It is said that the stick hits the head bird, especially in the political field in ancient times. The ancient times of our country were an era of imperial dictatorship, and all political acts that were too prominent were bound to arouse the emperor's vigilance, after all, under the idea of the supremacy of imperial power, consolidating their rule was something that every emperor had to do, which was also true for the Tang Dynasty, and here we have to mention a group - the scholar clan.
Although the power of the shi clan has been weakened during the Tang Dynasty, its influence on the imperial court and the people is still extremely far-reaching, and this influence has also become a thorn deeply rooted in the heart of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, and removing this thorn has also become a very urgent desire for Li Shimin.
However, after hundreds of years of development, the foundation of the scholar clan has long been deeply rooted, and it can be said that it is more difficult to completely eradicate it thoroughly and fundamentally, and then consider Li Shimin's decision to support the Landlord of the Shu Clan to complete the suppression of the noble class of the Shi Clan.
I. Scholar Clan: A political group that has developed over the past century
1. Arose in the upper class of the Han Dynasty
Speaking of the Shu class, the first thing to say is its opposite shi clan, speaking of the shi clan may be relatively unfamiliar to many readers, it belongs to a class synonym like the Shu clan, and everyone can also understand them as the high-ranking officials and nobles of the upper class, that is, the nobles in ancient times. It is a collective term for mendi and door valves, which refers to those famous and prestigious families who have served as officials in the imperial court for generations. The emergence of the scholar clan comes from a system of electing officials, which is called the door valve system.
Originated in the Han Dynasty period, because the Han Dynasty period with heavy Confucianism as the core, in the selection of officials system is also based on the scriptures, so that most of the families at that time had started with the classics, most of them have studied Confucianism for generations, so the Eastern Han Dynasty also formed the phenomenon of successive generations of public secretaries.
The Book of later Han records that the phenomenon of land annexation in the Western Han Dynasty was particularly serious, so three forces appeared in society. They were merchants who made their fortunes on the "Silk Roads", landlords who acquired land rights by annexation, and the bureaucracy of the government. The regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty was extremely dependent on these powerful forces, so that while controlling the local government, they controlled the economic trend of the whole country through continuous annexation of land and trade circulation, and became the aristocratic group at that time.
2. Generations of scholars, as officials, evolved into a political group covering the entire court
The "Nine Pins Zhongzheng System" implemented by the Wei Dynasty also provided sufficient nourishment for the scholars, and the children of the nobility could easily seek an official and a half position in the imperial court by virtue of their origins, so that important official positions within the government were basically monopolized by children from such aristocratic families. In addition, these nobles would expand their rule by marrying each other to ensure that their interests were not violated.
In this way, the official position also became a inheritance system, and in this environment, most of the children from the scholar clan became unenterprising, indulging in drunken dreams and ignoring government affairs all day long, so in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the scholar clan also began to gradually decline.
When the Wars of the Southern and Northern Dynasties occurred frequently, some Generals of the Shu Clan gradually stood out, whether it was physical quality or in terms of strategy, they had to dump those scholars' children by a large margin, and they also quickly attracted the attention of the Emperor, but the influence of the Shi Clan at that time was too strong, and the Emperor could not fundamentally change anything.
However, this situation changed during the Tang Dynasty, and the excessive strength of the Shi clan gate valve during the Zhenguan period quickly attracted the attention of Li Shimin, and at the same time made him feel deeply uneasy as a ruler. However, although there were signs of decline in the Shi clan at that time, its influence in society was still relatively large, so Li Shimin set his sights on the Shu clan.
Second, support the landlords of the Shu ethnic group and break the social reality of "no noble son in the cold door"
1. Implement the examination system so that the Shu and the Shi stand on the same starting line
It is said that "there is no noble son in the cold door", and Li Shimin also knew that the best way to suppress the Shi clan was to support the Shu clan, but he could not directly appoint these Shu clans to become officials in the dynasty, which was bound to cause dissatisfaction among the aristocratic groups at that time.
Since it is impossible to make changes in the system of electing officials through direct selection, the Tang Dynasty began to abolish the system of electing officials in the previous dynasty and used the imperial examination system instead, and at the same time lowered the threshold for examinations, so that no matter their status, they could take the examinations. In this way, even the disciples of the Cold Gate had the opportunity to compete with the children of the nobles.
But such a move has not worked. The reason for this is also very simple, the imperial court itself has been basically completely infiltrated by the scholar class, different groups are colluding with each other, and the examination papers of the imperial examination have been leaked to these rich children as early as before the examination, so although the Shu clan has the opportunity to participate in the examination, it is better than the noble children who know the answer to the examination in advance.
The New Book of Tang records that the Cui family alone had twelve titles during the Tang Dynasty, and the control of the nobles over the imperial examination could be imagined.
Li Shimin first dismissed some officials in the imperial court who did not involve the fundamental interests of the aristocratic class, and then promoted some intellectuals who were more representative of the Shu class, including Wei Zheng, who was more familiar to everyone, and these aristocratic classes could not say anything without their fundamental interests being damaged.
2. Write the "Clan Chronicle", which means to suppress the Shi clan and support the Shu clan at the same time
During the Tang Dynasty, the aristocratic group mainly occupied four positions according to geographical division, namely Shandong, Jiangzuo, Guanzhong and Daibei. However, only the Shandong Shi clan could really pose a threat to the imperial family due to the decline of some shi clans, and the Shandong shi clan was represented by Cui, Lu, Zheng, Li, and Wang.
The palace ministers have also sought refuge for their careers by marriage, but their strength is still not to be underestimated, and their rights have even surpassed the imperial power in a sense, which Li Shimin cannot tolerate.
In the sixth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin ordered the shu ministers to write the "Clan Chronicle", and the "Clan Chronicle" was finally written in the twelfth year of Zhenguan, but some of the surnames of the Shi clan still appeared in the first class position, which also caused Li Shimin's dissatisfaction, and then he personally rewrote the "Clan Chronicle", arranging most of the surnames of the Shandong Shi clan in the third class position, and at the same time ordering the surnames of some Shu officials in the imperial court, so that these Shu clans also achieved the status of the Shi clan.
As a result, the status of the Shandong Shi clan continued to decline, and after the original Shu clan became the new Shi clan, Li Shimin also had more reasons to promote the Shu class. At the same time, he also changed the post system, and at the same time could have multiple prime ministers, which directly promoted the Shu class into the supreme ruling group of the imperial court, which further undermined the influence of the aristocratic class within the imperial court at that time.
Third, an all-round attack in the field of military culture will fundamentally eradicate the century-old foundation of the warrior clan
1. The appointed Shu literati became the chief speaker of the emperor
Of course, the blow to the shi clan can not be too monotonous, and the political suppression cannot actually change the influence of the shi clan in the society at that time. Even after the promulgation of the "Clan Chronicle", many imperial court officials would still choose to marry the shi clan, so Li Shimin still did not complete the purpose of fundamentally suppressing the shi clan. Therefore, Li Shimin decided to start suppressing the old scholar group in many ways, and the first thing to do was to eliminate its influence among the masses.
At that time, the folk literary atmosphere was particularly prominent, poetry, calligraphy and painting were sought after by ordinary people, and poets became their idols. In this way, for the folk group, the words of the poets have become their favorite words, and they are also the easiest words to listen to.
Li Shimin also saw this, and began to select some more famous and popular poets in the folk to come to the palace as officials, not to do anything else, but to write some poems praising the emperor or Jiangshan, telling everyone how noble they were through the ink in the hands of the poets, and the poets became the chief speakers of the emperors.
Of course, there is also a premise for these poets, most of them are from the Shu ethnic group, and Li Bai is a good representative of them.
2. Transfer military power and promote the military generals of the Shu ethnic group
After Li Shimin's death, Wu Zetian sat on the throne, and her tolerance for the scholar clan was almost zero, in line with the road that Li Shimin had paved for her, she shuffled important official positions within the imperial court at the beginning of her reign, installed her own confidants and promoted a large number of Shu classes.
It is recorded in the "New Sayings of the Tang Dynasty" that in order to rectify the control of the Shu people over the imperial examination, Wu Zetian would personally supervise the examination and punish him with heavy punishment for any fraud. In addition, she also transferred military power, which had other reasons than to get rid of the control of the warrior clan.
For the sake of the family's interests and control of the imperial court, the scholars would choose to consolidate their family's rule by marrying close relatives, which was contrary to ethics and made the bodies of many rich children worse than those of a generation. The most important thing in marching and fighting is physical fitness, so for the sake of national security, Wu Zetian must also transfer military power.
Therefore, while promoting the Hanmen Shu clan, a large number of foreign groups were also appointed, and An Lushan and others also began to appear in the course of history, which although it was a good suppression of the historical position of the scholar class in the government, it also laid the root of the curse at the same time.
epilogue:
The Cold Gate was no longer without noble sons, and the control of the warrior clan over the government was finally completely broken in the early Tang Dynasty. Political groups that have been going through hundreds of years have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history. However, the process of realizing this situation is not simple, and it was finally completed through the joint efforts of several generations of rulers in the early Tang Dynasty, from which we can also see how strong the foundation of the shi clan power is.
The ruler's suppression of the Shi clan also made the Shu clan on the stage of history, and gradually replaced the Shi clan as the mainstream of history, thus forming a relatively harmonious situation between the Shi clan and the Shu clan, based on this harmony, the economic culture of the Tang Dynasty developed rapidly, and eventually moved towards the Kaiyuan prosperous era.
bibliography:
Book of the Later Han Dynasty
"Clan Chronicle"
New Book of Tang
"Datang New Language"