Question/ Why was the Jingnan regime during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms able to maintain its independence for 40 years and not be annexed?
Text/Golden Moon
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During the Five Dynasties period, the world was in chaos, large and small regimes took turns to appear, in this chaotic world where big fish eat small fish, there was one regime that lived freely, which was the Jingnan Kingdom.
Jingnan, also known as Pingnan, was the smallest divided regime in terms of land area during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
In 963, when Jingnan died in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were only 3 prefectures: Jiangling Province (now Jingzhou, Hubei), Xia Prefecture (now Yichang, Hubei), guizhou (now Hubei Zigui), 17 counties, is a veritable small country.
Five Generations and Ten Kingdoms Situation Map
And in the north there are Liang, Tang, and Jin, which have successively claimed the hegemony of the king, MaChu in the south, Wu and Tang kingdoms that span more than 20 states in the east, and Former and Later Shu in the west, which can be described as surrounded by a group of heroes.
The fact that the small jingnan country in this "land of four wars" was able to maintain its independence from annexation and maintain its political power for forty years cannot but arouse our deep thinking.
In my opinion, the main reasons why Jingnan was able to maintain power for forty years are as follows:
The Jingnan Gao clan always adhered to the principle of "big things", and successively submitted to the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Wu dynasties in the Central Plains, winning the status of a legitimate subordinate brother and not being swallowed up by the big powers.
In 907, Hou Liang appointed Gao Jixing as the envoy of Jingnan Jiedushi;
In the second year of the Later Tang Dynasty (924), the Later Tang Dynasty enfeoffed Gao Jixing as the King of Nanping and established the capital Jiangling Province, which was historically known as Nanping or Jingnan.
In order to show submission to Tu Cun, Gao Jixing personally "went to Luoyang" and won the favor of Li Cunmao in one fell swoop.
After Liu Zhiyuan became a Han Dynasty, Gao Jixing declared himself a vassal, "Wang Shangbiao He Dengji", and sent a large amount of tribute.
As a small country in a remote corner, Gao Jixing climbed the Central Plains, and its purpose was to map the orthodox name and protect itself.
In the fifth generation, after a long period of feudal social development, the feudal concept of monarchy and subject ethics has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Therefore, honoring the Central Plains and putting on a correct name is an important measure to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Jingnan's submission to the Central Plains Dynasty on the one hand could alleviate pressure from the north;
On the other hand, it is possible to "fox false tiger wei" and strengthen itself with the trend, just like in the third year of guang (925), when the Later Tang Dynasty attacked the Shu state, Gao Jixing took the opportunity to "follow the army to go out", ordered his son to lead the army to attack Bashu, and took the opportunity to "invite Ba, Zhong, and other states", and at the same time, under the banner of the king, he could stabilize the southern Chu state with the help of the banner of the Central Plains Dynasty.
For example, Ma Yin had previously fought against Gao Jixing many times, but when Gao Congzhi wanted to enter the Later Tang, "King Yin of Chu asked for orders from Tang" and "sent Back Tangshan's Southern Eastern Province Jiedu to make An Yuanxin Shubao play".
From this, we can know that it is precisely with the help of this orthodoxy and sincere submission to the Central Plains Dynasty that Jingnan can greatly reduce the pressure from all sides and the power of the Gao family can be preserved.
The founding king of Jingnan - Gao Jixing
Due to years of war, Jingnan is already "after the war, the well withered." In view of this situation of people's livelihood, the father and son of the Gao family pay attention to recuperation and vigorously develop the people's livelihood economy.
After hard work, Gangneung and other places have "resumed their business" and "displaced people have returned".
Jiangling is located in the north and south of the key transportation, water transport developed, the southern Fujian, Han, Chu and other countries to worship the Central Plains Dynasty more by way here, so the commercial tourism is developed, the business is prosperous, and the Border of Jingnan is narrow, and the commercial tax is the main source of finance and taxation.
In order to facilitate trade and attract merchants, the Gao father and son successively expanded Jiangling City, connecting Jiangling and Shatou (present-day Shashi, Hubei) into one, thus expanding the source of wealth.
Due to the Gao family's father and son's "simultaneous agricultural and commercial activities, and part-time work", the agriculture, commerce and handicraft industries in Jingnan have developed by leaps and bounds.
According to history, Jingnan used to pay tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty, including "fifteen horses of fine brocade, fifty pieces of embroidered brocade, and two hundred horses of Luo", and "three hundred horses of brocade, two hundred horses of BaiLuo, and two pieces of fluff warm seats", and the Gao family only had three states in Jingnan to produce so many silk fabrics with such a complete variety, which shows how developed the handicraft industry development of Jingnan has been under the governance of the Gao family.
The combination of a developed people's livelihood economy and a superior geographical location naturally made Jiangling's commerce prosperous, so although Jingnan was only a projectile land, it was economically self-sufficient.
When the economy is guaranteed, harmony and stability in the territory can be guaranteed, so that political power can be consolidated and it can be secured.
The Jingnan Kingdom, which has only three states
While resting with the people, the father and son of the Gao family also implemented the policy of protecting the border and the people, avoiding war as much as possible and doing their best to reduce the scourge of war.
By the time of Gao Congzhi, because the regime was stable, there were few records of Gao Jiajun's expeditions in the history books.
The Gao family lived in a corner of the land in the cracks, trying their best to maneuver around the surrounding powers.
The gao family's father and son's use of the art of vertical and horizontal has reached the level of pure fire: the north is attached to the Middle Dynasty under a false name, but in fact, the east and west are connected to resist the Southern Chu and contain the Middle Dynasty.
Because of the Gao family's peace or war, it wandered among the great powers, in other words, this was an important reason why Jingnan was able to exist for more than forty years.
Of course, the balance of power on all sides and mutual containment is also an important reason for Jingnan's survival, so once the balance is broken and a powerful Song Dynasty appears, Jingnan only has the surrender of Natu, while other major powers such as Houshu and Southern Tang still send troops to resist the Song in a situation of lack of strength, and in the end can only be defeated and captured, and the people are harmed.
Historians have always believed that gao's father and son are "only subject to what they want", so most of them think that Gao's "shameless", in my opinion, this is unfair, just imagine, standing in the land of the three states, if one vigorously "wants to fight for qi" and "talk about bone qi" and ignores the art of flexibility, only confrontation and not strategy, it can only hit the stone with a pebble and humiliate itself.
Geographical location of Jingnanguo
Jingnan, which is founded by three states, surrounds the great powers, and the people in the territory live and work in peace and contentment, and live in peace with the outside world, so that the territory is stable and the country can survive, which cannot but arouse our "respect."
In my opinion, to analyze why this isolated Jingnan existed, we cannot only use the eyes of the feudal tradition to "one size fits all" to regard it as "shameless".
It is unfair to only look at the "soft bones" on the surface of the Gao family and ignore the vicious environment in which Jingnan is located, and we must face up to the objective environment in which Jingnan is located, let alone erase the historical contributions made by the Gao family in its efforts to govern and benefit the people's livelihood.
So, what do you think about Jingnan?