Douluo: The Lower Realm of the Children of the King of God and the Lord God

Chapter 46 A glass of wine releases military power

Occurrence background

In the process of ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty focused on two issues: first, how to rebuild the centralized autocratic rule so that the vassal situation that had existed for a long time since the late Tang Dynasty would no longer appear; second, how to consolidate the new dynasty, Prevent it from becoming the sixth short-lived dynasty after five generations.

At the end of the first year of Jianlong (960 AD), one day after Song Taizu put down the rebellion of Li Jun and Li Chongjin, he summoned Prime Minister Zhao Pu and asked: "Why have the emperors changed to eight surnames and twelve monarchs in the past few decades since the end of the Tang Dynasty? Are there endless wars? I want to wipe out all the armies in the world from now on and build a long-term country. Is there any good way?"

Zhao Pu was proficient in governance and had already considered these issues. After listening to Taizu's question, he proposed that the crux of the problem was that the power of the vassal town was too heavy, the king was weak and the ministers were strong, and there was no clever way to govern. With power, control its money and grain, and recruit its elite soldiers, the world will naturally be stable.Before Zhao Pu finished speaking, Song Taizu said repeatedly: "You don't need to say any more, I understand everything."

So a plan to rebuild the centralized autocratic system was hatched and gradually implemented.In terms of centralization in the Northern Song Dynasty, the most important issue was military power, which was also the first issue to be resolved.Fan Jun pointed out in "On the Five Dynasties": "Where military power exists, prosperity will follow; where military power goes, it will perish." This reveals the decisive role military power has played in the changes in political situations since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.Therefore, as soon as the Song Dynasty was established, Zhao Kuangyin learned the lessons of the demise of the later Zhou Dynasty and strengthened his control over the Forbidden Army.

In the second year of Jianlong (AD 961), Taizu took some measures to gradually strengthen the centralization of power in view of the fact that the situation was under control at that time.At first, Taizu thought that Shi Shouxin and others were his old friends and did not mind. However, Zhao Pu said several times: "I am not worried that they will betray Your Majesty, but if their subordinates are greedy for wealth, if there are evildoers to support them. Can they, can they be autonomous?”These words actually reminded Song Taizu to remember the history of the Chenqiao Mutiny and to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents.Sure enough, Song Taizu soon took measures to remove the military power of the senior generals of the Forbidden Army.

After hearing this, Shi Shouxin and others knew that there was something in these words, and quickly kowtowed and said: "Why did your Majesty say this? The destiny has been decided, who dares to have different intentions?"

Song Taizu said: "Otherwise, although you have no different intentions, if your subordinates want to be rich and powerful and put a yellow robe on you, even if you don't want to be the emperor, I'm afraid you will have no choice but to do so."

These generals knew that they had been suspected and might even be killed. They all cried in fear and begged Song Taizu to point out a way out for them.

Song Taizu said slowly: "Life in this world is as short as a fleeting moment, so those who want to gain wealth only want to gather more money and have more entertainment so that future generations will avoid poverty. It is better for you to give up military power, go to local places, and build more Good land and a beautiful house, to establish a long-term inheritance for our children and grandchildren; at the same time, buy more singers, drink and have fun day and night, and live forever; I will marry you again, and there will be no suspicion between the monarch and his ministers, and everyone will live in peace. Isn't this great? ?”

Shi Shouxin and others saw that Song Taizu had made his words very clear and there was no room for maneuver. Moreover, Song Taizu had firmly controlled the Central Forbidden Army at that time. Several generals had no other choice but to bow their heads and obey orders to express their gratitude to Taizu for his kindness.

The next day, Shi Shouxin and others claimed that they were ill and demanded to be relieved of military power.Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty readily agreed, and ordered him to be dismissed from the post of Imperial Guards, appointed as the local governor, and abolished the inspection department in front of the palace and the command department of the guards and horse infantry forces. [12] The Forbidden Army was led by the Palace Commanding Department, the Guards Horse Army Commanding Department, and the Guards Infantry Commanding Department, the so-called three yamen.After removing the military power of Shi Shouxin and other senior generals, Taizu selected some more junior people with low personal prestige and easy control as generals of the Forbidden Army.Therefore, the power of leading the imperial army was split into three, and the three yamen were controlled by lower-ranking generals. This meant that the imperial power's control over the army was strengthened.

Later, Song Taizu also fulfilled his promise to marry a senior general of the Forbidden Army and married his widowed sister to Gao Huaide. Later, he married his daughter to the sons of Shi Shouxin and Wang Shenqi, and married Zhang Lingduo's daughter to Taizu's third brother Zhao Guangmei.

After this incident, all the sworn brothers who were in charge of the military power of Song Taizu were relieved of their duties in the imperial army, and they were no longer assigned to others.Although Shi Shouxin retains the title of "Commander of the Guards", he no longer has any real power.On the other hand, Song Taizu sent Li Hanchao to guard Guannan, Ma Renyu to guard Yingzhou, Han Lingkun to guard Changshan, He Weizhong to guard Yizhou, He Jijun to guard Dizhou, Guo Jin to guard Xishan, Wu Shouqi to guard Jinyang, Li Qianpu to guard Xizhou, and Li Jixun to guard Zhaoyi and Zhao Zan guarded Yanzhou, Yao Neibin guarded Qingzhou, Dong Zunjie guarded Huanzhou, Wang Yansheng guarded Yuanzhou, and Feng Jiye guarded Lingwu. . Therefore, all the border ministers are rich in wealth to support dead soldiers and recruit spies. The situation of the enemy and the roads of mountains and rivers are not seen but known to everyone. Therefore, there are no worries about the west or north for more than ten years."

influences

The release of military power over a glass of wine was the beginning of a series of political and military reform measures taken by Song Taizu to strengthen the imperial power and consolidate his rule.Afterwards, he made three main reforms in the military system.

military structural reform

First, establish a Privy Council system that is different from that of the previous dynasty.The chiefs are the Privy Envoy and the Deputy Privy Envoy, who are in charge of mobilizing the national army and are responsible for military and political power.The Privy Council and the three yamen commanders each have their own affairs.Although the Sanya controlled the imperial army, it had no power to mobilize or send troops.The Privy Council has the power to dispatch and deploy troops, but cannot directly control the army.The power to dispatch troops and the power to lead troops are separated, each is independent and restricts each other, which is conducive to the control of imperial power.

Second, the policy of maintaining internal and external relations.Song Taizu divided the entire army into two halves, with one half stationed in the capital and the other half garrisoned in various places. This made the capital garrison sufficient to prevent possible rebellions in other places, and the combined force of the foreign garrisons was sufficient to prevent possible internal changes in the capital garrison.The internal and external armies restrained each other and no rebellion could occur, and there were more troops stationed in the capital than anywhere else in the country, so the emperor could ensure firm control of the country's armies.

Third, the policy of separation of soldiers and generals.Both the imperial troops stationed in the capital and those stationed in other places must be mobilized regularly.The garrison in the capital had to take turns to guard other places or borders, and some had to go to places where grain was produced to get food. This method of taking turns to garrison was called the "more garrison method."This method is nominally to train soldiers to endure hardships and stand hard work, but in fact, it relies on the soldiers' frequent changes of defense, causing the soldiers to not know the generals, the generals to know the soldiers, the soldiers to be commander-in-chief, and the commander-to-chief to be commander-in-chief.The generals could no longer combine with the soldiers and establish their own reputation among the soldiers, and they could no longer lead the troops against the emperor.

Fourth, establish without establishing a system.The first two commanders of the general's department and the first three commanders of the bodyguard department are no longer removed. As a result, the bodyguard department only has the commanders of the cavalry army and the infantry army, without the commander of the horse and infantry army who originally unified the two armies. This means that the bodyguards department is divided. For two.This system of leaving the top five positions vacant without granting them reduced and divided the powers of the commander of the imperial army, making military power subordinate to the royal power.

local political reform

Use the technique of strong stems and weak branches for local feudal towns.There are three main measures:

First, deprive them of their power.In order to weaken the administrative power of the Jiedushi, the prefectures and counties that the Jiedushi also controlled outside the residence were placed directly under the capital.At the same time, the central government dispatched civil servants to serve as magistrates of states, counties, and other local officials. After being replaced every three years, he will be directly responsible to the central government, report to the court, and no longer obey orders from Jiedushi.For some Jiedu envoys who had been entrenched in one party since the Five Dynasties, Song Taizu repeated his old trick and used the method of "releasing military power with a glass of wine" to remove them one by one.Later, Tongfan was set up to divide the power of the Zhizhou. The mutual constraints between Tongfan and the Zhizhou were used to prevent the power of a state from being controlled by the Zhizhou and to prevent it from deviating from the central government's rule track.

Second, control its money grain.In the early Song Dynasty, transfer envoys were set up on each road. Except for a small amount of money and silk belonging to the prefectures and counties belonging to the road, the remaining money and silk were sent to the capital and handed over to the central government. They were not allowed to be retained. In this way, the local financial rights were completely recovered. Back to the center.

Third, recruit their best soldiers.In August of the third year of Qiande (965), Song Taizu ordered the governors of various states to send all the brave men from the army under the jurisdiction of the feudal town to the capital to join the imperial army.He also selected strong soldiers as "soldiers" and sent them to various places.People who meet the "soldier-like" standards are recruited and trained, and then sent to the capital to serve as the imperial army.In this way, the Central Forbidden Army concentrated the best troops from all over the country, while the local armies were left with only the old, weak, sick and disabled, organized into Xiang armies and used only as handymen. The localities no longer had the military power to compete with the central government.

Through these measures, the autocratic vassal towns that existed in the late Tang and Five Dynasties gradually disappeared in the early Song Dynasty.

central political reform

In terms of the bureaucracy, the focus was on weakening the power of the prime minister.The military and political power is controlled by the Privy Council, while the financial power is controlled by the three envoys. The prime minister is limited to civil affairs.In the separation of military, financial and civilian powers, the privy envoys and prime ministers are known as the second government "in charge of major affairs".The emperor used the similarities and differences between the two to issue orders and act arbitrarily.

In the early Song Dynasty, the power of the prime minister was not only weakened by the method of separation of powers, but also the deputy envoys of the privy council and the deputy envoys of the third department were set up. Reduce the power of department heads.In addition, in the early Song Dynasty, policies conducive to strengthening the imperial power were also carried out in terms of the establishment of official divisions and the imperial examination system.

A series of reform measures in the early Song Dynasty greatly strengthened the authoritarian centralization system of the Song Dynasty, created a unified political situation, and created good conditions for high-level economic and cultural development. "Law", some policies and measures that strengthen the centralization of authoritarianism have turned into its opposite. "Redundant officials", "redundant soldiers" and "redundant expenses" were increasing day by day, which made the feudal country of Song Dynasty fall into a situation of poverty and weakness.This was also the fundamental reason for the eventual demise of the Song Dynasty.

Critics

"Release military power over a glass of wine" is an important reflection of the Song Dynasty's strengthening of centralization of power.Taizu of the Song Dynasty used peaceful means to "release military power over a cup of wine" without harming the harmony between the monarch and his ministers. He easily eliminated the power threat of ministers and successfully prevented military rebellion. It was a famous Anne strategy in history and had far-reaching influence.

Those who disagree with this view believe that Song Taizu devoted himself to consolidating the central power, and "releasing military power over a cup of wine" contained the nature of strict internal defense, which directly caused the corruption of internal affairs.In the context of intense foreign aggression, the reduction of military power from generals also weakened the combat capabilities of the army. The reason was that the emperor directly controlled the military power, and civilian officials who did not understand military affairs controlled the army. Generals were frequently mobilized, which led to the Song Dynasty's successive defeats in the wars with Liao, Xixia, and Jin. , unable to solve border troubles.The military weakness also caused the two Song Dynasties to perish at the hands of the nomadic people whose social system lagged behind their own.

The purpose of the military system of civilians running the army established in the Song Dynasty was to completely eliminate the military system of vassal towns that caused the demise of the powerful Tang Dynasty. The starting point was good, the results were fruitful, and the ideas were advanced.There are many reasons why the two Song dynasties perished at the hands of nomads. The two Song dynasties faced off first with the Liao and Xia, then with the Liao and Jin, and finally with the Jin and Mongolia. Judging from the combat situation, the Northern Song Dynasty faced a two-front war and could only Main guard.

(End of this chapter)