Was the Guanlong Group in the Western Wei Dynasty and Northern Zhou Advanced or Backward?

The Guanlong Group is a political group composed of the upper-class rulers of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty headed by Yu Wentai, and the members of the group, as Mr. Chen Yinke said, are "the armed and intelligent people of the Hu and Han nationalities in Guanlong". Whether the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasty were advanced or backward at that time, that is, the Guanlong Group was advanced and backward, should be observed from these two points first.

At that time, China was divided into three parts, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou occupied Longwai, the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi occupied Shandong, and Liang Chen occupied Jiangzuo. These Guanlong, Shandong, and Jiangzuo are only geographical idioms, not the official names of political regions. Shandong Province, which has become a political region today, came from the east and west roads of Shandong in Jin, and it was only in the Ming Dynasty that there was a political division in Shandong, and it became Shandong Province in the Qing Dynasty. As early as the Warring States Qin and Han dynasties, the east of Kunshan, Hangu Pass and Huashan were all called Shandong. Later, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were gradually developed, and they were owned by the Eastern Wu and even the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, and the people of the time called it Jiangzuo. Therefore, Shandong only refers to the area east of the Kunshan Mountains and north of Jiangzuo, but it still roughly includes Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, the northern end of Jiangsu and Inner Mongolia in today's political region, and most of them are the lower reaches of the Yellow River, which were the most economically developed and wealthy at that time. The second is Jiangzuo, also known as Jiangdong, and Xiao Liang encompasses present-day Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Henan and southern Shaanxi, as well as Fujian, Hunan, Liangguang, Yunnan and Guizhou. However, at that time, the economic center of gravity had not yet fully shifted to the Yangtze River basin, and Fujian and other places still needed to be developed. As for Guanlong, which was occupied by Yuwentai's Western Wei Dynasty, it was a small corner of western Henan and Shanxi west of present-day Shaanxi and Luoyang, plus Gansu, Ningxia and other remote areas at that time. Even in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi, which is still known as fertile soil, the agricultural products of the Tang Dynasty still could not fully supply the needs of the imperial palace and hundreds of officials, as mentioned in the "Finance" chapter of the "Brief Discussion on the Origin of the Sui and Tang Dynasties". Culturally, as the "Etiquette" chapter says: "Although the cultural relics of Luoyang were destroyed by the Qihu (Erzhu family), their remains were collected by the Gao father and son, and they were able to restore their prosperity in Yedu." Since Wei Xiaowen, the orthodoxy of culture is still in Shandong, far away from the Jiangzuo Southern Dynasties and the clothes and etiquette, so Yuwentai has to be deeply afraid, and Su Xuan's disciples do not take Guanlong as a cultural unit, and falsely decorate the old text of "Zhou Guan" to suit the fresh and humble vulgarity, not a donkey or a horse, and use the hearts of people who bully the cage for a while. Therefore, Guanlong Group does not want to use talents from Shandong and Jiangzuo, but the talents of Shandong and Jiangzuo look down on Guanlong, which is far inferior in economy and culture, and do not want to invest in the west for its use. Although this does not give this group the hat of backwardness that can only "melt and melt the talents of Guanlong, Hu and Han," it is still necessary to see that this is a measure that the region has to take because it is economically and culturally backward.

Speaking of "no separation of civil and military affairs", that is, the integration of civil and military affairs, which involves the development and transformation of Chinese society, here we can briefly talk about the historical process of the integration of civil and military and the separation of roads. That is, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the upper-class rulers were inseparable from the integration of civil and military, because it was a feudal lord society at that time, and the combination of civil and military affairs with the lord was the characteristic of this society. In the Warring States period, the feudal lordship society transformed into a feudal landlord society, and the lords who integrated civil and military affairs disappeared. Just as there are often twists and turns in the development of things, even the transformation of society is no exception. The remnants of the feudal lordship system developed a climate at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, forming the gate valve system of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, as a return to the light before the complete death of the feudal lordship. As a result, during this period, a large number of cases of the integration of civil and military forces reappeared. For example, Cao Cao, Er Yuan, Liu Bei, Sun Jian and his sons in the late Han Dynasty, Sima Yi and his sons later, and the heads of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang, Yu, Huan, Xie and other families, all of them are characters who integrate civil and military affairs, not to mention the so-called "Wuhu" who are accustomed to the integration of civil and military affairs. Although these ethnic minorities in the north were quite different from the Han nationality in terms of economy, culture, and social organization, they followed the same path at that time in terms of the integration of civil and military affairs. After they accepted the sinicization and produced their own gate valves, they naturally became more and more in tune with the civil and military integration of the Han family. The integration of civil and military affairs of the Guanlong Group, that is, the product of this condition, is essentially no different from the integration of civil and military affairs of the Han and ethnic minorities in the past. Judging from historical development, of course, it cannot be said to be advanced. What's more, at this time, Liang Chen of Jiangzuo had already returned to the civil and military branches, and Zhao Yi's "Twenty-two Historical Records" volume 12 "Jiangzuo clan has no meritorious heroes" and "Emperor Chen Wu used more enemy generals" and other articles, as well as Mr. Chen Yinke's "Describing the Exploits of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Dao" and "Shu Wei Shu Xiao Yan Biography" are all involved. The civil and military divisions of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in Shandong are also discussed in the previous chapter. This shows the backwardness of the Guanlong Group even more. This is theoretically speaking.

In fact, the backwardness and barbarism of the Guanlong group are also prominent enough, and the one that is fully manifested is the battle of the first year of Emperor Gong of the Western Wei Dynasty (554) to destroy the regime of Emperor Xiao Yi of Liang Yuan in Jiangling. This is after Yuwentai set up the Eight Pillars to establish the Guanlong Group, appointed the Zhu State Yu Jintong to lead the army to the battle, and the victory actually turned the other party's hundred officials and soldiers as slaves, as the "Book of Zhou" volume 2 "Emperor Wen Ji" said:

[The first year of Emperor Wei Gong] in the winter and October, he sent Zhu Guo Yu Jin, Zhongshan Gonghu, General Yang Zhong, Wei Xiaokuan and other 50,000 foot riders to ask for it. November...... Bingshen, I would like to go to Gangneung. ...... [Xinhai] Kezhi. Capture Emperor Liang Yuan and kill him, and capture his hundred officials and soldiers to return. There are more than 100,000 slaves and maids, and more than 200 families are freed.

Volume 15 "The Biography of Yu Jin" also says:

Capture more than 100,000 men and women, collect the treasures of his treasury, get the Song armillary celestial, Liang Sundial bronze watch, Wei Xiangfeng Wu, copper cockroach, big jade path of four feet around seven feet, and all public opinion and magic objects to offer, the army is selfless. …… Reward a thousand slaves and maids, and the treasures of Liang and a piece of gold, stone, silk, and bamboo.

This so-called "selflessness of the army" originally meant that all the "treasures of the treasury" collected were returned to the public. In fact, it was not done, just look at the "Book of Zhou" volume 34 "Pei Ni Biography" said: "With this official from Yu Jinping Jiangling, he has won a lot of military reality, and he has taken it from all the generals and schools, and the rest of the people are competing for treasures, and Ni Wei takes a piece of Emperor Suqin of Liang Yuan." And volume 32 "The Biography of Tang Jin" said: "Yu Jin's southern expedition to Jiangling, with Jin as the marshal's mansion governor,...... and the army returned, the generals were mostly plundered, and they got a lot of property, and Jin took nothing, but got two cars of books and returned with them. It can be seen that the military discipline at that time was bad, and it was rare to only take the piano book. As for the slaves and maids, there are also those who have been spared, such as "The Biography of Tang Jin" said: "Jiangling is flat, well-dressed, and not a servant. In the "Book of Zhou" volume 30, Yu Jinzi Yu Yi also said: "I am careful to level Jiangling, and the military is given to the sons, and the wings have nothing to take, but simply appreciate the famous children in the mouth who have morale, and don't treat them." "But I'm afraid it's only a tiny minority. The release of these slaves and maids in batches was not until the first year of Jiande (572), Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, eighteen years later. The Book of Zhou, Volume 5, Emperor Wu Ji, says:

[In the first year of Jiande], on the afternoon of October in the winter, those captured by Zhao Jiangling were exempted from the people.

This is to exempt the "official mouth", that is, the official slave and the maid. The release of officials and slaves and maids was also exempted from the first month of the sixth year of Jiande (577) after Emperor Wu entered Yecheng to destroy the Northern Qi Dynasty, that is, the "Book of Zhou" volume 6 "Emperor Wu Ji" in November of this year, the edict said:

Since July of the third year of Yongxi has come to October last year, the people of Dongtu have been copied into slaves and maids, and those who have not been slaves after Pingjiangling have been exempted. If the old owner still has to live together, listen to the stay as a trilogy and a guest girl.

July of the third year of Yongxi (534) was the year of the separation of Eastern and Western Wei, which meant that the slaves and maids copied from the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, as well as the slaves and maids captured from Jiangling, were all released. It's just that he also dragged a tail that allowed the "old master" to "stay as a trilogy and a guest girl". The fact that the trilogy and the guest girl are still attached to the host shows that this kind of release is still not very complete.

Why was the Guanlong group so backward, and why did the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasty do a large number of slaves and slaves, which were rare at that time? Of course, this is due to the fact that the economy and culture are far inferior to those of Shandong and Jiangzuo, and in addition to geographical factors and natural conditions, there is also a national problem. This nation is not Xianbei, because most of the Xianbei in the six towns were accepted by Gao Huan, and only a small part entered the Guanzhong. If Xianbei is really working, then why is the Shandong region of Gao Huan more Guanlong civilization? This can be answered by looking at the "Geographical Chronicles" compiled in the "Book of Sui" for the "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" edited by Liang Chenqi and Zhou Sui. "Geographical Chronicles" said under the jurisdiction of Yongzhou under the jurisdiction of the Northern Zhou Dynasty that Sanfu "the characters are confused, Huarong is miscellaneous", Diaoyin, Yan'an, and Honghua "connect the mountain and the hu, and the sex is more woody", Pingliang, Shuofang, Yanchuan, Lingwu, Yulin, and Wuyuan "are bordered by barren land, and there are many martial festivals", and the counties of Hexi "have the same wind and have the air of Jinfang". Liangzhou also said that Hanyang, Lintao, Danchang, Wudu, Tongchang, Hechi, Shunzheng, Yicheng, Pingwu, and Wenshan "are all mixed and Qiang, and the people are particularly strong, and the sex is many and straight, and they are all engaged in farming, and they are not good at hunting, and they are not good at books." However, the prefectures of Henan, Yan, Hebei, Qing and Xu in the Shandong region under the jurisdiction of the Northern Qi Dynasty have no such records. It can be seen that from the perspective of nationality, the backward Di, Qiang, and Shanhu, which have not been well integrated with the Han nationality since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, are an important factor in the backwardness of the Guanlong group.

Here we then need to answer a question, that is, the Guanlong Group is backward rather than advanced, so why did the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroy the Northern Qi instead of the Northern Qi destroying the Northern Zhou in the end? Didn't some history books often say that the winner must be the advanced side? For example, the reason why the Western Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Yin Shang was because the Western Zhou Dynasty grasped agriculture tightly, and even King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty "humbled himself to Kang Gong Tiangong" ("Shu Wuyi"). It is said that Qin paid attention to agricultural warfare, so he destroyed the six kingdoms of Shandong. This is actually a new remake of the traditional hero based on success or failure. These gentlemen have forgotten that backwardness and extinction of advanced are inherent in Chinese and foreign history, especially in the era of the use of cold weapons. As far as the well-known Jin destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty destroyed the Ming Dynasty, which one was not backward and advanced. The Western Zhou Dynasty, which was beautified by them, was enough to show that it was backward after a large number of ruins were unearthed, and Gu Jiegang's "Proofreading and Commentary on the Book of Yi Zhou: The World Prisoners" published in the second volume of the "Literature and History" of Zhonghua Book Company even argued that its destruction of the Shang was barbaric plunder. Needless to say, the barbarism of Qin's annihilation of the Six Kingdoms can be confirmed by the fact that almost none of the sons of the pre-Qin Dynasty came out of Guanzhong. And these backward and barbaric sides are particularly prone to murder in battles with cold weapons, so they always have the upper hand to defeat and swallow the opponent. The Northern Zhou Dynasty finally destroyed the originally powerful Northern Qi after the formation of the government soldiers grew, which was nothing more than following the same law.

Of course, the destruction of the Northern Qi Dynasty had to be plundered, but the tragedy of destroying Jiangling and confiscating the officials and the people as slaves has not yet happened. Of course, this is due to the fact that the Shandong region owned by the Northern Qi Dynasty has a large number of committees and a large number of population committees, so it is difficult to do so, but other measures are still inevitable. The Book of Zhou, Volume 6, "Emperor Wu Ji", says that after Gengshen captured the annexed state in December of the fifth year of Jiande (576), six days later, that is, on the day of Bingyin:

Out of the palace gold and silver treasures, beads, cui dresses and palace maids 2,000 class to give soldiers.

In December of the sixth year of Jiande in the second year, Gengshen recorded again:

Xingxing merged the state palace, and moved 40,000 state soldiers to Guanzhong.

This "soldier" is the "army and the people", so Hu Dedi and others wrote the "Book of Zhou" during the Zhenguan period to avoid Li Shimin's imperial secrets, and rewrote the word "people" into the word "people". This kind of coercion causes the military and civilians to leave their homes in large numbers, and it is naturally another kind of abuse. Looking at the biography of Yang Yong, the eldest son of Emperor Wen in Volume 45 of the Book of Sui, we can also know that the abusive government imposed on Shandong at that time was by no means limited to this. This is the matter of Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian's accession to the throne by Chan and Yang Yong being made the crown prince, saying:

On the Shandong people, there are many redundant people, and they send envoys to test, and they want to migrate to the north of the country, so they bravely wrote and admonished: "...... At the end of Qi, the Lord was dark and dark, Zhou Ping Dongxia, followed by coercion, the people were unbearable, so that there was a flight, not tired of his hometown, and he was willing to be a prisoner. Coupled with last year's tripartite rebellion, His Majesty was benevolent and sacred, and the district was cleared, although the blade was screened, the scars have not recovered. If you are a few years old, bathed in the imperial wind, and flee, you will naturally return to your roots. ......" read it and praise it, and then go to bed.

This "tripartite rebellion" is the next section to talk about Wei Chi Hui, Sima Zhen, Wang Qian's anti-Yang Jian, after being pacified, the people who fled from Shandong have not returned, which shows the seriousness of the tragic situation of "the people are unbearable" caused by Zhou's destruction of the Northern Qi Dynasty "followed by coercion". There are very few such records in the history of the "Book of Northern Qi", "Book of Zhou" and "Book of Sui", although these three books are all cultivated in the world of Tang Zhenguan, they are actually the "Zhou Ji" and the history of Qi and Sui written by Sui Niuhong, Li Delin, Wang Shao, etc., and the outer part of "Shi Tong" "Ancient and Modern History". At that time, Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian was in charge of the right three armies to pre-empt the battle of Qi, so this history involving the destruction of Qi and the abuse cannot but be concealed. Although Yang Zhong, the father of Yang Jian, also participated in the Battle of Pingjiangling, and the fact that there were no officials and people who were slaves and maids was still prepared in detail in the "Book of Zhou", it was not a special matter for a long time, and the subsequent edict of Shi Renzheng to exempt slaves and maids needed to be published, and the historical fact that no one was a slave and maid before him could not be published.

This article is excerpted from "The Political History of China from the Sixth to the Ninth Centuries"