Have you ever wondered why dynastic succession is always accompanied by bloodshed? Despite the efforts of successive monarchs to learn the lessons of the demise of previous dynasties, the wheel of history still seems to run over the glory of dynasties in an inevitable cycle. Is there really no definite number of dynasties?
Think about it, wasn't the former strength of the Shang Dynasty also due to the endless external conquests and internal emptiness, and finally lost to the soldiers of King Wu of Zhou? And the Zhou Dynasty later learned a lesson from the fall of the Shang Dynasty and asked the princes to expand their territory, but unexpectedly, with the expansion of the territory, the power of the princes expanded, and finally made a big mistake, allowing the Qin State to emerge and sweep away the Liuhe.
Qin Shi Huang ruled the world, ending the more than 800-year-long feudal system, centralizing power supremacy, and consolidating the imperial authority with the county system. He thought that in this way he would be able to realize his dream of a thousand years in the world, but with the end of the war of unification, new problems arose. The officials became the stuff of drunken money, loyalty to the imperial power was no longer tied to the skin, and the crisis of the dynasty crept in, and turmoil broke out.
The wisdom of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, also lies in this, understanding the instability of officials and the ambition of nobles. His countermeasure was to insert his kinsman into the throne and clear the potential king with a different surname. But even so, the turmoil of the Eight Kings Dispute still swept up among his descendants, dragging the country into chaos once again.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took the gains and losses of his predecessors as a mirror, strengthened the county system, and also issued a decree to expel Hu Nu to consolidate imperial power. However, although a series of internal and external measures temporarily stabilized the country's situation, the imperial power was still hollowed out by foreign relatives.
The emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty gradually felt that their flesh and blood were unreliable, and began to rely on the eunuchs around them, but they never thought that these eunuchs who held real power would make the court stormy, and the warlords would become more and more violent, resulting in the existence of the imperial family in name only.
Since then, the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the reforms of the Sui Dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty have all unfolded in the gears of history, and there are many wise attempts to change fate. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty introduced the imperial examination system in an attempt to break the vested interests of the aristocracy, while the Tang Dynasty set up Jiedu envoys to strengthen local control, but it eventually became the fuse that weakened the central government, triggering the Anshi Rebellion, which led to the Tang Dynasty's gradual westward tilt and eventual change of ownership.
The Song Dynasty adopted the lessons of its predecessors, reduced local armed forces, and actively selected civilian officials, but it showed weakness at the critical moment of confronting foreign tribes, and its national strength gradually declined, and it was replaced by the Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty was on guard against foreign invasions, and on the other hand, it firmly controlled the frontier, but it was still not immune to the torrent of peasant uprisings.
The Qing Dynasty tried to draw lessons from the past and achieved relatively long-term stability. Unexpectedly, the wild waves of the West swept east, and the first navigation technology and powerful artillery power broke the long-term peace, once again leading to the change of national fortunes.
In every dynasty and generation, emperors tried to block the wheel of history by various means, but often they could not escape. A few years later, when we look back on this series of historical lessons, we can't help but sigh: history is like a repeated light and shadow, which always makes people think deeply after the hustle and bustle of victory. It is a warning to us that no matter how great and brilliant we are, we still need to face change and meet challenges. Truth is often revealed only in the roar of artillery, and the lessons of history become precious treasures, reminding us to remember the past and cherish the present.