In 291 AD, a fierce "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" broke out within the Western Jin Empire, which directly led to a rapid decline in the national strength of the Western Jin Dynasty. At the same time, the ethnic minorities that surrounded the core of the Western Jin dynasty also rose rapidly and successively occupied many territories of the Western Jin Dynasty. With the fall of the new capital Chang'an, the Western Jin Empire finally came to the end of its life.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which "replaced it", appeared in the special situation of "kings and horses sharing the world" rarely seen in ancient history. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a new situation of "ruling the world with scholars". So how did the political landscape change from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty?
The Rebellion of the Eight Kings had a profound impact on the history of the Western Jin Dynasty
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the characteristics of the era of "kings and horses sharing the world" appeared
After the demise of the Western Jin Empire, Sima Rui, a member of the clan, established a new regime in the south for the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Before the founding of the country, Sima Rui was just a small king of Langya. It was only with the full support of the Langya Wang clan that he was able to sit firmly on the throne and re-establish the dominance of the Sima clan.
Sima Rui, the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
It is precisely because of this that Sima Rui has always been very dependent on the Langya Wang clan after succeeding to the throne. In order to "repay" the favor of the Wang clan, Sima Rui gave the two brothers wang dun wang dao who had meritorious service to the two of them. With the passage of time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the wilderness were already full of clan members and protégés of the Langya Wang clan. At this point, the special situation of "the king and the horse sharing the world" was officially formed. In this regard, there are relevant records in the Zizhi Tongjian Jinji:
The beginning of the emperor Zhen Jiangdongye, Dun and the brother guide the same wing wear, the emperor also pushed the heart to let it, Dun general conquest, guide the special aircraft government, the group from the disciple Bu Lie prominent, the people of the time for the words: "The king and the horse, the world." "
The fundamental reason why the Eastern Jin Dynasty formed a special situation of "the king and the horse sharing the world" was that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was established with the support of the Gate Valve clan. Because the Mengmen clan represented by the Langya Wang clan had the merit of support, the Jin Emperor had to give it a special status after the founding of the country.
Although it is said that the emperor has all the power, and the status and special rights given to the door valve clan can be controlled by themselves, judging from the performance of the Jin emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the imperial power at that time was already very weak. Once separated from the support of the Gate Valve Clan represented by the Langya Wang Clan, the entire empire may quickly collapse.
As for whether Sima Rui willingly shared his power with the Gatekeeper Clan, we still don't know. However, from a psychological point of view, the generations of Jin emperors after Sima Rui must have been more reluctant than generations. But even so, it is necessary to continue to maintain the special situation of "the king and the horse are in the world", which is enough to prove that the imperial power at this time cannot exist independently of the Gate Valve Clan.
Wang Dao, one of the representatives of the Langya Wang clan
The Northern Song Dynasty had the characteristics of the era of "ruling the world with scholars"
Time came to the Northern Song Dynasty, in 960 AD, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin launched a mutiny in the process of commanding troops in the Northern Expedition, which was a mutiny for Chen Qiao. After that, Zhao Kuangyin led a large army to attack Later Zhou, and forced Emperor Gong of Later Zhou to cede the throne to himself. At this point, the Northern Song Empire was officially formed. Unlike the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Song Taizu's Northern Song Empire was based on the support of military generals.
After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song Emperor, while weakening the military generals and local military forces, vigorously supported the participation of the scholar group in politics. Not only that, the Song Emperor also gave the Shi Dafu clique the power to participate in politics as much as possible, deliberately making it enter the center of power. In this way, a special situation of "ruling the world with scholars" has been formed.
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Empire
In a sense, the political situation in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty was worse than that of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although the political situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was controlled by the Mongol clan over time, the process was relatively lengthy. Moreover, civilian officials are usually unable to directly command the army, and their prestige in the military is far inferior to that of military generals.
This also means that the place where the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Gate Valve clan can contain imperial power lies in politics; while the place where the Northern Song Dynasty warlords can contain imperial power lies in military. Compared with the two, the direct threat posed by the military to imperial power is significantly greater than that of politics. It is precisely because of this that Song Taizu will use a glass of wine to release military power, strengthen the central armed forces, weaken the local garrison, and other ways to remove the influence of the military generals within the Northern Song Dynasty. Promoting the group of scholars, who are not in the same camp as the military generals, is the best choice.
The structure of the bureaucracy changed at the same time as the system of electing officials
During the period from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, when "the king and the horse shared the world" to "rule the world with the scholars", the system of electing officials also underwent drastic changes at the same time. In the era of "kings and horses sharing the world", the power to enter the administrative organs was controlled by the Menmen clan. In order to expand the influence of the family and improve the status of the family, these door valve clans will inevitably do everything possible to send the children of the family into the political arena.
With the passage of time, the imperial court, which originally belonged to the emperor, became the court of the Gate Valve Clan. Needless to say, this situation was not the result the emperor wanted to see. However, due to the situation of the times, the emperor could only acquiesce to the formation of this situation. Moreover, once this situation is really formed, it becomes even more difficult for the emperor to break it.
The rise of the Mongol clan was an undesirable result for the emperor
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song Emperor avoided repeating the mistakes of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so he chose to make a big fuss about the imperial examination system. Through the imperial examination system, the Song court could obtain the necessary political talents from the Shu landlords and even the Han men, thus breaking the situation in which the monopoly of the Door Valve clan entered the administrative organs.
Although both the Mongols and the intellectuals who entered the administrative system through the imperial examination system basically belonged to the landlord class (some of the Hanmen were not members of the landlord class), the political relationship between the two was opposed. The promotion of shu landlords through the imperial examination system can reasonably weaken the influence of the Mengmen clan in politics. Even though the Mongol Clan realized that the Emperor was weakening his power, there was nothing they could do about it.
At the same time, the examination system can also expand the talent reserve, so that many key positions are jointly held by multiple talents. In doing so, not only can the strength of the founding hero group be gradually lifted, but also through the participation of the Shu landlords, the landlord class can be infighting, and the emperor can watch coldly and check and balance. In this way, the feudal rulers naturally vigorously promoted the examination system, and the examination system indirectly obtained the basis and opportunity for rapid development.
The introduction of the examination system can effectively change the internal power structure
At this point, we can find that whether it is "the king and the horse share the world" or "rule the world with the scholars", there must be a special era background behind its special characteristics of the times. This so-called "special era background" is the foundation on which the foundation of the founding of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty is directly relied upon.
Not only that, "the king and the horse share the world" and "rule the world with the scholars" also reflect the specific process and form of the development of imperial power from the establishment of the jin emperor to the song emperor.
In the face of the gatekeeper clan with the merits of the founding of the country, the Jin Emperor not only did not have any means of restraint, but even constantly gave it more power. Therefore, "the king and the horse share the world" is passively formed. The Song Dynasty's "co-rule the world with scholars" was a political situation deliberately created by the Song Emperor in order to eliminate the influence of the founding heroes. In this way, from the king and ma to rule the world with scholars, it actually reflects the development process of imperial power from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty.