Chapter 187: Divide and Close

However, all prosperity seems to be unable to escape the law of excessive integration, and Hua Feng is more and more obsessed with the long history of Huaxia, and his spiritual power and cultivation are also growing unconsciously.

The Tang Dynasty invented block printing. In the late Tang Dynasty, the use of block printing began to be widespread.

Although Bi Sheng of the Song Dynasty invented movable type printing, it was not practical. During the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the common use was still the engraving printing technology invented in the Tang Dynasty.

In 881, Huangchao captured Chang'an, and the Tang Dynasty soon counterattacked to destroy Huangchao. In the Huangchao Rebellion, the warlord feudal town took the opportunity to become stronger, and the former Huangchao Department made Zhu Wen, a general who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, bigger, abolished the Tang Emperor and established the Later Liang. Prior to this, the envoys of the various festivals had been proclaimed kings one after another, forming the main part of the ten kingdoms.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Quanzhong usurped the Tang Dynasty and became independent, changed the name of the country to Liang, and built the capital in Kaifeng. After Zhu Liang, the following dynasties were Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou, and together with Liang were called the Five Dynasties. In addition to the Five Dynasties, there were many other separatist forces in southern China at that time, namely Wu, Chu, Min, Wu Yue, Former Shu, Later Shu, Southern Han, Southern Tang, Jingnan, Northern Han and other ten dynasties, collectively known as the Ten Kingdoms. History is called five dynasties and ten kingdoms, but there are more than ten actual kingdoms.

The first dynasty of the Five Dynasties was the Zhuliang Dynasty, which was founded by Zhu Quanzhong and usurped the Tang Dynasty, which improved some of the political abuses of the Tang Dynasty, and the Later Liang was destroyed by the Later Tang Dynasty, who had a feud with Li Cunxuan.

In the Later Tang Dynasty, there was a relatively enlightened emperor Tang Mingzong Li Siyuan implemented a lot of policies that benefited the country and the people, so that the society appeared to be well-off, but his successor was destroyed by his son-in-law Shi Jingjiao at the expense of the sixteen states of Yanyun to borrow troops from the Khitans in the north.

Shi Jingjiao recognized the Khitan Emperor who was younger than him as his father, and was canonized as the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty by the Khitan Emperor, and the capital was Kaifeng. But an endless stream of wealth flowed into the treasury of the Khitans.

So much so that Shi Jingjiao's adopted son Shi Chonggui was unwilling to do so, and at the suggestion of the minister Jing Yanguang, he tried to change the dependence on the Khitan under the pretext of calling him "Sun" and not being a minister, but the Khitans used to wave their troops south to destroy the Later Jin Dynasty, and the stone was heavy and noble as the answer, and established the Great Liao in Kaifeng, and Yelu Deguang established himself as the emperor.

After the Jin Dynasty was destroyed, but the Liao regime was unable to gain a foothold in the Central Plains, withdrew to the north, and set up Li Congyi as the lord of the Central Plains.

His son Liu Chengyou was replaced by Guo Wei as the Great Zhou because of the killing of the general Guo Wei, Guo Wei and his adopted son Chai Rong were the Ming monarchs of the five generations, under their management, the Later Zhou gradually became stronger, and gradually unified China, but Chai Rong's successor Chai Zongxun was a seven-year-old child, unable to rule the world, and finally the general Zhao Kuangyin was added by his subordinates in the yellow robe in Chen Qiao, on behalf of Zhou Lisong. Later, under the management of Zhao Kuangyin, the Song Dynasty finally unified China and ended the great division of the Five Dynasties.

From the establishment of the Liang Dynasty in 907 to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, it was a period of further strengthening of ethnic integration in China's feudal society and the continued development of feudal economy.

During the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the south was relatively stable and its economy developed greatly. In the later period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Later Zhou gradually became stronger, laying the foundation for the later end of the situation of division and separation.

After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, a series of measures were taken to strengthen the centralization of power, which ended the division situation in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, basically unified the whole country in form, and continued to develop the feudal economy. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were crises such as financial difficulties, and in order to overcome the crisis of rule, Wang Anshi implemented reforms. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the politics were corrupt, the defense was empty, the Jin soldiers went south, and the Northern Song Dynasty perished. In 1127, the Southern Song Dynasty was established, the Song and Jin confronted each other, and the economy of the north and south had new developments.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the main minority regimes that stood side by side were the Liao established by the Khitan people, the Jin established by the Jurchen people who replaced the Liao, and the Xia established by the Dangxiang people. The constant wars between the various ethnic regimes have also strengthened economic and cultural exchanges.

The Mongol Temujin (later known as Genghis Khan) unified the Mongol tribes and established the Mongol regime. Genghis Khan and his descendants waged large-scale wars against neighboring countries and regions. The Yuan Dynasty founded by Kublai Khan, the unification of the Yuan promoted the development of a multi-ethnic state. The provincial system implemented in the Yuan Dynasty effectively governed the whole country.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, there were frequent economic exchanges between various ethnic groups, unprecedented prosperity in handicrafts, commerce, and urban economy, and the ties between China and countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa were strengthened, and culture, science and technology reached a high level of prosperity.

The Liao Dynasty, or Great Liao or Liao State, also known as the Khitan, or simply Liao, was a historically minority regime in China established by the Khitans. The original name of the Liao Dynasty was the Khitan State, which was established in 916, and the founding monarch was the Liao Taizu Yelu Abaoji, who set the name of the country as "Liao" in 947, renamed it "Khitan" in 983, and restored the name of the country "Liao" in 1066 until Liao was destroyed by Jin in 1125.

After the death of Liao, Yelu Dashi moved west to the Chu River valley in Central Asia and established Western Liao. In 1211, he was usurped by Qu Juru. In 1125, it was destroyed by the Jin Kingdom. In its exchanges with the Central Plains and Western countries, Liao integrated the strengths of others and effectively promoted the rapid development of the Khitan in all aspects of politics, economy, and culture.

The Liao transitioned from a tribal clan society to a slave society in a relatively short period of time, and ruled northern China while leaping towards a feudal society, bringing closer ties between the people of all ethnic groups and promoting integration. It has played an important role in the development of Mongolia and Northeast China. They created a splendid civilization and left behind the glorious history of the Khitan.

The Jurchens flourished in the present-day Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins and the Changbai Mountain area. On January 28, 1115, the Jurchen leader Wanyan Agu was proclaimed emperor and founded the country, with the name Dajin. After the founding of the Jin Dynasty, the war to destroy Liao was launched with Liao Wujing as the strategic goal. After the five capitals, the Liao Dynasty immediately perished. After Jin destroyed Liao, he became an enemy country with the Northern Song Dynasty.

After Jin Taizong completed Yan Sheng's accession to the throne, he destroyed the power of Liao, and soon swept south, and destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty in the fifth year of Tianhui (1127 AD). After eliminating the Liao Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchens unified the vast northern regions, including the Yellow River Valley, and confronted the Southern Song Dynasty for a long time.

While the Jin dynasty implemented unique systems such as Meng'an Moke, it also adopted many political systems in the interior. During the reign of Wan Yan Liang, he launched a large-scale war against the Southern Song Dynasty, but it ended in failure.

During the period of Jin standing side by side with the Southern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, he forced the Western Xia to submit to the Southern Song Dynasty and sued for peace in humiliation, always maintaining its hegemony. In the later years of the Jin Dynasty, the ruling group was extremely corrupt, and the uprisings of various ethnic groups were surging, and at the same time, they were constantly attacked by the army of the Mongol Empire, and finally the country was destroyed.

During the Jin Dynasty, with the deepening of feudalization, the social economy achieved certain development. In addition to the advantages of animal husbandry, there have also been advances in agriculture, handicrafts and commerce. The culture of the Jin Dynasty was deeply influenced by the Han nationality and made corresponding achievements, among which drama was more prominent, and produced famous writers such as Yuan Haowen.

The Western Xia is an empire dominated by the Dangxiang clan, since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Dangxiang clan in the southeast of Qinghai became strong, and the Sui and Tang dynasties began to attach the Central Plains, and its residence was placed in the state, and the head of the government Tuoba Chici was given the surname Li by the Tang Dynasty.

After Li Yuanhao succeeded to the throne, he implemented a series of strategies to improve national consciousness, abolishing the surnames given by the Tang and Song dynasties, changing the surname to Wei, and calling himself a vulture.

Subsequently, Li Yuanhao implemented a series of reforms such as changing hairstyles, setting costumes, making characters, simplifying etiquette, and establishing an official system, and promoted Xingzhou to Xingqing Mansion, expanded the palace city, and prepared to establish a country and become the emperor. Break away from the Song Dynasty and build the Bactria Empire. Yuan Hao was officially proclaimed emperor on October 11 in the third year of Daqing (the first year of Song Baoyuan, 1038), with the country name Daxia and the history of Western Xia. Change the Yuan Tian Rite Law Yanzuo. He also made a large number of vassals, and sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to ask the Song Dynasty to officially recognize his title of emperor.

In 1041 and 1042, Yuan Hao's troops defeated the Song army at Haoshuichuan and Sanchuankou one after another, and Song Renzong had no choice but to canonize Yuan Hao as the king of Xia. The territory of Western Xia is bordered by the Yellow River in the east, Yumen Pass in the west (now Xiaofangpancheng in the west of Dunhuang, Gansu), Xiaoguan in the south (now Huanxian in Gansu) in the south, and the desert in the north. At the time of its prosperity, it had jurisdiction over 22 prefectures, including present-day Ningxia and northern Shaanxi, northwestern Gansu, northeastern Qinghai and parts of Inner Mongolia.

After Dewang succeeded to the throne, the Mongol army took advantage of the weakness of the Western Xia state to attack on a large scale. In 1226 A.D., after Genghis Khan led his army to capture Suzhou, Ganzhou and other places, he marched eastward, crossed the desert, crossed the Yellow River, and captured Yingli (now Zhongwei) and Xipingfu.

In January 1227, Genghis Khan left his troops to continue the siege of Xingqingfu, and after leading his army south to capture Jishi Prefecture, he arrived in Lund in April and sent troops to capture Tokugawa Prefecture. In May, Genghis Khan went to Liupan Mountain to escape the summer, and in June, the late Western Xia lord Li led the Western Xia civil and military officials to surrender.

In July, Genghis Khan, a generation of Tianjiao, died of illness, and the Mongolian army was afraid that the Western Xia would change, so he killed Li Li on the way with the army, and since then, the Western Xia, which was founded for 190 years, was destroyed by the Mongols.

From the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368 to the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840, it was a period of consolidation of China's feudal social unity and the gradual decline of the feudal system.

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming government adopted a series of measures to strengthen the centralization of power and develop the economy. In order to strengthen the military defense force, Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, built and moved the capital to Beijing. In order to consolidate the northern frontier, the Ming government built the Great Wall in the north. In order to further strengthen ties with overseas countries, the Ming government sent Zheng He to the West seven times. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with the development of the commodity economy, the germ of capitalism appeared in some places in the south of the Yangtze River. In the late Ming Dynasty, the feudal rule was decaying, and the social contradictions became increasingly acute, and finally the peasant uprising led by Li Zicheng broke out, and the rule of the Ming Dynasty was overthrown.

In 1616, Nurhachi established the Jurchen regime Houjin. In 1636, Huang Taiji named the country as the Qing Dynasty, and after Shunzhi ascended the throne, he passed through Shanhaiguan to Beijing in 1644 and defeated Li Zicheng to establish the Qing Dynasty.

In order to further strengthen the centralization of absolutism, the rulers of the early Qing Dynasty set up a cabinet and six ministries, and also set up a southern study room and a military aircraft office; in order to control the people ideologically, the Qing government repeatedly raised literary prisons to suppress the anti-Qing ideology of intellectuals.

In the early Ming and Qing dynasties, a unified multi-ethnic state was consolidated. Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan, and the Qing Dynasty's establishment of the Taiwan Prefecture to defeat Tsarist Russia's aggression against China's Heilongjiang River valley, these struggles safeguarded national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Qing government smashed the separatist activities of Galdan, put down the rebellion of Daxiao and Zhuo, and strengthened its jurisdiction over Tibet, thus further consolidating the multi-ethnic state.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, several summaries of scientific and technological works appeared, and progressive thinkers with democratic overtones who were anti-authoritarian appeared. There are also several excellent novels in literature.