Scholar's joke of governing the country

Zhu Yuanzhang has been dealing with literati for nearly half a century since he took part in the uprising. His attitude towards literati can be divided into two periods: before he won the world, he relied heavily on literati and his treatment was well known; However, after winning the world, his tragic slaughter of literati and the secrecy of the network were no different from those of the literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty.

This contradiction appeared in him because he revolved around how to seize and consolidate political power. Next, I will describe it according to these two stages.

0 1? The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang used literati again before winning the world: seizing power in troubled times and ruling the world by martial arts is a universal law of governing the country in past dynasties, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not neglect both. Even in the midst of thousands of difficulties and dangers, he did not forget to snare literati and praise military aircraft. The reason is nothing more than two points:

First, Zhu Yuanzhang saw the importance of bureaucracy from the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was necessary to use literati to rectify bureaucracy.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty and rose among the rough people. He learned to read and write articles during his military career. Although his poems are not poetic and arty, they also have many meaningful and fresh chapters. He once said:

"I am a farmer and have never been taught by a teacher. However, I have read and written, and I am relieved. "

This is not an exaggeration. Reading more books can make you understand. From the ups and downs of the past dynasties, he realized the truth of governing the country and leveling the world: even in the entrepreneurial period, we should pay attention to the rule of culture. He witnessed the turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. He believes that Yuan Gang's dismissal is the result of Yuan Shundi's inhuman appointment and corrupt officials' management.

Although scholars were highly valued in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, they turned to contempt after the world was settled. Imperial ministers naturally use Mongolia to honor the elderly. At one time, they even went as far as "Jianghuai Province, and no one knew how to read and write." You can get a promotion without some ink on your chest, and naturally you won't have any achievements. These diseases were incurable when we arrived in Yuan Shundi. If the country overturns, it is self-pity, no wonder others.

Zhu Yuanzhang once said that it should be in Yuanshi County. So although he joined the army, he paid great attention to attracting literati and talked about accommodating and sighing:

"Huang Gao started with martial arts, respected Confucianism, and was so happy to see Confucianism that he praised Confucianism and was vulgar when he was not born."

Second, we saw the importance of literati from the long-term unification war.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty, insurgents sprang up like mushrooms after rain, such as Liu Futong, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, Ming Yuzhen, Chen Youding and others. Their strength and prestige are far beyond Zhu Yuanzhang's reach, but their prosperity is also sudden and their death is terminally ill. The reason is that this is undoubtedly a very important reason, drawing lessons from the military and not paying attention to literary records.

Chen Youliang used to be the best one, but there was no scholar under him, and it was impossible to survive by force alone. Zhang Shicheng reused Huang, Cai and Ye. Although he was called a scholar, he was actually a group of hooligans. He could do nothing good except harm others, and the result was naturally unknown. The rest are inferior, so in the end they can only be fish on other people's swords, but they can't dominate the country.

In view of this, Zhu Yuanzhang "when crossing the river at the beginning, he saw many heroes who were proud and boastful, and the emperor was proud, but he sought sages, respected guests, listened to his words, and forgot to be tired day and night." As long as there is talent, Zhu Yuanzhang will use it immediately. Zhu Yuanzhang's outstanding point is that he attaches more importance to intellectuals than others and can give full play to their positive role.

Of course, there are profound social reasons for literati to take refuge in Zhu Yuanzhang. As we all know, literati are not an independent class, and they cannot govern the country by themselves. If they want to show their ambition, they must be attached to a feudal emperor. But at that time, scholars were despised several times, and there was even a saying that there were nine Confucian scholars and ten beggars. Moreover, after many imperial examinations, the literati did not have the soil to realize the ideal of governing the country.

Literati lost their position in life and had to find another way to make a living. Looking around the uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty, only Zhu Yuanzhang was generous and naturally came to him for a way out.

Zhu Yuanzhang's reuse of literati is manifested in two aspects: one is to respect and treat literati. Before Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, he devoted himself to corporal, sought advice from his elders, and even praised, sang and returned poems by literati, all of which were favored by literati. When writing a letter to Liu Bowen, he put his posture very low and wrote devoutly: "Your Excellency Mr. Wenbai, an old man who has made a great contribution."

After Xu arrived in Zhenjiang, he specially visited a local scholar, Qin. When Zhu Wenzheng and Li Wenzhong came to defect, Zhu Yuanzhang personally went out of the city to meet them and often asked about their current politics. When Zhu Yuanzhang entered Zhejiang, he used Liu Bowen, Shen Ye, Zhang Yi and Song Lian, and humbly said, "I am a gentleman in the world. These are beyond the reach of other heroes.

Secondly, teach students in accordance with their aptitude. Without the assistance of talents, even a talented emperor can't achieve great things. In order not to repeat the mistakes of the Yuan Dynasty, it is very important to update the official management, and to update the official management, we must start with employing people. Zhu Yuanzhang said:

"The way to teach people is to teach them in accordance with their aptitude ... those who have great skills or lack small skills, or those who have small skills are not important enough. People who use them are examining whether they are suitable."

Zhu Yuanzhang knew the talents of his subordinates like the back of his hand and was able to teach students in accordance with their aptitude. A military commander, so given, the soldiers are outside; Chang Yuchun is brave and good at fighting, so he is used as a pioneer. For literati, it is still a counselor of fate, so let it govern the place. As follows, Anhui Dangtu used Li Xi first, then Xu Yuan; Tao An is used in Huanggang, Hubei; Ning Yue used Wang Zongxian and so on.

In addition, he also sent letters for many times. 1368 As soon as he acceded to the throne, he wrote a letter:

"The world has just decided, and I would like to tell the Confucians about Meiji Road. Those who can help the people are polite. "

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang asked all localities to raise talents to enter the customs. The reason why the bureaucracy was clear in the early Ming Dynasty was obviously related to his extensive use of literati. To sum up, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the literati's suggestions in two aspects: one is to control the sergeant and not to kill and rob indiscriminately, and the other is to get rid of the disadvantages and promote the convenience of the people.

02? The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang slaughtered literati after winning the world: after consolidating his political power, Zhu Yuanzhang turned to slaughter literati. It turns out that the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooking, and the bird is hiding. This is the usual trick of feudal emperors, but if it is as cruel as Zhu Yuanzhang, it is really unparalleled. Compared with his early and late periods, he is completely different.

From 1384 to 1396, that is, two years before his death, which lasted 13 years, the deceased was invincible. As many as120,000 people were killed in the cases of Hu, Kong Yin and Aquamarine. In addition, there are four massacres, such as "Hongwu recorded an official in the world for four years, Hu Dang sat for thirteen years, arrested an official for many years and harmed the people, and made a false statement for twenty-three years, killing both officials and people regardless of crime and right". As Zhao Yi said:

"Once a bachelor of arts is awarded an official position, he rarely dies well."

So, how did this dramatic situation happen? Nothing more than the following three reasons.

First, the result of the intensification of contradictions within the court.

Before winning the world, Zhu Yuanzhang and his men were United as one, and the contradiction was not obvious. After winning the world, these civil servants and military commanders worshipped each other, and the situation changed. On the one hand, military commanders are arrogant and violate the law and discipline, such as Zhu Liangzu's "What's against it", Zhou Dexing's "What's against it in the camp" and Aquamarine's "Arrogant and domineering, accumulating more Zhuang Nu and fake children, taking advantage of the situation", which makes people boil with resentment. If it is not stopped, if it turns into civil strife, Daming Mountain will be in jeopardy.

On the other hand, civil servants, such as Li Shanchang and Hu, are bureaucrats in the Huaixi system, stealing power arbitrarily. When Hu became prime minister, he was deposed by life and death, and some did not ask Zhu Yuanzhang for instructions at all. Officials inside and outside the imperial court should read what they wrote and hide what is harmful to them. This is something that Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate.

In view of the lesson that Ji Gang's laziness led to national subjugation at the end of Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang concentrated his power in his own hands in order to consolidate the newly acquired regime and decided to severely suppress these civil servants and military commanders. In order to achieve this goal, they did not hesitate to create a series of unjust prisons, and all civil and military officials who were dangerous to the rule of the Ming Dynasty were always put to death. And every time an unjust prison is created, a large number of innocent literati are involved in the whirlpool and lose their lives.

Second, out of doubt.

1352 Zhu Yuanzhang was only 25 years old when he joined the army. By the time he got to Xingwen prison, he was already an old man in his sixties. "Taizu is high in spring and autumn, so I doubt it." I am afraid that once he dies, the land he worked so hard to plant will be occupied by others, so I am wary of anyone.

He once promised that "whoever is an official will hire Yuan", which seems smart, but he warned Xu Da and others to take a warning:

"Yuan provincial court officer, today are sent to, between my officer, learn and then use it. My wife hides her heart, I can't measure it. I'm worried about the night minister and the night thief. "

It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang had ordered a wide range of words, even the grass was humble and could write. In the first year of Hongwu, another imperial edict was issued:

"This trip to the sun and the moon is still a thin erosion. Is it necessary for everything to be perfect? I haven't been admonished for a long time, and I can't bear to restrain the alliance? "

Seemingly open-minded, but in 1390, he killed people for lying. For example, nephew Zhu Wenzheng was flogged to death because of his "pro-Confucianism and hatred", and nephew Li Wenzhong was poisoned by corporal Duo Ruxian. Gao Qi, Yang Ji, Zhang Yu and Xu Ben, famous poets in the early Ming Dynasty, were all killed.

If Zhu Yuanzhang was a prosperous scene of talented people before he proclaimed himself emperor, then his later years were a bleak scene.

Third, in order to pave the way for future generations.

In order to consolidate Zhu's world, Zhu Yuanzhang tried his best. He has 24 sons. In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Biao, the eldest son, was made a prince, and all the other sons were knighted. The fly in the ointment is that Zhu Biaoeren is soft-hearted, unlike his father's strong will. Once he ascended the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang's civil servants and military commanders may not be able to control him, which is what Zhu Yuanzhang worried day and night.

Therefore, the best way is to use your own life to eliminate civil servants. On one occasion, Zhu Biao advised Zhu Yuanzhang to kill too much, but the result was:

"The emperor was silent. Leave the stick on the ground tomorrow, and the prince can't hold it. Diri: If you can hold on to it, I will carve it to keep you. Isn't it beautiful? Those who are punished today are all dangerous people in the world. If you separate them according to Ru Yan, you will be blessed. "

In this way, the minister of civil and military affairs who helped him conquer the world yesterday has become a "dangerous man" and will soon die. Therefore, every time Zhu Yuanzhang created unjust imprisonment, it was not a temporary emotional impulse, but a planned and purposeful slaughter.

1396, Zhu Biao fell ill again, and his son Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne as the Crown Prince, while the fourth son Judy, the later emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was already waiting for the throne. Zhu Yuanzhang also clearly knew this, so before he died, he still missed the prince.

In order to prevent Judy from colluding with civilian military commanders to usurp power, he slaughtered heroes even more desperately. However, things are not as wonderful as Zhu Yuanzhang imagined. Because it was difficult to catch up with Jing, his men lacked both counselors who planned to build the city and military commanders who defeated the enemy, and finally the throne was taken away. This ending was unexpected by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang's persecution of literati, with its bizarre mode and bad tactics, has indeed reached a shocking level. To sum up, there are four skills:

First, Daxing Wen Zi Prison.

As mentioned earlier, Zhu Yuanzhang was very suspicious in his later years and was always afraid of being teased by others. It was a glorious history for him to become a monk and join the peasant uprising army, but when he became emperor, he kept it a secret. We should pay close attention to courtiers' memorials, poems and essays, and then be thoughtful and considerate to make people guilty.

For example, "sound" is close to the voice of a monk, "Ze" is close to the voice of a thief, and "uncommon" is a bad thing. For example, "looking at the emperor from a distance" is pronounced "looking at the emperor from a distance", "there is a way in the world" is pronounced "there are thieves in the world" and so on. Anyone who commits these taboos will be beheaded.

These examples are well known. Even if there is no poem, you should use another name to punish it. Even seeing the picture of a woman holding a watermelon barefoot, she killed the sergeant to slaughter the residents, leaving no room. Because holding watermelon is a metaphor for Huaixi, and Ma Huanghou is from Huaixi, barefoot is a mockery of Ma Huanghou's Bigfoot. This is really worse, I can't stop.

This kind of impossible-to-prevent literary inquisition made everyone feel insecure, and even courtiers dared not write for the text, so they had to ask Zhu Yuanzhang to reduce the format and abide by it.

Second, all the literati who don't want to cooperate with the Zhu Ming dynasty will be shot.

Zhu Yuanzhang once issued a decree:

"Wang Chen, a scholar-bureaucrat in the world, is not a gentleman's business. He is taught by a foreign teacher and punished without a home."

For example, Qin Yubo, an essayist in the first year of Hongwu, insisted on Qin's illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang threatened him. Qin was afraid of decapitation and had to gird himself for his post. Although there are many literati around him, they don't use them seriously, and the ministers change like a lantern.

He was emperor for 3 1 year, and only the ministers of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Punishment changed more than 80 people. It is conceivable that other officials change frequently. At the beginning of the Zhu Yuanzhang uprising, the principle of meritocracy was forgotten.

Third, innocent sinners.

After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, court ministers lived in fear every day. Even Beijing officials say goodbye to their wives every day when they enter the DPRK, and then wait until nothing happens at night to congratulate each other on dusk, thinking that they have lived another day.

Military commanders Hu Zai and Aquamarine have been missing since they were imprisoned twice. It is also because of the cooked goose that I died. Civil servants such as Li Shanchang died because they were in-laws with Hu; Song Lian was given to the Hu Party by his grandson. He was rescued by Ma Huanghou and banished to Maozhou, but died on the way. ...

There are many similar examples. Yuan Kai, Guo Xing and others only managed to find a life by pretending to be crazy. I wonder how many people were killed by the palace staff invented by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Fourth, set up a "Royal Guards" organization.

1382, Zhu Yuanzhang established the "Royal Guards" organization, and the people who entered this organization were fierce and stubborn. He asked these people to be eyes and ears to spy on the minister, and the minister of civil and military affairs could not escape the surveillance of the spy. Zhao Yi once thought that Zhu Yuanzhang's move was:

"Although it is not without overcorrection, it is essential to establish a discipline by pulling down vulgarity."

This view is not worth adopting. One of the simplest truths is that enforcing the law and discipline and killing innocent people are two different things and cannot be confused. Some of the people Zhu Yuanzhang killed were culpable of punishment, but more were innocent. It's ridiculous to think that it's possible to break the customs and establish discipline without distinguishing between red and white.

To sum up, it is commendable for Zhu Yuanzhang to reuse literati. His slaughter of literati made him one of the most heartless and ungrateful emperors in history. But criticizing him for killing literati does not mean that he is just a tyrant, thus obliterating his due position in history. As far as his life is concerned, there are naturally many achievements that should not be erased.