The banner of "retro" is for the purpose of political reform, but the implementation of the "Huhua" policy is actually for the sake of national integration. The Western Wei Dynasty and the Yuwen regimes of the Northern Zhou Dynasty followed such seemingly opposite political trajectories. After the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Western Wei regime controlled by Yuwentai occupied the Guanzhong region, and the land was narrow and the troops were few, making it difficult to compete with the Eastern Wei controlled by the Gao clan.
In order to ensure that Guanzhong would pass through Hedong and unify the north, Yuwentai and his heirs, with the help of the Han scholar class, implemented a set of Guanlong area as the base, integrated the Xianbei leaders and the Han scholars as the Guanlong standard ruling group, adhered to the national integration route of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and conformed to the historical trend of the great integration of the northern ethnic groups.
Like the Gao rulers of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi regimes, the Yuwen rulers of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes also started from the soldiers of the Six Towns in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to historical records, Yuwentai's nickname is Black Otter, and his ancestors are the Huns of the Danyu tribe in southeast Liaoning, and his original surname is "Tong Fen", which means "grass", and later the pronunciation was changed to "Yuwen".
At the end of the Sixteen Kingdoms, this Xiongnu tribe was broken by the Xianbei Murong Department, and his eighth ancestor led 500 horsemen to defect to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and was moved to Wuchuan Town, Dai County by Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty as a border guard, and the descendants gradually became Xianbei tribesmen. In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the soldiers of the Six Towns rebelled, and Yuwentai's father led his troops to participate in the melee, and was later moved to Zhongshan for resettlement. Soon after, the Hebei Uprising occurred, Yuwentai's father was killed, and Yuwentai was appointed as a general by Ge Rong, the leader of the Hebei Rebel Army. After Ge Rong was defeated by Er Zhurong, Yuwentai moved to Jinyang with the army.
In 530, Yuwentai followed his commander He Bayue into Guanzhong to quell the rebellious army led by Wan Qian Chounu and gained a firm foothold in the Guanzhong region. Four years later, He Bayue was attacked and killed by the rebels instigated by Gao Huan, and the generals of Guanzhong pushed Yu Wentai as the leader to pacify the rebels, and welcomed Emperor Wei Xiaowu, who fled to Guanzhong, and confronted Gao Huan.
However, a few months later, Emperor Xiaowu clashed with Yuwentai, who killed Emperor Xiaowu and set up the imperial Yuan Bao Torch who followed Emperor Xiaowu into the customs as the emperor. Under the coercion of Yuwentai's force, Yuan Bao Torch did not dare to act rashly, and he was an empty emperor for 17 years, known as Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty. Yuwentai monopolized power in the name of prime minister and created the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes.
The Guanzhong region occupied by Yuwentai has been war-torn for a long time, and in terms of economic strength, it is really incomparable to the Hedong region occupied by Gao Huan. In terms of political appeal, Yuwentai poisoned Emperor Xiaowu, and compared with Gao Huan forcing Emperor Xiaowu to change his name, it was not justifiable, and he could not hold high the banner of "King Qin" to order the loyal ministers and filial sons of the former Northern Wei royal family.
In terms of the appeal of national culture, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes did not occupy any advantages, and they were not as good as Gao's Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in Xianbei, and they were not as good as Southern Liang in terms of Han culture. From a military point of view, most of the hundreds of thousands of fierce and warlike soldiers of the Six Towns are under Gao Huan's command, and Yuwentai's department is just a partial division of the Six Towns Army, with no more than 100,000 horses.
Moreover, most of the Xianbei soldiers are in Hedong, and many of the soldiers of the six towns who followed the Hebayue Pass are Han people, and the famous generals under the command of Yuwentai such as Ko Luo, Li Bi, Zhao Gui, Yang Zhong (the father of Emperor Wen of Sui), Li Hu (the grandfather of Tang Gaozu), Wei Xiaokuan, Li Xian, Li Yuan, etc., are all Han people, but most of them have been soldiers or petty officers in the six towns in their ancestors, and to a certain extent, they have been Xianbei. At that time, the Han people were considered to be not good at fighting, for example, when Gao Huan once fought, the Israeli general Gao Aocao was mostly Han Chinese, saying that "the Han people are afraid that it will not help", and they should increase the reinforcements of Xianbei soldiers.
In 534, after the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasty were officially **, a fierce war broke out between the two sides. Gao Huan first frequently lured the Xianbei generals of the Western Wei Dynasty to lead the army to defect, and sent his generals to harass him. In 536, there was a great famine in the Guanzhong area, and it is said that it reached the point of cannibalism, and there was a good chance that seven or eight out of ten would die.
Gao Huan launched an offensive in the second year, and the troops were divided into three routes: Gao Aocao attacked Shangluo all the way, Dou Tai attacked Tongguan all the way, and Gao Huan himself led a large army to gather in Pujin to build a pontoon bridge, threatening to force the Yellow River to cross. Yuwentai gathered his army in Guangyang, opposite Pujin. He analyzed that Gao Huan's way was actually a bluff, and in order to deal with Dou Tai's direct attack on Chang'an, he was determined to defeat Dou Tai first. However, his generals objected, saying that the enemy army in the vicinity would attack from afar, and if there was a mistake, the whole army would be annihilated. Yu Wentai said: "Last year, the enemy army came to invade twice, but our army did not attack, and the enemy thought that our army would only defend itself, and our army would be able to win by surprise. So he led 6,000 light cavalry to the south quickly, and really annihilated more than 10,000 elite soldiers of Dou Tai's department in one fell swoop, and Dou Tai was killed. This army is Gao Huan's main force, once annihilated, the Eastern Wei army is all frightened and withdraws one after another.
Yuwentai took advantage of the situation to launch ** and went out to occupy Hengnong. Gao Huan immediately led an army of 100,000 to cross the Yellow River from Pujin and attack the hinterland of Guanzhong. Yuwentai led the army into the pass, the two sides met in Shayuan, the Western Wei army set up an ambush in the reeds, invited the Eastern Wei army, won more with less, captured more than 70,000 people of the Eastern Wei army, seized a large number of military supplies, Gao Huan escaped overnight to avoid being a prisoner.
Yuwentai ordered to attack in three ways, all the way to Luoyang, all the way south to Jingzhou, and all the way to cross the Yellow River into the Fenhe River Valley. Even the battle was victorious, and Luoyang was captured. Gao Huan concentrated his forces to cross the Yellow River south to fight for East Luoyang, and the two sides fought in the mountains near Luoyang, and the Western Wei Department was defeated first and then won, killing the famous Eastern Wei general Gao Ao Cao and his department 1More than 50,000 people. However, the Western Wei army also suffered heavy losses, and the generals led their troops back one after another. Yuwentai dispatched this time, there were very few troops left in Guanzhong, and the prisoners of war in the original Shayuan Battle took the opportunity to rebel, and Guanzhong was in chaos.
Zi Wentai hurriedly led the main force back to Guanzhong, and it took a lot of effort to suppress the rebellion of the prisoners of war. In the next few years of the war, the two sides still won and lost each other, especially in 543 the two sides fought in the mountain again, the Western Wei army lost in the first day of the battle, Yuwentai was almost captured, the second day the Eastern Wei army was defeated first, Gao Huan also suffered an accident, fortunately in the afternoon the Eastern Wei army attacked smoothly, the Western Wei army was defeated, Gao Huan led the army to chase fiercely, and hit Tongguan in one breath, but for fear of being ambushed again, the troops were collected outside the pass.
The two battles of Bishan show that the military strength of the Western Wei is inferior to that of the Eastern Wei, especially the lack of troops, which makes it difficult to fight for a long time. Faced with these unfavorable factors, the rulers of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou took a series of measures to strive for the initiative.
Because for warlord regimes like Gao Huan and Yuwentai, military issues were of vital importance, so Yuwentai's reform was carried out with the military as the center.
It turned out that the traditional military system of the Northern Wei Dynasty was a tribal military system, and the Xianbei and other ethnic minorities who were incorporated by the Xianbei regime were "all soldiers", while the Han people generally did not undertake military service, that is, the so-called "separation of soldiers and peasants" system, and only a small number of Xianbei Han people were hereditary soldiers.
After years of fighting, the veterans of the six towns brought to Guanzhong by He Bayue and Yuwentai were completely lost, and if the traditional Xianbei tribe and the hereditary military system of the Xianbei tribe of the Northern Wei Dynasty were not reformed, it would be impossible to occupy a favorable position in the war with the Eastern Wei Dynasty. In view of this, in 542, Yuwentai, with the help of the Guanzhong Han scholar group, implemented the government military system, which carried out a major reform of the traditional military system since the Northern Wei Dynasty.
At first, the government military system was also a professional military system with the separation of soldiers and peasants, but the ** of its soldiers was not divided according to nationality like the Northern Wei Dynasty, but in the Guanzhong area, the household class (the household class is according to the level of household assets, as the basis for taxation) in the sixth class and above the middle and upper households to conscript, where the middle and upper households have more than 3 sons, they must choose the "Kui Jian material strength" as the government soldiers.
Especially after the defeat in the Second Battle of Bishan in 543, Yuwentai ordered to "recruit Guan Longhao right to increase the army and brigade", so that the Han people became the main ** of the government soldiers. When he became a government soldier, he was exempted from all his own military service, separated from the general household registration, and joined the independent household registration of the government soldiers. In the middle of each month, half a month of vigilance patrols, and half a month of exercises.
The command and command system of the government soldiers is as follows: the Western Wei court set up 8 "Zhu State Generals", of which Yuan Xin only has symbolic significance as a representative of the imperial family, and Yu Wentai himself "supervises the foreign army" is the supreme commander.
The remaining 6 Zhuguo generals are Li Hu, Li Bi, Dugu Xin, Zhao Gui, Yu Jin, Hou Mo Chen Chong, each Zhuguo general has two generals, each general has two Kaifu generals, and each Kaifu general leads an army, a total of 6 Zhuguo, 12 generals, and 24 Kaifu (24 Army).
The military system is not a purely military system. The real purpose of Yuwentai is to create a ruling group that is different from the warlord group of the Xianbei people of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Han scholar group of the Southern Liang Dynasty, which is both civil and military, and closely united.
For this reason, he stipulated that all the generals who followed the customs would change their nationality to Guannei, and communicate with each other with the surnames of the scholars in Guanzhong. In order to eliminate the ethnic estrangement between the Xianbei and other ethnic minorities and the Han nationality, Yuwentai also advocated the Hu and Han families, and he "unified the country" according to the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Three. Ten. Sixth, the surname ninety-nine", after the generals with outstanding military achievements were awarded the thirty-six countries, the second-class meritorious ones were named ninety-nine surnames, and the Han generals were all named according to the surnames of the meritorious **. For example, Li Hu was changed to Daye, Yang Zhong was changed to Pu Liuru, Li Bi was changed to Tuhe, Wang Xiong was changed to Kepin, and so on.
The Xianbei and other ethnic minorities who had changed their surnames to Han during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty all changed their surnames back to their original surnames. The eight-pillar state system of the government soldiers is modeled after the Xiongnu and Xianbei people's early "eight masters" and "eight kingdom lords" and was created, according to the tradition of the tribal military system of ethnic minorities, all soldiers must change to the surname of the main general.
In this way, the Han generals and soldiers were transformed into Xianbei tribesmen, and the court officials also used Xianbei costumes. Therefore, on the surface, the generals of the government soldiers are all Hu people, and all the soldiers who recruit people will become Xianbei people. Contrary to Emperor Xiaowen's policy of ethnic integration of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Yuwentai realized the "Hu and Han family" by turning the Han into Hu.
In addition to changing his nationality and surname, Yuwentai also gave land and slaves to the generals of the government, so that they could settle down in Guanzhong and truly become a wealthy family in Guanzhong. The transformation of the Han people into the Hu people is supposed to lead to the intensification of ***, but in fact, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes of the Yuwen clan have the full support of the Han scholar group in Guanzhong, and there has been no violent conflict between the two sides.
This is because Yuwen's Huhua policy is actually only a superficial phenomenon, it can be said that he is in the form of Huhua to promote Sinicization, his Huhua policy only stays at the surface level such as surnames, clothing and military titles, etc., and in terms of politics, culture and other deeper policies, he is promoting a Sinicization policy.
First of all, Yuwentai tried his best to attract the Han Haoqiang in Guanzhong to join the ruling group, and retained their various privileges, especially allowing them to retain private armed forces, and unified the private armed forces into township soldiers, with the most prestigious local Haoqiang serving as the "township marshal" and commanding the township soldiers in a unified manner. The township soldiers maintained local law and order in peacetime, and were recruited to fight on the front line when there was a major war, becoming the reserve source of the Yuwen regime.
The township marshal can concurrently serve as the general of the government soldiers if he has military merits, and the generals of the government soldiers can also lead the township soldiers.
For example, Su Chun, a son of the Su clan of the martial arts family, served in the military, and was later assigned to Hongnong County, Yuwentai commanded the township soldiers in order to command the township soldiers with his fame, and ordered the post station to quickly send a message and chase him back as the commander of Yongzhou Township. Later, Su Chun led the township soldiers to make military achievements in suppressing the rebellion of the Di people, increasing the number of governors and generals of the government soldiers.
Another example is Lantian Haoqiang Wang Yue, when Yuwentai entered the customs, he led the private soldiers in the township to participate in the war, and repeatedly made military exploits, and in the first battle of Bishan, he led more than 1,000 township soldiers to the battlefield to participate in the battle, and after the war, he led the township soldiers to expedition to Liangzhou. Shangluo Haoqiang Quanqi, Quan Yuanli and his son led the township soldiers to defend Tongguan many times and defeated the invading army of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.
And the generals brought into Guanzhong by Ziwen Qin can also organize township soldiers in the areas where they are given their hometowns, and mingle with the heroes of Guanzhong. Yuwentai extensively recruited the nobles of Guanzhong to join the Western Wei regime to serve in official positions, so that they had the right to hold office. In order to eliminate the ethnic estrangement in the first ranks, the policy of turning Han into Hu was also implemented, and excellent civil officials were also given the surnames of the Xianbei people, such as Liu Qing was famous for his uprightness and good at judging doubtful cases, and was appreciated by Yuwentai and given the surname Yuwen; Shen Hui is good at officials, has outstanding achievements in governing local states and counties, and also gives the surname Yuwen; The old minister Kou Sui is known for his incorruptibility, and he is given the surname Ruokou Yin; Zhao Su has been a judge for a long time, enforces the law fairly, and gives the surname Yifushi.
Second, Yuwentai called for the restoration of the political and cultural traditions of the Western Zhou Dynasty in an attempt to counter the Xianbei tendencies of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, and at the same time surpass the Wei and Jin cultures inherited by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Xiao Liang of the Southern Dynasty. This measure has won the support of the Han scholars and greatly enhanced the self-confidence of the scholars in the Guanzhong area.
Soon after Yuwentai entered the customs, according to the recommendation of the Han bureaucrats, he recruited Su Sui, a representative of the martial arts surname. Su Sui told him about the traditional way of the emperor and the art of the Legalist Shen Han, and Yu Wentai was deeply impressed and took Su Sui as the main strategist. Su Yu formulated a complete administrative system for the Yuwen regime, such as the format of various official documents, the rules for reporting and issuance, the household registration system, the statistical verification system, and so on. And streamlined**, the implementation of Tuntian.
In the year when Yuwentai established the Western Wei regime, Su Sui formulated the "Six Edicts", namely: "governing the mind and body" (requiring ** to clean oneself), "Dun Enlightenment" (requiring ** to educate the people with Confucian etiquette, in fact, there is also a hidden meaning of using Han tradition to transform the customs and habits of ethnic minorities such as the Xianbei people), "do your best" (develop agriculture), "promote virtuous and virtuous" (recommend useful talents, especially emphasize that there is no limit to electing talents), "compassionate prison" (prudent justice), "equal service" (average service burden), as all levels of ** principles of governance. Yuwentai stipulates that local governors at all levels are not allowed to be officials if they do not understand the "six edicts" and do not know how to count account books. Yuwentai also ordered Su Xuan to imitate the style of the Confucian classic "Shangshu Da Huo" (the content is the admonition of the Duke of Zhou to his subjects) to write the "Great Message" to declare the ministers, requiring the courtiers' writing style to imitate the "Great Message", in an attempt to sweep away the flashy literary style since the Wei and Jin dynasties.
He also ordered Zhao Su, the court commander, to formulate a legal code in accordance with the "Zhou Li". The government military system is actually a transformation of the Xianbei tribe military system, but Yuwentai has covered it with a coat of the Western Zhou system, claiming to be modeled after the Western Sixth Army system recorded in the "Zhou Li", and each Zhuguo general leads an army. Yuwentai also ordered Su Sui to design a state system for him that followed the "Zhou Li" and abolished the old system of the Han and Wei dynasties.
Su Sui died of illness before it could be completed, and Yuwentai instructed the Confucian master Lu Wei to continue to formulate it. In 548, the Western Wei court set up official positions according to the theory of "Zhou Li", with Yuwentai as the Taishi, Yuanxin as the Taifu of the imperial Guangling Wang, Li Bi as the great Zongbo, Zhao Gui as the Great Sikou, and Yu Jin as the Great Sikong.
By the end of 556, it was completed, and it was promulgated nationwide. The imperial court set up three dukes (Taishi, Taifu, Taibao), Sangu (Shaoshi, Shaofu, Shaobao), and Liuqing (Tianguan Tsukazai, Diguan Situ, Chunguan Zongbo, Xia Guan Sima, Autumn Guan Sikou, and Winter Guan Sikong), and abolished official positions such as Han and Wei Prime Ministers, Shangshu, and Zhongshu. **Divided into 4 levels: Gong, Qing, Doctor, and Scholar, and the court etiquette and car service system are also formulated in accordance with the "Zhou Rites".
The restoration of the Western Zhou system and etiquette has important symbolic significance, which can not only unite the Han scholars in Guanzhong, the homeland of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also psychologically defeat the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi and Southern Liang who followed the Han and Wei systems.
Of course, Yuwentai and his advisers Su Xuan, Lu Wei and others are not nerds, they are by no means retro for the sake of retro, retro is just a means, or even just a disguise, for example, the local system still retains the county system, and the selection of ** is also an old example since the Han and Wei dynasties, and does not adopt the hereditary system of the Western Zhou Dynasty at all, and emphasizes that the election of officials is not limited to the qualifications, and the nine-product Zhongzheng system since the Wei and Jin dynasties is also different.
Through these measures, Yuwentai quickly united the Tu Haoqiang in Guanzhong and the soldiers of the original six towns in Renguan, and formed a relatively stable Hao clan ruling group, which was called "Guanlong standard group" according to the name of modern historian Chen Yinke. As a result, the Western Wei Dynasty greatly strengthened its political and military strength, and gradually gained the initiative in the wars with the Eastern Wei and the Northern Qi.
In 550, the Northern Qi Dynasty Wei, Yuwentai led the army to attack the Northern Qi, although he returned in vain, but the Northern Qi did not dare to **. In the next eight years, the Northern Qi developed northward, while the Western Wei marched southward, and no major wars broke out between the two sides.
Yuwentai died of illness in the year when the Western Zhou-style system was fully implemented, and his 15-year-old son Yuwenjue succeeded him, but the actual power fell into the hands of his nephew Yuwenhu. In the second year, Yuwen deposed Emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty, supported Yuwen Jue to ascend the throne of God (known as Emperor Zhou Xiaomin in history), and officially changed the dynasty.
The old ministers Dugu Xin and Zhao Gui who raised troops with Yuwentai were dissatisfied with Yuwenhu's arbitrariness, and conspired with Emperor Xiaomin to kill Yuwenhu, but Yuwenhu took the lead and killed Zhao Gui, exempted Duguxin from his official position, and abolished the little emperor, and set up Yuwentai's eldest son Yuwenyu as the emperor (known as Emperor Zhou Ming in history).
But in less than a year, Yuwen Hu felt that this emperor was not easy to deal with, so he first attacked strongly, sent people to poison Emperor Ming, and then set up Yuwentai's fourth son Yuwen Yong as the emperor (known as Emperor Wu of Zhou in history). The old minister Mo Chen Chongwei was dissatisfied, and was forced to commit suicide by Yuwen Hu. In this way, the original Six Pillars Kingdom was eliminated by Yuwen Hu. At the time of these events, the entire political situation in the Northern Zhou Dynasty was still quite stable, Yuwen governed the country in a proper way, and served as the Tianguan Tsukasa Zai, and also served as the governor of the Chinese and foreign military, and the other five secretaries were under his jurisdiction and monopolized power.
However, Yuwen Hu was short of military talent, in 564 he contacted the Turks to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty, and fought with the Northern Qi army in Pishan near Luoyang, because the order was unknown, the Zhou army was defeated, this battle, Lanling King Gao Changgong became famous all over the world, and Yuwen Hu could only retreat to Guanzhong in embarrassment. But the Turks burned and looted more than 700 miles in the territory of Northern Qi, and Northern Qi was also greatly damaged. The two sides negotiated an armistice and negotiated peace, and no longer used troops lightly.
Yuwen has been in power for more than 10 years, and Emperor Wu of Zhou has been holding back. In 572, Emperor Wu of Zhou summoned Yuwen Hu, and after discussing politics, he quoted Wen Hu to visit the Empress Dowager, and just as Yuwen Hu saluted the Empress Dowager, Emperor Wu of Zhou slammed Yuwen Hu's head with the jade plate of the previous dynasty and killed the powerful minister who threatened his life with his own hands. (Yuwen Hu should regret that he didn't wear a helmet in the court).
Emperor Wu of Zhou's killing of Yuwen Hu did not cause any turmoil within the imperial court, and from then on the powerful emperor himself took power. After further rectifying the government, Emperor Wu of Zhou personally deployed the strategy of conquest in 575: several sorties to disrupt the military deployment of the Northern Qi; The main force attacked Henan, and then waited for work, and fought a decisive battle with the main force of the Northern Qi, and after eliminating the main force of the Northern Qi in one fell swoop, it could sweep the entire territory of the Northern Qi. In that year, according to this deployment, it was divided into 4 ways to attack, advancing by land and water, and even the battle was successful, but when the main force of the Northern Qi Dynasty rushed to Henan to prepare for a decisive battle, Emperor Wu of Zhou suddenly fell seriously ill and had to order the retreat of the troops and give up the more than 30 cities captured.
The following year, Emperor Wu of Zhou led his army to make a comeback, and this time the main target was Pingyang, the old nest of the Gao group. After crossing the Yellow River, the Zhou army captured Pingyang in only 9 days. Emperor Wu of Zhou left 10,000 elite soldiers, and the famous general Liang Shiyan defended the city, and he led the army back to Guanzhong. The Empress of Qi of Northern Qi mobilized a large army to besiege Pingyang a month later, and held out for nearly a month, but failed to capture this isolated city. Emperor Wu of Zhou returned to Chang'an only one day after returning to the battlefield and returned to the battlefield with 80,000 elite soldiers, and the two sides fought a decisive battle near Pingyang.
Regardless of the fatigue of the soldiers, the queen of Qi attacked first, and when the attack failed, he panicked and fled the battlefield with dozens of cronies, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army. Emperor Wu of Zhou strictly ordered the generals to lead the army to pursue the victory. The queen of Qi fled to Jinyang, unable to fight again, and fled to Yedu. The generals of the Northern Qi Dynasty were pursued by the Northern Zhou army, and they had no fighting spirit and scattered one after another, and the city of Jinyang fell in only two days.
Emperor Wu of Zhou led the army to Yedu, and the Empress of Qi passed the throne to his 8-year-old son (known as the young lord of Qi in history), and continued to flee eastward. Emperor Wu of Zhou pursued relentlessly, and soon captured Yedu. Some members of the Northern Qi royal family fled into the northern Turkic territory, and the rest were captured alive by the Northern Zhou army. The battle launched by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty to destroy Qi only took more than 4 months before and after to occupy the entire territory of Beiquan and obtain 50 states, 162 counties, 382 counties, and 303250,000 households. Once again, the North was reunited.
After all, the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty could not fit the society after more than 1,000 years, especially the book "Zhou Li" on which the Northern Zhou Dynasty system was based was only an idealized recount of the Western Zhou ritual system by later Confucians, mixed with a large number of Confucian fantasies, and the system established according to this book was inevitably hindered and difficult to implement. Therefore, the Northern Zhou has always adopted a flexible approach and is not confined to the details of the system.
Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty has no longer strictly adhered to the system founded by Yuwentai, after the unification of the north, the orthodox status of the Central Plains Dynasty has been unbreakable, in order to fight for orthodoxy, unite the Han scholars of the Western Zhou name is also dispensable, so in the official system gradually mixed with the Wei and Jin systems inherited by the Northern Qi Dynasty, social systems such as the Juntian system and so on also turned to the Northern Qi system, in the core of Yuwentai's reform of the military system has also been made important adjustments.
In 574, Emperor Wu of Zhou ordered that all the soldiers of the prefecture should be changed to attendants directly subordinate to the emperor, obeying the emperor first and then the commander-in-chief, eliminating the traces of the Xianbei tribal soldiers. Emperor Wu of Zhou died of illness in the second year after the destruction of Qi, and the crown prince Yuwenyun ascended the throne (known as Emperor Xuan of Zhou in history). After Emperor Xuan of Zhou ascended the throne, he ordered the court costume to be changed to Han and Wei costumes. Emperor Xuan of Zhou was violent and lewd, and after only being emperor for more than a year, he abdicated the throne to his 8-year-old son Yuwen Yan (known as Emperor Jing of Zhou).
Yang Jian, a relative (grandfather of Emperor Jing of Zhou), was the prime minister of the capital of the internal and external military, took advantage of the situation to cut off dissidents, and mastered the power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. He ordered that all Han civil and military ** who were originally changed to the surname Hu should be changed back to their original surnames, and the soldiers of the government soldiers were also changed back to the Han surnames.
Yang Jian staged a coup d'état in 581 to ascend the throne (historically known as Emperor Wen of Sui) and established the Sui Dynasty. For the first time since the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a Han dynasty in the north that ruled all of the northern region, and the legitimacy was beyond doubt. Emperor Wen of Sui was able to completely break free from the shackles of the Western Zhou-style political system of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and continued the political tradition of the Han and Wei dynasties, and established a court system of 11 temples, including Shangshu, Menxia, Neishi (formerly Zhongshu, renamed to avoid the obscurity of Yang Zhong, the father of Emperor Wen of Sui), secretaries and internal servants, 2 imperial histories, 2 Dushui, and Taichang.
The reforms carried out by Yuwentai have been largely forgotten, but the government military system, which has been sinicized, is still retained. Emperor Wen of Sui also further transformed the original government military system with the separation of soldiers and peasants into a government military system with the integration of soldiers and peasants.
In 590, Emperor Wen of Sui issued an edict that all soldiers should be registered in their regions, incorporated into the state and county household registration, granted land like ordinary people, and rotated to perform military service drills or go on expeditions. Since the 16 Kingdoms, the privileged position of ethnic minority soldiers has been abolished, and the professional military system in order to adapt to the era of frequent wars has come to an end. The Sui dynasty relied on this army of peasants and soldiers to stabilize its northern borders, and in 589 it marched south, eliminating the Southern Chen and unifying all of China.
Although the reforms of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes centered on the government and military system had the appearance of "Huhua" and catered to the countercurrent of the warlords of the Six Towns who resented the reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty at that time, in fact, these reforms inherited the spirit of the reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and conformed to the general historical trend of the integration of various ethnic groups in the north, so the ruling foundation of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou regimes was relatively stable.
The Guanlong standard group, which was formed on the basis of the military system, was superior to the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi regimes and the Southern Liang regimes of the same period in all aspects of cultural governance and martial arts. So in the end, it was this group that unified China. The royal family of the Sui Dynasty and the royal family of the early Tang Dynasty both came from this group, which also created a prosperous era of Chinese feudal society.