Cat and mouse war

 

Cat and mouse war

 

When we open the door of history and return to the Han and Tang Dynasties from the 21st century, we will find that "cutting down feudal vassals" has long been used skillfully and artistically by emperors. The most famous cases of "cutting down vassals" in history came from the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.

When Wu Sangui rebelled against the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and went south to claim the throne, Fang Shidi was Wu Sangui's horse officer. After Wu Sangui's death, Fang Shidi became a Burmese horse dealer. Fang Shidi chatted with Agudengba and the coachman Azhuo about the "San Francisco Rebellion", so he naturally had more say.

Fang Shidi said:

In ancient China, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties basically belonged to an alliance organization, similar to the current agency system. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he formally established the Qin State Group, which consisted of business departments, branches and offices (prefecture and county system). Only the group had legal person status, but other institutions did not. All financial and human rights were transferred to the head office, achieving a high degree of centralization. This was a major institutional change at the time.

Then came the Han Dynasty Group. Whether to continue to implement the previous agency system or the business department system was a question that group CEO Liu Bang was thinking hard about. In the end, he adopted a one-day, two-system system: the sphere of influence near the headquarters, that is, the Gyeonggi region, was operated according to the subsidiary model (which is different from the branch system of Qin Guo Group), while the remote areas adopted an agent system, allowing other Let people develop and provide sufficient preferential policies.

These subsidiaries held the power of local taxation and the appointment and removal of officials in the territory. They had legal personality and were called "vassal states". "Fan" means a fence. Fanli means that these subsidiaries are like a fence, protecting the central headquarters around the capital. The CEOs of these subsidiaries are called "vassal kings". Liu Bang stipulates that only a child with the surname Liu can be the CEO of a subsidiary. When the CEOs of these subsidiaries become too powerful and do not listen to the parent company, they need to be restrained. Why is it called "cutting"? Just take your time, cut off a little bit today, and cut a little bit more tomorrow, and reduce his power bit by bit. This is called "cutting down the vassal". If it turns into "cutting down vassals" and slashing with a sword, it may be counterattacked by the subsidiaries and both sides will suffer.

The Han Dynasty Group was founded by Liu Bang, but was later seized by his wife Lu, who used her mother-in-law's family members to make the head office run wild. In the end, Zhou Bo, the senior vice president in charge of sales and veteran, brought order to things and welcomed Liu Heng, a descendant of the Liu family, back to power and became known as Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty in history. While the Liu family and the Lu family were in internal strife, the development of each subsidiary was booming. When Emperor Han Wen took the throne of CEO, a pattern of "weak headquarters and strong local areas" basically formed. The strength of the subsidiaries made them obey the orders of the head office. Although many courtiers continued to suggest reducing the vassal state, Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty knew that the time had not yet come and rejected such proposals many times.

By the time Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the power of the headquarters had begun to recover, but it still did not have the strength to cut down the vassal.

Fang Shidi said again:

At this time, an important figure - Chao Cuo appeared. This person was knowledgeable in Confucianism and Legalism and was a senior assistant to the CEO at the time. After doing some market research, he submitted an investigation report "Strategy for Reducing the Domain" to Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, recommending that the domain be reduced immediately. Compared with his father, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty had a much poorer grasp of the general trend. He muddleheadedly agreed to this suggestion and appointed Chao Cuo as the person in charge of the project.

If the top wants to cut down the vassal, the bosses of the subsidiaries below will definitely not be willing to do so. In the subsidiaries, these bosses are the emperors, and they always tell the truth. As vested interests, who among them is willing to hand over their power in vain? Therefore, conflicts and contradictions are inevitable.

But at this time, Chao Cuo, who was the person in charge of the project to reduce the vassal state, recognized a dead end: if the vassal state was not removed, the country would be in chaos. Sooner or later these people would rebel as they became more powerful. In the end, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, who was hesitant, agreed. However, the monarch and his ministers did not think of the eventuality: What would they do if these people really rebelled?

Therefore, after Chao Cuo proposed the policy of reducing the vassal status, everyone disagreed and the matter could not be accomplished. Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was also very worried and asked if he would rebel if he continued this matter. What was Chao Cuo's answer? He said: If you cut it, it will be the opposite. If you don't cut it, it will be the opposite. If you cut it, it will be the opposite. He, he also reacts. If you cut it now, he will react quickly, and he will react immediately, but the harm will be small. If you cut it in the future, it will be later, but the harm will be great. Why is it getting bigger and bigger! He is getting stronger and stronger! You have to strangle him to death before his wings are full. When his wings are full, he will be waiting for you to beat him. How can such a good thing happen? So after saying this, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty made up his mind to cut down the vassal vassal, which triggered the Wu-Chu Rebellion, or the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion.

Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty "cut down the feudal vassal" because he listened to the advice of his adviser Chao Cuo, which triggered a rebellion among eight subsidiary bosses and almost made him unsafe as CEO.

Due to underestimation, when the bosses of the subsidiary companies complained one after another, Chao Cuo, the person in charge of the project, could only be used as a scapegoat and was deceived by Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty into the execution ground to be executed, which temporarily alleviated the conflicts.

Fang Shidi said thoughtfully:

Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty wrote an article "Chao Cuo Lun", pointing out the reasons for the failure of this vassal reduction. He believes that it is correct to reduce the vassal state, otherwise it will be very detrimental to the overall long-term peace and order. However, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty made three mistakes when he cut down the feudal vassal: first, he chose the wrong time to cut down the feudal vassal; second, he chose the wrong person to cut down the feudal vassal; third, he chose the wrong method to cut down the feudal vassal. He believes that in order to succeed in this matter, one must "know what is natural beforehand, do not be afraid of things, and be prepared for them."

Of course. I just need to think about this matter clearly in advance and grasp the relationship between it and what might happen if I do it. Chao Cuo didn't think clearly. What he put forward was a slogan: "If you cut it, you will do the opposite; if you don't cut it, you will do the opposite." With only these eight words, there was no feasibility study or actionable plan. He just felt that it should be done, that's all.

Don't be afraid of anything. That is, don’t be afraid when something happens, because what you do is very difficult to do, and it will cause a strong backlash once it is launched. At this time, you must be fearless in the face of danger, command with determination, and then "do what you want". Xu Wei's picture. That is, you must have enough wisdom and methods to deal with the problem slowly and calmly, and things will go smoothly if things are slow. It must be implemented step by step.

The person who had the deepest understanding of Su Dongpo's thoughts was Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. In the process of pacifying the three vassals, he made full use of these three strategies. He and his grandmother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen, planned for about five years, thinking of all possible outcomes, and then opened a breakthrough with the weakest vassal king Shang Kexi. , figure it out slowly. In the end, faced with Wu Sangui's unstoppable rebellion, he remained calm and went on a personal expedition, achieving a successful outcome despite internal and external troubles.

Fang Shidi sang a song "The War between Cat and Mouse":

 

In the long history of China,

The emperor is a dictatorial cat.

The cat king builds his own kingdom,

Use authoritarian means to consolidate power.

 

In the war between dictatorship and decentralization,

Civil servants and generals are just a bunch of rats.

The mouse always wants to drive the cat out of power,

The cat-and-mouse war will never stop.

 

Cats will always try to control mice,

The cat will give some benefits to the mouse.

But the benefits to mice are limited,

Cats will not give up their dominance.

 

Cats are becoming more and more flexible in their methods.

Implement enfeoffment and land division for rats.

For example, allowing a mouse to build a nest,

You can be king in your own territory.

 

There are more and more tricks played by rats,

The more the rat's nest is expanded, the bigger it gets.

Wealth and food were divided by rats,

Fences and walls can no longer contain us.

 

The war between cats and mice continues,

Both sides showed great fighting spirit.

The Cat King worked hard to cut down the feudal vassal,

Rats resist and cause trouble.

 

In the fight between cat and mouse,

Rats often succumb to cats.

Cats are very cruel in their autocratic ways;

Use cat's paws to seize power and maintain stability.