Chapter 82 Chapter 4 Old customs that cannot be kept

Jin Shizong was an emperor with a sense of urgency. During his reign, although the government was clear, the industry was prosperous, and the peace was peaceful, but in the process of advocating the rule of law, there was a problem that deeply disturbed Jin Shizong.So, what's the problem? Encouraged by Emperor Sejong, King of Jin dismounted from his horse, and the people who usually hold bows, arrows, knives and guns picked up books, shook their heads and said poetry.The consequence of this is that, on a certain year, Emperor Sejong's birthday, the envoy of Song Dynasty came to congratulate him, and competed with the guards of the Kingdom of Jin in archery. After shooting about a hundred arrows, everyone just shot for fun.Usually, on such occasions, the envoys of the Song Dynasty are disgusted. You little Nanman, what's the use of you other than playing tricks?How fun is it to watch him shoot an arrow and let him stab his feet?Unexpectedly, after the shooting this time, the Song envoy shot fifty arrows, and Emperor Sejong's attendants only hit seven arrows!One hundred arrows hit seven arrows, Emperor Sejong was shocked, my God, what happened?Song envoys who are weaker than Wen are not as good. When they go back to publicize, the Song Dynasty may have another Northern Expedition in two days.Mandarin, riding and archery, the ancestors won the foundation of the world, we can't give up, we must stick to the old customs of Jurchen.So the emperor took the lead, sacrificed to the ancestral temple, the gods of mountains and rivers, and went out of the city to hunt.

When the emperor was about to go out of the city, a Han minister held his horse's head and advised him that hunting is not a good thing, and playing with things is depressing.How did the Liao Dynasty fall?The last emperor Tianzuo Emperor Yelu Yanxi, amateur emperor, professional hunter, hunting all day, super wild animal killer, Dajin beat him, he hunted, so the Liao Kingdom perished.Your Majesty, why do you do such a thing again?Don't go hunting.The emperor said, do you think I really want to go hunting?No!Our ancestors ruled the world by riding and shooting. In the battle when Emperor Taizu went out of Hedian, the military strength of Liao was 1:40. win.So I am remembering the achievements of my ancestors, and I want to set an example.The emperors of the Dajin Dynasty were all emperors on horseback, and now the Jurchen literature is weak enough.Don't stop me, I will listen to everything else you say, I have to do hunting.Not only do I hunt, but I also demand that all Jurchens' Meng'an Mouk must hunt and are not allowed to play chess.He told the magistrate that as long as he saw Jurchens playing chess, he would arrest them and let them practice martial arts.You and the soldiers and generals on the table, Chuhe Hanjie, what's the use of killing and killing?Can the enemy run away by playing chess in a war?Shooting and hunting must be resumed, and the willow shooting competition of the Jurchens will be resumed. There will be rewards for shooting. People can directly confer official positions on those who shoot more arrows.However, the Jurchens took this more as a game.The emperor emphasized the need to maintain the martial ethos of the Jurchen nation, and believed that if the Jin Dynasty lost its martial ethos and moved towards civil rule, it would very likely end up like the powerful but weak Song Dynasty.

In addition to maintaining the martial ethos, the emperor also emphasized maintaining the old Jurchen customs. If you want to speak the national language, it is the Jurchen language.Later, after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and taking over the Central Plains for more than a hundred years, the situation that emerged was surprisingly similar to that of the Jin Kingdom back then.Emperor Gaozong and Qianlong also repeatedly issued decrees to emphasize riding and archery in Mandarin, but it also had no effect.The Jin Dynasty took such a path back then, and hundreds of years later, his descendants still took the same path.The emperor told the guards around him that they must speak Jurchen language at ordinary times, and those who spoke Chinese were dismissed and not allowed to be officials.Although these guards are Jurchens, they have never learned Jurchen language since they were born. Chinese is their mother tongue, and Jurchen language is a foreign language.In order to become officials, these Jurchen guards had no choice but to return home and reluctantly began to learn the language spoken by their ancestors.Therefore, anyone who wants to be an official and please the emperor should speak Jurchen language.The emperor also stipulated that Jurchens' surnames were not allowed to be changed to Chinese surnames, Wanyan's surname could not be changed to Wang, and He Shilie's surname could not be changed to Shi, nor were they allowed to take Chinese names.Of course, the children of the royal family all have Chinese names. Sejong’s sons are all named Wanyan Yun×. After Yungong became the prince, because the prince is the heir of the country and will be the emperor in the future, other sons should avoid taboos, so they changed "Yun" to "Yun". Become "Yong", arranged according to the characters of seniority.The royal family can have Chinese names, but the general clan and Jurchen ministers are not allowed to use Chinese names, only Jurchen names.So when we look at the names of the ministers of the Kingdom of Jin, they are very interesting. They don't avoid the vulgar or the ugly, which is very similar to ancient China.For example, Duke Huan of Qi, one of the Five Overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period, was called Xiaobai and Jiang Xiaobai, which is the name of pets today; King Chucheng is called Heiyu, which is not a nickname, but this is his nickname.The names of Jurchen nobles are all Wanyan Wannu, Wanyan Jiujin and the like.The emperor is happy that you have this kind of name. You are not allowed to take a Chinese name, let alone give yourself a name. Keep the old customs of Jurchen and avoid being completely assimilated by the Han people.

Another important measure taken by Emperor Sejong to maintain the old customs of Jurchen was to restore the Huining Mansion in Shangjing, which was destroyed by Hailing King Wan Yanliang.At that time, Wan Yanliang completely destroyed the Huining Mansion in Shangjing in order to move the capital to Zhongdu, and Emperor Sejong ordered it to be repaired.And when he was in his 60s, he realized his dream of traveling around the capital.From today's Beijing to the distant city of Acheng in Heilongjiang, it took several hours to fly by plane today. At that time, the emperor, who was over 60 years old, was thousands of miles away, and it took two years to go back and forth.Sejong went to Beijing for a tour, entertained the local elders, Xun Jiu, and visited the families of military martyrs every day. He was very happy.

At a banquet, the emperor said that today the emperor and his ministers do not stick to the old etiquette. I was very excited to visit the place where my ancestors fought and lived.That day, everyone let go of their booze and drank all night long. When the happiest time was drinking, Emperor Sejong put the wine glass away and said that I have been in Shangjing for so long, and I really want to listen to the songs sung by my ancestors, but none of you used Jurchen for me. I have sung a song in Jurchen language, and today I will sing a song for you in Jurchen language.The emperor let go of his voice and took the lead in singing. The song he sang was written by himself, praising Taizu Taizong's difficulty in starting a business.When the song reached the emotional point, Emperor Sejong burst into tears at first, and then wailed bitterly. Everyone cried bitterly, the banquet could not go on, and the memorial service was changed.It was difficult for our ancestors to start a business, but now our national tradition is in danger of being cut off, which is terrible!After Sejong returned to the capital, he ordered that the Jurchens must have the strength to cultivate themselves, be diligent in labor, maintain the spirit of being brave, and not lose the characteristics of nomads.Therefore, all the Jurchens who moved into the Central Plains were allocated land for them to cultivate themselves. They were civilians in peacetime and soldiers in wartime, serving as a strong guarantee for the country.The imperial court gave priority to the allocation of good land to the Jurchens, and wanted them to cultivate themselves. Unexpectedly, they recruited a Han man to farm the land for him, and then collected rent.This is so exciting, the body does not move, the shoulders do not shake.Usually the superiors come to check and sing a Jurchen ditty that I learned last night.Hello, bye, have you eaten?Say these few Jurchen words.If I was asked to shoot an arrow, I would just draw a few arrows and make a fuss about whether the superior who came to inspect could shoot an arrow.The Jurchens are all like this now, who will check who?I am here every day, food, clothing, rent and taxes, and money that is wasted, cannot be short of income.What the emperor thought was to raise a group of pillars of the country and rely on it as the Great Wall, but he didn't expect to give them a piece of land. These Menganmuke and Jurchen people quickly became corrupt.By the end of the Jin Dynasty, the Jurchen soldiers were almost at the same level as the Song Army at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.Those who fought against the Mongols on the border were better. Those in the Central Plains were similar to the children of the Eight Banners in the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, the Jin Dynasty was very unsuccessful in doing this. It is not as good as the Liao Dynasty governing according to customs, one country, two systems.An important reason why Liao was able to have one country, two systems was that it coexisted with the Central Plains dynasty for a long time.When the Liao Dynasty was established, the Central Plains entered the Five Dynasties, and later coexisted with the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, it not only learned the advanced system of the Tang and Song Dynasties, but also maintained its own old customs. myth.The Jin Dynasty was originally a barbaric and backward small tribe. It raised troops and raised up righteousness. It quickly swallowed the Liao Dynasty and destroyed the Song Dynasty. The two more powerful and prosperous empires perished one after another within two years, and occupied the Central Plains in one fell swoop. .I ate too much, my stomach was bloated, and I couldn't digest it. The Liao and Song Dynasties were all destroyed, and Jin was at a loss. Who should I learn from?What to learn?how to learnAm I going to learn from my defeated generals?Don't I learn from my defeated generals?In the end, although Jin defeated the Song Dynasty, it completely copied the Song Dynasty in terms of laws and cultural relics.

The Sejong Dynasty was a turning point for the Jin Dynasty.Emperor Sejong remembers this, and he must keep the old customs of Jurchen, and must not forget his roots.This is by no means conservative, but the fundamental way for the long-term stability of this nation and this country.But after his death, a fundamental reversal took place, because his successor was a fully Sinicized emperor.So who is he looking for as his successor?Why did his national policy undergo a fundamental reversal?