Chapter 48 1. The sunset of the gate valve

We read history not just for good looks.History contains all kinds of natural and social laws that human beings have experienced. The important purpose of reading history is to analyze these laws and the historical elements that make up the laws, including natural and social, including events and characters. At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei dynasty of the Tuoba family in the north and its extensions - the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, and the three dynasties established in succession in the south, Song, Qi, and Liang, all perished one after another.In their place were three emerging dynasties—Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and Southern Chen.Many historians refer to this period as the "Later Three Kingdoms" to distinguish it from the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu ("First Three Kingdoms").

Although the former and latter Three Kingdoms have different eras and characteristics, they all embody a regular historical element—the rise and fall of the clan system. Aristocratic family is a combination of "family status" and "valorous reading", that is, background and family qualifications.In essence, the clan is an important social phenomenon that emerged after the great chaos at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. We discussed this point in "The Reign of Yuanjia". In the former Three Kingdoms era after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the founders of Wei, Shu, and Wu were not members of the clan system, but the so-called common people.

Cao Cao is the grandson of the eunuch, and does not belong to the clan. To a large extent, the series of political reforms he implemented were also born to combat the clan.The rise of Cao Cao, from Yuan Shao in the north to Liu Biao in the south, not only hostile to Cao Cao militarily, but also rejected Cao Cao politically and culturally, precisely because the states and counties controlled by Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and others were all ruled by powerful families. Although Cao Cao destroyed Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, he failed to sweep Jiangnan in the end and was blocked by the Sun and Liu coalition forces.Ironically, the Sun and Liu who stopped him were not from aristocratic backgrounds either.Needless to say, Liu Bei, with the golden signboard of the emperor's uncle, is the generation of "weaving mats and selling shoes"; even Sun Quan, father and son for three generations, is not from Jiangdong.As far as the actual ruling territory is concerned, the Sun and Liu families are both "outsiders", and they have not relaxed at all in their hard and soft suppression of the power under the rule.

However, the clan belongs to the strong side of the social forces after all.With the passage of time, one ebbs and flows, the generation who ruled the country grows old, and the generation who guards the country will eventually have to bow to the power of the powerful.The Jiupin Zhongzheng System established by Cao Pi is a milestone that marks the rise of the clan system.Since then, the powerful forces have occupied the stage of history with great fanfare. The former Three Kingdoms era ultimately failed in the face of a powerful social system of aristocrats.The Western Jin Dynasty, which unified the former three kingdoms, was the era when the clan system reached its peak.Once a system reaches its peak, it will then go downhill. Throughout the ages, there are no exceptions.The collapse of the Western Jin Dynasty can be regarded as the beginning of the decline of the clan system.

However, any beneficiaries of the old system will not give up their vested interests willingly, unless there are greater interests for them to choose from, or they are driven out by greater forces. After the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, as the legal successor of the Western Jin Dynasty, naturally did everything possible to inherit and carry forward the clan system.Although the sixteen states in the north did not inherit the legal system of the Western Jin Dynasty, they had to inherit the social nature of the Western Jin Dynasty. In this way, the clan system continued to exist in both the South and the North in different forms.The main problem in the south is the struggle between the common people and the nobles, that is, the contradiction between people outside the clan system and those inside the clan system; in the north, it is mainly manifested in the conflict between people in the old clan system and the emerging military aristocracy contradiction.

The continuous evolution, resolution, stimulation, and appeasement of these two contradictions are a manifestation of the development of the entire society, and at the same time, they are also a difficult problem facing every ruler. Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty seemed to have recognized the essence of the problem, and it seemed that he had found a way out: the Xianbei nobles accepted the clan system as a whole, and the Xianbei nobles themselves were transformed into the largest clan system. In the south, members who are not in the clan system continue to participate in the power center, so as to realize a kind of adaptation and repair to the clan system.

The history of the former three countries seems to repeat itself.However, the vicissitudes of the three hundred years are far from comparable to that of the previous Three Kingdoms era, and many new factors have been added to society.Emperor Xiaowen's reorganization finally intensified the Mutiny of the Six Towns. Among the Yankees, the Yankees not only smashed the northern clan system, but also, one of them—Hou Jing, broke the southern clan system. The Northern Wei Dynasty collapsed, and the northern family system was close to a state of death but not rigidity.Some big powerful families still exist, and they still have great influence in the local area, and new powerful families have also emerged from the Six Towns Military Group, which shows that their social influence has not completely disappeared.Therefore, neither Gao Huan in the east nor Yu Wentai in the west was in a hurry to completely neutralize the Northern Wei Dynasty, but made a transition and established the Eastern Wei and Western Wei respectively.

Liang Guo in the south wanted to use the power of culture and religion to re-"rationalize" the clan system, and there was a short-lived "resurrection".In the early days of Emperor Wu of Liang, the economy and culture were relatively prosperous, and the rule was relatively stable. However, the upper class elites became more and more greedy and corrupt, and the oppression of the middle and lower classes became more and more severe, which led to extremely serious social problems in the later period of Emperor Wu of Liang. The outbreak of the Hou Jing Rebellion and the establishment of three new countries announced the arrival of the era of the end of the clan. (It should be noted that this is only the beginning of the end. The real end will have to wait until the imperial examination system was established in the Sui Dynasty and perfected in the Tang Dynasty. Even then, the ancient social phenomenon of the family clan still maintained until the Tang Gaozong period. Zong "abolished the king and established the martial arts" overthrew the last batch of clans in Chinese history.) At this time, the clan system has gradually revealed the twilight of the setting sun, and it is difficult to fight back.

The reason why the clan system cannot be completely abolished is not because its power is still strong, but because no new system has been found to replace it. Therefore, in the post-Three Kingdoms period of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the Southern Chen Dynasty, the rulers of all countries faced a common problem: how to establish a new social system that could replace the old clan system.Whoever can establish such a system faster and better will be at the forefront of the times and win the competition. This history of removing the old and bringing forth the new began in Chang'an in the northwest.

The heroes of Yuwentai's generation could not resist the destiny at last, and they passed away in the year of "knowing the destiny".Before he died, he handed over the power to his nephew, Zhongshan Gong Yuwenhu. Yu Wenhu, who was not conspicuous before, suddenly became the focus of the Western Wei Dynasty. Yuwenhu is the youngest son of Yuwentai's elder brother Yuwenhao. During the confrontation between East and West Wei, he followed Yuwentai to conquer east and west. Although he was not very prominent, he also made some military exploits.Yu Wentai has told people many times that this kid is very similar to him in bearing, and he likes him very much.

Although he is a kid in Yu Wentai's eyes, Yu Wenhu is much older than Yu Wentai's sons. This is an important reason why Yu Wentai chose to entrust Yu Wenhu with the important affairs behind him. Yu Wentai really didn't expect that he would die so early, and even lost to Gao Huan in terms of lifespan (Yu Wentai died at fifty, Gao Huan died at fifty-two), and he didn't make enough arrangements for his descendants in advance. s arrangement.His legal heir, Yu Wenjue, the eldest son born to Princess Feng Yi of the Northern Wei Dynasty, is only fifteen years old and has no political or military experience at all (Yu Wentai is obviously not as good as Gao Huan in cultivating heirs, Gao Huan became prime minister He focused on cultivating his eldest son, Gao Cheng. Fifteen-year-old Gao Cheng had already "had a lot of misdemeanors" by beckoning close officials and fornicating his father and concubine, while fifteen-year-old Yu Wenjue was still blank).In March of the third year of Emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty (AD 556), Yu Wenjue obtained the status of the eldest son, and was worshiped as a general in April. In October, Yu Wentai died of illness in Yunyang, Jingzhou because he went out to inspect the disease. (now northwest of Jingyang, Shaanxi), it was too late to even return to Chang'an, and of course the young Yu Wenjue had no time to establish his own power and prestige. In order to prevent the power from falling apart, the only way is to let a person surnamed Yuwen, who has some fighting experience, take the power.Yu Wenhu naturally became the best candidate. According to Yuwentai's "will", Yuwenhu's first priority is to consolidate Yuwen's power.We have repeatedly emphasized before that the foundation of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was the eight-pillar system, or the six-pillar system.Yuwenhu used the brand of Yuwen's family to deal with ordinary second- and third-rate characters, and he could barely hold on to the scene.Yu Wenhu couldn't say hello to the bigwigs at the first level of the Six Pillars Kingdom.Most of them are older than Yu Wenhu in terms of age and seniority, and they have also been princes for many years in terms of status. Yu Wentai has to be courteous to them when he is there, let alone Yu Wenhu who is a junior. The worried Yu Wenhu thought about it and decided to visit Yu Jin, one of the Six Pillar Kingdoms.Yu Jin had a bright mind, and immediately made a plan for Yu Wenhu, saying: "I, Yu Jin, have always received special favor from the old prime minister (referring to Yu Wentai), and my love is like flesh and blood. Now that I have come to this point today, I will definitely fight for you with all my life. .Tomorrow in front of everyone, you must not refuse." The next day, Zhuzhu Kingdom gathered together to discuss the ownership of power.Yu Jin said sternly: "Back then, the imperial family was in danger, and everyone wanted to seize the world. The old prime minister was determined to help the country, and led us to charge forward. I don't know how many battles we fought to realize the revival of the country. Now the heavens have brought disaster, and the old prime minister The prime minister has passed away, and we are left behind. Although the heir is young, as a nephew, Duke Zhongshan is as close as a son; besides, he has been entrusted by the old prime minister, and he should have full power to handle military and state affairs. " Yu Jin's speech shocked the audience, and for a moment "everyone was terrified".Yu Wenhu answered immediately: "This is my Yuwen family's business, even if I am stupid, how dare I refuse." (It's really doing my part...) Yu Jin saw that Yu Wenhu was cooperating very well, so he said to Yu Wenhu more humbly: "If Duke Ming can come out to preside over important events, Yu Jin and everyone will be able to rely on me." After speaking, he got up and bowed.Yu Jin was of the same generation as Yu Wentai, and he took the lead in worshiping, and the other Zhu kingdoms were under pressure, so they had no choice but to follow in worshiping, and Yuwen Nursing took over the military power confidently. As soon as Yu Wenhu came to power, in view of Yu Wenjue's young age and weak strength, he had to take his position early to calm people's hearts.He sent someone to ask Emperor Wei Gong for abdication. After Yuan Qin's death, the royal family of the Western Wei Dynasty had long existed in name only. Therefore, Yu Wenjue abolished Emperor Wei Gong and established his own country. Because Yu Wentai always respected the rituals of Zhou, the new country name was "Zhou", which was called Northern Zhou or Yuwen Zhou in history.Yu Wenjue inherited the tradition of the last years of the Western Wei Dynasty. He was not called the emperor, but the king of heaven. Under the king of heaven, the highest title is the prince.Yu Wenhu was worshiped as the great Sima and named Duke of Jin.Emperor Wei Gong was "conferred" as the Duke of Song, and within two months, he was killed by Yu Wenhu. There is a big difference between the Northern Zhou Dynasty and most dynasties in Chinese history, that is, its founding monarch was actually a puppet, and Yu Wenhu held the real power. What is intriguing is that the puppet king doesn't seem to think he is really a puppet yet.This shows that the situation in the court at that time was not simply a one-man dominance and powerful ministers in power. Yu Jin helped Yu Wenhu to "get on the horse". On the one hand, he saw the situation clearly. If Yu Wenhu's status was not established, power would definitely be dispersed, which would be extremely detrimental to the Guanlong Military Group.On the other hand, it is also inseparable from his in-law relationship with Yuwen's family (Yuwentai's daughter married Yu Jin's son Yu Yi).Therefore, he did not hesitate to show his obedience to a junior as a father and lead others to do so, in order to consolidate the prestige of the Yuwen family and ensure his own greatest political interests. Yu Jin thinks this way because his IQ is high enough, his EQ is absolutely high enough, and he understands his political stance.Yu Jin was able to quickly figure out his personal status and group interests; but for others, even if he could figure it out clearly, he had to make another plan because of his different actual background.One month after Yu Wenjue ascended the throne, Zhao Gui and Duguxin rebelled in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Regarding this matter, there are only two short sentences in the "Book of Zhou": "The Duke of Chu, Zhao Gui, conspired against him and executed him. The Taibao Dugu believes that he is guilty and exonerated." Secretly kept secret.What is the truth behind this?