Chapter 17 Chapter 16 The Actions of the Manchus

After the Manchu Qing entered the customs, local resistance first started sporadically in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and then continued in Huguang and Guangxi.It seems that with the right leadership, people in various places are not without the determination to sacrifice.Then why were they so short-sighted and ungenerous in donating money, raising appropriate manpower and material resources to resist the enemy thousands of miles away, and only raising troops hastily when the Qing soldiers invaded the country? Questions like these have no straightforward answers. The tragedy involved is so extensive that we have to re-examine some of the main developments.Historians seem to have a consensus that the downfall of the Ming Dynasty was due to financial bankruptcy.As of 1644, the Ming army owed millions of taels of silver, and many soldiers had not been paid for years.The general view is also that since the rise of the army and the increase of pay, taxes in various places have been too high, but in fact it is not that there are additional taxes, which are beyond the reach of the taxpayers of the whole country, but that the existing financial institutions themselves are weak and unable to bear the burden. The pressure of mobilization wears down when the task is carried out.

It crashed for several reasons.First, when the Ming Empire was fighting on two fronts, the military expenditures should be borne by the more affluent areas, but there was neither proper statistics nor the authority to implement them. Its calculation is based on the cultivated land in each province.These figures are both incorrect and outdated, and as a result, some counties that were supposed to receive relief are even more miserable.As early as 1632, more than 50% of the tax owed by the central government was paid and settled, and it was already a quarter of the number of counties in the country in terms of counties. Among them, 134 counties had not paid a penny.Second, within each county, the new tax was imposed on all taxpayers at the same rate.In the past, donations and donations allowed some taxpayers to make an integer contribution to the government at one time, and then they got the privilege of worry-free.As of the eve of the dynasty's fall, some counties had such privileges for more than 1,000 households, so the responsibility for paying taxes had to be passed on to low-ranking households, and they were the least able to respond.Third, all military expenditures, with very few exceptions, were paid for in silver, mostly from south of the Yangtze River.The number of northward shipments is expected to be about 20 million taels per year.According to the estimates of the people at that time, the amount of silver owned by the people in the country at that time might be 150 million taels, so the amount of money paid was too large.Fourth, even if this huge amount of silver is transported to the north as planned, its operation lacks the support of the private economy.At the end of the 16th century, the original southern provinces exported 5 million taels of silver to Beijing and the northern border towns every year, and the receiving areas used this amount to purchase cotton, cotton cloth, and other items produced in the south, so that the silver would return.However, when there was a sudden increase in the amount of silver transported to the north due to military needs, no other arrangements were made to ensure that the amount would be returned to the south.Throwing large quantities of silver where it was never used rarely only made things expensive.That is, in 1619 AD, Governor Xiong Tingbi pointed out that even if he had silver taels in Liaoyang, he would not be able to buy the clothes he needed, because he saw soldiers wearing armor naked and no underwear at all.Later, the supervisory officials reported that the silver taels issued were not used normally and were taken by the generals, and the silver taels were sent back to the mainland immediately.

The Manchurians and rebel peasant armies were not connected to the money economy, completely avoiding the problems mentioned above. For the Manchurians, Beijing was occupied on June 6, 1644, and the succession of the dynasty began. In order to make the authority of the Qing Dynasty permanent and effective for the people, they had to come up with a set of methods during the organization period.With the cooperation of the Han people, they can execute as planned.It can also be seen from this that they intend to transform a great empire and revive it.Therefore, it is not easy to take the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

After they gain a foothold, they will implement the Eight Banners system in North China.A "banner" is not a combat unit, but like a military area, which has several military units under its jurisdiction, and when the combat army needs soldiers, they will be supplied according to a predetermined amount.In 1646 and 1647 AD, North China was designated to be responsible for this organization. On the day when the "enclosure" began, the households who were enclosed were forced to move to another place, so the remaining farmland houses were identified as coming from the Northeast. It is used by households of the Eight Banners.The problems of soldiers and military supplies that the previous court felt seriously have been greatly eased so far.The frontier regions of China that the bannermen had ravaged before became their protectors.

Fighting in the south, the Manchus took the Ming descendants as their forerunners and suppressed all resistance.The three princes of the Ming Dynasty proclaimed themselves emperors successively at this time, but they were all defeated one by one.When the general situation arrived, the Manchurian army was stationed in the central provinces, concentrating troops in important cities.Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan were designated as defense zones for the three surrendered generals of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, Wu Sangui was also indispensable among the three. So the deployment of this occupation shows the principle of echelon deployment.The Northeast, the birthplace of the Manchurians, remained intact, while North China was occupied by prepared combatants, and the occupying forces were divided into important towns along the Great Wall.In the further south, the power of the survivors of the Ming Dynasty still exists, and the Han people are used to deal with it.This arrangement prevents the Manchu army from being excessively dispersed, and there is no danger of all parties being attacked.This arrangement lasted for more than 30 years until the day of "cutting the San Francisco" (that is, forcing the three Ming generals to rebel and flattening them) in 1681 AD. In 1683, the Qing army occupied Taiwan again, and the whole of China has been occupied since then.

In terms of finance, one of the reasons why the Qing is better than the Ming is that the transfer of silver was used to change the direction. From then on, the silver was not scattered to the border areas, but concentrated in the interior for turnover.The tribute students and supervisors who donated tax-free figures in the previous dynasty also lost their privileges so far, which relieved the local government and opened the door for the new dynasty.Although this method of tax exemption for donations in the future will constitute a burden to the Qing Dynasty, it will be a long time later.Another advantage of the Qing Dynasty at that time was its ability to implement tax policies.In AD 1661, the punishment of taxpayers in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River listed 13,517 offenders, and in fact almost wiped out the gentry class in the same area, including even one-two-thousandth of the tax arrears. So it seems that Its vigorous and resolute actions have an intimidating effect.The Ming Dynasty has always been negligent in casting silver coins, while the Qing Dynasty has been diligent in doing so. The amount of money minted in the first 10 years has exceeded the total minted in the previous 276 years, so the people have to have cheap currency circulation.

Nationalism in China during this period involved complex factors.Instinctively speaking, no one would voluntarily support a foreign race as their master. What's more, 10 years before they took over, the Manchus still detoured in Inner Mongolia, crossed the Great Wall and entered the North China Plain, attacking cities and ravaging residents.Before 1644, the Han people who served in Manchuria were probably forced to return to the Qing Dynasty after being captured.According to the customary law of the day, if the captives did not surrender and change masters, they would be killed, while the penalty in the country was not only severe but also extended to their families. Between the two, there was really no chance for them to make decisions.

On the other hand, it is difficult to distinguish the Manchus from the Han people in North China in appearance, and at the same time they have a desire to Sinicize.Apart from enforcing the outward and ceremonial submission to the new imperial court, they did not make any other troubles, forming inter-ethnic turmoil.Man-Han intermarriage was banned, but there was no legal inequality between the two races.Manchurians are hereditary in the Eight Banners army, but Han Chinese and Mongols can also be naturalized under the banner.When the Manchus entered Beijing in 1644, they ordered all Ming officials to serve, and the imperial examination continued the following year.In terms of language and writing, the Manchus were contaminated with Chinese style, rather than the Han people inheriting the Manchu style.Generally speaking, the monarchs of the Manchu Qing were more in line with Chinese tradition than the native-born emperors of the previous dynasties.

From the perspective of historians, the success of the Manchus is due to their elimination of a constitutional knot.In the 17th century, they provided the Chinese with an arbitration power possessed by the emperor, but the Han people at this time were helpless.The Zhu Ming Dynasty has lost its credibility.Before Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he persuaded Emperor Chongzhen several times to abdicate and the new court crowned him king, but he was never successful.If Tiantian's order to get rid of the old and bring forth the new is passed on to the leader of the civil uprising, with the promise of the abdicated emperor of the previous dynasty, the facts are obvious; but Zhu Youjian would rather die than surrender, and his will is as deadly in the hearts of the masses. Weapon, it hit Li Zicheng as hard as the rope he threw himself.After he committed suicide, no survivor of the Ming Dynasty could serve as an official under Li Zicheng without feeling ashamed and having a bad conscience.

In terms of practicality, the Qing Dynasty did not wait for financial reorganization, even if it had enriched the imperial treasury, this was nothing more than strictly implementing the laws left over from the Ming Dynasty, just like Zhang Juzheng was in power.Even if Li Zicheng is called a thief, it is difficult to achieve the same result without violence. In this way, the elders who died in the Ming Dynasty were in a dilemma.Traditionally, according to the principle of Mencius, as long as the people are happy, the origin of the monarch is not a problem.Under these conditions, they have no basis to resist the Qing Dynasty.However, according to the habits of the day, passive bearing is betrayal, so inner conflicts are unavoidable.It is likely that in such a tense state of mind, the celebrity Wu Meicun wrote a lyric poem, pointing out that a beautiful woman was to blame for the confusing situation that day.

With these complicated interludes, the anti-Manchu sentiment cannot be subdued for a while.Those who defied the new dynasty felt that a lifetime of honor was indistinguishable from loyalty to the dynasty.Some people feel that the integrity of being a human being is being tested at this time, and some who raise troops in their former residences may feel that defending their hometown is related to their own wealth and property, which is also related to the motivation of being a martyr. The proximate cause of the immediate revolt in the lower reaches of the Yangtze was the edict of Naruto.Haircut regulations for men are originally an old Chinese tradition. In the Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that the hair should be tied with a needle inserted in the back of the head; the Manchus shaved the front part of the hair and the top of the head. In 1645, the new dynasty ordered all men in the country to do so within 10 days. Failure to do so would be disobedience to the destiny.The Han people felt that haircutting was a kind of humiliating treatment, and the attitude of the Manchurians to execute orders became stronger, as if the origin of the great empire depended on the obedience of the subjects, and the survival of everything depended on the razor.A Hanlin scholar who discussed this policy in private was immediately sentenced to beheaded because he was close to the royal family and had to be hanged.How many people decided that they would rather die than surrender before this order is impossible to calculate, because the haircut problem is also mixed with other reasons for resisting the Qing Dynasty. Another disgraceful policy of the Qing Dynasty was the Daxing Literary Inquisition.Any printed documents that are suspected of treason are immediately pursued by the government, and the rhythm of the situation is usually presented to the imperial court.In very few cases, the writers will bluntly state their loyalty to the Zhu Ming Dynasty. In most cases, they only mention historical events in the text. From the side, it seems that there is suspicion of dissatisfaction with the new court, such as ironic lines , Prohibited fonts, informal words, homophonic sentences, etc.If a document is found guilty of treason, not only the authors and patrons are punished, but also the readers, stereotypes, printers, and book sellers.In the most serious cases, the perpetrators were executed by Ling Chi, and the family members were sentenced to death, exiled, or released into slavery.Even if the offender is dead, the coffin will be dissected.When the emperor was furious, hundreds of people could be implicated in one case, but there were also many cases where the defendant was acquitted and released.This kind of literary inquisition was carried out intermittently until the first half of Qingzhen, and did not stop until the end of the 18th century. However, all the places where cruel things happen are not worth the tension among nations mentioned in various modern histories.Because of the lack of permanent hatred between the Han and the Manchus, it reminds us that the so-called nationalism is actually a product of modern society.In modern society, cultural influences, coupled with economic interests, make everyone feel that the group has its own unique attitude towards the outside world. For example, these social values ​​have undergone drastic changes due to external intervention. , will inevitably lead to a strong and large-scale reaction.In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Qing Dynasty had no intention of making large-scale changes to Chinese traditions, and the Han people never felt that their cultural relics system was threatened as a whole, so those who were agitated still accounted for a very small number of the entire population. For most people, this century and a half (probably from the entry of the Qing Dynasty to 1800) was a period of peace and prosperity, and the first four emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were famous for it. Shunzhi (real name Fulin, who lived from 1644 to 1661) ascended to the throne at a young age, initially ruled by his uncle Dorgon.Shunzhi had a strong religious thought. He was not only influenced by Jesuit priest Tang Ruowang, but also very interested in Buddhism.Kangxi (real name Xuan Ye, who lived from 1662 to 1722) conformed to the standards of traditional Chinese so-called inner sage and outer king in various standards. He was both benevolent and decisive.He presided over the great government in the country, and also led troops and generals to gallop across the frontier.The 61st year of his reign was also the day when the Manchu Qing consolidated its rule in China.His subjects will never forget that when the boat was moored in the countryside during the southern tour, the emperor studied under the lamp until midnight.Kangxi was graceful and magnanimous, but his Confucius Yongzheng (real name Yinzhen, who reigned from 1723 to 1735) was strict and scheming.It seemed necessary for him to pay attention to discipline at this time, but because of his own and family disputes, he adopted strict surveillance on his officials, which caused the rise of spy politics.The detective political affairs handed down because of him have a thrilling color. The last of the four emperors was Qianlong (real name Hongli, reigned from 1736 to 1795), who reigned for 60 years.He did not die in 1795, but he passed on to his son and claimed to be the Supreme Emperor. He was still manipulating state affairs behind the scenes until his death in 1799.In the entire history of China, there have never been so many generations of emperors who have continued to maintain the achievements of enlightened autocracy for such a long time.The four have different personalities, but they are all energetic and capable.Collectively speaking, their dedication to the political situation is outstanding.At the beginning of the dynasty, there were a large number of translators around the throne, but before the end of the Shunzhi Dynasty, translators were no longer necessary, and the emperor was already familiar with Chinese characters.Yongzheng only used Manchu when cursing.Kangxi and Qianlong themselves were scholars, but historians have no conclusions about the depth of their Sinology attainments. What has not been fully explained is that the peace and prosperity of this period were also due to the confluence of favorable conditions.During the century and a half, international trade was most beneficial to China: tea was sold in Russia, raw silk and silk fabrics were loved in Japan (since the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate), and at this time Europe was at the height of the Enlightenment and the heyday of salons. At the same time, Chinese porcelain, carpets, lacquerware, jewelry, and furniture made the capitals of Western Europe look magnificent.Unbleached cotton weaving heads are called "Nanjing goods", which first appeared in Europe and later in America.On the eve of the industrial revolution, China's township industrial products still maintained a quality advantage before the dusk until the West surpassed China.The foreign exchange earned by China is beneficial to the traditional rural economy. The silver imported from outside mainly comes from Japan and the Philippines, which is frequent and long-lasting, thus increasing the amount of currency in circulation, coupled with the minting of copper coins in the national treasury and provinces and regions, making it even more difficult. Circulation accelerated.Although inflation is moderate, it has no harmful consequences in an environment where population increases and arable land expands. After eliminating Wu Sangui and other San Francisco in the 1680s, it saved a lot of military pay for sending south.So the silver from the tax revenue can be allocated to the north.At this time, the Eight Banners system is still in effect.In 1696 AD, Kangxi personally led 80,000 troops out of the fortress to deal with the Mongolian leader Kaldan. There were Western-style land vehicles in the army, which was unprecedented.The Battle of Zhaomoduo is recognized as a turning point in history that ended the dominance of cavalry by the nomadic peoples on the Chinese frontier. After the war, Kaerdan may commit suicide by taking poison. In the 18th century, Qianlong continued to occupy Xinjiang, expanding the territory to the west of Balkesh Lake. During this period, China was in contact with Russia under the rule of the Tsar. The Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 and the Treaty of Chak in 1727 were both signed when the military prestige of the Qing Dynasty was at its peak, thus immobilizing the northern territory.The area under its jurisdiction at that time was much wider than it is today. Koryo (today's North Korea and South Korea) had surrendered before they entered the customs with full enthusiasm. At this time, Siam (today's Thailand), Annam, Bhutan, and Nepal were also vassal states of tribute.Only Mongolia and Tibet lived elsewhere, and the Qing Dynasty did not regard them as countries, but they were border territories, which were different from the provinces in the interior.At the end of Kangxi's reign, the national treasury was full, so the national population tax was ordered to be based on 1711 AD, and the tax would not increase after the population increased.In fact, the emperor's thinking is mighty, but the income of the subjects is not necessarily given by the emperor, because the "Ding" in the "service" of Chinese taxation has always been a relative unit, and there may be no number of Dings in any age and the number of adults. It fits perfectly.The methods of compiling the small books are different in each region. In the future, the poll tax will be collected according to the small books, and it will be adjusted upward or downward according to the needs of the central and local governments.It's just an edict from Kangxi, showing that the emperor had absolute confidence in the current situation. On the whole, the Qing Dynasty rarely changed the system of the Ming Dynasty.The salaries of officials are still extremely low, and the extra income of each member comes from various "instances" that are neither illegal nor legal, such as the "fire consumption" of melting silver.Yongzheng ordered that this half of the legal additions be formalized hereafter, so "raising integrity" has become an open name, and all officials who manage finances have this income. Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty inherited the organizational system of the Zhu Ming Dynasty, its functional performance was different from that of the previous ones.Most notably, during the financial expansion in the early Qing Dynasty, the emperors were able to exercise far more power than the emperors in the late Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, they were only the heads of hundreds of officials.The Qing Dynasty insisted that the succession of the royal family was a family matter, and no outsiders were allowed to discuss it; they also made the emperor's prince called "Baile" as an adviser to the imperial court.If the emperor was a minor, they formally appointed a regent, instead of pretending that the juvenile emperor actually ruled like the Ming Dynasty.In this way, the bureaucracy of the Han people is divided into cliques to argue, and the method of disputes by the censors relying on abstract names cannot be realized.Eunuchs in the Qing Dynasty were generally only in the palace, and their activities were more restrained. So apart from the initial resistance, the relationship between Manchu and Han improved with time.Generic use is prohibited, and in practice has never been implemented.Several Manchurian emperors had Han Chinese concubines. It is said that the birth mothers of Kangxi and Qianlong were both Han Chinese.There were few restrictions on the opportunities for Han people to participate in the government, but the highest positions were divided with the Manchus.There are two ministers (ministers) in each department, one Manchu and Han each, and four ministers (ministers), two Manchus and two Han each.The bachelor is the emperor's secretary, and it is also arranged according to the law. In 1729, Yongzheng established the Military Aircraft Office, and the officials who "walked" in the Military Aircraft Office were either bachelors, ministers, or ministers, all of whom were appointed by the emperor.At the same time, they also took care of the original official positions, so this increased the power of the bureaucracy and reduced the power of the Prince of Manchuria, Baylor.In the future, more and more Han people will serve as governors and governors. Therefore, scholars with modern eyes tried to find the fuse of Han nationalism in the records of the Qing Dynasty, but they could not find it.The Han people who were born after the Qing Dynasty entered the lord, the official Qing can no longer be regarded as serving the lord of a foreign race.This is "their" empire, and they have an obligation to serve.