There were huge problems in the Tang Dynasty system, the first was that the government military system was changed to a conscription system, and the conscription system could indeed enhance combat effectiveness, but in the end, the army became private; the second was to set up the Jiedu envoys, the military generals originally had military power, and after the control of the magistrates, they had administrative power and financial power, and embarked on the old road of the Eastern Han Dynasty's assassination history, coupled with the general setting of the Jiedu envoys, drinking water to quench their thirst, the Tang Dynasty was finished; the third was that the northern ethnic minorities went south, An Lushan was Zahu, needless to say the Khitans, and there were Dangxiang people and Tubo people in the northwest, and so on. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were the continuation and expansion of the feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty, and the military generals held the power of the country and launched rebellions and military coups at every turn, causing political turmoil. At this time, the Khitans rose up and established the Khitan regime, sometimes changed to Liao.
1. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
1. Five generations. (907-960)
In the more than 50 years after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Yellow River Basin experienced five short-lived dynasties of the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Five Dynasties, known as the "Five Dynasties".
After the Tang Dynasty, the Shatuo people from the Western Turks moved to Shanxi at the end of the Tang Dynasty and were given the surname Li. Li Keyong cooperated with the Tang Dynasty to defeat the Huangchao rebel army, controlled the two towns of Daibei and Hedong, and Zhu Wen established the Later Liang, which Li Cunqiao never recognized until 923 when he captured the Great Liang, destroyed the Later Liang, and established the Later Tang Dynasty. However, the Shatuo people could only fight, did not learn the advanced system, and eventually perished.
Shi Jingjiao is also a Shatuo person, in order to be the emperor, he asked for help from the Khitan, cut Yanyun 16 states, 300,000 horses of silk per year, became the emperor, and established the Later Jin Dynasty. His descendants were unwilling to be emperors, angering the Khitan and being destroyed. Liu Zhiyuan, who was also a native of Shatuo, established the Later Han Dynasty.
Later Liang 907-923, Later Tang 923-936, Later Jin 936-947, Later Han 947-950 (if you add Northern Han until 979), Later Zhou 950-960, the time of existence is getting shorter and shorter.
2. Ten Kingdoms. (907-979)
At the same time as the Five Dynasties, nine secessionist regimes, including the Former Shu, Later Shu, Southern Wu, Southern Tang, Wu Yue, Min, Southern Chu, Southern Han, and Jingnan (Nanping), appeared in various parts of the south, together with the Northern Han established in Shanxi at the end of the Five Dynasties, called the "Ten Kingdoms".
Wu Yueguo Qian Biao adopted the strategic principle of protecting the territory and the people and "retiring the army and relieving the people," emphasizing agriculture and mulberry and revitalizing water conservancy, especially the sea pond project, and preventing the destruction of agriculture by seawater, which played a great role.
The Qian family compiled the "Hundred Family Surnames", "Zhao Qian Sun Li", Zhao is the emperor's surname, Sun is the surname of Qian Yu's concubine, and Li is the surname of the Southern Tang Dynasty, this enlightenment reading has a great influence.
3. Later Zhou Shizong reform.
Later Zhou Shizong adapted to the situation, eliminated maladministration, and gradually increased his strength, laying the foundation for the Northern Song Dynasty to end the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Zhou Taizu Guo Wei was a Han Chinese, and his adopted son Chai Rong succeeded him as Zhou Shizong, and a series of reforms were carried out:
1] Politics. Reduced penalties and punishment for corrupt officials. Attach importance to the imperial examination and reuse the scribes. Degrade the prime minister and suppress the rebellion.
2] Economy. Strict frugality and lower taxes. Tuntian was incorporated into the civil register, and the land was returned to the tenants. Eliminate monks and nuns, order the return of laymen, and increase household registration. Resettle displaced people and encourage land reclamation.
3] Military. Rectify military discipline and train the forbidden army.
4] Culture. Attach importance to Confucianism.
Zhou Shizong did not really solve the problem of frequent changes of central power and division of local power from the institutional point of view, but laid the foundation for the reform in the early Song Dynasty.
2. Liao
1. Regime.
In 916, the Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji established the Khitan State, and set the capital in Shangjing (Inner Mongolia Chifeng City, Balin Left Banner), in 947, Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang attacked the Later Jin Dynasty, captured Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) and ascended the throne as the emperor, changed the country name to "Da Liao", and changed the year name to "Datong". In 983, it was renamed "Great Khitan". He died in Jin in 1125.
2. Relationship with the five generations.
He supported Shi Jingjiao to obtain the sixteen states of Yanyun, and destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty as emperor, attempting to rule the Central Plains, conniving at the robbery of soldiers, but was resisted and returned to the north.
Long-term confrontation, frequent envoys, and active trade.
3. System.
1] The southern officials were responsible for the affairs of the farming ethnic groups, mainly Han Chinese; The northern officials were responsible for the affairs of the Khitan and other nomadic peoples.
2] The emperor and the court still maintained the customs of the steppe, and moved regularly with the seasons every year, and the camp became the political center of the country.
Tomb Murals