Chapter 11 Chapter 3 Southern Dynasties Experimental Field

If you want to sum up the Southern Dynasties in one sentence, there are only four words: lackluster.In just one hundred and sixty-nine years, four dynasties have changed.Among them, Liu Song is the oldest, sixty years old.Followed by Nanliang, fifty-six years.Chen again, thirty-three years.The shortest is Nan Qi, twenty-four years. Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen are all short-lived ghosts. Dynasties are short-lived, and so are emperors.The one with the shortest reign was actually only one year.In addition, there are three each for two, four, and eight years, seven for three years, and one each for five and six years.There are only five more than ten years old, two of them are twelve years old, and one is fifteen years old.

So, what about the long reign? Not so much.Liang Wudi Xiao Yan forty-eight years, Song Wendi Liu Yilong thirty years, the reign time is not short.However, Emperor Wu of Liang was trapped in the palace, and Liu Yilong was murdered by his son.In fact, at least thirteen of the twenty-four emperors in the Southern Dynasties died unexpectedly, and the murderers ranged from princes, clansmen, powerful officials, to attendants, imperial guards, rebels, foreign enemies, and new emperors. It's well worth pondering. Of course, the situations of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen were not the same.There were eight Liu Song emperors in total, five of whom died badly; there were seven Southern Qi emperors, four of whom died unexpectedly, more than half of them.The worst was Nanliang, where none of the four emperors could die.Moreover, six of the emperors who were killed in these three dynasties were minors. Among them, the oldest was seventeen years old, and the youngest was only thirteen years old.

The best case is Chen.Even Chen Shubao, the ruler of subjugation, was not murdered. He even lived to the year when Emperor Sui Yang moved his capital to Luoyang.However, one of the five emperors of the Chen Dynasty was still abolished, and one and a half years after being abolished, he died mysteriously at the age of nineteen, isn't it suspicious? What's more, Chen is too embarrassed to be called Chao again.When they accepted the abdication and founding the country, a large area of ​​Nanliang's land had been lost, and the Chen Dynasty could only hide in the southeast corner and wait for the Sui Dynasty to perish, even though they once wanted to cheer up.It's a pity that there is nothing to do but the flowers fall, and the good times will never come again.

In fact, the founding emperors of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen were all promising monarchs, and they all created a new atmosphere. Therefore, Song had the rule of Yuanjia, Qi had the rule of Yongming, and Liang had the rule of Tianjian.But without exception, chaos followed, followed by national subjugation.A history of the Southern Dynasties is almost a history of chaos and chaos. This is very different from the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Northern Wei Dynasty was also in chaos, and nine of the fourteen emperors died abnormally.But the result of the turmoil in the Northern Wei Dynasty was progress, from a barbarian state to a Chinese empire.The Southern Dynasties had long lost the consciousness and tolerance of the Chinese Empire, and they did not have the status of a central government like the Eastern Jin Dynasty. They were just a huge kingdom of princes.

What is the result? Even the Sinicized barbarians look down on them.In the official history books of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty is called "Arrogant Jin", while Liu Song, Nanqi and Nanliang are called "Daoyi".In other words, it is not a problem for Jin to represent the authenticity of Huaxia, but the legitimacy of the Eastern Jin regime is questionable.The subsequent Southern Dynasties did not even have the qualifications to pretend to be Chinese, and could only be counted as barbarians, or small barbarians. This is really a great irony. So we have to ask: Does the existence of the Southern Dynasties also have historical significance and cultural value?If so, what is it?

Serve as an experimental field for Chinese civilization. In fact, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which have always been ignored by many people, were precisely a turning point in Chinese history.Both the north and the south are conducting various explorations and experiments, but the north provides more successful experience, while the south is trial and error.However, trial and error also makes sense.In fact, it was precisely because of the experience of the north and the lessons of the south that the subsequent Sui and Tang Dynasties were able to achieve major changes. On historical issues, heroes cannot be judged by success or failure.

So, what is the experiment of the Southern Dynasties? Reform the politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. We know that the regime of the Eastern Jin Dynasty belonged to the gentry, and politics belonged to the powerful.However, the founding kings of the Southern Dynasties, Emperor Wu of Song Liu Yu, Emperor Gao of Qi Xiao Daocheng, Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan, and Emperor Wu of Chen Chen Baxian were all from humble backgrounds and soldiers.This is very different from Emperor Wu of Jin's claiming to be a Confucian scholar and a celebrity, and it will inevitably lead to contradictions between the gentry and the common people, the civil government and the military government within the regime.

The main reason for the chaos in the Southern Dynasties is here. The question is, why did the power of the gentry fall into the hands of the soldiers? Because the gentry are getting lazy and incompetent.According to the patriarchal system, the children of those famous families are born with the privilege of being an official and tax-free, and the law and system guarantee that they can get something for nothing.Therefore, these guys have been idle since they were young, and they only know that E Guanbo leads high-spirited talk, or smears himself with makeup and looks at himself. These are some parasites.

Parasites will not be self-motivated and creative, nor will they have a sense of responsibility and mission.The children of the pampered aristocratic families even divided official positions into two types.It's just that honest officials don't mean incorruptibility, but leisure.Therefore, what corresponds to "honest officials" is not "corrupt officials" but "dirty officials". The zhuoguan's job is to deal with specific matters, such as taxation and litigation.These mundane tasks are complicated, trivial and laborious, and the parasites are simply unwilling to do them.Over time, they became like this: Living in a peaceful world, they don’t know the disaster of chaos; they live under the temple, they don’t know the urgency of battle; There is hard labor.

This is a bunch of wimps. Can wimps and parasites defend their home and country?cannot.Can Anbang stabilize the country?also can not.Can the Central Plains be recovered from the barbarians?just can not. Therefore, the humble Su family had a chance. Opportunities are given up by famous families, especially the hard and dangerous military positions.This gave the common people at the bottom a step up, and Liu Yu, the founding emperor of Song Dynasty, just seized the opportunity and opportunity.And since Liu Yu's success, the children of poor families have formed a consensus: If you want to get ahead, you must go to the army.

It is not surprising that the Southern Dynasties were all military governments. However, Liu Yu's success is also related to the national conditions of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.In fact, the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not have a central army, and in fact it was impossible to have one.The regime established by Sima Rui, King of Langya, is a government in exile. How can it really unify the country and order the world in the name of the central government (please refer to the eleventh volume of the history of China, "Wei and Jin Demeanor")? The most important ones are Beifu and Xifu. Beifu and Xifu are both military groups, and their components are mainly refugees who have gone south to escape the war, and their nature is between the official army and the militia.Because the garrison locations were north and west of Jiankang, the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, they were called Beifu and Xifu, also called Xuzhou Beifu and Yuzhou Xifu (or Jingzhou Xifu). When Liu Yu changed his dynasty, he relied on Beifu. This is not surprising either.In fact, although the commanders-in-chief of the two governments are officials appointed by the imperial court in name, the soldiers and generals under them are recruited by themselves.Therefore, if the commander is loyal to the dynasty, they are the Eastern Jin army, such as the Beifu soldiers commanded by Xie Xuan during the Battle of Feishui.On the contrary, if the commander had ulterior motives, the armed forces he possessed would not be used to defend the royal family, but to subvert the regime. The Xifu soldiers commanded by Huan Wen were like this. Therefore, the royal family and court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were full of entanglements with the two governments.They not only hope that someone will quell internal strife and resist foreign enemies for themselves, but they also fear that if the latter succeeds, they will not be able to get rid of it.The wishful thinking of these guys is: the two governments do not need the empire to laboriously raise troops for thousands of days, but they can completely obey the central command and gallop on the battlefield, and they will not endanger the stability of the dynasty and the regime by becoming bigger and stronger. It's a pity that there has never been such a cheap good thing in the world.The result of all the calculations by the agencies is that opportunities to regain the Central Plains are lost time and time again, and things that usurp the throne and seize power happen time and time again.It's just that the previous few times failed, but Liu Yu succeeded.He not only ended the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but also the gentry. Then look at Liu Yu.

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