Five generations and ten countries of the Tang Dynasty, and fifty autumns of Gange. As a rare era of great controversy and chaos in Chinese history, the disturbances of the five dynasties and ten countries were far greater than the division of the northern and southern dynasties, and in this short period of time, the world was constantly fighting and strife, the people were displaced, and when the fire and water were hanging in the air, the clans and towns were divided, and the city head changed the banner of the king.
However, in this purgatory on earth, where "blood is painted with weeds and jackals are crowned", there have also been three times in the world of "bustling streets, goods flowing streams, military revolutions, abundant years, and the world is prosperous".
One: The Reign of Virtue. Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou (954-959)
The most difficult person in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is Chai Rong, Later Zhou Shizong, with his martial arts and martial arts. If the sky is taken to live long, its merits can be compared to the ancestor of Han Gao, but he is jealous of the talents, and he is whining and mourning.
In the first year of Later Zhou Xiande (954), Chai Rong, the king of Jin, succeeded to the throne as emperor before the coffin of Taizu Guo Wei, beginning his short but brilliant imperial career:
Rectify the military:
At the central level: rectifying the army, adhering to the principle of "crack soldiers and strong generals", selecting and reducing the number of registered soldiers, and issuing an edict to "recruit strong men from all over the world and select the best for the classes in front of the palace", and formed a "Janissary Army" that could be called the peak of the world's combat strength at that time, and was personally led by himself.
At the local level: Wang Yanchao and Han Tong were appointed to lead the three armies, recruit local people to dredge the Hulu River between Shenzhou and Jizhou, build a fortress between the Hulu River at Liyankou, send heavy troops to defend it, and order Zhang Zangying, the assassin of Dezhou, to recruit brave people on the border to form a crack border army, forge a great wall of steel, so that the border people can live and work in peace and contentment. Adopting the suggestion of Wang Pu of the military department to "start with the change", the strategy of "first the south and then the north" was formulated and implemented for life.
Notable achievements:
1. Crusade to the west and Shu land
In 955, Chai Rong took Wang Jing as the envoy to the southwestern camp, conquered the state of Shu in the west, broke the battle, and submitted to the three prefectures of Qin, Cheng, and Ji.
2. Three conquests of the Southern Tang
In 956, Chai Rong personally conquered the Southern Tang Dynasty and captured the six prefectures of Chu, Yang, Qin, Guang, Shu, and Hu. Because of the arrival of the rainy season, the class teacher returned to the dynasty. In January 957, Chai Rong again conquered the Southern Tang and attacked the Zijin Cottage of the Southern Tang reinforcements, Keshou Prefecture. Destroyed 40,000 Tang troops, obtained hundreds of ships, countless money and equipment, and sent Cai back to Beijing. In November of the same year, Chai Rong marched the Southern Tang Dynasty, attacked Haozhou, and defeated the Tang army in the vortex. Then the drum traveled east, along the Huaicheng Barrier, and went down. In December, the defenders of Sizhou surrendered to the city, and Chai Rong personally led the land and water army to the east, gaining more than 300 enemy ships, plus hundreds of ships of the Zhou army, rushing on land and water, and winning all directions, even surrendering Haozhou, Lianshui, and Bozhou. In January 958, Chai Rong personally attacked Chu Prefecture and pulled it out; In February, the car drove to the south of Chuzhou and broke Yangzhou; In March, Xingtaizhou, Guangling, and Yingluan River estuaries defeated the enemy army. The Southern Tang sent people to express their feelings, offer tribute, sacrifice the land of the four states, draw the river as the boundary, and pay 100,000 tribute every year in order to stop the army. Chai Rong Xiping Jiangbei, Texas fourteen, county sixty.
3. Northern Expedition to Liao State
In 959, Chai Rong led an army to the Northern Expedition to the Khitan. As far as Ningzhou, Wang Hong surrendered to the city. He also led the army to Yijin Pass, and the Khitan defender finally surrendered to the city. To Waqiao Pass, the defender Yao Neibin surrendered to the city. Liu Chuxin surrendered to the prefecture. In May, Yingzhou assassin Gao Yanhui returned to his home city. This time, it took only 42 days to leave the division, and the soldiers were not bloody, and they received three passes and three prefectures in a row, a total of seventeen counties.
Cultural indoctrination:
It reiterated the selection principle of "meritocracy" and emphasized the recommendation system of "not avoiding relatives at home and not avoiding hatred when acting externally".
The current bureaucratic system was rectified, officials of the state were evaluated, the fittest survived, the corrupt were killed without amnesty, the tyrants filled the border army, the vanity that once spread above the imperial court was eliminated, the politics were clear, and the government decrees were accessible.
Various types of rules and regulations were formulated, and the "Great Zhou Penal System", "Great Zhou Tongli", and "Great Zhou Zhengle" were promulgated, so that the world's laws and regulations were complete for a while, and the civil and military officials had laws to abide by.
The "Juntian Map" was promulgated, which determined the taxes of the 60 prefectures in Henan and other taxes attached to the surrendering prefectures and counties, selected the surrendered troops in various places, and released the retrenched ones into the fields.
The abolition of monasteries, the compulsory participation of monks and nuns in production and life, and the growth of the country's population were promoted.
Untimely death
In 959, Chai Rong contracted a disease during the conquest and died shortly after returning to Beijing at the age of 39. The vigorous and magnificent Northern Expedition and the achievements of unification came to a standstill.
In 960, Zhao Kuangyin usurped Zhou to stand on his own, inheriting Chai Rong's legacy and continuing to wage the War of Unification; On the other hand, he tried his best to erase Chai Rong's deeds.
"The kings of the three generations have their time to do it, the Chinese language has a time to do it, and Zhou Shizong has no time to do it." In total, during the five years of Zhou Shizong's reign, he reorganized the army and strengthened the country, fought in the east and west, and mixed northern Xinjiang; We will work hard to appease exiles, reduce taxes, and restore the economy. The domestic politics were clear and the people of the world were prosperous, which laid a solid foundation for Zhao Kuangyin's later domination of the world. If it weren't for the jealousy of the talents, he died young, and with his martial arts, even if he expelled the Khitan and recovered Yanyun, it was not impossible. Woohoo, the collapse of Sejong, the whole country is sad, the Yan Lu Shen, the Huaxia Fall, and the salvation of the boil and drowning has to wait until the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.
Second, the rule of Changxing. Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (926–933)
Although it only lasted 8 years, this only eight years is enough to illuminate this extremely evil world in which "fathers and sons kill each other, fratricidal brothers, and kings are killed".
In the first year of Tiancheng (926), Li Siyuan took advantage of the "Guo Congqian Rebellion" to lead his army into Luoyang, proclaimed himself a prison state, and succeeded to the throne in front of Emperor Zhuangzong's Li Cunxuan Ling Hall.
After succeeding to the throne, Li Siyuan knew that the world was in turmoil for a long time, so he launched a bold political reform, he established the "joint recommendation system" to ensure the quality of the recommended talents, killed corrupt officials, praised honest officials, deposed ladies and eunuchs, released the stranded palace people, opened the inner treasury and included it in the state treasury, and enriched the state revenue. The appearance of the imperial court was completely renewed, as if it had the power of Haiqing Heyan.
In addition, he lenient taxes, reduced and exempted exorbitant contributions, advised farmers to shan, and encouraged farming. So that the people in the midst of war can sleep peacefully when life and death are hanging in the balance, so that they can cultivate with their hearts and save their families. Within a few years, the people were prosperous, and the people lived in peace. Known as moderately prosperous.
November 930: Wu'an Jiedu made Ma Xisheng request annexation, and Yelubei, the king of Dongdan, of the Khitan state, led his army to surrender, and Emperor Mingzong gave him the surname Dongdan and the name Muhua. In 933, in order to further consolidate military power and strengthen the central government's control over the localities, Emperor Mingzong wanted to annex the Dingyan army in Xiazhou by "changing towns", but unfortunately Li Yichao resisted after the Dingyan stay, and the imperial court sent troops to no avail. The great cause of reunification was thus hindered, and the towns of the world gradually became arrogant.
In the same year, the second son Li Congrong took advantage of Emperor Mingzong's illness to seize power, and Emperor Mingzong was shocked and inexplicable, and died in mourning. Li Conghou, the king of Song, succeeded to the throne, and the situation in the Later Tang Dynasty took a sharp turn. The following year, King Li of Lu rebelled against Ke, killing the monarch and seizing power. Two years later, Shi Jingxuan, the king of Zhao, surrendered to the enemy and led the Khitan soldiers into the customs, and the Later Tang perished.
III. The Reign of Shengyuan. Southern Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Sheng (937-943)
Li Sheng, the ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, whose real name is Li Zhixuan, came from a humble background, lost his father at a young age, was exiled to Huaixi due to war, and was adopted by Yang Xing's secret department of Huainan Jiedu, and then followed Xu's southern conquest and northern war, and after his authority increased, he erected the Xu clan, deposed Emperor Wu, and established Southern Tang.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Sheng changed the system of "using more martial arts to generalize" in the previous dynasty (Yang Xingmi established the state of Wu), vigorously promoted literati politics, reused Confucianism, and abolished harsh government: on the one hand, he set up the "Yanbin Pavilion" to attract people of all directions; On the one hand, he leads by example, "missing capital visits, asking the people's sufferings, and leaving at night." Put on the posture of Yan Zhao King's golden platform "buying bones with thousands of gold". On the other hand, it is also strictly forbidden for foreign relatives and eunuchs to dare to govern the dynasty.
He paid attention to rectifying the legal system, punishing corrupt and brutal officials, and issued an edict promulgating the "Decree on the Ascending Yuan", so that the turbulent society, which had been in chaos and disorder for a long time, had a relatively complete system of laws and regulations, and thus the administration of officials had a basis and evaluation standards that could be referred to, and they were no longer as unscrupulous and discretionary as before.
Li Sheng was well aware of the difficulties of the people's livelihood, and on the one hand, he advised the peasants to reward, rewarded farming and weaving, and reformed the tax system (tax exemption and exemption from "dingkou money") so that the people could feel at ease and strengthen the fields, so that the southern half of the Jiangbi army was left behind, "in ten years, there is no idle field, and there is no gap in the mulberry"; On the other hand, he advocated thrift, dismissed the singers in the palace, burned the musical instruments played, and even "did not wear heavy clothes, and did not eat well." For this reason, even more than 200 years later, some people still evaluate him as "benevolent and thrifty, caring for the people, and having the style of an ancient wise king." ”。
After ten years of hard work, the Southern Tang Dynasty has become a place that the people of Kyushu yearn for at that time. The world's wise and handsome talents are all eager to go south and "achieve unprecedented greatness with Li Sheng." And Li Sheng himself also had a strategic plan to unify the north once "something suddenly changed in the Central Plains."
It's a pity that the sky did not meet people's wishes, Li Sheng, who liked the art of Fangshi and longed for the way of immortality, died violently because of excessive drugs, coupled with the regret of "tiger father and dog son", although the successor Li Yu was a poet who was "unparalleled in the world", but he was not a qualified emperor, and finally surrendered the splendid rivers and mountains in the southern half of the Jiangsu to Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and he also died under the poison of a thousand chances.