All dynasties in my country have always attached great importance to the orthodox nature of their own rule, and have also developed a set of theories of orthodox replacement of dynasties based on the principle of mutual generation and restraint of the five elements. Just like the Han Dynasty destroyed Qin, Qin was the virtue of water, so in the early Han Dynasty, it called itself the virtue of earth, and used the principle of earth restraining water to illustrate the orthodox nature of the rule of Han Dynasty . During the Great Secession period, due to the dispersion of regimes and frequent dynasties, the legitimacy of rule was inherently insufficient, so the rulers were more committed to shaping their orthodox status, which was the case during the Five Dynasties period. In order to shape one's own orthodoxy, , the Later Tang also made efforts in writing dynasties, including the writing of epitaphs.
1. The efforts made by the Later Tang Dynasty to shape the orthodox
In the fourth year of Tianyou in the late Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen forced Emperor Ai of Tang to abdicate to himself and established Liang Dynasty , known in history as " Houliang ". On the surface, Zhu Wen obtained the throne by abdication, so his rule became orthodox.
Zhu Wen
Later, Li Cunxu defeated Houliang. Because he had made contributions to the Tang Dynasty, he was given the surname Li, so he regarded himself as "restoring the Tang Dynasty". In order to strengthen the orthodox nature of his own rule, Li Cunxu compared Zhu Wen's Liang to Wang Mang usurped the Han , called Hou Liang a "pseudo-liang", destroyed the ancestral temple lord of Hou Liang, and demoted the two emperors of Hou Liang to common people. At the same time, he issued an edict to restore all the governments and temples that had been renamed during the Later Liang period, and also hid the heads of the last emperor of Hou Liang in Taishe and did not allow burial, and even planned to destroy the tomb of Taizu Liang. Later, Li Cunxu standardized the daily behavior and writing of the bureaucratic class, and stipulated that when those who had served as officials in the Later Liang Dynasty had to clearly write down "how many terms are fake, and how many terms are the dynasty" and call the Later Liang a "fake Liang" in order to deny the orthodox nature of the Later Liang.
Li Cunxu's stills
2. Writing implementation in the early stage of the Later Tang Dynasty
Most of the articles narrating the life of characters are epitaphs, so the degree of implementation of this writing standard can be seen from the epitaphs of the bureaucrats at that time.
In the second year of Tongguang (924), when Li Cunxu was in power, Lu Wendu, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Later Liang Dynasty, died. In his epitaph, although he regarded the Later Tang as orthodox, his experience of serving in Zeng Liang was described as "Once one entered the forbidden garden, for ten years, he lived in the third office and ten Huaxian capitals", deliberately avoiding writing "fake Liang". In the same year, Zuo Tingxun, the son of Zuo Huan, the former subordinate of Zhu Wen who served in the Later Tang Dynasty, when writing the epitaph of his father Zuo Huan, he exaggerated the story of Zuo Huan's participation in Zhu Wen's business, and also intended to use the stems and branches to avoid using the year names of the Later Tang Dynasty.
also was in the Tongguang period. In the epitaph of Zhang Jiye, the son of Zhang Quanyi, the son of Zhang Quanyi, who served in the Later Tang Dynasty, the author compared Hou Mang to the Xin Dynasty, and also praised Zhuangzong Li Cunxu's achievements. However, Zhang Jiye's previous official positions did not indicate which of the false positions were false positions, nor did he write specific years to avoid writing the country and year names of Hou Liang. Although the epitaph of Li Renzhao, who was also an old minister of the Liang Dynasty, was strictly implemented in accordance with the writing standards, calling Hou Liang a "pseudo-liang" and calling the Later Tang Dynasty the "our dynasty", when mentioning Li Renzhao's experience in serving Hou Liang, there was no derogatory statement, but it was just a routine standard, and it was just a superficial effort. From the above epitaphs of the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty, we are not difficult to find that they rejected the Later Liang as "Pseudo-Ray". Even if they implemented this writing standard, it was just a temporary measure and did not think that Later Liang was a "Pseudo-Ray".
In the third year of Tongguang (925), the largest and longest-maintained separatist vassal leaders of the Five Dynasties, Li Maozhen , the author used the post-Tang standard self-proclaimed "Zhongxing" and called Hou Liang "using the throne". It can be seen that for the purpose of showing friendship, all separatist forces would choose to abide by this writing standard.
mainly implements the specifications well. In the third year of Tiancheng in Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty (928), Zhang Juhan, the epitaph of the , called the Later Tang Dynasty "Zhongxing", and when mentioning characters and events related to Liang, the word "pseudo" will be added to the front. Most of the epitaphs of important official figures were written by the imperial court, so they also abide by the official writing standards.
Zhang Juhan's stills
However, in the fourth year of Tiancheng in the Mingzong of Later Tang Dynasty (929), the young tutor of the crown prince was also an old minister of Later Liang, Li Qi was ordered to write the dead Huo Yanwei 's divine stele. Huo Yanwei was also a minister of Later Liang. However, when writing his life, Li Qi did not write "Fake Liang" directly according to the regulations, so he was ordered to rewrite it.
From the above, we can see that in the early days of the Later Tang Dynasty, except for official writing and old royal subordinates, most bureaucrats generally abide by writing writing standards, but the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty avoided writing the year and country names of the Later Liang Dynasty to avoid writing "pseudo Liang". Those who are very close to the Later Liang Dynasty, such as Zuo Tingxun, even did not recognize the Later Tang Dynasty, so the writing standards did not actually achieve the desired effect.
3. The dispute over national names and the loosening of writing standards
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文分四子文
Before the Ming Dynasty ascended the throne, ministers had debated whether to change the country's name. Among them, Huo Yanwei, Kong Xun and others who belonged to the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty advocated that changing the country's name would not be Tude, because the Tang in the theory of the Five Elements was Tude. If the Later Tang was also Tude, it means that the Later Liang was a pseudo-dynasty. In order to recognize the orthodox nature of the Later Liang Dynasty, the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty hoped to change the country's name rather than Tude, which reflected the efforts made by the Later Liang ministers for the orthodox of the Later Liang Dynasty.
After Emperor Mingzong ascended the throne, the writing standards have actually been loosened. During the Tiancheng period, although the destruction of Liang by the Later Tang Dynasty was called "Zhongxing", the country and year names of the Later Liang Dynasty were avoided. When it came to the Tang and Liang Dynasty, they only took over the "Tianxing is so difficult". In the fourth year of Tiancheng, Han Gong, who was also an old minister of the Later Liang Dynasty, described his life and his official positions without indicating the time, nor did he point out which official positions were from which dynasty. He deliberately avoided the writing of the country and the year names, which was difficult to distinguish. There is also Wang Yu, an old minister of the Later Liang Dynasty, who used the to represent the year number of the Tang Dynasty in his epitaph to avoid using the year number of the Later Liang Dynasty. In a sense, the controversy over the writing of Huo Yanwei's divine stele may be the repeated violations of Li Cunxu's old subordinates against the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty.
However, the relaxation of the writing standards of "pseudo-liang" is inevitable. In the fourth year of Changxing in the Ming Dynasty of Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty (933), in the epitaph of Zhang Jida, Zhang Quanyi's nephew, the author not only avoided writing the country and year names of Hou Liang, but even wrote that "the virtue of the earth is small, and the essence of the gold is burning". Later Liang is the gold virtue of the five elements. According to the theory of , the five elements are mutually generated by , earth produces metal, and the Tang is earth virtue. It can be seen that the writer of Zhang Jida's epitaph openly recognized the orthodox nature of Hou Liang.
4. Reasons for the poor writing standardization and effect
Summarizing the above situation, we will find that when writing, most of the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty did not reject the word "Zhongxing", but tried to avoid writing "pseudo-liang", not rejecting the recognition of the current dynasty, but rejecting the recognition of the previous dynasty as a pseudo-dynasty. This phenomenon is not mainly because of the old masters in the Later Tang Dynasty. Most of the old ministers of the Later Liang Dynasty who served in the Later Tang Dynasty had served in multiple dynasties, so it is unlikely that they had too deep feelings for the previous dynasty. They did not say that the Later Liang was a pseudo-dynasty, mainly because if the former dynasty was regarded as a pseudo-dynasty, their political experience became a "false destiny", and the fame they had achieved was naturally worthless. If the Tang, Later Liang and Later Tang were regarded as orthodox, their fame and fortune would be preserved. This is the so-called "no distinction between authenticity and falsehood, but mixed fame."
Wenshijun said that
Five Dynasties During the Later Tang Dynasty, Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxu made a series of efforts to prove his orthodox nature and deny the orthodox nature of the Later Liang, and formulated writing standards for the Later Liang in order to make the concept of "false beam" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but the actual implementation effect was not very good. The old ministers of Hou Liang tried their best to deny Hou Liang as a pseudo-dynasty. Their original intention was not to have a deep relationship with Hou Liang, but to preserve their former fame.He only tries his best to make his fame and reputation. Such a "gentleman" is too hypocritical. He has no true nature as a person or a minister. So what if his reputation is good!
References
Qiu Luming: "The "Pseudo-Liang" and "Later Tang": The Orthodox Controversy in the Five Dynasties", "Historical Research" Issue 05, 2021.
(Author: Haoran Literature and History·Lingfeng)
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