Chapter 26 Chapter 26 The Clan Split the Eastern Han Dynasty

There is such a folk song in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "The records of the state and county are like a thunderbolt, and the imperial edict is obtained, but it is hung on the wall."The meaning of this sentence translated into the vernacular is: the documents of the state and county are as powerful as a thunderbolt, and even the emperor's edict is inferior to the documents of the state and county, and can only be hung on the wall as a decoration.In a "centralized" feudal society, such a situation seems unbelievable, but in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was an out-and-out fact.

The fact mentioned in this sentence is that the powerful clans of the Eastern Han Dynasty became so powerful that they even replaced the ruling position of the central government. Speaking of the establishment of the patriarchal system in the Eastern Han Dynasty, many people may wonder why the Western Han Dynasty was also established by sweeping away the heroes and adopting the policy of recuperation. Why did not form a local economic monopoly and a politically unstoppable patriarchal force? It grows bigger and bigger, and in the end even the central government has nothing to do with them?To understand this question, we need to start with the different forms of the founding of the Eastern and Western Han dynasties.

Although the founding royal families of the two dynasties of the Eastern Han and Western Han belonged to the same clan, they had one fundamental difference: birth. The so-called aristocratic family is a big family that has been passed down from generation to generation. If this kind of big family wants to grow from generation to generation, it must do one thing: it is hereditary politically. , the reason is like this. Putting this principle on the founding of the Han Dynasty, it clearly contrasts the differences: the founding heroes of the Western Han Dynasty, like Liu Bang, were mostly grassroots, and their cultural quality was not high.Although many of them have hereditary titles, after the founding of the country, they were "not rich enough for three generations". The first generation may be able to maintain their wealth, but the subsequent "second rich generations" are not as good as the first generation.At the same time, the Western Han Dynasty adopted an extreme policy of suppressing the heroes and nobles, desperately suppressing their living space, especially those in the family who made great contributions to the Han Dynasty. As a result, they were all suspected by the court.For example, in Li Ling's letter to Su Wu, he expounded in detail the attitude of the Western Han Dynasty towards heroes, that is, all heroes who have made meritorious service did not end well in the end.Therefore, in the entire 200-year history of the Western Han Dynasty, there have been a lot of rich and powerful families in the local area, a lot of honorable and powerful families, and a lot of famous families, but they are all chaotic. God, tomorrow I will be arrogant, it will not last at all.In addition, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, through economic reforms, extreme deprivation policies were adopted against local tyrants, especially the implementation of policies such as suing and counting. By forcibly levying personal income tax, local power was deprived to the greatest extent. Under such circumstances, Getting out is quite difficult.Among the various families in the Western Han Dynasty, there were only a few that had a long-lasting prosperity, and based on the conclusion that "wealth does not last for three generations", there are very few families that have continued to be prosperous for more than three generations.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was different. Liu Xiu himself was born in the royal family, and most of the main officials around him were local rich people. These people were far from the "poor mud legs" around Liu Bang in the early years. They belonged to a generation with culture and thought. The overall quality is quite high, far stronger than the heroes of the Western Han Dynasty in terms of seizing power, educating future generations, and ensuring the long-term wealth of the family.Under such a situation, the founding heroes of the Eastern Han Dynasty and their family's prosperity lasted longer.For example, the Geng family and the Dou family who followed Liu Xiu in the first place were all rich and powerful for generations. .

The economic policy of the Eastern Han Empire and the policy of treating heroes also provided the conditions for the formation of the clans. To be a clan, you need to have money and land. The recuperation policy started in the early Eastern Han Dynasty provided the clans with economic convenience. .At the same time, Liu Xiu's "kindness" that was talked about by later generations also provided the possibility for the formation of a powerful family.Compared with his ancestor Liu Bang who killed the heroes, Liu Xiu managed to share the wealth and honor with the heroes. Although after the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he decisively adopted the policy of "retiring the heroes", that is, deprived the military and political power in the hands of the heroes, but Liu Xiu Its policy is to "exchange wealth and honor for power", that is, to give heroes economic privileges, extremely high political status and honor in exchange for their actual power.The result of this is the rapid growth of the founding heroes in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and the growing power of their families in the local area, breeding from generation to generation, and finally becoming the "lord" of the power town.

Another reason for the emergence of the clan system is the rise of Confucian classics. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two kinds of clansmen, one was noble and powerful faction, and the other was cultural faction. These two factions were not contradictory. On the contrary, there was me in you, and you in me.The famous officials in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, even the founding emperor Liu Xiu himself, were all educated in Confucianism, and many of their heroes later became famous Confucian masters in the Eastern Han Dynasty.The result of this is to allow the inheritance of the family, in addition to the inheritance of children and grandchildren, there is more such a way of cultural inheritance.With the stability of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the popularization of culture, the Confucian teacher-student relationship and school relationship, as more and more students of Confucianism entered the political arena, became a network of intertwined interests.For example, Yang Zhen, a famous upright official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his family, Hongnong Yang, were both a school and a clan. The members of the clan included not only the children of the family, but also teachers and students. The supreme ruling power of the entire Han Empire was in In this kind of relationship network, in the movement of me in you and you in me, it gradually becomes empty.

The development of clan politics in the Eastern Han Dynasty has generally gone through three stages. Before Emperor Hanhe, it was the embryonic period of clan politics; between Emperor Hanhe and Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, it was the period of growth of clan politics; from Emperor Han Shun to the Eastern Han Dynasty Demise is the period for the complete establishment of the clan system. The reign of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, was the rudimentary period of aristocratic politics.During this period of time, the Eastern Han Empire was still able to pay attention to the balance of power, and adopted a policy of centralizing power and establishing centralized power.For example, the power to gather local troops, and the duties and powers of local prefects to lead troops and deploy troops, were taken back to the central government as much as possible.At the same time, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty paid special attention to the appointment of cruel officials. When he was in power, people such as Qiangxiang Ling Dong Xuan were all figures that the powerful were afraid of.Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty painstakingly established a political balance in his mind, that is, nobles who enjoy high honors do not hold real power, but only economic privileges and status honors, and truly hold the administrative power of the country. The real ones are those low-ranking petty officials.Only when the two kinds of power are checked and balanced will there be the sanctity of centralized power.

Therefore, in the three generations of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, the fists of the emperors of the Han Dynasty were actually directed downwards, that is, they continuously introduced various policies to suppress the power of nobles as much as possible, and did not allow them to control the state power. Opportunity.During this period, the talent selection system of the Eastern Han Empire was relatively perfect.The Eastern Han Dynasty fully inherited the talent selection system of the Western Han Dynasty, that is, the "filial piety" system, in which talents were selected by the states and counties at the local level.Theoretically speaking, this system of selecting talents can be relatively fair and just. Many talents in the Western Han Dynasty were born in poor families.For example, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Gongsun Hong, who used to be the prime minister, was originally a pig farmer in the countryside.In the early, middle and late periods of the Western Han Empire, there were a large number of talented people who came from civilian backgrounds who entered the highest levels of power. , the way of common development.

The existence of the filial piety and honesty system not only gave the powerful family system an opportunity to grow, but also allowed its own fairness to exist in name only.The core of the filial piety system lies in the recommendation of outstanding talents by local officials. However, with the growth of the powerful family system, the wealthy families have more and more influence in the local area, so the selection of talents is increasingly subject to the influence of the wealthy families. In the end, it even became a power game in which the rich and powerful families took turns sitting on the bank.The growth of Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty also had a profound impact on the clan system.The Confucian teacher-student relationship, and even the teacher-school relationship, has become more and more complete in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The result is the so-called filial piety recommendation. In any case, it is impossible to enjoy such an opportunity.The problem brought about by all these things is that the elites, through this nominally fair system of filial piety and honesty, are increasingly occupying important positions.This period of change mainly existed in the period between the Eastern Han Emperor Hedi and the Eastern Han Emperor Shundi.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the official establishment of the clan system required a big uprising: Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban uprising.Under the blow of the Yellow Turban Uprising, the Eastern Han Empire fell apart, and the original military system collapsed completely. In order to save the crisis, the Eastern Han government adopted a policy of allowing all localities to recruit local bravery. The consequences were unexpected. The clans took the opportunity to expand their power one after another, and their tentacles extended to the last restricted area of ​​centralized power - the army.As a result, the powerful people in various places became princes entrenched in various places, and the emperor became everyone's signboard, rather than the object of allegiance.Later, the chaos in the world at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even the formation of the situation of the Three Kingdoms, all started from this.

The patriarchal system not only affected the Han Dynasty, on the contrary, the patriarchal system not only did not perish due to the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but continued to develop. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it became the gentry class that monopolized China's power at that time.This political situation lasted for hundreds of years. It was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the implementation of the imperial examination system, that the original powerful system gradually declined.