Chapter 37 Chapter Six: The Invention of Great Criticism and the Distortion of Human Nature

In fact, Yongzheng is very different from his father Kangxi. He was the first master who invented the Great Criticism. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, the first person to get rid of him was his brother-in-law, the then general Nian Gengyao. After that, he began to rectify the court, eradicating everything he didn't like.At that time, there was a Qian Mingshi who couldn't appreciate the poems written by Yongzheng, so Yongzheng hated Qian Mingshi to death.After he ascended the throne, he asked every minister to write a poem, scolding Qian Mingshi and criticizing him. This kind of critical style is exactly the portrayal of a person with a personality like Yongzheng. It is repeated before. Yongzheng thinks he is a good person. If he thinks you are a bad person, he will ask everyone to draw a line with you. They all come to scold you and criticize you.

Regarding the criticism of Qian Mingshi, a special book was published at that time, which was full of obscenities and curse words.But Qian Mingshi was dismissed and went home.At this time, Yongzheng did another immoral thing. He wrote a plaque of "Mingjiao Sinner" in his own handwriting, requiring Qian Mingshi to hang it on the gate, and ordered local officials to check the plaque regularly to prevent Qian Mingshi from committing crimes. Take it off secretly.As a scholar and an intellectual, Qian Mingshi couldn't bear to be humiliated like this. He was humiliated to death.After Qian Mingshi died, Yongzheng also ordered that this plaque be hung on his grave, and it was not allowed not to hang it, and the local officials had to inspect it regularly.

Power can distort a person's character and make a person's hatred extend infinitely.Counting all the weird things that Emperor Yongzheng did to people like Cao Xueqin, Princess Ma Qiao, Zeng Jing, and Qian Mingshi, all prove a rule, that is, power leads to loss of control of human nature.Many people have a personality like Yongzheng's. They think that they are good people and others are bad people, but because they have no power, they can't do extraordinary things. Only people like Yongzheng can push Cao Xueqin to the path of literature, because when Cao Xueqin suffered from this series of unfair treatment, he would think, reflect, and ponder. When he was free at night, he would think: Why is Yongzheng like this? for me?Cao Xueqin could see clearly than us, because he was watching from a close distance, and he lived in that era.He found a problem. Emperor Yongzheng hated him deeply and regarded him as a bad person, and he had no reason at all.This discovery strengthened Cao Xueqin's cognition of human nature, which made him embark on the road of literary creation.

The greatness lies in the deep excavation of human nature.A book, prose or poem, if it does not go deep into human nature and is purely a word game, it will not resonate with people's hearts.The "Red School" can be formed precisely because it reflects the rise and fall of an empire through the rise and fall of a royal palace.The characters and protagonists in the novel can be said to be varied and have everything that one expects to find.Of course Cao Xueqin did not dare to write about Yongzheng clearly, but red scholars believe that Yongzheng’s every move is in the official records, it’s just a long time ago, and people today can’t read or see it, but human nature is here, we can read it from time to time. Feel the power of this resonance moment by moment.