Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty built a prosperous era of virtue: it reached its peak in 43 years. Unfortunately, it was not unified, but it was the only prosperous era in the Northern Dynasti

Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty built a prosperous era of virtue: it reached its peak in 43 years. Unfortunately, it was not unified, but it was the only prosperous era in the Northern Dynasties.

If broken down, there are several states of prosperity. The first state is the preparation period before the prosperous age, such as the rule of Zhenguan and Yonghui before the prosperous age of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty. In this quasi-prosperous age, the social atmosphere is full of vitality and vitality. The second state is the heyday. Still taking the prosperous age of Kaiyuan as an example, the economy, politics, military, people's livelihood, and science and technology all reached their peak, and they were in the best state for the country and the people. The third state is the post-heyday period. The decline of Hanwu after the rule of Wenjing, the disaster of Tianbao after the prosperity of Kaiyuan, and the decline of Jiaqing in the second half of the prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong, the dynasty quietly slipped from its peak, and various contradictions and crises began to emerge. However, the entire society has become old. , unable to avert the crisis. It seems that everyone knows that the building is about to collapse, but they do not have the courage and ambition to stabilize the situation. The prosperous age of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty can be regarded as the first state: a quasi-prosperous age. 1. The unification of the north achieved after 43 years of bloody fighting. Emperor Wu of Zhou was a Xianbei noble. His father Yuwentai supported Emperor Xiaowu in 534, the last year of the Northern Wei Dynasty, to establish the Western Wei Dynasty, which was the predecessor of the Northern Zhou Empire. Yuwentai held the real power of the Western Wei Dynasty, but he did not usurp power and the throne when he was still young. Instead, after his death, his legitimate son Yuwenjue usurped Wei Jianzhou. At the beginning of the birth of the Western Wei Dynasty, the world was in a situation of confrontation between the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, and Nanliang Kingdoms. The Western Wei Dynasty was isolated in Guanzhong and Longyou, and its strength was the weakest. The Eastern Wei Dynasty relied on its strength and kept suppressing the Western Wei Dynasty. Five wars broke out between the Eastern Wei and the Western Wei, namely the Battle of Xiaoguan, the Battle of Shayuan, the Battle of Heqiao, the Battle of Mangshan, and the Battle of Yubi. Among them, only the Battle of Heqiao was actively attacked by the Western Wei, and the other four They were all attacked by the Eastern Wei Dynasty. In the two battles of Xiaoguan and Shayuan, Yuwentai outnumbered the masses and pulled the Western Wei Dynasty back from the death line. Its fundamental center, Guanzhong, was temporarily spared. But then Yuwentai was defeated by the Eastern Wei Dynasty in the Battle of Heqiao. After the Heqiao War, the Western Wei accepted Gao Shen, the rebel general of the Eastern Wei, and the two countries once again broke out in the Mangshan War of unprecedented scale. The Western Wei lost more than 30,000 troops and could only maintain the Guanzhong defense line unbroken. However, the Eastern Wei Dynasty was also exhausted in the direction of Luoyang. The persistent Gao Huan was unwilling to give up. He adjusted the direction of the attack and attacked from the southeast of Henan to the northeast of Guanzhong. Unexpectedly, the genius general of the Western Wei Dynasty, Wang Sizheng, had built a strong fortress called Yubi City in the east of the river in advance. Gao Huan was besieged twice by heavy troops and failed, and finally died in anger. After Gao Huan's death, his sons Gao Cheng and Gao Yang were busy usurping Wei, and there was no major war between the two countries for a while. After Yuwentai's death, his nephew Yuwenhu served as Otsuka Prime Minister and assumed real power. He launched several wars against Northern Qi, Nanliang and Nanchen, but suffered major defeats due to command errors and lack of strength. After Yuwentai's fourth son Yuwenyong came to the throne, he launched an incident to assassinate Yuwenhu. He then rectified the national affairs, abolished Buddhism and promoted Confucianism, expanded the army and prepared for war. In five years, the national power suddenly increased. In 577, the old enemy Northern Qi was destroyed and the north was unified. The so-called Jiande prosperous period refers to the period when the national power was at its peak during the Jiande period of Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty. 2. The unique political system of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty finally reached their peak after 43 years of hard work and courage, turning from the weakest to the strongest. Although Emperor Wu of Zhou did not complete the great cause of unifying China, he completed many achievements in China since the Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms. The final step of the great national integration has promoted the final integration of the Xianbei, Qiang, Di, Jie and other ethnic groups with the Han people. Moreover, the political and military power that Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty relied on to unify China was entirely the team of Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty. To a certain extent, it can be said that Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty was the hand of the fake Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, and finally completed the new unification of China. So let's talk about how the Xianbei Yuwenbu, a small tribe in the north, has neither cultural heritage nor political foundation passed down from generation to generation. How did it go from the bottom with nothing to settle down, build a country, and move towards prosperity in just 43 years? Woolen cloth? The most critical point lies in the innovation of the political system by Yuwentai and his sons. The two biggest innovations of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties were the six-official system at the political level and the military force system at the military level. Let’s briefly talk about the six-organ system. Yuwentai adopted the suggestion of Su Chuo, a famous scholar in Longxi, and adopted the model of "Zhou Rites" to reform the official system of the Western Wei Dynasty and designed six central departments: Tianguanfu, Diguanfu, Spring Guanfu, Xia Guanfu, Autumn Guanfu, and Winter Guanfu. These six departments are almost equivalent to the six departments of officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and work in later generations, except for the Tianguan, which is slightly different. The departmental division of labor is actually similar to that of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and both summarize the achievements of the political system since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The only difference is the name. Liuguan is the name of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Guanlong Group moved the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Western Wei Dynasty, not to play with feelings and retro, but to have realistic political considerations. Most of the cultural elites in the original Northern Wei Dynasty were in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and their cultural advantages were very obvious.

The Liang Dynasty in the south claimed to be the successor of Zhengshuo of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and politically looked down on the two northern countries. Compared with the two enemy countries, the Western Wei Dynasty had almost nothing. If things continue like this, the people's morale in the Western Wei Dynasty will inevitably collapse. At this time, "Zhou Rites" was brought out, and the political legal system of the Western Wei Dynasty was immediately connected to the source of the oldest and most authentic Confucian political thought. Although it was nothing more than a cover-up in the eyes of the enemy, it played a very huge role in the Western Wei Dynasty. Scholars People have regained their political affiliation to a certain extent, and through this they can see Yu Wentai's identification with Confucianism, and the cohesion of the Guanlong Group has been greatly strengthened. Although the six-official system was repeatedly despised in later generations, even in modern times, the historian Chen Yinke also mockingly said that Yuwentai’s system was neither a donkey nor a horse. It was not the most advanced system at the time, compared with the Han Dynasty system adopted by the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Southern Liang Dynasty. The old Wei system was far inferior. From an academic perspective and from a long-term historical perspective, what Mr. Chen said is indeed the truth. However, judging from the situation in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwentai could only do this. It is not undesirable to copy the old Han and Wei systems as they are, but in this case, what else can he use to occupy the high ground in terms of culture and legal system? Even though many systemic disorders were exposed during the implementation of the six-official system, and even the local administrative system of the Northern Zhou Dynasty simply refused to implement the six-official system. The six-official system was only implemented in the court, but it played an important role in uniting people's hearts, occupying cultural highlands, and aligning with the Qi Dynasty. The great role of Liang Fenting's resistance cannot be over-praised. Although the institutional achievements of the Northern Zhou Dynasty were not inherited by the Sui Dynasty, according to the general view of historians, what Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty inherited was actually the old Han and Wei systems inherited from the Northern Qi and Southern Liang. But the most precious thing about the Northern Zhou Dynasty, that is, the spirit of political innovation was inherited by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. The old laws are harmful, so we need to create new ones. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, who was born in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, adhered to this innovative idea and established the most advanced system of three provinces and six ministries in the feudal era. We talk about the Northern Zhou Dynasty opening up the Sui and Tang Dynasties for 300 years, not only because the Guanlong Group came from the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but the more important factor is that the political spirit inspired by the Northern Zhou Dynasty greatly influenced the rulers of the Sui and Tang dynasties. 3. Powerful military machine Emperor Wu of Zhou relied on the military system to unify the north. The Western Wei Dynasty began to establish government troops in the eighth year of Datong. In terms of military organization, Yu Wentai, the leader of the Eight Pillar States, is the commander-in-chief of the entire army. Except for Yuan Xin, the clan leader of the Yuan and Wei Dynasties, who is named the Zhu State, the other six leading Zhu States each control 2 generals, and each general controls 2 Kaixi. General Kaifu, General Yitong is subordinate to General Kaifu. According to "Northern History", Kaifu is divided into regiment commanders. There are 2 Yitong under the 1st regiment. The subordinates of Yitong are respectively Dadudu, Shuaidudu and Dudu. Due to the lack of historical records, it is not clear how many regiments there were under 1 Kaifu. However, at least, 1 Kaifu commanded 2 regiments, and there were 16 Yitong generals under one Zhuguo general. In terms of soldier selection, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties combined the administrative regions of the country and divided a number of military offices. The military offices selected soldiers according to the "three-five-simple-issue" standard. This selection system is similar to the universal conscription system. In theory, the entire country It is possible for all adult men to serve in the military, but the probability is far lower than universal conscription. In fact, the military system is closely related to national strength. When the national strength is strong, the universal conscription system provides more administrative coercive protection. When the national strength is weak, the number of registered households decreases. ** * If the population cannot be mobilized on a large scale, it will be converted to the military recruitment system. In fact, the military recruitment system has both the compulsory recruitment and the optionality of recruitment. The biggest advantage of the military military system is that it can help the empire in a short period of time. Recruiting a large number of soldiers and ensuring their training level enabled the country to have a strong standing army. From 551 to 554 AD, the Western Wei Dynasty took advantage of the civil strife in Nanliang to continuously use troops to attack the south. Among them, the number of troops used to attack Hanzhong and Shangyong was 30,000. More than 22,000 troops were deployed to ping Shu and 50,000 troops were deployed to ping Jiangling. A total of more than 100,000 troops were dispatched. After the Zen Dynasty of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty launched a two-pronged attack on Hedong with 40,000 troops. In 564, an unprecedented 20 troops were mobilized. The Wan Dajun attacked Luoyang and surpassed the Northern Qi Dynasty in terms of total strength. This powerful output of troops combined with the combat effectiveness trained for many years provided a solid military foundation for controlling the enemy due to chaos. This was something that was not possible before the Battle of Mangshan. It can be said that the Northern Zhou Dynasty was in an advantageous position in the confrontation between the Three Kingdoms as the Fu army system became more and more mature. The Sui Dynasty used the Fu army to unify the north and the south, and unified the country by defeating the Turks and capturing Jieli Khan alive. The pacification of Gaochang, the destruction of Goguryeo, and the destruction of Tuyuhun were all based on the imperial military system pioneered by the Northern Zhou Dynasty. 4. A rock-solid social and economic foundation. In a prosperous era, the economic achievements of the Northern Zhou Dynasty were nothing short of miraculous.

In the course of 43 years, the Northern Zhou Dynasty was at war almost every year. Under the heavy war burden and frequent floods and droughts, Yuwentai and Yuwenyong father and son worked hard. On the basis of the equal land system, they adopted the method of migrating labor to Guanzhong, farming, and building construction. Measures such as water conservancy and encouraging students to farm mulberry trees have continuously improved the agricultural level in the Guanzhong area. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty continued to consolidate newly occupied or unstable areas such as Longyou, Xishu, and Jianghan, and moved a large number of people to Guanzhong to strengthen the capital region. The gathering of large numbers of people finally produced a scale effect. Since the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Guanzhong area has regained its vitality. At the beginning of the founding of the Western Wei Dynasty, food shortages often occurred in Guanzhong, so that Yuwentai had to disperse his troops to various states and counties for food. By the Jiande period, people on the front lines of the war in Guanzhong and Henan were able to have a surplus of food. Under this circumstance, the population of the Northern Zhou Dynasty also developed rapidly. As of the eve of Emperor Wu of Zhou's unification of the north, the total population of Guanzhong, Longyou, Hexi, and Sichuan under the Northern Zhou's rule reached more than 9 million. This is a very high level. What's the reason? First, agricultural production has recovered rapidly, and the people have land to grow and food to eat. In addition, the ruled area is relatively stable and the country is strong, so the natural reproduction of the population has accelerated. The second is that Emperor Wu of Zhou vigorously implemented the household policy to liberate the population from the hands of powerful people. During his reign, he issued many edicts to release slaves and restore them to civilian status. The third is the action to destroy the Buddha. Emperor Wu of Zhou destroyed Buddhism, liberated a large number of monks and lay people in monasteries, and drove them back to the common people. This also increased the registered population controlled by the state by hundreds of thousands. After Emperor Wu of Zhou destroyed Qi, together with the more than 20 million people in Northern Qi, its total population reached 30 million during the Jiande period. This number was reached in the north alone, which is quite remarkable. It can be said that it laid a solid foundation for the population of the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, after Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty usurped the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he eliminated Nanchen without any effort. Moreover, the population reached its peak in a short period of time since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the foundation was laid by the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After the founding of the Sui Dynasty, the national power reached its peak in the 12th year after the founding of the emperor. It was unimaginable in such a short period of time. From the early Han Dynasty to the reign of Wenjing, it took more than 70 years. It took nearly a hundred years from the founding of the Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Kaiyuan era. It took more than 80 years from the founding of the Qing Dynasty to the heyday of Kangxi, Yongzong and Qianlong. The Sui Dynasty alone was the shortest, and it was ridiculously short. The reason is that the Northern Zhou Dynasty spent more than 40 years laying the foundation for the so-called Kaihuang rule.