▲In the TV series "Qingpingle" (formerly known as "The Closed City"), Wang Kai plays Song Renzong
This article first appeared in "Oriental History" Comment》
The founders of the Northern Song Dynasty designed a good political framework to balance the relationship between the monarch and the scholar-bureaucrat. On the one hand, it was due to the consciousness of the monarch and the development of the imperial examination system. On the one hand, the Northern Song Dynasty had learned the lessons of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and was particularly afraid of the soldiers. The founders of the Northern Song Dynasty did not trust military generals, and formed an atmosphere of valuing civil affairs over military affairs, forming a "golden age" of scholar-bureaucrats.
The prime minister in the early Song Dynasty offered advice and suggestions, restrained the monarch, famous officials Zhao Pu, Kou Zhun and others, there are many examples of outspoken words. Once, a meritorious person should be moved, but Song Taizu didn't like him and wanted to prevent him from being promoted. The then prime minister Zhao Pu went to persuade him, and Taizu said: "So what will I do if I refuse to move?" Zhao Pu answered. Said: "Punishment to punish evil, reward to reward merit, the passage of ancient and modern. Moreover, torture reward is the punishment reward of the world, not you alone. How can you transfer your own happiness and anger?" Taizu refused to listen , Leaving his seat, Zhao Pu followed, and did not leave at the gate of the palace for a long time. Taizu had no choice but to agree to him.
From Song Taizu to Song Renzong, there was no real authoritarian prime minister in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, marked by Yuanfeng's restructuring, the central government's distribution of power has changed. The restructuring of Yuanfeng took place during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty. After the restructuring, the power was transferred to Zhongshu, the left and right servants became prime ministers, the left servants acted as ministers, the right servants acted as servants, and the power of finance and military officials returned. Dutang. On the surface, these reforms have improved the power of the prime minister. In fact, the monarch wants to consolidate power and use his favorite prime minister to implement policies as soon as possible. Yuanfeng’s restructuring did not restore the Tang Dynasty’s tradition of “providing the decrees and decrees and deliberation and deliberation” in the Tang Dynasty, nor did the military power be transferred to the prime minister, nor did it fundamentally change the relationship between the prime minister and the prime minister. Hold firmly in the hands of the emperor, so that the monarch always maintains the suppression of power.
After Shenzong, the party struggle intensified, and the situation of literati and monarch co-ruling began to be broken. The ruling party is more inclined to cooperate with the prime minister he trusts to implement some urgent policies, even if this causes a split between the ruling party and the opposition. If in the Renzong period, the emperor relied more on the opinions of the scholar-official group before making decisions, then in the Shenzong and Zhezong dynasties, the signs of the emperor and the scholar-official group had already appeared, and the emperor was more willing to support parties loyal to his will and control the entire government. During the Shaosheng period, after Zhezong won the struggle against the Queen Mother and the Sima Guangyi faction, he boosted the power of the imperial power and warriors to speak, and once achieved a military boost. The emperor who appeared in the novel "Ba Bu of Heavenly Dragons" had a long history of illness and died young. He was a very arbitrary emperor, taking Shenzong as an example, and he was determined to inherit the Xifeng line promoted by Shenzong and expand his territory in order to realize the revival of the Song Dynasty.
宋哲宗像
After Song Zhezong passed away, Song Huizong succeeded. The emperor who loves painting and calligraphy also paid attention to centralization. The mainstream view of history used to believe that: Song Huizong was greedy for pleasure, and allowed Cai Jing, the "public minister" to be in power during the Huizong dynasty four times. He organized party members and was so powerful that he formed the so-called "Cai Jing dictatorship system." which performed. However, throughout the Huizong period, Cai Jingjing did not pose any real threat to the monarchy. Cai Jing's monopoly was granted by the emperor. Cai Jing's ups and downs were closely related to the adjustment of the power structure of Huizong. In recent years, research on Song history has raised many objections to Cai Jing’s monopoly. Song historian Fang Chengfeng’s book "Political System and Political Culture in the Late Northern Song Dynasty" argues that: "Cai Jing is at the top of the system, surpassing ordinary prime ministers, and seems to have reached power. Pinnacle; but his actual degree of participation in political affairs was precisely and effectively restricted by the system of the'public minister'.”
Behind the frequent appearance of power in the late Northern Song Dynasty was the increase in monarchy. The prime ministers can remain in power for a long time, not because they have shaken the monarchy, but because they adhere to the monarchy and become the most loyal partner of the monarch. The situation of Cai Jing and others is not the same as that of Huo Guang and Yi Yin. Song Huizong seems to be addicted to pleasure, but in fact his desire to control the government is no less than that of Zhezong.
The change of Jingkang, the Southern Crossing of the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty entered a period of turbulence. Changes in the external environment required Song Court to improve its central efficiency, and centralization became inevitable.Driven by the war, the prime ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty gained more power. An obvious change was that they actually shared military power. For example, Shi Hao, the prime minister in the first year of Longxing, was allowed to serve as Shang Shu You Shuyou, Tong Zhong Shumen Xia Ping Zhang Shi and privy envoy at the same time, in order to deal with a war emergency.
In the Song Dynasty, the prime minister and privy envoy first appeared in the Renzong period. "Song History·Lü Yi Jian Biography" said: "The admonishment officer Zhang Fangping said that it is better to know the military affairs in the book. It is based on the Prime Minister Lu Yi Jian, and the chapter is like the Privy Council." But soon, the prime minister and the privy envoy ceased to be both. Only in the Southern Song Dynasty did it regain popularity.
After Song Ningzong, the prime minister and privy envoy. In order to cope with the wartime situation, Song Ting also established the official title of "Pingzhang Military State Important Matters" to strengthen the prime minister's military power. According to statistics, there are forty-eight prime ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty who also know about the affairs of the Privy Council. The nominal power of the prime ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty is not as great as in the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, because the prime minister is also an important position such as a privy envoy, Jiedushi or Pingzhang military state affairs, the actual power has expanded. .
The expansion of power in the Southern Song Dynasty is strictly a matter of the middle and late stages. Although people like Qin Hui appeared in the early stage, Song Gaozong and Song Xiaozong are all people who guard against power. In the early days of Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty, the imperial court called for "welcome back the two saints". In order to gain the trust of the scholar-bureaucrat group, he catered to the prestigious veterans of the imperial court on the one hand, and supported his cronies to stabilize the throne. Therefore, he successively admitted Li Gang, Zhao Ding and other old officials as prime ministers. Li Gang once presided over the Kaifeng defense battle, has rich experience in leading troops, is a prime minister, and Zhao Ding is also familiar with the military, and in Shaoxing four years of official Zhi Shang Shu Youpu shot, Tongzhong Shumen Ping Zhang Shi and know the Privy Council Matter, hold the military power.
In the early years of Shaoxing, due to the precarious situation and unstable foundations, Song Gaozong relaxed his restraint on the power of the prime minister and appointed a group of scholar-bureaucrats with military experience to deal with the overall situation. But after the war eased a little, Song Gaozong set about restricting the power of Xiang. He frequently used the method of restraint between the left and right officials to prevent the arbitrariness of power. In the early years of Shaoxing, he used Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan to counterbalance Li Gang, and even Qin Hui, who had been in power for many years, had to be on guard at all times until Qin Hui was in Shaoxing 25 When he passed away in 1999, Song Gaozong "handed over political affairs and assumed authority." It can be seen that the imperial power has suppressed the power of the phase.
After Song Gaozong died, Song Xiaozong came to the throne. He is the emperor who has worked hardest in the Southern Song Dynasty and has the strictest restrictions on power. According to the "Song Zaifu Chronicles" statistics, Song Xiaozong has served as prime minister and governed as many as 47 people during his 27 years in power. He not only shortened the term of office of the prime minister, and used the participation in political affairs to control the prime minister, but he also held the appointment power of the official admonishment in his own hands to prevent the prime minister from using the system to control the remonstrance system. Song Xiaozong was diligent in government affairs before and during the mid-term reign. Assiduously, there is no one to worry about every day in the spiritual hour, thinking and saying: Is there anything that hasn’t arrived? I ask for repeated consideration, lest there be any loss" ("Emperor Song Zhongxing Two Pilgrimages" Volume 4 Nineteen), it eliminates the possibility of the prime minister's monopoly.
Song Xiaozong period was the highest point of the monarchy in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, in order to promote the Northern Expedition, the emperor dared to "bypass the three provinces and directly issue orders from the Dudu Mansion" ("Song Xiaozong Strengthening Authoritarianism"). This incident occurred in the first year of Longxing (1163), which aroused fierce opposition from scholar-officials. It was not until the first year of Gandao (1165) two years later that Song Xiaozong corrected himself through an edict: "The Privy Council’s documents follow the three-province style. Draw a yellow book and read under the door of Zhongshu." ("Song History" Volume 33 "Xiaozong One")
宋孝宗像
In the early Southern Song Dynasty, the power was firmly restrained by the monarchy. The main reason lies in the fact that the monarch is pro-political and pays special attention to personnel transfer. However, when the Southern Song monarch no longer diligently manages, or even indulges in pleasure, military and political power slipped into the hands of the prime minister. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the prosperous scholar-bureaucratic politics was the cornerstone of national politics and a buffer against national unrest, but in the Southern Song Dynasty, this buffer gradually disappeared.
So there were two "coups" in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty. The first time was "Shaoxi Inner Zen". At that time, Song Guangzong suffered from mental illness, the government was abandoned for a long time, and the entire bureaucracy had major problems. After obtaining permission from the Queen Mother, Zhao Ruyu, a member of the Privy Council at the time, joined forces with Zhao Yanbian, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and Han Tongzhan, a member of the Zhige gate, to force Guangzong to abdicate, and embrace King Zhao Kuo as the new emperor, that is, Song Ningzong. After a political crisis, it was this incident that paved the way for the vigorous Han-Zhao party struggle in the future. In the end, Zhao Ruyu was expelled from the Central Committee, and Han Dong controlled the Southern Song Dynasty.In military and political power, he took advantage of the weakness of the emperor to call on the court. In order to consolidate his position, he initiated the Qingyuan party ban, cracked down on dissidents, and corrupted the political atmosphere of the Southern Song Dynasty.
赵汝禹
The second time is Shi Miyuan’s "Jiaozhao Lidi". "Shaoxi Inner Zen" was the common will of the court and did not shake the foundation of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, Shi Miyuan's "rectification of the emperor" was entirely out of selfish desire and had a bad influence on Southern Song politics. At that time, Song Ningzong's first successor was Prince Jingxian Zhao Xun, but he died in the 13th year of Jiading (1220). Ningzong had no children and had to choose someone else. After King Yi, Zhao Guihe had the highest voice. He was established as the prince in Jiading 14th year (AD 1221) and became the first heir in line. But Shi Miyuan was at odds with Zhao Gui. He wanted to support the puppet Zhao Guicheng, who was later Song Lizong. When Ning Zong was dying, Shi Miyuan united his party members to correct the emperor, and issued three edicts in the name of Ning Zong, making Zhao Guicheng the prince, and the original prince Zhao Guihe was changed to be the king of Jiyang County and sent to the Ning State House. This incident completely subverted the political order of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was another direct intervention by the courtiers in the throne after the "Shaoxi Inner Chan", and it was of a much more serious nature.
Imperial society, the country is over-reliant on the individual ability of the monarch, once the monarch has problems, it will cause huge troubles to the governance of the country. The political system of the Southern Song Dynasty relied on the quality of the monarch. Once the monarch was weak, it lacked a third party to restrict the power.
Originally, the Taiwanese remonstrance system was the most important third-party supervisory force in the Song Dynasty. Li Zongchao Yuan Shuoyou said: "The court has major political affairs, but Taiwanese remonstrance can discuss it otherwise; the owner has minor faults, and Taiwan remonstrates He was able to save him from arrest; hundreds of officials had great traitors, and Tai Jian was able to reprimand him for what he did.” But in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Taiwanese system was often in vain and impermanent. When the power was quite powerful, it became a trusted friend of the power. Manipulating speech channels, such as the Southern Song Dynasty’s prime minister Han Cheng, in order to attack Zhao Ruyu, he used internal criticism to remove the post of supervisor from Wu Lie, and promoted his confidants Liu Dexiu, Yang Dafa, and Liu Sanjie to imperial opponents. Zhao Ruyu's right-hand man. When Shi Miyuan and Jia Sidao were in power, the Taiwanese remonstrance system was firmly controlled by their cronies. Taiwanese remonstrances, groups of Taiwanese remonstrators who claimed to be impartial, were like eunuchs who flattered their masters.
The decline of the Southern Song Dynasty admonition system is the result of the joint infringement of monarch power and relative power. The scholar Yu Yunguo pointed out in "The Destruction of the Taiwan Remonstrance System in the Song Dynasty and the Relationship between the Monarchy and Power": "After Emperor Gaozong in the Southern Song Dynasty, Taiwan remonstrances were'involved without reporting'... even if they were called'Xiao Yuanyou' During the Duan Ping reform period, Lizong's notes to the superintendents were still "but there are empty texts for retribution, there has been no actual implementation of the facts, and even more than the implementation of the invisible. And also ignore the retribution."" Southern Song Dynasty from Qin Hui At the beginning, Xiangquan also had no fear of destroying Taiwan's admonition system. Qin Hui is good at "selecting people for Taiwan advisers" and uses Taiwan advisers to attack political opponents. Han Dongzuo, Shi Miyuan, Jia Sidao and others not only planted cronies, but also asked Taiwan advisers to seal a copy of their statements to the director for review. . In the late Southern Song Dynasty, the Taiwanese admonition system had no more checks and balances on the power and the minister.
In the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, the monarchy still had a chance to cheer up. For example, after Song Lizong survived Shi Miyuan, he showed a certain positive attitude. On the one hand, he appointed Hong Zixie and others as supervisory officials to rectify the admonitions and restrain Shi Miyuan's party members. On the other hand, he asked central and local officials not to recommend officials privately, so as to avoid cronies. In the selection of prime ministers, Song Lizong used the strategies of Gaozong and Xiaozong to shorten the term of office of prime ministers and strengthen the balance of factions. Lizong reigned for 40 years and used 16 people as prime ministers, including Zheng Qingzhi and Shi Songzhi. It is Shi Miyuan's close official, and there is also Cui Yu, who has argued with Shi Miyuan on the basis of reason. They have different positions, but they can perform their duties and play their roles, and there is no stand-alone situation. Even under the circumstances of Shi Miyuan's "righteous imperial emperor" and a special minister for more than ten years, there is still room for the monarchy in the Southern Song Dynasty to rejuvenate. It's a pity that Lizong's reform measures are mostly scratching the ground, failing to fundamentally improve the bad governance of the Southern Song Dynasty. After the failure of "Duanping into Luo", Lizong fell into a slump and became passive and negligent. Not only was he timid to regain lost ground, but he also lost patience to clarify bad governance.
史密远
In the last year of Lizong, the government was full of smoke again, and the emperor's negativity once again gave the power to take advantage of the opportunity to enter. By the time of Emperor Duzong of Song Dynasty and Emperor Gong of Song Dynasty, Jia Sidao dictatedThe expansion of power is a foregone conclusion.
The reason why Jia Sidao is so powerful is that he is both a power minister and a relative. He was originally a small official of Sicang in Jiaxing. Relying on the blessings of his half-sister Jia Guifei, he rose up all the way and became Taichang Cheng, military supervisor and even Lizhou Zhizhou, until Baoyou six years (1258) Jia Sidao begged and the Mongols privately, but concealed the matter from the court, saying: "The great victory of all roads, the beginning of the siege of Hubei, the elimination of the Jianghan, the dynasty of the clan and the resumption of peace, and the endless rest!" Jia Sidao said The big lie should have been pierced early, but the Emperor Song emperor was stunned and the Taiwanese remonstrance was ruined. At the mercy of Jia Sidao, he was not punished, and he was promoted to a young teacher and Wei Guogong. After Jia Sidao took over the military and political power, he further monopolized his speech and suppressed dissidents. The then prime minister Wu Qian, anti-Mongolian generals Cao Shixiong, and Gundam were killed and deposed.
Jia Sidao’s monopoly exploited the system loopholes, but it was also related to Song Lizong and Song Duzong’s over-indulgence. In his later years, Song Lizong was conservative and languid, indulged in indulgence, and did not control the government as well as in the early years of Duanping. Song Duzong did not have the original vigor of Naifu, but inherited Naifu's faults. He also liked voice and lacked the ability to manage politics. Song Duzong worshipped Jia Sidao as a "teacher" with confidence, and handed over the important affairs of the country to the prime minister. Jia Sidao was out of control since then. According to Bi Huan's "Tongjian for Supplementary Management" in the Qing Dynasty, Jia Sidao Once sternly said to Baiguan: "If you were not promoted by me, how could you have today's status!" Not only Baiguan was afraid of him, even the emperor was also afraid of him. According to the article "On the Phenomenon of Jia Sidao": "Song Duzong" Every time he retired, he had to wait for Jia Sidao to leave the court before he dared to sit down... In March of the tenth year of Xianchun (1274), at the critical moment of the life and death of the country and the nation, Jia Sidao used the emperor’s ceremonial service to do a big deal for his mother. Funeral..."
The politics of the Southern Song Dynasty, on the surface, experienced a process of rising monarch power first and then power expansion, but the reason behind it was that the monarch and his agents had too much power and lack of restrictions on the political order. Their means. The power of the Southern Song Dynasty Minister was mostly under the premise that the monarch was weak. In other words, he actually represented the part of the power vacated by the monarch. On the surface, he performed the power, but in fact he represented part of the monarchy. This shortcoming is because under the distribution of political power order, too much power is given to the monarch, and there is no sustainable means of checks and balances. Therefore, as long as the monarch is weak, that part of the inflated monarchy is exercised by the prime minister’s agent, it is prone to a situation of power. . At this time, the prime minister was no longer the spokesperson of the literati group, he was a dictator with the ghost of the monarch on his back. However, his problem is that he always relies on unspoken rules or the vacancy (hidden) of the monarch to obtain these powers, which is ultimately unjustified, so his arbitrary decision can easily arouse political turmoil and even political order. Even greater damage is when morality and justice are gone, and the high-ranking people are not righteous, the people below will also rush to follow suit, and regard fighting for power and party formation more important than maintaining order.
The blood of the people with lofty ideals for more than a hundred years in the Song Dynasty was wasted by the weak monarch and the greedy power. When the northern Sichuan rebels were struggling to kill the enemy and defend their homeland, the power of the Song court was lazily sitting in the West Lake. On the side, drunk in Wenrou Township, even if Xiangyang is in danger and the country is approaching, they still blocked the news, creating the illusion of singing and dancing. A river of spring water flowed eastward, thousands of armors were buried in the wilderness, until the Mongolian army penetrated into the hinterland, and the Southern Song Dynasty monarchs woke up from a dream, Jia Sidao, the power minister, finally fell, and died in October 1275 in Wuli South of Zhangzhou City. A toilet outside, chanted before his death: "Always one section, for the country."
Reference material:
1. Take off: "Song History";
2. Li Tao : "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Chang";
3. Ding Xiaoqin: "Academic and Imperial Power, Controversy of Power in the Shaoxing Period of the Southern Song Dynasty";
4. Fang Chengfeng: "Political System and Political Culture in the Late Northern Song Dynasty" ";
5. Qian Mu: "New Theory on National History";
6. Qian Mu: "Chinese Political Gains and Losses in Past Dynasties";
7. Chen Liang: "Zhongxing Theory";
8 Yu Yunguo: "Study on the Southern Song Dynasty";
9. Yu Yunguo: "Research on Taiwan's Admonition System in Song Dynasty";
10. Yu Yunguo: "Relationship between the Destruction of Taiwan's Admonishment System and Monarchy in Song Dynasty";
11. Wang Dezhong: "Song Xiaozong Strengthening Autocracy";
12. Xu Ziming: "Song Zaifu Chronicles";
13. Zhang Bangwei: "On the Song Dynasty's Imperial Power and Xiang Power";
14. Li Yan: "The Composition and Constraints of Central Institutions in the Song Dynasty" Mechanism";
15. Lei Zhen: "The adjustment of the central system by Gaozong in the later period of Shaoxing: an investigation centered on Tang Situi's participation in politics";
16. Qiu Zhicheng: "Staggered" Flower: Looking Back at the Study and Controversy of Xiangquan and Imperial Power in the Song Dynasty"
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