Contradictory Ming Dynasty ① ｜ Why is the Ming Dynasty ＂three dynasties＂？

The Ming Dynasty was once rated as a dynasty with three noes-"no monarch, no generals and no celebrities". However, some people say that the nearly 300-year history of the Ming Dynasty was rich and colorful, and it was free and unrestrained, which opened a new era of democratic society in modern China. From the founding of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty to the entry of the Qing army into the customs, it took 300 years of wind and rain, and the history that happened during this period still makes people lament. Why are contradictory labels condensed and pasted in this dynasty? In this issue, please invite Bao Shiqing, an associate professor in the history department of East China Normal University, to talk about those things in the Ming Dynasty!

Was there no monarch in Ming Dynasty?

@ Mu Zhaojun:In the eyes of later generations, which of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had the highest status?

Bao Shiqing:Judging from the official mainstream opinion in Qing Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Wanzhang undoubtedly held the highest position among the emperors in Ming Dynasty. In the twenty-third, twenty-eighth, thirty-eighth, forty-fourth and forty-sixth years of Kangxi, Emperor Kangxi visited ming tomb for five times, and the third time he visited the mausoleum, he inscribed the tablet "Governing the Tang and Song Dynasties" and hung it in ming tomb. Mr. Li Gongzhong said that Emperor Kangxi seemed to appreciate Ming Taizu more and more, and even had spiritual connection (Emperor Kangxi and ming tomb: Memory Reconstruction on Ethnic Conquest and Dynasty Replacement). This also greatly influenced the evaluation of Ming Taizu in the Qing Dynasty’s History of the Ming Dynasty, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang was "gifted with wisdom and courage, and unified Fang Xia, which was beyond the reach of Han, Tang and Song emperors". The reason why the Qing government respected it so much was naturally closely related to the pursuit of the legitimacy of the rule at that time.

The Orthographic Image of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty, painted by Qing people.

@ 中中中中:I have heard some history lectures before, leaving an impression that many scholars don’t have a high evaluation of the monarch in the Ming Dynasty, and this evaluation is often accompanied by a positive evaluation of the monarch in the Song Dynasty. One of the important judging criteria is the attitude and practice of extending civil servants to scholars and heroes. Personally, scholars stand more on the position of scholars, and regard the attitude of rulers to the elite represented by scholars as the main criterion. Do you think this is appropriate?

Bao Shiqing:There are many reasons for the low evaluation of the monarch in the Ming Dynasty, except for the comparison with the monarchs in other dynasties, especially before the Yuan Dynasty, the reflection of some thinkers in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the views of the monarch and his ministers in the Qing Dynasty and the ideal projection of today’s people. When we understand the Ming Dynasty, we should not only measure the influence of the Yuan Dynasty on the Ming Dynasty, but also distinguish the differences between the early Qing Dynasty and the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and even the differences between the styles of individual emperors. Only in this way can we discuss the problem more deeply. Some scholars even think that there is a tendency of separation of imperial power, phase power and remonstrance in Song Dynasty. Personally, I think the actual situation is really much more complicated. For example, Wen Yanbo not only said "ruling the world for the scholar-officials", but also said "ruling the world with non-scholars".

@ You are so different:Is Ming Wuzong really as unbearable as we say every day?

Bao Shiqing:Zhu Houzhao was the most absurd monarch among the sixteen emperors in Ming Dynasty, and there were many controversies about him in later generations. One was about his birth mother, the other was his absurd life and grotesque behavior, and the third was the contradiction between him and his courtiers, including whether he obeyed the "ancestral teachings" or not, and the ideological debate.

Mr. Li Xun has read the Records of the Ming Dynasty twice. According to his view, this is related to the compiling policy of Records of Wuzong in the Ming Dynasty. Each dynasty generally has a strong political tendency when revising the Records of the previous dynasty. By accusing the lack of the previous dynasty or holding a positive attitude towards the politics of the previous dynasty, it shows the innovation and continuity of the policy of this dynasty.

The Record of Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty was compiled in Jiajing four years, when Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty had just entered the Great System as a vassal, and it was necessary to flaunt the innovation of good morality and bad politics and win the support of political forces from all sides. The more you expose and criticize Wu Zongchao’s shortcomings in current politics, the more popular it becomes that Jiajing’s early politics won the hearts of the people. Therefore, Wu Zongshi recorded Zhu Houzhao’s absurd political and grotesque behaviors that violated the "ancestral teachings" all his life, without exception, regardless of the practice of "I am taboo for the monarch" (Reading Notes on Records of Ming Wuzong). In the preface to A Record of Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty, he said, "Those who go in and out of their daily lives, give orders for rewards and punishments, or can’t do their best to assist in the old chapter ….. those who are fortunate enough to spoil the political chaos are temporarily covered at first, but they are punished when they feel it, and many pretexts … are clear enough to observe the situation of the world and just enough to maintain the trend of the world."

Qing Xiu’s History of the Ming Dynasty also called it "hand-to-hand, bow to the border guards, and strive to excel in martial arts." However, if you have fun and play around, you will be close to the small group, and you will be officially appointed, and the distinction between crown and shoe will swing. Fortunately, I used the handle of the people, and I bowed myself, while the ministers of Bingjun made up for the rescue, which was based on the disorder of the platform, not at the end of the crisis. "

The above comments are all restraint.

@ Watermelon cola flavor:Wei Zhongxian dominated the world, but why did he finally lose to the 17-year-old Chongzhen?

Bao Shiqing:Academic circles generally call Qin Long (1566-1572) as the late Ming Dynasty, that is, the late Ming Dynasty. According to Gao Shouxian, during this period, authoritarian centralization was softened, social control was relaxed and ideological control was weakened. At the same time, there are also phenomena of disorder and confusion, such as the decline of national capacity, the intensification of social contradictions and the disintegration of moral norms.

The difference between the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty and the previous generation is that the eunuch organization is bureaucratic, that is, two sets of internal and external teams are formed under the emperor’s hand, one is the government represented by the cabinet, and the other is the eunuch represented by the silijian, and the two are mutually restrained. The existence of power castration such as Wei Zhongxian is often related to the power imbalance caused by the decline of imperial power and the weakness of cabinet. The cabinet has been in a weak position since Zhang Juzheng was liquidated in the early years of Wanli. In addition, the Emperor of the Apocalypse was only 15 years old, and he didn’t care about power at all, so Wei Zhongxian’s autocracy inevitably appeared. But after all, eunuchs are the slaves of the emperor, and the internal organization of eunuchs is also decentralized, so eunuchs have great restraint, including the emperor, the cabinet, the six families, and even their own system. In this way, Wei Zhongxian, who was in power for a while, was removed, and only a piece of imperial edict was needed (reference: Four Questions about the Status of Ming History by Wang Tianyou).

Wei Zhongxian

What role did the ministers play?

@ The Bear of Spring:Many people say that the ministers of the Ming Dynasty were in a position to hold the emperor high, and how powerful the civil service group was. But I really don’t see it. My feeling is that the emperor basically kills ministers, and only when the emperor wants to be a good emperor will he make some compromises to the civilian group, otherwise he will be happy and the monarchy will be more absolute than previous dynasties. Teacher Bao, what do you think?

Bao Shiqing:Hmm. The strength of the civil service group is only an illusion, which may be due to people’s wishful thinking. Even people like Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, etc., are just "tied in the morning at night in a piece of paper", and all the birds and beasts will be scattered around. We can borrow the words of Wang Shizhen, a Ming Dynasty. No matter for the powerful ministers or eunuchs, they can only "do things for chaos but not for change" at most.

@ 澎湃 user BJzqQf:Chongzhen hanged himself before saying that civil servants had harmed him. How much responsibility should the civilian group bear?

Bao Shiqing:Personally, I agree with the evaluation in Cambridge History of the Ming Dynasty that Emperor Chongzhen was an inexperienced emperor, suspicious and headstrong, which contributed to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. "No matter what future research may reveal, Zhu Youjian is unlikely to be regarded as a good ruler in the history of China."

@donottag：Why did Harry and Yan Song appear in Jiajing period?

Bao Shiqing:The emergence of Harry and Yan Song in Jiajing period is of course the result of the times. According to Mr. Huang Renyu, Harry is a wayward and eccentric official. Although Yan Song’s evaluation is not high, he has his own specialty in knowing talents, such as appointing Hu Zongxian and others to fight against the enemy. Zhu Guozhen, a Wanli, once visited Yuanzhou, Yan Song’s hometown, and said that "the evil of dividing the right and the wrong, the talker thought that the ancient and modern couples were separated." He is a man of Jiang You, and he still has more thoughts, especially Yuan Ren. " The fact that Yan Song was appointed by Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty and Harry was imprisoned does not prove whether he was clever or not. In fact, he is a confident man. According to Mr. Meng Sen, from the perspective of "being qualified and being good", it is also beyond the reach of Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty.

Yan Song in film and television dramas.

Bunny:How to see Zhang Juzheng? Can he be compared with Wang Anshi?

Bao Shiqing:Shenzong was only ten years old when he acceded to the throne. With the support of Li Taihou, Zhang Juzheng took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to carry out the reform of official administration with the examination method as the core in politics and the reconstruction of the financial system with the whip method as the core in economy, which created the "most prosperous" situation in the early years of Wanli and temporarily saved the financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty.

Some scholars commented, "Zhang Juzheng is a mature politician, and he has all the qualities that a reformer should have. He is stronger and more persistent than Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi. Therefore, on the road full of thorns in reform, he has made achievements that Fan and Wang did not get. " Some scholars believe that Zhang Juzheng’s transformation after the reform is not only the national financial system, but also "the transformation from a traditional country in China to a modern country".

@ Green Tea and Distant Mountain:How to evaluate Donglin Party? It was founded by a group of idealistic literati, why did it finally evolve into a Uber-like existence? What destructive power did it bring to politics in the late Ming Dynasty, so that some people said it was worse than Wei Zhongxian?

Bao Shiqing:Today, researchers rely on the list of Donglin Party members, most of which have a strong color of political struggle. For example, the list listed in "Gang Bad Fengjianglu" aims to uproot the ministers of Wei Zhongxian, and "Donglin Dianjianglu" was compiled by Wei Zhongxian’s colleagues in the way of "Water Margin". This leads to the name Donglin Party, which is to a great extent falsely accused by political enemies, which determines that most members must have strong realistic concern, transcend certain geographical, academic and blood restrictions, and have relative consistency in ideas and goals, that is, scholars say that the connotation of Donglin concept is relatively stable, but its extension is very complicated.

On the specific evaluation, the Qing Dynasty’s "History of the Ming Dynasty" said that after the mid-Wanli period, the emperor’s banquet was in the deep palace, and the portals were numerous, and evil parties flourished. "In the Tingzheng class, there was no foresight to break their teeth, but they were overwhelmed and attacked each other. As a result, people are suspicious, and they are defeated and broken, which cannot be saved. " Party struggle in the late Ming dynasty was an important reason for the collapse of the Ming dynasty, which died in reality and in Wanli.

Later, from the perspective of opposing autocratic imperial power, scholars thought that party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty was a kind of "people’s conscious phenomenon", which reflected the social responsibility of scholar-officials to take the world as their responsibility. They thought that they opposed the power of the cabinet politically, the taxation of mines economically and increased the burden of business tax, which represented the alliance of small and medium-sized landlords in the south of the Yangtze River and the middle class trend of anti-feudalism in cities. Some scholars also believe that compared with Zhang Juzheng’s pragmatic innovation thought, Donglin’s moral salvation thought is a historical retrogression and reaction.

@ Watermelon cola flavor:Why is Yuan Chonghuan so controversial? Is he a loyal minister or a traitor? What are you arguing about?

Bao Shiqing:Mr. Meng Sen said: "I don’t know what happened in the next season, but people who have eyes and ears are particularly entangled in grievances. While the slander of Chong Huan is beyond the old-fashioned portal of temperature and money, and the excitement of the arrogant patriots is one more. It was the result of the rebellion of the Qing Emperor Taizong, but it was not realized for a long time. Although there are honest people, they can only protect Qian Longxi’s bad intentions and dare not believe Yuan Chonghuan’s collusion. " Since the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, influenced by the current situation, people have constantly made new explanations from the perspectives of regional consciousness, anti-Qing and anti-Manchu, patriotism, etc.