In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, northerners migrated southward just to "save their lives". Why did it turn to "southern people migrating northward" in the later period?

Reminiscing about the good times in the past and the prosperous years in the Central Plains. The clothes and crown are covered with charcoal, and the carriage is stained with fishy smell. The Yongjia Rebellion was actually caused by the migration of northerners to the south. Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ethnic minorities have shown signs of inward migration. During the Western Jin Dynasty, it was even more out of control. Eventually, the Central Plains region became a battlefield for foreign competition. The migration of clothes to the south is also the story of northerners migrating southward.

At that time, Sima Rui led the scholar-bureaucrats from the Central Plains to establish power in Jiangzuo, and with the assistance of Wang Dao, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was finally formed. Whether they are Hu people or people from the Central Plains, they always like to go south. One is to pursue a better living environment, and the other is to escape the war.

(1), sailing against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat. To the north of Tongyou Capital, in the vast wilderness, livestock is migrated, and hunting is the occupation. The migration of northerners to the south seems to have become a historical law. Whenever there is war in the north, rulers or people like to go south to take refuge. For example, Xuanzong fled to Sichuan and Shu, Jianyan crossed to the south, and many small courts in the Southern Ming Dynasty. After losing the north, they all fought against the enemy in the south. However, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were signs of the opposite.

1. There are many wars and people are displaced. I would rather be a dog in the prosperous times than a person in the troubled times. Everyone hopes to live in a peaceful social environment. Once war breaks out, human life will be like a piece of grass. This has been the case for several times in history when people traveled south in clothes. The Northern and Southern Dynasties can be said to be the darkest period in Chinese history. Regimes changed very frequently at that time.

The clan nobles of the previous dynasty often become a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh when the new master succeeds. Therefore, when it comes to the migration of southerners to the north, it is actually mainly the pampered royal nobles. Because they have certain financial strength and are very afraid of being liquidated. Simply go directly to the north, maybe you can get good treatment.

During the Hou Jing Rebellion, many northerners moved southward. "Book of Wei": Xiao Yan's descendants, the governor of Yanzhou in the north, Xiao Da, the Marquis of Xiangtan, the governor of Xuzhou, Xiao Zheng, and the Marquis of Xiangtan, Xiao Tui, competed to surrender. ?In the third year of Taiqing, Wang Xiangui surrendered to the Eastern Wei Dynasty with Shou Yang? "History of the North": During the Tianbao period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Liang, Huainan, and Huaibei all entered the Northern Qi Dynasty.

2. Bringing land and being treated well

Respect is mutual. If you want to gain the supreme status after defecting to other countries, of course you must have some real skills. When Hou Jing rebelled against Liang, the clan members of Nan Liang were enfeoffed in various places. Moreover, everyone saw that the empire was about to collapse, and naturally they were extremely scared.

At this time, the only countries that can accommodate them are the northern countries. The nobles surnamed Xiao took their enfeoffed land to defect, which was equivalent to handing in a certificate of surrender. In exchange for their protection and protection from Hou Jing's massacre, this calculation is a very cost-effective one. Moreover, these people have many choices.

Just like during the Jiangling Incident, in addition to the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, many of the clan's descendants also went to the Western Wei. Whoever offers the highest price will go to him. No matter which regime in the north, this large piece of land that can be obtained without a single soldier is in great need. In order to avoid the war, the nobles in the south began to gradually move north. In addition, many were captured after defeat.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it is due to their own lack of ability and their habit of living a free and uninhibited life. When war comes, there is no other option but to surrender to other countries to gain temporary safety. All independent migrations have only one reason: the land they currently live in makes it difficult for them to survive.

The southern nobles moved north because they were afraid that they would be liquidated or they did not want to suffer from the war anymore. Although some people do not have their own fiefdoms, they do have gold and silver and are very wealthy. Compared with them, those people at the bottom are the coolest.

(2) If there is good at the top, it will be very bad at the bottom. If things prosper, the people will suffer; if they die, the people will suffer. Apart from the upper class, the majority of people migrating north are actually civilians with no social status, no economic ability, and nothing. After the ethnic minorities took over the Central Plains, they fought for years and attacked each other, resulting in a sharp decline in population. The land in the Central Plains has been relatively fertile since ancient times. It would be very embarrassing for the rulers if there was no one to cultivate the excellent land and there were no roosters crowing for thousands of miles.

Because if there are no people, taxes cannot be paid. If taxes are not raised, huge military expenditures cannot be supported, and there will be a danger of national subjugation.

1. Take the initiative to return to the north in search of hope

After the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of northerners moved southward. At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, large-scale migration of southerners to the north occurred. Among these people, the main force is still the common people. "Water flows to lower places, and people go to higher places." Since the current living environment cannot meet the most basic living conditions, it is better to take the initiative to go north.

"Northern History" In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Western Wei Dynasty, Xiao Xun, the governor of Liangzhou, led his troops to the dynasty with a population of 50,000; in the fifth year of Yuanhe, there were more than 32,000 people from the north and south. people?. There are not many records about people entering the Northern Dynasty, but the number of people was quite large. The south was overcrowded, and at this time, the north had relatively better development prospects than its own country.

In fact, the ultimate reason is that large areas of wasteland in the Central Plains are uncultivated.

After their arrival, they can not only relieve the pressure on the current regime, the rulers will naturally welcome them with both hands; for themselves, they can temporarily escape the chaos of war, and the most important thing is to be able to eat with peace of mind.

2. Captured and brought into the country, willing to be slaves

Mencius said: "The people of the region do not rely on the boundaries of the border, and the country does not rely on the dangers of mountains and rivers." But throughout the ages, there have been very few people who have been able to reach this level. The first Sixteen Kingdoms or later the Northern Dynasties all plundered people's power in the south. According to "Book of the Zhou Dynasty", Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty destroyed Jiangling, captured hundreds of officials and people, and made them 100,000 slaves.

This is the largest number of civilians captured by the northern regime in recorded history. These ordinary people are powerless and have no ability to fight against the powerful regime. And the country they originally belonged to is even less capable of protecting them. Therefore, we can only watch the people become slaves of the Xianbei people.

After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, in order to consolidate its rule, it also began to plunder people from the south on a large scale. Moreover, the Chen Dynasty at that time was very weak and could only be manipulated by others. The last time occurred before the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen and unified the country. The Northland has been at war all year round, so a sharp decline in population is inevitable.

Without the people at the bottom as slaves, their throne would naturally not be stable. Therefore, the migration of these people to the north was very involuntary.

(3) It is obvious that the north is strong and the south is weak. In the early years of Yongjia, bandits plundered for consecutive years, the people were unemployed, and people fled and surrendered one after another. When Yiguan was crossing south, he saw aristocratic families and powerful people moving to the south one after another. Many people were unwilling to live under the rule of foreigners, so they followed the imperial court to the south of the Yangtze River. During the Liang-Chen period, many people began to migrate to the north. A very important reason is that the northern regime has far better development prospects than our own country, and it is also due to many factors such as avoiding disasters and chaos.

1. If a tree is moved, it will die, but if a person is moved, it will live.

Everyone has the right to pursue a better life, which is also the fundamental factor that promotes the continuous progress of society. For people in the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, their ancestors went to great lengths to escape the war and settle in the south. At this time, Jiangnan was in a mess because of the Hou Jing Rebellion and the Jiangling Rebellion.

If you have the ability to choose, no one wants to live in the shadow of swords and swords all day long. In historical books, the most recorded group of people migrating northward are the nobles of the royal court. There are two reasons why they develop northward. First of all, it is to take the initiative to surrender yourself. The son of Poyang Wang Hui, brother of Emperor Wu of Liang, rushed to Qi Dynasty. When the Jiangling Rebellion broke out, Xiao Gai and He Tuo agreed to go to Chang'an.

These people are unable to continue living in the fiefdom due to war or internal fighting between the ruling groups. Although they did not bring their own fiefdom, they still had a distinguished status. So, generally speaking, I still received preferential treatment. In addition, some people were defeated and captured.

Whether it is for any of the two reasons, they will never be alone when they join. Even though there was no city as a gift, he still brought a lot of gold and silver treasures or soldiers and slaves. Generally speaking, the treatment is not bad.

2. Opportunistic psychology

In addition to the royal family and the common people, the literati and bureaucrats were also a group that should not be underestimated in the process of migrating north. At that time, in addition to the traditional wealthy noble families, there were also many emerging common people.

Because of the frequent changes in ruling regimes and the constant occurrence of internal strife, many literati began to move north. After all, the cultural development of the Northern Dynasties was far inferior to that of the South. Therefore, in their eyes, the north is where their future lies. Therefore, when the common people literati saw that the high-level officials were like this, they also moved to the north.

After tasting the sweetness, the Northern Dynasty regime also began to gradually force the literati to migrate. Because of the strong military strength of the North, they often forcibly brought civil servants and officials from various places to their territory after victory. There are many such people, such as Wu Mingche, Pei Ji, Zhan Wenhe and Geng Xun. It is the most filial piety without harming one's nature. Worrying about being filial to one's father? In addition, many people moved to the Northern Dynasties due to the influence of benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trust. Most of them were wives or parents who were captured in the war. In order to be reunited with their families, they narrowly escaped death and resolutely went to the north to reunite with their families.

In addition, many people were forcibly detained during the cultural exchange process. ?In the second year of Taiqing, Xu Ling went to the Eastern Wei Dynasty as an envoy. During the chaos in Houjing at that time, he was forced to stay here for this reason. The rulers used the Hou Jing Rebellion and the excuse that it was not safe to return to the Southern Dynasties to treat the literati in the Southern Dynasty softly and hard, and kept them here.

Conclusion:

The large-scale migration of people northward at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties was nothing more than active and passive factors. Taking the initiative is because the court is struggling with internal conflicts or wars, and it is difficult to continue to live, so it chooses a relatively better living environment; among them, the most passive ones are the most common. The north had been fighting for years and the population was sparse, so they began to plunder the population. In fact, no matter what the reason is, the most important reason is that the northern regime is strong while the southern regime is weak.

References:

"New History of the Five Dynasties"

"Old History of the Five Dynasties"