When mentioning Li Keyong, you can't first mention the feudal towns of the middle and late Tang Dynasty, otherwise you can't understand why Li Keyong is praised as a hero of the Tang Empire as such a great warlord. In fact, historians of all dynasties have long made a conclusion about Li Keyong, and all of what he said praised him. Let's listen to what they have to say:

"History of the Old Five Dynasties" commented on Li Keyong's life and said: "Emperor Wu (Li Keyong) went to Yinshan and went to the Tang Dynasty; chase the jackal to Wei Que, and the atmosphere is only in Qinchuan; The surname is given and sealed, and there is Fenjin; It can be described as meritorious. ”

Song Qi, the compiler of the "Old Tang Book", said: "When the royal family is in turmoil, there is Taiyuan." Stubborn, less intestinal ...... It was the time to raise troops and support the royal family of the king. However, the death of the Zhu family, the one who was ashamed of Tang Di, Sha Tuo also. ”

The meaning of this passage is that Li Keyong was meritorious because of the chaos of Ping (Huangchao), and the emperor rewarded him with Taiyuan (Hedong Jiedu envoy). His personality is straightforward and simple, and he has no fancy intestines. Whenever the emperor was held hostage, Li Keyong always led the army to serve the king as an imperial family. In the end, the person who destroyed Zhu Liang and was ashamed of the Tang Dynasty was Shatuo people.

Fan Zuyu, one of the compilers of "Zizhi Tongjian", said: "Li Keyong has the merit of restoring the Tang Dynasty...... When it was Zhao and Zhao, Li Keyong was the most meritorious. Although he tastes domineering, he will not lose his courtier's festival in the end. The royal family can be relied on and defended by the vassals. So that the momentum of Taiyuan is always heavy, then the towns did not dare to peep at Tang also. ”

The meaning of this passage is that in the era of Emperor Xizong and Emperor Zhaozong, among the many feudal towns, only Li Keyong was the person who made the greatest contribution to defending the central government. Although he was sometimes domineering and confronted the court, he never lost the integrity of his courtiers. He is a nuclear umbrella that the Tang royal family can trust and rely on. If Li Keyong's Taiyuan military group had maintained its strong strength, then no feudal town would have dared to attack the Tang Dynasty.

In Chinese history, the phenomenon of feudal towns is a phenomenon unique to the Tang Dynasty, which can be described as "the ancients are not seen before, and the future is not seen." Thinking of heaven and earth, lonely and weeping. ”

As far as I know, there are quite a few people who don't like the Tang Dynasty. Except for a few people with ulterior motives, the reason why most of them don't like it is not because it is not great, not honorable, not correct; It is not because it is not strong in force, its territory is not vast, and its economy is underdeveloped; It's because it's too bloody!

When the picture of the bloody towns and the peak empire declining step by step in the internal friction flashed in his mind. I believe that every Tang fan (let's take this as a common term for Tang history lovers) will sincerely have the same mood as Mr. Chen Ziang.

Some people compare the Tang Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and some people compare it to the Western Han vassal states. Some people also compare it to the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Dynasties. I cannot but express my deep regret for those who hold these views. At the same time, I think it's a mule or a horse, so it's necessary to pull it out and walk around it to see if it's the same or different between them.

At first glance, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are somewhat similar to the Tang Domain, and the fundamental difference lies in the difference in social systems. The Eastern Zhou kingdoms were rightly vassal states that were divided by Zhou Tianzi to his descendants, and the throne was hereditary. All countries, large and small, have all the state apparatus that a country should have, that is, the so-called "sparrows are small, but all organs are complete." "The vassal states don't have to bear any obligations to Zhou Tianzi, they only need to send people to greet them every year according to the custom, and then pack a New Year's money or something, and Zhou Tianzi will be satisfied. Therefore, the Eastern Zhou kingdoms belonged to the feudal system.

In the Warring States Period, it was already the Seven Kingdoms competing for power, and Zhou Tianzi could not do with this ornament. It was a troubled time exactly like the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. (The difference between the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms will be discussed later)

The vassal states of the Western Han Dynasty inherited the rules set by Liu Bang in the White Horse Covenant, and the kings of "not the Liu family are not kings" are all descendants of the Liu family. Different surnames such as Han Xin, Peng Yue, Chen Li, Yingbu, etc., were all slaughtered by Liu Bang and Empress Lu. The princes surnamed Liu are somewhat similar to the Eastern Zhou states, but since Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty appointed Zhou Yafu to quell the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu, the vassal states are no longer what they used to be. Not only were the soldiers restricted, but even the magistrates at the level of the assassin were appointed by the central government, so the vassal states of the Western Han Dynasty could only be regarded as a half-divided feudal system.

As for the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Dynasties, it was the result of the division of the Western Jin Dynasty by the various grassland peoples in the north. They confronted the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the North and the South, and if they were divided according to the social system, they were semi-feudal and semi-colonial societies like the late Qing Dynasty, as Mao often said.

To avoid keeping the reader's heart hanging all the time. I will first answer the question raised in the previous episode in a concise sentence: the attribute of the Tang Domain Town is the centralized county system, which is fundamentally different from the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, the Western Han Dynasty vassal states, and the Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms. Why? In order to sort out this clue, let's start with the formation of the knots.

The first person in Chinese history to serve as the envoy of Jiedu was Xue Ne, the son of the famous Tang general Xue Rengui. In December of the first year of Changxin (701), Wu Zetian appointed Xue Ne as the ambassador of Youzhou Jinglu Jiedu, with the task of guarding against the Turks, Khitans, and Xi.

Who said that the "second generation of officials" and "rich second generation" are all gentlemen? Xue Ne is not at all sloppy! The history books commented: "(He) is brave and silent, and his use of troops is stronger in the face of the enemy." "About his glorious deeds. It is not the focus of this article, so I will not repeat it here.

In the second year of Jingyun (711), that is, the second year of Li Dan's accession to the throne of Tang Ruizong, the imperial court appointed He Bayan as the governor of Liangzhou and the envoy of Hexi Jiedu. This is the second knots after Xanne.

Liangzhou is in present-day Gansu Province, and from here to the northwest is the Hexi Corridor. To the east and north is a vast desert that connects Inner Mongolia. The seat of Hexi Town was located in Liangzhou, and its mission was to cut off the communication between Tibet and the Turks. Guarding the throat of the ancient Silk Road to the hinterland, its strategic position is self-evident.

During the Kaiyuan period of Tang Xuanzong, the whole country set up a total of Hexi, Longyou, Fanyang, Pinglu, Jiannan, Shuofang, Hedong, Anxi, Beiting, Lingnan ten major festival envoys. The troops at the disposal of these ten major knots ranged from 20,000 to 100,000 at most, and they governed several or even a dozen prefectures and counties, and were the highest military and political commanders in military towns.

Much like China's 10 major military regions today, the difference is that the commanders of large military regions are only in charge of military affairs and do not care about administration. These ten feudal towns are all located in the border area between the Central Plains and the nomadic peoples, and outside the jurisdiction of each feudal town is the central government of the Tang Dynasty set up in the feudal prefectures and prefectures of various tribes, and the khans of the local tribes are appointed as the governors, which is equivalent to the current special administrative region.

Therefore, all ethnic minority settlements that were subject to the Tang Dynasty were inherent territories and an integral part of the Tang Empire.

The regimes of these ethnic minorities mainly include: Khitan and Xi in Liaodong; Silla on the Korean Peninsula; the Hui of the North; the Heilongjiang River Basin; the Turkic in the north and northwest (including the Turkish and Central Asian countries); Nanzhao in the south, etc.

I mentioned earlier the formation of the knots. So why set up knots? This has to start with the government military system.

The military system implemented in the early Tang Dynasty was inherited from the government military system of the Sui Dynasty, according to the record of the "New Tang Dynasty Book Military System": Tang Taizong divided the country into ten provinces. A total of 634 mansions were placed, and all the prefectures inside and outside the customs were under the command of the 12 guards of the central government. The government has one lieutenant and one lieutenant on the left and right. 300 men for a regiment, the regiment has a lieutenant; Fifty people are in the team, and the team is positive; Ten people are for fire, and fire is long. Citizens must be at least 20 years old for military service. The Twelve Guards were the emperor's forbidden army, and the soldiers were selected from the prefectures under the jurisdiction of each guard, and the border towns should also be drawn from each prefecture if they were insufficient.

All those who are qualified to serve in the military in each prefecture must be registered, archived, and served in the military in turns. This will not affect either production or national defense. In peacetime, each prefecture was in charge of military training by the Commander of Zhichong and the Commander of Guoyi on the left and right, and once the imperial court had an edict, they would assemble and go on the expedition. As soon as the war ended, "the soldiers were scattered in the government and returned to the court." ”

This means that in general, in case of special circumstances, the conscription system is still used to make up for the shortcomings of the government military system. For example, when Tang Taizong sent troops to recruit troops to Goryeo, he adopted the measure of temporary recruitment, and the famous general Xue Rengui was one of the people who was recruited into the army this time.

The government soldiers of the early Tang Dynasty were an invincible and invincible army. It carries the unparalleled glory and pride of the Tang Empire. In just a few decades, this army successively wiped out more than 10 countries, including the Eastern Turks, Goryeo, Baekje, Xue Yantuo, Tuyuhun, Gaochang, Shule, Yanqi, Khotan, Qiuci, and Western Turks. The list of famous examples is endless. For example, Xue Rengui conquered Goryeo, broke 100,000 in Xincheng with 2,000, and 40 cities fell to the wind.

Li Jing destroyed the Eastern Turks, attacked Yinshan with 3,000 and broke 100,000, and captured Jieli Khan alive.

Su Dingfang exterminated the Western Turks, broke 100,000 with 10,000, captured Helu Khan alive, and so on. The empire expanded unprecedentedly, crossing Lake Baikal to the north and Persia to the west. Looking at this group of flashing data, how can Chinese not be enthusiastic and thoughtful......

It should be said that at that time, the regimes of all ethnic minorities, whether voluntarily or by force, were still able to abide by the law and obey the central government. However, since Wu Zetian came to power, the situation has been very different and bad, and the situation in the border has taken a sharp turn for the worse. The two Tibetans (Khitan and Xi) in eastern Liaodong openly launched an armed rebellion. The Yingzhou Governor's Mansion of the Tang Dynasty was also occupied.

The Turks of the northern steppes once again waved the banner of wolf heads and established a post-Turkic regime.

The Tibetans on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were not willing to be lonely, and fought with the Tang army for the four towns in the west of Tang'an.

Why is this happening? There are three main reasons: First, Wu Zetian self-destroyed the Great Wall, and the combat effectiveness of the army was much worse than before. Lack of deterrence. Second, she does not understand politics and mishandles the issue of ethnic minorities, which undermines stability and unity. Third, those arrogant and untamed khans saw her as a girl, and they really didn't take her seriously.

To deal with them. Wu Zetian was out of the way, and sent her most favored martial arts nephews to the front line one by one to be commanders. But the outcome of the war always brought her unprecedented frustration.

Is this still the victorious army in the Zhenguan era? At that time, it would take as little as a month or as much as a year to defeat the enemy. Then you can go home, the husband and wife can reunite and hold the children, and the family will be happy. But now? The war is protracted and indefinite. "The soldiers are scattered in the government and will return to the DPRK" has become a beautiful bubble that cannot be realized. Frontline soldiers are also faced with a series of problems that need to be solved urgently, such as the separation of husband and wife, the payment of military salaries, the supply of materials, pension arrangements, and the schooling of children.

finally survived the Xuanzong Dynasty, and the rule of Kaiyuan greatly increased the national strength of the empire. However, the situation at the border is still not optimistic. Under these circumstances, the reform of the military system was put on the agenda of the Imperial Center.

It is time for the government military system with a glorious revolutionary tradition to withdraw from the stage of history, and it will be replaced by a conscription system, and professional soldiers will make their debut and become the protagonists of the military circles in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. It was under this circumstance that the ten major feudal towns of the Kaiyuan period came into being.

From the formation process of the Jiedu envoys, it is not difficult to see that the decision-makers of the central Tang Dynasty set up feudal towns for only one purpose, that is, to consolidate the border defense, resist foreign invasion, and maintain stability and unity. Later facts also proved that the major feudal towns in the country have made due and indelible contributions in the above aspects.

If the Tang Dynasty had followed this trajectory, China's history would have been rewritten, and the backwardness and beatings since the Song Dynasty would not have occurred. As the saying goes, history has no assumptions, and when Tang Xuanzong set up the ten major feudal towns, he would never have imagined that An Lushan would rebel.

In addition to the three major towns controlled by An Lushan, the historical task of counterinsurgency naturally fell on the shoulders of the other seven major feudal towns, and even the elite main forces of Anxi and Beiting, which were far away in the Western Regions, were also transferred back to the interior to quell the rebellion.

At the end of 762 AD, which was the last years of the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion, the commander-in-chief of the Tang Suppression Bandits, Fugu Huaien, led the Shuofang army of the headquarters to pursue Shi Chaoyi to Hebei, and the government troops composed of soldiers from various feudal towns on other routes were also advanced into Hebei in an all-round way. Anshi rebel generals Xue Song, Zhang Zhongzhi, Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian and others successively sacrificed a number of their cities to surrender to the government army.

The desperate Shi Chaoyi hanged himself in a forest, and the Tang Dynasty army and civilians finally ushered in the dawn of victory after seven and a half years of arduous counterinsurgency war!

The first snow of 763 came later than usual. It was late at night, and the snow was still falling. The commander-in-chief in the camp, Gu Huai'en, tossed and turned, and could not sleep, not because of the cold weather, because tomorrow Li Guangbi and several other generals will hold a ceremony to accept the surrender of the rebels.

The victory made Fugu Huai'en mixed with joy and sorrow, and he thought a lot about it this night—

He came from the desolate Mobei, from a herdsman of the Fugu tribe to a senior general of the Tang Army, and only he knows the ups and downs. Now he is also the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, the deputy marshal of Hebei, the protector of Shan Yu Dadu, the left servant, the Zhongshu order, the three divisions of the Kaifu Yitong, and the king of Daning County, and this series of official titles and names are simply dazzling. At that time, no one in the military world could surpass this level.

He also knew that the reason why he was so valued by the emperor was not because of the existence of the Anshi rebels? Now that the rebels are done playing, and the Son of Heaven is almost out of need of me, can so many hard-won official titles still be kept? Wasn't his immediate boss and predecessor Shuo Fang Jiedu Guo Ziyi demoted because of his high position? Thinking about the benefits, it is probably already very good to be able to keep the position of Shuofang Jiedu envoy and the title of the king of Daning County. (To be continued......)