Zhao Yi, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, has a passage in the Notes on Twenty-two Histories in which Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished corrupt officials, in which he quoted the contents of the Notes on the History of Ming Dynasty, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor, regarded peeling as one of the important criminal laws to punish corrupt officials. Zhu Yuanzhang purged bureaucracy, put an end to corruption, and encouraged ordinary people to complain and expose. Anyone who is found to have embezzled more than 60 taels of silver should still be peeled, filled with hay, made into adult leather bags and hung on the court to play a deterrent role. On the left side of the local yamen, there is a temple, on the one hand, to worship the land god, on the other hand, as a special place to skin people, that is, the so-called "Pichang Temple".
Hundreds of years later, it is not difficult to imagine the panic of Ming officials accompanied by handbags. Corruption is abhorrent, but this skinning punishment is probably unprecedented. This is probably one of the most extreme manifestations of punishing corrupt officials in past dynasties. This radical approach is not accidental. Zhu Yuanzhang's hatred of corrupt officials is inseparable from his own experience.
The Mongolians who founded the Yuan Dynasty were superb in martial arts. They swept across Eurasia and built an unprecedented empire. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, perhaps out of overconfidence in their own force, Mongolian rulers ignored the world differences between conquest and governance, and "want to get what they want and govern what they want". Their inherent social organization simply can't meet the needs of the new situation, and at the same time they don't pay attention to establishing and perfecting the corresponding systems and institutions, which leads to the fragility and disorder of the ruling order. After Kublai Khan died in Yuan Shizu, the political crisis often pushed the empire to a dangerous and turbulent situation. The most prominent and fierce conflict is the struggle for the throne. Mongols and ministers semu mastered military power, openly participated in the struggle for the throne, killing each other and fighting endlessly. According to rough statistics, during the 40 years from Kublai Khan's death to Yuan Shundi's accession to the throne, there were 10 emperors like Heifen. This fierce battle against the royal family had a very bad influence on the ruling order and social ethics of the Yuan Dynasty. The throne is often called the "national foundation" and is the axis to ensure the normal operation of the feudal dynasty. Loyalty and filial piety to the emperor are the cornerstones of feudal social morality. The instability of the throne will inevitably lead to the agitation of the whole society. At the same time, extravagance prevailed among the royal family and nobles in the Yuan Dynasty, and its degree reached an alarming level.
The infighting and excesses of the supreme ruling clique in the Yuan Dynasty fundamentally determined the atmosphere of the Yuan government. The Yuan government publicly sold officials and titles, each with its own price, depending on the official position. Naturally, these officials took office as a good opportunity to seize power and bribed goods to do business, which was "disconsolate and shameless". Officials at all levels make excuses and openly demand. They need to spend money to visit their superiors at lower levels, spend money without spending money, spend money on holidays, spend money on birthdays, and so on. Even the officials of the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Corruption Bureau who are in charge of picketing officials have entered the yamen, asking nothing about politics or the sufferings of the people. They just take care of the silver donated by local officials, and the amount of silver donated directly determines their career. Officialdom is like a peddler, and political corruption has reached a hopeless level.
The extravagance, waste and corruption of the royal family, dignitaries and officials at all levels are all based on the premise of plundering the people's wealth. There are folk songs:
Taxes are exorbitant, the criminal law is too heavy, and the people complain.
People eat people, money buys money, never seen it!
A thief is an official, an official is a thief and a fool is a wise man.
What a pity! What a pity!
In order to satisfy their greed and the demands of their superiors, local officials do everything they can to plunder people's wealth like tigers. In the eyes of ordinary people, these high-sounding officials are as cruel as those robbers who rob houses. Repeated exploitation and extortion have plunged hundreds of millions of civilians into the abyss of hot water. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, is one of the countless victims under the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty.
In April of the 11th year of Hongwu (1378), Zhu Yuanzhang, as a statue of Wancheng, looked pale and arrogant, but still could not forget the tragic memory of his childhood. He wrote the Imperial Tomb, which truly recorded his childhood experience. This autobiographical document is still full of bitterness:
In the past, my father lived in a square.
Agriculture is hard and hesitates day and night.
Natural disasters prevail in Irvine and families suffer.
In the end, the imperial examination was sixty in four, and the imperial examination was fifty in nine.
Brother Meng died first, and his family lost.
Tian Zhude doesn't care about me, but he is arrogant.
Neither with the ground, the neighborhood is melancholy.
Suddenly, Brother Yi's generosity benefited this yellow land.
There is no coffin at the funeral, and the body is ugly.
Floating three feet, what to drink to eat marrow. ……
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor tenant farmer family. His family has worked hard all the year round, but they still can't get rid of poverty. In the spring of the fourth year of Yuan Dynasty (1344), a serious natural disaster occurred in Huaibei, his hometown. After the drought, locusts rose again and the plague raged. Zhu Yuanzhang's parents and eldest brother died one after another, and he was lonely and couldn't find a cemetery to bury his relatives. Thank you for your generosity. Zhu Yuanzhang had a wasteland to bury his relatives, but "there was no coffin at the funeral and he was disheveled", so he made a hasty decision. The ensuing natural and man-made disasters left young Zhu Yuanzhang in a desperate situation. In desperation, he broke up with Zhong Xiong in tears and ran for his life. In order to get rations, Zhu Yuanzhang was introduced by his neighbors to the monk temple to do odd jobs. But before long, even the monks in the temple escaped. Helpless Zhu Yuanzhang had to beg everywhere and tasted the bitterness and bittersweet of life:
Looking up at the poor cliff, Cui Wei leans on the blue, and listening to apes is bleak in jathyapple.
Soul wandering looking for parents, ambition down and out.
The west wind is full of cranes, and the frost drops in Russia and Zhejiang.
My body is like a tent chasing the wind, and my heart is boiling ...
After these unforgettable hardships, Zhu Yuanzhang, who struggled to death, had a gnashing hatred for those officials who only knew corruption and exploitation and had no sympathy for the people. After Zhu Yuanzhang acceded to the throne, he often talked about this matter to the left and right courtiers. He said that in the past, when I was among the people, I often saw state and county officials greedy for money and lust, greedy for drinks every day, and indifferent to the sufferings of the people. I hate it in my heart Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang announced at the beginning of this venture that if the legislation is not strict and all evils are eliminated, hundreds of officials will certainly follow the old practice and get no inspiration. In the future, anyone who meets an official who endangers the people will not be forgiven.
Of course, you are mainly punished according to national laws, and Zhu Yuanzhang is also very clear. He attached great importance to the legal system construction of the dynasty very early, and once emphasized that "the ceremony is a national discipline, and the establishment of the ceremony makes people feel at ease." At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, this was the primary task. Before the reunification of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang began to formulate various laws and regulations, and said to ministers: "The law is expensive and simple, which makes people easy to understand. If there are many things, or there are two sides to one thing, which can be light or heavy, officials will have to be traitors and break the law. If the husband's net is dense, there will be no big fish in the water. If the law is dense, there will be no people in the country. " Zhu Yuanzhang's point of view is very enlightening. The abuse of torture by the Yuan government failed to suppress the wave of civil resistance and save the fate of extinction. Zhu Yuanzhang, who personally experienced the peasant war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, had a deep understanding. It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang did not simply advocate torture at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but advocated governing the world with concise legal provisions.
However, the development of the objective situation is unexpected. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Yuanzhang made repeated orders and forbade corruption to disturb the people, officials at all levels followed the legacy of the Yuan Dynasty, and the wind of greed for ink rose again and again, which was difficult to stop. People described the scene at that time as "corrupt officials are as greedy as flies and ants are eager." This made Zhu Yuanzhang extremely angry. Liu Chen's "The Merits of Founding a Country" once said: At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated a criminal law, which was promulgated by officials at all levels and banned. Unexpectedly, there are many offenders. Zhu Yuanzhang once said angrily: "I want to eradicate corrupt officials in the world, but I can't kill them." In the future, offenders, regardless of their severity, will be punished. "Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always had a broken personality and acted boldly, can never tolerate this situation to continue. He publicly threatened: "From my life, Five Blessingg is prepared for his family; People who don't obey my orders are ready to sit at home in five sentences. "Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born in a rough place, began a nationwide massacre of corrupt officials.
The famous "Four Major Cases" occurred in the early Ming Dynasty, namely the "Empty Seal Case" in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382) and the Hu Mou Rebellion Case in the thirteenth year (1380). Eighteen years of corruption in Guo Huan (1385); Twenty-six years (1393), aquamarine rebellion case. Hu Lanyu's case, commonly known as "Hulan's prison", is a political case in which Zhu Yuanzhang indiscriminately killed the founding heroes, while the "Empty Seal" case and the case are a large-scale suppression of officials suspected of embezzlement.
The "empty seal case" occurred in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382). According to the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, every year, all ministries and bureaus and their subordinate counties sent auditors to the Ministry of Housing in Beijing to check the money, grain and military supplies paid by their yamen to the central government. In the process of auditing, the household department often finds discrepancies between the accounts of both parties. Once this happens, the original book will be rejected and the local accountant will be ordered to fill it out again, affix the seal of the original yamen and submit it for approval again. But most places are far from Beijing, ranging from six or seven thousand miles to nearly three or four hundred miles. When the traffic conditions were quite backward at that time, this round trip would be delayed for ten days, ten days or even months. In order to avoid unnecessary rush about and waste of time, accountants all over the country bring blank album pages with official seals, and when they are ready to be rejected by the household department, they will immediately fill in the form according to the amount of the household department. This was originally a practice in yamen. Unexpectedly, after careful Zhu Yuanzhang discovered it, he thought it was the bad behavior of officials at all levels, deceiving superiors and subordinates. He immediately flew into a rage: "How dare an official lie to me like this?" The head of the household department is hidden, and the provinces are naturally bold. "He ordered the execution of the minister of finance and the chief seal officer of the local government office, assisted 100 officials and distributed border land. In the "empty seal case", hundreds of people were suspected of being killed and thousands of people were given sticks, which shocked the world for a while.
However, compared with the corruption case in Guo Huan in the 18th year of Hongwu (1385), the "empty seal case" can be said to be a drop in the bucket. Zhu Yuanzhang hated corruption from time to time. He subjectively judged that the six departments in charge of Qian Gu and the criminal name were the main sources of corruption among officials all over the world, so he took precautions against them. Guo Huan was then Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1385, exposing his collusion with Peiping (now Beijing) officials such as Li or Zhao Jinde to embezzle official grain. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered the Royal Guards to interrogate the suspected officials. As a result, these people confessed that they also colluded with Shang Shuwang of the Ministry of Justice, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War and Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry Mai Zhide. According to records, the main criminal facts of these people are stealing official grain from warehouses, accepting bribes from western Zhejiang and reselling autumn grain together with the 13 th Political Department. Zhu Yuanzhang's handling of such a wide-ranging case is very decisive. Six people who were involved in the case were all "punished", and at the same time, 13 officials in charge of official grain were all beheaded, "tens of thousands of people died."
Justice and strictness are the keys to law enforcement. Zhu Yuanzhang's legislative purposes of "simplifying law" and "making people widowed" have not been applied in practice. Taking the above two major cases as examples, it is quite debatable. At that time, the courtiers had raised objections. For example, Zheng Shili, a native of Ninghai, refuted the "empty seal case". Zheng Shiyuan, Zheng Shili's brother, is an upright and talented official. He went to Huguang as an official. After the "empty seal case" occurred, all the chief seal officers of the provincial offices died, and Zheng Shiyuan was also imprisoned because of his staff. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was in a rage, and those who advised you were afraid to advise. Zheng Shili was afraid of being accused of seeking personal gains for public interests because of his brother's involvement in the case, so he didn't write thousands of words until Zheng Shiyuan defended the "empty seal case". In his letter, he said: "Your Majesty's reason for investigating the' empty seal case' is probably that he is worried that traitors will cheat the people with empty seal paper. However, the circulation of official documents must be completed in order to be recognized. Only by combining two cracks can it be effective, even if you get a piece of paper, it is useless. The number of money valleys must be checked many times, and the provincial government can finally determine it after checking it correctly. The provincial capital is six or seven thousand miles from the capital, and the nearest one is three or four hundred miles. If you go back to the provincial capital for printing after the approval of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, it will not be completed in a few years. Therefore, the provincial capital stamps first, and then fills in the figures in the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. This expedient measure has a long history and was not invented by today's officials. Why is it a crime? "
Zheng Shili further emphasized:
After the state formulates legal provisions, it must first make it clear to the world that those who violate the law can be clearly defined as knowingly committing crimes. However, since the founding of Daming, there has never been a law to punish the "empty seal". The yamen at all levels come down in one continuous line, and I don't know if it is a big crime. Now, once they are all killed, how can we convince the punished people? The imperial court recruited talents and placed them in an important position, and talents were scarce, while the best in counties and counties was. They are all learned and honest people who have made achievements for decades. If they are not like weeds, they can be mowed and resurrected. Why did your majesty waste materials for lack of crime? I cherish it secretly for your majesty!
Zheng Shili speaks to the point, is well founded, and really comes from the heart. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious after reading it, and ordered the suggestion to ask the ambassador behind the scenes. Zheng Shili generously took it alone. Fortunately, Zheng Shili, who felt that he would die, was only sent to the army with his brother.
As Zheng Shili said, there is no doubt about the qualitative and sentencing problems in the "empty seal" case. First of all, the law is the discipline that the country depends on. Sentencing and conviction must be based on facts. "Empty seal" is not perfect, but as a measure to understand the situation and improve work efficiency, the administrative department has a long history. The Ming dynasty did not involve legal norms, and this practice itself did not violate the law. Zhu Yuanzhang was angry that this practice could open the door for officials to take bribes and bend the law, but it was only a possibility. Conviction must have corresponding criminal facts and cannot be based on an "unwarranted" possibility.
Secondly, since there is no clear criminal fact, impromptu imprisonment and extensive involvement are even more contrary to the justice of the law, which means arbitrariness and abuse. Zhu Yuanzhang's handling was unfair, because all the principals of government offices at all levels were killed, and assistant officials were also given sticks, involving thousands of people. Obviously, although it cannot be said that all these punished officials are innocent, there must be many people who have been treated unfairly. In addition, all these people have been deprived of the right to defend themselves. Other court officials were afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang's arrogance and dared not speak. Even Zheng Shili, who was remonstrated to death, sat with him. Zhu Yuanzhang's intention seems beyond reproach, because he hates the guts of corrupt officials all over the world. However, this blind suspicion and arbitrary practice itself is the destruction of the dynasty law. His sentencing and conviction were entirely based on the emperor's guess, and the national law was put aside. The result didn't make the Chinese people happy to get rid of the rape for the country, but it made people afraid to "accompany the king like a tiger."
If the handling of the "air seal case" is suspected of murder, then the punishment of the "Guo Huan corruption case" is more meaningful. Records of Criminal Law in the History of Ming Dynasty said: "Ming Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) suspected that Li He and Zhao Deli, officials of the Second Division of Beiping, colluded with Guo Huan." It can be seen that this major case involving the whole country was only caused by Zhu Yuanzhang's own suspicion, and then based on the confessions of these suspects, everything was implicated. Imagine, "If you want to add a crime, why not say it?" Under heavy punishment, how not to cheat? Zhu Yuanzhang did not pursue the truth these people said, so he killed people. Officials such as the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry. Don't ask questions indiscriminately, but "lift the department to punish."
It is conceivable that after the "Guo Huan case", the huge bureaucracy was completely destroyed, and its miserable situation was already unsightly. However, six officials had to join hands with local officials to steal official grain. As a result, people involved in money and food affairs at all levels in the world are doomed. Zhu Yuanzhang showed no mercy. "Tens of thousands of people died and migrated" is really bloody and terrible! Obviously, this is not like punishing a corruption case, but like a premeditated massacre of officials all over the world. Zhu Yuanzhang also seriously investigated the stolen official grain, which was also based on the confession of the detained official. As a result, it spread all over the world, and all the houses in Zhonghao were implicated and destroyed. This seems to be another premeditated search by Zhu Yuanzhang to enrich the world.
Zhu Yuanzhang's trial and handling of the "Guo Huan case" was not only "unwarranted", but also ran counter to the legal provisions of the dynasty, which inevitably aroused the dissatisfaction and anger of the people all over the world. Quan Min, Ding Tingju and others who participated in the impeachment became the targets of condemnation by the ruling and opposition parties, which made the arrogant and overbearing Zhu Yuanzhang panic. In order to calm the grievances and grievances of the world, he quickly set out to save the situation. On the one hand, he personally announced the crimes of Guo Huan and others, on the other hand, he executed Wu Yong and others who were in charge of hearing the case, and declared: "I ordered a certain department to punish evil, but I didn't expect them to do such a nuisance. If this happens in the future, it will be unforgivable. " He blamed the negative impact of the Guo Huan case entirely on the case-handling officials. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang was the mastermind of all this.
Just as Zhu Yuanzhang's words and deeds are contradictory, the legal system formulated by the Ming Dynasty has also formed a contradictory dual-track system, one is the so-called Daming Law System, and the other is the so-called Da Gao System. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang called important officials to formulate new dynasty laws according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty. After repeated revisions, it was not until the thirtieth year of Hongwu (1397) that it was finally officially promulgated. The system of Daming Law basically embodies Zhu Yuanzhang's legislative thought of "simple law, few people". While formulating the Daming Law, Zhu Yuanzhang personally adjudicated a large number of cases, including four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty, and Dagao collected detailed records of Zhu Yuanzhang's handling of these cases. As an example of sentencing and conviction of officials in the future, Da Gao was published in the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385), and the sequel to Da Gao and its third edition were published the following year. Most of the cases handled by Zhu Yuanzhang involved corruption. Just like the "Empty Seal Case" and the corruption case in Guo Huan, Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished them. According to incomplete statistics, there are thousands of cases handled by Ling Chi, Xiao Beast and clan punishment, and more than 10,000 cases were decided after abandoning the city.
In addition, the torture used by Zhu Yuanzhang in the trial process is countless and outrageous. Calm down. Such as breaking hands, chopping fingers, picking tendons, gouging out feet, making noodles, cutting hands, peeling grass and so on. In addition to the situation recorded in Zhao Yi's Notes on Twenty-two Histories quoted at the beginning of the article, Amin Li Mo described in detail all kinds of torture invented by Zhu Yuanzhang in Lonely Tree Talk:
In the early years of the dynasty, heavy punishment was preferred. In addition to the execution of the year, there is also a kind of "washing", that is, putting naked people on iron beds and pouring them with boiling water; There is an "iron broom", which is used to sweep away the flesh; There is an "owl order", which hooks the prisoner's back with an iron hook and hangs it; There is a kind of "weighing beam", that is, the prisoner is tied to a pole, which looks semi-suspended; There is a kind of "gut opening", that is, hanging people on a shelf and hooking them in and out of Gu Dao; There is also "skinning", where corrupt officials and corrupt officials are skinned and placed on the edge of the public seat for a generation to see and know the meaning of punishment.
All kinds of punishments are strange, inhuman and outrageous. The Daming Law explicitly abolished the torture of stabbing, poking, licking and castrating, and the torture invented and used by Zhu Yuanzhang was even more cruel than these punishments. Zhu Yuanzhang, who kept saying that "etiquette is the discipline of the country", took the lead in destroying the laws of the country with his own actions. Take the "air-printed case" and the Guo Huan case as examples. In name, Zhu Yuanzhang punished corruption, but the evidence was seriously insufficient. The trial turned into confession, which affected everything, whether true or not. Full of arrogance and violence, there is no justice at all.
Under such a tyrannical monarch, officials at all levels are all afraid. Walking on thin ice, the days are like years. This indiscriminate punishment of terrorist rule has made most officials silent for fear of being killed. According to the notes of the Ming Dynasty, was Zhu Yuanzhang determined to kill a large number of people above the imperial court? It's easy to see. If he wears a jade belt under his stomach on this day, it is a signal of a big storm. A large number of officials must have been killed, and the officials in Manchuria turned pale and trembled with fear. If this day, his jade belt hung high on his chest, he probably wouldn't kill many people. Zhu Yuanzhang really showed the arrogance of autocratic emperors in the history of China to the fullest. It seems that he is no longer like a king who rules the world, but more like a butcher who completely loses his humanity. Those ministers have become lambs who can be slaughtered at will. The huge hall naturally became a slaughterhouse full of blood.
At that time, some people defended Zhu Yuanzhang's indiscriminate torture, saying that in the mid-Song and Yuan Dynasties, the rulers specifically appeased and did not reward or punish, which led to the country's final defeat. Therefore, in order to punish its drawbacks, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated a severe criminal law. Ye Boju, an official in Pingyao Jizhong, pointed out: "The master of the foundation industry will set an example for future generations, and every move must give future generations rules to follow. Moreover, the torturer is the life of the people and must not be careless. " It was under the wrong guidance of Zhu Yuanzhang's "punishment" that a particularly abnormal phenomenon appeared in the trial of cases in the early Ming Dynasty: "When the punishment was used, the heart of self-denial was too much, so that the officials in charge of prisons sought the will, and those who were deep did more work, and those who were rehabilitated offended wanted peace in prison. How can it be easy to get? " That is to say, it is precisely because of Zhu Yuanzhang's excessive interference and arbitrariness in judicial trials that bureaucrats at all levels have been trying to ascertain Zhu Yuanzhang's will and be strict in order to win Zhu Yuanzhang's favor regardless of the merits, regardless of the specific criminal facts. If officials truthfully rehabilitate unjust imprisonment, they are often accused of "forming a party for personal gain." How can this guarantee judicial justice?
The most representative evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang's torture politics in the early Ming Dynasty was Jie Jin's neglect. In this thousands of words of hydrophobic, Jie Jin declaimed:
I have heard an old saying, "The number of orders is changed, the people are suspicious, the punishment is too complicated, and the people are playing." It has been nearly 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. No law is permanent and not a day is innocent.
Then, Jie Jin also deeply analyzed the influence of Zhu Yuanzhang's demanding attitude on the official style of the Ming Dynasty: in recent years, the court lacked discipline and discipline, and paid attention to the evaluation of the number of prisoners, which did not help to cultivate a clean and fair atmosphere. The suggestion and correction of the bomb are all in accordance with the emperor's secret order. Whenever I hear that the emperor wants to pardon me, I will deliberately defend myself. If you think so, it can better reflect the magnanimity of the emperor, which is the fine art of flattery and service of the villain. "Why doesn't your Majesty summon up the courage to look in the mirror?" In order to cater to Zhu Yuanzhang's will to severely punish the law, all officials in the Ming Dynasty took more imprisonment as their performance. The suggestion and impeachment of court officials were based on Zhu Yuanzhang's personal wishes. Even when Zhu Yuanzhang was pardoning criminals all over the world, these officials tried to show Zhu Yuanzhang's kindness and win Zhu Yuanzhang's favor. In the long run, it will inevitably lead to the end that "there is no such thing as a virtuous and stupid official, so we just need to detain more prisoners: prisoners who enter the punishment department without injustice will be severely punished". Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention is to make a living by killing people with anger. Officials only take coercion as their own responsibility, and there is no distinction between loyalty and treachery.
After Hongwu, many later scholars seemed to praise Zhu Yuanzhang's harsh laws. For example, Fang Xiaoru once described the situation at that time: "Although the county officials were far away from Qian Shan, thousands of miles away from the capital, they were completely stunned, as if the god of the emperor had come to his court and dared not be presumptuous. If you commit anything that goes beyond the law and violates etiquette, the court will punish you sooner or later and pay attention to be worthy of the name. This is unprecedented. " Even Harry, known as an upright official, admired Zhu Yuanzhang's achievements. He once said, "My great-grandfather loves the people like a son, and upholds the meaning of protecting the people like a son. I am very sorry for hell to pay, the fisherman. For decades, the people of the world have lived and worked in peace and contentment, which can be described as a once-in-a-lifetime prosperity. " The writers of Ming History also praised the bureaucratic system at that time: "For a time, the world obeyed orders and dared not make an exception. The bureaucratic system was completely changed!"
Starting from protecting the rights and interests of the people in the world, it is understandable to severely punish corrupt officials in the early Ming Dynasty, because it is based on safeguarding the interests of the people. Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty and deeply realized the harm of official greed to people's livelihood and dynasty politics. His personal experience in the peasant war at the end of Yuan Dynasty made him unable to sit idly by and watch officials engage in graft. He was extremely worried about the fate of the Ming Dynasty and tried his best to avoid repeating the mistakes of history. Therefore, he did not hesitate to crack down on bullying, and at the same time, in order to make an example, he did not hesitate to use heavy punishment and cool methods. Generally speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment of corrupt officials belongs to the adjustment and struggle within the bureaucratic ruling class group, which is not obvious to the ordinary people, and even has quite positive significance. The convergence of corrupt officials is undoubtedly the gospel of the people. Depriving corrupt officials of their property can, to a certain extent, alleviate the embarrassment of the state's fiscal revenue and expenditure and reduce the apportionment of innocent people.
However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's action to punish corruption, the negative impact of overcorrection is also very serious. It is undeniable that Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment for corrupt officials and honest officials is heavy and killing people is great. Princes with high expectations are still afraid to avoid it, and ordinary officials are on tenterhooks all day, not knowing when disaster will strike. On the surface, officials at all levels are trying to be honest and self-disciplined, but this situation is extremely abnormal. Officials only worry about their own lives every day, how can they care about others? Besides, they are often accused, and they have no right to defend themselves. They live in fear every day and only want to survive. How can they be loyal to the monarch and love the people and pursue political achievements? Therefore, leaving the specific environment at that time, later scholars praised Zhu Yuanzhang's hatred of corrupt officials, which inevitably had a strong ideal color. The king of a country should advocate that officials at all levels abide by national laws and regulations, and those who break the law will be prosecuted, instead of letting all officials be slaughtered for no reason and live in terror. Even if this reign of terror can make domestic politics clear and calm for a while, this clarity and calm is false and sad and cannot be maintained for a long time.
What's more, in the process of punishing corruption, Zhu Yuanzhang often tried cases himself. Failing to judge the facts of the crime according to the legal provisions and the truth. He often shows arbitrariness and imposes severe punishment at will. As a result, he was beaten into a confession, implicated in everything and "trained" to go to prison. This kind of punishment, which does not distinguish between true and false, loyalty and treachery, can only make the people in the world feel disappointed with the current regime. "Strict laws are used by the people" and "laws are closed to the people's disobedience" just illustrate this situation. This gives flattering officials a chance to frame and retaliate at will.
Because of common incidents, officials are often blamed, and in the late period of Zhu Yuanzhang's rule, there was a situation that "only a few survivors were left in previous years", that is to say, a large number of officials were slaughtered, which directly affected the normal operation of the state machine. In this regard, it is said that Liu Ji and others have euphemistically advised that "after the severe winter, there must be spring" and "if you kill too much, you will be afraid of injury and harmony". Zhu Yuanzhang himself clearly realized this, so in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), he ordered:
I have been in the army for more than forty years, and I am in charge of the common things in the world. The principles of good and evil are all related to the calendar. There is no doubt that those who are stubborn, dominate the market and commit serious crimes are guilty. The special law adds punishment to let people know what they are afraid of and dare not break the law easily. However, this is a stopgap measure to defeat stubborn people, not a long-term method used by kings who stand still. Future heirs will rule the world, strictly abide by the Daming Law and the Dabao Law, and are not allowed to use punishments such as cutting, stabbing, cutting, licking and castrating.
"What is the initiator?" Although Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly warned future generations not to use miserable punishment, it seems that later kings learned more from his behavior, that is, legal provisions are just dolls that can be manipulated at will, and miserable punishment is a powerful means to strengthen their arrogance. It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's exemplary role really kicked off the abuse of punishment in the legal history of the Ming Dynasty. For example, the penalty method of "stripping the real grass" is common in the history of the Ming Dynasty, which cannot but be said to be the first evil case of Zhu Yuanzhang. Judy, Ming Taizu, is the most able to inherit his father's footsteps among Zhu Yuanzhang's philosophers. He launched the "Battle of Jingnan" and seized the throne of his nephew Jianwen Emperor. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown, and a group of ministers who pledged their allegiance to Jianwen Emperor have involuntarily become the targets of Judy's massacre. For example, after Jing Qing was arrested, he proudly stood up and scolded Judy, who ordered the guards to pull out his teeth, and Jing Qing pulled it out and scolded him, spraying blood on Judy's robe. Judy was furious and ordered him to "skin it, fill it with grass, hang it on the gate of Chang 'an and cut off its flesh and blood". Another minister, Hu Run, also cursed Judy. Judy ordered his men to strangle him, soak him in water, peel him off, fill it with grass and hang it in Wugong Square. Wei Zhongxian's dictatorship in the late Ming Dynasty was the darkest period for eunuchs to usurp power and spy. In order to suppress the dissatisfaction of the whole world, Wei Zhongxian also abused cruel punishment. "Folk words, or touching loyalty and virtue, have been captured, even skinned, bankrupt, and countless people have been killed. "It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang not only failed to solve the problem of official corruption, but also set an example for future generations to abuse tragic punishment and provided" valuable "experience for those treacherous officials who tried to be emperors.