On the stage at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was one person who couldn't get around, and that was Zhu Wen. This person has a bad reputation, and even the dynasty Houliang he established was not reluctantly recognized until the Northern Song Dynasty.
Some people say that Zhu Wen's poor image is the masterpiece of later generations of literati, because in the troubled times, Zhu Wen thinks that literati are useless and can only pat on the back, and his subordinates are all frustrated literati, so many official scholars died under Zhu Wen's butcher's knife.
In fact, the malice of the literati in later generations towards Zhu Wen was not wrong, Zhu Wen did kill indiscriminately, killed all the eunuchs, killed the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and killed the Wenchen at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and it is reasonable to be criticized.
But one thing is undeniable, that is, Zhu Wen is indeed a good hand in war, and he is indeed powerful, but it is an exaggeration to say that he solved the problem of the century-old feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty.
What is the truth? What role did Zhu Wen play in the process of the demise of the feudal towns? Who was the person who really ended the division of the Tang Dynasty? Let's find out.
01 The powerful faction of the feudal town in the Juwen era
Long before Zhu Wen stepped onto the stage of history, the feudal town had been in operation in the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years. From the beginning of the Anshi Rebellion, the power of the feudal town officially rose.
As early as the era of Taizong and Gaozong, the territory of the Tang Dynasty was unprecedentedly vast, how to protect and control, and when Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he set up ten military towns, which were managed by nine Jiedu envoys and one Jingluo envoy.
These festivals later developed into a combination of military, administrative, and financial powers, which were basically equivalent to the princes and kings of one side, broke away from the control of the Tang court, and became the troubles of the Tang Dynasty, unable to control and difficult to eliminate.
By the beginning of the Anshi Rebellion, the power of the feudal towns had grown to more than 40, and they were constantly fighting each other for territory, power, and profit.
In other words, before Zhu Wen came to power, these feudal towns were engaged in round after round of annexation wars, and by the time Zhu Wen came to power, the situation was that there were peasant uprisings and feudal town competitions, and Zhu Wen had participated in both forms.
Therefore, when he turned his head to join the regular army instead of the peasant army, he naturally had an advantage in battle because he was familiar with the habits of the peasant army.
When the peasant army was almost defeated, the battle for the feudal town became the focus again, and at this time, Zhu Wen had become very smart after rounds of war baptism.
Next, the main enemies he has to deal with can be counted
In the northwest, An Shiru divided Zhengzhou and Huazhou;
Due north, there are Shandong Erzhu, Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Zhu brothers divided Yunzhou and Caozhou;
In the northeast, there is Zikerang to secede Yanzhou;
In the east, Pu sometimes divides Xuzhou and Suzhou;
In the south, there is the iron spear king Jingxun guarding Yingzhou;
There is also Zhao Li (chou) in the southwest guarding Chenzhou.
These are just the warlords bordering the Zhuwen territory, and they can be regarded as second-tier warlords.
In addition, there are strong front-line warlords, such as Wang Jingwu of the Pinglu Army, Le Yanzhen of the Wei Bo Army, Wang Rong of the Chengde Army, Zhuge Shuang of the Three Towns of Heyang, Li Hanzhi of Luoyang, and further north is the most powerful faction in Hedong Li Keyong at that time.
And in the Henan territory where Zhu Wen is located, if Qin Zongquan is called second, no one dares to call it first.
Zhu Wen lived in the shadow of Qin Zongquan when he was in charge of Xuanwu, and among these warlords, Zhu Wen was just a third-rate warlord.
However, Zhu Wen killed Qin Zongquan to get Henan, killed Shi Pu to get Xuzhou, killed Zhu Xuan to get Yun Cao, controlled Wei Bojun, and suppressed Li Keyong in Hedong.
Zhu Wen spent more than 30 years on the campaign, using Henan as a base, constantly expanding outward, and gradually developed into the largest warlord at that time, and finally usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Later Liang.
However, the main reason why he was able to stand out among the many warlords, in addition to his personal talents, such as his ability to take advantage of contradictions, seize opportunities, and engage in political speculation, was that this was also the objective situation of the long-term struggle of the separatist forces in the Tang Dynasty and the inevitable result of the development of various social contradictions in the Tang Dynasty.
The whole process of Zhu Wen's usurpation of the Tang Dynasty was not only a process of various forces fighting each other within the Tang Dynasty, but also a process in which the toiling masses suffered from war.
Although Zhu Wen ascended the throne of the emperor, he neither unified the north like Cao Cao, nor changed the general trend of the world, after the establishment of the Later Liang, the world still maintained a situation of division and war, and after the Later Liang, there were successive Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, and the situation of the Ten Kingdoms separating the regime.
Judging from the overall situation, how can Zhu Wen and He De talk about ending the situation of separating feudal towns? He is just a passer-by in troubled times, a relatively powerful passer-by.
Who, then, can put an end to the secession of feudal towns, and what conditions are needed?
02 The terminator of the feudal town
From the perspective of historical development, we usually say that in 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin replaced the Later Zhou Dynasty and established the Great Song Dynasty, ending the dispute between the five dynasties.
But in fact, Zhao Kuangyin is not the key figure among them, and there are others who really push to end the chaotic situation.
To end this chaotic situation, the following three conditions are needed:
First, the human factor, this leader-like figure must first be enlightened, virtuous, far-sighted, and have excellent military ability.
For example, in the era of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty reused talents, encouraged farming, attached importance to education, and had strong military capabilities, which could not only stabilize society, but also attract many parties to submit to it.
And Cao Cao is also such a leader, or if you look at it again, you will also find a phrase that often appears in history textbooks, he is a wise monarch.
Virtuous and wise gathered the essence of Chinese culture, Zhu Wen's character is indeed not very good, although in terms of governing the country, he has also done a lot of things that are conducive to social development, but in the end, his character cannot support his empire.
Second, environmental factors, at least to open up a relatively stable environment.
Also take Fu Jian as an example, under his governance, more than ten years later, the former Qin Dynasty was under great rule, the people were happy, and there was a peaceful scene in the north, so he had the confidence and economic foundation to unify the north.
In China's history, after a long period of war, society needs to recuperate in order to restore social and economic order and restore a stable environment for the people.
The Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty died in the second dynasty, one of the important reasons was that they did not recuperate enough, and they overhauled and fought for many years, using a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and the people were burdened, and the uprising was inevitable.
Third, it is necessary to see the time of day, when the Three Kingdoms competed for hegemony, Liu Bei of Shu Han, Zhuge Liang and others were also elites among the people, why can't they dominate the world, geographical factors are restricted, the loss of Jingzhou is a big failure, it is difficult to succeed several Northern Expeditions, logistics supply is a big problem, and it is difficult to achieve a great cause without time.
So who is the person who pushed for the end of the chaotic situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms? Personally, I believe that Guo Wei of the Later Zhou Dynasty is counted as one, and the really important figure is Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty.
Chai Rong has the above conditions, he once set up the ambition of "opening up the world in ten years, raising the people in ten years, and bringing peace in ten years", but he lacked a little time factor and died young, so this big bargain was given to Zhao Kuangyin, and finally achieved the great cause of unifying the north and south.
To sum up, Zhu Wen did have military talent, but the establishment of the Later Liang was just another chaotic era after the transition from the chaos of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns, and it can only be said that, to a certain extent, he pushed history forward and made the chaos change its form.