Chapter 55 Section 8 Inflexible Powers

The serfs in Western Europe were not only much more independent than the "people" and "farmers" during the Shang and Zhou dynasties in China, but also had greater room for independent activities than the "common people" after the Qin and Han Dynasties.What they ate was bread and meat.Of course, they may also be overly violated, but because Western society has never developed to such a highly unified and highly rigid level as in China, when peasants conflict with the interests of their lords, they often have various channels of resistance, such as uniting to submit The king makes a petition.

The kingship of European kings is fragile, and kings also need to rely on the power of ordinary people to compete with nobles.In this way, the ruler and the ruled form a certain degree of contractual relationship.When internal conflicts develop to a certain stage, the ruled class has channels to appeal, and different interest groups will sit at a negotiating table to coordinate the relationship between all parties.This is why Western societies do not have as many and violent peasant uprisings as China. Chinese farmers do not have similar appeal channels.They are the "silent majority" whose mouths have been canceled and divided into a mess, the most vulnerable group in society.They have no possibility of organizing themselves to recommend their own spokespersons to compete with other classes, and the "Master Qingtian" appears too rarely in the history books.

Stopping the sedan chair to appeal for grievances and going to Beijing to appeal is not only difficult, but the chance of success is too small.When they can't bear it anymore, they will spontaneously choose methods such as mass demonstrations or even small-scale riots to fight. Unfortunately, however, their struggles are almost never successful.This spontaneously organized behavior has triggered the taboo of the rulers of all dynasties. The emperors have always severely cracked down on such behaviors and will never be soft. Let's look at a typical case. In the later period of Emperor Qianlong's reign, due to the rapid increase in population and land rent, there was a social trend of tenants demanding rent reduction in many parts of the empire.At the beginning, this kind of appeal was peaceful, and it was carried out by kneeling directly to the county magistrate or going on strike.However, the government was either indifferent or perfunctory.

As a result, some places have taken more drastic actions.In the eleventh year of Qianlong (AD 1746), Min Luo Riguang and others in Shanghang County, Fujian "gathered a meeting" to violently resist the rent.The mass violence touched the most sensitive political nerves of the empire. This incident was immediately reported to the emperor, and Qianlong quickly issued a decree: Provoking quarrels by reducing rents, acting fiercely and illegally, this trend will not last long, and strict punishments should be taken to punish stubbornness, and should not be neglected... Emperor Qianlong himself is a monarch who attaches great importance to people's livelihood.When he was in power, he exempted the world's money and food many times.Even in the poems and essays, there is a lot of sympathy and compassion for the hungry people. As for the sentences of pity and self-blame such as "the shame is at the bottom" and "sighs and sighs" abound.However, when there was a conflict between "stability" and "common people's suffering", he chose the former without hesitation.

He was worried that once the "wind" of the following resistance broke out, it would threaten "Gang Ji" and gradually shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.For such people to make troubles, he will personally issue an edict, repeatedly emphasizing that "this kind of unruliness should not last long, and should be strictly dealt with and heard about by the first offender", "Strictly carry out investigations to punish the unruly, and do not tolerate it for a while." ", "The wind is here to grow, so you have to worry about it", asking officials from all over the country to eliminate the factors of turmoil in the bud.

Regarding the disputes between the people and the government, Qianlong said the most wonderful words: "The state and county are the parents of the people. If the people criticize their parents, how can I listen to one-sided words and open the way of coercion? For example, although the ancestor loves his grandson, he must not Make them rely on their kindness to rebel against their parents, and this kind of stubbornness will never grow!" Officials are the parents of the people, so the emperor is naturally the grandfather of the people.Although a grandfather loves his grandson, he will never encourage the grandson to rebel against his parents; if he rebelled against his parents today, he will rebel against his grandfather tomorrow.

This is the logic of autocracy. Under the confinement of authoritarian thinking, the government always faces the people with a stern face, never admits mistakes, never backs down, and always maintains an attitude of constant approaching.When facing the government, the common people always have an expression of fear, avoidance and tameness, and the only choice is to always retreat and tolerate infinitely.One side is too arrogant and lacks restraint, and the other side is too cowardly and lacks self-protection ability.In such a society without self-correction ability, when officials and people retreat to the bottom line of survival, the only possibility left is rebellion.