Chapter 52 11. The Northern Wei Dynasty emphasized education and worshiped rituals

In the year when the Northern Wei Dynasty promulgated the Three Chiefs System (AD 486), Emperor Xiaowen Tuobahong began to receive his ministers in formal attire.This can be regarded as a sign. Although the Empress Dowager Feng continued to listen to the government, the power has been transferred to the hands of Emperor Xiaowen. We have already described two points about the achievements of the Northern Wei Dynasty during the two reigns of Empress Dowager Feng: expanding the territory and reforming the system.The former succeeded first because of Liu Song's own chaos, and then stopped in Huai Shui because of mistakes in judging the situation; the three major systems of the latter were all decided and promoted by her herself.With the continuous improvement of the system, the Wei Guo Hu Qi of the Xianbei people is getting weaker and weaker, while the Han style is getting stronger and stronger.

The other two contributions of Empress Dowager Feng were to set up schools and respect Confucianism and etiquette. These two points have only one purpose, which is to completely Confucianize the Northern Wei Dynasty in terms of education and etiquette, or to say it is a complete Sinicization.She understands a truth better than Cui Hao. If Xianbei people want to accept traditional Confucian culture, the most important thing is not to organize human relationships, but to reform the upper nobles from the inside. This kind of reform may be superficial, superficial, and easy to accept. , but it is precisely this kind of superficiality that can trigger a chain reaction in the future, and finally realize the real Sinicization.

Therefore, the object that Empress Dowager Feng focused on cultivating was far from just the emperor Tuoba Hong.In the ninth year of Taihe (AD 485), the emperor's younger brothers Tuobaxi, Tuobagan, Tuobayu, Tuobaxie and others were crowned kings at the same time. Empress Dowager Feng took this opportunity to set up a royal academy in Pingcheng to select the best A knowledgeable teacher organizes them to learn Confucian culture.This measure makes sense, why?Because Tuoba Xianbei won the world immediately, the education their noble children received in the early days was mainly hard skills such as horseback riding and archery, as well as command experience accumulated through actual combat.For the essence of Confucian culture, they did not have a good opportunity to learn and appreciate the essence of Confucianism, so Tuoba Gui asked quasi-mentally retarded questions like "How many books are there in the world".At the same time, it is also one of the reasons why Buddhist culture is so popular among the nobles.Empress Dowager Feng is well aware of the principle that "cultural edification should start with babies". Since these princes will be the pillars of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the future, it is very necessary to edify them into "Xianbei leather Han bones".Sure enough, this generation became the generation with the most far-reaching influence among the Northern Wei royal family, inheriting the past and ushering in the future, carrying out thorough restructuring.Especially Tuoba Xie, who has been smart, studious and outstanding in the academy, and writes excellent articles. Tuoba Hong also likes this younger brother very much, and the relationship between the two brothers is very good.

For Tuobahong himself, Empress Dowager Feng put more effort into cultivating him and compiled a special textbook for him called "Songs of Admonishment". It is catchy, easy to remember, and helpful for learning the truth.Empress Dowager Feng has compiled more than 300 chapters in total, and she can be regarded as a courageous practitioner in the compilation of children's textbooks, and she is probably the most powerful one among textbook writers throughout the ages.In addition, she wrote eighteen more "Emperor's Edicts", which were promulgated in the form of edicts above the hall where hundreds of officials were entertained, as a guide for the emperor to learn, a guideline for being a person, and a program for governing.

The measures to respect Confucianism and etiquette are basically carried out simultaneously with the promulgation of the three major systems.In the ninth year of Taihe (AD 485), the Northern Wei Dynasty issued an edict to completely prohibit divination and prophecy. Once discovered, they were all burned, and those who kept them privately and did not report them would be executed.We have also introduced this thing specifically in the book, which flourished in the Han Dynasty and once became an important tool for the rulers to maintain their status. Its influence has been much smaller in the early Northern Wei Dynasty.For the regime in troubled times, the theory of prophecy is beneficial, but for the long-term rule of the world after Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it will not play a big role. In addition, Buddhism is in the limelight and metaphysics is rising day by day, and prophecy has retreated to the second line. .The Northern Wei Dynasty used this trick again at this time, which naturally pushed Chenwei into the abyss.

In the tenth year of Taihe, the Northern Wei Dynasty stipulated the level of official uniforms.Public uniforms are distinguished by different colors according to different grades. From high to low, they are red, purple, scarlet, green, and blue.It is very difficult for us to verify when the idea of ​​this kind of hierarchical colorization started. The greatest possibility is to learn from the old system of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.In any case, this is the first time in history that the use of color to distinguish grades has been documented.This system evolved into the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the official uniforms were gradually reduced to four types: purple, scarlet, green, and blue. Therefore, "Zhu Zi" and "Zi Mang" became synonymous with high-ranking officials and dignitaries. student".

In the eleventh year of Taihe, the Northern Wei Dynasty strictly examined and unified the ceremonial movements, and all those not belonging to gala music were discarded.This obviously inherited the characteristics of Confucianism that attached great importance to music culture. By the middle and late period of Emperor Xiaowen's reign, the court culture of the Northern Wei Dynasty was very close to that of the traditional Han dynasty. In the fourteenth year of Taihe (AD 490), Empress Dowager Feng died of illness in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Pingcheng at the age of forty-nine.Emperor Xiaowen, who had been taught by Empress Dowager Feng since he was a child, was distraught and refused to drink any water for five days. The ministers tried their best to advise him, so he barely drank a bowl of porridge.Empress Dowager Feng advocated frugality, and in her last words she emphasized that funerals should be kept simple and there is no need to set up various funeral utensils.However, Emperor Xiaowen insisted on widening the mausoleum by 60 steps to meet the specifications of the imperial mausoleum, regardless of the objections of Gao Lu, You Minggen and others.It is worth mentioning that this civilized empress dowager was not buried together with her husband Tuoba Jun, Emperor Wencheng, but chose a cemetery in Fangshan (now north of Pingyang, Shanxi Province) before her death.

Traditional historians mostly attribute the prosperity of the Northern Wei Dynasty during the Taihe period to Emperor Xiaowen, until Lu Simian, a master of Chinese studies, pointed out in his "History of the Two Jins and the Southern and Northern Dynasties": "Xiaowen is a man who was born by the Empress Dowager of Civilization; his ability The order was issued, and the empress dowager's prestige and order were carried out long ago during the dictatorship, so that it was carried out; therefore, the empress (empress dowager) was a very related figure in the Northern Wei Dynasty." The historians gradually turned more attention to this "heroine heroine" ".The empress dowager Feng's favorite "Mian Shou" and eunuchs are the most criticized by later generations. However, although the practice of arranging Mian Shou is debatable, Empress Dowager Feng did not affect the implementation of government orders.On the contrary, her two heads, Wang Rui and Li Chong, are not so-called "embroidered pillows", but very capable.In particular, Li Chong, the order of Zhongshu, still participated in the planning of the government after the death of Empress Dowager Feng, devoted himself to his duties, and was highly valued by Emperor Xiaowen.

Empress Dowager Feng left too much legacy to the Northern Wei Empire, the most important of which was Emperor Xiaowen himself.From the fourteenth year of Taihe, the Northern Wei Dynasty officially entered the second half of the prosperous age of Taihe—the era of Emperor Xiaowen. Before introducing the deeds of Emperor Xiaowen, let's take a look at the two Southern Qi emperors who were his contemporaries: Taizu Gao Emperor Xiao Daocheng and Shizu Emperor Wu Emperor Xiao Yu. After Xiao Daocheng proclaimed himself emperor and withstood several rounds of attacks from the Northern Wei Dynasty, he entered a peaceful period of rule.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. He only served as emperor for less than four years, and died in the fourth year of Jianyuan (AD 482).

Xiao Daocheng witnessed the whole process of the Liu Song regime from prosperity to decline all his life, and realized the harmfulness of extravagance and corruption under the emperors in the late Liu Song Dynasty.After he came to the throne, he set an example and called on people all over the world to change their customs, be diligent and simple.Since Emperor Xiaowu Liu Jun of the Song Dynasty, the emperor's dresses have become more and more exquisite and gorgeous, and there are also radiant jade guides on them. Xiao Daocheng ordered the jade guides to be broken, and similar decorations were also abolished according to this example.All the railings of utensils made of copper in the palace were changed to iron. Extravagance and waste were not allowed in the palace.He often likes to say a word to the people around him: "If I rule the world for ten years, I will make gold equal to the price of earth." It can be said that he is a typical master who regards gold as dung.It's a pity, how can the extravagance and corruption among the people be substantively changed without effective measures and reasonable means just by setting an example for show?

In terms of economy, Xiao Daocheng did not make much achievements either.Regarding the increasingly serious land annexation phenomenon of the gentry class, he tried to control it from the royal family. However, due to the lack of supporting digital management similar to the land equalization system, the social class in the Southern Dynasty was far more complicated than that in the Northern Dynasty, and simple decrees would not be substantive. Effect. What's worse is that since the implementation of the earth break in the early Liu and Song Dynasties, many people have joined the "yellow nationality" who can enjoy the privilege of exemption from military service (as opposed to the "white nationality" who is required to serve), in order to evade taxes. By the end of the Liu Song Dynasty, bribery of officials was full of evils, false household registrations abounded, and the state's fiscal revenue suffered huge losses.Xiao Daocheng accepted Yu Wanzhi's suggestion in the second year of Jianyuan (AD 480) to re-register the household registration based on the standard of the 27th year of Yuanjia. This is the "censorship" in the early years of the Southern Qi Dynasty.In checking the registration, the government has specially appointed officials in various places to conduct inspections, severely punish those who cheat and cheat, and stipulate that each person must check out several cheating household registrations every day.This is just nonsense. Officials in some places really can't find illegal ones, so they just dug out those who are easy to bully from legal yellow registrations and use them to make up for it. Again escaped punishment.Xiao Daocheng's good idea turned out to be a bad thing, and the people complained a lot. Many people who had their yellow registration revoked refused to accept the status quo and rebelled. The government scorned these people as "white thieves".After Qi Wu Emperor Xiao Yu succeeded to the throne, a great uprising finally broke out.