A typical example of Emperor Xiaowen's reform in the Northern Wei Dynasty

Luoyang was a political and military town during the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Luoyang became the capital and the largest commercial center in the Central Plains during the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Luoyang was severely damaged. After Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor in 220 AD, tens of thousands of residents moved from Hebei and other places to enrich Luoyang and rebuild Luoyang Miyagi and Outer City on the basis of Han Palace. With the gradual unification of the northern region, Luoyang's economy has also been restored and developed. The silk weaving industry, salt industry and iron smelting industry in Luoyang City are relatively developed, and the business is gradually flourishing. There are three main markets in this city: gold market, horse market and sheep market. After the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty, with Luoyang as the capital, the population increased greatly and became the national trade center. The Luoyang market sells precious commodities from all over the country, from silk, grain, medicinal materials, utensils to production tools. The rebellion of the Eight Kings in the Western Jin Dynasty caused great damage to the economy in the hinterland of Luoyang. In 3 10, Liu Yao, a Xiongnu, attacked Luoyang and plundered it. Luoyang was destroyed by the war again. After the Yongjia Rebellion, the sixteen countries were devastated for more than a hundred years.

Emperor Xiaowen of Wei was a politically successful man. He believes that in order to consolidate the rule of Wei Dynasty, it is necessary to absorb the culture of the Central Plains and reform some backward customs. To this end, he decided to move the capital from Pingcheng (now northeast of Datong City, Shanxi Province) to Luoyang. He was afraid that ministers would oppose the idea of moving the capital, and first proposed a massive attack on Nanqi. Once in court, he put forward this plan, and ministers opposed it. The most intense one was Ren Tuoba Cheng. Emperor Xiaowen was angry and said, "The country is my country. Do you want to stop me from fighting? " Tuoba Cheng retorted: "Although the country belongs to your Majesty, I am the minister of the country, and I know the danger of using troops. How can I not talk about it?" After thinking for a moment, Emperor Xiaowen announced his retirement from the DPRK and returned to the palace. He summoned Tuoba Cheng alone and said to him, "To tell you the truth, I was angry with you just now to scare everyone. What I really mean is that I think Pingcheng is a place where soldiers are used and it is not suitable for political reform. Now I want to change the customs, but I have to move the capital. In fact, I want to take this opportunity to lead the civil and military officials to move to the Central Plains. What do you think? "

TaBaCheng suddenly enlighted, immediately agreed with Wei Xiaowen.

In 493 AD, Emperor Xiaowen personally led more than 300,000 infantry and cavalry south, starting from Pingcheng and arriving in Luoyang. It happened that the autumn rain lasted for a whole month, and the roads were muddy everywhere, making it difficult to March. However, Emperor Xiaowen still rode out of the city wearing a helmet and armour and ordered to continue marching. Ministers didn't want to send troops to cut Qi, so they took advantage of the heavy rain to stop it. Emperor Xiaowen said seriously: "This time, if you choose to mobilize the masses, if you give up halfway, it will be a joke for future generations. If you can't go south, move the capital here. What do you think? "

Everyone looked at each other and said nothing. Emperor Xiaowen said: "You can't hesitate. The station that agrees to move the capital is on the left, and the station that disagrees is on the right. " A nobleman said, "As long as your majesty agrees to stop the expedition to the south, then we are willing to move the capital to Luoyang." Although many civil and military officials are not in favor of moving the capital, they have heard that the southern expedition can be stopped and have to express their support for moving the capital. Emperor Xiaowen arranged one end of Luoyang and sent Wang Cheng Tuoba Cheng back to Pingcheng to publicize the benefits of moving the capital to the princes and nobles there. Later, he personally went to Pingcheng, and called the nobles and the old ministers to discuss the relocation of the capital. There are still many voices of opposition among the nobles of Pingcheng. They moved out one reason after another and were refuted by Emperor Xiaowen. Finally, those people really couldn't figure it out and had to say, "Moving the capital is a big deal. Whether it is bad luck or bad luck, let's divine. " Emperor Xiaowen said: "Divination is to solve difficult things." There is no doubt about moving the capital. There is nothing to worry about. If you want to rule the world, make the four seas your home. There is no fixed reason for going south today and going north tomorrow. Besides, we moved several times in the last generation. Why can't I move? "Noble ministers were rendered speechless by refutation, so it was decided to move the capital to Luoyang. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he decided to further reform the old customs and habits. On one occasion, he discussed state affairs with ministers. He said, "Do you think it is better to change the customs or stick to the rules? Tuoba Xi, the king of Xianyang, said, "Of course, it is good to change customs." . "Emperor Xiaowen said," Then I will announce the reform, and no one can violate it. "Then, Emperor Xiaowen announced several decrees: it is more difficult for people over the age of 30 to change their words, so they can go slow. At present, all those under the age of 30 who are officials in the imperial court must change their words into Chinese, and those who violate this rule will be demoted or dismissed; It is stipulated that all officials and people should wear Han clothes; Encourage Xianbei people to intermarry with Han gentry and adopt Han surname. The northern Wei royal family was originally named Tuoba, and later changed its surname to Yuan. Emperor Xiaowen's name is Justin, which is the surname of Han nationality. The drastic reform of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei made the political economy of the Northern Wei Dynasty develop greatly, and further promoted the integration of Xianbei and Han nationality.

After Emperor Xiaowen moved to Luoyang, he began the second stage of reform. The focus of the reform is to change the original living customs of the Xianbei people who moved in and promote the Xianbei people to actively accept Chinese culture. The main contents of the reform are as follows: 1. Yi Xianbei's clothing is Hanfu. In the 19th year of Taihe (495), when Emperor Xiaowen met his ministers in Guangjitang, he was given a crown by the class, which was a concrete implementation measure to change the official uniform of Yi Xianbei into that of Han nationality. 2. Officials are required to use Chinese in court, and Xianbei language is prohibited. Xianbei language is called "northern language" and Chinese is called "sound". Emperor Xiaowen said, "Now I'm going to cut off all the languages in the north, and I'll listen to the correct pronunciation. Xianbei officials over the age of 30 should gradually speak Chinese in court, and Xianbei officials under the age of 30 should immediately speak Chinese in court. Anyone who deliberately speaks Xianbei will be demoted and dismissed from office. 3. Xianbei people who moved to Luoyang should take Luoyang as their native place after death and should not be buried in Pingcheng. Fourthly, the original surname of Xianbei nobles was changed to Han surname, and the family hierarchy was set. The changed Han surname shall be based on the surname with similar pronunciation to the original Xianbei surname. For example, Tuoba changed to yuanshi county County, which is the highest family level; In addition, Qiu Muling changed his surname to Mu, Bu Liugu changed his surname to Lu, He Lai changed his surname to He, Du Gu changed his surname to Liu, He Lou changed his surname to Lou, Yu changed his surname to Ji and Wei Chi changed his surname to Wei. The social status of big noble is equal to that of Cui, Lu, Zheng and Wang, the highest families in the north. The surnames of other Xianbei nobles with lower grades were also changed to Han surnames, and their grades were equivalent to those of ordinary Han gentry. In addition, Emperor Xiaowen also actively encouraged Xianbei royal family and nobles to intermarry with Han gentry and establish political marriage, thus strengthening the national integration of Han and Xianbei.

Changing customs and customs and national integration

The salary system replaced the wage system. Officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty were not paid, and the central officials got the property and households obtained in the war according to their grades. Local officials can arbitrarily collect and embezzle as long as they pay the adjustment of rated rent. The old family adjustment was: two silks, two catties of wadding, one catty of silk and twenty stone grains. Some counties only produce linen, so they give each household a piece of silk and store it in the national treasury as an agent for the government to exchange cloth and silk. Some businessmen took advantage of this. In 484 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of Wei issued an imperial edict: "It starts with salary, ends with merchants, and is handed over to civil affairs. The household will add three silks and nine buckets of grain, which will be regarded as the reward of the lawsuit. It's all preset by two horses, that is, it's also commercial. ..... after the line, that one full of horses died. " In 485 AD, the "Tian Jun Ordinance" stipulated that "all the officials who slaughtered the people were given public lands everywhere, with 15 hectares of secretariat, 10 hectares of satrap, 8 hectares of magistrate, and 6 hectares of county orders." Pay for each other. The seller sat like a lawyer. "Let the wind of corruption formed since the founding of the People's Republic of China converge.

Replace the suzerain supervision and protection system with the three-system system. At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, due to the long-term war in the north, the grass-roots administrative institutions collapsed, and there appeared a dock fort with patriarchal clan system as the link and integrating military, political and economic affairs. The landlord of the dock has jurisdiction over the small and medium-sized landlords, many farmers and some tenants who come to attach themselves to it. At the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the director of Wubao was supervised and protected by the patriarch, so there were many people hiding, with fifty or thirty households as one household. In 486 AD, the three-long system was implemented, with five neighbors, five neighbors and one mile long, and five miles long. Responsible for supervising household registration, urging and supervising tax collection, levying corvee and military service, and implementing the land equalization system, so as to improve the grass-roots administrative institutions below the county level. Make the country's administrative system from the central to the grassroots more perfect.

Implement an equal land system. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, due to the large amount of land occupied by tyrannical landlords, many farmers could not get land, so they either turned to private doors and became hermits of tyrannical landlords, or gathered in Shanze to rebel. The increase of hidden households has reduced the state's taxes and taxes. Farmers' resistance shook the rule of the country. In order to alleviate this social contradiction, Emperor Xiaowen promulgated the Order of Land Equalization in 485 AD: "Those who are more than 15 acres of men are exposed to the field, and those who are 20 acres of women are good. Niu Ding got 30 acres of land at one end. Limited to four cows. The rate of land grant is doubled, and the three beneficial fields are doubled again, so that they can be cultivated, profitable and contracted ... "Tian Jun Ling was the further development and nationwide promotion of the land grant and land grant system in Pingcheng, the old capital in the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The land equalization system did not touch the land ownership of feudal landlords. Its essence is to bind farmers to the land and force them to cultivate the land under the premise of protecting the interests of Xianbei nobles and Han landlords, so as to increase the income of rent adjustment and the source of corvee in feudal countries. Ling affirmed the owner's possession of cultivated land in the form of law, and some farmers who had no land or less land also got some wasteland. So as to stabilize social order and promote production development.

While implementing the three-length system, the Northern Wei Dynasty also promulgated a new rent modulation, stipulating that a husband and a woman should give a silk horse and millet stone every year; 65438+14 unmarried men and women over 05 years old, 8 handmaiden engaged in farming and weaving, and 20 yellow cattle, with the same rent as monogamy. Because monogamy is a collection unit, it limits the corruption and bribery of patriarchs to a certain extent, and the burden of ordinary farmers is slightly reduced. Diaspora farmers were forced to settle down, and many black households left the patriarch. State tax accounts and rental income have increased.

The reform of Emperor Xiaowen in the Northern Wei Dynasty made a positive contribution to the historical development of China's unified multi-ethnic country and had a far-reaching impact. Although the Xianbei ethnic group no longer exists as a nation, it has merged with the Han nationality, just under a different name.

From a long-term historical point of view, this historical relic is only the end of Tuoba's activities in China during the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 220 AD, when the First Empire of Qin and Han Dynasties collapsed and the Second Empire of Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties did not rise, this minority made basic work for the reunification of China. Moreover, at a delicate stage, a mysterious woman is in charge. It can be seen that the evolution of history is sometimes unfathomable. It's just a long-term rationality in history, not what people predicted at that time. It will take us thousands of years to connect some seemingly unrelated stories.

In 369 years after the demise of the Han Dynasty, China could not be unified. On that day, the population always moved from north to south and from west to east, and most Han people could not compete with the forces carried by nature. Although the northern minorities are good at cavalry tactics, they can't cross the Huaihe River and Hanjiang River in Shui Ze. Moreover, the way of life of nomadic people can't be used as an example to unify China. The great empire of Qin and Han dynasties ruled a large number of small farmers by bureaucrats, but during the split period, the huge family of Han people and the chieftain of Yidi started their own businesses, which hindered the authority of the government to collect taxes from the whole people. In addition, the different languages of various ethnic groups also create obstacles to reunification.

Tuoba GUI broke the deadlock. The reason why they can do this is not because of their high cultural level, but because of their simple human feelings. They can start from the most basic career and solve problems with their own original style, so they have unexpectedly become a tool for the reunification of China.