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The Rise and Fall of a Generation: A Strange Circle That Most Feudal Dynasties Cannot Jump Out of

Throughout china's ancient history, whether it is the Han, Tang, Songming, or the two Jin and Yuanqing, basically taking a generation as a watershed in rise and fall, such as the Western Han Dynasty Emperor, the Ming Dynasty Shenzong, etc., they could have led the country to a higher level, but for various reasons, the empire in their hands turned from prosperity to decline.

In fact, it is also very easy to understand, we also often say today that "rich is not more than three generations", the same is true here. After several generations of hard work, to their generation is no longer scarce in materials, and even has the image of a prosperous world, the world is peaceful, the country is safe, and they feel good about themselves. The ancient sage, unable to reach it, instantly swelled, lost the sense of distress, and what a good joy to do, indulged in sound and color came out.

The most famous of these kings is none other than Tang Xuanzong, just imagine that Tang Xuanzong and his people were also a generation of promising kings in the early days: Princess Ping Taiping and wei hou rebellion, appointing Yao Chong, Song Jing, Zhang Jiuling, Feng Changqing, Ge Shuhan and other famous generals to repair their political achievements internally, recruiting enemies externally, and single-handedly creating a prosperous era of Kaiyuan. Therefore, the New Book of Tang also has no shortage of praise for him:

Emperor Xuanzong personally quelled his chaos, he could learn from it, and he could do so to improve his political affairs, and on the occasion of the opening of the new century, he would be at peace.

However, it was such a powerful and ambitious prince, and in the later period, he gradually became extravagant and corrupt, reusing Yang Guozhong, Li Linfu, An Lushan, and others, and at the same time, he was greatly sealed and thrifty, and for a time the power and traitors controlled the government, and the moderation made the border areas, all of which laid the groundwork for the An Shi rebellion.

The Rise and Fall of a Generation: A Strange Circle That Most Feudal Dynasties Cannot Jump Out of

It can be said that the Xuanzong dynasty was the watershed of the rise and fall of the Sheng Tang, although there were Yuan and The Rule of the Great Middle, etc. after that, but compared with the Sheng Tang, there was still a difference between cloud and mud. If we pay close attention, we will find that not only the Tang Dynasty, most feudal dynasties can not jump out of this historical circle, such as the Han Emperor, the Ming Shen Sect, and the Qing Gaozong we mentioned earlier, all of which are so, and the reasons for this situation are in addition to the laziness of the descendants after several generations of Chengping mentioned earlier, and the cyclical shortcomings of the feudal dynasty.

In general, the great unified dynasty was always built on a ruin, the old interest groups were broken, the productive forces were greatly destroyed, and the population was greatly reduced.

The new dynasty at this time was a blank slate. The imperial court had a large amount of land in its hands that could be distributed, and coupled with the small population, it was more than enough to reward meritorious servants or appease the self-employed farmers. Even after settling in, the imperial court still had a lot of land.

These are times full of life. From meritorious nobles to pawns of peddlers, almost all of them can benefit from the redistribution of benefits, and everyone's faces are full of happy smiles.

This is an economic benefit. The social dimension is also reshaping the landscape.

The entrepreneurial team of the new dynasty is relatively independent and has not established entangled social relations.

After they became the ruling group, it would take decades or even nearly a hundred years to form alliances with gentry, rich merchants and other classes and grasp all social resources. The time difference between these decades is a vacuum period.

During this vacuum period, social classes are mobile, good reading can quickly become officials, business can quickly become rich... They can be less bound by social relations.

In the early days of the dynasty, everything was thriving.

The Rise and Fall of a Generation: A Strange Circle That Most Feudal Dynasties Cannot Jump Out of

The peasants have land, the readers have official work, and the imperial court has good finances, and it will not take many decades to usher in a prosperous era, and after a period of time, they will immediately invade Weihai. For the first hundred years of almost every dynasty, it was sent with a full phone bill. The emperor and the ministers did not have to do anything, as long as they went to work on time and clocked in, the Taiping Dynasty would definitely arrive as scheduled, more punctual than the great aunt. But after the prosperity, the problem came. If the founding nobles of the imperial court can continue, after years of development, their tentacles have long been extended to all aspects of society, from a single branch to a hand covering the sky.

The local gentry and merchants also developed into earth emperors, who were not only allies of the government, but also the descendants of higher-ranking tycoons. From the imperial court to the countryside, the overwhelming net was formed.

The fresh air became suffocated, the mobile class became solidified, the active economy and finance gradually cooled down, and everyone's life was not very good. So society has accumulated certain contradictions by this time, and in their crucial dynasty, if the king himself has a certain understanding of the society at that time, then he will be aware of the shortcomings of the state, the dangers of the dynasty, and at the same time will find ways to improve these shortcomings, and then they will put them into action - appoint some famous reformers to reform. If successful, similar to the Zhang Juzheng reform in the early period of the Shenzong Sect, the country will continue for tens or hundreds of years. There are two sides to everything, corresponding to the fact that if it fails, the dynasty will decline, and then a large-scale peasant uprising will be put on the agenda, and the nobility will see the needle in the seam - lest the world be chaotic, muddy waters, in order to become the new ruling group.

The Rise and Fall of a Generation: A Strange Circle That Most Feudal Dynasties Cannot Jump Out of

The reason why this cyclical law will be formed is only because the people living in this land, the idea of pursuing profits is immutable, when vested interests are deprived, there is nothing but improvement, nothing more than resistance, a mild, an extreme, just two completely different ways of dealing with it, but the result is the same after all.

Because of these limitations of the feudal dynasty, most of the feudal dynasties cannot escape the historical circle of the rise and fall of a concentrated dynasty.

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The above "New Book of Tang" is history like Spiegel's original content, if it is not right, welcome to point out in the comment area; if you agree with my point of view, welcome @History as Spiegel attention

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