Shift And Replacement:a Study On The Spatial Layout Of The Military Governors In The Five Dynasties And Early Song Dynasty (883-977)

Focusing on shift and replacement the Military Governors(Jiedushi),this essay investigates the gradual decline and ultimate fall of the system of Military Governors,an important historical object from the Five Dynasties to the early Song.Full credit has been given to the early Song dynasty for its dedication in the centralization of power,but if we pay more attention to the vicissitudes of the system of Military Governors,the trajectory of centralization can be traced back to the beginning of the Five Dynasties.Specifically,although usually regarded as indicative of the expansion of the system of Military Governors in the late Tang,the establishment of Zhu Wen's Later Liang regime,in fact,made the regime itself diverge significantly from Tang when Military Governors stood in great numbers in that the Later Liang acquired its territory by military campaigns and thus had a strong hold upon its power.Nevertheless,the Later Liang failed to transform itself into a the system of Military Commissioner-type country before it perished in the east and western crisis.While for the Later Tang,who invaded Zhong yuan as an extraneous regime,the situation became radically different from that in the Later Liang,so it dealt with the old and new systems of Military Governors as a crucial problem:it seized control over local power by means of frequent shift and replacement the Military Governors.Mutinies still occurred repeatedly in the Later Tang,but this does not mean the influence of the system of Military Governors;rather,it means that the Imperial Armies over shadowed Military Governors and became the focal point of the scrambles of the throne in the following dynasties.As a result,after the Later Jin,the replacement frequency of Military Governors abated gradually and the significance of the system of Military Governors shrank markedly.Finally,in the early Song,Military Governors were not a big threat for the ruler and the control of the Imperial Armies became the priority,thus routinizing the long-lasting seizure of the positions of Military Governors by military officers.All in all,the ultimate abolishment of the system of Military Governors after Song Taizong's enthronement was not only the outcome of his personality,but also the inevitable result of the replacement of military politics by civil politics during this time.