Chapter 24 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Feng Dao in the history of the Five Dynasties is a rather bizarre figure.He has lived in four dynasties and entered Zhongshu three times.Regardless of whether the master is from Shatuo, Xiyi or Han, and regardless of whether they are entrepreneurs or conservative masters, he can be the prime minister happily, and he can do whatever he wants.He was also able to go to Khitan as an envoy to discuss the Tao with the "Rong King" and break his heart.Feng Dao's "Old Changle's Self-narration", a short autobiography, lists his official titles, which is full of one side.He was duke five times.He is not only Duke of Lu, but also Duke of Liang, Duke of Yan, Duke of Qin and Duke of Qi.However, those who preserve the original historical materials all agree that Feng Dao is not out of flattery, but he has already created a virtuous reputation in his life in the ruling and opposition parties. "Old History of the Five Dynasties" said that he "has been in Xiangxiang for more than 20 years, and has taken it as his duty to uphold the customs." "New History of the Five Dynasties" also said that "Dao died, and everyone at that time called him, saying that he lived the same life as Confucius, and he praised it as such."Moreover, the old and new histories agree that the Khitan did not wipe out the Chinese, but Feng Dao did more.

This story gives us the impression that traditional historians take "praising and criticizing" as their duty.That is to say, Yingtiandi's deeds can be measured by the same moral yardstick.However, in his narrow view of history, there are always exceptions, such as Feng Dao.Today we try to broaden our horizons of history, and we should avoid casual moral evaluation.Because morality is the last link of truth, once the highest authority in the world is raised, there is no room for discussion, so the story has to end here.Traditional historians ignore the importance of technical factors, and cannot understand the rationality of history over a long period of time. This is all caused by citing morality to explain history, and oversimplifying the facts of traction in too much haste.

In 907 A.D., Emperor Zhaoxuan, the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhuchan was located in Zhuwen. Since then, five short dynasties of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou began. There were only fifty-four years among Song Taizu, a period known as "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" in history.Most of the existing historical compendiums fail to describe the key points of the story; the newly published research texts are too complicated, and they are not materials that ordinary readers are eager to understand and grasp. We should first see clearly: in the long history of China, fifty-four years is not too long.Moreover, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms succeeded Li Tang and Zhao Song, and each was a great empire that lasted about 300 years. It can be seen that although Chinese society has experienced ups and downs in this process, it has not completely collapsed; There may be several positive factors, so that the "Second Empire" created by the Tuoba family in the Northern Wei Dynasty can continue to move forward in the historical process.

The emergence of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was due to the decline and fall of the Tang Dynasty.But the collapse of the Li-Tang Dynasty was not due to the degradation of society, but to the evolution of society.From the 1st to the 8th century, the humanistic factors in the whole country became more and more complicated, but the level of development in each region was uneven. The overall problem was that the general situation was far from the flat organization designed by the early Tang Dynasty.With the two-tax system, each region handles its own finances at its own discretion, and the numbers cannot be added together, so the principle that various affairs of civil servants can be exchanged and coordinated according to grades and ranks does not work.The government's measures were rarely fair and reasonable, so the courtiers were divided into factions, and the emperor had no choice but to embezzle a sum of public funds to organize the imperial army and trust the eunuchs.As soon as internal and external troubles intensified, the situation of its differentiation became more obvious.

Zhu Wen was named Zhu Quanzhong by the Tang Dynasty, and he later changed his name to Zhu Huang. He was a general who descended from Huang Chao's lineup to Tang.Even if he "holds the bridle for the emperor himself, weeps and walks for more than ten miles" as some historians say (some people say that he just rode his horse first to clear the way for the emperor), and whether he is all pretentious is also related to today's people. to micro.At this time, his goal was to reorganize a unified empire, so he was named King of Liang, so as to control the north and south channels in Kaifeng.He also punished eunuchs and forced Zhaozong Li Min to move his capital to Luoyang in order to get closer to his sphere of influence and materials from the Central Plains. In 904, he even obtained the position of marshal of various soldiers and horses.Emperor Zhaoxuan appointed him to be the chief judge of the affairs of the third department of Yan Tiedu's household branch, but he refused to resign.But so far his attempt to replace Tang can no longer be concealed or stopped.Because traditional Chinese politics cannot allow such a powerful dictator to be produced outside the emperor.

At this time, the only one who could fight against Zhu Wen was Li Keyong. He was from Shatuo, and his father Zhu Xie Chixin was given the surname Li by King Qin.In the military operation to regain Chang'an, Li Keyong's meritorious service was not inferior to Zhu Wen's.Later, as the king of Jin, he obtained the territory north of Taiyuan (Hedong) as the base of the Shatuo cavalry.During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, this situation, which formed an axis of hostility between Taiyuan and Kaifeng, continued uninterrupted.Even former comrades-in-arms, now separated in two places is a feud.After Zhu Liang, the founders of Li Cunxu's (Li Keyong's) Tang Dynasty, Shi Jingtang's Jin Dynasty, Liu Zhiyuan's Han Dynasty, and Guo Wei's Zhou Dynasty all came from Li Keyong's military system. The heirs belonged to several different nationalities.

In reality the Five Dynasties are just five dynasties that wished to become official and have always been in the north.Except for a very short time, the capital is in Kaifeng (Bian).The Ten Kingdoms are the kingdoms that the Five Dynasties were unable to control, and there are also overlapping situations, most of which are in the south.The only exception is that when the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou dynasties were established in Kaifeng, Liu Zhiyuan's younger brother was still proclaiming himself emperor in Taiyuan.Of the 268 states in the Tang Dynasty, less than half were controlled by the so-called central government in the Five Dynasties.

When Taiyuan fought against Kaifeng, there was a side development that left a profound impact on history.This is when Shi Jingtang begged Khitan for help when he was fighting Kaifeng in Taiyuan in 936 AD.After Yelu Deguang of the latter met him, Shi Jingtang admitted to ceding the sixteen prefectures of Youyan to Khitan. north.Bing Shi Jingtang called Yelu Deguang his father, and offered another 300,000 bolts of silk every year.Traditional historians believe that letting foreigners rule the area south of the Great Wall, also known as ministers' payment, caused the biggest mistake in history.So far, China has spent no amount of effort, but it has not been able to take back the sixteen prefectures of Youyan.It was not until 1368, when Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty ordered General Xu Da to make a northern expedition, that the rivers and mountains were returned to us. So far, it has been 430 years since Shi Jingtang was ceded.

But the fact is not so simple.The Khitan originated in Jilin, Liaoning Province in the northeast. Ancient Chinese books call them "Donghu", but they actually belong to the Mongolian language family.They appeared in the classics in the Sui Dynasty, and they ravaged Hebei in the era of Wu Zetian in the seventh century.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, their leader, A Baoji (born in 872 AD), began to use the Han people, built city walls, laid the foundation for agriculture, created characters, and exploited the benefits of salt and iron.He proclaimed himself emperor in the same year (907) that Zhu Wen proclaimed himself emperor. Although it would take forty years before the Liao state was formally established as the Liao Dynasty, at this time there were appropriate laws and regulations to contend with the Southern Dynasties.

At the same time, we must also see clearly: North China along the Great Wall was an area where the agricultural society of the Han Chinese majority and the nomadic society of the minority ethnic groups entered and exited each other. In the end of the Tang Dynasty, no one side gained an absolute advantage. The "Beidi Biography" in "New Book of Tang" also said that Liu Rengong, the last envoy of the Lulong Festival, had made a contract with Khitan to exchange pasture land for war horses.Moreover, before 936, Khitan's invasion of northern Shanxi was also seen.Therefore, the development of this set is not entirely due to Shi Jingtang’s opening the door and stealing. After the establishment of the Khitan state, it was a matter of time before they entered and left North China. .

From a long-term and long-distance point of view, China’s political center moved eastward from Chang’an, and its national defense focus also moved eastward at the same time. In the future, not only the Khitan’s Liao, but also the Jurchen’s Jin and Manchuria’s Qing all originated in the northeast, that is, Mongolia. The Kerulen River where the tribe made its fortune is still due north by east.An unnoticed development in the middle is that although the Shatuo forces in the Hedong area had a splitting effect, they have gradually become secondary after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms stage. The Northern Song Dynasty conquered the Northern Han Dynasty without much effort.The Khitan issue on the side has become the main one again.At the same time, the Song Dynasty dealt with this problem and began to adopt a competitive system.Now that the enemy has become a deadly enemy, it can no longer be blindly underestimated in the name of barbarians, Rong and Di. This attitude was not found in the great empires of the Han and Tang Dynasties, nor can it be inherited by the Ming and Qing dynasties. In fact, when a country and a society adopt a military system, they have already taken a competitive attitude unexpectedly.The way China is like this did not start from the Northern Song Dynasty or the Five Dynasties, but it already had its clues in the late Tang Dynasty when the vassals and towns were domineering.At that time, the envoys of various festivals, ceding land for self-defense, established "Yajun" in the cities under their control.The Ya army was originally the army of Yamen, but it was the personal guard of the Jiedu envoy.It was once advocated by the feudal towns to become the pro-army of the ruler. For example, when Tian Chengsi was in Weibo, he "heavyly increased the tax rate, repaired the armor, and counted the number of household registrations. In a few years, there were 100,000 of them, and 10,000 of them were still selected for their size and strength. They were called yamen soldiers for self-defense." Other places may not be able to progress to this level, but the Ya Army has become an excellent army and has special salary provisions.The generals and schools in Neizhong became the "fake sons" and "adopted sons" of Jiedushi. Not only were their positions hereditary, but they were promoted to senior commanders as soon as the team expanded.Other "foreign troops" and "regiment training" are used as second-line and third-line armaments.This creates a posture of all soldiers in the whole country.The military power of the vassals and towns also radiated from the towns where they were located to reach the whole country. If they did not completely replace the civil organizations of the prefectures and counties, they at least constituted a parallel organization that intervened or arbitrarily imposed civil affairs. For the Jiedushi in these feudal towns, there is no definite rule for the taxation of the managers of the "long-historical officials".However, according to the existing historical data, they did not create all the systems, but expanded and revised them on a large scale according to the principle of "two taxes".Land taxes are generally increased, housing is also subject to property taxes, salt and fan patents are severely punished, wine and vinegar are sold by the government, and entrepot taxes are set in various places for the import and export of goods, which are usually controlled by soldiers, which is the so-called "buqu main court". ".In addition to the judges of the Jiedu envoys and deputy envoys in the Tang Dynasty, each province also had "military judges".These personnel then use the military organization to create a system of fiscal and taxation.This system was inherited during the Five Dynasties, and taxation was generally increased to the highest limit, which was not found in traditional Chinese history. After Zhao Yi pointed out in "Twenty-Two History Notes", it was also found in local chronicles (such as "Huizhou Fuzhi" in 1566) "is a good example), just because the officials of feudal towns are generally hereditary, they have the same interests as the places they ruled from, they can also see where the financial resources are, and they can be responsible for making decisions, so that they will not be caused by expropriation. serious social problems.Because of the bureaucratic system, everything is remotely controlled by the central government, and only cares about the integrity of the system, ignoring the inadequacy of the real situation everywhere. The Five Dynasties recognized this military financial system on the one hand, and on the other hand gradually strengthened the control of the central government.After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the standing soldiers were designated by their names, such as "Mighty Army" and "Changxing Army".In the Five Dynasties, this method was followed, and those under the jurisdiction of the Jiedushi were the army, and each had a designated defense area.As a result, dozens of military regions were formed across the country. "Five Dynasties Meeting Yao" lists the process of changing the thirty-six states to be subordinate to the military governors, and proves that the entire organization is actually a huge military government.The setting of privy envoys indicates the trend of centralization.Privy envoys were originally small officials, and they were set up in the Tang Dynasty when eunuchs ruled the forbidden army.During the Five Dynasties, the privy envoy obviously became a military and political minister who directly reported to the emperor, and was not under the control of the prime minister.The opposite is the three envoys. The "three divisions" are Yantie, Hubu and Duzhi.Generally speaking, Yantie is in charge of new commercial income, the Ministry of Households is in charge of traditional agricultural income, and Duzhi is in charge of transportation and the transfer of goods.Putting these responsibilities under one control also shows that the central government is financially concentrated and ready to support its military operations.In addition, in 926 A.D., the Later Tang set up an official as the "Sanchuan Search and Visit Tuji Envoy", and after 958, the Zhou Dynasty sent 34 people to inspect the rents of the people in various states.All these measures have made considerable contributions to the foundation of the Song Dynasty. Traditional historians don't have much good to say about the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.If it weren't for "theft and burglary, and various titles", it would be "to peel off the strict law, and to offer it generously".They don't know that between the Tang and Song dynasties, such a transitional period was necessary, in which the management of military and finance was put on the head of the local government, making everything more compact and practical, and then centralized and merged.Otherwise, it would not be possible to form a competitive system like the Northern Song Dynasty to deal with the new type of foreign aggression in which the northern minorities used cavalry as the backbone and agriculture as the support. Moreover, the increase in armaments and taxation, and the active use of transportation and currency were the only ways to stimulate economic growth in the Middle Ages. Among the "Ten Kingdoms" in the south, there are often only four or five at the same time.Such a territory and area are also easier to manage, and to develop the potential economic potential of each region is much more effective than a unified empire that emphasizes uniformity in everything.In general, countries begin to recognize and respect the status quo of their neighbors after initial divisive struggles.The hostages were returned, and the various aristocratic families arranged marriages to enhance friendship, and they could accommodate each other in bad harvest years.If it weren't for the foreign aggression in the north, such an arrangement would not be inferior to a unified empire. Qian Yao built sea ponds in Zhejiang to promote water conservancy; Wang Shenzhi opened Gantang Port in Fujian to promote international trade; Lead and iron money promote private business with cheap currency.These kinds of actions are not something that the bureaucratic organization of the unified empire can create at will and be competent and happy.It's just that warriors raise their heads, while scribes are in trouble.These fifty-four years are not an occasion for great politicians to make great achievements, nor are they even an opportunity for loyal ministers and martyrs to be famous in history. Therefore, in this extraordinary period, Feng Dao was born. He pleaded for the common people and preserved the traditional logic of unified government administration. .Ordinary historians, when dealing with such a "foolish old man with no talent and no morals" who "sees the death of the king and the country with disdain", can't just praise and criticize him, so they have to treat him as an exceptional figure. Let him call himself "Elder Changle".