Chapter 73 The fourth section constructs "Zhu's Theory of Destiny"

Criticizing Mencius and praising Yuan people, these two things run through with one intention: to establish "Zhu's theory of destiny".When Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he was a little uncertain.Because the Chinese have always attached great importance to family status and family background.Since ancient times, how can a beggar be the emperor?Therefore, although many people are in awe of his sword, they look down on him.Being ruled by a former beggar, the elites in the world inevitably feel a little uncomfortable. Therefore, at the beginning, he wanted to find a celebrity to associate with his son, and falsely claimed that he was a descendant of Zhu Xi.

But thinking about it again, this lie is too weak to stand up to scrutiny. Not only will it not bring credit to myself, but it will expose my guilty conscience, so I dismissed this idea. After worrying about this problem for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly turned his head: if he makes good use of his background, he can turn decay into magic and turn bad things into good things.According to the thinking of secular people, no matter who becomes the emperor, it will not be his turn to beggars.However, the fact is that none of the rich, noble, and educated people in the world became the emperor, but he was a beggar. Doesn't this just mean that he has the "mandate of heaven"?

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang went against the habit of the rulers of the past dynasties to climb the dragon and attach himself to the phoenix, and simply admitted that he was born as a "Huaiyou small people", and he also publicized this everywhere.Verbally or in writing, whenever you open your mouth, or write, you always insert words such as "Zhenben Huaiyou commoner", or "Jiangzuo commoner", "every man", "from the fields", and "from a humble background".This is to emphasize the peculiarity of one's own destiny and the blessing of destiny.

In the central documents of the Zhu Ming government, the theory of Mandate of Heaven is everywhere.He said that "everyone builds a foundation, all follow the destiny", and the reason why he was able to rise to the throne from a commoner is because his father and grandfather "inherited loyalty from generation to generation, accumulated good deeds to celebrate, and to me".He said to Kong Kejian, a descendant of Confucius: "I lead the people of China to worship the heavens and drive away the Hu, so as to bring peace to the summer, so as to restore the old kings. Although it starts from the commoner, it actually inherits the lineage of the ancient emperors. And the ancients started from the commoner and called them emperors. , the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, the destiny lies, and whoever violates it." He also said, "I am originally a commoner, but because of the slump of the Yuan Gang, swarms of hordes rose up, and there was a commotion, so all of them were born in the ranks of the army. I don't know that there are today's evils."

In order to prove this point, Zhu Yuanzhang also wrote many articles, such as "Zhou Dian Immortal Biography" and "Ji Meng", to publicize all kinds of miracles in himself and to carry out self-myth.Said that Immortal Zhou Dian had seen that he was going to be emperor a long time ago, and said that one year before he took the throne, he dreamed that a Taoist priest in purple clothes gave him crimson flags, crown shoes, and swords, which proved that he was granted by heaven, no doubt. So, why did God choose him instead of others?Zhu Yuanzhang said that this is the magic of destiny, God's mind is hard to guess, it is always used to surprise.For example, who would have thought that a small Mongolian horse nation could dominate the world and rule the Han people for a hundred years?

He said in "The Call to the People of Qi, Lu, He, Luo, Yan, Ji, Qin and Jin Dynasties": Since ancient times, emperors have come to rule the world, and the Chinese have lived inside to control the barbarians, and the barbarians have lived outside to serve China. I have never heard of anyone who ruled the world with the barbarians living in China.Since Song Zuo was overthrown, Beidi came to rule China from the Yuan Dynasty, and no one from all over the world refused to surrender.This is not manpower, but it is a gift from heaven. Zhu Yuanzhang said that the Mongols are small in population and backward in culture, so logically they should not rule the vast Chinese region.But they actually entered the Central Plains.This just shows that they have the "mandate of heaven", otherwise how to explain it?

Based on this logic, Zhu Yuanzhang must regard the Yuan Dynasty as orthodox.Because it is the will of God.Therefore, he admitted that the Yuan Dynasty was directly ordered by heaven and continued the orthodoxy of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. In comparison, virtue is the same as Mo".