Author: Our team Zhang Yi
1: Cliff-like depravity
0 In the three centuries of the Ming Dynasty, a famous highlight is the integrity and quality of the scholars and officials.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, civil officials of the Ming Dynasty have been common in all kinds of hard bones. encounters principles related to national economy and people's livelihood. Even small officials with low rank often confront the emperor, and are not afraid of being beaten in prison. When we are in a dangerous situation like the Beijing Defense War, we are united in unity to resist foreign humiliation. There are many capable ministers in governing the country. Although there are many struggles in the court, most of the ministers can distinguish between the severity and responsibility. For example, Xia Yan beats Zhang Feng , Zhang Juzheng tears high arch , and no matter how much hatred they are, they will never destroy the major national affairs. The glorious revival of the Ming Dynasty was carried forward by these responsible politicians.
However, in the bitter and stormy years of the late Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty scholars and officials who had always claimed to be "conscientious and honest" showed a cliff-like decline. Especially in the difficult years of the last emperor, Chongzhen, 6, the literati and officials in the court were busy plotting against each other, and hurriedly hid and took things when encountering problems. Chongzhen, who was so angry that he shouted "The ministers misled me" and committed suicide. Afterwards, the literati and officials were not under pressure and went to Li Zicheng's peasant army to sell themselves and defect to him. Such a collective despicable performance is just like the angry scolding of the great writer Feng Menglong at that time: "How can you still live in the world secretly" - it is simply shameless.
But don’t look at Feng Menglong’s scolding fiercely, Not long after, the Qing army entered the pass, the mountains and rivers of China changed color, and the "shamelessness" of the literati and officials of the Ming Dynasty was even more breakthrough. When the Southern Ming Dynasty was first established, it formed a clique and continued to fight. For the sake of personal power, it did not hesitate to incite the army to mutiny, and directly opened the door of convenience for the Qing army to go south. When the Qing army swept across the southeast, they were full of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, they were scrambling to surrender. "Shilin leaders" such as Qian Qianyi Chen Mingxia even surrendered and did not lose their favor in the end. They either ended up sadly or were guilty and died - they were so unpopular as traitors.
Although dynasties have been destroyed, it is common for the "shameless" of literati and officials in the court, , the rapid depravity of the literati and officials in the Ming Dynasty is simply rare in history. carefully looks at the reasons for the process and it is even more shocking.
2: Value collapse
The accelerated depravity of the scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty is the first question of values.
During the Jiajing period, writer He Liangjun recalled: Officials in the early Ming Dynasty were deeply educated and educated. From the perspective of being indifferent to wealth and land, the most important thing is integrity and reputation. Even in a wealthy area like Songjiang , the local famous family of Zhou, Cao, Jiang, and other officials from generation to generation, have a medium-level living standard. Who dares to be greedy for the business of business when he is an official? It will inevitably be collectively despised. The righteous manifestation of the scholars and officials at that time was supported by this honest and self-conservative belief.
However, since the Jiajing period, the commodity economy in the Ming Dynasty developed rapidly, and the traditional beliefs in the court have all collapsed. Since the time of becoming a Jinshi, officials have been busy buying land and refining land, and some even use their power to intervene in various businesses. The social atmosphere also changed drastically. The Xinhui County Chronicle records: In the early Ming Dynasty, if a clean official resigned and returned home, the neighbors would be proud of it. But during the Jiajing period, if an official was brought back his money after returning home, he would inevitably be ridiculed by neighbors, and "clever official" almost became synonymous with "stupid official". The trend of flies and dogs began to storm everywhere from then on. Zhang Juzheng, who was still a young man during the Jiajing period, once sighed at the chaos at that time: merchants are in power, wealth is rising - basically money is the way to open the way.
Fortunately, in that era, the administrative system of the Ming Dynasty was still working well. Since the fall of Yan Song in the late Jiajing period, after the iron-fisted rectification of reformers such as Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, and strict laws and regulations such as the examination and law were strictly supervised, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty were successfully wiped out the dirty atmosphere during the Jiajing period and achieved the glory of "Longwan Zhongxing".However, after Zhang Juzheng passed away, Emperor Wanli, who was in charge of power, did not attend court within a few years. Although the power was firmly in his hands, the administrative efficiency of the Ming Dynasty was severely slowed down, and the so-called strict supervision of course also became a cloud of . Since the national affairs have stopped, the officials who pursued integrity and serve the country back then will certainly gain benefits now.
Therefore, in this era, the Ming Dynasty , has become a colorful year for the literati and officials to live in a colorful life. They formed gangs and factions in the court, broke up each other's Taiwan and started a party struggle. They talked about the country but were seeking their own interests, and the trend of enjoyment and extravagance was even more aroused. The Italian missionary Matteo Ricci personally recorded the Ming Dynasty official dinners he attended: sometimes they were on "palace-like ships", with tableware all covered with gold and silver utensils, and the dishes were piled up like "building a small castle." The lively banquet lasts all night, in addition to food, singing, dancing and entertainment. Why dare to be so extravagant in ? Because "all expenses are paid by the public."
And even though they were alone in the late Ming Dynasty, they were all indifferent to things, but they were never ruthless in getting benefits. For example, the family of officials in Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty collected 870,000 taels of rent each year, and the Qian family land spanned three states, with nearly one million taels of silver rent each year. The Chen family's house is extremely majestic and richer than the vassal kings in various places. Where are the officials in the court? They fooled them in front of Chongzhen every day, so much money was brought to their homes, so that after Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, he confiscated his house and even confiscated more than 70 million taels of silver from the officials' homes, which was more than 350 times the silver in the palace's treasury on the eve of the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
So it is not difficult to understand why when Li Zicheng conquered Beijing, or even when the Qing army advanced south, these high-ranking officials and wealthy scholars were all full of ugly things: the belief in serving the country has long been a cloud of clouds. He was an official in his life just for power and wealth. Who wouldn’t he be promoted and made money with? If you should sell, you have to sell it.
3: The terrible reverse elimination
Compared with the collapse of values, the more deadly way for the late Ming literati and officials to fall into depravity is the cruel reverse elimination.
Many later generations read history often sighed at the end of the Ming Dynasty when the Ming Dynasty was destroyed: on one side were senior officials at all levels, selling themselves and selling themselves to the country in various ways, and their personalities were almost completely destroyed. On the other hand, many literati and officials from the people generously embarked on the road to saving the country and fought tragically and heroically to sacrifice their country. In the last years of the dynasty's life, the Ming Dynasty still had no shortage of loyal ministers and righteous men. However, these heroes with ideal talents were eliminated from the power level on the eve of the demise of the Ming Dynasty. can only perform its final duties tragically in a way that is alone. What caused this strange phenomenon is the increasingly fierce anti-elimination of the Ming Dynasty.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, although the traditional Neo-Confucian thoughts in the Ming Dynasty society were hit harder and more severely. But the administrative system of the Ming Dynasty still maintained a healthy operation after all. Therefore, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng can still use drastic reforms to win new life for the Ming Dynasty like brave surgery. But what about Wanli after he took power? After a long period of negligence and lazy government, the Ming Dynasty even the prefectures and counties across the country, and even the ministers and ministers of the six central departments, were all vacant on a large scale. The normal metabolism of the entire dynasty has been completely disordered. Then, referring to basic health knowledge, you will know that the political ecology of the Ming Dynasty has become a pathological reverse elimination. The famous way of
reverse elimination is party struggle. Wanli's negligence caused the struggle between court officials to become out of control. The ministers formed their own cliques, and the normal appointment and removal assessment of officials was completely a formality. The main way to advance is to follow the parties. will strive for fame and show its prominence, which is more important than being able to do practical work.
In this way, since the late Wanli period, "good reputation" became popular in the Ming Dynasty. The more the country was in dire straits, the more energetic the officials were scolded. For example, when Li Zicheng's peasant army entered Shanxi from Shaanxi, in such an urgent situation, the censors held each other apart, cursing and accusing Shaanxi officials of "adhering to thieves". How could Shaanxi officials suffer losses? He also scolded Shanxi officials for being "communicating with the thief".'s normal meeting to discuss the fight against rebellions and suppress the thieves was so deviated and turned into a regional fight. is similar to the thunder drama. During the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign, there were many events every year. Delay the serious business? No official is important to take sides and gain reputation.
even when Jiangnan Fushe rose, Fushe's leaders also supported their members on the road to imperial examinations with their strong connections in the Ming Dynasty. They, known as "clear stream", even desperately recruited members through various gatherings at Qinhuai brothels, creating a "spectacular" scene in the Qinhuai brothels in Nanjing where "every husband and son-in-law are Donglin". As for the quality of members? There is a helpless sigh in "FuShe Jilu": "And the people who love fame and become impatient and admire the evil spirits also often jump into it." - it's a bunch of such things.
A court with a lot of goods is the most unacceptable person. For example, during the Chongzhen period, Chen Qixin, a military scholar in Shanyang County, wrote a letter to express his affairs with grief and anger, and the memorials directly pointed out the major problems of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen, who had obtained the treasure, happily promoted Chen Qixin to the tutor, but unexpectedly poked the hornet's nest. In the following time, officials from all walks of life cursed Chen Qixin like relaying, and finally colluded with various charges, causing Chen Qixin, who was honest and honest, to be dismissed from office. As for Lu Xiangsheng, who fought against Julu? Sun Chuanting , Sun Chuanting , which was attacked by Shaanxi? Which one did not work hard against the scolding and then die with hatred?
When a court where bad money drives out good money has become a climate, and a real talent has a place to stay? Chongzhen said at the time of his death that "all civil officials can be killed", but the real creation of the whole dynasty "can kill civil officials" and that the Ming Dynasty paid the price of the country's destruction was the reversal elimination that was caused by the Ming Dynasty itself, and was never uncommon in the evolution of history.
Reference materials: "History of Ming Dynasty", "Records of Ming Dynasty", "Liehuang Xiaoshi"
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