Chapter 12 Chapter 9 Leadership and Advice · Tang

The Tang Dynasty was the second spring of Chinese history and the second largest empire in history. In fact, the scale and structure of this great empire was gradually formed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.In the Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers changed a lot.In the past, there were prime ministers in China, sometimes one, sometimes two, and the prime minister was the head of the government; no matter whether it was the Sangong or the prime minister, all the outside government was under his control, and the government and the court were separated.But in the Tang Dynasty, the government was divided into three parts, one was the Zhongshu Province in charge of design, the other was the Shangshu Province in charge of implementation, and the other was the Menxia Province in charge of banning and banning, which was the assessment policy.A government is divided into these three parts, and there is no one general in charge above the three parts.This supervisor is done by the emperor himself, which means that there is no longer a general manager under the chairman.If the emperor is regarded as a chairman, the three provinces are the secretariat, which is divided into several units, and each unit is directly under the jurisdiction of the chairman.Let's call it the chairman system. Of course, under this system, the power of the emperor is much greater.Without a mechanism to balance the outer court and the inner court, this arrangement is very different from the Han Dynasty.However, the provincial governors, admonishers, and speech officials can play a considerable role in checks and balances. They can criticize the actions of the government, and even persuade the emperor's private behavior, so the emperor is not left alone.Advisers and speech officials criticize the government's actions according to the system handed down from their ancestors.At least these three units no longer have a general leader, and there is no prime minister as the general executive head. This is a unit without a CEO.The flaws in the system soon appeared.These three departments check and balance each other, which is not necessarily convenient when executing orders.Two of the three departments, Zhongshu and Menxia, ​​the departments that formulate policies and review policies, will soon be combined. It can be said that pre-design and post-deliberation are coordinated in advance.Knowing the affairs of Zhongshumen, he became the actual prime minister.Usually there is more than one person in this position, and the emperor will send several people to discuss matters together.Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, there was not only one prime minister, but a group of prime ministers in charge.These people are the emperor's confidential secretaries, making decisions for the emperor, and also reviewing whether the policies comply with laws and practices for the emperor.

This collective prime minister system continued from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, there was a prime minister for a short time, but he soon ceased to hold real power, and was assisted by several academicians, which was still the way of the collective secretariat.Even in the Republic of China, although in theory the chief executive was Ge Kui, the political committee members under the cabinet, as well as the ministers and political committee members of various ministries, were all so-called committee members.From the Tang Dynasty to today, the top executive officers of our government are all collective, a secretarial unit composed of many people, responsible for planning and reorganization for the highest officer, the chairman.In this book, we talked about the balance of power between the chairman and the general manager. Since then, no general manager can really hold all the powers.

The system of the Tang Dynasty has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it is a group of people who discuss things together, and many things that should not be done or things that should be done can be found and resolved immediately.In the rule of Zhenguan, there was the so-called Fangmou Dujuan, that is, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were Taizong's assistants and became a good example of cooperation.During the reign of Zhenguan, Fang Xuanling conceived the strategy, and Du Ruhui made the final decision.One is a person with strategy and the other is a person with decisive ability. These two people form a very good working team.However, the team under Zhongshu's school did not have as much check and balance on the emperor as the prime minister in the Han Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty, Zhizhongshu's subordinate work was just to do things under the emperor's order.But because he is the central part of the government, he still has certain authority.According to the regulations of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial edict issued by the Zhongshu sect does not count.Theoretically, the imperial edict issued by the government is useless, and the people can disobey the emperor's imperial edict, unless it is the emperor's personal edict, which must go through the political affairs hall (that is, the place where the prime ministers hold collective meetings) before they can truly be regarded as the government's edict. Order.Therefore, this secretariat has the power of subscribing to the emperor. Without the consent of the prime minister, the emperor cannot even appoint or remove an official.If the emperor wants to remove one of the prime ministers, several other prime ministers must issue an edict for the emperor.The emperor can't remove all the prime ministers by himself and replace them all with new ones. This is unworkable.

This countersignature system continued until the Song Dynasty.There is a well-known example in the Song Dynasty: Song Taizu, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, wanted to change a group of prime ministers, but all the prime ministers were gone, and no one could countersign.At that time, the governor of Kaifeng, the capital, was Zhao Guangyi, the younger brother of the emperor, who was later Song Taizong. Because the governor of Kaifeng attended the meetings under Zhongshu as a rule, he was regarded as a prime minister, so Song Taizu had to let the governor of Kaifeng temporarily act as prime minister, and signed A group of new prime ministers were appointed to join the secretariat organization of this collective.

This did not happen in the Tang Dynasty, but judging from the fact that any of their orders had to be countersigned, they still had a certain check and balance effect on the royal power.The stability of the system in the Tang Dynasty was worse than that in the Han Dynasty, because it was a collective organization, and the efficiency was a little bit worse.Where the efficiency of the government is poor, the power of the inner court is relatively greater.Therefore, if the Tang Dynasty encountered a muddle-headed emperor, the power of the government would be great; on the contrary, if it encountered a shrewd, capable or even self-willed emperor, the power of the king would be great, and the power of the prime minister would be relatively small.

A really good emperor, like Tang Taizong, did not have a good temper, but if the admonitors and officials gave him some advice or criticism, he would usually accept it with restraint.Tang Taizong's generosity in accepting advice is generally considered to be rare among Chinese emperors.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a female emperor, Wu Zetian, who later established herself as Zhou and took power as a queen when she was Emperor Gaozong.Gaozong's health was not good, and his character was very cowardly, but the queen was a woman with a strong character.When Gaozong was alive, Wu Zetian listened to the government. After Gaozong passed away, she simply listened to the government by herself, put the prince aside, and refused to let the prince ascend the throne as emperor.Wu Zetian is also a person who can accept advice.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Zheng, an important minister, often criticized the emperor when he had nothing to do, and the emperor accepted his criticism patiently.Several times he criticized him too much, and the emperor was so angry that he wanted to kill him and drive him away, but Empress Changsun said: Congratulations, you have such a good minister, who can persuade you without fear of losing your official position and life.After Tang Taizong heard these words, he endured and let Wei Zheng continue to criticize.Wu Zetian also has a Di Renjie, who is also very outspoken in the court, and has never concealed anything, because he is very pertinent in his criticism, so Wu Zetian also trusts him.

People like Wei Zheng and Di Renjie could still maintain the function of checking and balancing the royal power for the government in the Tang Dynasty.Of course, these are not in the execution unit-Shang Shusheng is in charge of execution.It turns out that Zhongshu, Menxia, ​​and Shangshusheng are three parallel units. Zhongshu and Menxia are equal to one, and they are above Shangshusheng. act.If such a structure meets a good emperor who is willing to listen to persuasion, the collective prime minister can still play a certain role.Among Zhongshu Sheng and his servants, there are always one or two people with particularly strong personalities, and these people often become leaders.Therefore, there will always be a figure equal to the previous CEO among the collective prime ministers. Although the power is not as great as the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty, but because he is the decision maker and because he can have a certain influence on the emperor, this kind of figure was in the Tang Dynasty. Often played a pivotal role in history.In this lecture, we will pick a few representative examples.

The Tang Dynasty was a new empire in the Middle Ages, as we have just mentioned.The Tang Dynasty itself has also undergone changes. Based on the Anshi Rebellion, we can divide the Tang Dynasty into two stages.In the first half stage, from Gaozu to Kaiyuan, the Tang Dynasty can be said to be rich and powerful.The reason why the country is rich is that the land equalization system has not been destroyed. Basically, most farmers have the land allocated by the state to cultivate, and the productivity is quite high.There wasn't any major civil war or civil strife, the country was united.The Fubing system still continues. The Fubing system enables the country to have enough military resources, not only to resist foreign aggression, but also to conquer.There was no foreign invasion, and internal production was very active, so people's lives in the Tang Dynasty were quite good at this time.

The best period should be the period when Wu Zetian was in power. Although there were some minor turmoil in the country at that time, because some people were dissatisfied with the empress, it did not become a major event, and the war was quickly quelled.From the time of Wu Zetian to the early days of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was a very peaceful time. The common people were able to recuperate and live a very stable life. It was a prosperous age in Chinese history.The poet Du Fu once recalled that during the prosperous Kaiyuan period, he did not need to bring a lot of travel expenses when traveling across the country, and it was safe all the way.Every small city has many inhabitants, and life is quite prosperous.This kind of day is rare in Chinese history. Even in the history of the world, the management of such a large piece of land can make the lives of the vast majority of the people on the land very stable and rich, and maintain nearly a dozen In the peaceful years of the year, this kind of achievement is quite rare.Such achievements can be attributed to the strategy adopted by the government of the Tang Dynasty, which was to not interfere with the people much, maintain internal stability, and allow the people to increase their productivity.

In terms of national defense, the Fubing is a standing army.But after a period of time, Fu Bing gradually got old. Although Fu Bing's descendants bear the name of Fu Bing, they may not be useful.Professional soldiers cannot be kept for too long, as they will lose their ability to fight, especially if they cannot be hereditary. It is not feasible to serve as soldiers from generation to generation.By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, mercenaries appeared, especially Hu people were hired to serve as soldiers on the border.Those raised in the central government are called the imperial guards, and those recruited by the government to station in the central government are called the imperial guards.Among the mercenaries in the central government, some were Hu people. When they lived in the Central Plains, they thought it would be good to be soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, so they joined the army.When the government uses professional soldiers as the main force, the government soldiers gradually lose their effectiveness, and the central government also spends a lot of money to maintain soldiers.It is of course very good to defend the frontier with professional soldiers, but when the foreign aggressors resisting and the defending team are actually from the same ethnic group, the problem arises-you cannot use Hu people to fight Hu people.Rome died at this point, and the Tang Dynasty also declined because of this.With the Anshi Rebellion, the situation of the Tang Dynasty changed, and the peaceful and prosperous age since the early Tang Dynasty was no longer.An Lushan, Shi Siming and others thought: Since we have military strength, why don't we become emperor ourselves, why should we defend the frontier for the Tang Dynasty?Therefore, the Anshi Rebellion was basically a challenge from the periphery to the center, a challenge from outsiders to the Han people, and it was not entirely a civil strife. After the Anshi Rebellion, the situation of the Tang Dynasty changed completely, both externally and internally.After the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the number of powerful aristocratic families decreased.Of course, it is not that the Tang Dynasty did not have aristocratic families, but it is far less important than in the past.One of the reasons for the decline of the power of the great clans is the implementation of the land equalization system, and the country's long-term equalization of wealth.Another reason is that the Tang Dynasty launched a real imperial examination system, and ordinary people all over the world can participate in the examinations for government officials.Tang Taizong once said a famous saying: All the heroes in the world are caught in my trap, which means that all the heroes in the world have been caught by my long hunting rope.A net is a long rope. When hunting, one end is wound around the bow and the other end is wound around the arrow. It can pull back the birds that have been shot. It is a hunting weapon.All the heroes of the world are in my trap, that is to say, all the heroes of the world have been snatched by me.The imperial examination system combined with the relatively average land equalization system increased the opportunities for ordinary people's children to receive education, and the opportunities for common people to enter the government also increased.Of course, in the imperial examinations, the chances of the children of the rich and officials’ families to pass the exam are higher than those of ordinary peasants, because they have the opportunity to study hard, have money to hire good husbands, know many friends, and have much better social relations than peasants. .The imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty was not really equal, but at least with the imperial examination system, many common people did have access to government services.The social structure of the Tang Dynasty was more open than that of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and many talents could enter the government—this was a big structural change.This change is a bit like when the Han Dynasty had the inspection system, the regime was open.This management organization is flexible and has mechanisms. It can absorb the best talents to work in the management organization, and gradually grow from small cadres to large cadres. Another change in the Tang Dynasty was in terms of economy. The long-term prosperity and stability brought about a fundamental change in the economy, increasing wealth and population.The increase in population made the original average land not enough.Especially in the newly developed areas in the south, there is not so much public land allocated to the people, so outside the land equalization system, many people must find other ways.Migration to the south is a choice: the south has good weather and abundant resources, attracting many people, so the south has developed a new market economy, such as porcelain, silk weaving, different agricultural products, and mining and smelting products, such as iron ore and copper ore.This new economic form is very different from that of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Taking China as a whole, the country is basically stable, and travel and transportation are very convenient, so the circulation of goods is very convenient.The market economy under this kind of stimulation is not like the sluggish, material-based economic form during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but an economy based on currency transactions.It is a very important phenomenon that the monetary economy replaces the real economy.The Han Dynasty also implemented a monetary economy for a period of time, and the currency of the Han Dynasty was copper coins, and its value was very stable.After the Han Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties resumed the economic form of physical transactions, using cloth and rice as the basis of transactions.In the Tang Dynasty, the monetary economy was restored, and the monetary economy of the Tang Dynasty was much more active than that of the Han Dynasty.The prosperous market and currency economy in the South brought fundamental changes to China's economic structure. Society changes, the economy changes, and the nature of the services that the government provides also changes.We have used a metaphor that if the products that the government can provide are services, it will bring stability to the outside world and prosperity to the inside.The Tang Dynasty roughly fulfilled these two functions.However, the internal requirements, especially in terms of prosperity, are no longer just to feed the people, but how to make the circulation of goods more convenient, how to make money more able to replace commodities as the unit of exchange, so that goods can flow smoothly and be used to their fullest potential. .Externally, the Tang Dynasty was originally a strong and prosperous country. Before Kaiyuan, there were no serious foreign invasions. After the Anshi Rebellion, a situation of both foreign invasions and internal worries formed.Hu soldiers and generals turned against each other. Originally, the Huihe and Turkic tribes, who were foreign enemies, were often borrowed by the Tang Dynasty to resist the Hu soldiers and cavalry in the northeast, so the foreign enemies became the National Defense Forces instead. This strange situation made the Tang Dynasty face a new problem: how to use the resources in its hands to balance the external and internal enemies, so that most areas can still maintain stability.The military region originally established to defend the frontier, that is, the Jiedushi, became a threat to the government after the Anshi Rebellion.The army, which was supposed to defend the country, is now the object of the country's resistance.The country had to raise another group of soldiers and hire troops from other ethnic groups to resist the often rebellious Jiedushi.These human and material resources are problems that the Han Empire did not encounter in the past.Therefore, after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the solutions that the government could propose were completely different from those in the past. If we want to examine the system of the Tang Dynasty, we should not refer to the peaceful and prosperous times in the first half, but how the government made decisions after the Anshi Rebellion; we also need to look at how the Tang Dynasty monarchs and ministers cooperated, and how some grand ministers with style and ability acted. What is it, what is it that cannot be done.Judging from the case of the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible for a person like Zhuge Liang to appear in the Tang Dynasty, and it is no longer possible for a person like Xiao He to appear.Another type of government decision-makers appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and their deliberation and persuasion process was different from the past.The emperor's character and the emperor's situation made it impossible to implement the original decision-making they had planned due to many variables.The situation of these assistant ministers is basically quite difficult.