Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, for many readers and friends, this name may not be very familiar. But if there are readers and friends who have read "Water Margin", they will definitely be familiar with the good man of the little whirlwind Chaijin. Chai Jin, who is known as "Chai Daguanren" in the jianghu, is the descendant of Zhou Shizong, who has the Danshu Iron Coupon given by the Emperor taizu of Song, and no one can cure his crime except the emperor, plus he loves to make friends with Haojie, so he often takes in sinful Qin criminals and outlaws, and he is also a very important figure in "Water Margin".
And what kind of monarch is this ancestor of Chai Jin, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, who is often mentioned in books?
In the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there was no unified central government, and the regime changed very quickly, on the one hand, it was mutual attacks and threats from the Khitan in the north, on the other hand, because the monarchs of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period were either cruel and unkind, or indulged in sound, and finally led the country to extinction. But Zhou Shizong Chai Rong is an outlier here, he is known as the "First Ming Jun of the Five Dynasties", and Zhao Kuangyin, the Grandfather of the Song Dynasty, one of the goals after becoming emperor is to surpass Chai Rong.
However, this Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, who is known as the "First Ming Emperor of the Five Dynasties", actually reigned for more than five years and nearly six years, so why was It that in this short period of six years of rule, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong was able to completely leave the other monarchs of the five generations behind and become the most virtuous monarch of the five generations?
The reason is actually not complicated, because his establishment is far better than the work of other monarchs during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. For Zhou Shizong, the most valuable thing about him is that although he reigned for only six years, he made a significant improvement in the strength of Later Zhou in all aspects. First of all, politically, after he took office, he carried out a drastic reform of the administration of officials, aggravated the punishment, and imposed heavy lessons on officials who were lazy and lazy in government, as well as corrupt and even incompetent, which made the atmosphere in the official field change somewhat.
However, Zhou Shizong did not only know how to use coercive means to intimidate the courtiers, he also attached importance to the cultivation of real talents when dealing with the thunderous means of those incompetent officials. He was thirsty for talents, and for capable officials, he was promoted on a large scale; for talents who were capable but unambitious, he dared to entrust heavy responsibilities; for undiscovered talents, he said that "heroes regardless of provenance", anyone can participate in the imperial court's official selection examination.
After promoting these ministers, he also attached great importance to listening to their opinions, even to the point where he took the initiative to ask his courtiers to actively advise them, and even personally propositioned "It is not easy for the king to be difficult for the subjects" and "Pingbian Strategy" to let the courtiers write policies. The "Pingbian Strategy" written by the minister Wang Pu, he deeply agreed, believing that the view expressed in the text that "easy first and then difficult" was very reasonable, so he put it into practice later.
Economically, in the second year of his reign, he ordered a return period for those who fled the fields, prompting the fugitives to return to the fields, and at the same time allowing the fields that had long been abandoned and abandoned because of no cultivation to be reclaimed and used, so that the economy could be restored and developed. A few years later, he equalized the land taxes of each state, and asked the armies of some states to be disarmed and returned to the countryside to work as farmers.
Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, Buddhist culture has prevailed in the Central Plains, and a large number of temples have been established in various places. For a feudal society dominated by a small-scale peasant economy, the prevalence of Buddhism meant that a large number of peasants would leave the land and choose to become monks. After these people became monks, they would cause great losses to the state in taxation and military service, and both financial and military service would have a great impact. And too much monastic land will also occupy a lot of land.
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Therefore, Zhou Shizong ordered restrictions on the development of monasteries and made strict regulations on the conditions for monasticism. As a result, both the number of monasteries and the number of monks declined dramatically, much of the land and labour power were reused, and the revenue of the state was increased.
There are many other measures of economic reform and measures for the promotion of culture and education, which will not be listed here. However, all of Zhou Shizong's measures are actually paving the way for a goal, that is, reunification. Therefore, Zhou Shizong's most dazzling achievement is actually his military merit. This is not surprising, because the second emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, the first Ming Emperor of the Fifth Dynasty, actually joined the army as early as fifteen years old and was good at riding and shooting. It can be said that he is an emperor who is quite full of calculations for marching and fighting.
In the first year of his ascension to the throne, the Northern Han and khitan colluded to invade the south, and Chai Rong immediately decided to march on the imperial conquest, and compared himself to Tang Taizong, believing that at the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, it was by relying on The Emperor Taizong's personal conquest to pacify the enemies one by one, so that the world was too peaceful. So Chai Rong personally led the army to fight fiercely with it, when the right army was defeated and the position was in chaos. Chai Rong took the risk and personally supervised the battle, which allowed the Later Zhou army to finally resist the enemy's attack and defeat it, leaving it in the wilderness and fleeing. Chai Rong both saved the Later Zhou regime and gave him the opportunity to straighten out the discipline of the army, and he beheaded a large number of fleeing generals to reward those who were brave in battle (Zhao Kuangyin was one of them).
Because at the beginning of Chai Rong's succession to the throne, he decided on the goal of government (ten years to open up the world, ten years to cultivate the people, ten years to make the world peaceful. Therefore, in the following years, Chai Rong followed wang Pu's "Pingbian Strategy" mentioned above as a strategic policy, first south and then north, first easy and then difficult. He first defeated Western Shu to the west and recovered the four prefectures of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Jie. Attacking the Southern Tang for three consecutive times and obtaining fourteen prefectures and sixty counties, the Emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty was forced to abandon the imperial title and call himself the "Lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty". In one fell swoop, it shocked the various forces in the south, allowing them to focus on the Northern Expedition.
The Northern Expedition was the most glorious and regrettable battle in Zhou Shizong's life. Readers and friends who may be more familiar with history know that during the Five Dynasties period, Shi Jingyao, the founding emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty, took the initiative to give the northern barrier of the Central Plains to the Khitan in exchange for supporting himself as emperor and became the "child emperor" of the Khitans. Although the Later Jin Dynasty soon perished, Shi Jingyao's actions left a great hidden danger for the later Central Plains regime - there was no danger to defend in the northern Part of the Central Plains.
Therefore, after making a series of preparations, Zhou Shizong decided to personally march on the imperial conquest, northern expedition to the Liao state, and reclaim the land of Yanyun. Chai Rong's army was like a bamboo all the way, and along the way a large number of thorns fell from the city. The resistance encountered on the way can be said to be vulnerable, only more than forty days, three consecutive passes and three states, a total of seventeen counties. Just as he was about to enter Youzhou, Chai Rong fell ill with an emergency. After returning to Kaifeng, Chai Rong died soon after. The Northern Expedition was ultimately a failure.
The reason why Zhou Shizong Chai Rong was able to win the reputation of "the first Ming Emperor of the Five Dynasties" with a short reign of six years is that most of the other monarchs of the Five Dynasties are indeed incompetent, and more importantly, on the other hand, the combination of Zhou Shizong's political wisdom, military talent, economic means, etc., allowed him to establish a merit that far exceeded that of the contemporary monarchs, providing a good foundation for the establishment and unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is the main reason why he became the first Ming Emperor of the Five Dynasties.