In ancient China, emperors often used various tricks to maintain their rule. These tactics include not only domestic and foreign policies, military strategy, and political maneuvers, but also how to control courtiers, manage the people, and deal with various complex political situations. Let's talk about the very famous tricks of power in Chinese history:
1. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's Tui En Order.
After the establishment of the Han Dynasty by Liu Bang, Taizu of the Han Dynasty, the same surname of the king was used to maintain the surname Liu, and the clan surnamed Liu included Liu Bang's younger brother, son and nephew, etc., this way of sealing the same surname did maintain the surname Liu, but with the early blood relationship between the royal family and the clan and the emergence of the collateral succession of Emperor Wen of Han, the contradictions between the feudal states and the imperial court of the Han Dynasty became bigger and bigger, and then the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms broke out in Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, although the Han court finally won, but the threat of foreign vassals always existed. In order to completely solve the threat of feudal states to the imperial court, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the lord father Yan proposed the implementation of the Tui En Order, which established the succession system of princes and princes after the death of the princes, in addition to the eldest son inheriting the throne, other sons can also divide part of the land of the kingdom and become liehous, and the princes are under the jurisdiction of the county guard. This system seems to increase the inheritance rights of the princes who are not their sons-in-law, but in fact, it gradually divides the feudal state into many small states, and basically loses the threat to the imperial court. At the same time, the imperial court took advantage of the princes' "mistakes" and began to clean up some of the small princes, basically solving the threat of feudalism.
2. All dynasties and dynasties have had courtiers on two sides.
In addition to the normal system of rewards and punishments, emperors also used various political tricks to maintain their power. For example, they will install cronies and cultivate power in the imperial court in order to control more political resources. At the same time, they will also use various means to weaken or squeeze out their opponents, such as creating unjust, false and wrongful convictions, sowing discord, etc. These political maneuvers sometimes had some negative consequences, but they did help the emperors maintain their political advantage. The most interesting thing in this is that almost all dynasties have loyal ministers and traitors, and there are basically two opposing groups, in fact, such a structure is caused by the emperor. If the court is all harmonious, it is easy for a leading figure to influence the future of the court, which is the minister. In order to prevent a courtier from becoming bigger, the emperor chose to support the weaker side to inhibit the development of the stronger side, which caused a situation where loyal ministers said they were wronged and traitorous ministers had the final say. If the traitorous ministers become bigger, the emperor will have to find a way to rehabilitate the loyal ministers and suppress the traitorous ministers, forming a situation where one side is always supported and suppressed.
3. The imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty was divided into north and south lists.
In the 30th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, there was a "North and South List Case" that shocked the government and the opposition. That year, as a great Confucian, Liu Sanwu presided over the imperial examination and admitted more than 50 jinshi. After the list was announced, the northern candidates found that all the more than 50 people were southerners, and none of the northerners were on the list. In order to calm down ** and give an explanation to the northern scholars, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the establishment of a special case team to strictly investigate, but the results of this investigation believe that the level of candidates in the north is indeed inferior to that of candidates in the south, and there is no problem in admission. After Zhu Yuanzhang killed the two champions and a group of examiners, he announced that the results of the examination were invalid, re-examined the examination, personally graded the papers, and gave all 61 admission places to the northern candidates. Why? Because there are still forces of the Yuan Dynasty in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang wants to win the hearts of the people in the north. After this case, the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was divided into the southern list and the northern list, and the northern and southern candidates were divided into papers and admitted separately to ensure that there would not be a "one-sided" situation in Hongwu's 30 years. The nerd who presided over the exam did not know the holy will, and after Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the review of the examination papers, he still did not admit even a single northern candidate.
The art of the emperor is a very mysterious and important science, and it also involves many aspects such as people's hearts and human nature. The core of the art of the emperor is how to grasp power and maintain dominance, and use various means to achieve its own goals.