Chapter 18 6. Difficult livelihood

A country must have a stable order, otherwise, the country cannot be maintained.But a stable order can not be obtained only by force and coercion, nor can it be created only by power.Fundamentally speaking, social stability is first and foremost the stability of people's lives.No government or ruler can achieve long-term peace and stability without solving the problems of people's livelihood.If the problems of people's livelihood are solved well, he must be a wise king; if the problems of people's livelihood are not solved well or neglected, he must be a mediocre ruler.Zhu Di is very clear about this truth, he expects himself from a sage king and sage.On Wuwu in August of the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Di sent officials to sacrifice to the emperors of all dynasties. After the sacrifice, Zhu Di said this to the officials:

The Three Sovereigns and Five Sovereigns are purely moral and rule by doing nothing.From the Xia Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, during the period, the sages and sages also practiced benevolence and righteousness, and practiced laws and regulations, so that the world is peaceful and their names will be passed down to future generations.My emperor studied the law of ancient times to govern, so those who had meritorious deeds from the previous emperors all practiced sacrifices according to the time and wrote them as regular scriptures.What I am doing today is only based on the emperor's heart, in order to seek the rule of the ancient emperor.Qing and others praised and assisted with all their heart at all nights, and the effect was achieved after a few grams.

He asked his ministers to caress the people and assist him in making the world ruled.In the spring of the thirteenth year of Yongle, officials from all over the world came to Beijing to meet, and Zhu Di said to them: I bow down to all surnames, relying on the praise of civil and military officials to assist in governance.Only doing your best is your heart, only doing your best is your duty, so that you can govern with prosperity and prosperity, and the people will be well-off, so be careful!Only goodness leads to blessings, but evilness leads to misfortune. The heavens show the way, and there is nothing good in giving.

Soon, Zhu Di posted a notice outside the Meridian Gate: "Civil and military officials in the world, those who manage the army love the soldiers, those who manage the people love the people, and those who dare to exploit the soldiers and the people will be punished with unforgivable crimes!" We also want to cite an official document issued by Zhu Di's Ministry of Rites to Chinese and foreign departments to see in which aspects he intends to promote his way of governance.In November of the fifteenth year of Yongle, in Guiyou, Zhu Di ordered to go to the (Beijing) Ministry of Rites to transfer the text to the Chinese and foreign departments:

Once the constitution is complied with, the military and civilians will be loved, and benefits must be respected.In addition, based on farming, mulberry, clothing and food, we must promptly persuade teachers; schools must encourage talents; taxes and labor must be equal, scientific collection must be true, sacrifices must be sincere and respectful, punishments and prisons must be forgiven, filial piety must be shown, widows and widows must be lonely T-shirts must be kept, talents and virtues must be recommended, border guards must be strictly guarded, and warehouse cashiers must not invade.There are officials who are corrupt and absent from duty, supervise the censor, and correct the case according to the inspection department.

As mentioned above, in order to seize the throne, Zhu Di raised the banner of upholding the ancestral teachings and restoring the old system. For the sake of publicity, he opposed the Jianwen government. , and canceled it without hesitation.But now that he has a vested position, he must work hard to stabilize the world. He can take measures according to his own will. As for the ancestor's precepts, it is not as important to him as it was when he seized power.Everything he does has only one purpose, which is to benefit his own rule. As soon as Zhu Di came to the throne, he immediately put the matter of appeasing the soldiers and civilians on the agenda.At that time, the subjects all over the country were still in shock at Zhu Di's mass killing. Zhu Di hurriedly ordered the Ministry of War to issue a list to inform the soldiers and civilians to ensure their livelihoods. He said:

Now it is admired and supported by the people, heirs to the great rule, all the sinners have been executed, and Jia and Wanfang are happy together to rule.For example, I heard that there are still some people in the army and civilians in Beijing who have not expressed my heart, saying that they have the intention of resuming slaughter, and they turn their faces to confuse, how stupid! I am the king of the world, and all the people in the world are my children, how can it harm my heart?And should the emperor's criminal law be abused and innocent?The Ministry of War of Er urgently issued a notice to make everyone feel at ease and work in peace, not to be suspicious and fearful, and to dare to confuse the public with false statements, and to allow everyone to sue first.Knowing but not telling, is the same crime as the prisoner.

This is an order to force the people to obey with high pressure. They want to make the people "live and work in peace and contentment", but they threaten to sue and death penalty. At that time, the world was newly settled, and everything was not on track. .He successively dispatched military generals to all parts of the country to take on the task of "purge the army and appease the people". Li Zengzhi went to Jingzhou, Jiangyin Marquis Wu Gao went to Henan, Shaanxi and so on.However, it is not enough to rely on force and high-handed "Fu'an", and Zhu Di also noticed the practical problems of people's livelihood at the same time.Therefore, at this time, Yan Zhenzhi, the former minister of the Ministry of Industry, Wang Chun, the official minister of the Ministry of household affairs, and Xue Zhengyan, the Yin of Yingtianfu, were also sent to Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi and other chief secretaries to inspect the civil affairs, ordering them to "what evil should be done?" Leather, Holi should be prosperous, and it will be played quickly."In the second year (the first year of Yongle), he sent supervisors and censors to give these "eyes and ears of the court and ministers of attendants" to the chief ministers of Zhili prefectures and counties and Zhejiang to appease the army and the people, and publicize his ideas with the people. The meaning of rest, and asked them to repair the city, suppress the grass bandits, and at the same time restrain them from following the court's express words, "one husband is not allowed to be good at work, and one is not allowed to be good at science", "those who violated the law should give a factual report, and rule it by law." .These measures also have the color of rehabilitating the aftermath of the "Battle of Jingnan", which is very necessary for stabilizing people's hearts and stabilizing social order.After the social order has stabilized somewhat, more fundamental measures must be taken.

In a country where the main members of society are farmers and the main income comes from agriculture, the farmers must first be stabilized and the agriculture managed well, so that the society can be stable, the people have enough to support and the wealth is not exhausted.Land, seeds, agricultural tools, cattle, and even farming techniques, floods, droughts and locust plagues are all things that rulers should consider. "Ming Taizong Shilu" has many records in this regard.Zhu Di's specific measures include: immigrants to reclaim wasteland and farmland, and those who lack cattle for farming will be given by the government and the city; those who lack farm tools will be cast by the Baoyuan Bureau.Examples in this regard will be introduced in detail when discussing Zhu Di's development of Beijing below.

Work less, rest with the people.For example: In March of the first year of Yongle, Yisi, Shang (Zhu Di) called Liu Jun, Minister of the Ministry of War, and said: "At the beginning of my ascension to the throne, I first issued an edict to stop all non-urgent tasks both inside and outside. Don't work rashly to collect money, and don't let the soldiers rest. I heard today If there are any divisions who do not understand my wishes and abuse our soldiers and civilians, they have issued orders both at home and abroad. From now on, the army will be on regular service, the people will be safe and regular, and the officials will keep their regular duties. Although the matter is urgent, they must be approved before Do it, and offenders will be punished."

Another example: In April of the first year of Yongle, Jiang Cheng was judged by Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province: "Today, more than 3,000 people from Yizhou and other counties will be led to repair and govern the Lu Mansion, and work in Fangyin in the east. Begging to suspend work, and now return to farming, and serve when the farm breaks. .” From it. Another example: In April of the first year of Yongle, Yi Chou gave a letter to King Zhen of Chu, saying: "Don't come and miss me forever. The son is here, and he knows that he is safe and good. He is comforted. If you want to build in the palace, how can you be stingy? But the world At the beginning of the decision, the hearts of the people were not at ease, the labor and poverty were not over, and the drought and locusts were still there, and the people were suffering from cold and discouraged, and it was time to rest. Therefore, at the beginning of the ascension to the throne, the first decree that all non-urgent affairs in the world should be stopped. From now on, the palace It was burned by Jianwen, and the East Palace was also destroyed, but no one dared to build it. My dear brother, thank you for your understanding. If the palace in the mansion is damaged, I will repair it at any time with the guards. When the people are safe and prosperous, then the soldiers and civilians will be allocated to do it. This is beneficial to both the public and the private. The virtuous brother also said that if you want to order the left guards to farm for the old age, it is the correct synthesis method, which has the meaning of foresight, and it is better to plan it early. Restrict the emergency levy and alleviate the hardship of the people.For example: In October of Xinyou in the winter of the first year of Yongle, Yu Xin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and others played: "Huguang's summer tax is overdue for several months this year, and its chief secretary's prefectures and counties are all guilty." It is difficult to generalize the system, people's harvest may be uneven, and the geography is also different. The responsibility lies with the people, and the urgent responsibility must go to the sick people. Don’t ask about it. The first change and the contract limit, let the people lose it.” Another example: On Gengchen in November of the same year, the county magistrate was asked to punish Huating County, which belonged to Songjiang Prefecture, for collecting autumn grain that was overdue.The Shang (Zhu Di) said: "This year there is drought and labor in Su and Song, and it is difficult to handle the autumn grain. The county magistrate's job is in Fuzi. You must not take this as a crime, and you can set a deadline. Reduce and exempt taxes to relieve the hardships of the people.For example: In December of the first year of Yongle, Renchen was exempted from rent and tax in Chenzhou, Henan this year, because the excessive rain hurt the crops. Another example: On Bingchen in May of the second year of Yongle, the Huitong Tax Bureau of Linqing County, Shandong Province said: "By the age of the year, the towns and cities have experienced soldiers, and the people have all migrated, and there have been years of locust droughts, and the merchants have not arrived. The collection of banknotes is not enough. Please reduce the old Amount." The household department heard.Shang (Zhu Di) said: "After the war and drought, can we still levy taxes? They are all exempted. When the people resume their jobs in the prosperous year, and the merchants pass through, then they will be levied." Issue money and millet to relieve the victims.For example: In March of the first year of Yongle, Wuzi, the Ministry of Household Affairs said that the locusts in Kaifeng and other prefectures in Henan were hungry.I was ordered to see the stored wheat beans for relief. Another example: In March of the same year, during the Sino-Japanese War, people in Beijing, Shandong, Henan, Zhili, Xuzhou, Fengyang, and Huai'an were hungry.Order the Ministry of household affairs to send officials to provide relief.There is no millet store in this place, and it will be stored in the nearby military and guard department for relief. Construct water conservancy, eliminate disasters and benefit farmers.For example: Zhili Suzhou area relies on the water conservancy of Qiantang River, Wusong River and Loujiang River.Later, because of the sandy soil, the river water was out of control. During the drought, the people sat and watched the grass seedlings wither, and when the water was released, they sat and watched the hanging grass drown.Soon after Zhu Di came to the throne, he ruled at the request of the people.In the first year of Yongle, Xia Yuanji, Minister of the Household Department, was appointed to go to the counties of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to control the water.It was a major event in the early Ming Dynasty. Focus on opening up and collecting military rations.For example: when Zhu Difu came to the throne, the guards in Beiping were short of food, so they ordered the household department to stop the world's middle salt and specialize in Kaizhong in Beiping. Create regulations on rewards and punishments, and develop military settlements.For example, in the second year of Yongle, Zhu Di promulgated the law of rewards and punishments for farming, and in the second year, he published the law with a red card.Later, it was stipulated that the officers and soldiers planted sample fields and went to Beijing at the end of each year to reward and punish them according to the amount they received. It stands to reason that Zhu Di loved the people so much and sympathized with the poor, and governed diligently, the country should be governed and the people should have plenty.In fact, the national economy and people's livelihood during the Yongle period were far from satisfactory.The rain and dew of the imperial court are extremely limited.Moreover, given the size of the Ming Empire, disasters occurred in some places to varying degrees every year.Only based on the statistics recorded in "Ming Shilu", from the 35th year of Hongwu (4th year of Jianwen) to the 22nd year of Yongle, during the reign of Zhu Di, there were 276 famine disasters caused by floods, droughts and locust plagues. many.Most of the famines were known to the imperial court and gave relief or tax relief.However, some disasters were concealed by local officials.In Jiaxu in June of the tenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di reprimanded his ministers for this practice.He said: "I am the lord of the world, and my job is to put the people at ease. The people are the foundation of the country. If the people are not in their place, it is my responsibility. Therefore, I send people to patrol the counties and towns every year. Every year, the riches and apologies, the people's sorrows, I want to know it all. Nearby, the people in Henan are hungry, and there are officials who don’t hear it, but there are often those who say that the valley is rich. If you deceive others, you will be guilty of heaven. Zhu Di once ordered the officials of foreign affairs departments to report the benefits and illnesses of the people when they went to Beijing for pilgrimage.However, the officials who came to the court often did not report the real situation of the place, but "lead the clouds, fields and valleys to be rich and rich, and the family and the family are happy to work" to please Zhu Di. What I am happy to hear are words like "Tian Gu Fengren, Lu Yan Leye".The minister's concealment of the truth is indeed Zhu Di's intention. On the contrary, when he understands that the folks are not "Tiangu Fengren, Luyan Leye", he must express dissatisfaction and responsibility. Only in this way will he appear more holy. .In the first month of the eleventh year of Yongle, a famine broke out in Shanxi, and the officials who came to the court did not mention the tragic situation of the hungry people in Shanxi eating tree bark and grass roots.At the end of July in the 16th year of Yongle, Zhu Di issued an imperial edict to severely blame the Chief Secretary and the Inspection Division of Shaanxi, also because they concealed the disaster situation: "I heard that the counties and counties belonging to Shaanxi have repeatedly failed to register their age, and the people are not given enough food, which leads to their exile. If you are appointed as Fang Mu, if you sit idly by and don’t hear about it, how can you escape the crime!” In November of the eighteenth year of Yongle, the crown prince Zhu Gaochi entered the court from Nanjing and passed by Zou County in Shandong. He witnessed a local famine: “ Seeing men and women holding baskets and picking up grass on the road. Asked about the use of the horses. The people knelt down and said: "The year is short for food." , The stove and cauldron collapsed and the servant died, sighing: "Is it true that the people have heard of it?" With the intervention of the crown prince, the hungry people in Zou and Teng received relief.However, the famine in Zou and Teng may not be the worst, so local lawsuits are commonplace, so they dare not to hear about it.It was only occasionally discovered by the crown prince passing by and attracted attention.In the same month as the crown prince passed through Zou County, floods occurred in Qing, Lai, Pingdu and other prefectures in Shandong, causing a large number of hungry people. The government gave relief to as many as 153,734 households at a time.We can fully say that the disaster situation and people's hardships reflected in the memorandum are far from comprehensive. Zhu Di ruled the people and put forward a theory, saying: "The people don't lose their support, even if they work hard, and the people lose their support, even if they rest, it is immoral." In Zhu Di's view, he is a benevolent king who loves the people, so the people cannot Lost.This is actually one of the reasons why he doesn't want to hear about the disaster situation among the people. However, in December of the year when Zhu Di died in Yumuchuan, Dali You Shaoqing Yu Qian wrote a letter for us to outline a completely different picture of people's livelihood from what Zhu Di envisioned.He said: Emperor Taizongwen inherited the great treasure, made a grand administration, expanded the crossing sites in the south to expand the frontiers, conquered the Hu bandits in the north to calm the frontiers, and built Beijing to consolidate the Central Plains. His ambition was to work temporarily and rest forever. Heart is one.But the officials of herdsmen don't understand the court's benevolence to the people, pointing out that there are ten subjects in one department, the rich and the poor poor, villainous parents, more greedy and poisonous, and seeing the effect from far and near.The emperor (Renzong Zhu Gaochi) felt sorry for him, and it has been a long time.Therefore, at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he stopped civil and engineering work to relieve the weary people, abandoned gardens and confinement to promote farming, released eagles and dogs to save grain, and carried hawks to attract homeless people. Those who have meritorious service will be rewarded, those who are guilty will be punished, and the world will never return... Although His Majesty loves the people diligently, the corruption of officials is still there, just like the punishment of caning sticks in Hongwu. To plunder people with sticks is to make them fearful so that they can commit adultery and greed.Hongwu Zhongli soldiers should not be set up indiscriminately. Today, the Chief Secretary of the Guards of the Capital Division selects more wealthy and wealthy people according to the county magistrates of the Chasi prefecture. Monthly order to handle goods and wealth.Houses of officials in Hongwuzhong are not allowed to buy or sell in the office. Now the chief secretary of the capital's health office according to the prefectural and county magistrates of the inspection department has ordered the younger brother, nephew, and son-in-law to rely on the officials to buy and sell and borrow money in the office, and take ten times the people.Before the twelfth month of the 20th year of the imperial edict, today there are officials who collect charcoal and other things freely. They order that the escaped people should pay the grain tax. Yousi is not responsible for the people who are in the office.The papers, pens, ink, letters, etc. used by the ministers to pay respects to their superiors are all taken from the people. What is the heart of their sincerity and respect?Another example is the fee sent to ushering. Some officials come from the common people, military guards come from the military rations, and some soldiers and civilians are not self-sufficient throughout the year.Another example is that there are supervisors for food and grass, those who have a little money, and those who have departmental cashiers.Before the public government, the private ones are filled first. There are so many things that are obvious, and those that are secret and difficult to know are not easy to tell.Now the court saves trouble, although there is no huge harm in the past, as the ministers have seen and heard, it is not the slightest harm to the soldiers and the people!Gou Bu Pain as punishment, how can the world clarify? ... In the past, due to the large number of national uses, the salaries of civil and military officials were limited to sixty-seven, and the income was not paid for their expenses. Now, if the reserves are not enough to provide, and those who have accumulated cloth and silk in the lawsuit where they are located, they will be granted according to the facts. Parents and wives do not suffer from cold and starvation. If there are any people who do not abide by the law and wantonly corrupt the soldiers and civilians, they will be punished as the law.The husband's faithful words are beneficial to the country, and the ancients set up a tree of slander, and issued a blunt edict, hoping that they would never be exhausted.Now that His Majesty has seen this, he has repeatedly issued edicts to ask for words, for fear that the ministers will not speak, but there are still some who do not speak. ... What Yu Qian described was a comprehensive social life picture of soldiers and civilians.At this time, Renzong had only been on the throne for five months, and the problems in the "present" that Yu Qian referred to were obviously mainly responsible for Zhu Di, which was the result of Zhu Di's administration.Zhu Di claimed that he was a political leader so that the people would not lose their support. With such a cluster of bad policies, how could the people not lose their support!Regardless of other things for the time being, just look at the parents and wives of civil and military officials who are still in danger of starvation, and the folk life can be imagined. In fact, Zhu Di's statement that "the people do not lose their support, even though they have worked hard with little resentment" is just an excuse and cover-up for his great success.Since the people do not lose their support, they can be driven to labor without hesitation.Zhu Di was very happy with his achievements, and was eager to clean up his notoriety of usurping the throne. Therefore, during the Yongle Dynasty, great events happened frequently, and the people of the country were exhausted by it.Just look, during the reign of Yongle, the Southern Conquest, the war lasted for more than 20 years, and the 800,000 troops were exhausted; , Huguang mining, the project lasted for 14 or 15 years, "it cost tens of thousands, and countless soldiers and civilians were killed", and "supervising officials who are able to do business and abstain from private interests, and are not greedy to ransom the people, almost one in ten Two"; Zhu Di personally conquered Mobei five times, mobilizing troops ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 each time, searching all the treasuries of the country for military pay, and transferring hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, resulting in "big financial embarrassment".How can the people "not lose their sustenance" after such great successes happen one after another?Just as Huang Ze, the chief secretary of Huguang in the first year of Hongxi, said: "Xiang Ye, conquered from the south to the north, went out for years, transported oxen and horses, and dissipated tens of thousands of dollars, and the north of the river was trapped in construction, and the south of the river was tired of transferring", " Repeated civil and engineering work, the laborer will rest", the result can only be that "men are tired of hard work, women are tired of farming, rich people complain about the burden of expropriation, and poor people suffer from cold and starvation."Coupled with the famine and disasters caused by the flood and drought locust plague, the already serious suffering of the people was even more serious.As a result, "the people were displaced, hungry and full of roads, taxes and food were burdened, and salt thieves were rampant." According to the statistics of the records in "Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming Dynasty", there were as many as forty cases of so-called "civilian riots" and "strong thieves" in the Yongle Dynasty.In the last years of Yongle, gangs of "robbers" and large numbers of "vagrants" appeared in Shanxi, Hebei, and even the so-called prosperous Su, Chang, Jia, and Hu.We might as well transcribe the following "civil disturbances" in the later period of Yongle to see the people's livelihood in Yongle: In the first month of Xinyou, the fourteenth year of Yongle, Jin Yu, the governor of the Central Army, was ordered to be the commander-in-chief, Cai Fu was the deputy, and he went to Guangling and other counties in Shanxi to conquer the mountain bandits Liu Zijin and others.Zijin, a resident of Guangling County, a rogue living in his hometown, once said to himself that he met a Taoist in Shitiling, and he was given a pair of swords and arrows with iron feathers, which can drive away gods and ghosts.Created rumors to gather villagers Liu Xing, Yu Gui, Hao Jingzhan, Fan Min, etc. to use up, falsely signed their titles, and used the Zaobai Banner to seize the Taibai Wangjiazhuang posthorse, and killed Datong and other Wei Caimu Banner troops. By plundering people and animals, the officers and soldiers cannot control them.When the matter was heard, Yu and others were sent to suppress and arrest. In the 15th year of Yongle, on May 5th, Liu Shengsun, a thief from Tingzhou, Fujian, gathered scoundrels and called himself General Taiping. In August of the same year, in Jiyou, Chen Tianbao, a thief from Shaxian County, Fujian Province, was executed.At the beginning, Tianbao and county residents Du Sun, Li Wuxi, Longxi Ma Lang, Long Yan, Fan Tianshou, Yongchun Lin Jiushi, Dehua Zhang Wuguan and others gathered together to make a riot, burned Longxi Yinchang, and killed Zhongguan As well as more than 30 local people, the officers and soldiers arrested them, scattered them, and fled to hide.He also called Master Taiping the Pioneer and so on, recruited thieves, burned and robbed Qingliu and other counties, and killed more than 30 county officials, soldiers and civilians.As a result, Fujian Shouchen sent the capital to punish him. Ni Hongsan, the thief of Jiaxing Mansion, was executed.Hongsan gathered rascals to create chaos and plundered villages. In three years, there were thousands of them.Two thousand troops were sent to join the army of the capital of Zhejiang to discuss it.Instead, they were defeated by thieves, and many officers and soldiers were killed and wounded.Zhou Xinyizhi, the procuratorate of Zhejiang Province, set up a reward, supervised the search and arrest, set up a wooden fence in Xiaojianggang, and decided to judge him on his way.The thieves had nothing to tolerate, so they headed towards Beihe.Zhuang Yong was newly dispatched to Taoyuan County, and the first few of them were sent to the capital.Even all of them are in the city.The people of the prefectures of Suhu began to be safe. In May of the 16th year of Yongle, Liu Hua, a citizen of Changping County, Shuntian Prefecture, was executed for treason.At the beginning of Hua Dynasty, he was named Sengbao, who was afraid of joining the army and fled to the people's house in Xincheng County, Baoding Prefecture.Dressed in Taoist clothes, claiming that Maitreya Buddha came down to the world, to rule the world, lectured on the scriptures of the Five Dukes, and encouraged more than a hundred and forty fools to believe in them. That's all, people from Zhending, Rongcheng, Hongdong and other counties in Shanxi They all accepted the precepts, so they got together and became chaotic.If you hear about it, you will be arrested and punished. In autumn and July, Wang Zhong, a thief in Jingzhou, Huguang, claimed to be Pingdinghou, and led his people to attack and rob Wuwangzhou. He was captured by the guard and punished by his party. In the first month of the first month of the spring of the 17th year of Yongle, Bingyin, Li Weizuo, the supervisory censor, and Lei Jiannan, an escaped craftsman from Xingan County, Jiangxi Province, gathered a crowd to resist arrest.The superior commanded Liu Zhong and the governor Ma Ju to lead the troops to arrest him.Before they arrived, the chief secretary and the chief inspector played Jiannan and others blamed themselves.Shanglan said that the courtier said: "The people are so desperate, who are willing to take the death of their parents and wives? This is a department that is lost in Fusui." All orders are forgiven.Send envoys to gather together and wait for return. In February of the eighteenth year of Yongle, Tang Sai'er, a seductress in Putai County, Shandong Province, rebelled. (see below for details) On November Renchen, Yang Dechun and Wei Manquan from Quyang County, Zhending Prefecture, used black magic to confuse the crowd and put them to death.Dechun and other prime ministers don't do business, and don't serve the government.A division will punish him.Wearing yellow crown clothes in spring, with shaved hair and monk clothes all over the circle, they all fled to Jinzhou, using magic spells and spells to confuse the crowd.Claiming to be good at managing soldiers, he can make people fly ten miles.So they gathered rascals, named five hundred arhats, and conspired to cause chaos.It was discovered that some officials captured them and sent them to the capital. They all abandoned the city immediately, and their family property was lost to officials. Twenty years in leap and twelfth month, Jiazi, Mu Sheng, the Duke of Guizhou, guarding Yunnan, asked to send troops to suppress Luoluo, Qubu, Yiye, Weimo Prefecture, and Mengzi County, as waste and strong thieves, so as to eliminate the people's troubles.From it. In the spring and March of the 21st year, Jihai, they stole into the Tianku of the Great Sacrifice Altar in Nanjing, stealing Cangbi Er and Huang Congyi.He ordered Song Hu, Marquis of Xining, to supervise the five cities of Nanjing with soldiers and horses to catch thieves. Ding Wei in the spring and February of the twenty-second year, Wu Guigui, the leader of the bandits in Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, waited.At the beginning, Gui Gui and others gathered more than a thousand people to rob and kill the villagers, and the prefect Deng Zhong led the militia to arrest them.The thieves resisted the enemy and killed the officials.When the incident was heard, Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu, was ordered to lead three thousand troops to challenge him.Shang Yu Lu said: "The chief of the bandits is only a few people, and he must be punished. The rest of the coercion should be separated from each other. The common people all have parents and wives, so how can they be obedient and chaotic? There must be endless ones. Soldiers should be restrained and not killed indiscriminately. .Killing an innocent person is a general's crime. If there is no evil, there must be condemnation. As a result, Lu Xi arrested the head and slaughtered him evilly. In the summer and May of the 22nd year, in Yiwei, Zhejiang inspector Wang Fuzuo was inspected, and Zhou Shuguang and Wang Junliang, the chief thieves of Lishui, Zhejiang and Fujian Zhenghe counties, gathered more than 2,000 people to plunder the two counties, and gradually spread.Ask soldiers to suppress and arrest.Li Qing, Minister of the Ministry of War, and others discussed it.Therefore, Qing and others played Yuanhebei and commanded Zhang Zhu to lead 3,000 troops, and the two capitals of Zhejiang and Fujian each dispatched 2,000 troops, and they all listened to Zhu leading the arrest.At that time, Yang Rong and Jin Youzi, academicians of Wenyuan Pavilion, came together and said: "This foolish people are ignorant, or they are suffering from the company, or they are poor in food and clothing. They have to flee to the mountains and forests, trying to survive. If they are lenient and caress them, they will all be scattered. What is urgent is not only that it is not easy to obtain, but also that he is determined to be a thief. What's more, what I have done with war will inevitably be in vain. I would like to think about how to deal with it. The above said: "Your words are good.You can order the patrol censor and the three divisions of Zhejiang and Fujian to appease.If the burden is solid and unacceptable, it is not too late to mobilize the army to suppress it. What is recorded here is not the entire situation of "civilian chaos" and "strong bandits" during the Yongle period, but it can be said that there were almost no years.The most famous of these is the Tang Saier Rebellion that occurred in the eighteenth year of Yongle.This year, Zhu Di was preparing for the third Northern Expedition, Zheng He was preparing for the sixth voyage to the Western Seas, the palace in Beijing had just been completed, and the war in Annan was in full swing. The famous Shandong famine also occurred in this year.Layers of heavy burdens fell on the shoulders of the common people. They were so unbearable that they had no choice but to stand up and resist.Under the call of the female leader Tang Saier, the people of Putai County in Shandong occupied Yidu, and then traveled to Zhucheng, Anqiu, Juzhou, Jimo, and Shouguang counties.The Qingzhou Zuowei commanded Gao Feng to defeat the capture, and the imperial court sent Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng as the commander-in-chief, and both commanded Liu Zhong as the deputy commander-in-chief to lead the expedition.Both sides fought fiercely in Yidu, and both commanded Liu Zhong to die in battle, but Tang Sai'er had to escape.At this time, another rebel leader, Bin Hong, was gathering tens of thousands of people to attack Anqiu. The official army Shandong commanded Wei Qing to rush to rescue him from the sea day and night, but Bin Hong was defeated.Another team of rebels was defeated by Wang Zhen, commander of Aoshan Guard, in Zhucheng.The rebellion was finally suppressed, and more than 3,000 members of the "demon party" were sent to Beijing alone.But Tang Sai'er was still missing.It is said that Tang Saier was also captured by the government. . ” As a result, “all the officials from the third division and below, as well as the generals and schools, died as bandits.”Tang Saier could not be arrested for a long time. Zhu Di suspected that Saier might become a nun or mix with female Taoist priests, so he ordered the judicial department to "arrest all the nuns and female Taoist priests in Beijing and Shandong to Beijing." Later, the scope of the search was expanded. Zhu Di actually ordered that "there are ministers abroad, and all military and civilian women who become nuns and Taoist nuns will be sent to the capital", "tens of thousands of people successively". Zhu Di's search was fruitless, and he had to amnesty the world when the Beijing palace was completed in the first month of the 19th year of Yongle, declaring that "the nuns and Taoists who have not been arrested and collected in various places will be forgiven and returned to the vulgar".When Gu Yingtai commented on Zhu Di's large-scale arrest, he compared it to "Jun Min's slaughter of Jiebu, those with beards and high noses were punished together, and Yuan Shao beheaded eunuchs, and those without beards were also killed." , How can it be peaceful.Tang Saier's rebellion was a categorical denial of Yongle's prosperous age, and an appropriate evaluation of Zhu Di's "love for the people" rule. During the Yongle period, not only people's livelihood, but also many problems in politics, economy, military and other aspects.For example, in the bureaucratic ranks, "the end of greed and eternal happiness has been done", "please entrust bribes, and do business without scruples".The appointment of officials "gradually follows the qualifications", and "following the practice" in doing things is harmful. "Military occupations are increasing day by day", "and there are many greedy, violent and lazy, lax discipline, unfavorable equipment, unrepaired cities, lack of soldiers, and the law of attacking and defending is gradually becoming obsolete."Due to "frequent deployment and long-term construction", the settlement government was abandoned, "the fields were deserted in the name of farming", and "the farming industry was abandoned due to the exhaustion of the military force". And the whole country is full of loopholes.Regarding the rule of the Yongle period, I would like to borrow another passage from the book, Zou Jifu said: "I heard people say that the world in this dynasty should be as good as the Zhou Dynasty of Confucius, just because there is a Yongle Lord. broken."