Chapter 75 Section 6 I am justified in rebelling, but you are guilty of rebelling

At this point in the construction of the theory, Zhu Yuanzhang found that he encountered a little problem: He himself was the overthrower of the Yuan Dynasty.He ate the hair of the Yuan Dynasty, practiced the soil of the Yuan Dynasty, and received the grace of the Yuan Dynasty's rain and dew, but raised troops and defeated the Yuan Dynasty. How can this be explained? Although whoever holds the handle of the knife has the right to speak, it is too much a test of people's IQ to explain this truth to perfection. Zhu Yuanzhang explained it like this at the beginning: He participated in the uprising at the beginning, just to eat and survive, not to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.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 uprising leaders) are benevolent (and nothing good).” He would rather lower the significance of his participation in rebellion activities than set a bad example for his subjects.

Later, he further explained that when he raised his troops, the Yuan Dynasty had lost its destiny and collapsed.If he doesn't do anything, the Yuan Dynasty is doomed to perish.His original words were: "The thieves raped, the heroes competed, and the states and counties were stolen. I had no choice but to raise troops... At that time, the world was no longer owned by the Yuan family... I took the world in the hands of the heroes, not the Yuan family. " In other words, the demise of the Yuan Dynasty had nothing to do with him.He participated in the uprising not to overthrow the old dynasty, nor to become emperor, but because he really couldn't bear to see the people suffer and wanted to save all the people from fire and water.He took the world from the hands of heroes, not from the Yuan Dynasty.

These two explanations seem to be incomplete. When compiling the "Da Gao", Zhu Yuanzhang invented the theory of "Dian Xing Blessing".He geniusly divided the insurgents into two parts: those who were "first in chaos" and those who were "Dianxing".The first rioters are the group of people who led the rebellion.And Dian Xingzhe is someone like him who participated in the uprising halfway. In "Yuzhi Dagao Three Parts: Making Words and Chaos No. 13", Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The Yuan government is not governed, the sky will change its fortune, and the foolish people who like to make trouble are happy"-because there is no way in the world, so Fools make trouble.

Zhu Yuanzhang believes that those who take the lead in rebellion are ungrateful and reckless, and are destined to end badly. This is the so-called "disaster returns to the first chaos". Zhu Yuanzhang also cited a large number of examples to demonstrate his point of view: In the large-scale peasant uprisings of the past dynasties, the first group of people who rose up did indeed become the paving stones for future generations. , Monk Xiang Haiming, Wang Xianzhi of the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Ze of the Song Dynasty are all the ones who made up words and advocated chaos. Those who are the first to initiate chaos will cause more violence and life, and more lives will be lost than those who will achieve success. If the heavens do not agree with the first chaos, disaster will come to the first chaos, and good fortune will prosper in the palace."

As for why the first chaos is ominous?Zhu Yuanzhang explained in general that because these people caused wars and caused bloodshed, God hates such people. As for those who participated in the uprising later, there was little responsibility.Because the fire of turmoil has already started, they add more fire to end the fire and return everyone to peace earlier, so "blessing is in the palace". This statement is full of contradictions. Since there is no way in the world, "heaven will change its fate", it is inevitable to be overthrown, and there must be the first one to oppose it. Although he may not be successful, his contribution to the attack cannot be denied of.But Zhu Yuanzhang called them "foolish people" and called them "rebellious".However, without bloodshed, how could the old dynasty be overthrown, and where would the new dynasty come from?Standing on the corpses of the "leaders of the rebellion" and enjoying the fruits of their own sacrifices, but insulting them so brazenly, it is really inconceivable.

After racking his brains, Zhu Yuanzhang's theory is actually to settle down, and he must not be the first to rise up. You can say he is cunning, you can say he is stupid, you can say he is insidious, and you can say he is frank. Anyway, the theory has been built so far, and Zhu Yuanzhang wants to see it: No matter what you say, you must not rebel against me. In order to persuade the foolish people, he continued to exhaust his tongue and deduced that it is better to starve to death than to rebel.He said that in the peacetime of the Yuan Dynasty, the rich had no worries, and the poor had happiness.Even if there are natural disasters, "famine and famine will come together, and there will be those who die due to lack of food, but they will not die with weapons. If you are forced by soldiers, throw yourself into the cliff in panic, and die in the abyss by the fire, watch them die because of lack of food and clothing. Wouldn't it be better than those who commit suicide?"

Starving to death is better than fighting to death. Compared with being killed like that, starving to death is more comfortable and enjoyable.So he would rather starve to death than resist his rule.He also demonstrated this proposition from multiple aspects, saying that there is actually no benefit in rebellion: not all those who follow the chaos can be superior to others, except for those "rogue heroes" and civil and military officials, "they are ordinary, whether they are soldiers or civilians, and they must obey orders." And serve it. Woohoo, at this moment, he is an army, and he is a citizen. How is it different from living in Chengping? The name and color are the same, and the envoy is even worse."In other words, most of the rest, after fighting for a long time, are just ordinary soldiers and civilians. If this is the case, why bother.

He said in the section "Dagao Sanbian · Making words so chaotic": And in the past, I personally saw how many noble people, how many middle-class people, and how many poor people. After one joins the army, he abandons the farm and house, loses the mulberry, jujube, elm, and locust trees, and joins the army with his family. The old and the young all travel with the army in the wild. There is no difference between the young and the strong, and each person wields his own knife to attack the murderer. Father and son obey orders.Rejected by the officers and soldiers, father, son and brother will go together when they go out, and when they return at dusk, they will be mourned, three of them will be two.There are many relatives who are concerned about it. When it is cold, the wind is harsh, the snow is falling, the food is not temperate, the old and the young are crying, thinking about returning to their hometown, and returning when they can't get it.

Less than half a year, less than one year old, some men have died, and some children have lost their parents. There are so many people who have lost their wealth. Back then, I saw with my own eyes many rich, ordinary, and poor people rebelling.That's quite bitter: abandoning the fields and family property, the whole family lives in the open with the wind and the wind.When I went out to fight in the morning, my father, son and brothers all went, and when I came back, two or three of the four were often dead.Before long, there will be nothing left of the family. He used this "personal experience" to earnestly warn the people not to rebel.

Speaking of this, we can understand why he hates Mencius. He wants to delete the theory that those who have permanent property have perseverance.Zhu Yuanzhang's theory is that if you have a permanent property, you must have perseverance, but if you don't have a permanent property, you must also have perseverance.In other words, under Zhu Yuanzhang's rule, even if you were reduced to abject poverty and had nowhere to go, you would not have the will to rebel. He deleted the emperor must be kind, which means that there should be no demands on the emperor, and the people should obey what kind of emperor.

He was not allowed to criticize King Zhou of Shang, not because Zhu Yuanzhang liked King Zhou of Shang and wanted to reverse the case for King Zhou of Shang like Mr. Guo Moruo.It is because he advocates that even if the emperor is as licentious and immoral as King Zhou of Shang, his subjects should not criticize, let alone overthrow. The emperors of all dynasties may have felt uncomfortable after reading Mencius like Zhu Yuanzhang, but none of them had ever thought of castrating Mencius.Because Mencius is the core of the Confucian system, as Huang Renyu said: "From the two aspects of personal argumentation ability and long-term efficacy, Mencius's status in traditional politics exceeds Confucius." Zhu Yuanzhang is different.For someone like him who created the world with his bare hands, nothing is supreme or sacrosanct.The true supreme is himself, and everything in the world, including the so-called truth, serves him.Zhu Yuanzhang followed the way of Confucius and Mencius because the way of Confucius and Mencius could consolidate his rule.If it is not conducive to his rule, he can certainly transform it or even eliminate it.What seemed appalling to others, was perfectly logical to him.