling the center of the canal and was an important obstacle to the unification of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Li Shimin led his troops to attack Wang Shichong.

During the battle, Luo Shixin stabbed Wang Shichong's son Wang Xuanying off his horse and almost killed him, but failed because the other side rescued him in time.

Luo Shixin then besieged Qianjinbao. In the battle of Qianjinbao, Luo Shixin did not attack by force, but asked more than 100 people to pretend to be civilians, holding babies, and then go to the outside of Qianjinbao at night to spread false information. These civilians holding babies claimed that they came from Luoyang to seek refuge with Luo Shixin, but they did not see the Tang army camp on the way, and ended up in the wrong place and came to the outside of Qianjinbao.

When the defenders heard the babies crying, they really thought they were civilians fleeing. They believed their discussion and thought Luo Shixin had already led his troops to evacuate, so they decided to take this opportunity to pursue them. However, at this time, the area around Qianjin Fort had been well guarded by Luo Shixin. As soon as the defenders opened the city, they were attacked.

Luo Shixin took the opportunity to break through the north of the city and massacred all the defenders. Wang Shichong's defense line was completely broken. The 18-year-old Luo Shixin was awarded the title of Jiangzhou General Manager and Tan Bogong for his merits.

A year later, Mingshui City was attacked by Liu Heita, who claimed to be the King of Handong. Li Shimin led his army to rescue it, but was blocked three times. Luo Shixin then led his army again and led 200 soldiers to break into the city to defend it.

However, facing Liu Heita's fierce attack, he was still unable to resist. The Tang army outside was unable to provide reinforcements, and Luo Shixin was eventually captured. But facing Liu Heita's surrender, he would rather die than surrender, and was eventually killed by Liu Heita at the age of 23.

——"Luo Cheng and Luo Shixin are actually the same person. Aren't they two different people in the novel?"

——"What a pity! When I was watching the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, I cried bitterly when Luo Cheng was framed and died."

——"He's handsome, rich, has a family, and is capable. He's definitely the child of destiny. Unfortunately, the last thing that was lacking at that time was the child of destiny."