The Fall of the Dai State and the Betrayal of Tuoba Shiyijian

In the winter of 376 CE, the Former Qin Empire, under the formidable leadership of Fu Jian, launched a devastating invasion against the Dai State, ruled by Tuoba Shiyijian, grandfather of the future Northern Wei founder Tuoba Gui. The Dai defenses crumbled—first, the Bai and Dugu tribes were defeated, followed by a catastrophic loss at Shiziling, where the southern commander Liu Kuren’s 100,000 cavalry were annihilated.

With Tuoba Shiyijian gravely ill, the Dai people fled north of the Yin Mountains, only to face rebellion from the previously subjugated Gaoche tribes. Trapped and desperate, Tuoba Shiyijian retreated to the southern deserts. After the Qin army withdrew, he returned to Yunzhong Commandery—only to be murdered by his own son, Tuoba Shijun, in a bloody succession dispute. The Dai State collapsed, its people scattered, and the royal family was either slaughtered or captured.

Competing Historical Narratives: A Web of Deception

The official Wei Shu and Zizhi Tongjian record Tuoba Shiyijian’s death at his son’s hands. Yet the Jin Shu offers a scandalous alternative: Tuoba Shiyijian was betrayed not by Tuoba Shijun, but by his grandson (or son?) Tuoba Gui, who handed him over to the Qin. Stripped of dignity, the aging ruler was sent to the Former Qin capital to study Confucian rites—a humiliating exile. Meanwhile, the six-year-old Tuoba Gui, branded unfilial, was banished to Shu (modern Sichuan).

Why the discrepancy? The answer lies in dynastic propaganda. The Northern Wei court could never admit their founding emperor had surrendered his own kin to the enemy.

The Incestuous Politics of the Tuoba Clan

The confusion over Tuoba Gui’s parentage reveals darker truths. Born in 371 as the posthumous son of Tuoba Shi (who died at 15 defending his father), Tuoba Gui’s mother, Lady He, was likely “inherited” by Tuoba Shiyijian—a common but taboo practice among nomadic tribes. Southern historians, scandalized, simply listed Tuoba Gui as Shiyijian’s son.

This blurred lineage mattered little to outsiders. What did matter was Tuoba Gui’s role in Dai’s surrender. At six, he was a puppet; the real architect was his mother and her powerful He’lan clan, who saw submission to Qin as survival.

Exile and Return: The Shadow of Murong Chui

After a decade in captivity, Tuoba Gui’s path to restoration was neither heroic nor independent. The Nan Qi Shu reveals he owed everything to his granduncle Murong Chui, the Later Yan founder. When the Qin collapsed after the Battle of Fei River (383), Murong Chui—a master strategist—used Tuoba Gui as a pawn, sending him north in 385 to rebuild the Dai (later renamed Northern Wei).

This was no triumphant homecoming. Tuoba Gui rode to power on Murong Chui’s coattails, a fact later scrubbed from Wei records. The Wei Shu instead credits a dubious meeting between Fu Jian and envoy Yan Feng, claiming Tuoba Gui was spared relocation due to his youth—a tale riddled with chronological impossibilities.

Legacy: The Cost of Historical Revisionism

Tuoba Gui’s rise was built on three inconvenient truths:
1. Patricidal Surrender: His family betrayed Dai to the Qin.
2. Foreign Backing: His restoration depended on Yan support.
3. Dynastic Incest: His birth followed his mother’s forced remarriage.

These truths doomed the historian Cui Hao, who dared record them. His public display of the Wei Shi Lu (Wei Veritable Records) in 450—exposing the dynasty’s ignoble origins—led to his execution and the purge of his clan.

The Tuoba’s ascent mirrored their moral compromises: from regicide to rewriting history. Yet their pragmatism birthed the Northern Wei, a dynasty that would sinicize and reshape China. As for Murong Chui? His protégé Tuoba Gui later turned on Yan, proving that in the game of thrones, gratitude is the first casualty.

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Word count: 1,520
Key themes: Nomadic succession crises, historical revisionism, the ethics of power