Behind the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty
——Unveiling the mystery of the Li clan of Longxi, the vassal of the Tang Dynasty
Mr. Chen Yinke, in his "Treatise on the Political History of the Tang Dynasty", begins by quoting the three articles of the Zhuzi Language Class, 116 "Class of Dynasties":
"Tang Yuanliu is out of Yidi, so the disrespect of the boudoir is not different." Then he added, "Zhu Zi's words are quite brief, and their meaning is not known in detail. However, it is both a brief statement and contains two issues of race and culture, but these two issues are the key to the history of the Li and Tang dynasties, and those who discuss the history of the Tang Dynasty cannot ignore it...."
There is no doubt that this is a surprising discovery, as the Li Tang Dynasty, which reached the peak of China's feudal society, Li Yuan, who was scheming, Li Shimin, who was heroic and decisive, and Li Longji, who was a gentleman... Is this true?
Helpless move: the emperor worshipped the ancestors indiscriminately
Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty who founded the Li Tang Dynasty, although he called himself Di Dao "the seventh grandson of Li Xuan, the King of Liangwu Zhao". But in fact, he was a longyao person from Zhao County, and there are still ancestral tombs and family temples of the Li Tang Dynasty in Longyao County, Hebei Province.
But what is surprising is that in Longyao there are only the tombs of the ancestors of the four generations of the Li Tang Dynasty, and four generations ago it is not possible. In other words, there is no way to confirm where the ancestors of the Li Tang Dynasty came from.
Scholars after the Tang Dynasty believe that Li Tang was originally a Hu of the Xianbei ethnic group. For a long time, experts and scholars have examined the tang royal family's living costumes, marriage handling, employment strategies, and relations with ethnic minorities. The Li Tang royal family was identified as a Hu person, at least a Sinicized Xianbei person in the Longyao area of Hebei Province.
People know that the Li clan of Zhao County is also a Central Plains Wang clan, which originates from the same origin as the Li clan of Longxi, and is not much lower in the prestige of the Huaxia family clan than the Li clan of Longxi; if Li Tang's ancestors were indeed the Li clan of Zhao County, then why did he not recognize this, but instead recognized Li Huan as his ancestor and claimed to be from the Li clan of Longxi?
Although some believe that this is due to the "Guanzhong-based policy" formulated by Yuwentai. At that time, in order to compete with the Northern Qi and other regimes, Yuwen Tai had to order that the Xianbei clan change its surname to Guanzhong, and Li's county was the first to push Longxi, so Li Yuan's ancestor Li Hu claimed to be from Longxi.
Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty who founded the Li Tang Dynasty, posthumously awarded the title of "Longxi Hall" during the Wude years. During the Zhenguan period, Tang Taizong Li Shimin cultivated the "Clan Chronicle" and listed the Li clan of Longxi County as the first of the thirteen counties of the Li clan and the first surname in the country. However, by the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he had completely completely completed the attachment of the Longxi Li clan.
The Li Tang Dynasty created the "Reign of Zhenguan" and the "Kaiyuan Shengshi", leaving brilliant achievements in Chinese history. But it also formed the largest counterfeiting case at that time- Emperor Fuzong Longxi Li Shi Di Dao.
Over the past thousand years, a large number of historical materials and excavated epitaphs of Li Tangzong's chambers have shown that Li Shou, king of Huai'an, Li Feng, king of Yue, Li Zi, princess of Runan, Li Li of Changle, Princess Li Xianhui of Yongtai, Li Chongrun, prince of Yide, Li Xian of Lu, and Li Sixun, general of Yunli... They are all "Longxi Di Dao people". But most of these are not credible, because many people are attached to the Longxi Di Dao.
At first, Li Yuan, who established the Tang Dynasty, in order to find a more appealing ancestor to show his legitimacy, first recognized Lao Tzu as the first ancestor, and then at the same time declared his ancestral home in Longxi Di Dao.
There are many records in this regard, because since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Longxi Li clan has become a large clan in Longshang, and the famous general Li Guang and the Han chancellor Li Cai are from the Longxi Li clan. After that, the Longxi Li clan gradually developed into a famous and prestigious family, "I Li Million Leaves, Ke Ti all over Zhongzhou. "The li clan of the world is out of Longxi." That's it.
Changing the ancestors is undoubtedly a long process. It took six generations of emperors from Li Yuan until the first year of Tianbao (742 AD) to officially complete this process.
At that time, Li Longji declared that "the descendants of Prince Liang Zhaowu (Li) Bao are below ... The four sons and grandsons, and should be subordinate to Zongzheng Temple, and incorporated into the genus.". As a result, the Li clan of Longxi naturally became the Li Tang Zongbao, and the Li Tang Dynasty also had a very glorious ancestor, Laozi.
There are many contradictory records in the New Book of Tang and the Old Book of Tang on the issue of Li Tang's ancestors. Because the Li and Tang royal families were attached to the Li clan of Longxi. Therefore, throughout the Tang Dynasty, most of the Li surnames called themselves the Li clan of Longxi to show their close relationship with the Li Tang royal family. In addition, in order to win over the heroes and show their identity, the Li Tang imperial family also gave a large number of surnames, that is, the imperial court gave them the surname of Li.
There are many such cases, and there are many foreigners from Tianzhu and Dashi and Persia who have also been given the surname of Li, and these people also claim to be from the Li clan of Longxi. Since they belonged to the Li Tang Dynasty, they naturally became the Li clan of Longxi.
The mystery hidden in the marriage customs
Because the ruling class of the Li-Tang Dynasty carried a large amount of Hu ancestry. Therefore, the Employment System and living customs of the Tang Dynasty carried a large number of nomadic overtones. This is actually the fundamental reason why "Hu Customs" were very popular in the Tang Dynasty.
The period from the Western Jin Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty was an unprecedented stage of great integration. During this period, various nomadic and agrarian tribes fought and communicated with each other, and different cultures were integrated. These new cultures have brought fresh blood to the Han culture in the Central Plains. Today, we can still see the shadow of that cultural fusion.
In particular, in the marriages of that time, there were a large number of intermarriages between different ethnic groups. Not only were the people very frequent, but also within the royal family, marriages between different tribes among dignitaries and dignitaries often intermarried.
Studies have confirmed that the sui and Tang emperors had very strong ethnic minority ancestry. Some experts say that The Empress Dugu clan of Emperor Yang Jian of Sui Wen was a Xianbei person, and the mother of Li Yuan of Tang Gaozu was also a Du Gu clan, and Yang Jian's empress was a sister. Li Yuan's wife Dou Shi was the daughter of Dou Yi and was actually a Xiongnu, at least a Xiongnu Han Chinese. Dou Yi's wife Yuwen was from the Xiongnu clan. Li Shimin also had Hu ancestry, because Li Shimin's wife, Changsun, was a Xianbei person, and Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong also had a minority bloodline.
Mr. Chen Yinke said: "The reason why the Li and Tang clans are prosperous, they have taken the blood of the barbaric essence of saiwai and injected it into the decadent body of the Central Plains culture, and the old dye has been removed and the new machine has been restarted, so that they can not create an unprecedented world situation." "
In the more than 100 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the living customs of people in northern China have been seriously influenced by the customs and habits of the nomadic tribes in the western region and the north. The living customs and ideas of many nomadic peoples are still widely spread in society. For example, there were many incidents of incest in the Li royal family, and after Emperor Taizong's death, he starved Emperor Gaozong to death with Emperor Taizong's talent Wu Zetian as Zhaoyi, which was in line with the customs of the Tuguhun, Xianbei, and Turkic tribes.
The New Book of Tang records that 23 Tang princesses remarried, most of whom were concentrated before Tang Xuanzong. At this time, people's concept of chastity is relatively weak, on the one hand, it is caused by habits, on the other hand, it is the result of constant turmoil and war. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the concept of chastity was pushed to a peak, and the theorists proposed that "starvation is extremely small, and the loss of discipline is extremely large", and this concept of chastity restricts the normal interaction between men and women, and this concept of chastity in the Ming and Qing dynasties is pushed to the extreme.
Inclusion makes the world a success
The foundations of ethnic integration before the Sui and Tang dynasties, combined with the nomadic Hu ancestry of the Tang rulers, laid the foundation for the Tang Dynasty's policy of openness.
The Tang Dynasty heavily used foreigners and foreigners as military generals, and the trust of Hu generals during the Tang Dynasty was far higher than that of any other dynasty in Chinese history. There is some similarity to the Manchus' trust in the Mongols.
In terms of ethnic relations, they have adopted an open policy of equal treatment. A passage by Tang Taizong is the most typical, he said: "Since ancient times, all the Chinese are noble, the untouchables are the same, and the love of the one is the same, so its seeds are like parents." "Envoys, merchants, students, monks, scholars and artists of all countries. They brought the material and spiritual products of their own people, which made the inherent culture of Tang Dynasty China more colorful and more distinctive in music, dance, painting, literature and other aspects.
Regardless of the Li Tang Dynasty, the Li Tang Dynasty attached itself to Longxi, which made the Longxi Li clan county look a fundamental change, no longer the exclusive county of the Li surname of Longxi, but became the county of all the Li surnames in the world, and also became the county of many ethnic minorities on the frontier. It became a multi-ethnic joint organization. At the same time, their tolerance and openness also created the peak of China's feudalism.