This article is a series of 228 intensive reading of Chinese history, and the "History of the Five Dynasties" is serialized in 08 (click on the blue character to view the previous part), welcome to watch.
01, Guo Wei yellow flag draped
In November of the third year of the Later Han Dynasty (950), the original Capital of Yi remained behind, and the Tianxiong Army made Guo Wei enter the Liang, and the world was in fact already surnamed Guo, but he preferred to come up with a trick to cover people's ears. He invited the empress dowager (Liu Zhiyuan's wife) to listen to the government and install Liu Zhiyuan's nephew Liu Yun as emperor, and there seemed to be no intention of replacing him.
Then, suddenly, from the north came the side report of the Khitan attack. In December, Guo Wei led his troops north, which was considered to be a way to resist the enemy. When the soldiers arrived in Liaozhou, the generals suddenly became agitated, tore open a yellow flag, draped it on Guo Wei, and supported him as emperor.
So Guo Wei returned to the south and, under the pretext of "unavoidable", seized the world of the Later Han. Liu Yun was originally in Xuzhou, but before he reached Daliang, he was deposed and killed.
Although this dynasty lasted for only two generations and lasted less than 10 years, it had great rejuvenation, which revealed a new atmosphere in the politics, economy, and military of the Central Plains, and laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Guo Wei and Chai Rong, especially Chai Rong, had done a great deal in unifying and centralizing power, and should therefore receive much higher evaluations than several southern monarchs such as Yang Xingmi and Xu Wen.
Later Zhou was a Central Plains dynasty with a strong and thick force, and the conditions were much better than those of the divided countries in the south.
At the founding of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Liu Min (Liu Zhiyuan's younger brother) was proclaimed emperor in Taiyuan, holding a small piece of present-day central Shanxi and Shaanxi, historically called the Northern Han, so all the land in Later Zhou was smaller than that of later Jin and Later Han, but from Baigou in the north to Changhuai in the south, there were 98 prefectures. The southern countries, the 52 states of Later Shu, the 36 states of Southern Tang, and the 62 states of the Southern Han Dynasty, are all very different.
Of course, the size of the states varies and should be considered, but roughly it doesn't matter much. Later, Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong took Qin, Feng, Jie, and Chengsi prefectures from Later Shu, 14 states from Huainan from Southern Tang, and 118 prefectures from Khitan and Moerzhou, especially in the south, and advanced to the Yangtze River line, with considerable development.
Of course, the contrast between strength and weakness can be changed, and the important problem lies in human strategy.
In the Later Han Dynasty and later Zhou Dynasty, the rulers of later Shu, Southern Tang, Southern Han and other countries were arrogant and lascivious, and had reached the extreme, and Hugh said that it was very difficult to even shoucheng.
Guo Wei and Chai Rong stepped onto the stage of history at this time, and it was naturally particularly easy to get ahead.
02, two heroes who conform to the times
Guo Wei and Chai Rong, compared with the emperors of the first four generations of the five generations, are also completely different characters. They come from a relatively lower class and are more aware of folk suffering. As a result, they were able to become rulers who met the requirements of the times.
Guo Wei (郭威), courtesy name Wenzhong, was a native of Yaoshan, Xingzhou (present-day Longyaoxi, Hebei), and was said to have been surnamed Chang. After his father's death, his mother remarried Guo Jian, and he changed his surname to Guo. Guo Jian did the history of stabbing and was killed in the war; soon after, his mother also died.
Judging from his stepfather's status and suffering, Guo Wei was only the son of a broken bureaucratic family.
He was raised by his aunt from an early age. At the age of 18, he was recruited as a soldier, and with a brave body and an understanding of book calculations, he climbed up step by step. Although he did not tattoo words on his face, he also stabbed a flying bird on his neck, and was called "Guo Queer". Later, he himself said: "Since ancient times, there have been carved Qingtianzi!" ”
Guo Wei was 48 years old when he ascended the throne as emperor, and his 30 years of military life gave him a wealth of social knowledge, and after ascending the throne, he often took the historical events of the previous generations as a lesson. That's his strength.
Chai Rong was Guo Wei's nephew and was later recognized as his son. Guo Wei's own sons were all killed by Liu Chengyou, the Emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, and Chai Rong became his sole heir.
The Chai family was a small landlord family in Longgang, Xingzhou, and when Chai Rong's aunt married Guo Wei, Guo Wei was just a small pawn.
Chai Rong grew up and took care of Guo Wei's housekeeper, and at that time the Guo family was not very generous, and it gradually developed by relying on him to manage the law. He not only managed the farms, but also traveled far and wide to Gangneung to sell tea. Later, Guo Wei's status was high, and he followed him to the military position.
At the time of the founding of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Chai Rong was 31 years old, and from a butler to a senior officer who served as the commander of the Tianxiong Army before the founding of the People's Republic of China, he had obviously accumulated a wealth of experience. He was good at riding and shooting, and also dabbled in cultural knowledge such as Huang Lao, and among the rulers at that time, he could be said to be a talented and talented in both literature and martial arts and excellent knowledge.
These two men were clearly much more intelligent than the rulers of previous generations. One of the most important points is that because of their experience, they have tasted the taste of hardship and are more aware of the sufferings of the people. Therefore, they did not follow the old path of their predecessors and vigorously carried out reforms in the political and economic aspects.
03. Reforms presided over by Guo Wei and Chai Rong
Guo Wei reigned for more than 3 years and half a month, and Chai Rong reigned for 5 years and 5 months, which together were less than 9 years, but their deeds were very impressive. Political and economic reforms were mostly successive; the unique military reforms and the achievements of the Southern Expedition and the Northern Expedition were entirely in Chai Rong's hands. Later generations especially admired Chai Rong, and this is the reason.
Let's start with political and economic reforms.
The first is that Guo Wei and Chai Rong are more concerned about economy.
After Guo Wei ascended the throne, he ordered: The costumes of the public opinion should not be too gorgeous; the utensils used in the palace should strive to be simple; and all localities should not contribute precious and delicate items and strange birds and birds, eagles and dogs. He smashed dozens of original jade utensils and dining utensils decorated with gold and silver jewelry in the palace in public, and warned the courtiers, saying: "I heard that Emperor Han Yin played games with baby pets every day, and cherishing and playing is not far away, this matter is not far away, and it should be cited as a lesson for the past!" Then he ordered that the sending of such items into the palace was prohibited.
When he was fighting in Guanzhong, he saw the tombs of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty, all of which had been stolen and excavated, and knew that a thick burial was harmful and useless. Later, when he became emperor, he instructed Chai Rong that as long as he was buried thinly, he should not use stone sheep, stone tigers, stone people, and stone horses in front of the mausoleum, as long as a line of writing was engraved on the stele: "Zhou Tianzi was born a good and frugal covenant, and the testament was made of paper clothes and a tile coffin, and the heir Tianzi did not dare to violate it." ”
Chai Rong continued Guo Wei's style and reiterated the prohibition on the donation of rare food and the use of jewelry.
The second is to reduce the burden on the people.
As soon as Guo Wei ascended the throne, he ordered the abolition of the harsh law of death for stealing more than one coin in the Later Han Dynasty, and acted in accordance with the laws before the first year of the Later Jin Dynasty; it was stipulated that no relatives could be slaughtered except for plotting rebellion and rebellion. The three-year summer tax arrears of Qianyou and the two taxes in the summer and autumn of the previous two years will no longer be levied. Later, the officials in charge of the warehouses in the Later Han Dynasty were routinely required to collect a high amount of "Dou Yu" and "Weigh The Consumption", so that the actual burden of the people was much greater than that stipulated in the tax amount, and Guo Wei also ordered that it be abolished and not allowed to be collected again. Before the next week, there were many specialties that were offered every year in various localities, and Guo Wei stipulated that they would not be allowed to receive them again.
Abolition of the "cattle tax". There was a tax called "cow rent", which was levied during Zhu Wen's reign. When Zhu Wen grabbed a large number of cultivating cattle in Huainan, he distributed the cattle to farmers in Henan for use and paid cattle rent every year. After several decades, the cattle are long dead, but the cattle rent must be paid every year. Guo Wei became emperor before the tax was abolished.
Before the following week, the state capitals had a system of assigning private households to "scattered officials", which in fact ordered the poor households to provide the materials required by the government and officials free of charge. Guo Wei believes that this system makes "the poor trapped in the supply of supplies"; conversely, the rich and the rich can evade the enlistment and pass on the burden to the poor. Therefore, Guo Weiming ordered the abolition of this system and stipulated that the number of people from the deputy envoys below the level of jiedushi "sent to be straight" (for the officials to be on the job) ranged from 7 to 15 and was not allowed to exceed.
Salt and cowhide were two of the most tightly controlled goods by the five generations of rulers. Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, the salt tax has always been an important source of government revenue, and the official cooking and official sale have been strictly prohibited. Before the Later Jin Dynasty, those who violated the prohibition were convicted of two pounds and two pounds, and the Later Jin Dynasty changed to no amount and was executed. Guo Wei's method of resuming the punishment of dividing the pounds and two pounds and two pounds has finally eased up a little. Cowhide is a thing, and it is not allowed to be bought and sold by the people after the week. In the beginning, it was bribed by the government; later Tang Mingzong collected cow skins and gave only salt and did not give money; Later Jin did not even give salt, and simply confiscated them; Later Han law, if you commit a crime of one inch of cowhide, you will be sentenced to death. Guo Wei subtracted 2/3 of the total amount payable, and the remaining one point was distributed according to the field, donating one cowhide for every 10 hectares of land, and the rest was used by the people themselves. This is a big improvement over the past.
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, there has been a system of "camping and field work," in which officially owned land is handed over to tenants for cultivation. The household registration of these tenants is not a prefecture or county, and is under the jurisdiction of a separate official of the Ministry of Households. Their identity was actually that of a serf of the state. Guo Wei abolished the work of camping and assigned his household registration to the jurisdiction of the prefecture and county, and the houses, fields, farm tools, and cattle were privately owned by tenants. In the year of implementation, more than 30,000 peasant households were assigned to local jurisdiction. These serfs became self-cultivating clothes, and their enthusiasm for production was greatly enhanced, and their houses were repaired, trees were planted, and the harvest was also greatly improved.
Both Guo Wei and Chai Rong repeatedly ordered tax breaks. In the five years (958) of Xiande, the measures for the granting of land were allotted, especially a major reform in the last years of the five dynasties.
The content of the uniform field is really very simple, that is, to collect taxes according to the actual number of acres of land. This seems to be a matter of course, but it has not been used for a long time.
This is also a long-standing problem since the Middle Tang Dynasty. The magistrate only knew that the total amount of the local tax must be fully collected. Rich and powerful people hide their land, the transportation government, and the vast land without paying taxes. The taxes on this part of the land were not settled, and the government transferred it to the poor peasants. The peasants' own land is sometimes sold or damaged by the river, and the land becomes landless, but the taxes are still paid. The government has ordered the reclamation of land, allowing the temporary non-payment of taxes, and the local officials have violated the yin and yang, and the land has not yet been cultivated, and the peasants have been required to pay taxes.
When the Tang poet Yuan Shu was doing the history of thorns in Tongzhou (present-day Dali, Shaanxi), he was well aware of these drawbacks. He devised a way to find out the number of acres of land available in the area and distribute taxes so that the rich could not escape the burden and the poor could not be displaced. The Tongzhou Song Juntian In the Yuan Clan Changqing Collection is his report to the imperial court.
Chai Rong read Yuan Shu's article and felt that this was a top priority, so he made a "Juntian Map" according to the original text, distributed it to local officials, and then sent a large number of personnel to Juntian in various places and found out many hidden lands.
Of course, this is a problem that cannot be fundamentally solved in feudal society, and we have seen its existence in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and other dynasties. But with each rectification, the contradictions will be eased a little, the peasants' burdens will be lightened a little, and agricultural production will thus develop. Therefore, Chai Rong's Juntian has its own role in restraining the strong, reducing exploitation, and developing production.
The third is to punish corrupt officials.
Both Guo Wei and Chai Rong were able to ruthlessly punish corrupt officials. Laizhou Assassin Ye Renlu was an old subordinate of Guo Wei, who was sentenced to death for embezzling 15,000 silk horses and 1,000 taels of money. Guo Wei sent someone to tell him: "You have violated the law of the land, and I have no way to save you, but only to care for your mother." ”
At the time of Chai Rong, the general Meng Hanqing of Zuo Yulin was in charge of collecting taxes, and because the field officials were in addition to the positive amount, they overcharged and consumed the surplus, and were also executed. Some people said that Meng Hanqing's sin did not lead to death, and Chai Rong said: "I also know, but I can't help but warn others." ”
The fourth is to appease the scattered peasants and develop agricultural production.
In the early years of the Later Zhou Dynasty, there was a famine in Youzhou, and refugees flowed into Cangzhou and other places in the Later Zhou. Drought occurred in southern Tang, and hungry people waded through the Huai River and came to the territory of HouZhou. Guo Wei ordered local officials to properly resettle refugees, distribute rations, and distribute wasteland, resulting in hundreds of thousands of laborers.
After Chai Rong ascended the throne, he also paid attention to recruiting hungry people from the Southern Tang, Later Shu, Northern Han and other countries. This is of great benefit to the development of agricultural production.
In the fifth generation, many unowned lands appeared due to the flight of the people. How can these lands not be deserted? How can fugitives not lose their jobs when they return to their hometowns? It is not easy to balance the two sides, and it is a very complex issue.
In the second year of Xiande (955), Chai Rong made a provision that took both sides into account. First, peasants were allowed to pay taxes to the government for tenant farming. In this way, the land will not be deserted, and the government's fiscal revenue will also fall. Secondly, he tried to take care of the interests of the fugitives, and those who returned within 3 years could recover half of the land; those who returned within 5 years could recover 1/3; If it is more than 5 years old, it cannot be recovered except for the cemetery. This provision is indeed relatively good in noticing the interests of fugitives and tenants.
At the same time, he also specially relaxed the age limit for farmers who left the land because they were abducted by the Khitans, and could recover 2/3 within 5 years, half within 10 years, and 1/3 within 15 years.
In addition, Chai Rong also allowed veterans and sick soldiers to retire to their hometowns. In this way, the state saved the cost of military salaries, and a share of labor (at least semi-labor) was added to the countryside, which also had a slightly good impact on production.
The fifth is to control river disasters and build water conservancy.
Since Later Liang Junchen used the river as a means of defense, the number of yellow river ruptures has increased, and the two prefectures of Shui and Liao have been decided 6 times in the Jin, Han, and Wednesday dynasties; during the same period, Huaizhou has been decided twice, and Zhengzhou has been decided 5 times.
In the first year of Xiande (954), after Emperor Chai Rong of Zhou ascended the throne, he sent Li Hu to the areas of Liao, Yun, and Qi, conscripted 60,000 migrant workers, and blocked the breach. In the sixth year (959), because the Yellow River broke through at Yuanwu (present-day Yuanyang, Henan), Wu Tingzuo was sent to repair the embankment, and more than 20,000 migrant workers were requisitioned to block the breach.
These projects did not solve the problem completely, but they eventually reduced the disaster, which also showed that Chai Rong was the only emperor who seriously repaired the Yellow River in the fifth generation.
The repair of the waterway, which is mainly based on water, is Chai Rong's great contribution in the history of water conservancy.
In the fourth year of Xiande (957), Chai Rong ordered the dredging of the water and flowed north into the Wuzhang River. Six years (959), another effort was added. This channel, the width of the river is 5 zhang, from the girder to the east, gradually bending to the northeast, into the Liangshan Po, down to the water. The section after this entry into the city is roughly similar to the current Yellow River. This was the shipping route from Bieliang to the equivalent of all parts of present-day Shandong Province.
The waterway communication line between the Yellow River and the Huai River was originally the lifeline of the Central Government of the Tang Dynasty to obtain wealth in the southeast. After the division between the north and the south, the route was completely silted up from below Puqiao (in present-day Suzhou, Anhui) and became a swamp. Chai Rong had the ambition of unification, and from the second year of Xiande (955), he ordered Wu Ning to make Wu Xingde and initially dredge it up. In the fifth year of Xiande (958), he dredged the mouth of the river and communicated all the routes between Huang and Huai. In the sixth year (959), outside the city of Daliang, the water was diverted to CaiShui to communicate the waterway traffic between the capital and Chen (present-day Huaiyang, Henan) and Ying (present-day Fuyang, Anhui). This is a waterway west of the Bian Shui and roughly at the level of the Bian River. After that, the Northern Song Dynasty relied on the water as the foundation of the country, and every year a large amount of grain was transported from the southeast, relying on the achievements of Chai Rong's construction.
In addition, Chai Rong also sent He Youchong to dredge jingshui and irrigate farmland. Since The great destruction of Guanzhong by Zhu Wen, no one has done any construction work. After the Zhao Rebellion of the Later Han Dynasty, the population of Chang'an City was reduced from more than 100,000 to more than 10,000, and after some destruction. Chai Rong's facilities in this area, although small, are also commendable.
The sixth is the construction of Kaifeng City.
Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty was a city with magnificent weather and beautiful cityscape. Its foundation was also laid in the following week.
Kaifeng was originally a small city, the streets were narrow, and it did not look like the capital at all. In the fifth dynasty, Kaifeng became the capital of the Liang, Jin, Han, and Fourth Dynasties, and more and more officials and merchants traveled, and the city became particularly small.
In the second year of Xiande (955), Sejong decided to build an outer city, first set up a sign, and wait for the winter when the peasants were idle, and the agricultural work was stopped, and then continued in the autumn. This new city is around 48 miles and 233 steps. The government first demarcated the area of government offices, warehouses, and streets, and the rest let the people build houses freely. Many of the old streets in Da Liang City, which were not originally wide, were occupied by residents when they built houses, so that not many cars could pass. When rebuilt, they were all straightened and widened, and the widest one was 30 steps wide.
This renovation project lasted for three years, and after its completion, the appearance was completely changed.
Some people who work hard and are scheming have seen the development of major projects such as rebuilding the capital and dredging canals, and they expect that in the future, shipping will be smooth and commercial goods will gather, and there will be an unprecedented prosperity. An official named Zhou Jing asked Sejong to allow the people to plant elm willows along the canal and build pavilions for spectacular viewing. Sejong agreed. He first built 12 high-rise buildings at important sites at the mouth of the canal. Later, more merchant ships came from all over the world, and the Zhou family's buildings were just at the place of mooring, and the merchants stayed overnight and stacked goods, which were extremely convenient, so they obtained huge benefits. Judging from this example, the commerce of Kaifeng in the later weekend and the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty showed great development.
This Kaifeng City and the Sui and Tang Dynasty Chang'an City are the products of two different historical periods. Sui and Tang Dynasty Chang'an Chengfang Municipal Offices each have a fixed location, the commercial area is limited to the east and west cities, the square and the city are closed, the doors of the houses and shops are in the square and the city, and there is no opening to the street. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the situation gradually changed, and according to the Tang poetry, cities such as Yangzhou in the south, the cityscape was prosperous, and the characteristics of closure could no longer be seen.
However, the construction of the capital, the opening of shops and houses, except for specific palace official areas, is not restricted, in fact, the later Zhou Da Liang is the earliest example. The appearance of feudal society after five generations is obviously different from that of the five generations before, and it is very obvious here.
The above six items are the more prominent political and economic reforms in the following week. Others, such as attaching importance to the choice of officials; abolishing a large number of monasteries (a total of 30,336 monasteries were abolished, and 2,694 were retained), encouraging monks and nuns to participate in production or use their strengths to participate in other work; minting a large number of coins and eliminating the money shortage are all measures that have a positive effect on social and economic development.
Needless to say, the first four generations of the five generations have not had a country or a monarch in the south that has had such a huge reform. Guo Wei and Chai Rong can indeed be said to be outstanding figures in the ruling class of the Five Dynasties period, and Chai Rong, especially the wisest monarchs of the Five Dynasties period.
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