Wine for military power(bēi jiǔ shì bīng quán)

Wine for military power

In order to strengthen the centralization of power, Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, set up troops to usurp the new political power and demanded senior generals to hand over military power by means of banquets and threats in order to avoid his subordinates being forced to "put on yellow robes".

It is the beginning of a series of political and military reform measures taken by song Taizu to strengthen the centralization and consolidate the rule, which is regarded as a model of leniency and harmony. After that, Taizu carried out a number of reforms in the military system, which greatly strengthened the centralization of power in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Later, the idiom "drink to release military power" evolved into an idiom, which extended to easily remove the general's military power.

Background

In the process of ending the situation of Five Dynasties and ten states, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty focused on two issues: first, how to rebuild the centralized autocratic rule, so that the situation of vassal towns which had existed for a long time since the end of the Tang Dynasty no longer appeared; second, how to consolidate the new dynasty, so that it no longer became the sixth short-lived Dynasty after the Five Dynasties. At the end of the first year of Jianlong (960 A.D.), one day after emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty pacified Li Yun and Li rejoined the rebellion, he summoned the prime minister Zhao Pu and asked, "why has the emperor changed eight surnames and twelve monarchs since the end of the Tang Dynasty, and there has been endless fighting? I want to put an end to the world's army and build a country for a long time. Is there any good way? " Zhao Pu is proficient in governing and has considered these problems for a long time. After listening to Taizu's question, he put forward that the crux of the problem is that the power of the vassal town is too heavy, the monarch is weak and the minister is strong, and there is no ingenious way to govern. As long as he deprives his power, controls his money, and collects his elite troops, the world will be stable. Before Zhao Pu's words were finished, song Taizu repeatedly said, "you don't have to say any more. I understand everything.". Thus a plan for the reconstruction of the centralized autocratic system was conceived and gradually put into practice. In the centralization of Northern Song Dynasty, the most important thing is military power, which is also the first problem to be solved. Fan Jun pointed out in his treatise on the Five Dynasties that "where military power lies, it will prosper, and where military power goes, it will perish", which reveals the decisive role played by military power in the transformation of political situation since the end of Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Therefore, as soon as the Song Dynasty was established, Zhao Kuangyin learned the lesson of the fall of the Later Zhou Dynasty and strengthened his control over the imperial army. In the second year of Jianlong (961 A.D.), Taizu, in view of the fact that he had controlled the situation at that time, began to take some measures to gradually strengthen the centralization of power. At first, Taizu thought that Shi Shouxin and others were his old friends, and he didn't mind. Zhao Pu said several times, "I don't worry that they will betray your majesty, but if their subordinates are greedy for wealth, if there are evildoers supporting them, can they be independent?"? These words are actually a reminder to song Taizu that he must remember the history of Chen Qiao mutiny and avoid the recurrence of similar events. Sure enough, soon after Song Taizu took measures to remove the military power of the senior general of the imperial guards.

after

Jianlong two years (AD 961) on the ninth day of July. In the late Dynasty, song Taizu left Shi Shouxin and other high-ranking generals to drink. When the wine was strong, song Taizu suddenly withdrew his servants. He sighed and said, "if I didn't rely on your efforts, I would not be able to get to this position. Therefore, I have been thinking about your merits from my heart. However, when the emperor is too hard, it's better to be happy. I dare not sleep in peace all night Shi Shouxin and others were shocked and asked why. Song Taizu continued: "it's not hard to know. Who doesn't want to be an emperor?" Shi Shouxin and others heard this and knew there was something in it. They kowtowed and said, "why did your majesty say this? Heaven has decided. Who dares to have a different heart?" song Taizu said: "otherwise, although you have no different intention, if your subordinates want to be rich and noble, they will add yellow robes to you. Even if you don't want to be emperor, you will be forced to do so." These generals knew that they had been suspected, and if they could not, they would be killed. For a moment, they cried in horror, imploring song Taizu to show them a way to live. Song Taizu said slowly: "life in the world is as short as a fleeting moment, so if you want to get rich, you just want to gather more money and have more entertainment, so that future generations will be free from poverty. Why don't you give up your military power and go to a place where you can buy more good land and beautiful houses to build a long-term property for your descendants? At the same time, you can buy more singers and drink wine day and night to enjoy each other all your life. I'll marry you again. There will be no doubt between the king and his officials, and peace between them. Isn't that good? " 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, and several generals had no choice but to bow to his orders and express their gratitude to Taizu for his kindness. the next day, Shi Shouxin and others claimed that they were ill and demanded the removal of military power. Song Taizu readily agreed that he would be dismissed from the post of Imperial Guard and appointed as the local governor. He also abolished the spot check in front of the hall and the command department of mabujun. The forbidden army was led by the commanding Department of Dianqian capital, the commanding Department of Shiwei Majun capital and the commanding Department of Shiwei Bujun capital. After removing the military power of Shi Shouxin and other former generals, Taizu chose some junior, low personal prestige, easy to control people as the forbidden generals. Therefore, the power of the imperial leader was divided into three, and the lower ranking generals were in charge of the three yamen, which meant that the imperial power strengthened its control over the army. Later, song Taizu also fulfilled his promise of marriage with the high-ranking general of the imperial guards, and married his widowed sister to Gao Huaide. Later, he married his daughter to the son of Shi Shouxin and Wang Shenqi, and Zhang lingduo's daughter to Zhao Guangmei, the third younger brother of Taizu. after this, the Jieyi brothers, who were in charge of the military power of song Taizu in those years, were all relieved of their duties in the Imperial Army, and they were never given any more. Although Shi Shouxin retains the title of "commander of bodyguard", he has no real power. On the other hand, song Taizu also sent Li Hanchao to guard Guannan, Ma Renqiu to guard Yingzhou, Han Lingkun to guard Changshan, he Weizhong to guard Yizhou, he Jiyun to guard Dizhou, Guo Jin to guard Xishan, Wu Shouqi to guard Jinyang, Li Qianpu to guard Xizhou, Li Jixun to guard Zhaoyi, Zhao Zan to guard Yanzhou, Yao neibin to guard Qingzhou, Dong zunjiao to guard Huanzhou, Wang Yansheng to guard Yuanzhou and Feng Jiye to guard He said, "if you can manage the benefits of discussion, if you know it, you will be exempt from taxation in your trade.". Therefore, the border officials are rich in wealth, in order to support the dead, to raise spies, the enemy situation, mountains and rivers, roads, ignored and well-known. Therefore, there is no worry about the West and North for more than ten years.

influence

It is the beginning of a series of political and military reform measures taken by song Taizu to strengthen the imperial power and consolidate the rule. After that, he made three major reforms in the military system.

Military system reform

First, the Privy Council system was established. The chief is the Secretary and deputy secretary. He is in charge of mobilizing the whole army and taking charge of military and political power. The Privy Council and the three yamen commanders have their own departments. Although the three yamen controlled the Imperial Army, they had no power to dispatch and dispatch troops. The Privy Council has the power to dispatch and dispatch troops, but cannot directly control the army. The separation of the power of transferring troops and the power of leading troops, their independence and mutual restriction, were conducive to the control of the imperial power. Second, internal and external policies. Song Taizu divided the whole army into two parts, one was stationed in the capital, the other was garrisoned in various places, which made the garrison in the capital sufficient to stop the possible changes in other places, and the other combined enough to stop the possible internal changes in the garrison in the capital. The internal and external forces restricted each other, so that there could be no disorder, and there were more troops stationed in the capital than in any other place, so that the emperor could guarantee to firmly control the army of the whole country. Thirdly, the policy of separating soldiers from generals. Both the garrison stationed in the capital and the garrison stationed in other places must be mobilized regularly. The garrison in the capital should take turns to garrison in other places or at the border, and some should go to the places where the grain is produced. This method of garrison in turn is called "Geng Garrison Law". In name, this method is to train soldiers to bear hardships and stand hard work. In fact, it is through the frequent change of defense of soldiers, resulting in that soldiers do not know generals and generals, and that soldiers are not always handsome. Generals can no longer unite with soldiers, build their own reputation among them, and lead soldiers to fight against the emperor. Fourth, establish but not set up a system. The first two commanders of the front department and the first three commanders of the bodyguard department are no longer assigned, so that only the commanders of the horse army and the infantry army are left in the bodyguard department. Instead of the former commander of the horse infantry army who unified the two armies, the bodyguard department is divided into two. This system left the top five posts vacant, reduced and divided the authority of the commander in chief of the Imperial Guard, and made the military power subordinate to the royal power.

Local political reform

The local vassal towns were treated with the technique of strengthening the cadres and weakening the branches. There are three main measures: first, to deprive them of their rights. In order to weaken the administrative power of the Jiedushi, the prefectures and counties, which were concurrently under the command of the Jiedushi, were directly subordinate to the capital. At the same time, the central government sent civil servants to serve as prefectures, counties and other local officials. He was directly responsible to the central government, played to the imperial court, and no longer listened to the orders of the governor. Song Taizu did the same thing to some Jiedu envoys who had been on one side since the Five Dynasties. He took out the method of "drinking wine to release military power" and dismissed them one by one. Later, it set up the general judgment to divide the power of the prefectures, and made use of the mutual restriction between the general judgment and the prefectures, so that the power of a state could not be controlled by the prefectures, so as to prevent it from deviating from the ruling track of the central government. second, make money. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, transport envoys were set up in all the roads. Except for a small amount of daily expenses, the rest of the money and silk were sent to the capital and handed over to the central government, so that the local financial power was completely returned to the central government. third, we should recruit our best troops. In August of the third year of Qiande (965), song Taizu ordered the governors of the States to send all the valiant men in the army under the jurisdiction of the vassal town to the capital to join the forbidden army. He also selected strong soldiers as "soldiers" and sent them to all roads. recruit

Chinese PinYin : bēi jiǔ shì bīng quán