Taizu Guo Wei protected the territory and the people, forbade the army to enter the Liao and Southern Tang Dynasty, maintained friendly relations with all parties, thwarted the attack of the Northern Han, captured the officers and soldiers, gave them clothing and sent them back.
These measures showed his strength and wisdom and laid a solid foundation for unification activities.
After Zhou Shizong Chai Rong succeeded to the throne, he made great efforts to govern the country, and carried out a war of unification while carrying out reforms. He has big ambitions and wants to achieve them"Ten years to open up the world, ten years to raise the people, ten years to peace"The grand picture.
Although he failed to achieve this goal, his contribution was indelible. He selected meritocracy, eliminated maladministration, and refreshed the government. For example, he appreciated Wang Pu's talent and promoted him to the rank of household servant and privy envoy.
With Wang Pu's assistance, he made several conquests, making the Later Zhou one of the most powerful states of the time. His success is inseparable from his discovery and reuse of talents.
Zhou Shizong, who was good at selecting talents and purging officials, promoted Wei Renpu, a commoner in cloth clothes, to the privy council and promoted him to the prime minister. In the face of doubts, he stressed that the appointment of talents should not stick to one pattern and attach importance to personal civil and military talents.
He also rectified the imperial examination system, personally re-examined the new and first jinshi, and abolished the two subjects of the Ming Jing and Tongzi. At the same time, he showed no mercy to those who violated the law, and severely punished those who violated the law, including beheading overseers, removing them from official positions, and exile to the island.
These measures have effectively reversed the chaotic situation of the government for five generations.
Zhou Shizong was well aware of the importance of talents, and he reused a group of talented people, which played a key role in winning the victory of the unification war and the promotion of various reforms.
He also understands that agriculture is the center of gravity of the national economy, and farmers and agricultural production are of great importance to the country's army and military supplies. Therefore, he actively advocated the concept of "the country is rich and the army is strong, and the family is full of people" and attached importance to agricultural production.
He even carved the image of a cultivator and a silkworm woman in the court, as a reminder that he and the court always pay attention to agricultural production. In order to promote the development of agricultural production and increase the state tax, he vigorously appeased the displaced people, rewarded the cultivation of wasteland, and provided more favorable conditions for those returning from the Khitan ruling areas.
He also actively promoted the development of water conservancy undertakings, realizing that the quality of water conservancy has a great bearing on agricultural production. These measures of Zhou Shizong laid a solid foundation for the prosperity and stability of the later Zhou.
In the first year of Xiande (954), Zhou Shizong ordered the prime minister Li Gu to supervise the construction of the Yellow River. The states requisitioned 60,000 migrant laborers to build embankments from Yanggu. In the sixth year of Xiande (959), the embankment of the original Wuxian County burst, and Zhou Shizong requisitioned the nearby people to block the breach.
In order to reduce the burden on the peasants and increase the state's fiscal revenue, Zhou Shizong carried out an average tax payment throughout the country, which achieved practical results. When collecting grain silk, Zhou Shizong instructed the three envoys to stipulate the starting time of summer tax and autumn tax, so as to reduce the drawbacks of arbitrary taxation at any time.
In addition, due to the expansion of monks and nuns' land and the increase in the number of monks, the state's tax revenue decreased and the number of laborers decreased, so Zhou Shizong took measures to "exterminate Buddhism". As early as the second year of Qianyou in the Later Han Dynasty, there was a small ** Li Qinmin who suggested "destroying Buddha".
He believed that there were too many monks and nuns, occupying a large amount of land and population, which was detrimental to the country's taxation and labor. Although this initiative was not taken seriously in the Later Han Dynasty, Zhou Shizong put the issue on the agenda and issued an edict in the second year of Xiande, strictly prohibiting the private practice of monks and nuns and the establishment of monasteries to avoid threatening the regime.
Zhou Shizong took a series of measures in the territory of the Later Zhou to strengthen the strength of the country and the combat effectiveness of the army. He stipulated that the temples that should have a quota in the towns and villages of Daofu Prefecture should remain in their original state, and that all temples without a quota should be abolished.
At the same time, he forbade people below the rank of the prince's relatives to ask for the establishment of monasteries or the opening of ordination altars. In addition, Zhou Shizong also took measures to restrict the practice of shaving his head privately.
If there is a person who shaves his head, they will be forced to return to the vulgar and be punished with a heavy rod. Criminals who have committed crimes, those who have been punished, those who have abandoned their parents, fugitive slaves, etc., are not allowed to leave their homes and shave their heads.
If any monastery accepts them, the monastery itself and those involved will be arrested and investigated. In terms of supervising the behavior of monks and nuns, Zhou Shizong took strict measures, prohibiting any form of self-sacrifice, arm burning, finger refining, nailing of hands and feet, hanging lamps with bells, etc., as well as any fraudulent and monster activities.
These measures of Zhou Shizong had a positive effect on the historical development at that time. The abolition of monasteries and the restriction of the behavior of monks and nuns allowed the state to increase its wealth and labor force, and at the same time enabled monks and nuns to transform into producers, which was beneficial to the development of production.
The prohibition of fraud and yokai activities also helps to combat superstition and stop fraud by monks. Finally, Zhou Shizong took measures to reorganize the forbidden army and improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
He recognized the need for a constant number of new forces to join the army and the need to reduce the number of people who were unfit to serve in the army. Therefore, he decided to expand the ** forbidden army, select and promote the elite soldiers in the forbidden army, and make the army more elite and powerful.
In general, these measures of Zhou Shizong had a positive impact on the development of both the state and the army in the later Zhou period.
Original text: At the same time, warriors were recruited throughout the country, even those who lived in the mountains, forests and grasslands, pardoned them, and sent them to the capital city of Daliang, where Sejong personally inspected and selected those who were "superior in martial arts and second to none" to join the forbidden army.
Then, the surrendered soldiers were incorporated into the army, such as the surrender army of the Northern Han Dynasty into the Xiaoshun Army, the surrender army of Houshu into the Huaien Army, and the surrender army of the Southern Tang Dynasty was divided into 6 commands, a total of 30, giving the title of the Huaide Army.
Later Zhou also sent the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army back to their places of origin. The Later Jin and Later Han handed over the forbidden army to the management of the Guards Division, and the military power was too centralized and easy to cause turmoil. In the second year of Guangshun, in addition to guarding the pro-army, Taizu of Later Zhou established the front army of the palace, and Li Chongjin served as the commander of the front of the palace.
At the critical moment of the Battle of Gaoping, the guards were ineffective, but due to the heroic battles of the generals such as Zhang Yongde, Ma Renyu, and Ma Quanyi, the commander of the palace, they finally turned the corner and won a great victory.
Sejong then ordered Zhao Kuangyin to choose people with "excellent martial arts" and appoint them as the classes in front of the palace, so they have the titles of loose members, scattered commanders, inner hall straight, scattered heads, iron horses, and control cranes.
The army in front of the palace was supplemented with a large number of strong men, and the team expanded rapidly, and the guards and pro-army undertook the military tasks of staying and going out to fight, so that the ** forbidden army exerted greater military power.
Five generations inherited the system of the Tang Dynasty, and the problem of soldiers was very serious. This is an important reason for the many defeats in battles and frequent unrest. As soon as the Battle of Gaoping ended, Sejong planned to strictly enforce military discipline, and with the support of Zhang Yongde, the commander of the palace, he executed all the more than 70 defeated generals such as Fan Aineng and He Hui.
After that, the Later Zhou guards and infantry troops commanded Li Jixun and Wu Ning Jiedu to make Wu Xingde fail in the Huainan battle, and Zhou Shizong demoted them and transferred them from the Huainan front. Sejong also repeatedly ordered that the army was not allowed to enter the houses and villages of the people while marching and fighting, and that it was not allowed to trample on the people's fields and harm the crops, and that those who violated military discipline would be punished by military law and discipline.
Military generals Zhao Chao, Bai Yanyu and others plundered other people's wives and daughters in Yangzhou, and were executed by Xiang Xun, the envoy of the Later Zhou Huainan Festival. In order to strictly enforce military discipline, Zhou Shizong not only punished the dereliction of duty of the generals, but also rewarded the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions in battle.
Dozens of people, including Li Chongjin, Xiang Xun, Zhang Yongde, and Zhao Kuangyin, who made meritorious contributions in the Battle of Gaoping, were promoted. Even soldiers with relatively young qualifications but who have made meritorious contributions in combat are "promoted to the main army and the chamber on their own" and become the commander of the army or the chamber.
Cui Yanjin was just an ordinary soldier in the early days of the founding of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and because of his meritorious participation in the battles of Huainan and the Northern Expedition to Khitan, he was promoted to the commander of the scattered Du Yuhou and the eastern and western classes in less than five or six years.
In this way, the promotion of personnel according to the size of their military merits has aroused the enthusiasm of the vast number of officers and men to participate in the war. In terms of national defense construction, Zhou Shizong mainly strengthened the defense of the Liao State and the Northern Han Dynasty.
Zhou Shizong attached great importance to the defense of the Hebei region, and he personally looked at the map and made a plan, and sent famous generals such as Wang Yanchao and Han Tong to make Han Tong and soldiers dredge the Hulu River, set up the Jing'an Army, and left troops to defend it to prevent the Khitan army from attacking south.
He also appointed Guo Chong as the envoy of the Chengde Festival and Fu Yanqing as the envoy of the Tianxiong Festival, guarding Weizhou and Zhenzhou, forming an interconnected defense system, which effectively prevented the Khitan army from attacking south, and also facilitated the Later Zhou to draw troops to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Through political, economic, military and other reform measures, Zhou Shizong greatly strengthened the strength of the Later Zhou Dynasty and made the country prosperous. He once wrote to Emperor Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty that in the Later Zhou Dynasty, "he was good at the wealth of 100 states, held 300,000 armored soldiers, and cultivated agricultural warfare, and the soldiers were happy to use it..."The soldiers are not tired, and the people have spare strength."
These measures made a great deal of preparation for the war to unify the whole country in the coming weeks. Although the Later Zhou Dynasty was not established for a long time, its reform measures were positive, opening the way and laying the foundation for the unification and reform of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Among them, the measures of centralizing power in ** were positive at the time, but after entering the Song Dynasty, due to the accumulation of long-term disadvantages, they were transformed into negative things. However, the reform of the coming week is of positive significance for promoting the development of the country and the progress of society.
Although the Song dynasty succeeded in unifying the interior, it was slightly inferior to the Later Zhou in spirit, which may have something to do with the insight of the founding monarch.