The Northern Song Dynasty, a controversial dynasty. It is said that it has completed reunification, but the surrounding countries are lined up, constantly losing power and humiliating the country; saying that it has not completed reunification, it has also subjugated the traditional eighteen provinces of Han China and maintained the basic integrity of the Territory of China. But the most criticized thing is that this poor and weak country has completely wiped out the national martial spirit formed since the Han and Tang Dynasties.
History is a mirror that reflects both the ruins of the Northern Song Dynasty and the necessary foundations for the lack of unity in that era. It is true that as a unified dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty did have too many deficiencies, but combined with the background of that era, the Northern Song Dynasty did a very good job of completing the tasks of that era.
The town is lined with weak branches and strong branches
Under China's feudal monarchy, the two biggest features are: the county system and the centralization of power. The central government has the power to collect taxes, allocate troops, and appoint and dismiss personnel at the local level, while the local government has administrative power. In this way, the central government can prevent local dominance, and the local government can carry out administrative management efficiently.
Therefore, even if the central government is weak, it can maintain the relative weakness of the locality. The change of imperial power is generally dominated by the usurpation of the throne by the vassals, the peasant revolt and the invasion of foreign races.
However, this classical form of management of strong cadres and weak branches changed in the Tang Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, in order to resist the invasion of foreign tribes and increase the mobility of the army, nine clan towns were added on the basis of the county system on the northern border, and one was slightly envoyed, known in history as the "Ten Festivals of Tianbao". As a result, the local military forces were greatly strengthened. While strengthening military strength, it also allowed the feudal towns to withhold local taxes for military expenses. When the central government remained strong, the fan town naturally did not have the courage to threaten the central government, but once the central government weakened, the wolf ambitions of An Lushan and the like took advantage of the situation.
But the greatest damage of the Anshi Rebellion was the great destruction of the civilian productive forces by the war. The central government was unable to support the military expenses of the clan towns, so the local clan towns took the opportunity to annex land to support the army.
After the Huangchao Uprising, the central government further delegated power to the localities in order to rely on the fanzhen to send troops to suppress the uprising. Until the end, the emperor even gave up the right to appoint and dismiss the localities. At this time, the local feudal towns were like independent countries, controlling the local financial and military power, and could even be hereditary.
The crisis of division in a troubled world
The division of feudal towns in the five dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty is more similar to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The central government is illusory, and the various clans and towns hold the absolute power of the localities, but they are evenly matched, and no one can swallow anyone.
Of course, it was not that the central government did not want to conquer the town. However, due to the lack of money and no soldiers, once the central government sent troops to conquest, either the leading general mutinied, or the local clan town rebelled against the central government. For example, Later Liang and Later Tang sent troops to attack Fanzhen, and as a result, they were repulsed by Fanzhen; Later Han, Later Zhou, was counterattacked by the generals who went out to lead the army.
Even if the central government conquered the localities, it sent people to garrison the conquered areas and then immediately rebelled. For example, after the fall of Later Tang and Former Shu, Meng Zhixiang, who was sent to Shu to promote The Peace, immediately rebelled and established Later Shu.
Over time, no matter who entered the center, they also acquiesced to the birth of the situation of weak cadres and strong branches, after all, compared with reunification, it is more important to save their lives. In this context, Jiaozhou in the south, Lingzhou in the northwest, and Youyun in the north have all broken away from the control of the Central Plains and sought the road to independent statehood. If the central government continues to be powerless, this trend of independence will inevitably spread to the hinterland of the Central Plains. After all, the inland feudal towns are richer, and why can't more soldiers live their own lives?
Historical mission, reshaping the center
In such a divided historical background, the Northern Song Dynasty established by Zhao Kuangyin can be said to stand at the crossroads of history. To the left, if you let the fanzhen go, it will be like walking on the old road of the fall of the Tang Dynasty; to the right, if you retake the fanzhen, the lessons of the later Zhou Qianche will be clearer than anyone. Zhao Kuangyin resolutely took a step forward.
When we unfold the historical period of the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, we look at the historical period: the Northern Song Dynasty took the policy of first making it easy and then difficult, first of all, and then the southern and then the north, mainly including that in 963 AD, Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun led the army to pacify Wuping Zhou Baoquan, and at the same time, Gao Jichong of Jingnan took the initiative to surrender; in 965, Wang Quanbin led the army to pacify Hou Shu Mengchang; in 970 AD, Pan Mei led the army to pacify Liu Xun of the Southern Han Dynasty; in 975, Cao Bin and Pan Mei led the army to pacify the Southern Tang and Li Yu; and later, in 978 AD, Wu Yue Qianli and Qingyuan Junjie made Chen Hongjin take the initiative to surrender and submit In 979, Emperor Taizong of Song led an army to pacify Liu Jiyuan of the Northern Han Dynasty.
It can be seen from the process that the leading generals are frequently changed, and the process of unification is slow. Even if an absolute military superiority is formed, it is the destruction of a regime every few years.
In fact, we can basically see Zhao Kuangyin's response. Break up the central military power and digest the local divisions. Basically, it is to abolish the local military and government financial power and restore the local administrative system in the early Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the central government's forbidden army was also divided and governed, completely depriving the generals of their right to manage the army.
As Zhao Pu said to Zhao Kuangyin, "The town festival is too heavy, and the king is weak and the subject is strong." However, if they seize their power slightly, control their money valleys, and collect their elite soldiers, then the world will be at peace. But this sentence was only drawn at the cost of more than 200 years of war.
consequence
It is undeniable that the Wanyi Binfu of the Tang Dynasty is indeed desirable. However, in order to maintain strong military strength, it also caused the crisis of the feudal town, the turmoil in the domestic political situation, and even a split crisis for a time. Vietnam, for example, was completely independent in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Under the historical conditions at that time, the integrity of China's territory was more important than the victory in foreign wars. Therefore, in order to re-strengthen the centralization of power, the Northern Song Dynasty adopted a national policy of emphasizing literature over force, which also belongs to the development of historical trends. Of course, the price in exchange is the weakness of the army's foreign war.
The occurrence of historical events must have their own specific historical conditions. In that historical context, the words of exhaustive military force will inevitably lead China to further division.
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to evaluate the "basic unity" of the Northern Song Dynasty in a one-line way. In the context of that era, the Northern Song Dynasty still fulfilled the historical mission of maintaining the integrity of the Chinese territory and continued the civilization of that era.