The chaos of the Five Dynasties was finally ended by Zhao Kuangyin, and the emerging Song Dynasty avoided repeating the short-lived mistakes of the Five Dynasties. This is inseparable from Zhao Kuangyin's series of reforms. Zhao Kuangyin's reforms can be seen as a continuation of Chai Rong's reforms. Externally, he followed the national strategy of "first south, then north, first easy and then difficult." Internally, he implemented reforms to strengthen centralization by strengthening the cadres and weak branches.
As for the infrastructure construction mania, encouraging classes to farm mulberry trees, rectifying the official system, caring for the people, etc., I will not go into details one by one. Zhao Kuangyin was a qualified and good emperor, so there is a saying that "Qin Emperor Hanwu, Tang Zong Zu Song Zu" refers to Zhao Kuangyin. On par with the First Emperor of Qin, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, he became the first echelon of emperors. Even with the addition of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen and Wu, Comrade Zhao Kuangyin was among the top 10 emperors and saints in ancient China.
We focus on Zhao Kuangyin's reforms to strengthen centralization, and make a simple and systematic review to gain a glimpse of how the Song Dynasty got rid of the stubborn diseases of feudal separatism and moved from division to unity.
If you can ask the question correctly, half of the problem is already solved. During the chaos of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the separatism of vassal towns was only a symptom rather than the root cause. The fundamental reason was the abnormal political ecology of "strong local government and weak central government". Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, almost all emperors have been working hard in this direction, but only Zhao Kuangyin succeeded.
Cutting off vassal vassals has always been a thorny problem for the feudal dynasty. Faced with this problem, Zhao Kuangyin followed the twelve-character policy proposed by the think tank Zhao Pu - "seize a little power, control its money and grain, and recruit its elite soldiers."
1. Seize the power slightly
1. Seize its judicial power
In May 1961, a criminal case occurred in Jinzhou, which was the "Ma Hanhui Case". Ma Hanhui was a local rogue in Jinzhou. He was domineering and committed all kinds of evil. His parents and younger brother couldn't bear it, so they killed him to eliminate harm for the people. However, the local defense envoy and judge convicted his parents and brother of intentional homicide. The younger brother beheaded him.
Fan towns have the power of today's courts and procuratorates. In the Five Dynasties, it was commonplace and even an unspoken rule. However, Zhao Kuangyin was angry that he enforced the law too strictly, so he removed the defense envoy Qiu Chao and others and exiled them to Fuhai Island.
Look beyond the surface. What Zhao Kuangyin was angry about was not their "excessive strictness", but their "law enforcement" and their expertise. Local officials, especially warlords in feudal towns, can only play the role of the Intermediate People's Court at best. Death sentences must be reported to the central court and approved by the High People's Court and the Procuratorate.
Through the "Ma Hanhui Case", Zhao Kuangyin sent a strong political signal to local states and counties: the days when local feudal towns acted as local emperors are gone forever.
In August of the same year, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict that if any soldiers in the border military camps committed serious crimes, they would be handed over to the local military court for trial, and the superiors were not allowed to kill them at will. In other words, not only did the generals of the feudal town and the commander-in-chief of the border pass lose the power of life and death over the local people, but even the soldiers in the military camp could no longer punish and execute them at will. The power of the vassal town was greatly weakened.
Later, Zhao Kuangyin clearly told the prime minister that during the Five Dynasties, the vassal towns were domineering and there were many indiscriminate killings. The court's Ministry of Punishment was ineffective and must be changed in the future. All death sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment, and the central court would make the final decision.
2. Seize power and return it to the local government
In December 962, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to add a county captain to the administrative unit at the county level to be in charge of catching theft and litigation, and to add a number of archers according to the population of the county. This is to strengthen the power of local governments, reduce the power of vassal towns such as Jiedushi, and at the same time differentiate and supervise the power of local chief executives.
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Jiedushi often appointed their cronies as generals. In theory, they could not interfere in local affairs. However, "theoretically" has always remained just a theory, and the facts often run counter to this. They have become the local emperors, and the county magistrates and officials have all become decorations. For example, through many of the previous descriptions, we have an illusion that Jiedushi and others are the local leaders, not only the commanders of the provincial military regions, but also He also serves as a senior official, mayor, court president, etc.
Nowadays, the imperial court has clearly limited the power of Jiedushi and town generals in the form of red-headed documents, allowing state and county officials to regain their due local power from the hands of feudal towns.
3. Dilution of local rights
In 963, Zhao Kuangyin set up "tongpan" in various states, with one person in small states and two in large states. "All military and civilian affairs are governed by them. Things are done in a special way and all officials are treated with courtesy."
Tongpan is neither subordinate to the Jiedushi nor the local government, but is directly responsible to the imperial court. It can bypass the intermediate links such as Jiedushi and Defense Envoy, report work directly to the central court, listen to instructions, and have an overview of the military and civilian affairs in the state. , almost equivalent to "direct jurisdiction". The feudal town has less affairs, the central government has more affairs, and there are no middlemen to make the difference.
Obviously, the functional scope of Tongsuan highly overlaps with that of Jiedushi, local government, etc. In other words, in the previous measure, the power that did not originally belong to the feudal town but had been occupied by the feudal town for a long time was returned to the local government, while this one diluted the power of the local government by the general judgment, thereby transferring the power in the form of "direct jurisdiction" It was taken back to the central court.
These "interpreters" can be said to be extremely blessed, and they have a very precise grasp of their role setting and workplace positioning. After they arrived at the local level, they actively suppressed local officials and made the unspoken rules public. They publicly threatened without hesitation: "I am the one who supervises the state. The imperial court has sent me to supervise you!"
Some things can be done, but some things cannot be said. Everyone understands this tacitly, so it is called unspoken rules. The general judges were emboldened and openly suppressed local officials. "Most of the actions of senior officials were controlled." The scope, depth, and impact were so wide that it seemed to be a political movement that affected every corner of the country. If the official is unhappy, it belongs to him.
Finally in November 966, Zhao Kuangyin had to issue an edict to restrain him:
"The general tribunals of all states are not allowed to use their power for personal gain. They must jointly sign a transfer letter with the chief officials before they are allowed to go down."
Hitting the blackboard to highlight the key points, the general judges must not "exercise power for personal gain". If you look carefully, the "rights" of the general judges have not been deprived, but the scenarios for the use of power have been standardized, emphasizing that the starting point cannot be to satisfy selfish desires. The power given to you by the imperial court is to share the Lord's worries, not to dominate.
The key point: You can have parental rights, but you can't show favoritism.
4. The polished commander
Zhao Kuangyin stipulated that the branches and counties under the control of the Jiedushi of the vassal town "are all directly subordinate to the capital and can handle matters on their own and do not belong to the vassals." People often say that the Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty was almost equivalent to today's senior officials. If understood this way, then Zhao Kuangyin was equivalent to turning senior officials into mayors of provincial capital cities, and affiliated prefecture-level cities into municipalities directly under the Central Government. Of course, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, most Jiedushi had only been in charge of two or three states, which was obviously not comparable to today's "provinces".
In short, under the guidance of this policy, the warlords in the feudal town changed from high-ranking officials to mayors, and their power was greatly weakened. According to historical records, "Jiedu made it less powerful."
When describing a certain separatist force, there is a character who always accompanies the Jiedushi like a shadow. This is the chief think tank of the Jiedushi - Secretary Zhang. Zhao Kuangyin tried his best to weaken the power of the vassal town, but of course he had to use the secretary in charge. So in July 964, he issued an edict that the vassal town was not allowed to appoint a secretary for himself at will. "Two literary men must be allowed to submit memorials." The scope of recruitment was greatly restricted. Those who met the recruitment conditions were basically nerds carefully selected by the imperial court. Not only would they not help the feudal town to establish separatism or separatism, they would also become the court's eyesight to monitor the feudal town and actively maintain centralization of power. system to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Turn an enemy into a friend with one move, beautiful.
