I don't know if you have noticed that the 9 unified feudal dynasties in the history of the mainland did not last until 300 years before they perished, why is this? Could it be that this is an exclusive curse from a feudal dynasty?
There are two main reasons for this, one fundamental reason, so what lessons can we learn from them in modern times?
What is a unified feudal dynasty?
These nine feudal dynasties are the Great Qin, the Great Han, the Jin, the Sui, the Tang, the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing.
Presumably, someone will say at this time: "Other dynasties are not enough for 300 years, aren't the Han and Song Dynasty enough?" ”
As we all know, the Great Han Dynasty was divided into the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty was divided into the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty.
Although these two add up to more than 300 years, they are not counted because they have both been disconnected for a while.
What we know for sure is that no matter which feudal dynasty, in the end they are corrupt, otherwise they would not have perished.
The reason why the Western Han Dynasty was not enough was because it was cut off by Wang Mang for a period of time.
If it weren't for the fact that Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, continued the national glory of the Han Dynasty, it is estimated that there would be other dynasties later.
Although both are Han dynasties, they are actually different, because the Western Han Dynasty has perished.
Even if the Western Han Dynasty only perished for a year, or even a month, it would have stopped at that data.
Liu Xiu's loss is after the Han family, otherwise they can establish other dynasties.
The reason is similar to that of the Han Dynasty, which is the Great Song Dynasty, which is a very shameful dynasty in the history of the mainland.
Zhao Kuangyin was so majestic when he established the Song Dynasty, but in the end, the two emperors were actually led to the Jin Kingdom like sheep, which was really embarrassing.
In this way, the Northern Song Dynasty perished directly, even if Zhao Gou later established the Southern Song Dynasty, it had no half-dime relationship with the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty was interrupted because of this, and it did not last for 300 years.
These are two controversial dynasties, in addition, the two Song Dynasty also have a controversial point that everyone does not recognize these two as great unified dynasties, why?
Let's talk about the Northern Song Dynasty first, in fact, the territorial area of the Northern Song Dynasty, roughly speaking, can be regarded as a great unified dynasty, and the reason why they are not recognized is that the Northern Song Dynasty failed to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.
After Shi Jingjiao sold the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Khitans, Zhao Kuangyin has also been trying to find a way to take it back.
Even though the Song army's combat power was at its peak at that time, it was not recovered in the end, but the Ming Dynasty did it later.
Although the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are indeed very important to us, it is somewhat far-fetched to deny the Northern Song Dynasty because of this.
Therefore, I personally think that the Northern Song Dynasty is a unified feudal dynasty, but the Southern Song Dynasty is not, because they lost the entire north.
For the definition of a unified feudal dynasty, simply put, this dynasty must at least have most of the land in the eastern part of the current mainland, such as the Qin Dynasty, and then add the gradually recovered Western Regions, that is, parts of present-day Xinjiang.
But if you say so, it is a matter of reunification and a split in the middle, then it will not be nine unified feudal dynasties.
After all, the Han Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty are all two, but the two Han Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty are in a unified state, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty are not unified because they have lost the north.
Of course, no matter how divided they are, they are all one family, and we don't need to be so clear, so it is vaguely 9 great unified dynasties, and if strictly speaking, it is 10.
After talking about these controversies, what follows are the two main reasons for the eventual demise of the feudal dynasty.
Prosperous times out of the faint king?
Most of these nine feudal dynasties were overthrown by peasant uprisings, such as the Qin, Sui, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
So the first main reason is: the prosperous era came out of the faint king, and in the end the faint king buried the whole country, does it feel quite contradictory?
One of our modern sayings is: "No matter how peaceful and stable our lives are now, we must be aware of danger in times of peace and never ignore those potential dangers." ”
Among them, the words "be prepared for danger in times of peace" are very important, and this is the experience learned according to the lessons of these feudal dynasties, which is quite valuable!
I don't know if you have found a very common phenomenon, most of the early stages of each feudal dynasty are prosperous, and then in the later period is the troubled times, so why is it easy to be troubled times later? This is the aforementioned prosperity of the faint king.
Under what circumstances is a person most likely to fall? That's when he's very content with his current life.
The emperors in the troubled times are basically playful or something, why did they become like this? Naturally, it is because the ancestors laid the gold mountain, and they are responsible for enjoying it as descendants, just to give two very clear examples.
The first to appear is Zhu Qizhen, the god of war of the Ming Dynasty, this brother can be said to know nothing, and he is very brave.
From Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Zhanji, except for Zhu Yunwen, it can be said that they are all Ming Jun, especially Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, and Zhu Zhanji, who used troops abroad during their reign, so they established a good environment for the young Zhu Qizhen.
In this way, Zhu Qizhen, who knew nothing, gradually grew up.
When Zhu Qizhen succeeded to the throne, he was very playful, and he mixed with the eunuch Wang Zhenwei every day and didn't do anything serious.
If he was born in an ordinary family, maybe Zhu Qizhen would not be like this.
Zhu Qizhen had never fought in battle, but as soon as he came up, he shouted that he wanted to conquer in person, and as a result, the main army was wiped out in the Tumubao Incident.
In the later defense of Beijing, if it weren't for the loyal minister Yu Qian, at least the entire north would not be the Ming Dynasty, then in this case, the Ming Dynasty would be directly abolished halfway.
It can only be said that God blessed Daming and gave them a Yu Qian.
But even so, after Zhu Qizhen came back from outside, he actually killed Yu Qian directly, and he embodied "ingratitude" to the fullest.
The next very typical representative is the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, a controversial figure.
One thing to say, Qianlong did a pretty good job in the early period, and he continued to expand the territory of the western part of the mainland during his reign, which is simply to complete what Kangxi did not complete during his lifetime.
Then Qianlong continued to make persistent efforts on the basis of his father's high-quality economic policies, so during Qianlong's reign, the economy of the Qing Dynasty reached its peak.
At that time, it was still a prosperous age, but it was precisely because of this that Qianlong gradually degenerated, and he did not do well later.
For example, when I went down to the south of the Yangtze River, I said that it was good to go on patrol, and if it was ugly, I found an excuse to play, so some people said that Qianlong played all his life.
It is precisely because of his self-feeling that his merits are fulfilled that Qianlong gradually lived in his own world, so the Qing Dynasty completely entered a state of seclusion and seclusion in his hands.
In Qianlong's view, we are so powerful that we don't need anything and help from any country at all.
Limitations of feudal dynasties
In the future, the two emperors Xianfeng and Tongzhi died early because of their greed for fun.
So in general, after a dynasty has experienced prosperity, it is either going downhill or on the way to destruction. Even if the emperors behind are not faint monarchs, they are all mediocre people who have no outstanding contributions.
Then there is another main reason, which is mainly related to the ancestral teachings of each feudal dynasty.
No matter which feudal dynasty the founding emperor is, they all know that it is not easy for them to get to where they are today, although it is difficult to fight the country, but if they want to defend such a big country, it is even more difficult.
It is precisely because this consciousness was relatively strong at the beginning that the previous emperors of the general dynasty were good.
In order to allow his children and grandchildren to guard this hard-won country, the founding emperor will generally formulate ancestral precepts, which is to put it bluntly, it is a secret book for guarding the family.
Zu Xun is not useless, it is indeed useful at the beginning, but it will not work in the future, because the times are changing, who can say what kind of emergencies will appear in the future.
Therefore, sometimes it is not possible to completely follow the ancestral teachings, but to make corresponding changes according to the changes of the times.
For example, if everyone else is using advanced combat technology, and you are still fighting with the same set of ancestors, it will naturally be difficult to win.
Therefore, most of the time, the ancestral teachings of the royal family are relatively harmful, and the descendants of the emperor cannot learn the advantages of the ancestral teachings, and secondly, they cannot change the content of the ancestral teachings according to the actual situation.
As soon as they say, it is: "The ancestors stipulated, dare to resist?" ”
Even if the country is about to perish, they still stick to the rules, so if they don't perish, who will perish?
Although rules are dead, people are alive, and they obviously don't understand this truth.
Of course, one of the most harmful points in the ancestral training is that the throne is passed on to the eldest son, or how to pass on the throne without the eldest son.
They don't want to think about it, can each generation of eldest sons become Ming Jun after succeeding to the throne? Even if you just choose an heir to the throne from among your own sons, you have to find someone who has both ability and integrity.
But the reality is that even if some princes are mediocre and incompetent, they can still become emperors in the end. In that case, it is impossible for the country not to decay.
So one of the last fundamental reasons is that the limitations of the feudal dynasty are really extremely rotten.
It is the backward thinking of feudal society that binds them, so even if there is a lesson from the past, they should perish or perish, and the lessons of the predecessors are as if there is nothing.
Take the succession as an example, it is understandable that the emperor does not want to pass it on to outsiders, but why does it have to be the eldest son? I don't understand.
Although there is no feudal dynasty now, the current family is almost equivalent to a dynasty, after all, the family has ancestral teachings, and the family foundation needs someone to inherit it.
If a family wants to develop well, it can learn more from its predecessors and learn how successful families do it. But it's best not to blindly imitate, otherwise you will eventually return to the pre-liberation period.