The world will be divided for a long time, and historical dynasties will always flourish and decline after a certain node. For the Tang Dynasty, this node was the "Anshi Rebellion". So, what is the root cause of Datang's decline? Today, we will analyze it from the perspective of today's people to see what factors caused the collapse of the great Tang Dynasty.
The first: death to ethnic minority policies
There are many scholars who support this view, and this theory has been born since the Middle Tang Dynasty, saying that the demise of the Tang Dynasty was related to imperfect minority policies.
In recent years, some scholars have put forward the "Hebei Huhua Theory", which is essentially an extension of this view.
The Sui and Tang dynasties were founded in a chaotic era, and the Tang court absorbed a large number of surrounding ethnic minorities, but the policy of resettling ethnic minorities was not perfect, which directly led to the phenomenon of "Huhuaization" in ethnic minority areas. Some scholars believe that once "Huhua" is popularized in remote places, there will be a centrifugal force here, and the local people lack a sense of belonging to the Tang Dynasty and are easily instigated by other forces.
Of course, many scholars oppose this view, believing that the Tang Dynasty's ethnic minority policy was relatively successful. Scholars who hold this view believe that the Tang Dynasty had many ministers of Hu descent who made outstanding contributions to the development of the Tang Dynasty and were at the forefront of saving the dynasty. The ethnic minority policy of the Tang Dynasty was highly similar to that of the Later Manchu Qing. Although the Qing Dynasty firmly controlled the supreme military power in the hands of the Manchus, it appointed a large number of middle- and high-level foreign national generals.
In the author's view, Li Shimin's minority policy was successful, but Li Longji's minority policy failed. Li Shimin insisted that the military power be controlled in the hands of "his own people", and even if a large number of generals were appointed, the highest military power was still held by han heavy ministers and Li family. In contrast, Li Longji did not grasp this scale well, allowing military power to be held in the hands of Gao Xianzhi, An Lushan and other clan generals.
In addition, from the identity of the two Tang emperors appointed by the feudal generals, we can also find clues.
Most of the ethnic minority talents appointed by Li Shimin were ethnic minority magnates of noble origin, such as Turkic princes and Tiele princes, all of whom were ethnic minority nobles. On the other hand, Li Longji, most of the ethnic minority talents he appointed were cold disciples from the grassroots, that is, "most of them were hybrids and untouchables", for example, An Lushan was a death row prisoner from a mixed beard.
Although "heroes do not ask for provenance", it is undeniable that the ancient aristocratic class had a sense of responsibility and honor that the commoners did not have, and once these people were loyal to the Tang Dynasty, they often had a certain centripetal force on the central government. Moreover, these ethnic minority nobles were well-known in the local area and easily gained the support of their subordinates.
In contrast, those children of ethnic minorities who come from a cold background, even if they have obtained a superior status, it is difficult to gain the support of ethnic minority areas. In this unconvincing mentality, these people will inevitably rebel.
The second: died in the imperial examination system
Recently, the author saw another point of view on the Internet, which is also thought-provoking: the first cause of the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion was the combination of frustrated soldiers and frustrated soldiers.
This view is the counter-evidence of the "Huayi Debate" in the previous article, and the scholars who hold this view give the basis that most of the staff who instigated the Anshi Rebellion were Han Chinese, and the imperfect examination system was the primary reason for these Han people to rebel. Friends familiar with history know that although the imperial examination prevailed after the Wuzhou period, the original Gate Valve Clan was still at the core of power, and it was difficult for those students from the cold door to obtain great power, and even if there were, they could only be regarded as rare.
The implementation of the examination system has undoubtedly given the vast number of cold disciples the opportunity to get ahead and given them the opportunity to become superiors, but even after a thousand years of the popularity of the imperial examination, this talent selection system still cannot meet the needs of readers. In the field of literature, we can see that most of the literati of the Tang Dynasty were conceited, and the most common occurrence in Tang poetry was the sigh of "Huai Cai does not meet". Most of the readers of the Tang Dynasty hoped to succeed in their studies, "learning and excellence", and rarely lived in seclusion in the mountains like the talents of other dynasties (even if they lived in the mountains and forests after many years of fame).
For the taxis who cannot win the list, their way out is very limited. After the imperial examination was frustrated, many literati (especially those who were quite talented) would go to Heshuo and serve as staff under the warlords, taking a road of "saving the country by curve". The warlords of the clan town have the same state of mind as these fallen literati, that is, they are dissatisfied with reality. The combination of these two forces dissatisfied with reality has a powerful impact on the original order.
The Song Dynasty, which learned from the lessons of the Tang Dynasty, emphasized literature over martial arts at the same time, and used a large number of scholars to make readers have more ways out. Even the unlucky egg that has not been successful for many years can also be supported by the central tendentious policies and mixed into the "iron rice bowl" through other channels, so the Song Dynasty fundamentally eliminated this situation.
The third: death to the open border policy
Many friends believe that the Tang Emperor (especially Li Longji) was exhausted and excessively open-edged. Many people also came up with military expenditure records from the Kaiyuan period to prove that Kaibian had excessively depleted the national treasury.
Why is this not mentioned by historians?
This is because no matter how much military expenditure in the Tang Dynasty, it will not drag down the national economy. We may wish to take out the Han and Song dynasties before and after the Tang Dynasty, and through comparison, we can find that the military expenditure of the Tang Dynasty was not much. As we all know, from Tianbao to Kaiyuan, the economy of the Tang Dynasty was always in a period of rising wealth, so the central government's military expenditure during Li Longji's reign was really a dime a dozen.
Moreover, the Tang Dynasty adopted the strategy of "feeding the war with war", so in many foreign wars, not only did not consume a lot of military expenditure, but also made a fortune by relying on the resources occupied. This set of strategies has played a certain role in promoting the domestic economy.
The author found that many friends did not have a comprehensive understanding of the Tang Dynasty's exhaustive military force, and blamed the cause of this phenomenon on the emperor himself, or on a certain greedy general.
According to historical data, there were indeed many soldiers who wanted to go to the frontier to make military achievements at that time. For example, Wang Zhongsi held a heavy position, but his brothers felt that there was no future for wang Zhongsi to mix, and they were alienated from him. In order to appease his generals, Wang Zhongsi, who was a heavy-handed man, had to adopt some radical foreign policies, sending troops to attack the ethnic minorities outside his jurisdiction while ensuring victory, so that his soldiers could be promoted.
However, these greedy soldiers are only a minority after all.
Compared with the soldiers who have been wandering in the frontier for many years and counting on the future of military merit, soldiers in the interior often have the desire to be peaceful. With the long period of peace in the Tang Dynasty, the situation of "not knowing the soldiers for generations" gradually appeared in the interior, and the local army closer to the central government did not even forget how to fight. When the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the defenders in the interior also caused such a disturbance: as soon as the rebels' trumpets were sounded, frightened defenders fell on the city walls.
"Ren Ben No. 1" has clouds: "Although the homeland is great, it will perish if it is belligerent; although the world is safe, if it forgets the war, it will be dangerous." ”
In the Anshi Rebellion, we can see the "belligerent" border army and the "forgetting war" central army, this period of Datang can be described as both "belligerent" and "forgetting war", from this point of view, the country is in danger is the trend of the times.
Fourth: died in the military and political system
After Emperor Gaozong, the prefectural military system gradually withdrew from the stage of history, until after Li Longji ascended the throne, this conscription system was completely replaced by the conscription system. It must be said that the Juntian system is only a supporting policy of the prefectural military system, and its own changes are not enough to affect the prefectural military system. After the imperial court gradually abolished the prefectural military system, the Juntian system was still retained.
Soldiers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, whether they were the defenders who stayed in the local area during their service period or the central army that served for life, were basically recruited through the conscription system. From the prefectural military system to the conscription system, the army has completed the transformation to professionalism. However, this transformation was imperfect, and in the process of the transformation, the seeds of the localization of the army were sown, and the power of the clan town rose.
Why did the Anshi Rebellion break out?
The author believes that it is inseparable from the temperance system that was born when the prefectural military system was destroyed.
It is obvious that the period of the strongest military strength of the Tang Dynasty was the period when the military system of the government was prevalent. Li Shimin implemented the prefectural military system, so the combat effectiveness of the Tang army in the Zhenguan period was the first in the world; Gaozong followed the prefectural military system, so the Tang Dynasty in the Gaozong period had the most extensive territory. After the Middle Tang Dynasty, some ministers saw the drawbacks of the system conversion, so the call for the restoration of the military system of the government rose.
Many history buffs believe that the Tang Dynasty's policy of "the wealth of the world is not hidden" indirectly led to the threat of local power in the Tang Dynasty to the imperial court, which in turn led to the division of feudal towns. To tell the truth, the introduction of this policy has indeed brought about the hidden dangers of local governments threatening the central government, but everything has advantages and disadvantages, and this policy is also beneficial to the country and the people.
And looking at the Anshi Rebellion, after the country was captured by the rebels, Datang was still able to use local resources to launch a counterattack, which is the most powerful evidence.
At that time, the southeast chaebol was still there, and the Tang Dynasty Tianzi could take advantage of this to make a comeback. Zhang Patrol guarded Suiyang for three whole years, and if there were no huge savings in the local government treasury to lay a foundation, it would be difficult for the military and civilians in the city to survive these three cold and hot summers by relying solely on the indomitable will of the military and the people in the city and the bark of the grass roots.
In contrast, in the Jingkang Rebellion in later generations, once The Liang was attacked by the Jin, the Northern Song Dynasty collapsed in an instant, and there was no room for a loop.
All in all, the military and political affairs of the Tang Dynasty have advantages and disadvantages, and we cannot blame the decline of the Tang Dynasty on a certain military and political policy. In the process of the development of the Tang Dynasty, the two great prosperities of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan were the embodiment of the advantages of various policies of the Tang Dynasty, so the turmoil during the Tianbao years was the embodiment of the shortcomings of various policies.
Later dynasties have all learned from the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty. Even, from the 289-year history of the development of the Tang Dynasty, we born in modern times can also gain a lot.
Resources:
【Zizhi Tongjian", "Old Book of Tang", "New Book of Tang"】