Why is Zhu Yuanzhang most sensitive to homophonic words of thieves?

The appearance of literary inquisition originated from the civil-military struggle in Hongwu period. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ming Taizu, adhering to the famous saying that "you can win the world at once, but you can't rule the world at once", began to employ a large number of scholars, and formulated rules such as courtiers, laws and regulations, criminal law, military system, household registration, schools, etc., which made the weather clear and the administration clear in the early Ming Dynasty, and the status of scholars in Mao's heart rose accordingly. As a result, those Huaixi military commanders who followed him in the early days were suddenly dissatisfied and thought that we were fighting hard all over the world. Why should we let those literati who have no merits be the masters? So I came up with a plan to suppress literati.

One day, they chose a few eloquent people and told Mao about the literati. At first, Mao came up with the principle of "using troops indiscriminately and ruling the country by words" to convince them. These people showed passivity, and only after Mao boasted, did he carefully say, Your Majesty's words are true, but you can't trust the literati completely. These people, with their talents, often satirize and vilify with taboo words because of a little dissatisfaction. Although your majesty is very kind to them, can you guarantee that they will all be satisfied?

Speaking of which, Mao was a little uncertain, so he asked them if they could give an example. This question hit the speaker's heart, so he immediately said: Do you know Zhang (the nickname of Zhang Shicheng, one of the heroes at the end of Yuan Dynasty)? His love for literati is no less than yours. He has a high-ranking official and a BMW car, and he dedicated himself to it. But he established himself as a queen and got the name Shicheng by asking the literati to give him an official name.

Mao thought about it and said, this name is good. Being honest with scholars is exactly what he does.

As soon as the speaker laughed, it seems that your majesty was cheated by these unscrupulous literati. Do you know there is a saying in Mencius that "a scholar is a sincere villain"? Even if it is read out, it is also a "sincere villain." You see, isn't this a change of law to call people villains? Poor Zhang Shicheng was called a villain all his life and was kept in the dark until his death.

Mao immediately ordered someone to look up Mencius and found this sentence. From then on, he began to pay attention to whether there were suspicious words in civil servants' letters, and later extended them to poetry manuscripts.

The above story comes from "Notes on Ancient and Modern Leisure" written by Huang Pu in Jingtai period of Ming Dynasty. Although it is not certain that this is the cause of the literary inquisition in Hongwu period, it can be proved that there was a literary inquisition at that time. In fact, the real reason of literary inquisition lies in Ming Taizu's own ideas. The purpose of his rise of literary inquisition is nothing more than two:

1. crack down on literati who do not obey the Ming dynasty;

2. Personal psychological inferiority and self-esteem.

From the point of view of maintaining the rules, the former is reasonable, and the second is completely a manifestation of mental unhealthy. To put it bluntly, he is a pervert.

Look at the first one first. As a rare civilian emperor in history, Ming Taizu was inevitably despised and hated by those literati who competed with each other on the basis of family status, so many people disdained to cooperate with him and even refused to submit to him. A typical example is a man named Xia and his nephew. They even cut off their fingers to show their determination not to be an official in the Ming Dynasty. Later, after being arrested in Nanjing, Mao asked them: Where have you been hiding in troubled times? Qi Bo replied: When Hongkou (another name for the Red Scarf Army) uprising, I hid in the mountains at the junction of Jiangxi and Fujian. Mao himself was born in the Red Scarf Army, and the most taboo thing was that someone mentioned "red bandits" and "red thieves" in front of him, so he immediately flew into a rage: I know you are resentful and dissatisfied with our world. So when you say "Hong Kou", you obviously mean something else and insult me by using the topic. Well, would you rather cut off your finger than give in? Then don't submit it! I want to show your uncles and nephews and warn those arrogant people!

At the request of Ming Taizu, Hagar's uncle was sent back to his hometown to be executed. Since then, Yao Run, Wang Mo and other Suzhou people have also been confiscated and executed for refusing to serve as officials. These are recorded in the annals of Ming history and criminal law.

After such a bloody battle, the literati became timid. Many people have to apply to Nanjing, but they still refuse to be officials. Among these people, the experience of Yang Weizhen, a great literary master in Yuan Dynasty, is the most typical.

According to the Biography of Yang Weizhen in Ming Dynasty, he was born in Huiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and was a scholar in Taiding for four years (A.D. 1327). Ishihara is the general manager of Jiande Road. After the red scarf started to mess up, he took refuge in Fuchun River. Its humanistic name is spread all over the world, especially good at poetry and prose, and it is called "Iron Cliff Body". When Hongwu was recruited for the second time in the third year (AD 1370), he was 74 years old. For the local officials who came to urge, he wrote an old lady's folk song and politely refused, saying that the dying old lady in the poem could not remarry, and clearly told Taizu that if I was forced to serve in the two dynasties, he would only jump into the sea and celebrate the whole festival. Seeing that he was old, Mao thought that he would not be intimidated by death. Besides, he is famous. If he is really forced to die, it will hurt his "virtue", so he has to give up.

In addition to adherents of the Yuan Dynasty like Yang Weizhen, there were some scholars who refused to compromise with the Ming Dynasty. Some of them were scholars who were rewarded by Ceng Jingshi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. For example, Wang Feng, a native of Jiangyin, was an aide to Zhang Shicheng. After the defeat of Shicheng, he lived in seclusion in Wujing (now near Suzhou). In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (A.D. 1383), he appealed for peace and refused to accept it. Fortunately, he had a son who was an official in Nanjing and was released after pleading. See Biography of Dai Liang in Ming Dynasty and Biography of Wang Feng.

Many of these literati were either ministers of adherents of the Yuan Dynasty or heroes, such as Yang Weizhen and Wang Feng, who set up their own homes and were not used by the two dynasties. For example, Ding Henian, a Hui poet, became a Yuan minister with his family, evaded conscription, was released and died in Yongle. Chen Liang, a native of Changle, considers himself a Confucian scholar in Yuan Dynasty and has never been an official. Zhang Yu, a native of Luling, thinks himself to be a Yuan minister, and has rejected Zhang Shicheng's and Liu's courtship. Seeing that he was old, Mao said "you can be idle" and let him go. So he named himself "the carefree old man" and lived carefully. Zhang, a fellow countryman and student of Yang Weizhen, died in Zhang Shicheng in his later years. The deeds of these people, except Zhang Yu, were handed down in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Yu's story can be seen from his own collection of leisure old people.

Seeing that these literati refused to join themselves, Ming Taizu's dislike of literati can be imagined. And once this aversion works with hidden diseases, it will inevitably erupt into surly behavior. This is the second project we want to mention.

The most direct and effective way to convict a person, especially a scholar, is to find fault with his words and make excuses. Once these words accidentally touch a sensitive nerve, they will be misinterpreted according to their own personal thinking, and their original intention will be infinitely extended to achieve the goal of guilty conscience. This is the usual feature of literary inquisition.

Based on his background experience, Ming Taizu naturally defined an inviolable forbidden zone in his mind. Because he was a monk when he was young, any word close to the characteristics of a monk, such as "light" and "baldness", would be taboo to him, and even the word "monk" was equally dazzling. The word "sheng", which was later promoted to the outside world, was also included in the taboo category. Besides, he started from the Red Scarf Army. As mentioned above, in Yuan Ting's view, the Red Scarf Army is a "red thief" and a "red bandit", so Mao also hates people mentioning "thief" and "bandit" in front of him. Later, even the word "Ze" was affected.

All these indicate that Ming Taizu's inferiority complex based on his humble origins is at work. From a psychological point of view, when inferiority goes to the extreme, self-esteem will swell up and reach the peak of another metamorphosis. This change also shows a clear vein of hair.

In order to increase his prestige, the founding emperor of China tried his best to find an ancient celebrity with the same surname as his ancestors to show his orthodoxy, and Mao could not avoid custom. The book "History of the Ming Dynasty" tells a story: When discussing the genealogy of jade with literati, Taizu planned to draw Zhu, a scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty, as the founder. At this time, a Huizhou official surnamed Zhu came to see him. Taizu thought Huizhou was Zhu's hometown. If we can bring this man to his hometown, it is undoubtedly a strong proof of his origin. So, hopefully, he asked if the other person was a descendant of Zhu Wengong (Zhu's respectful name). The man didn't know the imperial edict and was afraid of committing the crime of deceiving the monarch. He truthfully answered no. This time, Mao was greatly depressed, and then he thought that even a little fairy refused to take the initiative to confess her ancestors, let alone the son of heaven. Besides, it has nothing to do with generations of Huizhou in the south of the Yangtze River. If you climb your relatives hard, if you are seen by the discerning, people will not laugh. So I decided to recognize my relatives and go to bed.

Not being able to recognize his relatives does not mean that Mao gave up his desire for his dignity, so he turned his eyes to Liu Bang, a fellow student of Huibei University. With a brainwave, he simply said that he was born in poverty. Like Emperor Gaozu, he was a self-made hero and had no shadow of his ancestors. Since then, all the imperial edicts and speeches have been specially added with titles such as "Huaiyou Buyi", "Jiangzuo Buyi", "Pi Fu", "Congyi" and "Congyi humble", which shows that I conquered the world completely by my own ability and stepped onto the dragon chair step by step from the bottom. However, this kind of words can only be said by himself. If anyone dares to say more, then what awaits him will be severe punishment and a tragic ending.

Ming Taizu's judgment on whether to ban writing is entirely based on his own political interests and cultural level, and he will not put himself in the writer's shoes. This is also fully in line with the characteristics of the literary inquisition. Here are some famous cases of literary inquisition in Hongwu period to illustrate.

First, because of the word taboo and curse:

(1) Lin Daihai, a professor from Zhejiang Province, wrote the article "Xie Zeng", and this official article has the words "If you do it, hang the constitution"; Zhao Boning, the discipline supervisor of Fu Xue in Beiping, made the "He Wanshou Table" for Dusi, which is a chapter to congratulate the emperor's birthday, including the sentence "Do as the children and grandchildren do"; Lin Bojing, the discipline inspector of Fuzhou official school, made a "Hedong to Sun Table" for the case inspector. This is a celebration table, in which the phrase "Instrument is the world" appeared; Fu Xue in Guilin instructed Jiang Zhi to be a political envoy and a case inspector, and Zheng Danhe Watch said that "you should be under construction"; Zheng Xue and Meng Qing of Li Zhou wrote Hedong Solstice Table, which contains the language of "Sage is the rule". The above articles, originally flattering articles in the nature of "praising saints", became a crime just because they were touched with the word "Ze" which is homophonic with "thief".

(2) Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Changzhou Fu Xue Jiang Qi made a "Zheng Dan Congratulations Form" for the current government, which contained "Ruisheng Xingzhi". Because "fate" and "monk" are close to sin.

Second, worry about pronunciation:

(1) Lu Rui, the instructor of Huaiqing government studies, made a thank-you horse watch for this government, which contains the words "Looking at the palace gate from afar". The original intention is to look at the gate of the palace from a distance and express the emperor's mind. But it is understood as "the emperor is not." How can an emperor be wrong? Slander a saint and kill him.

(2) What table did Jia Jian, a scholar in Xiangfu County write for this county, in which "taking the method like Wei", "taking the method" is interpreted as "going to hair" and going to hair is bald. Isn't this a change of law to insinuate that Mao is a monk? Why not die?

(3) Jelly Lin, an instructor in Bozhou, wrote a state banquet in the palace. There is a saying called "respect your father first", which is understood as "killing your father". Isn't it rebellion

(4) Xu Yuan, a scholar in Weishi County, wrote He Wanshou Table for his county, which contains the sentence "The body is withered and the flowers are flat", which is misinterpreted as "losing peace early" and hopes that the country will lose peace early. What a vicious curse!

(5) The Report of Li He's Grandson, written by Dean of Dean Fu Xue Hsien Wu for the current government, was a congratulatory report when Zhu Yunwen, the eldest grandson of Hongwu in the 25th year (AD 1393), was appointed as the great-grandson of the emperor. Because there is a saying in it, "Youdao" is interpreted as "being a thief", and clearing the door is a Buddhist temple.

(6) These people died unjustly, but they were wronged by the discipline of Chen Zhou State University. In He Wanshou Table, which he wrote for the country, the word "Shoushou" is suspected to be taboo, but it is crucial and can't find any problems. But Mao still refused to let him go, and finally took the people in front to the city of death.

The above two kinds of people who were killed were recorded in the Notes to Twenty-two Histories, Volume 32, The Disaster of Characters in the Early Ming Dynasty, and The Strange Records of the Ruling and Opposition. As for those who take harm because of the meaning of the sentence, it is recorded in Xu Zhenqing's "Shengye News" as follows:

Xu Yikui, a professor at Fu Xue in Hangzhou, wrote the Wanshou Congratulations Table for our government. There is a saying that "under the skylight, natural saints rule the world." After the above introduction, readers can also see how taboo this sentence has been made. "Guang", "Sheng" and "Ze" are all taboos of Mao. After reading one article after another, the old-fashioned eulogy turned into "scolding bald men in front of monks", and added irony that Mao used to be a thief in the red scarf. Mao this anger, the author himself naturally don't mention it, click a knife in the neck is inescapable, even does officials were angered, was severely reprimanded. Frightened, they quickly went to the table to confess their sins and begged Taizu to declare a taboo in order to warn their subjects.

So, in the 29th year of Hongwu (A.D. 1397), Liu Sanwu, a bachelor of Hanlin, Wang Junhua, Zuo Chunfang and You Zanshan drew up a table to celebrate gratitude, which is a standard format to teach you how to write a chapter for the emperor. All congratulations are copied according to this content, and then you can write your official position and name. As the saying goes: the world's big articles only seek to save lives, not articles. This is another big joke caused by Mao's abnormal psychology. However, there are too many murders hidden behind such jokes, and no one can laugh.

Hongwu literary inquisition not only finds fault in the chapters you can see, but also gradually extends to the daily life words and deeds of literati.

Liu Chen's Record of the Founding of the People's Republic of China records a poem by Chen, "A wife in the south of the city cries her husband every night". This ordinary poem, like the Tang poem "Poor bones are by the river, still living in dreams", falls into Mao's eyes, but becomes a rotten heart that shakes the morale of the army. So he demoted Chen to Hubei, but he still felt Japanese and ordered him to drown in the water (just like killing him).

Similar examples can be found in many books, such as Pengchuang, Excerpts from Summer Collection, Miscellaneous Records, Poems by Jingzhiju, Biography of Shi Ming Gaoqi, etc. The case of Wei Guan, a Suzhou magistrate, was resented by Taizu for building a mansion on the former site of Wang Fu, Zhang Shicheng, and was later called Xinfuliang by a secret report.

After killing Wei Guan, Mao still felt inadequate and put the butcher's knife on the neck of the eulogist Gao Qingqiu. According to Biography of Ming History, Qing Qiu was born in Changzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu). His poetic style is vigorous and his talent is lofty. He, Yang Ji, Zhang Yu and Xu Ben are also called "Four Masters of Wuzhong". In the first year of Hongwu (A.D. 1368), he was called to be an official, participated in compiling the history of Yuan Dynasty, and was already an official living in Suzhou when he wrote Liang Wen for Wei Guan. It can be said that he was a scholar who cooperated with the Ming Dynasty. He was rich and famous. Even compared with Yang Weizhen, we should not be trapped in a prison of literature. However, this is the so-called moment, and it is not the first time that Mao has been dissatisfied with him. As early as when Gao Qi edited and edited imperial academy, the phrase "The little dog crows at night, who comes to the palace at night" in his Poem of Palace Ladies' Picture was remembered as irony by Mao. Now the old debt is outstanding, and the new account is started again. Mao did not care whether he was burdened with the name of "harming sages" and simply cut it off. After Gao Qi's death, his poems were also banned. It was not until the early years of the Qing Dynasty that anyone dared to publish it. Gao Qi case was called "unjust prison at the beginning of China" by later generations.

If these people killed by Mao are sad, then the death of a monk who automatically put his neck on the edge of Mao's knife is not only ridiculous, but also really speechless. The monk didn't take part in meditation and didn't recite the scriptures well, but in order to please Mao, he insisted on "advancing despite difficulties" and wrote a "hymn" for Mao. When Mao saw two sentences, "Jin Pan and Su He came to a special field" and "shameless praise", he immediately ordered the killing of the blind monk. Because in Mao's view, the word "extraordinary" means "bad" and "Zhu". Isn't this accusing me of being bad in Zhujiajian Island? That "Ode to Virtue" simply called me "Virtue-free" and was the sage Yao in the ancient legend. He used Yao to insinuate my status as emperor, but he called me "immoral", and his heart was to blame. When I read this story from Notes on Twenty-two History, I felt in distress. I wonder how readers feel.

Later, the scope of the literary inquisition was extended to the typos in the official documents given by officials to the court. The Yanzhou magistrate said in the newspaper that the word "Yan" on his official seal was wrongly engraved as the word "Zhou" and asked for correction. Therefore, Mao recognized the word "autumn" as the word "roll" and hated it, thinking that he wanted to "roll" himself. How can you insult the holy king with glib words? As a result, it didn't take long for Mao to take advantage of Hu's "party case" to kill him. I don't know how to read, but I killed someone. Such a black humor is recorded in the excerpt of Shuidong Diary. Is Mao ashamed under the grave?

The emperor's taboo will soon become a national taboo. Therefore, in the third year of Ming Hongwu, a series of taboo words were promulgated, prohibiting civilians from using the words Tian, Guo, Jun, Chen, Sheng, Shen, Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Zhou, Qin, Han and Jin in their names. Twenty-six years later, the words Taizu, Sun Sheng, Sun Long, Sun Huang, Wang Sun, Shu Tai, Taixiong, Taidi, Taishi, Taifu, Taibao, Doctor, Daizhao, Doctor, Cure Too much, Eunuch, Official, and Attendant were added. Langzhong and Taiyi are aimed at folk doctors, while those who comb their hair are summoned. Therefore, doctors in the Ming Dynasty can only be called doctors, healers and healers. Anyone who sees the doctor's name in a film and television work set in the Ming Dynasty is ignorant and ridiculous. As for the doctor, it was renamed "plastic surgery" at that time. I don't know if it was the originator of the modern plastic surgery industry. These are also the records in Excerpts from Shuidong Diary.

In the eyes of later historians, the era that can be officially called the literary inquisition was the thirteen years from the seventeenth year to the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu, during which hundreds of thousands of people were killed because of various events related to writing. From ministers to civilians, it covered almost all social classes and occupations at that time, and it was rare in the history of China because of its wide coverage, many dead people and far-reaching influence.

During the thirteen years in Hongwu Wen Zi Prison, only one person survived.

In fact, in the thirty years of Hongwu, there were also North-South list cases, which was also an extension of the literary inquisition.

Unfortunately, Liu Sanwu, who worked out the format of the congratulatory table in 29 years, and another examiner did not know.

On the day of publication, people below Song Cong, the top scholar in Jiangxi, were all southerners, and northerners were famous in Sun Shan.

Northern candidates had a big fight, which led to the royal case. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhang Xin to read the examination paper, but as a result, no northerner was admitted. Zhu Yuanzhang was not satisfied with Zhang Xin either. Later, someone told Zhang that Zhang Xin was entrusted by Liu and Bai and deliberately took unqualified papers to read. Mao was furious and killed Bai Xindao, Zhang Xin and other examiners. Liu Sanwu died of old age and was expelled from the army. The top scholar Song Cong was also demoted.

Later, Taizu personally invigilated and recorded 6 1 person, all of whom were northerners.

This is the famous North-South list case, also known as the spring-summer list case.

It is certainly wrong for Liu Baizhang to discriminate against northerners, but after Mao's death, he overcompensated.

In fact, the reason why he was harsh on this case was because the drunkard's sake was not in the wine. He was aiming at the dissatisfaction of the Huaixi Group headed by Li Shanchang in rejecting dissidents. It's also a rehearsal for the big case in Li Shanchang in the future.

Zhu Yuanzhang's inferiority complex made the literary inquisition unprecedentedly tragic, and the development of the literary inquisition to the Ming Dynasty was already a climax.

There are thieves, bandits, etc. Later, it was popularized as homophonic words "Ze" and "Sheng".