How powerful were the scholars of the Ming Dynasty?

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, scholar-officials had status but no dignity, and those who lost dignity had higher status. The relationship between monarch and minister developed from sitting in the Han and Tang Dynasties, from obeying orders when the Song Dynasty was established, to kneeling for orders in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The relationship between respect and inferiority is absolute and rigid. The essence of democracy in China's cultural system has been constantly cleansed, forcing hundreds of millions of people to prostrate themselves at the feet of autocratic power. In this process, the Hanlin Academy and the Hanlin Association have always played a decisive role. But the scholar-officials don't care about this. As long as they can do it for other officials, the dignity of human nature can be put aside for the time being. Losing one's official position for the sake of dignity is a great folly in their eyes. In order to be promoted to the title, the literati of the Ming Dynasty went all out to give the emperor an aphrodisiac and flatter eunuchs.

In all levels of government in the Qing Empire, the power of Han officials (scholar-officials) is generally lower than that of Manchu officials, but as long as the scholar-officials are still officials, it is not intolerable treatment. Scholars not only have no dignity, but also have no freedom, freedom of speech and action. After Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, the right of scholar-officials not to be officials was also abolished, and hermits who have always been respected by society were sentenced to death as criminals who committed heinous crimes. If you want to resign (scholar-officials rarely do this), Li Shilu is a model. He expressed his firm resignation in the golden palace. Zhu Yuanzhang thought that he looked down on him as an emperor and told the samurai to fall to death.

Chen Mingjiru's "Fu Ma Jie Huan Yuan Gong Family Temple": "All the scholars of the Li Dynasty came to the temple, and () returned with fragrance." In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Prime Minister Hu rebelled and overthrew him, so he abolished the post of Prime Minister and his descendants could not be reinstated. Since then, the prime minister system, which was practiced for more than 1,600 years in Qin and Han Dynasties, has been abolished. The six departments were directly responsible to the emperor, and the relative power and monarchical power were combined into one. Ming Chengzu monopolized the power. In the political history of the world, the political system of the Ming Dynasty also belongs to a rare autocratic regime, and the state system of separation of military power, administrative power and supervision power was implemented. Later, due to the abolition of supervision, the imbalance between the state and the body declined rapidly. Due to various state affairs, the emperor could not handle it. In September of the fifteenth year of Hongwu, he stopped serving as the fourth assistant official and set up a pavilion in imitation of the Song Dynasty Palace. Later, most of the Qing Dynasty inherited the political system of the Ming Dynasty. The cabinet is only the adviser of the emperor, which is equivalent to today's staff (but later the status of the cabinet gradually improved, and the cabinet record became the de facto prime minister. "Although there is no prime minister, there is a prime minister"). It is the emperor's duty to approve the memorial. In North Korea, the positions of cabinet university students are mostly held by masters, scholars and ministers. They are written according to the emperor's will and called "government orders as pens". Their power and status are far less than those of the prime ministers in the past. They only have black market status and no legal status.

During the Xuanzong period, because three young people, such as Yang Pu, Li Jian and so on, entered the cabinet, Xuanzong approved the cabinet to state their opinions in the memorial, which was called the "draft of votes" system, and granted the eunuch institution ""to approve Zhu. The method of drafting tickets can remedy the disadvantages of the monarch's reluctance to meet with cabinet ministers, but the communication between cabinet ministers and the emperor depends entirely on eunuchs. So it opened the door to the eunuch dictatorship in the Ming Dynasty. In order to strengthen the surveillance of the national subjects, Ming Taizu also set up a special institution-Royal Guards. Ming Chengzu set up the East Factory and Ming Xianzong set up the West Factory (which was later cancelled). Together, they are called "factory guards" and are led by eunuchs. Since then, the power of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty has never been seen again.

At first, the cabinet was only an advisory body of the emperor, and later it became the highest decision-making body of the Ming Dynasty. The status of the record is equivalent to that of the prime minister, who has the right to draft a vote. After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the system of "middle secretary and prime minister", he was deeply tired of being in charge of government affairs, so he set up the four auxiliary systems to assist government affairs. But this system is not effective. Hongwu was abolished after seventeen years. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang invited several Hanlin scholars to help. The official positions of these Hanlin bachelors were named "so-and-so college students", and the official rank was only five. This is the so-called cabinet organization.

Philosophically, Wang Yangming inherited Lu Jiuyuan's "Theory of Mind and Nature" and carried it forward. His thought emphasizes "conscience" and "the unity of knowing and doing", affirms people's dominant position and puts people's initiative at the center of theory. Wang Gen, a disciple of Wang Yangming, further strengthened this discussion and put forward that "Shu Ren should learn from daily life", which affirmed the significance of Shu Ren's daily life. Li Zhi, on the other hand, affirmed the value of "human desire", believed that people's moral concepts originated from the needs of daily life and expressed the idea of pursuing individual values. With the spread of western learning to the east, scientific spirit and practical learning fashion became popular. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the change of dynasties and the entry of foreigners, philosophers began to think more about practical problems and political improvements, such as Wang Chuanshan, Huang Lizhou and Gu.

The prosperity of academies in the late Ming Dynasty impacted the position of official schools. Many intellectuals use the opportunity of giving lectures in universities to criticize current politics. For example, Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong, who gave lectures at Lindong College, often satirized current politics, which also made Lindong College the center of confrontation with the establishment faction, thus causing Lindong Party struggle. At that time, scholars also used the open space around the temple to hold "lectures" to advocate new ideological values and outlook on life.

In terms of literature, The Journey to the West, Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the four classical novels in China's novel history, all came from the Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong's three collections of vernacular short stories, Sanyan (Yu Shiming Yan, Shi Jing and Xing Yan), have 40 pieces each, with a total of * * * 120, mainly describing the love stories of young people and the lives of ordinary people. The most famous are Du Shiniang's angry chest, a woman hitting a fickle lover with a stick, and the chance to transport Han to a cave. Similar to Sanyan, each Collection of Forty Short Stories includes Er Pai edited by Ling Mengchu and Xing edited by Lu, which were discovered in 1987. Traditional elegant literature continued to develop in the Ming Dynasty, with famous literati including Liu Ji, Song Lian, Gao Qi, Fang Xiaoru, Tang Yin, Gui Youguang, Xu Wei, Wang Shizhen, Yuan Hongdao, Qian, Zhang Dai and Wu. Sanqu writers include Wang Pan, Feng Weimin, Xue Lundao, Chen Yi, Kang Hai and others.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the policy of "Imperial Examination must be conducted by schools" was implemented. Ming Taizu repeatedly stressed: "The ancient emperors educated the people and had good customs, all before the school." The school was listed as "the first of six events in counties and cities", and Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism was promoted by combining official learning with imperial examination system, but the academy was neglected, so the academy was silent for nearly a hundred years. Therefore, the most important educational institution in the middle and early Ming Dynasty was imperial academy. All governments, states and counties have also established schools. Students in government schools, state schools and county schools are called students, commonly known as scholars or "xianggong". There is a student quota in the Ming Dynasty, which is roughly 40 students in government schools, 30 students in state schools and 20 students in county schools. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were few local officials with six departments, and the traditional academy once again assumed the heavy responsibility of cultivating imperial examination talents. During Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, the number of academies was the largest. According to statistics, there were 1239 academies in the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, the college's funding sources can be divided into official grants and private donations. Due to political involvement, the academy was repeatedly robbed. Historically, * * * recorded that academies were banned four times, but the more the government banned them, the more academies run by the people.

The social atmosphere in the early Ming Dynasty was frugal. In the later period, with the development of commodity economy and the decline of government control, the social atmosphere turned to glitz and extravagance, and both scholars and ordinary people paid more attention to food, clothing, housing and entertainment, which was quite different from the Confucian atmosphere that advocated simplicity in the past. The status of businessmen has also improved significantly.

Another important social atmosphere in the Ming Dynasty was the collection of books. Both the government and the people have good books. Private schools are particularly developed. Tianyi Pavilion is the earliest existing private library in China. Its founder is Fan Qin. When Fan Qin died, Tianyi Pavilion had a total of 70,000 books. Tianyi pavilion keeps books strictly, which is incompatible with water and fire. Lending is also strictly prohibited. Important libraries in Ming Dynasty include Jigu Pavilion and Jiangyun Building. The private engraving of books has gradually developed, and the emergence of new technologies such as color printing and overprinting has reached a new peak, which has also expanded the readers of books. The emergence of various popular novels has also provided another way of entertainment for ordinary people. The binding method has also been improved, and there have been thread-bound books that have a far-reaching impact on later generations.

Lindong Party is a political group dominated by Jiangnan scholars in the late Ming Dynasty. In addition to non-Party, there are Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party, Kun Party, Xuan Party, etc. The inner-party struggle in Lindong is almost a struggle between Lindong Party and ethnic groups.

From the national disaster in Wanli era to the three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty and the dispute between Beijing and Cha, there is the shadow of Lin Dong's party struggle. In the thirty-second year of Wanli, Gu Xiancheng, the official department doctor, was dismissed for offending the emperor. He gave lectures with Gao Panlong and Qian Yiben in his hometown of Donglin Academy in Wuxi. "After lectures, he often satirizes current politics and comments on people." He often talks with people in Donglin College about political gains and losses. They gradually formed an opposition group called "Lindong Party". "Biography of Sun Piyang in Ming Dynasty" said: "Northern and Southern officials. ; Their opinions on public speaking and improving current politics were widely supported, but also met with fierce opposition from courtiers and eunuchs. At the same time, Shen, a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, assembled Zhejiang bureaucrats in Beijing to form the opposition of the party, which was called "Zhejiang Party" in history. The Chu Party with Guan Yingzhen as the main body and the Qi Party in Shandong belong to the Zhejiang Party, collectively known as the "Qi-Chu-Zhejiang Party". Other parties formed by geographical relations include Xuandang and Kundang. Xuandang, Kun Party, Chu Party, Qi Party, Zhejiang Party and Party attacked each other, and the party struggle lasted for decades, and there were few days of peace.

"Wang Xue Query Summary" said: "Fu Ming's death, died in the portal; Portal begins with cronies; The cronies started by giving lectures. " In the preface, Xia's Records of the Survival of the World said: "Since Wanli, there has been no party name, with Siming (Shen) as the prime minister, and Gu Xiancheng, Sun Piyang and other sages are arrogant, and they are at loggerheads. Attached to Siming, there are also people who say it. Xian Chengqing gave lectures in Lindong, and celebrities rushed to follow. This time, the gathering of Lindong and Zhejiang started in vain. "

"Hong Guang Pseudo-Oriental Palace and the Party Disaster" also contains: "The party disaster began in Wanli, and Zhejiang people were arrogant and arrogant, placing more private people on the avenue; Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, Sun Piyang, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Nanxing and other sages belong to this category. They are self-righteous and are at loggerheads with the government. Gao and Gu are giving lectures, and celebrities are attached to Xian Le. This was the disaster of Lindong Party from the beginning. "

1593 April (March 21st year of Wanli), Sun Yong, Zuo Du Shi Yuda, minister of the official department, and Zhao Nanxing, minister of the examination department presided over your Beijing inspection. Officials took the opportunity to discredit themselves for personal gain and formed an alliance. A large number of ministers were dismissed, and the selected works of the official department, Lang and Wang Sanyu, were all dismissed, causing an uproar. Afterwards, the official also illegally discussed Shang Shuyu, doctor of the Ministry of War, principal and others.

1605 (thirty-three years of Wanli), Yang Shiqiao, a member of Lindong Party, and Wen Chun, an imperial envoy of Zuodu, presided over the investigation of Geisha. In the twelfth year of Qiuci, the "Fake King of Chu Case" broke out, which triggered the struggle between Shen and Shen Li. Shen Li took the opportunity to demote Zhejiang Party officials such as Qian Menggao, Zhong Zhaodou, Zhang Siqu, Yu Yongqing and Shen. Whether there are upper and lower intervals; Scholar-officials are competitive, and the three are also; There are four problems when you hide more and accumulate more; The situation of Sheng Fengqi Xi is getting worse and worse, and it is irreversible.

16 1 1 year (thirty-nine years of Wanli), the Beijing Inspection Department of Xinhai was presided over by Sun Piyang, an official department minister who was 80 years old. Xu, Zhou Yongchun and others planned to overthrow it, but it was stopped by Wang Tu, the right assistant minister of the official department. During this period, the party struggle in the imperial court formed the party struggle between the south and the north, attacking each other. Xu Zhaokui, the secretariat of Gyeonggi, said: "Wherever Lin Dong goes, he can attack the north and south and gain the party's attachment." In the future, cabinet ministers will be short of staff for a long time, and Emperor Wanli will not care. "Inventor Tongzhi Jian San" said: "It has been decades since the matter of Chu Zong, and courtiers are still racing against time to take revenge by attacking, so they can no longer ask the DPRK." Ye has been on the list for more than a hundred times and thinks: "Today, from the cabinet minister to Jiuqing Taiwan Province, the Cao department is empty, and Du Nan Jiuqing has only the second one." "Your majesty is desperate, thinking that the world is so long and the fear of disaster is unstoppable." Sun Piyang, a senior official, once recommended Shen Li, Zhengyu Guo, Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing and Gao Panlong. But Zongshen ignored them.

16 17 (forty-five years of Wanli), Zhejiang Party official Zheng Jizhi presided over Ding Si's inspection in Beijing, which was the last time of Zongshen Dynasty. Three parties, Qi (Zhou Yongchun), Chu (Guan Yingzhen) and Zhejiang (Yao and Liu) condemned the expulsion of party member from Dongling. At this point, the battle for cronies has intensified.

In the case of 1620 (the first year of Taichang), Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and other Lin Dong party member made great contributions to the succession of Prince Zhu Youxiao, and,,,,, Xia Jiayu and Zhou Zong Jian were re-enabled. 1623 (the third year of the apocalypse), one party was responsible for patrolling Beijing, and at the same time pursued Qi, Chu and Zhejiang. The evaluation system of Beijing officials in the late Ming Dynasty became a tool of party struggle. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Guo Zi Ni said: "At the beginning, the emperor took pictures quietly and listened to the ministers and workers who fought for themselves. The so-called rat fight, the brave wins the ear. Therefore, at that time, his blood was mysterious yellow, and winning was losing. "

1632 (the third year of the apocalypse), in charge of the official department, proposed to depose Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Xuan Party officials Qi Shijiao, Zhao Xingbang, Guan Yingzhen, etc.

During the Xi period of the Ming Dynasty, politics was extremely corrupt, and eunuch Wei Zhongxian monopolized the power and claimed to be "9900 years old"; A bloody crackdown was carried out, and the secret service of the health factory was controlled. The minions were all over the country, killing people at will and executing the punishment. He also demolished Chinese studies, and many characters in Lindong were persecuted to death, and the loyalty of the ruling and opposition parties disappeared, which also affected the border guards, such as Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Chonghuan. After Ming Sizong succeeded to the throne, the persecution of Lindong Party stopped, and Lindong Party rose temporarily in the early years of Chongzhen. However, Ming Sizong said: "At the beginning of the imperial system, retreating to the inner town was a matter of great importance in the world. It was more selfish than others and did not care about the sufferings of the people. Those who are honest and sincere are also ignorant. " After Yuan Chonghuan was beheaded, the prestige of Lindong Party declined again. Eventually, the emperor could only trust eunuchs, and their power was restored.

Most of the people in Lindong are gentlemen who know the truth and are at a loss. They value personal reputation more than national interests and strive for passion rather than right and wrong. Monarchs and ministers are particularly fond of being impulsive, and during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun fought with ministers many times for setting up storage spaces. Although he finally succumbed to public opinion, he lived in the harem for 30 years regardless of the country. Huang Zongxi's case of Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty said: "Gentlemen in the world return to Lindong with clear discussion, and temples also have taboos." "There are also many scum in Lindong, and there are also people in Qing Dynasty who attack Lindong." "Fang Lindong is prosperous, Luo Tianxia is clean, and some scholars are different and embarrassed." Anyone who doesn't meet the eyes of Lindong people is regarded as a villain. Qi, Chu and Zhejiang may not be convinced by Wei Party, but they were desperate at that time, and most of them took refuge in Wei Zhongxian. Wei Yunzhen is the father of Wei Zhongxian's assistant Wei Guangwei, and he is friends with Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng. When Wei Guangwei was in college, he visited his home three times with the courtesy of his sons and nephews. Zhao Nanxing just turned his back on everyone and said, "There are no children in spring." Wei Guangwei hated this and encouraged Wei Zhongxian to brutally suppress Lindong party member. Levin criticized Zhao Nanxing for being "upright and respectable, but slightly headstrong, acting in a straight line without paying attention to the consequences, thus forcing some separatists to take the side of the eunuch".

Kai He, an American scholar, said in the article Donglin Movement in the Late Ming Dynasty: "The failure of Donglin Movement in the Late Ming Dynasty represents a typical struggle between traditional Confucian values and harsh political forces in reality. They are crusaders to reform morality, but they are not a group of literati who reform politics. "

The argument between Lindong Party and Yen Party continued until the Nanming period. Ruan Dacheng has spared no effort to crack down on Lindong party member. Ruan Dacheng had a good relationship with the gentry, but he was suppressed and finally turned to the Yan Party. At that time, Shi Kefa and the Party supported the establishment of King Lu, and Shi Kefa wrote that "seven can't be established", but they took the lead. Shi Kefa's Dilemma between Lindong Party and Yen Party. "Peach Blossom Fan" records that Ruan Dacheng deliberately catered to Wu, Shen Kuntong, Shen Meisheng and others in a complex society, but was beaten instead. Later, Ruan became an official of Nanming and immediately retaliated.

There was also a so-called struggle between Qu Shizhen and Li Chengdong, the warlord of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Chen Bangbo, the warlord of Qing Dynasty. The figures behind the Chu Party are Qu Shizhen, Li Yuanyin, Yuan Pengnian, Ding Shikui and Meng. Wudang has Du Yinxi, Chen Bangfu, Wang Huacheng and Zhu Tianlin. Du Yinxi and others advocated uniting the former Dashun Army and the Daxi Army. He Tengjiao and Qu Shizhen rejected the peasant army. The struggle between Wu and Chu made Nanming unable to integrate with Dashun Army and Daxi Army, and finally died in the hands of Qing army.

Even in the early Qing Dynasty, there was a shadow of party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty, such as the struggle between Quanfeng and Chen Mingxia's North Party and South Party during the Shunzhi period. Quanfeng originally belonged to the eunuch party in Wei Zhongxian, while Chen Mingxia was behind the Lindong party. In the early Qing dynasty, a large number of old officials of the Ming dynasty were quoted, and the disadvantages of party struggle in the late Ming dynasty were immediately reflected in the political situation in the early Qing dynasty. In July of the second year of Shunzhi, Wu Da, the Zhejiang censor, impeached Quan Feng and his cronies Sun Zhixie, and Xu Zuomei and Zhuang Xianzu supported Wu Da in succession. Dourgen didn't say anything at first, but in the end he decided to support Quanfeng, publicly reprimand Gong Dingzi and recall Li Senxian. Sun Zhixie was also fired and will never be used again.

During the reign of Kangxi, the party struggle was intertwined with the internal contradictions of the powerful people in Manchu Dynasty. The cronies in Kangxi period mainly included Ao Bai Party, Pearl Party, Suoetu Party and princelings. Emperor Kangxi knew the harm of party struggle, but in view of the contradiction between Manchu and Han, he did not rectify it. He talked with Manchu nobles, called Han officials "Man Zi", and even scolded: "There are good people in barbarians!"