A Study On The Important Assistant Liu Muzhi Of Liu Yu's Hegemonic Government

Liu Muzhi was a representative figure of the second-class literati in the late East Jin Dynasty.Liu Muzhi(360-417),also named Daohe,lived in Jingkou for many generations,was born in a second-class gentry family,knowledgeable and skillful.In the late East Jin Dynasty,the traditional aristocrats suffered a heavy blow in the warlord's fights and annexation.Liu Muzhi seized the historical opportunity and chose to rely on Liu Yu,a representative of the warriors from the second-class gentry,who deeply relied on him.He repeatedly stayed at Jiankang when Liu Yu led the army to fighting,and was in charge of the court's internal and external affairs.Later,he became the leader of the Chancery.Liu Muzhi,an important assistant of Liu Yu,played an important role in the process of building the Song Dynasty instead of the Jin Dynasty.This paper probes into the reasons why Liu Muzhi and Liu Yu chose each other.It is believed that this is determined by their same political experience.Liu Muzhi and Liu Yu were both from the second-class gentry and suppressed under the aristocrat political system of the East Jin Dynasty.Their common goal was to recapture power from the first-class gentry,change the old political pattern that the first-class grabbed all the power and rebuild the imperial power politics.Therefore,the literati and the warriors chose to unite and defeated the Huanxuan Aristocrat Group together.Although Liu Muzhi and Liu Yu militarily defeated the aristocrat group,the system of gentry has lasted for more than a hundred years.The first-class gentry still has the advantage over the second-class gentry economically and politically.Especially,the ninth-class official system is still the main system for selecting officials.The first-class gentry could just sit up there and become high-ranking officials just by relying on their family background.In order to regain the power of the aristocrats,the main way that Liu Yu and Liu Muzhi took was to establish a hegemonic government(that is,Liu Yu's government office)in addition to the official system of the East Jin Dynasty,and then,set up officials,appointed assistants,and exercised power in this government.Liu Yu's willwas realized through the special political tool of this hegemonic government.The hegemonic government established by Liu Yu has gone through three important stages of development,and Liu Muzhi has played an important role and influence in each stage.The first stage(404-408)was the period of Jianwei General Government,during which Liu Muzhi took the correct measures to attract the gentry,seize military power and resolutely attack the remnant members of the Huan Xuan gentry after Liu Yu led the Jingkou Uprising to expel the Huanchu regime,thus enhancing the authority of the hegemonic government and initially establishing its dominant position.Liu Muzhi was heavily relied on by Liu Yu and entered the power core of Liu Yu's hegemonic government.The second stage was the period of Zhongjun General Government(408-411),during which Liu Muzhi put forward the conclusion that the generals of Jingkou would “swallow each other's turfs” in the end,suggested that Liu Yu should "command the princes by controlling the emperor",and pointed out the strategic direction of building the Song Dynasty instead of the Jin Dynasty for the hegemonic government.During this period,Liu Mu assisted Liu Yu in send armed forces to suppress Nanyan in the north and Lu Xun in the south,which enhanced Liu Yu's prestige unprecedentedly and consolidated the development of the government's dominant position.The third stage was the period of Grand Commandant Government(411-418),during which Liu Muzhi assisted Liu Yu in eliminating Liu Yi forces who challenged the hegemonic government,the dissent Zhuge Changmin within the hegemonic government,and other hostile forces such as Sima Xiuzhi of the Royal family.During this period,Liu Muzhi was in charge of the central power of the government,and fully utilized the personnel power of the leader of the Chancery by taking the criterion of capability and lotalty to employ people.According to the government's political needs,he absorbed excellent talents from different interest groups,such as high-ranking gentry,poor-ranking gentry and Wu gentry,to enter the government and formed a new bureaucratic team loyal to Liu Yu,which consolidated and expanded the dominated basis of the government,and made a good reserve of talents for Liu Yu's establishment of the Song Dynasty instead of the Jin Dynasty.In the late stage of the hegemonic government,the high-ranking gentry represented by Wang Hong and Xie Hui tried to seize Liu Muzhi's dominant position in the hegemonic government.The contradictions and conflicts between the high-ranking gentry and the low-ranking gentry recurred within the hegemonic government.The "Jiajiuxi" incident was the climax of the struggle between the two sides.Liu Muzhi,a people from the second-class gentry,could not be the leader of such important event as "Jiajiuxi".He could not establish the feudal legal system for the hegemonic government and realize the conformity between name and reality.He died in fear and guilty,and became the loser in the struggle between the new and old forces of the government.The conflict between the old and the new forces led to the political turbulence of the hegemonic government,which caused the failure of Liu Yu's northern expedition.But Liu Muzhi's achievements did not disappear.With the conditions for Liu Yu's replacement of the East Jin Dynasty being mature and his personal prestige reaching its peak,Liu Muzhi's "Song Dynasty-making" dream finally came true with the help of the high-ranking gentry.