First, sprinkle cups to release the relieving power. Our strength led to the demise of the Tang Dynasty. Song Taizu's "relieving a glass of wine" sealed all the major generals as our era, while Mao's era was only an official position, which meant that he only took money, regardless of anything, and his salary was very high, so that these outstanding generals who were killed from the war were completely rich. Promote some young and junior students. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was a pity that the fighting capacity was weakened in the face of strong enemies.
Of course, a talented person like Song Taizu naturally knows this. But he made this arrangement deliberately, and he had his own considerations. During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, dispatch troops rebelled, which was a decade-long Anshi Rebellion. After that, there were more rebellions in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. In just a few decades, there were too many military commanders who rebelled and proclaimed themselves emperor, so China was destroyed.
Such a bloody lesson, Song Taizu released the relieving power in a gentle way, turned our era into a virtual post station, and ruled out the possibility of insurrection by those who had made meritorious deeds, which was a better choice at that time.
Second, set up the secret driving academy as the highest military organ to be responsible for troop mobilization; Set up three official departments to manage the daily training of the troops; The general was appointed temporarily by the emperor; Completely decentralized, soldiers don't know generals, and they won't know soldiers, so their combat effectiveness is naturally greatly weakened; The advantage is that the general is more difficult to rebel.
Third, the recruitment system. In the event of natural disasters, victims and criminals were chosen to serve as soldiers and retired at the age of 60. Simply imagine, being a soldier in the army for 30 or 40 years, regardless of physical reasons, the mental state can be imagined. Can such soldiers fight? If not, what can we do? We must continue to recruit soldiers. When Injong fell, the number of troops increased from 200,000 at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to1200,000, and military expenditure accounted for almost five-sixths of the court's income. This is the problem of "redundancy".
Fourth, redundant staff. The Song Dynasty attached great importance to literati. The most people passed the imperial examination. As long as they are admitted, they are all officials, really high-tech. However, the positions in the world are limited and many people are admitted. What shall we do? Bring it up in court. The separation of official positions in the Song Dynasty, how much is a big official, such as the highest education in our time. But the official does not represent authority, just like the current title. Only when you are sent out can you have authority, such as knowing xx state and so on. There are limited positions and many officials. When you come to Zongshen, seven or eight out of ten officials may only take money and do nothing.
The advantage is that a large number of literati live a very moist life, and there are ancestral teachings in the Song Dynasty, so they can't kill literati, so they also live a very free life, which leads to unprecedented cultural development and even several major inventions.
Fifth, the system. There were basically no real local officials in the Song Dynasty. Roads, prefectures, prefectures, armies and counties are all directly assigned by the imperial court and changed every three years. Therefore, they are still officials of the central government, only temporarily in charge of local affairs, just like the current "temporary job". If you count the travel time, three years is really too long; Take the government as an example. Temporary local officials include local officials, judges, transfer ambassadors, etc. , responsible for administration, criminal law, finance, etc. The central government centralizes almost all taxes and realizes decentralization and mutual supervision. Other systems are usually based on decentralization.
This system is inefficient, eager for quick success and instant benefit, and there are too many problems, especially when the local government is weak and foreign enemies invade, as long as the capital is captured. The advantage, of course, is that it is almost impossible for local governments to rebel.
6. Geography: Sixteen states are in the hands of Liao, and the north of Kaifeng is all plain. Liao Tieqi can reach the Yellow River in a few days, so there is no geographical location in the Song Dynasty. Liao started fighting at any time, and the initiative was in Liao, which is why the Song Dynasty signed the "Union of Yuan Tan" under the military advantage, and paid 500,000 tribute every year.
Seven, no horses. Only the Hetao area and the Jehol, Northeast China and Meng Gong areas in China are suitable for raising horses, and these three places have fallen, so the cavalry in the Song Dynasty was few and weak, and basically had no offensive ability.
Eight have no money. Redundant soldiers and officials, the increase of imperial clan, basically consumed fiscal revenue, and wars often occurred. The garrison changed sectors every year, making it more difficult to get in and out, and there was no money to fight.
Nine. Wang Anshi's political reform. Political reform is not to say that it is not advanced, nor can Wang Anshi say that he is incompetent. After the political reform, the national treasury has indeed increased a lot, but it is also a radical measure to make the country rich and poor. Sima Guang said that money is certain. With the increase of the national treasury, the people will have no money. It does make sense. The production conditions at that time may increase wealth by expanding production and speeding up circulation in a short time. So in a sense, the gross domestic product is certain, of course, it is to enrich the country and the poor.
Ten, heavy text to suppress martial arts.
There are many other reasons, typing is too slow, so stop here.
As a result, Tong Guan (a competent eunuch general) led 200,000 troops to attack Liao, and was beaten out of the water by Xu Jin. Liao patched up 20,000 troops, and Song Jun's 20 th Army was almost completely annihilated; After the capital of Liao was laid by Jin Guo, the Song Dynasty wanted to take advantage of it and sent150,000 imperial troops. Liao country is afraid, come and make peace. Of course, the Song Dynasty refused. Liao had no choice but to gather ten thousand troops to fight again. As a result, Song Jun was defeated. Song Jun had to ask Jin Guolai for help. Jin Guo wiped out the Liao army three times, five times and twice, and gained something. In the original idea, China was a paper tiger. Well, I will easily defeat this fat pig and kill the Northern Song Dynasty.
The song dynasty was poor and weak, and its culture was prosperous at the same time.
In the traditional view, the Song Dynasty has always been regarded as a dynasty that was poor and weak. Professor Guo believes that the main reasons for this view are as follows: First, the policy of "internal deficiency and external defense" and the influence of external forces, the Song Dynasty lacked the strong momentum of external expansion in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and kept a strict guard against internal defense while ignoring external defense. It was invaded by ethnic minorities such as Khitan, Nuzhen and Mongolia for a long time and had to take measures of consultation to achieve short-term stability; Secondly, the theory of "up and down" stage influenced the "down" stage, which made people mistakenly think that the Song Dynasty was poor and weak for a long time.
Professor Guo pointed out the reasons for the traditional view, and at the same time put forward his own view that, in terms of comprehensive national strength, although the Song Dynasty was not the most powerful country in ancient China, it was the most prosperous and brilliant civilization period in the ancient history of China. Professor Guo expounded this view from three aspects.
From the perspective of material civilization, the Song Dynasty made great progress compared with the previous generation: agricultural output and land utilization rate both increased; The metallurgical industry and textile industry in handicraft industry are developed, and the "coal-iron revolution" has appeared, and the earliest manufacturing plants and processing plants in the world have also appeared; In business, there have been "commercial revolution" and "financial revolution", resulting in the earliest paper money; Scientifically speaking, three of China's "Four Great Inventions" were invented or improved in the Song Dynasty.
From the perspective of spiritual civilization, Neo-Confucianism represented by Neo-Confucianism is more speculative and philosophical, and a large number of philosophers and Neo-Confucianism have emerged. Education is more developed and the popularization of education is further strengthened; Folk words gradually refined, resulting in a large number of famous poets in the history of China literature. While completing the evolution from Xialiba to Yangchun Baixue, it also established its position in the history of China literature. The development of historiography is more prosperous, with the emergence of a group of historians represented by Sima Guang and historical masterpieces represented by Zi Tong Zhi Jian, which created the style of chronological history books. The aesthetic concept of calligraphy and painting has gradually changed, from "respecting law" to "respecting god" in the Tang Dynasty. The appearance of literary works reflecting citizens' life opened the precedent for the development of vernacular novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
From the perspective of institutional civilization, the Song Dynasty is the mature period of institutional construction, and the political operation is more civilized and rational, paying more attention to governing the country by writing, being kind to literati and protecting writing; The power resources of the prime minister are divided, and there is no monopoly of civil servants, military commanders, queens, consorts and eunuchs.
Song Dynasty may be the most puzzling dynasty in China's history: it was considered to be poor and weak, but it lasted for more than 300 years under the arch of a strong enemy, and even had many outstanding performances in front of the strongest Mongolian fighters in history; At that time, the most outstanding writers, artists, philosophers and scientists in history were produced, and even the "Renaissance" era called by historians as China, but its influence on the history of China did not produce the effect similar to that of the Western "Renaissance"; Its founding monarchy set the most enlightened policy: not to kill literati, but in this dynasty, the most painful injustice happened in history: the wrongful death of Yue Fei; The period before this dynasty is considered to be the most glorious period in the history of the Chinese nation, and the period after this dynasty is considered to be the most shameful period in the history of the Chinese nation, so that many people think that they should be responsible for the subsequent humiliation; It is a dynasty that makes people of this nation feel shame, but people of other nationalities feel envy and praise ... Because of all kinds of confusion, people's evaluation of it is also the most opposite: most historians after the Ming Dynasty criticized it, but Wang Fuzhi thought it was "depressed and literary", and in the first and middle period of the Northern Song Dynasty it was comparable to "the rule of literary field" and "the rule of chastity". Chen Yinke thought that "Chinese civilization has evolved for thousands of years, and in Zhao, Deng Guangming believes that "the achievements of the Song Dynasty, whether spiritual or material, are unprecedented." The evaluation of the Song Dynasty by international sinologists surpassed that of the Han and Tang Dynasties: "Oriental Renaissance", "the greatest era" and "the most exciting era".
In fact, studying the Song Dynasty can not only clarify some specious conclusions, but also help to understand the historical trend of the Chinese nation after the Yuan Dynasty and explore the road of national rejuvenation today.
Ethnic Policy in Song Dynasty: Ruling the World Together with Scholars.
What kind of talents do you choose to govern the world? This is the primary problem faced by every founding monarch after he seized the world. Ancient thinkers summed up the experiences and lessons of all kinds of talents, and put forward the employment strategies of "meritocracy" and "meritocracy", warning rulers to select talents to govern the world on the basis of "talent" and "virtue". But the ancient political system was the supremacy of imperial power, so when they met a wise monarch, they could rule the world with their talents. Even a wise monarch brought disaster to the country because he trusted the imperial clan too much. For example, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu, sealed the imperial clan, which led to the "rebellion between the Seven Kingdoms and Wu Chu". However, if you encounter a bad king, all kinds of villains will take the opportunity to occupy a high position. Eunuchs, consorts, empresses and royalty are often more likely to steal high positions and monopolize power because of their close relationship with the emperor. Soldiers, on the other hand, are often prone to separatism because of their great strength, which brings disaster to the country.
During the Han and Tang Dynasties, there were prosperous times such as "the rule of Wenjing" and "the rule of Guan Zhen", but there were also extremely dark times. The chaos of eunuchs, consorts, empresses, imperial families and military officers caused great harm to the political power and society, and even endangered the rule of imperial power.
Song Taizu and Song Taizong, the founding monarchs of the Song Dynasty, made the decision of "ruling the world together with the literati" on the basis of profound reflection on the lessons of the previous dynasties, and made it a national policy.
Song Taizu and Song Taizong took the following measures to ensure the "co-governance" status of the scholar-officials:
First, make a wish. Song Taizu once placed a monument in the palace: "Don't kill the literati and the people who write letters." Or you'll die. This oath was miraculously kept by the emperors of the Song Dynasty. The significance of this oath lies in providing a relaxed environment and a safe guarantee for the literati to participate in politics, so the literati in the Song Dynasty have a high sense of participation in politics, especially strong sense of participation in politics. At the same time, the ministers of the Song Dynasty were also the most daring to be the masters: they dared to openly resist the arrogant behavior of the powerful empress dowager, manage everything in the palace, and even resist the unreasonable demands of the emperor. This eliminates the possibility of other forces interfering in politics.
Second, respect the literati. The Song Dynasty took various measures to respect the literati and enhance their pride. For example, let the prime minister stand in front of the prince when he goes to court and "sing the champion" outside Donghuamen. In the book of enlightenment, he made it very clear: "the son of heaven values heroes and heroes, and the article teaches two Cao." Everything is worse, but reading is higher. " All kinds of measures made the literati have unprecedented confidence in front of other royal families. For example, during the dictatorship of Queen Liu, she tried to win over senior officials with a good job, but most of them kept a lofty attitude and took the initiative to keep a certain distance from Queen Liu.
Third, most emperors in the Song Dynasty actively suppressed the imperial power and the desire of state interests to interfere in politics.
Due to the implementation of various reasonable measures, the decision of "ruling the world with literati" has been realized.
The implementation of the national policy of "ruling the world with literati" in Song Dynasty had a great influence on the politics of Song Dynasty for more than 300 years. Understanding this national policy is a key to understanding the politics of the Song Dynasty.
The class nature of scholar-officials
To analyze the significance of the national policy of "ruling the world together with the literati" in Song Dynasty, we must analyze the nature of the literati class.
Scholar-officials are elites selected from the bottom through due process, which makes their class have the following characteristics:
First, they received a systematic and good education and had a strong loyalty to the monarch. In the history of China, there were consorts, women masters, military attaché s, eunuchs and imperial families, but there were no literati.
Second, they are grateful to the royal family. Because they were originally at the bottom of society, they were able to enter the court entirely by the promotion of the royal family, and naturally they were grateful to the royal family.
Third, they come from the bottom and have no strong political background. Once the court dismisses them, their influence will disappear sharply, and there is no danger of being too big to fail.
Fourth, it has a certain sense of social responsibility and national governance ability.
Politics in Song Dynasty: Gentleman Politics
In ancient times, the political power groups that could influence the country were: scholar-officials, eunuchs, queens, consorts, imperial families and military officers. Personally, there are honest people and adulterers in every group. But as far as groups are concerned, the role played by literati groups in history is mostly positive, while the roles played by eunuchs, queens, consorts, imperial clan and military officers are mostly negative. The reason for this is that the scholar-officials are all elites selected from the bottom through due process, and their quality, integrity and moral character are still relatively strong, while eunuchs, queens, consorts and imperial clan all boarded the historical stage by nepotism. Although there are also excellent talents, on the whole, they are low in quality, morally corrupt and immoral, relying on the support of the emperor, so they often do evil. Among them, eunuchs, in particular, are physically disabled, which leads to psychological gloom, so eunuch autocracy is often the darkest era. Chen Wu, on the other hand, because he holds the army, it is easy to form a situation where the tail is too big to fail, leading to the separatist regime in the buffer region.
In Song Dynasty, all kinds of political forces, such as eunuchs, martial arts, consorts, empresses, imperial clan, etc., which were once popular in history, were no longer popular, only the scholar-officials stood out, while Song Taizu vowed not to kill the scholar-officials, and the political struggle was no longer as bloody as before, so on the whole, the politics of Song Dynasty was a gentleman's politics, which was a rare Qingming period in history.
Although there were also villains among the literati in the Song Dynasty, generally speaking, the influence of villains was difficult to suppress the meaning of a gentleman, especially in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, even when Qin Gui was in power, upright people attacked him, and the most crime he got was exile in Lingnan. Moreover, even autocratic ministers were far less arrogant than those in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and ministers in Yuan and Ming Dynasties could control the power of life and death, not to mention that eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty could punish civil servants for kneeling.
As for the gentlemanly demeanor of politicians in the Song Dynasty, there are countless more. For example, Fan Zhongyan repeatedly lashed out at Lv Yijian, but Lv Yijian promoted Fan Zhongyan; The political struggle between Wang Anshi and Sima Guang stems from the struggle for national interests, and is not self-interested, so it is fierce but full of gentleman's wind. Such examples can be seen everywhere in the history of the Song Dynasty.
Confucian Meteorology in Song Dynasty: Enjoy the Worries of the World First.
After the Song Dynasty determined the national policy of "ruling the world together with the scholar-officials", the scholar-officials entered the golden age of history. It can be said that it was not until the Song Dynasty that the ideal of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" in China really became a reality, and "being Tian Shelang and being emperor at dusk" became a common phenomenon in society.
Due to the trust of the imperial court and the class nature of the literati, the literati in the Song Dynasty presented a completely different mental outlook from the previous dynasty.
In the past, the spiritual outlook of successive dynasties was "if you are rich, you will help the world, if you are poor, you will be immune to it" and "if you are not in office, you will not seek politics". In the Song Dynasty, however, the mental outlook of the scholar-officials became "worrying about their people in the temple, worrying about their princes in the rivers and lakes", and "worrying about the world first, and enjoying the world later". With a high sense of responsibility, they pay attention to the well-being of the whole world and the peace of the court. As a royal family, I certainly appreciate this loyalty and courage after thanking the imperial court, so I constantly promote and reward this spirit.
Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, the literati had the strongest sense of identity with the royal family. They always pay attention to the stability and tranquility of the royal family, and can't even tolerate anyone trying to compile the throne. Because of this, after the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the State of Jin, Zhao, who had no special talents and achievements, became the target of public criticism, while those who were coerced into compiling the throne were forgiven by the emperor, but they were not tolerated by public opinion and were finally executed. Although there were many powerful ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty, none of them had the right to replace the emperor, who was always the supreme ruler. After the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by Mongols, a large number of courtiers such as Wen Tianxiang, Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu were still working hard to revive the Song Dynasty. North Korea's ministers are the boldest. They dared to openly resist the unreasonable demands of the emperor. For example, Li Ling burned the imperial edicts of Zhenzong in front of eunuchs, and Bao Zheng repeatedly asked Injong to withdraw the appointment of Uncle Effie. Yu Yong publicly stated that if Liu Hougan appointed Qian as prime minister, he would tear up the imperial edict. When Ningzong was in the Southern Song Dynasty, courtiers were often angry and could not help books, which was chaos.