The three strongest dynasties in ancient China were nothing more than the powerful Han Dynasty, the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the just Ming Dynasty. Each dynasty has its own characteristics, and the three dynasties have different ways to deal with clans and princes, which is a headache for many dynasties.
What is a captaincy? The captaincy is a ruler between the emperor and local officials, and has its own vassal state. These prisoners may be members of imperial families, such as the Ming dynasty; It may be a military hero. For example, eight kings with different names were enfeoffed in the early Han Dynasty, namely Han Xin, Taizi Zangcha, Taizi Er, Huainan Bu, Changsha Wang and Taiziwan. It may also be the leaders of local forces that have actually become separatist forces but have not publicly declared independence, such as the San Francisco before Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty announced the withdrawal of San Francisco, namely Wu Sangui, Pingnan Wang Shangkexi and Jingnan Geng Zhongjing. However, there are many examples of insurrection by princes in history, such as the insurrection of seven countries in the Western Han Dynasty, the insurrection of eight kings in the Western Jin Dynasty, the insurrection of Jingnan in the Ming Dynasty and the insurrection of San Francisco in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, in the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, the governors did not have much power, but in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang arrogantly sealed the governors and revived this system. So what's the difference between the vassal king of Ming Dynasty and the vassal king of Han and Tang Dynasties?
First of all, let's talk about the governors of the Western Han Dynasty. The Western Han Dynasty implemented the parallel system of counties and countries, and successively established dozens of vassal States such as Chu, Jing, Wu, Yan, Qi, Zhao, northern Hebei, Jiaoxi and Jiaodong. Among the eight kings with different surnames in the early Han Dynasty, only Wu Rui, the king of Changsha, was able to die a fair death, and the rest were solved by Liu Bang. Their country was named the Liu family. Wu Changsha was abolished during the reign of Emperor Wen and Liu Changsha was restored during the reign of Emperor Jing. There were no governors with different surnames in the Western Han Dynasty. So what power did the governors of the Western Han Dynasty have? First, the princes of the Western Han Dynasty had the birthright corresponding to the central court. The prince is the king, his wife is the queen, and there are hundreds of officials. Every vassal needs to report to the court regularly and pay tribute; Its princes can select and appoint officials from all classes below the empire, and the court generally does not ask; Its four princes have the right to tax and mint coins within their jurisdiction, and they can recruit people's labor to engage in various projects. It can be seen that the third-rate king is not much different from the emperor except that he can't be called the "emperor".
Secondly, let's talk about the monarch of the Tang Dynasty. There were no princes in the Tang Dynasty, only princes. The "king" in the Tang Dynasty is a title, and the titles of kings can be divided into three types: prince, heir king and county king. All the brothers and sons of the emperor are princes; The son of the crown prince was appointed king of the county; Among the sons, the heir prince is the heir prince, that is, the heir king, and the other sons are the monarch. According to records, "pro-kingdom" includes state decrees, state commanders and state officials. It can be seen that the prince has his own set of officials and institutions, which can be called "the country". However, these governors in the Tang Dynasty did not fief. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, you governors could serve as the secretariat of each state and had the right to serve as the secretariat, but slowly, the vassal States came from afar with the secretariat, not really going to places, but living in the imperial palace of the capital. Therefore, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, when the vassals were separated, these vassals with no land but empty names had no choice but to let local generals support their troops and respect themselves.
Finally, talk about the captaincy of the Ming Dynasty. In the third year of Wu Hong, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Taizu conferred the title of vassal and made it public. The second son Zhu Shang was named King of Qin, the fourth son Yan Wang Zhu Bu, the fifth son, the sixth son prince, the eighth son, the ninth son, the tenth son Zhu Tan, and the sun Lu Wang Zhu Shouqian. In the eleventh year of Wu, eleven sons, Ming, twelve sons, thirteen sons, Zhu Gui, fourteen sons, Hanwang, fifteen sons, Wang Wei. Change to Wu Weizhou. In twenty-four years, sixteen sons Zhu was named King of Qing Dynasty, seventeen sons Zhu Quan was named King Ning, eighteen sons Zhu was named King Min, nineteen sons Zhu was named King Gu, twenty sons Zhu Song was named Hanwang, twenty-one sons, twenty-two sons, twenty-three sons Zhu was named, and twenty-four sons Zhu was named. Although Zhu Yuanzhang gave birth to the 26th son Zhu Nan in the 26th year of Hongwu, he died soon, so all the twenty-five sons of Zhu Yuanzhang were made kings. These princes are not as nominal as the Tang Dynasty. Although not as good as the Han Dynasty, it still has some power.
The suzerain-vassal system in Ming Dynasty has its own characteristics, which is different from the suzerain-vassal system in Han, Jin, Tang and Song Dynasties. Han Zongfan cracked the soil and faced the people, with too much power; The imperial clan in the Tang Dynasty was not petty and had too little power. Take Ming history as a mirror, adopt a compromise way and learn from each other's past policies. Specifically, the feudal lords of the Ming Dynasty were enfeoffed, but they did not touch the soil, did not exclude nobles, did not face the people, ate their food without dying, and could not participate in the four industries of agriculture, industry and commerce. In other words, the captaincy of the Ming Dynasty had only titles and no soil; Only titles, no power to rule the people; Only the salary has no right to govern the place, and it cannot participate in the affairs of intellectuals, agriculture, industry and commerce like the people. The only advantage is that the title of captaincy in the Ming Dynasty can be inherited. Some frontier fortress prisoners will give them some military power to defend the frontier fortress emperor, but the prisoners themselves have no right to recruit, only a certain number of guard rights. Without the consent of the emperor, the captaincy can't leave the vassal state. To put it simply, the captaincy of the Ming Dynasty has no right to rule its own vassal state, and only money can ensure that you have food and clothing. In fact, the emperor drew a circle for the warlord and kept him as a pig. As long as he doesn't rebel, he will eat, drink and support you.
Comparatively speaking, the Ming dynasty captaincy did not have the same sovereignty as the Han dynasty captaincy, nor could it stay in Beijing like the Tang dynasty monarch. It can be said that the clan system of the three dynasties has its own advantages and disadvantages.