If the unification of the Three Kingdoms had not been for the Sima clan, would the tragedy of Wuhu Chaohua be avoided?
#对待三国的见解# #谈论三国历史# #三国历史探讨#
Recently, I have seen an argument that if the Three Kingdoms were not unified by the Sima clan, allowing the unification of any emperor of the original Wei, Shu and Wu would not have allowed the tragedy of the chaos in later generations to occur. In the final analysis, it was the inevitable outcome of the structural problems of society that lasted from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the return of the Three Kingdoms to the Jin Dynasty, and it could not be solved by changing the emperor. So what was the social structural problem that lasted from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the return of the Three Kingdoms to the Jin Dynasty? It was precisely the strict control of the upper echelons of society by the Shi interest groups that led to the inevitable conflict caused by the complete loss of the upward channel for the common people.
In fact, the Yellow Turban Army uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was essentially a rebellion against the Shi group's control of the upper echelons of society, but at that time, the Shi interest group was huge and had enough social resources, which led to this uprising of redistribution of interests being stillborn. However, the uprising was not without merit. The huge casualties caused by the war have decimated the population of the Central Plains, and the basic control of the country by the nobles seems to be showing signs of collapse. How should we understand that? From the end of the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, the scholar group chose to introduce the Hu people.
As a high-ranking ruling class, there is no essential difference between ordinary Han people and Hu people. Because they are all desirable labor for them, they do not care about the national identity of the labor force, as long as they can meet their needs for "squeezing", there is nothing wrong with introducing the Hu people. This is precisely the fundamental reason why the ruling class of the Western Jin Dynasty would ignore the "Turong Theory" put forward by a person of insight (Jiang Tong) before the Wuhu Rebellion. After all, in their eyes, there is no country, only their own interests.
The ruling class of the Western Jin Dynasty was actually born out of the upper echelons of Cao Wei, and the success of its seizure of power was also marked by the promulgation of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system. It is this appearance that makes modern people mistakenly believe that the situation between Shu and Wu may not be the same. But the fact is just the opposite, the ruling class of Shu and Wu is also a scholar, Shu is a strong scholar in Jing and Yizhou, and Wu is a Jiangdong scholar, they are no different from the scholar class of Wei and Jin, but there are only regional differences. Of course, Shu and Wu did not promulgate a decree to protect the interests of the scholars on the surface, but the essence is the same. Therefore, in the face of the large-scale decline in the population (labor force) caused by the war in China, they all chose to accept the Hu people.
The Wei and Jin dynasties accepted the Hu groups in the north, such as the Xianbei, Xiongnu, and Qiang, while the Shu and Wu in the south migrated and naturalized the Nanban, Di, Qiang (Shu), and Shanyue (Wu) ethnic minorities. Of course, because of the size of the country, the total number of Hu people accepted by Shu and Wu was far less than that of Wei and Jin, but the consequences were the same. The most convincing is the Li regime of the Di nationality, which was the first to establish a minority regime during the Wuhu Rebellion. Behind their establishment of Shu is precisely the acceptance and migration of Shu. Therefore, from this point of view, no matter who completes the unification after the Three Kingdoms, the outbreak of Wuhu Chaohua is inevitable. Is there a solution to that problem? It is precisely the need to work diligently for the people and replace the nine-grade Zhongzheng system with the imperial examination system, so as to open a channel for the upward mobility of the people at the bottom of society, and thus alleviate social contradictions. Nearly 300 years later, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, was the one who broke the game, but unfortunately it was hundreds of years later...
