1 ene 960 año - Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin 960-976

Descripción:

Emperor Taizu (960-976)
Founder: Unified North/South.
Key Points:
• Reorganized Military and Civil Service to give "Absolute" authority to Emperor
• Revived Civil Service Exams- allowing for upward mobility of lower class and reducing the power of Aristocracy.
Emperor Taizu was a powerful military leader but also created centralized Authority (and "Absolute"). He embedded absolutist power into the administrative structure" rather than personal power. This became the model for the Chinese state system for centuries
Asked his former tutor Zhao Pu {most powerful politician of early Song (wiki)} how to obtain everlasting stability and peace.
• Whittle down power of regional military governors (see Military Organization below)
• Check their revenues
• Appropriate their crack troops
A. Conquered Chu, Shu, Han, Southern Tang
• Had the main military generals Retire
o (prevent coup)

CIVIL SERVICE
• Revived the civil service exam
o ~450 men passed exams
o officially printed and promulgated Nine Confucian classics
o open to all social classes (broke power of Aristocracy)
 Allowed access of upper and lower classes
 Created a heterogeneous administration (lessening cliques against the Emperor)
• Separated official titles from actual duties
o Duties assigned by the Emperor=" Stipendiary office" and "Duty assignment"
o Allowed Emperor Taizu to keep older Later Zhou officials but remove their power and allowed Emperor’s power to delegate Duties.

Three units of Power – Autonomous and answered only to Emperor
I. Secretariat Chancellery: (Chung-shu men hsia/ Zhong-shu men xia)
• Chief Counselors: Zai Xiang (Tsai hsiang)
o Chief counselor: Cheng Xiang (Ch’eng-hsiang)
o First Privy Counselor: Tong Zhong shu men-xia ping zhang shi (T’ung chung-shu men hsia p’ing-chang shih)
 “Participant in Secretariat deliberations”
o Second Privy Counselor: Can-zhi Zhang shi (Ts’an-chih chang-shih
 “Assistant councilors of State”
Controlled the Six Ministries (Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice and Works)
II. Bureau of Military Affairs- Divided Military into 3 Bureaus- Each Group checked the other
Military Organization
i. Imperial Army- Administratively controlled by Civil Bureau of Military Affairs (Shu-mi-yuan)
a) Palace Command- Best troops stationed in Capital
o Imperial Elite (Pan-Chih): Best of Palace Command- Emperor’s personal Guard, always in Capital
o Capital Security office (Huang-cheng ssu) Outside Palace
b) Upper Four Armies (Shang ssu-chun) Guarded Capital- Largest and most powerful of Imperial Armies
o Two armies from Palace Command- inner city (~30,000 troops)
o Two armies from Metropolitan Command- outer city (~30,000 troops)
c) Metropolitan Command
o Infantry
o Calvary
II. Non- Imperial Armies
A) Prefectural Armies (hsiang-chun/xiang chun)
o Mercenaries, conscripts from hereditary army families, refugees, criminals
o Typically assigned to menial labor (reducing corvee duties of agricultural population)
B) Local Militias (hsiang-ping/axing ping)
• Provided by villages and local organizations for local defense
C) Frontier Troops (fan ping)
iii. Finance Commission

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