How to evaluate Zhou Shizong and Chai Rong in history?
Zhou Shizong Chai Rong (921-959) was the second emperor in the late Zhou Dynasty. A native of Longgang, xing zhou (now Xingtai, Hebei), was the nephew and adopted son of Guo Wei, the ancestor of the later Zhou Dynasty. During the reign of Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, a series of effective measures were taken to restore agricultural production and get rid of the disadvantages of the tired dynasty. In the first year of Xiande (954), Chai Rong acceded to the throne, recruited talents and continued to carry out reforms. Politically, clear management of officials, strict rewards and punishments, punishing bribery, advocating thrift and abstinence from extravagance. Economically, encourage refugees to return to their hometowns to settle down, reduce or exempt all kinds of nameless taxes, appease refugees, recruit people to plow fields, compile field maps, send envoys to various places to set land rent, verify hidden cultivated land, and make it pay taxes evenly, abolish the tax-free privilege of Qufu Confucius' House, mobilize people to build water conservancy projects and dredge grain transportation; Stop abolishing more than 30,000 temples outside the temple (the name of the temple was given by the court), and the extra monks and nuns are still compiled households, and private monks and nuns are prohibited; The acquisition of folk Buddha statues and bronzes to cast money eased the long-term lack of money since the end of the Tang Dynasty. Militarily, purge military discipline. In the first year of Xiande, more than 70 imperial generals, such as Fan Aineng, He Hui, and Middle School, who fled during the war with the Northern Han Dynasty, were executed, and the trench was looted, threatening that Zhou Jun had been defeated. The divided elite central imperial army was formed by reviewing the imperial army, eliminating the old and the weak, and selecting the strong and the brave. Zhou Shizong also revised the criminal law, revised the calendar, tested elegant music, extensively searched for suicide notes, and carved and printed ancient books. In the second year of Xiande, Sejong adopted the strategic policy of "easy first and difficult later" put forward by Wang Pu, and devoted himself to the great cause of reunifying the whole country, sending troops to Shu first and recovering four states. The following year, after three years of hard work, more than 60 counties in Huainan and Jiangbei 14 were recovered. After six years of expedition to Liao, I recovered three of Yanyun 16 states. In May, I advanced to Youzhou, suddenly became seriously ill and was forced to move troops. He died in June at the age of 39. Sejong Chai Rong's political, economic and military reforms and their achievements laid the foundation for the unification of the whole country in the Northern Song Dynasty.