History cannot do without this reform
It is a key move of national integration, a great measure of national assimilation, and a powerful attempt at the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The reform of Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty: the only nomadic people in history to completely Sinicize the reform.
In 439, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty completed the unification of the north, and after 150 years, peace was restored to the north again, creating conditions for economic recovery. At this time, the class contradictions in the north were still very violent, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was in crisis after reunification. In order to achieve long-term peace and stability, the Northern Wei Dynasty continued to implement the reform of Sinicization, and the reform of Emperor Xiaowen became a model of reform in Chinese history. Emperor Xiaowen's reforms were not only conducive to the economic recovery of the north and the revival of Confucianism, but also accelerated the integration of nationalities and laid the foundation for China's reunification.
First, the crisis is lurking - the background of Emperor Xiaowen's reform.
From the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty in 386 to the destruction of the Northern Liang in 439, it took half a century for the three generations of the Xianbei Tuoba clan to finally unify the north. With the unification of the north, the economy and culture of the north have also shown signs of revival. Economically, the Tuoba clan persuaded agriculture to teach mulberry, advocated frugality, and divided the land according to the mouth, which made agricultural production in the north tend to be stable, and many nomadic people gradually changed from nomadism to farming. In terms of culture, the Tuoba clan advocated Confucianism, advocating culture and education, establishing schools, sorting out scriptures, and revising national history, which accelerated the revival of Confucianism and ethnic integration in the north. Hu Sansheng said: "After the Northern Wei Dynasty was peaceful, Confucianism began to flourish."
Tuoba Tao. However, the Northern Wei Dynasty faced a huge crisis after its unification. First of all, when the Xianbei people first entered the Central Plains, their rules and regulations also had a strong grassland atmosphere, which was primitive and transitional. In the process of conquering other ethnic groups, the Tuoba clan saw a large number of ** and plunder, and many Han people were reduced to slaves and miscellaneous households. In war, the people of other tribes acted as the vanguard and infantry, while the Xianbei supervised the rear. Many Han scholars were included in the ruling group, but they could not hold real power and were easily excluded, and the famous patriarch Cui Hao was killed for offending the Xianbei nobles. Therefore, at that time, the northern *** was still very sharp.
Xianbei tribe. Second, the class contradictions in the north are still acute. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful landlords in the north have developed into the clan of gate lords, who have occupied land extensively, built dock forts, controlled armor soldiers, monopolized local power, and become a separatist force. These nobles continued to annex land, causing the peasants to go bankrupt and become tribesmen, tenants, and even slaves. According to the "History of the Chinese Population", half of the country's population at that time became dependents.
The gentry not only encroached on the land, but also concealed the population and affected the state's taxation. In the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a simple suzerain-supervised system was implemented. The northern nobles were divided into "three classes and nine grades", and they were taxed according to the amount of property. And the suzerainty is the ** that rules the place and collects taxes. Because the scholars concealed a large amount of land and population, it was difficult to distinguish between the rich and the poor.
10 or 30 households are one household". And the officials colluded with the nobles to "indulge the rich and supervise the poor, and avoid the strong and invade the weak."
Distribution of the gentry. Under the interweaving of *** and class contradictions, the uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty has not subsided. In the 100 years from the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty to the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, there were more than 80 uprisings in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The more famous is the Lushui Hugai Wu uprising in the Guanzhong region in 445, with more than 100,000 people, and all ethnic groups in Guanzhong responded, and finally it was quelled after several setbacks under the imperial conquest of Tuoba Tao.
Second, the prelude to Emperor Xiaowen's reform - Empress Dowager Feng's reform.
In 465, the fifth emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Hong, died and was succeeded by Tuoba Hong, who was only 12 years old, to dedicate Emperor Wen, and Tuoba Hong's Empress Feng became the Empress Dowager, that is, the famous Empress Dowager Feng. In 467, Tuoba Hong's son Tuoba Hong was born, and Empress Dowager Feng temporarily stopped the dynasty and handed over national affairs to Tuoba Hong, while she concentrated on raising Tuoba Hong. However, Tuoba Hong deposed Empress Dowager Feng's confidants in an attempt to completely control the power, and the contradictions between the two became prominent. In 471, Empress Dowager Feng forced Tuoba Hong to abdicate, and Tuoba Hong succeeded him as Emperor Xiaowen. In 476, Empress Dowager Feng placed Tuoba Hong under house arrest, and soon after, Tuoba Hong died mysteriously. So Empress Dowager Feng listened to the government again and began the reform, which was the prelude to the reform of Emperor Xiaowen.
Empress Dowager Feng was a Han Chinese, and after taking power, a large number of Han talents were also used to participate in national politics. For example, Gao Yun, Gao Lu, Wang Rui, Li Anshi, You Minggen, Li Chong, Liu Fang and others were all reused, most of these scholars had the talent to govern the country, and became the think tank of the Empress Dowager Feng, and many of the reform measures of the Empress Dowager Feng were carried out with the support of these Han scholars.
As a Han Chinese, Empress Dowager Feng's reform first started from social customs. After the Xianbei people entered the Central Plains, they brought many backward, primitive and barbaric customs, such as intermarriage and witchcraft were prevalent. In 483, Empress Dowager Feng issued an order prohibiting intermarriage with the same surname, which became the precursor of the Sinicization reform. Empress Dowager Feng also adopted the form of law to establish the official system, make rituals, revise legal orders, and revise the new law "832 chapters". In 484 and 487, Empress Dowager Feng revised the law decree twice. By amending the law, many of the barbaric customs of the Xianbei people were eliminated and the punishment was reduced.
Second, it is necessary to rectify the rule of officials and establish a system of stiptory. In the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the officials had no money, and the high-level ** could get a share of the property in the war, while the local ** only needed to hand over a certain amount of tribute, so they looted wantonly, resulting in the ** Emperor Wencheng and Emperor Xianwen both issued edicts to prohibit corruption, but it had no effect. In 484, Empress Dowager Feng imitated the old system of the Wei and Jin dynasties of the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, stipulating that the tax income would be used as the first money, and it was forbidden for the first to be greedy outside of the money. In order to implement the Yulu system, Empress Dowager Feng sent envoys to inspect various places, crack down on the best people, and more than 40 people were executed in the local **, and the rule of the officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty was greatly improved. ”
The tomb of Empress Dowager Feng - Yonggu Mausoleum.
Third, the implementation of the equalization system. During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, there was a war in the north, and a large number of people died or moved south, leaving behind a lot of wasteland. When the Xianbei people entered the Central Plains, they seized the wasteland as pasture, making the wasteland state-owned land. In the early Northern Wei Dynasty, successive emperors distributed part of the state-owned land to the common people for cultivation, but the scale was not large. In 485, Empress Dowager Feng, at the suggestion of Li Anshi, issued the "Juntian Order", which distributed these state-owned lands to the common people for cultivation, but the state retained ownership rights and prohibited the sale of land. The implementation of the equalization system enabled the peasants to obtain land, which was conducive to social stability and economic recovery in the north. This system was continued until the late Tang Dynasty and was also the economic guarantee of prosperity in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Fourth, implement the "three-long system". If the uniform land system is to protect the yeoman farmers, the three-long system is to restrict the family. In order to investigate the phenomenon of hidden population and land of the family, Empress Dowager Feng abolished the suzerain's supervision and protection system in 486 and implemented the "three-long system", stipulating that five families are one neighbor, five neighbors are one li, five li is **, and the neighbor, li, and party each have a chief, which is collectively called three chiefs. The tasks of the three chiefs are mainly to check the household registration, urge the conscription and enlistment, manage production, and maintain law and order. Since then, the three-long system has become a local grassroots organization in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which has played an important role in restricting the powerful and ensuring national taxation.
Fifth, reform the tax system. At the same time as the implementation of the three-long system and the Juntian system, the Empress Dowager Feng also implemented a new rent regulation to match it. The requirement that each husband and wife pay one stone of grain and one horse of cloth per year made it possible to reduce the burden on the peasants. At the same time, as the nobles were found to have a large amount of land and population, their taxes also increased significantly. Many hidden people also took the opportunity to break away from the control of the nobles and became the state's household members, alleviating social contradictions and increasing state taxes.
In 490, Empress Dowager Feng died, but her reforms were inherited by Emperor Xiaowen and promoted on a larger scale. Empress Dowager Feng's personality has a huge contrast between positive and negative, she had adulterous male favorites after the death of Emperor Wencheng, and violated Confucian morality, which was criticized by many historical books. But from a human point of view, she is not much at fault. She was politically treacherous and vicious, killing many political opponents, but this enabled her reform measures to be carried out vigorously and with great results.
Third, the comprehensive sinicization of Emperor Xiaowen.
After the death of Empress Dowager Feng, Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong had reached the age of 23 and began to govern in person. Emperor Xiaowen is the emperor carefully cultivated by the Empress Dowager Feng, and the history records "and Gao Zusheng, the Empress Dowager raised herself". Empress Dowager Feng once wrote the "Song of Exhortation" to warn Emperor Xiaowen to take Confucian ethics and morality as a code of conduct, and wrote eighteen articles of "The Emperor's Message" to tell about his own way of government. Under the influence of Empress Dowager Feng, Emperor Xiaowen was exposed to Confucian culture since he was a child, laying a solid foundation for the comprehensive Sinicization reform.
Ya is good at reading, and he can't let go of the book. The meaning of the Five Classics is easy to talk about, learn not to learn, and explore its essence. There are hundreds of schools of history, all of which should be involved. Good at talking about Zhuang Lao, especially fine interpretation. Talent is rich, good for articles, poems and praises, and can be written at will. If you have a big writing, you will dictate it immediately, and you will not change a word. Since Taihe ten years have passed, the edict is also the emperor's text. Since the rest of the article, there are more than 100 articles. —Book of Wei
After Emperor Xiaowen came to power, he first completely sinicized the etiquette system and adopted the etiquette of the Han Dynasty to make the Ming Hall, build the Tai Temple, and conduct rituals. Before moving the capital, Emperor Xiaowen further reformed the criminal law, promulgated a new decree, and abolished some corporal punishments.
At that time, Pingcheng, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was almost outside the plug, and it was difficult to get food. Strengthen the rise of Rouran, and Heijo is under the threat of a strong enemy. In order to consolidate the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty over the Central Plains and continue to promote the reform of Sinicization, Emperor Xiaowen decided to move south. At that time, there were Yecheng and Luoyang as options, Yecheng was the economic center of the north at that time, and Luoyang was the cultural center, and Emperor Xiaowen's reform paid more attention to the cultural aspect, so Luoyang was chosen.
However, with the advancement of reform, the help of reform has gradually increased. At this time, the Xianbei people were divided into three factions, the conservatives opposed the reform, advocated maintaining the customs of the Xianbei people, and believed that after the sinicization, the Xianbei fierce folk customs would be weakened and lose the power of conquest, and the elders and princes of the Xianbei nobles belonged to this faction; The centrists advocated reform, but opposed radical sinicization; The reformers advocated complete sinicization and agreed with the relocation of the capital, mainly supported by the Han Chinese bureaucracy.
In order to be able to realize the relocation of the capital, Emperor Xiaowen persuaded and persuaded Tuoba Cheng, the king of Rencheng, with all his heart. With the support of Tuoba Cheng, Emperor Xiaowen led a hundred officials and an army to "march south" in 493, claiming to be a crusade against Southern Qi. When the large army arrived in Luoyang, it encountered rainy weather, and Emperor Xiaowen ordered to stand by. At this time, the conservatives were afraid of the southern expedition and hoped that Emperor Xiaowen would be able to stop. So Emperor Xiaowen put forward a plan to set the capital Luoyang, and the ministers had to obey.
After the capital of Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen implemented a comprehensive Sinicization policy in terms of social customs, mainly as follows: (1) Banning Xianbei language, establishing Chinese as the only official language, "Breaking the Northern Language, from the Zhengyin (Chinese)", people over 30 years old can be tolerant, but people under the age of 30 must speak Chinese, otherwise they will be demoted and dethroned. (2) Change the surname to Han. The Tuoba clan was changed to the Yuan surname, and the nine clans of the Northern Wei royal family and the 18 clans of the tribes under the control of the early Northern Wei Dynasty were all changed to single surnames. (3) Change of nationality. Emperor Xiaowen changed the origin of the Xianbei nobles to Luoyang, and was buried in Luoyang after his death, and was not allowed to be buried in Pingcheng. (4) Easy clothing, forbidden to wear clothes. It is stipulated that the clothing of ethnic minorities shall be changed to Hanfu. (5) Marriage. Under the leadership of Emperor Xiaowen, the Xianbei nobles intermarried with the Central Plains scholars, which made the two groups firmly linked by blood relations and accelerated national integration.
In 496, Emperor Xiaowen visited Songyue, and the crown prince Yuan Sui stayed behind in Kim Yong City. So Yuan Sui secretly colluded with the conservatives and tried to get out of Pingcheng. When Emperor Xiaowen learned about it, he immediately returned to Luoyang, listed his crimes, personally punished him with a cane, and forced Yuan Sui to commit suicide. In that year, the Xianbei conservatives rebelled and were pacified by Tuoba Cheng. Since then, the conservative forces have been basically eradicated, and the sinicization of Xianbei has become irreversible.
Epilogue. Emperor Xiaowen has always been regarded as a virtuous lord because of his resolute implementation of the Sinicization reform and his great contribution to national integration and the economic development of the north. Wang Tong of the Sui Dynasty commented on Emperor Xiaowen: "Yuan Wei has a master, what does his filial piety do?" The way of China does not fall, and the power of filial piety is also. Ye Shi, a Confucian scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, commented: "Those who use Xia to change are also the way of sages." "The reforms of Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen influenced the development of China's history for 400 years, and many of their policies were still implemented until the Tang Dynasty, and their measures accelerated national integration and laid the foundation for the great unification of the Sui and Tang dynasties. It can be said that both are great figures in Chinese history.
Author: Wang Gongjian.