At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the masses were divided and there were many warlords. After nearly twenty years of warlord scuffle, the three cliques of Cao Sun and Liu stood out and eventually formed a situation in which the Three Kingdoms were established. From the historical data, we can know that the rise of the Cao Sun Liu Sanjia is inseparable from the support of local tyrants.
The Cao Cao Clique was developed with the local haoqiang of the Yingchuan Xun clan, the Peiguo Cao clan, and the Xiahou clan as the backbone, and extensively absorbed the support of the local haoqiang in the north. Sun Quan's group, supported by Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu of the Jiangbei clan, especially the support of the four surnames of Gulu Zhu Zhang in Jiangdong and the local magnates such as quan and he clans, was able to stand firm in Jiangdong. Liu Bei's clique first relied on the local haoqiang of Jingzhou to enter Shu, and then obtained the support of local haoqiang in Yizhou to establish shu Han.
Yuan Shao is the representative of the Haoqiang clan
In fact, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, all the warlords, with the support of local heroes, launched a scuffle of dividing up the territory. So, what kind of local power is it that can influence state power?
The history and development of local powerhouses
The local magnates are not simply groups with the same surname and the same clan, but a group centered on a large family, many families or individuals, and dependent on political or economic relations. It first arose in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, and was formed by the vigorous development of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Some places are strong and powerful, and they first have a political position, and then they have established economic power. Some have economic power first, then gain political status, and then use political status to help the development of economic power.
There are three main types of local magnates: descendants of the nobles of the Six Kingdoms, large landowners and rich merchants.
First, the descendants of the nobles of the Six Kingdoms. The nobles of the Six Kingdoms experienced the iron-blooded suppression of the Qin Dynasty and the impact of the peasant revolt at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and the traditional political forces were greatly destroyed, but because they lived in clusters, they still had strong economic and clan forces. In the early Han Dynasty, the political atmosphere was relaxed, the economic strategy was laissez-faire, and the descendants of the nobles of the Six Kingdoms either actively participated in and became upstarts because of their high cultural quality and strong management ability; or they became big landlords and rich merchants who operated land and industry and commerce properly.
For example, the "Records of History" records that "the rich merchants in Guanzhong, dajia, reached the zhutian, Tian Xi, Tian Lan, Wei Jia Li clan, An Ling, Du Du clan, and also ju wan." Among them, Zhutian refers to the nobles of the State of Qi who moved from Qi to Guanzhong.
Lu Xun represented the Lu clan of Jiangdong and was a supporter of Eastern Wu
Second, the house of annexation (large landlords). That is, large landowners who occupy a large amount of land are especially those who have accumulated a large amount of wealth due to the deepening degree of private ownership of feudal land, relying on economic, political or patriarchal forces to annex land and enslave small peasants. Most of them are the families of dismissed officials and the rich people of the townships, they are "people" rather than "officials", they do not enjoy preferential privileges such as taxation and conscription, and they are landlords of non-aristocratic status.
For example, the Book of Han records that after Ning Cheng, a cool official during the Han Jing Emperor's period, returned to his hometown, he borrowed money to buy more than a thousand acres of mountain fields, and as many as a few thousand people were enslaved and cultivated by him. Within a few years, the family property was as high as tens of millions.
Third, the rich merchants. The "recuperation" policy and the relaxation of commercial bans in the early Han Dynasty contributed to the unprecedented prosperity of the commodity economy in the middle and late Western Han Dynasties, and there were "countless" rich merchants engaged in boiling salt, iron smelting, animal husbandry, gardens, fish ponds, transportation, and usury. During the period of Emperor Wen of Han, in order to solve the difficulties in the transportation of military grain on the border, the policy of "exporting millet to worship the lord" was implemented; during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the military was exhausted, and in order to solve the financial difficulties, the policy of "selling officials and lords" was implemented, and many merchants thus ranked among the ranks of local heroes and strongmen.
For example, the Book of Han records that Bu Shi, the great animal husband of Luoyang, was given the title of Marquis of Guannei by Emperor Wu of Han for funding the use of troops by the imperial court, with forty pounds of gold and ten acres of tian.
The expansion of local economic and political power reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Because of his struggle for interests with the state and the serious harm to the state's financial revenue, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty adopted a series of measures to suppress arrogance, such as relocating hao, suppressing cool officials, and reckoning with reckoning, etc., which achieved certain results. However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the local powerful forces developed rapidly without restriction. The reason for this is that the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu himself was a large landowner and a big businessman in Nanyang, and the Eastern Han Dynasty regime was established with the support of the local powerful cliques in Yingchuan and Hebei. The Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu tried to use the "Dutian" system to "suppress hao", but touched the fundamental interests of local tyrants, and ended in failure. It can be said that the Eastern Han Dynasty regime was actually the representative of the local powerful political interests.
Xun Yu, an important strategist of Cao Cao, was also born into a strong family
So, what kind of influence did the local power have on the Eastern Han Dynasty?
The influence of local powerhouses
Local magnates have strong financial resources, which are bound to have an important impact on society. After the desire for "rich" was satisfied, the local magnates had a new pursuit of "expensive". They began to infiltrate politics, using huge sums of money to befriend princes and meddle in official positions in order to gain political status. Its influence is mainly in three aspects: economic, political and military.
First, it indirectly influences the township political power economically.
With its strong economy and clan power, the local magnates formed a dominant position in the township society. They have lent large amounts of money, monopolized commodity trading, exploited and controlled small farmers, resulting in a large number of bankruptcies of peasants, and even many small and medium-sized landlords' homes have difficulty in suppressing their powerful power. The local tyrants also annexed a large number of lands, accumulated slaves, recruited a large number of dependent populations, and overtook a large amount of social labor. In addition, although the taxation system and commodity prices of the Han Dynasty were extremely favorable to local magnates, they still colluded with township officials to use money to overpower power, evade taxes and resist taxes, and seek extralegal privileges.
In addition, the local powerful farms are self-sufficient and economically independent. The "Four People's Monthly Order" records that the main farmer and businessman of the large manor have nine months a year to do business, and the transactions are all the necessities of life, such as their own surplus agricultural products, low-selling cloth and grain, and so on. The farm economy has broken through the single small-scale peasant economy and practiced various operations such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, and sideline work, which is the product of the local tyrants who have gained a dominant position in the feudal economy. Not only is it a self-sufficient economic entity, but it is also a relatively independent political entity, which has become a reliable material basis for local power.
Second, militarily control the localities with clan power.
The "clan" is a necessary condition for the formation of local magnates and strong forces, and is the guarantee for their continuous development and growth. In addition to their families, there are also a large number of dependent populations, such as peasants, guests, tribesmen, and family soldiers who have lost their land, all of which have clan-compulsory social relations through strong and powerful clan combinations.
Especially in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, political corruption, social darkness, and peasant uprisings occurred one after another. In order to safeguard their own interests, local magnates have formed a certain scale of private armed forces. They organized the young and middle-aged people among the dependent members into "ministries" and "family soldiers", engaged in agricultural production in peacetime, and served as private soldiers in manors in wartime. Local magnates also built defensive facilities, made weapons, and set up arsenals, and their armed forces developed rapidly in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, forming a social foundation for local divisions.
The "Four People's Month Order" records that the manor attaches great importance to armed exercises and military early warning. Whenever there is no green or yellow in February or March, or when the cold winter comes in August and September, the local heroes and strong will gather their troops and family soldiers, repair their armor and weapons, and practice offensive and shooting. When necessary, they would gather tribes and soldiers to protect themselves, or suppress the peasants, or confront the government.
Third, politically control the township and local government.
In the Han Dynasty, the township regime was the most basic political organization of the Han Dynasty. Township officials have light positions but heavy responsibilities, involving social and political, economic, life, ethics and other aspects, such as apportionment of servitude, collection of taxes, indoctrination of the people, leading the people for good, reflecting the feelings of the township people, discussing the gains and losses of local officials in governing the government, maintaining order in the township, and supervising the people. All the policies and measures implemented by the government are implemented and realized through the township officials and officials.
It can be said that township officials are the center of social order in townships, and in peacetime, they can influence the public opinion of the township party; in times of political turmoil, they can sway people's hearts and minds, and when they are serious, they can even directly affect the chaos of state politics. By serving as township officials, local magnates were able to occupy an economic and political dominant position in the townships.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the vast territory of the country and the inconvenience of transportation, in order to ensure the upload and issuance of central government decrees and maintain social stability in local areas, the officials of various counties and counties were basically elected from the localities. Starting from the township political power, the local magnates used their economic, cultural, and clan advantages to dominate the officials of various counties and counties, and then gradually controlled the local path of advancement and the public opinion in the townships, and controlled the local political power. There are even some local powerful families who have served as county officials for generations, manipulating local power, monopolizing local power, and becoming a famous family of local officials.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucian thought was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the tongming jingshu became the basic condition for becoming a master. As a result, there is a trend toward bureaucratization of local tyranny. Once the local magnates were well versed in scripture and entered the DPRK as high-ranking officials, their families were combined with state power for generations and became bureaucratic clans of successive generations of secretaries of state. They were both local magnates and bureaucratic landlords, who occupied a dominant position in state power and had a great influence on the political situation in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.
It can be seen that the local magnates were a powerful social force in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Economically, they own fertile land and wealth; politically, they merge with the bureaucracy and control local and even central power; militarily, they have a large private armed force.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the political situation was turbulent, and the local magnates had a large amount of grain and assets, which were usually the target of the rebel peasants' attacks and the plundering of various military groups. In order to safeguard their own interests, local tyrants either followed the trend, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Liu Yan, etc.; either attached themselves to a certain warlord, or provided financial support, such as Donghai Mi Zhu to support Liu Bei, or led the Qu family soldiers to defect, such as Xu Chan and the people to submit to Cao Cao.
It can be said that at the time of political clarity, local power and strength were the pillar of the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and when the regime was weak, they were the material basis for dividing and dominating one side. This is why local power can influence state power.