The Court Guards and the Ministers
|Wang Junying|
Subtitle: A Study of the Song Dynasty Imperial Palace's Forbidden Army and Scholars on Military Politics
Jilin University Press, March 2024
ISBN：9787576831061
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Introduction
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, was originally a senior general of the forbidden army of the previous and later Zhou dynasties, and only became the emperor by launching the "Chenqiao Mutiny", so he knew the importance of the Praetorian Guard to the rise and succession of the dynasty. However, the Song Dynasty is also famous for its long-term implementation of the statecraft strategy of "advocating literature and suppressing martial arts". In this special national policy and social atmosphere, what is the situation of the palace guards and forbidden army? What are the armies? How to organize and manage? What are the general characteristics? One of the main contents of this book is to explore these issues in depth. In addition, he mainly thinks about some issues in the group of scholars and politics. After the Northern Song Dynasty, many scholars and doctors from the imperial examination gradually became the upper echelons of political society, and some of them became an important force to assist the emperor in handling daily government affairs. Under the promotion and influence of various factors, a fashion of talking about martial arts and soldiers was gradually formed among the scholars and doctors of the Song Dynasty, and on the contrary, this fashion had a wide and far-reaching impact on the political, military, cultural and social aspects of the time. In addition, in the long-term political life, the advanced scholars and doctors of the Song Dynasty, such as Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, vigorously advocated many positive political principles and spiritual concepts, which not only became a unique symbol of the political civilization of the Song Dynasty, but also had many positive roles in China's political history, and still have a certain value of the times. However, due to some traditional limitations, there were also deep drawbacks in the politics of Song Dynasty scholars, which were directly related to the final fate of the two Song dynasties.
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About the Author
Wang Junying, male, born in December 1978, Ph.D. in History, postdoctoral fellow in Chinese history, associate professor of Songliao Jin History Research Institute and School of History, Northwest University, master's supervisor. He is mainly engaged in the research of the military and political history of the Song Dynasty, the regional cultural history of Shaanxi, and the teaching of ancient Chinese and ancient Chinese history. He has published more than 30 academic papers in journals such as "Research on Chinese History", "Essays on Chinese Literature and History", "Guangming Daily: Historical Theory", "Chinese Classics and Culture", and 100 essays, essays and poems have appeared in various newspapers and magazines, presided over or completed several fund projects of the State and the Ministry of Education, and won several domestic awards in literature and history.
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sequence
In the era of ancient Chinese dynasties, the palace guards were the guards to protect the emperor, which was not only directly related to the safety of the monarch, but also had a certain impact on the politics and society at that time, so its role and role should not be underestimated. Historically, when the ruling order was stable, the Su Guards were usually able to function effectively. When the imperial power is declining and the power struggle at the top is intensifying, it is often difficult for them to play their due role, and in fact they often become tools for competition between all parties, so that they participate in palace coups, which leads to political turmoil or even a change of dynasty, which is not uncommon.
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, was originally the former secretary of the forbidden army palace of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and this position was responsible for guarding the capital and the court. But like many generals in the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, he coveted the emperor's throne, and finally launched the "Chenqiao Mutiny" through the military power he mastered, and joined forces with Shi Shouxin and other forbidden army generals who defended the city, so he easily stepped into the palace and replaced the Later Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin knew the particularity and importance of the Su Wei Forbidden Army, and deepened his understanding of its functions from the lessons of past history. Only in this way, Song Taizu had very strict control over the generals of the forbidden army who shouldered the duties of the guards, such as Zhang Qiong, who was framed for misconduct in front of the palace, Zhao Kuangyin immediately tortured him to death. And Yang Xin, the commander in front of the palace, heard the drum noise made by the soldiers during training in the palace, and quickly entered the palace to check because he didn't know what was going on, so he was praised by Song Taizu. Therefore, since the Song Taizu Dynasty, the Song rulers have long paid close attention to the issue of the establishment of the Su guard armament, and included it in the construction of the system for consolidating the imperial power, and tried their best to avoid omissions. Because of this, the Su Guards played a competent role in the Song and Song dynasties, and there was never a phenomenon of rebellion against the imperial power. In this regard, it is necessary to study the palace guards of the Song Dynasty.
After the change of the political line in the late Song Dynasty, under the long-term pursuit of the concept of "respecting literature and suppressing the military", the group of scholars and doctors with the background of the imperial examination became the main force of the rule, they not only assumed all aspects of administrative power from the central to the local, but also gradually shouldered the responsibility of military decision-making and border defense from the beginning of the Song Zhenzong Dynasty, as the Song people said: "The minister scribe also, the minister scribe of the close servant, the scribe of the division of the Qian Valley, the scribe of the border marshal, the scribe of the world transfer envoy, the scribe of Zhizhou County, although there are military ministers, Cover only also. (Cai Xiang's "Duanming Collection", Vol. 22, "The Essentials of the National Treatise") Therefore, while civil servants such as Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, Pang Ji, Wang Shao, and Zhang Jun served as front-line military commanders, the discussion of military affairs also became a common practice among scholars, which not only reflected the implementation and influence of the principle of using literature to control military forces, but also the reaction of scholars to the grim situation of border troubles. It can be said that whenever there is a crisis in the border defense, many scholars in the government and the opposition are full of a sense of danger, and they either actively offer advice or write books and speeches, so that the study of military science flourishes. As for the understanding of the Song Dynasty's scholars and doctors on their personal ambitions and political principles, although they are not the same, and there is even no lack of people who are greedy for profit and go with the flow in actual behavior, but in terms of public occasions, they all advertise "repairing Qi and ruling peace". Among them, the outstanding representatives take the world as their own responsibility, such as Fan Zhongyan, whose famous words "the worries of the world first, the joy of the world after the world" and "public crimes are indispensable, private crimes are indispensable", which is the voice of his career practice; Wang Anshi was not only brave in reform, but also regarded wealth and nobility as floating clouds, and even the opposition admired his integrity. All these problems are phenomena that cannot be ignored in the history of the Song Dynasty and deserve more attention.
Associate Professor Wang Junying is a student I have taught, and his doctoral dissertation "Research on the Problems of the Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Palace's Guards and Forbidden Army" focused on the problems of the Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Palace's Guards and Forbidden Army. After he went to the School of History of Northwest University in 2012, he made an in-depth exploration of some specific problems of the Northern Song Dynasty Su Wei Forbidden Army, and published a series of related papers. At the same time, the military camp also made a unique investigation and published papers on the Song Dynasty literati's discussion of military fashion, military science and mainstream military thought, as well as the characteristics of Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi in some aspects. These achievements reflect his progress in the field of Song history research, and also have a certain academic impact.
In my opinion, the military camp is serious and diligent in thinking, and most of the research results accumulated over the past ten years have focused on the above topics. Now, on the basis of the existing basis, he has written the manuscript of "Court Guards and Wenchen: A Study of the Song Dynasty Imperial Palace Guards and Forbidden Soldiers and Scholars on Military Politics", from the research of specific historical details to the observation of the trend of the times, which not only involves the samurai and Wenchen, but also involves the historical background behind them, coupled with the rich literature and detailed discussions, all of which are helpful to the understanding of the political history of the Song Dynasty. It is hoped that the military camp will make persistent efforts to focus on the field of military and political history of the Song Dynasty in order to obtain more in-depth research results. A few words in a hurry are for the preface.
Chen Feng
In the early winter of 2023, it will be in the plum garden at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain
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Epilogue
In the Concise Encyclopædia Britannica, there is a quote about Thoreau, the author of Walden: "Man must act on the basis of conscience in spite of everything; Life is precious and should not be wasted meaninglessly in order to earn a living. ”
The author was born and raised in one of the most ordinary villages in northwest China, and since I was a child, I have been in contact with the most grassroots people. The various lifestyles of these sentient beings, as well as their ideological and spiritual culture, have imprinted the author with indelible memories since childhood. After going to school, the author gradually received education in Marxist classical theory, and learned and mastered a relatively profound methodology. Later, the author majored in history, thinking about and observing historical and social issues, and the strong emotions of the people at the bottom who were surging in the soul forced the author to objectively get used to penetrating the political narratives of emperors and generals on the surface, and to pursue the images of various ordinary people who constitute a complex historical society. The author has always believed that if the historical period is absent from the daily life and spiritual world of the public, and some aristocratic or individual typical figures are discussed, and only the upper-class political structure or the relatively elegant upper-class spiritual culture is discussed, then this historical research may easily deviate from the social truth of the past, and it will be difficult to approach the deeper and richer world of human beings in the past, and this research will also be greatly discounted. For the author personally, the study that deviates from the masses is not only monotonous and meaningless, but also deviates from the author's subjective feelings. Historical society, like us today, is composed of characters with living life, and human activities are the main body of historical society. As long as people are human, they all have feelings, joys, sorrows, and sorrows, and will pursue material and spiritual life. Therefore, in addition to the many advances brought to us by the development of science in modern society, in fact, people in ancient times should live in a rich and colorful world, just like us today. These ordinary people are bustling and active in different regions, forming different social groups and strata due to differences in their respective occupations or status, and objectively interpreting their rich daily lives together.
The above feelings are completely the pure starting point of the author's research and writing this book. The author ambitiously raised the banner and planned to understand the richer and deeper social aspects of the Song Dynasty through in-depth research on the social population, but due to the differences in the actual documentary materials, it is impossible to present the original idea more ideally. At the same time, due to the influence of data, it is inevitable that some of them have taken the old metaphysical path of the past. As a result, the object of discussion objectively appears to still belong to the superstructure of the Song Dynasty.
Although there is still a long distance between the ideal and the reality, the author still feels that there are many gains from his past work experience, which is worth a little comfort. On the one hand, in the stumbling of past journeys, the author began to master certain academic theories and research methods from a young man with only blind enthusiasm and ignorance. On the one hand, although there are many disdains, some of the stage results that have been published one after another have also pushed forward the author's research topic step by step. In addition, the high-energy output of many academic predecessors and colleagues objectively provides a rich cutting-edge foundation for the author's future work. My future may be easier than ever. It is hoped that in the future, I can follow the ideals of will, and gradually have a deeper insight and understanding of the richer internal texture of Song Dynasty society, so as to achieve better results.
Looking back on my past study and work experience, I can't say enough. The author's family goes back several generations, and they are all ordinary farmers who crawl in the loess in search of food and clothing. The author's life is often like barefoot, stepping on the gravel of the Gobi, running in the wind, but the true will of the peasants makes the author ignore the cold, not depressed, although lacking the realm of "the eye is the scenery, the ear is the poetry", but it is still like the grass in the waterside pond in summer, growing wantonly and luxuriantly, full of incomparable love for life. In the fall of 2006, after four years of working in secondary school, the author was approaching the end of his life and once again packed his bags and entered the university life of pursuing his spiritual dreams. Since then, the author's life has completely embarked on a road different from the past, like the ripe fruit in the orchard, always full of freshness and sunshine.
The author's master's and doctoral tutor, Mr. Chen Feng, is awe-inspiring and majestic, but in fact he is warm-hearted, and he cares for students as much as life. He was very knowledgeable, and much of his wisdom was often reflected in the subtleties of his words, giving the author endless enthusiasm for help and enlightenment. It was he who led the author to the academic hall step by step, step by step, and extradited the author to start the journey of historical research. I remember that when I graduated from graduate school, the author was still a little rude and wanted to return to his original job, but fortunately Mr. Chen did not give up, and encouraged me to continue my studies and study deeply. Because of this, the author had the opportunity to meditate for three years and continue his doctoral studies. After graduation, thanks to his strong support, recommendation and help, the author came to Northwest University and continued to devote himself to scientific research and teaching under his guidance...... Don't do your teacher's kindness, remember in your heart!
The unit is full of talents, and the author is very fortunate to become a colleague with Mr. Wang Shanjun, and can often get close to him for advice, and get the opportunity to learn from him in many ways. Mr. Wang's gentle and elegant, simple and honest, slightly Donglu charm words, often make people feel like a spring breeze. He is a man of profound professional attainments and not much of his words, but he is intelligent, open-minded, humble and amiable, and has a lot of incentives for juniors, and is full of enthusiasm and enthusiasm for encouragement, and has the demeanor of an elder. Later, the author was fortunate to follow Professor Chen and him, entered the station on the job, carried out postdoctoral scientific research work, and finally successfully completed the task and successfully left the station. Whether in daily work, professional research, or work development, Mr. Wang is like a relative, tirelessly giving the author a lot of advice and guidance, and even strong help, often making the author deeply immersed in the warmth of "April in the world".
During the stage of repeated revision of the manuscript, the author's sister and colleague Mr. Zhang Ming, despite her busy work and housework, still carefully read through the entire manuscript, and sincerely pointed out some flaws and put forward some revisions. In the process of repeated proofreading of sentences, the author's graduate students Liao Chengxing and Wang Zhouyu also worked hard. In addition, Li Jun, dean of the School of History of Northwest University, and others also showed great concern for the author's manuscript writing process and publication matters, and enthusiastically gave the author a lot of help. In addition, my family, as always, fully supports the author's work, and the careful and enthusiastic work of editor Ma Ninghui of Jilin University Press also makes the author feel a lot of feelings. Thanks as well!
The years are like fine sand, passing gently between the fingers. Since the summer calendar and autumn and the beginning of winter, the author has been immersed in the manuscript almost all the time. Suddenly, the street trees outside have turned from verdant to yellow. It seems that the weather was very hot not long ago, but suddenly there was frost and snow, and the air was hurried and shivering. The youth is absurd and wasted, and now I realize that the time is precious. The author's life is already in middle age, and there are still many things waiting to be completed in front of me. Well, from now on, roll up your sleeves and work hard.
Wang Barracks
On November 13, 2023 at the home of Lianhu, Xi'an
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1. Song Dynasty History Research Information 1
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