Recently, I saw a sentence on the Internet, which said that "the emperor protects the country and defends the country". Then some people will ask, what does this mean? In fact, Bian Xiao has heard this sentence for a long time, but he really doesn't know its meaning, so let's analyze it and reveal it. Don't miss this interested netizen, let's study together!
The significance of the emperor's protection of the country lies in that it can alleviate the internal and external pressure of the central government to a certain extent.
The Central Plains Dynasty in China faced two major military threats: one was the invasion by foreign enemies, and the other was the civil strife caused by the uprising of officials, governors or peasants.
To deal with the latter, the method is simple, that is, to strengthen the central military power and weaken the local power, so that the local power does not have the power to rebel.
For example, this was the case in the Song Dynasty.
To deal with the former, the method is not difficult, that is, the limited resources of the empire are mainly concentrated in the north, and powerful border guards are used to resist foreign invasion.
For example, this was the case in the Tang Dynasty.
However, it is difficult to deal with both the former and the latter.
Because in order to prevent foreign invasion, the strength of the northern border guards should not be weak. However, the border guards were so powerful that the court could not stop them. Once the border guards become disloyal, the result will be a peaceful and historic uprising. Moreover, the imperial court is too strong and weak, and the border defense is too weak. The result was the Northern Song Dynasty. As long as the border is breached, Khitan and Nuzhen will soon be able to kill the capital.
Therefore, it can be seen from the above contradictions that the rulers' psychology was extremely contradictory when dealing with external and internal problems in the ancient Central Plains Dynasty. To solve this problem, we must find a way to kill two birds with one stone.
What can we do? Is to move the capital to the north, so that the central army and the border guards can be merged into one.
Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. Nanjing is a place in Longxing. Geographically sandwiched between the Yangtze River and the Purple Mountain. Easy to defend. Economically, it is backed by rivers and canals south of the Yangtze River. It doesn't worry about taxes and food. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's original plan, the capital was Nanjing, Kaifeng or Chang 'an, and the northern border was under pressure from the capital. However, the plan can't keep up with the change. Because Nanjing was far away from the border, the border defense was difficult to control, and the Ming Dynasty was only passed on to the second emperor. The imperial court lost control of the border guards and was eventually overthrown by the border guards.
Later, Judy moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, cutting off this possibility and merging the roles of the Central Army and the border guards. Therefore, the imperial elites are concentrated in the north, which can not only resist foreign invasion, but also rely on the power of the central government to control domestic invasion. It can be said that it is multifaceted.
However, this is not without harm. In fact, the emperor also has a great disadvantage in defending the country.
The first is the economic aspect. In the Ming Dynasty, the economic center of China moved south. The economic conditions around Beijing can't actually support a large number of Central Army. To solve this problem, the government must rely on blood transfusion in the south. In addition, because the imperial court was far away from the economic center of gravity, it was impossible to understand the actual situation in the south for the first time.
Such as trade demand, Japanese invasion and so on. All this led to the seemingly huge tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty, which did not reach the level of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The second is the political aspect. Because the south was rich and the north was poor in the Ming Dynasty, southerners studied much better than northerners, resulting in many college students in the south. In order to contain the southern literati, the emperor could only use the northern military commanders and eunuchs to restrain the southerners.
This balanced strategy of southerners governing the country and northerners controlling southerners is not bad at first, but the more southerners there are, the bigger their opinions will be. So the government controlled the gentry group in the 1970s.
One of the most obvious shortcomings is that Beijing is too close to the border and lacks strategic depth. Once the Mongols or Jurchens cross the Great Wall, the capital will be immediately surrounded and there is no room for manoeuvre. This will bring a lot of trouble to the army of the king of Qin. For example, it's too late, and the general is in charge.
On the whole. The defense of the ancient Central Plains Dynasty in China was mainly concentrated in two areas: the capital and northern Xinjiang. If we defend these two places at the same time, the army will definitely not be enough. If you want to accomplish more things at once, you can only move the northern border to the capital or the capital to the northern border. It is almost impossible for the emperor to defend the country. Of course, this method also has many shortcomings, but in general, no unified dynasty can have an absolutely perfect capital plan. Judy's move to the capital is also reasonable.