History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 957 Terminator——Zhao Kuangyin 1
[Terminator]

The chaos of the Five Dynasties was finally ended by Zhao Kuangyin, and the newly emerging Song Dynasty avoided repeating the short-lived mistakes of the Five Dynasties, which was inseparable from a series of reforms by Zhao Kuangyin. 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, then difficult", and internally, he implemented the reform of strengthening the centralization of power by strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.

As for his infrastructure madman, his encouragement of agriculture and sericulture, his rectification of the civil service system, his care for the people and so on, I will not elaborate on them one by one. Zhao Kuangyin was a qualified and good emperor, so there is a saying that "the Emperor of Qin, the Emperor of Han, the Emperor of Tang and the Emperor of Song", which puts Zhao Kuangyin on par with Qin Shihuang, Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang, making him the first echelon of the emperor circle. Even if Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen and Wu are added, Comrade Zhao Kuangyin is still among the top 10 wise and holy rulers in ancient China.

We focus on Zhao Kuangyin's reforms to strengthen central power and make a simple and systematic review to glimpse how the Song Dynasty eliminated the stubborn disease of separatist regimes and moved from division to unification.

Being able to correctly raise a question is half the solution. During the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the separatist regimes were only the appearance, not the root cause. The fundamental reason was the abnormal political ecology of "strong local governments and weak central government". Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, almost all emperors have been working in this direction, but only Zhao Kuangyin succeeded.

Reducing the power of the feudal lords has always been a thorny issue for feudal dynasties. Faced with this problem, Zhao Kuangyin followed the twelve-character policy proposed by his think tank Zhao Pu - "slowly deprive them of their power, control their money and grain, and take their elite troops."

First, slightly deprive them of their power

1. Seize its judicial power
In May 961, a criminal case occurred in Jinzhou, which was the "Ma Hanhui case". Ma Hanhui was a rogue in Jinzhou who was tyrannical and did all kinds of evil. His parents and younger brother could not stand it, so they killed him for the sake of justice and rid the people of harm. However, the local defense envoy and judge beheaded his parents and younger brother for intentional homicide.

It was commonplace during the Five Dynasties for the feudal lords to have the power of today's courts and procuratorates, and it was even a customary unspoken rule. However, Zhao Kuangyin was angry that the law was too strict, so he removed the defense envoy Qiu Chao and others from the list and exiled them to Fuhai Island.

See the essence through the phenomenon. What Zhao Kuangyin was angry about was not their "excessive severity", but their "law enforcement" and arbitrary use of power. Local officials, especially the warlords, could only play the role of the Intermediate People's Court at best. The death penalty 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 prefectures and counties: the era when local vassal states acted as local emperors was gone forever.

In August of the same year, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict that if a soldier in a border barracks committed a serious crime, he would be brought to the local military court for trial, and the commander could not arbitrarily execute him. In other words, the generals and commanders of the border towns not only lost the power of life and death over the local people, but also could not arbitrarily sentence and execute the soldiers in the barracks. The power of the vassal towns was greatly weakened.

Later, Zhao Kuangyin clearly told the prime minister that during the Five Dynasties period, the local warlords were domineering and killed people indiscriminately, and the Ministry of Justice of the court was in name only. This must be changed in the future. All death sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Justice, and the final decision must be made by the central court.

2. Seize power and return it to local governments
In December 962, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to add a county lieutenant to the county-level administrative unit, in charge of catching thieves and litigation, and to add a number of archers according to the county's population (soon after, there were restrictions, see below). This strengthened the power of local governments, reduced the power of military governors and other vassal states, and at the same time divided and supervised the power of local administrative chiefs.

Since the Tang and Five Dynasties, the Jiedushi appointed their own cronies as town commanders. In theory, they could not interfere in local affairs. However, "in theory" has always remained in theory, and the facts are often contrary to this. They became local emperors, and the county magistrates and county officials became decorations. For example, through many of the descriptions in the previous article, we have an illusion that the Jiedushi and others are the top leaders of the local area. They are not only the commanders of the provincial military region, but also senior officials, mayors, and court presidents.

Now, the imperial court had clearly restricted the power of Jiedushi and garrison commanders in the form of official documents, allowing prefecture and county governments to regain the power that they deserved from the local governors.

3. Diluting local rights
In 963, Zhao Kuangyin set up "Tongpan" in various states, one in small states and two in large states, "to govern all military and civilian affairs, to have exclusive control over matters, and to treat senior officials with equal courtesy". Tongpan was neither subordinate to the Jiedushi nor to the local government, but was directly responsible to the court. He could bypass the Jiedushi and the Defense Envoy, report directly to the central court, receive instructions, and have an overview of military and civilian affairs in the state, which was almost equivalent to "direct jurisdiction". The local governors were less in charge of affairs, while the central government was more in charge of affairs, and there were no middlemen to make a profit from the difference.

Obviously, the scope of Tongpan's functions overlapped with Jiedushi and local governments. In other words, in the previous measure, the power that did not belong to the vassal states but had long been occupied by them was returned to the local governments, while this measure diluted the power of the local governments by Tongpan, thus returning the power to the central court in the form of "direct jurisdiction".

These "Tongpans" were blessed with a very precise understanding of their role settings and workplace positioning. After they took office, they actively suppressed local officials and made the hidden rules public, openly declaring: "I am the governor of the state, and the court sent me to supervise you!"

Some things can be done, but some words cannot be said. Everyone knows this tacitly, so it is called the unspoken rule. The Tongpans were fearless and openly suppressed local officials. "The actions of the senior officials were mostly controlled by them." The scope, depth and bad influence of this movement have become a political movement that has spread to every corner of the country. Officials have no money to live.

Finally, in November 966, Zhao Kuangyin had to issue an edict to restrict it:

"The magistrates of all states are not allowed to abuse their power for personal gain. They must jointly sign written documents with the senior officials before they are allowed to be implemented."

Pay attention to the key points. The Tongpans cannot abuse their power for personal gain. If you think carefully, the Tongpans' "power" has not been taken away, but the use of power has been regulated, emphasizing that the starting point cannot be to satisfy one's own selfish desires. The court gave you power to let you share the worries of the Lord, not to abuse your power.

Key point: You can abuse your power, but you cannot use it for personal gain.

4. A lone commander

Zhao Kuangyin stipulated that the sub-counties under the jurisdiction of the military governors of the vassal states "are all directly under the capital, can report to the emperor on their own, and are not under the jurisdiction of the vassal states." People often say that the military governors of the Tang Dynasty are roughly equivalent to today's senior officials. If this is understood, then Zhao Kuangyin turned the senior officials into mayors of provincial capitals, and the subordinate prefecture-level cities into municipalities directly under the central government. Of course, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, most military governors only managed two or three states, which is obviously not comparable to today's "provinces."

In short, under the guidance of this policy, the warlords of the vassal states were transformed from high-ranking officials to mayors, and their power was greatly weakened. Historical records record that "the power of the military governors was weakened".

When describing a certain separatist power, there is a character who always accompanies the Jiedushi like a shadow, and that is the Jiedushi's chief think tank - the Chief Secretary. Zhao Kuangyin tried his best to weaken the power of the vassal states, and of course he had to start with the Chief Secretary. So in July 964, he issued an edict that the vassal states could not appoint a Chief Secretary for themselves at will, and "only those who have served two terms and have literary talent can be appointed." This greatly restricted the scope of recruitment. Those who met the recruitment conditions were basically nerds with good family backgrounds carefully selected by the court. Not only would they not help the vassal states to engage in separatism and division, but they would also become the court's eyes and ears to monitor the vassal states, actively maintaining the centralized system and safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

One move turns the enemy into a friend, beautiful.

Thanks to my old friend "Yang Kui" for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)