" Reformer Series " fifth: Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (6, finale)
Who castrated the Chinese people's martial spirit?
It is estimated that some individuals will receive a very high vote rate - Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. On the surface, it is indeed the case: he suppressed the generals too much, and ordinary soldiers had no status. "A good iron does not make nails, and a good man does not join the army." It is said that it was passed down at that time. As a result, the Song Dynasty suffered repeated defeats in foreign wars, and then lost money and eliminated disasters and cedeed the land. So what if the economy is developed? Military dwarfs are just fat, have underdeveloped muscles, and have no hard fists, so they can be slaughtered. Therefore, the Song army was called the "coward army" and the Song Dynasty was called the "sending court".
The founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin (photo note)
To be fair, if the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty was not Zhao Kuangyin, but anyone else would have done that.
Why?
In addition to being a yellow robe as a warrior, Zhao Kuangyin was more afraid and guarded against military generals after the founding of the country, there is also a very important factor - the new dynasty replaces the old dynasty, and often focuses on learning from the painful lessons of the fall of the previous dynasty. After the Song Dynasty replaced the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin believed that the biggest reason for the demise of the Tang Dynasty was the separatist rule of the vassal states, and gave the military generals too much power, so this dynasty used civil servants to control the military. The literati have a high status and live a very comfortable life. The military general has a low status, so they live a more tragic life. Who should be more dedicated to fighting? Of course, the lessons learned from
on the demise of the previous generation should be learned, but it is not right to overcorrect it and go to the other extreme. In this regard, Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty was not an isolated case. For example, after the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang believed that the reason why Qin was ruined was because Emperor Qin only implemented the county system and did not give his brothers the title of king. As a result, when the country was in crisis, no brothers with the same surname came out to help, so this dynasty named a large number of brothers with the surname Liu to be kings. For example, after the Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the Yuan Dynasty was so awesome and had never even fought against Japan, and this dynasty could not fight, so he decided to set up 15 "non-suffering countries", the second one was Japan... What was the result of these founding emperors doing this? The Han Dynasty had the "rebellion of Seven Kings", the Song Dynasty had the ridicule of "sending the court", and the Ming Dynasty had the danger of Japanese pirates.
Who castrated the Chinese people's martial spirit? Zhao Kuangyin is the direct person in charge, but there is also a "master behind the scenes" - Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. You may say that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was the most vigorous and martial artist among the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. How could he have the responsibility? The problem is that Shangwu certainly needs it, but it also needs to be mastered. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang walked along the edge of force, and as a result, he created a "Anshi Rebellion" and lost all his money, directly leading the Tang Dynasty to a downhill road, and continued to decline until the game was over. After Zhao Kuangyin founded the country, he saw that the Tang Dynasty had destroyed himself by martial arts, so he naturally had to learn from his lessons, but he went to another extreme. However, if you are Zhao Kuangyin, you will also try your best to suppress the generals. Therefore, the Chinese's martial spirit was castrated, which was on the surface of Song Taizu's fault, but in fact, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang also had the responsibility. If Li Longji had not used up all the martial arts, Zhao Kuangyin would not have suppressed the martial arts so much. Let’s talk about it carefully below
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In the middle of the Kaiyuan period, the national strength increased greatly. Li Longji had capital and his ambitions began to expand. According to historical records, "The emperor has the ambition to swallow the four barbarians."[1] At this time, the population was sufficient and the country had money. The government system was not necessary, and the conditions for recruiting troops were fully met, so it became popular.
Why did the Kaiyuan prosperous era come to an abrupt end? Why did An Lushan rebel? Many people were involved in the incident and said that it was caused by recruiting troops to replace the government soldiers. Li Mi said: "There is no one who can rebel and kill the generals for his own self-righteousness because of his own rebellion. Since his abolition, he has recruited the Long March athletes, and Lushan has been in chaos, which is still uncertain." [2] However, Li Qin avoided two key issues: First, since the government soldiers are so superior, how could they collapse? Second, the recruitment system was not something An Lushan wanted to do, but was agreed by Li Longji, and he made important contributions to the opening of the border in the Tang Dynasty.
Li Longji's problem is not about recruiting troops, but about giving too much power to the governors of the vassal states. At the beginning, he also stipulated the total number of troops recruited by the vassal states. Later, as long as the Jiedushi could win the battle and start the border, he would not care much about how many troops he recruited.Moreover, the Jiedushi was not only the military chief of the vassal states, but also the political chief and economic chief, and seized all power. This is what the historical books say: "It has both its land, its people, its armor and its wealth." [3]
Portrait of An Lushan (Photo Note)
United Army System In the era of the military system, the army in Guanzhong accounted for 141% of the entire army. In the era of recruitment system, this data has shrunk severely, with only 14%. They fell down. Among the 580,000 troops across the country, the border troops are nearly 500,000, and one of them has nearly 200,000 troops (each governor generally has 60,000 to 70,000 troops). This person is nothing but An Lushan, and he became the governor of three vassal states (Pinglu, Fanyang, and Hedong). Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established several border commanders (Jingdushi) in an attempt to "use vassal states to control vassal states", but An Lushan was the only one who could dominate the vassal states.
If people's desires are not restricted, they will often continue to expand, and Li Longji has no restrictions on An Lushan. If you were An Lushan, if you had so much capital and such great power, you would probably choose to take risks - take the capital and become the emperor yourself.
Compared with recruiting soldiers, it is difficult for the government soldiers to stand up for rebellion. Why? Whether the government soldiers go to the capital (or frontier) to guard or fight on the frontline, they are usually drawn and organized from various places. If you don’t know me, I don’t know you, it’s difficult to unite. Recruiting soldiers is different. Generally, recruiting in the areas under its jurisdiction, most of them know each other, and it is easy to form a group to engage in private affairs and raise a flag to start a business. In fact, it is common for recruiters to kill the border commander who was sent by the court to lead them. History records: "If you change the head coach, you will have a joke", "If you don't have the best rewards, your family will be killed." [4] An Lushan was originally a Hu person, so this problem does not exist. Instead, it is easier to get the support and support of recruiters and is called "Saint" in private.
Although the security factor of the military troops is high, it is more appropriate to recruit troops if the troops can fight. After all, this is the permanent army and has a high degree of professionalism. Of course, the implementation of the recruitment system also faces huge challenges - how to ensure that the arrogant soldiers and strong generals always maintain their loyalty to the central government? The rulers of the Tang Dynasty came up with the method of "sending military supervisors", which cannot be said to be ineffective, but it cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely effective - because if the generals really want to rebel, they can completely kill the military supervisors sent by the emperor. After thinking about it, rulers of all dynasties often tend to be more inclined to implement the system of government troops. cannot defeat foreign enemies, and at most, it is impossible to get compensation and cede land and marry the princess; if it is rebelled by recruiting soldiers, it will be lost even the throne and even the life! It is not difficult to choose which one is more important.
After all, the military system is not that important, what is important is the training level. When An Lushan rebelled, Li Longji had more than 100,000 cavalry in the Guanzhong area, and many of these central troops were the former government soldiers. [5] Why are these famous soldiers commanded by Feng Changqing, Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan and others, but they are defeated? Because of the long-term peace and lack of training, the combat effectiveness and fighting will have basically been lost. "Tang Huiyao" records the ugly appearance of the lord [6]:
"The Central Plains wrapped its swords and armor to show that it was no longer used. When people were old, they did not hear the sound of war... (The guards of the six armies) had something to do and could not be given armor. It was not unfortunate that they later stole and rebeled."
The story of the reformers of the Tang Dynasty was told, and tomorrow they entered the Song Dynasty - Wang Anshi's reform.
episode trailer: How "coward" is Song Jun?
endnote:
[1] (Song Dynasty) Sima Guang: "Zizhi Tongjian" (Volume 216·Tang Ji 32·Tianbao December 6th), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1956, page 6889. "The emperor had the ambition to annex the four barbarians."
[2] (Song Dynasty) Wang Yinglin: "Yuhai" (Volume 138·Soldier System 3, citing the family tradition of Yehou), Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House·Shanghai Bookstore, 1987.
[3] (Song Dynasty) Ouyang Xiu et al.: "New Book of Tang" (Volume 50·Chronicle 40·Soldier), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2000, page 870.
[4] (Southern Dynasty·Song Dynasty) Xue Juzheng et al.: "Old History of the Five Dynasties" (Volume 14·Book of Liang 14·Biography 4·Luo Shaowei), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2000, page 128.
[5] Cen Zhongmian: "Research on the Soldier System", Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1957, page 81.
[6] (Song Dynasty) Wang Pu: "Tang Huiyao" (Volume 72·Military Records), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1955, page 1300.
