5. Li Daitaojiang
Zhao Kuangyin came to power through a mutiny, and along the way he was inseparable from the support of all forces. Therefore, just like the Five Dynasties period, there were dozens of people with different surnames who were crowned kings and prime ministers. All of them were considered to be Conglong heroes and founding fathers. These People were also an obstacle that threatened imperial power and hindered reform. Some emperors would use physical methods to talk to them, but Zhao Kuangyin chose a relatively gentle and kind method, using words to talk to them. A typical example is to drink wine to release military power. In addition, Zhao Pu also imitated Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Use time to digest all contradictions.
The specific method of operation is to wait for opportunities such as their retirement, relocation, or death, and replace their old positions with civilian officials, gradually reducing their power. The previous practice was "hereditary". After the death of a certain Jiedu envoy or defense envoy, his younger brother or son would be the "remaining queen" and then become a full-time official. Since the Song Dynasty, there has been no such thing as "hereditary" in vassal towns.
In order to limit the power of the vassal town, Zhao Kuangyin tried to use civilian officials as the vassal town. As mentioned in the previous article, this was not Zhao Kuangyin's original creation. Meng Chang of Later Shu had already tried it.
It was the practice during the Five Dynasties that when a certain military general captured a certain state, he would be appointed as the governor of the state. After annexing a certain military town, he would be appointed as the military governor or defense envoy. And if the lord does not have such an appointment, it will cause dissatisfaction among the generals leading the troops, and even induce rebellion.
In 963, Zhao Kuangyin regained Hunan with Murong Yanzhao in command and Li Chuyun as the capital supervisor. Then he appointed a civil official, Lv Yuqing, the minister of household affairs, to know Tanzhou. Soon after, he appointed Xue Juzheng, a privy scholar and minister of household affairs, to know Langzhou. Zhao Kuangyin swept through the southern vassals and basically adopted this model. Military generals captured cities and territories, and civilian officials took over and replaced the defense.
6. Military court converted into police station
On July 1, 973, "Mabuyuan" was changed to "Sikouyuan".
Mabuyuan, that is, courts, prisons and other military legal institutions set up in the Mabu Army, are equivalent to what we often call military courts today. In the past, most of the positions were held by military generals. Zhao Kuangyin changed the name of Mabu Yuan to Sikou Yuan on the grounds that there were too many unjust, false and wrong cases in Mabu Yuan. Judging from the name, the military elements were eliminated and separated from the military system. Then the recruitment conditions were changed, stipulating that "newly qualified Jinshi, and those with equivalent qualifications will be selected as commanders to join the army." To put it simply, with The scholars replaced the original generals in management.
In the past, the general was only deprived of his power of life and death, but now the military's judicial power has been systematically restricted, and even military courts have been turned into police stations.
7. Deprivation of personnel rights
In the feudal towns, there are also people who are aware of current affairs, such as Wang Shenqi. Wang Shenqi was one of the "Yidai Heroes". In the Later Zhou Dynasty, he was the Marquis of Yu, the capital in front of the palace, and stayed in Shouzhou for eight years. In 970, Zhao Kuangyin's father-in-law, Song Yanwo, the governor of the Zhongwu Army, was demoted for going to sea to engage in business in violation of regulations. Wang Shenqi replaced him in the Zhongwu Army. As the founding father of the country, Wang Shenqi was very low-key, never plundered the people, and had quite a political reputation. Once, a county magistrate under his rule fired a subordinate without reporting it. Wang Shenqi's staff was very angry and said that the county magistrate did not take you seriously at all. It was too shameful and you must handle it well. he!
Guess where he got the courage.
Wang Shenqi said earnestly to his staff: "Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, vassal towns have been powerful and domineering, and local officials have been useless. Now that the world is at peace, local officials can finally boldly exercise the power of personnel appointment and dismissal. It is gratifying. How can we blame him?" Woolen cloth?"
The words of the scene are high-sounding. Wang Shenqi saw the essence through the phenomenon. He understood that Zhao Kuangyin had good intentions in strengthening centralization of power, which was to let local officials gradually bypass the feudal princes. Wang Shenqi sized up the situation, followed the historical trend, and consciously cooperated with Zhao Kuangyin's reforms.
In the first month of the fourth year of Kaibao's reign, Zhao Kuangyin further restricted the local government's power to appoint and remove personnel in the form of an edict. "The prefectures and counties must not be worse off than regents." If there is a vacancy, it must be reported to the court, and then appointed by the central court. The will of the pole is driven to the end.
Personnel appointments and removals, financial expenditures, and armed force mobilization and command are what we often call "real power" and are also the three pillars of local separatist forces. There is no doubt that they are all the key targets of Zhao Kuangyin's reform.
Second, make money from the valley
Since Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the power of feudal towns has become increasingly powerful. One of the most obvious manifestations is that the feudal towns seldom or no longer pay tribute to the court, which are called "liu envoys" and "liuzhou". By the end of the Tang Dynasty, this phenomenon became even more It has become a clear rule.
After Zhao Kuangyin appointed Zhao Pu as prime minister, he ordered the states to retain the funds to maintain the normal operation of local governments and turn over all surpluses to the central court. It was strictly forbidden to intercept and misappropriate them. Central court.
At first glance, there is no innovation, it is just a restoration of the system before Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. If you take a closer look, there really isn't much innovation.
Power, money, and soldiers, this is the troika that Zhao Pu helped Zhao Kuangyin strengthen centralization. From a thinking point of view, anyone with a normal mind would think of it, but finding the problem and solving the problem are two different things. For example, Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty saw it very clearly and wanted to strengthen centralization by cutting down vassal vassals, and even took greater steps along the civil service line, but he was confused; another example is Li Siyuan, who once asked Xichuan However, Meng Zhixiang's approach was very traditional. On the surface, he welcomed the imperial envoy to come and guide the work, but behind the scenes he instigated his subordinates to assassinate the central economic supervision commissioner and scare the transfer envoy away.
When you have money, you have soldiers, when you have soldiers, you have power, when you have power, you have money... a positive cycle that is difficult to shake. Only when there is a serious problem in one of the links, another cycle will enter: without power, there is no money, without money, there are no soldiers, and without soldiers, there is no power.
Since Chai Rong, the Central Forbidden Army has become the most elite in the world, but the combat effectiveness of local vassal towns has dropped sharply. On this basis, Zhao Kuangyin firmly controlled the Central Forbidden Army in the hands of the emperor through "a cup of wine to release military power". With huge force Under the threat, the power and money of the local vassal towns were gradually returned to the central government. The local vassal towns lost their power, money, and soldiers, and their strength was declining. Under this situation, deeper reforms will continue to advance.
Zhao Kuangyin should be a master of financial management. After the above-mentioned reforms, a large amount of local "money" was transferred to the central government. After regaining the two lakes and Sichuan and Shu, the national treasury savings reached a historical peak and the treasury was full. Zhao Kuangyin said to his ministers, "War is about logistics, and war is about economic strength. We need to accumulate more, and don't wait for a war to break out before searching for land." Then a "sealing pile warehouse" was set up, which is equivalent to a "war reserve fund." , a portion of the national treasury surplus is allocated every year to be used as future war funds. It cannot be used for other purposes in peacetime. When war breaks out, it will be used first to balance wartime fiscal revenue and expenditure and avoid passing on the cost of war to the people.
War is a gold-eating beast, and countless dynasties have been brought down by war. For example, in order to pay military salaries, the queen has to sell off her jewelry. This description appears many times in the previous article. Since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the war machine has been running continuously, unifying the Central Plains, conquering the Khitan in the north, and conquering the Xixia in the west. However, the economy of the Song Dynasty did not collapse because of this. Even after losing half of the country, it still maintained strong economic vitality and nurtured The prototype of capitalism emerged. In a dynasty dominated by farming, the Song Dynasty created a miracle, which had a lot to do with Zhao Kuangyin's "Sealing the Zhuangku".
