The beginning of medieval China benefited from proper rulership which inspired the military and encouraged the citizens to believe in their emperor. The Tang Dynasty was one of the more prosperous dynasties in medieval China and during this time China was setting itself up for future success. In the center of this dynamic improvement was Emperor Taizong. His leadership was benevolent and key feature of his reign was his willingness to listen to his advice from his officials and award them for their contributions. Several important policies were based on input from others. This is exemplified by one of the most important contributions, received in 637, from a man named Wei Zheng who listed ten points of virtue that helped Li Shi Min rule over…show more content… Various changes to the Chinese military happened through the centuries but three transitions from the Tang dynasty stand out. Each of these changes either took steps towards a more modern economy or gave the military new strengths and advantages over enemy nations. These changes were: increased simplicity, increased organization, and a change in payment for soldiers. The earlier soldiers consisted of five different groups of people: fubing, bingmu, jian’er, tuanjie and fangding, but this was later simplified to only two groups, guanjian and tuanjie or tuanlian. The earlier system of soldiers was more complex with different groups units being formed for various reasons such as being sent to frontiers for purposes of defense or fighting battles, and then disbanding once the conflict was over. The later system was focused on setting up the soldiers at strategic positions depending on where they were needed more or where it would be important to defend. This simple transformation assisted the Chinese military leaders in sorting and commanding soldiers. The next transition focused on creating an organization system as before the Tang Dynasty there was no fixed organization system for the armies. Eventually one was introduced which was easy to understand. After being implemented for some time the peacetime and wartime establishments in the late Tang and Five Dynasties were gradually integrated and underwent the transition from…show more content… There was an internal struggle of political factionalism which was ruining the country and caused the end of the Ming dynasty. Both the state and gentry wanted sovereignty and despite the lack of actual combat this still had a negative impact on the empire. Zhang Juzheng, who was de facto leader and represented Legalism, was in charge of making sure the gentry worked for the state and not vice versa. Zhang too believed that the Ming dynasty was in decline, and he wrote on one occasion that merchants held power during the mid-sixteenth century. Zhang was able to put is many reforms but unfortunately when he left office most of them were reversed and many of his critics were put into power. Ray Huang wrote that “The effectiveness of the rural elite in leading the illiterate masses to pursue their lives within the limits of social custom was essential to the success of . . . minimal governing.” It was the inverse of this proposition, that a minimal government was needed to realize normative gentry leadership, that inspired the rather subversive policies of the newly ascendant faction. After posthumous denunciations of Zhang and Wanli Emperor not caring to defend Zhang progress Zhang made in terms of keeping the gentry under control and the state in power was essentially