Chapter 18 Chapter 1: A life determined by two pieces of wood

The Qing Dynasty historian Zhao Yi's evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang is considered very accurate by many people: Gai Mingzu is a man with the nature of a sage, a hero, and a thief, and he has both. I think a more accurate statement should be: Zhu Yuanzhang is a rogue peasant. The "peasant" is the body, and the "rogue" is the function.In his bones, he will always be a diligent, thrifty and cautious farmer. The experience of the rivers and lakes injected a distinctive pungentness into his blood.His hooliganism helps him to deal with the heroes with skill and skill, but what makes him laugh at the end is because he is more cautious and prudent than others in the peasant style.

It is said in history that Zhu Yuanzhang was a great peasant uprising leader and a national hero who led the Han people to overthrow the Mongolian rule before the "classification of landlords".Unexpectedly, the reason why he embarked on the career of a heroic leader was out of necessity. Although under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, the Zhu family was often displaced and starved of food, but Zhu Yuanzhang lacked hatred for the Mongolian emperor, and was even full of gratitude.Every meal of the grassland people is bestowed by the imperial court. This concept is deeply rooted in the Zhu family, which has been peaceful and kind for generations.

In the third year of Hongwu (1370 A.D.), Zhu Yuanzhang once said to his ministers: "Yuan ruled China for a hundred years, and my parents such as Qing and I depended on him for their birth." Throughout his life, Zhu Yuanzhang always regarded the Yuan Dynasty as the ruler of China and enjoying the blood of the Han people as " It is a matter of course to obey the sky and respond to people". Therefore, it is understandable that Zhu Yuanzhang did not "actively participate in the revolution" at the beginning.During the few years he wandered in the rivers and lakes, the world of Dayuan was already full of beacons, but historical materials did not leave any clues of Zhu Yuanzhang's "longing for revolution".At that time, the White Lotus Sect spread all over the countryside, and Zhu Yuanzhang could not have heard and seen it, but there is no record of him participating in the White Lotus Sect.In order to survive, he can steal or rob, but he has never thought of "rebellion".He didn't even think about the word.After wandering abroad for three years, Da Famine finally left Fengyang.Zhu Yuanzhang ended his wandering career and returned to Huangjue Temple.Although he has witnessed the cruel and tyrannical reactionary rule of the Yuan Dynasty for many years, and was more or less influenced by the "revolutionary thought" of the White Lotus Sect, Zhu Yuanzhang chose to be a monk with a bleak future and lived in a deserted temple. Stay for three years.When he was young, because his parents loved him so much, he was sent to a private school for several months, but he couldn't pay for it before he knew all the big characters.This time, in the monastery, he began to study chanting from the old monk earnestly, and learned a thousand characters.

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been a man of integrity and dedication.Judging from the fact that he still maintained a strong interest in Buddhism after he ascended the throne, he did put some effort into Buddhist classics during his three-year monk career. "The Benji of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" said that he "started to know and determined to study diligently" from then on; "Cambridge History of the Ming Dynasty in China" said that "at this time he seemed to have begun to learn to read characters and simply studied Buddhist scriptures. His comprehension was very good and his memory was very good powerful".He earnestly studied to be a dojo, bragging, which is the biggest source of income for monks.In the second half of his life, he has several possible choices: he may continue to be a monk, he may save some money to buy a few acres of land and become a farmer, or he may learn skills and become a carpenter or bricklayer.Only the military is not an option. "Good iron does not make nails, and a good man does not serve as a soldier." The soldier is the most risky profession, which really does not conform to his cautious nature.

However, in troubled times, people's fate is so strange, the more you are afraid of something, something will come to you.In the third year when Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk again, the flames of the peasant uprising burned to the edge of Huangjue Temple. The White Lotus Sect has a deep relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang's specialty—that is, Buddhism, or in other words, it is a variant of Buddhism.It originally originated from the Pure Land sect of Buddhism. Things in the world can only be popular if they are "young" enough. This is an eternal law.In terms of authenticity, Chinese Buddhism must of course be based on the Consciousness-Only Sect founded by Master Tripitaka who worked so hard to retrieve the scriptures from India.However, the fact is that the Weishi sect was quickly annihilated because the classics were too voluminous and the logic was too detailed, which was not suitable for the IQ of ordinary people.Pure Land Buddhism with Chinese characteristics is popular because of its extraordinary simplicity and ease of practice.

Pure Land Buddhism is more convenient than instant noodles.It does not require you to study any Buddhist scriptures, nor does it require you to practice hard. It only needs you to be able to say the four words "Amitabha".Its theory is that a single "Amitabha Buddha" can absolve billions of kalpas of sins.As long as you keep chanting Buddha's name, you will accumulate more and more merits. When Amitabha Buddha is annoyed by you, he will save you from the sea of ​​suffering and be reborn in the pure land. So it quickly penetrated into the folk. After the Southern Song Dynasty, "Amitabha in every family, Avalokitesvara in every household", the lower-level believers were completely monopolized by it. What was planted was dragon species, and what was reaped was fleas. This is the normal state of everything in the world.

Sakyamuni knew in heaven that he would faint on the lotus throne. White Lotus Sect is a variant of Pure Land Sect.Its teachings are equally simple, though it is more tightly organized.Although the Pure Land sect also forms associations, the relationship within the association is loose and all living beings are equal.However, the White Lotus Sect turned the equal relationship into a strict master-student relationship. From top to bottom, a strict master-student network was formed, which became a powerful weapon for political mobilization.When corruption spreads and ruling power declines, it is often the period when such folk religions flourish.Once the power matures, the uprising is inevitable.

Since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, politics has never been stable.The Mongolian aristocracy did not learn the inheritance system of the Han nationality. In order to seize the highest power, high-level political leaders launched palace coups and armed conflicts from time to time.From the death of Yuan Shizu in the 31st year of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1294) to the accession of Emperor Yuanshun in the first year of Yuantong (AD 1294), there were actually nine emperors changed in 40 years, and a coup took place in less than five years on average. .The ruling group is busy with internal struggles and has no intention of interfering with the people's livelihood.Therefore, the forces of the White Lotus Sect easily swept across the country.

In May of the 11th year of Zhengzheng (1351 A.D.), Han Shantong, Liu Futong and others led 3,000 Bailian sects to cut off white horses and black cattle.They declared that Han Shantong, the leader of the church, was the ninth grandson of Song Huizong and should be emperor.Liu Futong is a general sent by heaven to assist Han Shantong.The rebels wrapped their heads in red scarves and wore red clothes, known as the "Red Scarf Army". The Yuan Dynasty has become a rotten pear, waiting for a shock to fall.Liu Futong responded to the call, countless low-level heroes from all over the country responded, and most of China boiled.The wave of peasant uprising soon spread to Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown.In February of the twelfth year of Zhizheng (AD 1352), the Red Scarf Army led by Guo Zixing appeared in Haozhou.

It turned out that on the 11th day of the first lunar month in the twelfth year of Zhizheng, five people including Guo Zixing and Sun Deya, the big landlords in Dingyuan, Anhui, took advantage of the momentum of the White Lotus Sect to raise troops, and they also used the red scarf as the name, "the clothes are all crimson".Tens of thousands of farmers in the vicinity "abandoned agriculture and carried knives" and went to defect one after another.On February 27, Guo Zixing and other five "temperance marshals" led this team and captured Haozhou in one fell swoop, and the area where Huangjue Temple was located was included in the sphere of influence of the peasant army.

There is no quiet place in troubled times.The rebel army came to the temple twice a day to search for food and food.Within a few days, the Yuan army was stationed nearby again.They did not dare to confront the peasant army head-on, and went to various villages to rob every day, arresting anyone they saw, and sending them to the chief as "disorderly people" to report their meritorious service and receive rewards.After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he described the situation at that time in the article "Jimeng", saying that the red scarf army "trapped Haocheng and refused to defend it, ransacked and plundered the four towns, burned the houses, squandered all the people's wealth, the houses had no rafters, tiles, and walls. The blockade is impressive. In less than two months, if you cross the border and offend other towns, it will be the same if you cross the border."On the other hand, the official army "sieges the city with sound and patrols without entering. They only plunder the good people, and if they get them, they will be headed by Jiang, and they will be called "rebellious people".In this kind of tug-of-war between the "rebel army" and the "anti-rebel army", the most unlucky people are the general public who neither "rebel" nor "anti-rebel". In the words of Zhu Yuanzhang, it is "a kind person cannot live forever".The monks were in fear all day long in the temple. If they didn’t keep it together, they would be arrested by the officers and soldiers as “disorderly people” and their heads would be cut off.I had no choice but to take a pancake during the day, hide in the mountains, wait for the sun to go down, and then come back to sleep. Unexpectedly, in the gap between the two armies, it is impossible to survive like this.When the monks went down the mountain that day, the temple was gone.It turned out that the peasant army came to the temple to look for food, but they didn't find a grain of food. When they got angry, they burned down the temple with a torch. Zhu Yuanzhang was completely desperate.Let's go wandering again, beacon smoke is everywhere, there is no quiet place in the world.Soldiers are knives, and people are fish.It seems that when force decides everything, it is possible to survive only by taking up arms.However, what kind of soldier to be is also a problem. "When you go out as a Yuan soldier, you are afraid of the red scarf. If you want to enter the red scarf, you are afraid of the Yuan soldier. You dare not go forward." He described his mood at that time in "Ji Meng": "When it is time, I still dive into the grass and wild. , relying on the body to flow, two fears make it difficult to move forward. If you want to go out as the source, you worry about the waste of life; if you don’t go out, you also worry about the Red Army entering the country and killing lives.” After starving and hiding in the ruined walls for a few days, he accidentally received a note from Tang He, a buddy in the same village.It turned out that this buddy had already joined the Red Turban Army. He said that drinking in large bowls and eating large pieces of meat in the army was very happy, so he advised him to join as soon as possible. He still couldn't make up his mind.His cautious nature made him procrastinate again and again, and he never chose the career of a soldier until the last moment.At this time, fate gave him the last impetus. The elder brother told him that the news that the Red Scarf Army had sent him a message had been known, and someone wanted to report him to the officers and soldiers. Even now, he still hasn't made up his mind.He found a Bodhisattva statue that hadn't been burned, and asked the gods and Buddhas to give him advice.Lighted incense, kowtowed, picked up two pieces of wood in front of the divine case, and calculated according to the divination method taught to him by the old monk. Zhu Yuanzhang described his divination process in "Ji Meng": So he prayed to Jialan and said: "...The people are in chaos, scarves and clothes are all crimson, red flags cover the fields, and people kill people like hemp. Good people will not survive the day and night. I am especially afraid of it. I wish the gods to avoid evil and seek good luck. Only God will make it happen." It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang's opinion of the peasant uprising army is indeed not very good.It's all a bunch of robbers. So the first hexagram is asking should I run away or continue to be a monk?If it is supposed to flee to another country, then the two pieces of wood falling on the ground should both be positive.If you continue to be a monk, you will have one positive and one negative. Apparently, the military wasn't one of his first two choices. After shaking it for a long time, it was thrown to the ground, and it turned out that the two pieces of wood were all opposite sides.It seems that both of these are not approved by the gods and Buddhas. So keep counting. "Zhu said: Don't you allow me to advocate righteousness? If so, it will restore the yin. Throw the earth with a scorpion, and if the fruit is yin, you will know that the gods will repay you." That is to say, does God want me to join the Red Turban Army?If so, it should be the opposite.Throwing it, it turned out to be the other side. Thus the fate of the leader of a great peasant uprising was sealed by two pieces of wood.There is such a gap between revolution and reaction.However, Zhu Yuanzhang always felt embarrassed by this one-thought difference.Later, he kept emphasizing that he had no choice but to join the rebel army, which was a big stain in his life. He said that he joined the rebel army because "in the past, I was forced into the mountains by demons (Red Turban Army)" ("Yu Yuanchen Tulu Book").He also said: "I am originally a commoner in Huaiyou, and the violent soldiers (red scarves) suddenly came and entered it by mistake." (Volume 37 of "Records of Ming Taizu") He also said in "The Monument of the Emperor's Mausoleum": "Yuan Gang is not vigorous. Heroes (those leaders of the uprising) are benevolent (and nothing good).” Of course, this is because he had to use rebellion as a crime in order to maintain the rule of the dynasty after he ascended the throne, and it may not be the same as when he participated in the great cause of revolution. Some real reflections.