After the Battle of Gaoping, in order to strengthen the authority of the central government and curb local forces, Chai Rong issued an order to all feudal towns to "select the majestic men of the world and organize them into the classes in front of the palace", which made the political situation at that time develop in the direction of centralization again.

This is a big development trend, Zhao Pu sat in the power center at that time, and naturally saw it clearly, so the reason why he wanted Zhao Kuangyin to continue to "seize their power a little, control their money and grain, and collect their elite soldiers" to the local feudal towns, was obviously encouraging Zhao Kuangyin to strike while the iron was hot, take advantage of the current excellent situation, and push all these local feudal towns that caused the most unstable factors in the country into the grave, and then step on it fiercely, so that they will never be able to turn over.

Zhao Kuangyin also gave a high degree of recognition to Zhao Pu's judgment, and has been sparing no effort to do it. However, a new problem arose in this way, that is, although the power of the local feudal towns was suppressed, the status of the generals of the Central Forbidden Army was greatly improved, and it directly threatened the stability of Zhao Kuangyin's throne.

For this problem, Zhao Kuangyin did not dare to give contempt, so in March of the second year of Jianlong in the Northern Song Dynasty (961), Zhao Kuangyin, after some careful consideration, suddenly inspected the front of the palace and made Murong Yanzhao the envoy of the Shannan West Road, and commanded the guards and pro-army to make Han Lingkun the envoy of the Chengde Festival.

Murong Yanzhao, Han Lingkun and Zhao Kuangyin, like Zhao Kuangyin, are all children who broke out of the Jiama camp. Murong Yanzhao is a few years older than Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Kuangyin has treated him as a brother since he was a child, and Han Lingkun is Zhao Kuangyin's brother who went up to the tree to pick birds and fish in the river when he was a child, which can be said to be the best friend of the dead friends.

Since Zhao Kuangyin was willing to take these two people first, he obviously thought that the generals of the forbidden army had too much power. It has reached a very serious point.

However, Zhao Kuangyin's way of dealing with problems is still very humane. Friends who are familiar with history know it. If a founding emperor felt that one of his heroes might threaten his throne, it meant that he was not far from death.

The so-called "birds hide their bows, rabbits die and dogs cook" is by no means an empty sentence. Rather, it was a bloody lesson. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the slaughter of heroes is almost a common phenomenon in Chinese history, such as Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, who killed almost all the founding heroes. In this regard, Zhao Kuangyin, the usurper king, is obviously very commendable.

After Zhao Kuangyin lifted Murong Yanzhao and Han Lingkun's forbidden military powers, he specially set up a banquet for these two people in the Guangzheng Hall to say goodbye.

Although Murong Yanzhao and Han Lingkun said that they would inevitably have a sense of loss because they lost their military power. However, they are the founding heroes of the country with heavy troops. Naturally, there will be doubts in the heart. Although Zhao Kuangyin's practice on the surface has caused them to suffer certain losses, on the other hand, it is the best way to protect them.

Therefore, after a short period of depression, Murong Yanzhao and Han Lingkun became more down-to-earth in their hearts, and after going down, they did not make a fuss and pick on their sons, but continued to do their duty. Contribute to the country.

From this incident alone, it can be seen that Zhao Kuangyin's personality is still very generous, so after he dealt with Murong Yanzhao and Han Lingkun, the two most senior generals of the forbidden army, he did not take further action. But his number one adviser, Zhao Pu, refused to stop.

After Murong Yanzhao left his post, no one was sent to take over the post of inspection in front of the palace, so the system of the front division of the palace was headed by Gao Huaide, the deputy capital inspector, and Wang Xianqi, the commander of the front of the palace.

And after Han Lingkun left office. The guards and pro-army were all commanded by Shi Shouxin, so these people became the leading figures in the forbidden army. So Zhao Pu made many remarks. Ask Zhao Kuangyin to transfer these people to other positions.

Zhao Kuangyin was still very hesitant about this, because even if these people were removed. But the work of the forbidden army also has to be done by someone, and it is necessary to find new people. Besides, Shi Shouxin and Gao Huaide are not as prestigious as Murong Yanzhao and Han Lingkun, and their relationship is not so close, they will not be like those two people, they have no scruples about themselves, and they are still relatively easy to manage, so they never agreed.

Later, Zhao Pu said too much, and Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but be a little irritable, so he said to Zhao Pu: "Shi Shouxin and the others are brothers who have followed me for many years, and they will never betray me, so don't talk about this matter again." ”

Zhao Pu replied: "I don't doubt the loyalty of these people to Your Majesty, but the military power in their hands is too heavy, and they lack the ability of the emperor, if there are subordinates who support them to make trouble, what will be the result?" Zhao Kuangyin immediately woke up to the fact that he himself was the emperor who ascended the throne under the banner of "subordinates supporting".

The future is not far off, once the time is ripe, who can guarantee that these people will not take away his country because of the "support" of others? Zhao Kuangyin not only fell into deep thought.

One day in July of that year, Zhao Kuangyin summoned Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Wang Xianqi, Zhang Lingduo and other generals in the forbidden army to the palace and held a banquet to entertain them.

When the wine was half-drunk, Zhao Kuangyin suddenly retreated left and right, and said with a sigh: "I can become the emperor because of your support."

But since I ascended to this throne, I know that the emperor is really not a very ideal profession, there are too many things to worry about, how can I be so happy as a festival envoy back then? To tell you the truth, I haven't slept a single peaceful sleep since I lived in this palace. ”

All the generals were surprised and hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, what is the reason for your current situation?" At present, our country is very good and strong, if you think the palace is uncomfortable, we can tear it down and rebuild! ”

Zhao Kuangyin sighed and said, "Isn't this obvious!" The emperor's throne is so good, who doesn't want to go up and sit down! ”

No matter how stupid the generals are, they can still hear the meaning of Zhao Kuangyin's words, how dare they continue to sit down? They all knelt on the ground and said to Zhao Kuangyin: "Why does the emperor have to worry so much? Now that our regime has stabilized, who would have such despicable ideas? ”

Zhao Kuangyin said: "You people are all good cadres who have been tested for a long time, and I have never doubted your loyalty. But think about it, if your subordinates are greedy for wealth and wealth, and insist on draping yellow robes over you, you just want to refuse. Can it still be done? ”

The generals and others were so frightened that they were sweating, knelt on the ground and pleaded bitterly with Zhao Kuangyin: "The ministers are ignorant. I ask the emperor to show us a way out. ”

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Life is like a white horse passing through a gap, and it passes in an instant. Why don't you let go of the military power? Out of the big basket, buy more good fields and beautiful houses, singing and dancing children, drinking and entertaining all day long. Not only can you enjoy the old age, but also can establish an eternal inheritance for your children and grandchildren! I and the Qing are about marriage, between the monarch and the minister, there is no suspicion, and the top and bottom are at peace, and it is not good! ”

After hearing this, all the generals were grateful, and they immediately bowed and wept: "Your Majesty is waiting for your ministers. The so-called life and death and flesh and bones. The next day, the generals of the forbidden army, led by Shi Shouxin and Gao Huaide, complained of illness and asked to be dismissed from their military posts. Zhao Kuangyin also pushed the boat down the river, appointing Shi Shouxin as the envoy of the Tianping Festival, Gao Huaide as the envoy of the Guide Festival, Wang Xianqi as the envoy of the Zhongzheng Festival, and Zhang Lingduo as the envoy of the Zhenning Festival.

This is a very famous event in Chinese history. It is called "a glass of wine to release military power". On the surface, Zhao Kuangyin just took back the military power from these generals through peaceful means, and it seems that there is no profound meaning. But in reality, his practical significance and far-reaching impact go far beyond that.

Because Zhao Kuangyin was relieved of the military power of these generals. Immediately afterwards, he began to carry out military reforms, first of all, he abolished the official position of inspecting the front of the palace, and divided the command department of the guards and the pro-army Ma Bujun into two. In this way, the military power of the forbidden army was divided into three parts, which were led by the front of the palace, the commander of the guards and horses, and the commander of the guards and infantry troops. This is the so-called Sanya Commander.

At the same time, a Privy Council, which was different from its predecessor, was established to divide the powers of the three offices. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty. The power of the Privy Council is very great, and at one time even overrode the power of the Prime Minister. However, the Privy Council established by Zhao Kuangyin was dominated by civilian officials, and only had the power to transfer troops, which formed a mutual constraint with the Sanya. The Privy Council has the power to transfer troops, but not to direct them. Although the three yas are in charge of the army, they have no right to transfer troops, they are independent and mutually restrictive, and no one can make chaos alone.

Second, we should implement a policy of internal and external stalemate. Zhao Kuangyin divided the national army into two halves, half stationed in Beijing and the other half garrisoned the localities. The garrison of the capital has the ability to subdue the rebellion in other places, and the garrison in other places has the ability to extinguish the mutiny of the garrison in the capital, so that the internal and external armies restrain each other, and no one dares to launch a rebellion easily.

Third, the system of separating soldiers and generals should be implemented. It is stipulated that both the forbidden army in the capital and the forbidden army stationed abroad must realize the "change of military law", that is, after the forbidden army has been stationed in a certain place for a certain period of time, the place of garrison must be changed. The forbidden army in the capital went to the border or the grain-producing place to garrison, and then the local forbidden army was added to the capital.

This practice was nominally to temper the spirit of the forbidden army to endure hardships and stand hard work, but in fact it was to reduce the loyalty of soldiers to their generals.

Because after the implementation of this system, the generals were deprived of the right to recruit soldiers, and the generals only had the right to manage the soldiers, but not ownership, which fundamentally avoided the possibility of soldiers becoming the generals' private armies. It can be said that it is precisely this system that has completely ended the situation of feudal towns and princes fighting since the end of the Tang Dynasty.

However, there must be a good and a bad in everything. Although the system of separating soldiers and generals is effective, it has created a new problem, that is, it has created a kind of impermanence of soldiers and commanders, so that the phenomenon of soldiers not knowing generals and generals not knowing soldiers has emerged.

The commanders and generals were not interested in training because the soldiers were no longer their own, and the soldiers happened to get by, which caused a sharp decline in the army's combat effectiveness.

The two Song dynasties were the weakest of China's great unified dynasties, and their repeated defeats in foreign wars and their eventual death at the hands of foreign races had a considerable deal to do with this system.

The separation of soldiers and generals has always been a very controversial system. Proponents say it strengthens centralization, effectively resolves domestic contradictions, and is a very good and effective system.

Opponents say that it is a very humiliating system that has weakened the country's military strength so much that it has repeatedly lost foreign wars.

Both of these statements have a certain basis, but no matter how flawed the system of separating soldiers and generals is, the charge cannot be detained on Zhao Kuangyin's head alone. Because no matter how far-sighted Zhao Kuangyin is, he can't see the changes in a few hundred years, and the people of later generations are fully qualified and capable of adjusting this system.

Zhao Kuangyin's implementation of this system according to the specific situation at that time should be said to be very necessary, and it has also achieved very ideal results.

In particular, Zhao Kuangyin used a glass of wine to release the military power of those generals who commanded the army, which not only achieved the goal of recovering the military power, but also avoided the occurrence of vicious bloodshed, the means were very civilized, and the effect was also very ideal, and it has been uploaded as a good story in history.

After the release of military power with a glass of wine, Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Wang Yanchao and others respectively served as big towns, and when they went to the local area, they did evil and deliberately ruined their reputation. And Zhao Kuangyin has always kept his promises, turned a blind eye to their behavior, and formed a family relationship with many of them, and the monarch and ministers are safe. At this point, Zhao Kuangyin's cause of eliminating the division of feudal towns and rebuilding centralized power had begun to take shape, which allowed him to concentrate on facing the war of national unification.

In September of the third year of Jianlong (962), Zhou Xingfeng, the envoy of Wuping Jiedu and the actual head of the Hunan regime, died in Langzhou (now Changde, Hunan) at the age of 46 due to ineffective medical treatment.

As mentioned earlier, after the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed Chu, due to the lack of governance, Liu Yan was driven out of the country by Liu Yan, the envoy of the Langzhou Festival of Chu, and sent the generals Wang Kui and Zhou Xingfeng out of the country, so that Liu Yan established a new Hunan regime in Langzhou. Later, Liu Yan and Wang Kui were killed by their subordinates one after another, and Zhou Xingfeng was able to take charge of Hunan and eventually became the overlord.

After Zhou Xingfeng took charge of Hunan, he abolished a series of exorbitant donations and miscellaneous taxes left by the Ma Chu regime, eliminated corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and selected honest officials to know the affairs of Zhou County. Once his son-in-law asked him for an official, Zhou Xingfeng not only did not give it, but also deliberately sent a batch of farm tools to ridicule his son-in-law, saying: "You are not suitable for being an official, so go back to your hometown and farm!" ”

It can be seen that Zhou Xingfeng is still very open-minded in some aspects, but this person's shortcomings are also extremely prominent. Zhou Xingfeng was suspicious by nature, when he first became the envoy of Wuping Festival, there were generals and more than ten party members under him who conspired to make trouble, Zhou Xingfeng learned about it, and quickly captured this group of people, and beheaded them all without asking the head.

Since then, Zhou Xingfeng has become more suspicious, and often sends people to secretly visit, if it is reported that someone has secretly drunk secret words, he does not ask about the content of the conversation, nor does he ask about the distance between relatives, and he will be beheaded.

The same is true for the people in the territory, as long as they violate the ban, they will be killed, even if they only steal a stitch and a thread, they will not let go. Hunan is known as "the land is vigorously finished", but when it returned to the Song Dynasty, there were only 100,000 households left in the whole territory, which shows the cruelty of Zhou Xing's punishment. (To be continued.) )