Chapter 14 2. Never be complacent

Among the emperors of all dynasties in China, if they were not the founding monarchs or participated in entrepreneurship themselves, they seldom made any achievements.Most of them were born in peace and prosperity. If there are no internal and external troubles, they don't need great talents. They just need to keep their family property and don't mess around too much, and they can be the emperor of peace and success. Although Zhu Di was not the founder of the country, he was not the king of success either.He entered the great line as a vassal king, not only relying on his own superior blood, but also relying on his own armed forces and military strategy.His experience created him with the temperament of the founding monarch.History is doomed, he is the successor of Zhu Yuanzhang's career, but also a pioneer who is not satisfied with the status quo.

When Zhu Di came to the throne, he didn't have to start everything from scratch.Zhu Yuanzhang has left behind a complete political system, which will continue to operate under the banner of the Zhu Ming Dynasty.At the same time, Zhu Di raised the army with the call of "restoring the old ancestral system". He accused the treacherous officials in the court of turning into a law and destroying the ancestral system, claiming that he had raised the army to "punish the evil, protect the country, save the adversity, and protect the whole family."Therefore, when Zhu Di came to power, he opposed the Jianwen New Deal and advertised it as "returning the old".For political needs, it was necessary for Zhu Di to conceal himself with the mask of Zhu Yuanzhang's orthodox heir and ancestral system defender.The higher Zhu Yuanzhang's banner was raised, and the louder the tune of restoring the ancestral system was sung, the more beneficial it was to his own rule.But that's hard to reconcile with his pioneering demeanor of being restless about the status quo.His words and deeds often break through the law.This puts him in a contradiction similar to a dual personality.

Let's take a look at Zhu Di's self-confession first: "My emperor made a great career in the foundation and practiced the law for thousands of years, thinking about it for his descendants." Therefore, "everyone who changes the legal system of the emperor will restore the old."He repeatedly said, "Follow the emperor's examination of the constitution, and dare not use it for yourself", "Observe the old system, dare not ignore it", "The ruler abides by the established law to achieve holy governance, and the ministers abide by the established law to assist governance."In February of the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Di collected and compiled "the words of sages and sages, such as those who stick to the middle and build the pole, and those who are concerned with self-cultivation, family governance, country and world peace" into a book called "Sage Learning and Mind Method".Zhu Di personally prefaced it.The preface systematically expresses his ruling thoughts, one of which is to say that a ruler who is well-preserved must not change the ancestral system.He said: "The king who started a business has experienced hardships, he has thought carefully about things, his laws are also detailed, his words are also extensive and well-prepared, and he will use them forever without harm. He is wise and wise, and he follows them. , then the great cause will be permanent and the world will be at peace, and the disaster will not happen but the world will be full of blessings.... It is difficult to build a business but not easy to maintain it.... I have inherited the emperor's test of the great ancestor Gao Emperor's Hongji, but it is difficult to start and be vigilant How to avoid fear, clear and clear, it is a ritual and a ritual. What a husband did before, there must be a recount later. If there is no follow-up, there will be no inheritance for a long time." He also said: "The ancestors legislated, Therefore, for future generations, we should respect it and keep it, and we cannot ignore it." It means that he is the queen king of "do not forget, follow the old rules", is Zhu Yuanzhang's reliable successor, and is the "legal" of his "laws". Followers and defenders, and therefore the successors of the virtuous kings and sages of all ages.This will be analyzed in detail below.

Let's take a look at his actions again, and compare them with Jianwen's New Deal. In response to the Jianwen New Deal, Zhu Di made some superficial articles.He ordered five governments and six ministries to restore the old system of the Hongwu government decrees changed in Jianwen, and ordered the restoration of the old system of the Ministry of Punishment. The criminal names were determined in accordance with the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", and the old names of the palaces were restored. , Duanmen is still the Meridian Gate, etc. He even abolished the Jianwen year name, and called the fourth year of Jianwen as the 35th year of Hongwu, and even the newly printed treasure notes in the Yongle period were still called the Hongwu year number.These empty decrees and insignificant names can be restored as much as possible, but it is another matter when they hit the critical point.

The reduction of feudal vassals is a major event promoted by Jianwen's monarchs and ministers.Although it is not a virtuous government that is very beneficial to people's livelihood, it is contrary to the ancestral system.Since Zhu Di claimed to restore the old, he naturally had to involve the suzerain and vassal issue.Between July of the fourth year of Jianwen and the first year of Yongle, all the kings who were deposed by Emperor Jianwen of the You Family were restored to the throne.They went to Beijing to meet Zhu Di one after another.Zhu Di was exceptionally courteous, often rewarded by the emperor, and so on.

In fact, doing so can not only achieve the propaganda effect of respecting the ancestors' precepts and the righteousness of relatives, but also win people's hearts and consolidate their status.It is difficult for Zhu Dizhi to unite princes and soldiers to form a group. At this time, since the throne has already been obtained, it may as well share the fruits of victory. However, in Zhu Di's view, the crux of the problem lies in the throne and power.When Emperor Jianwen wanted to break the law of his ancestors and offend his power, he raised the banner of maintaining the ancestral system; and when he became emperor, it would be bad for him to stick to the law of feudal feudalism.He was more aware of the threat of powerful vassals to the emperor than Emperor Jianwen, and he was better at eliminating this threat.Underneath the smiling face, he quietly began to weaken and control the kings.In the fourth year of Jianwen (1402) in July Guimao, Zhu Di ordered Yuan Yu, the governor of the left, to go to Sichuan to clean up the military equipment, to appease one side, and to write a letter to the king of Min, ordering him to "deliberate with (Yuan Yu) on everything", " Husbands and feudal screens are the most important, virtuous brothers should go in and out cautiously, be cautious in speaking and drinking, so that the common people will look up to them, and not disappoint the expectations of brothers."Under the high-sounding words, the status of the vassal king has undergone a fundamental change. "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" stipulates that all kings are the first class under the emperor, and no ministers or ministers can resist them.King Yan and others had restrained the armies when they were in the vassal state.However, Zhu Di asked King Min to discuss everything with his generals. Didn't his status plummet?In Wushen in September of the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di gave an unprecedented reward to the officers and troops of the princes' mansions. "Rewards are divided into three classes", "the first class is Biqi Gong, the second and third are head-to-head merit cases, and the fourth is ratio merit cases. Those who do not get promoted will be rewarded with ten ingots. The standard meals are still in their posts. In the same way as the six ranks, the rewards for one hundred households for the second meritorious service, and the total banner for the second meritorious deeds, for five hundred and eighty-seven people, there is a difference in rewards." "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" stipulates that "all kingdoms have guards and guards. The guards are constantly elected, and the commander is in charge, and the guards are dispatched from the king."The palace guard is an army controlled by the prince.Through this reward, Zhu Di at least expanded the emperor's influence on the royal family's official army and weakened the control of the vassal king.In October, Zhu Di ordered Jin Wang Jixi to send 4,000 officers and soldiers on horseback under his guard to stay with Gaoping and Pingyang in the Pingyang Weifu temporarily, "giving him the original Fuyan and the two Taoisms."This is reducing the number of palace guards in a disguised form.As for the "covenant to divide the world" with King Ning, it has long been forgotten.After Zhu Di became emperor, he never mentioned this matter.Ning Wang Zhu Quan approached Zhu Di and asked to change his title to Jiangnan.He proposed Suzhou, but Zhu Di refused to approve it on the grounds of "Ji Nei".Zhu Quan proposed Qiantang, and Zhu Di said: "The emperor tried to give it to the fifth younger brother, but it failed. Jianwen has no way. It is not allowed for the younger brother of the king." Still disagree.Zhu Di put out Jianning, Chongqing, Jingzhou, and Dongchang, and said: "All good places, but my brother chooses." Finally, Zhu Quan changed the title to Nanchang in February of the first year of Yongle, and the matter was settled.Zhu Di is a master at playing with power. With his strength, he puts all the princes in his hands arbitrarily.Since then, the power and status of the vassal kings have been further weakened. After Ren and Xuan, the kings were even banned from leaving the city.The two kings could not meet each other either.The prince has become a parasite who pays for nothing.

At the beginning of Yongle's accession to the throne, he was faced with a lack of officials.Soon, due to the "return to the old system", deposed officials can be reinstated as long as they "pay the department with memorials". In addition, a large number of upstarts emerged, and the bureaucratic team rapidly expanded.By June of the second year of Yongle, the "number of Chinese and foreign officials" had "increased several times the old amount", forcing the court to pay attention.From this, it is not difficult to see the necessity of officials in Jianwen Province and Bingzhou and counties, as well as the problems brought about by Yongle's restoration policy.

Zhu Di's revival is even biased and extreme.As far as the land tax is concerned, it is a good thing to benefit the people that Jianwen Zhongge went to Susong in the south of the Yangtze River to renew the tax and lifted the ban on Susong people not being household officials.But this decree was also canceled by Zhu Di in the name of restoration.It is said that Zhu Di hated the officials who demanded to lower the official land tax in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Jin Jiong, the prefect of Suzhou, was conscripted to Beijing and died because of this.In Yongle, the actual taxes paid by farmers far exceeded the quota.Especially after the capital was moved, farmers had to bear huge transportation fees, handling fees, and so on.Therefore, the commentator said: "Taizong ascended the throne and tried his best to reform Jianwen's government. The power of the people was unbearable. Those who were expropriated and divided in the Ming Dynasty were transferred and pardoned. However, by the end of Xuande, there were seven counties in Suzhou. The same is true for Chang Song." "The people of Wu were in great distress and exiled for many days, and the endowment of one county reached more than 7.9 million. The governors and envoys followed one after another, and it could not be finished... Although the name of Xuande was reduced, in fact it was It’s the same as Hongwu.” Even during the Jianwen period, monks and Taoists were limited to five acres of land per person, and the rest was given to farmers. The regulation was also abolished.Zhu Di's restoration of the old does not ask whether it is beneficial to the national economy and the people's livelihood, but all of Jianwen's publications are overthrown, which is somewhat emotional.

Zhu Di is by no means a conservative king who follows the rules.No ancestral law can bind his hands and feet.He declared that "the name of the punishment is determined by the law of the Ming Dynasty", but in fact he abused the cruel law and killed people arbitrarily, without any rules.As for the southern expedition to Annan, the personal conquest of Mongolia, the relocation of the capital to Beijing, and the sending of Zheng He to the Western Seas, which one can be relied on by ancestors?Many of Zhu Di's actions are inconsistent with the precepts of his ancestors, and even contradict his own teachings in "Shengxue Xinfa".When Zhu Di led Jing Nan's division into Nanjing, if Yang Rong hadn't stopped the horse to remind him, he almost forgot that he should visit Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb first.The respect for the ancestors he proclaimed is based on the old chapters, just like his visit to the Xiaoling Mausoleum first and then ascending the throne, it is for people to see.

Zhu Di's personality is contradictory.What we want to investigate is how Zhu Di integrates completely different words and actions, and how to balance this dual personality in him. On the seventh month of the fourth year of Yongle, Zhu Di summoned Wu Zhouwen, a Confucian scholar in Beijing, and gave him a special order to serve as a lecturer in the Imperial Academy.The next day, Wu Zhouwen was admitted, and Zhu Di was ordered to retire because of his old age.Why did such an ordinary elderly Confucian scholar receive such preferential treatment from Zhu Di?Zhu Di said to Hu Guang, an imperial attendant, and others: "When I was guarding the vassal, I liked to watch "Yi" in my spare time. At that time, there were three or two officials in the royal family who knew "Yi", but none of them were as realistic as Zhou Wen. But what I said was also stagnant. It turns out that this Wu Zhouwen is Zhu Di's bosom friend in the study of "Yi", but it seems that Zhu Di's understanding of "Yi" is not as deep as Zhu Di's.Zhu Di said:

The magic of Gai's "Yi" is that it can be flexible without losing its positive ear.The saying of the ancients "follow the Tao at any time" is the most important. And said: In order to learn, you must not know "Yi", there is only the phrase "a gentleman inside, a villain outside", and the gentleman uses it, and the effect is not small. It seems that Zhu Di has gained the essentials of "flexibility" in the "Book of Changes".From "following the Tao at any time", he derived the right-handed power technique, choosing the one that suits him in everything is called "following the Tao", and rejecting the one that is not suitable for him is also called "following the Tao"; In the theory of justification of behavior, what a gentleman does is done, and what a villain does is based on the argument that "a villain outside is a gentleman inside".He is both a villain and a gentleman, and he is flexible at any time to be used by me.