"Guanlong Group" is a word that is rarely mentioned in history textbooks, but is frequently mentioned when people talk about the history of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Even if we travel back to the Sui and Tang dynasties, we will not find such a "group" where it is.
For example, from the reign of Zhenguan to the prosperous era of Kaiyuan, it was called the "Sheng Tang Dynasty" by later generations, and the "Guanlong Group" was also a name given by later generations.
It was proposed by the historian Mr. Chen Yinke when expounding on the history of the Northern Wei And Sui and Tang Dynasties, and specifically referred to a new force that rose in the Guanzhong region at that time.
But its power is as important as in the "Tang Dynasty".
Three dynastic changes, Northern Zhou replaced Western Wei, Sui Dynasty replaced Northern Zhou, and Tang Dynasty replaced Sui Dynasty, all related to it.
Why was the Guanlong Group established
In the late Western Jin Dynasty, the Wuhu Chaohua, "Wuhu" is the Xiongnu, Qiang, Qiang, Xianbei, northern Wei is the xianbei established when xianbei entered the central plains, the capital of Pingcheng, now Datong, Shanxi.
However, there are not only these five nomadic people, but also Rouran in the northern steppe. Xianbei was the last rising "orthodox royal family" of the nomadic people, and was naturally coveted by Rouran, and the capital city was geographically adjacent, so it was disturbed by it.
As a result, Emperor Tuoba Jue of the Northern Wei Dynasty set up "six towns" to resist, many of which were the aristocratic classes at that time, as a reused minister, it can be described as an immeasurable scenery.
It is the existence of these "six towns" that laid the groundwork for the budding of the "Guanlong Group".
When referring to the reasons for the formation of the "Guanlong Clique", Chen Yinke, who gave him the name, called it a product of the implementation of Yuwen Tai's Guanzhong standard policy.
In this way, the historical reason for the formation of the Guanlong clique is only to change the county outlook of its clan gate valve, which is inevitably a bit biased, and it is only a causal relationship between the phenomena.
The process of historical development always has its inevitability, and what really makes the "Guanlong clique" established is the inevitable need of policy when dynasties change. The "Guanzhong-based policy" adopted by Yuwentai for "Sinicization" is like this, and so is Yuwentai himself.
For the inward migration of the Hu people, Sinicization is "modernization", which is the general trend of historical development.
The need for "sinicization" did not begin with Yuwen Tai, as early as the time of Emperor Zhuang Xiaodi, he chose to move south to Luoyang and carry out a thorough Sinicization reform in order to integrate with the Central Plains Gate Valve.
However, this capital move exposed all the shortcomings of the Northern Wei regime since its establishment, because the Xianbei people were relatively backward, and after entering the Central Plains, their nobles joined the old scholar clan and polluted them, contaminated with the habit of arrogance and lasciviousness, which made the Northern Wei regime quickly "empty the shell".
With the reform of Emperor Zhuangxiao,the concept of door valves was rapidly strengthened, internal contradictions intensified, and "Emperor Wei's power was extended to the throne, competing for luxury", and the Northern Wei regime was crumbling.
"Emperor Xiaozhuang moved the capital to Luoyang" even more seriously affected the interests of the people who set up towns on the northern border to guard the "six towns" in the early Wei Dynasty.
"Or to recruit the sons of the Strong Emperor of the Central Plains, or to send the hearts of the country to the minions", they were once highly valued, similar to the Tang Dynasty's Jiedushi envoys, the leaders of the six towns held the military power and administrative power, and the power was extremely great.
After the capital was moved, they were no longer the heavy generals under the "imperial city roots", and their status declined sharply, and the officials who moved the capital were determined, and this polarization led to the uprising of the soldiers and people in the six towns in the north, and the Northern Wei regime was destroyed several times.
At this time, two major forces were born, one with Gao Huan as the leader and the other with Yuwen Tai as the leader, both of which came out on top in power, and eventually re-established political power in the east and west.
Emperor Xiaowu was forced away by Gao Huan, but with yuwen Tai's support, he established Western Wei in Chang'an, while Gao Huan supported Emperor Xiaojing as king, known as Eastern Wei. Since then, it has been in a situation where the two dynasties coexist.
Yuwen Tai's "creation of hegemony and courtesy" caused Xi Gu, Yang Qianyun, Liu Qing, and others, who were plagued by Qi Liang's decadent rule during hou Jing's rebellion, to defect to him.
At the same time, "Shuofang has long been ruined, and Hebei has been reduced to ashes", and the Kanto region where Gao Huan is located has been destroyed by the military destruction of the Erzhu clan, and gradually the gap in power with Yuwen Tai has gradually opened up.
As a result, the Guanlong Group developed, had a strong economic foundation in the Guanzhong region, and integrated the shi forces of Daibei, Jiangnan, and Guanzhong to form a political group with a high degree of integration between the Xianbei and Han ethnic groups.
Characteristics of Guanlong Group
The disintegration of the Northern Wei Dynasty due to lack of internal unity was still in sight, and in between, the Guanlong clique had some breakthroughs in the reform of Sinicization.
As far as the "Guanzhong-based policy" mentioned above is concerned, the Guanlong Group is not born from it, but uses it as a tool.
At that time, if the Guan Sergeant Clan and the Daibei Shi Clan were still relatively high and low in ethnicity, the Guan Long Group would certainly not be able to completely stabilize.
The Sinicization system advocated by Yuwen Tai to change the surname will not distinguish between the county surname and the Yu surname, and the Hu and Han ethnic groups will be integrated. Granting Han officials the surname of Hu, such as Yang Zhongzhi (杨忠) and Puliu Ru (PuliuRu) and Wang Xiong (王雄) with the surname Kepin (可pin), greatly strengthened the unity within the Guanlong clique.
After that, Yuwentai carried out reforms in the military system, introduced the prefectural military system, and appointed twelve generals of the Eight Pillars State to take charge of military affairs, and the Guanlong group accommodated as many as twenty families.
The effect of "giving surnames" is far-reaching, not only breaking the national boundaries between the Central Plains and the Hu people, but also effectively alleviating the dispute between the door valve and the contradiction of social classes.
Moreover, the Guanlong clique attached more importance to the praise of meritorious men, and when the Wei Tingshi clan deliberately despised the meritorious ministers who were born poor, Emperor Taizong decided not to appoint them as prime ministers, and also scolded the Shandong Shi clan for "no official eunuchs at all", calling them "trafficking in marriages".
From this, we can see that the institutional superiority of a political bloc that can take root and gain power in turbulent times and last for a hundred years is extraordinary, often beyond the current historical limitations.
But the strength of its power also threatened the supremacy of imperial power. Under the control of the Guanlong clique, the change of government and the transformation of the emperor's power became its pockets.
Power tilted to the opposition and led the change of dynasty
During Yuwen Tai's lifetime, he experienced four emperors of Western Wei.
It was not so much an emperor as a "puppet", and after poisoning two of them, he passed his throne to his fifteen-year-old son Yuwen Jue when Yuwen Tai was about to die.
Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu forced the last emperor of Western Wei to abdicate, and Yuwen Jue succeeded to the throne. Later, Yuwen Hu even embarked on the "old road" of his uncle, poisoning the emperor and taking over the emperor's real power. At this time, the name of the country had been changed to "Zhou", which meant that the Northern Zhou regime was henceforth surnamed "Yuwen".
Later, Yang Jian and Li Yuan, who were in power in the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, were all members of the Guanlong clique, which led to the inextricable interests of imperial power and political cliques, and it was impossible to completely get rid of the shackles of interest groups.
At the same time, in order to make the internal closer, there were a large number of intermarriages within the Guanlong Group. Li Shimin's mother is Yuwen Tai's granddaughter, And Li Shimin's wife is a descendant of the Tuoba royal family, almost forming a huge network of relatives, and it is not only the Shandong Shi clan that really sells the marriage, but also the internal power of the imperial power itself.
Although the "surname" could bind the nobility within the Guanlong clique firmly together, some things could not be continued after the death of its founder, Yuwen Tai.
The reason why Yuwentai was able to have the opportunity to take power in the first place was more that he himself was a "believer", in a chaotic world, Yuwentai was like a hero to save the world to everyone, and his prestige could last until his death.
Yuwen Tai's descendants did not have such authority, the ties between the nobles were greatly weakened, and their internal contradictions were also surging in the dark tide.
During the Sui Dynasty, its rulers began to "abolish martial arts", and the Sui Emperor was killed by Yu Wenhua and Yu Wenhua, who was not a humble person, he was one of the "surnames".
It can be seen that at this time, the "surname- granting" system could not ensure the stability and unity within the Guanlong clique.
The implementation of the "examination system" began to introduce more talents from the "periphery" in order to interfere with the long-term monopoly situation within the Guanlong Group.
According to records, 18 of the 25 prime ministers during the Taizong period were not members of the Guanlong clique, but vigorously supported the emerging clans in Shandong and other places, which shows that the internal forces of the Guanlong clique are no longer enough to oppose the state decision, and the rulers are even more determined to eliminate the political clique.
When Li Shimin came to power, he revived the use of the Guanlong clique, but only used the guanlong insiders who jointly attacked the Sui Dynasty with him, just like the praise of the heroes of the previous dynasties, and the preferential treatment they received had to do with their merits and had little to do with their status.
During the tang gaozong period, the remnants of the Guanlong clique were vigorously suppressed, and finally ended in demise, as a specific product of the times, even if it controlled China for more than 500 years, the Guanlong clique could not escape the wheel of history after all.
Limitations of the Guanlong Group
Guan long group from the rise to decline, and a single personal achievement has little to do with, even if Yuwentai promulgated a lot of reasonable policies, but in the end to look at the needs of the times itself, without Yuwentai, there will be others to stand up, as a leader to guide people to the next stage of history, the so-called "times create heroes" is this truth.
The decline of the Guanlong clique is the same reason, as a political group that has lasted for hundreds of years, the final withdrawal from the stage of history cannot be regarded as a "failure".
After the dynasty began to break away from the special historical background of "Xianbei people ruling", the problems it had to face also changed, and its product, the "Guanlong Clique", also gradually changed from a favorable to a "burden" in its era after completing the main historical responsibility of "Sinicization".
After relying on the Guanlong clique to have the throne, the people in power regarded it as a thorn in their side, prompting generations of emperors to continuously strip the Guanlong clique of its power and prompting the Guanlong clique to gradually go to its demise.
In feudal society, it would not be long to establish a political group above the supremacy of imperial power, and in this regard, the Guanlong group was already a success.