Since ancient times, in the process of the transfer of old and new power in feudal society, there are many incidents of unloading and killing donkeys, in order to stabilize his rule, the founding emperor will generally take back the power in his hands to the generals who have followed him to fight the world, and most of the means used will evolve into the seizure of power by force.
However, in the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, at the beginning of the founding of the country, staged a bloodless transfer of power, which is the well-known "cup of wine to release the military power", through a relatively mild way, the power in the hands of the founding generals was disintegrated one by one, eliminating the potential crisis of the generals supporting the army and even plotting rebellion.
No one will be willing to hand over the military power that has been held in his hands, this has been the case since ancient times, and the bloodshed caused by the recovery of military power by the God King in history abounds, but why did Zhao Kuangyin be able to take back the military power to the central government so "easily" in the Great Song Dynasty? How could the generals who were taken back the military power be so "willing"?
Among them, Zhao Kuangyin's methods are one of the main reasons, and the other is the treatment he received after handing over the military power.
Strictly speaking, the so-called "releasing military power with a glass of wine" is not as easy as in storytelling and singing, in fact, in secret, it is also an undercurrent surging, and the final result of multiple forces after weighing and wrestling.
In addition, the release of military power with a glass of wine is two times before and after, one is to remove generals such as Shi Shouxin and Gao Huaide who were born and died with Zhao Kuangyin, and the other is to remove the military power of the feudal town that holds heavy troops and is not very cooperative, which is represented by Li Chongjin, nephew of Zhou Taizu Guo Wei, son-in-law Zhang Yongde and others.
In the process of disarming the military twice, Zhao Kuangyin gave full play to his unique scheming under his dark and fat appearance.
First of all, it is said that the power to command the forbidden army is lifted, and it is said that the military power is lifted, but in fact, it is to go to the military position, and the senior military personnel who previously served as the central forbidden army will be transferred out to serve as the envoy of the feudal town.
In this way, first, most of these people are the old brothers who followed Zhao Kuangyin to birth and death, that is, the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society" headed by Zhao Da, these people helped Zhao Kuangyin to replace Zhou Jiansong, plus they came together with Lao Zhao from the war, and they were the founding heroes of the Great Song Dynasty, so Lao Zhao was relatively gentle with them.
Zhao Kuangyin said in his words to persuade these old brothers: "Between the monarch and the minister, there is no suspicion between the two sides, and the upper and lower are at peace. ”
Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was born in the forbidden army, started as a small recruit and was promoted all the way to the supreme commander of the forbidden army, so he has a very high voice and absolute control in the forbidden army.
Including Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide and others, they were originally Zhao Kuangyin's subordinates, belonging to the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and they were very in awe of Zhao Kuangyin, so after the Chen Qiao Mutiny, although Zhao Kuangyin was added to the yellow robe and became the emperor, for them, the respect for Zhao Kuangyin has not changed, so there will not be much psychological resistance.
In the release of military power with a glass of wine, Zhao Kuangyin explained the truth clearly and told them that there is only no suspicion between the monarch and the minister, so that they can "be at peace with each other", as the founding hero, they naturally understand the meaning behind Lao Zhao's words.
What's more, Zhao Kuangyin is not thin on these old brothers, as I said earlier, saying that he handed over the military power, in fact, he asked them to go to other places to serve as envoys to the feudal towns, not in the capital, whether there is a fight to the end, it is still a high-ranking official to sit.
Not only that, Zhao Kuangyin also took the initiative to marry these old brothers, so that these brothers who followed him from birth to death did not feel cold, such as Shi Shouxin as the envoy of the Tianping Army, his son Shi Baoji married Zhao Kuangyin's second daughter Princess Yanqing as his wife; Wang Xianqi was the envoy of the Zhongzheng Army, and his son Wang Chengyan married Zhao Kuangyin's eldest daughter Princess Zhaoqing as his wife; Gao Huaide was the envoy of the German Army, and married Zhao Kuangyin's sister Princess Yan Guochang as his wife, Zhang Lingduo was the envoy of the Zhenning Army, and his daughter married Zhao Tingmei, the king of Qin, and so on.
In other words, although these people are far away from the capital, in fact, they still have local military power, so they did not resist in the wine release of military power.
Another reason why these people did not resist is that under the trade-off, it is also very good to accept Lao Zhao's measures.
Since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the feudal towns have quite a lot of power, and some powerful feudal towns are like a small imperial court, although these people have real power in the forbidden army, but compared to being released to become a soil emperor, there is still a certain difference, to put it bluntly, it is to realize the power of the forbidden army in their hands, by becoming a local feudal town, giving cash, such a good thing, who can not do it?
In the case that their own interests are not harmed, and there are even bonuses, these forbidden army commanders are naturally very willing, so they will show their loyalty to Zhao Kuangyin one after another, promising that they will never have the ambition of copying the "yellow robe" and accept the dispatch safely.
Secondly, let's talk about the removal of the military power of the envoy of the original feudal town, these people are essentially different from Zhao Kuangyin's "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society", so in terms of handling methods and methods, Zhao Kuangyin changed his routine.
Because there are many people involved, let's take a more typical person as an example, and you will find that Zhao Kuangyin, who is honest in appearance, can really be described as a good chess hand!
Fu Yanqing, is one of the three dukes at the beginning of the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, and concurrently served as the Taifu, this person should not be underestimated, first of all, noble birth, his grandfather, named Fu Chu, once proclaimed himself the king of Wu;
Speaking of which, you can probably know how arrogant Fu Yanqing's background is, his grandfather is the king of the mountain, his father is Li Keyong's adopted son, and he holds a lot of power, so to speak, Fu Yanqing's debut is the peak.
But this is far more than that, the elders are not fierce, the same generation is fierce, Fu Yanqing's eldest brother Fu Yanchao was the envoy of the Anyuan Army, and the second brother Fu Yanrao is the envoy of the Loyal Army, and Fu Yanqing himself is also the envoy of the Tianxiong Army, the most rare and valuable, his official position is based on real military merits.
Once when the Houzhou Group had not yet collapsed, Fu Yanqing served in the army, and during a certain Khitan invasion, the hot-blooded Fu Yanqing did not hesitate to take out all the money in his family, recruit soldiers, and fight the Khitans, and finally repelled the enemy soldiers, and he was also a fierce man.
For this kind of character, and he doesn't have much intersection with Zhao Kuangyin, and he is not his old department, if the old method is used to make him hand over the military power, it will definitely not work, and maybe it will backfire.
How did Zhao Kuangyin do it? His approach can be said to be the pinnacle of scheming.
The first step is to give money, a lot of money, why give money? Because Fu Yanqing is very greedy, so greedy that he not only loots the fat and ointment of the people in the jurisdiction, but even dares to withhold the offerings of the central government, which can be said to be extremely greedy.
Zhao Kuangyin was not unaware of his virtue, but not only did he not punish him, but also changed his tricks to send him money.
For example, a large sum of money was given to him once, and Zhao Kuangyin also found him all the names of the money spent and asked him to repair the river embankment, such a good thing, Fu Yanqing naturally laughed at it, and it would be a fool not to take the money.
The second step is to give the project, and it is okay to give money to Fu Yanqing, but Zhao Kuangyin has a small condition, it is okay to take the money, but he cannot recruit people from the people to repair the river embankment, so that Fu Yanqing has to use his own soldiers to work.
What kind of requirement is this? No problem at all! Anyway, the soldiers are idle, and it is not a time of turmoil, so they can work, and it is easy to manage, and they can make money, which is really a double win.
Use your own soldiers to work, and then the central government will reimburse you, this good thing makes the greedy Fu Yanqing very happy, and he will scavenge a little in the middle, this is another large amount of money, what are you waiting for?
After the project was completed, the central government really reimbursed as promised, and at the same time, Fu Yanqing was also commended, and there were not a few kinds of rewards.
Then, Zhao Kuangyin continued to give money, Fu Yanqing's army continued to engage in projects, and after finishing it in the jurisdiction, Zhao Kuangyin said, Lao Fu, your engineering team is doing a good job, and there are many more projects around, let those soldiers who have no families do it, and the income will be doubled!
Fu Yanqing thought about it, this is completely reasonable, no one with a family wants to go on a business trip, so bachelors should go, work more, and earn more money to come back.
As a result, most of the young soldiers in Fu Yanqing's army were scattered to different places to wield hoes, and Fu Yanqing had not yet noticed anything wrong at this time.
Immediately afterwards, while regularly receiving the payment from the imperial court, Zhao Kuangyin's third step was launched.
Once, along with the delivery of the settlement of the silver taels, there was also a letter from Zhao Kuangyin, in which Zhao Kuangyin, like an old friend, first praised Fu Yanqing's hard work on the project arranged by the imperial court recently, and then changed the conversation and criticized Fu Yanqing.
Of course, this criticism is not to criticize Fu Yanqing himself, but to criticize some county commanders, village chiefs and other petty officials in Fu Yanqing's jurisdiction, Zhao Kuangyin said that these petty officials do nonsense on weekdays, so that many people go to the capital to sue the emperor, so that Zhao Kuangyin is very annoyed, if Fu Yanqing is too busy on weekdays and has no time to take care of these sesame petty officials, it is better for the imperial court to send a few capable people to the past to help Fu Yanqing sort out local political affairs, and it is best to get a few model counties out, so that both sides are clean.
Fu Yanqing thought to herself, the sesame petty official can't become a big deal, it's better to give Lao Zhao a face, and solve his troubles, just change it.
Then, these "petty officials" from the capital soon arrived, but these petty officials came from a lot of background, and all the departments in the capital were in charge, not only by themselves, but also with the team, after coming to Fu Yanqing's jurisdiction, they took over the relevant county government as soon as possible, and when Fu Yanqing reacted, basically the important county governments were controlled by the people sent by Zhao Kuangyin.
Fu Yanqing, who reacted, was very angry, scolded Zhao Kuangyin for being a villain, and ordered the troops to be sent to rebel, but after the order, there were no soldiers.
As mentioned earlier, Zhao Kuangyin transferred those young and strong soldiers to other provinces to repair projects, and those who stayed behind were all family members, and these people would definitely not follow Lao Fu anymore, and those who were obedient and able to fight would not know where to dig a ditch.
So, Fu Yanqing wilted like this, there were no soldiers in his hands, what did he use to argue with Lao Zhao?
Needless to say in detail about the fourth step, the Beijing officials who came to Fu Yanqing did not simply come to be a county official, but actually collected evidence of his crimes, and when the collection was completed, the real questioning would come down.
Soon, Fu Yanqing was deposed as the envoy of the Tianxiong Festival, he wanted to resist, but he had no strength, and Zhao Kuangyin did not want to kill him, therefore, immediately after a will, Fu Yanqing was brought to Luoyang, which was called a peaceful life, but in fact, he was put under house arrest.
A generation of heroes was quietly released by Zhao Kuangyin from military power, of course, what happened in actual history must be more complicated and exciting than this, but the result is the same, Zhao Kuangyin took back the military power and achieved his goal.
Taking Fu Yanqing as an example, it is to illustrate that Zhao Kuangyin used different methods in the matter of releasing military power, which is different from the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society", and for powerful people like Fu Yanqing, who have strength and ambition, Lao Zhao's approach can be said to be very clever.
As mentioned in the title, the reason why Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, was able to successfully "release military power with a glass of wine" mainly because of his various means, tailored methods for different types of people, whether it was good or inducing, or drawing salary from the bottom of the kettle, in the end, Zhao Kuangyin achieved his goal. And the reason why the generals were able to "willingly" hand over the military power was also to judge the situation, after all, Lao Zhao did not kill them. Therefore, in all dynasties, the founding emperor was able to carry out such a smooth transfer of military power, and Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, was the first person.