In 1368 AD, on the fourth day of the first lunar month in the 28th year of the Zheng Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as emperor in Yingtian Mansion (now Nanjing), named the country Daming, and established the Yuan Dynasty Hongwu. So, why did Zhu Yuanzhang name his country "Da Ming"? Where does the word "明" come from?
Professor Mao Peiqi, a doctoral supervisor at Renmin University of China, will start a new historical journey with us, clearing away the historical fog of the Ming Dynasty and looking for the truth. "Hundred Forums" will air the mystery of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign in "The Mysterious Cases of the Seventeen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty" on April 14, so stay tuned!
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Today we talk about the mystery of the Ming Dynasty’s national title. Everyone knows about the Ming Dynasty. Of course the name of the country is "Ming", but the Ming Dynasty is also called "Da Ming". Where did this "Ming" come from? Today we will talk about four questions to explain the name of the Ming Dynasty.
First, where did King Xiao Ming’s “Ming” come from?
Second, why should the Red Scarf Army be led by King Xiao Ming?
Third, why did people in the Ming Dynasty generally accept the word "Ming" as the name of their country?
Fourth, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, what kind of country did he want to build the Ming Dynasty into? Let’s talk about four questions.
Let’s talk about the first question first, what happened to King Xiao Ming’s Ming? As we all know, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and class and ethnic conflicts were very acute. In the end, Liu Futong, Han Shantong, and Han Lin'er rebelled. Han Lin'er is known as the eighth grandson of Song Huizong, and he is said to have come back to dominate the world. But what do they use to appeal to the people? What they promoted was "Maitreya was born, and King Ming was born." After King Ming comes out, the world will be at peace and the people will live a good life. This "Ming" is King Ming's Ming. The common people are living in dire straits and hope to live a good life. Therefore, publicizing the birth of King Ming is actually a call for people to revolt. So, where did King Ming come from? This Mingwang comes from Mingjiao. Mingjiao, also known as Manichaeism, was founded by a man named Mani in the 3rd century AD.
When did Manichaeism spread to China? It was during the Wu Zetian era of the Tang Dynasty, during the Yanzai period. At that time, in order to win over the Uighurs, who were a minority group and believed in Mingjiao, the Tang Dynasty raised the status of Manichaeism, which was equivalent to recognizing the legal status of Manichaeism. However, after the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Uighurs, Manichaeism was no longer taken seriously. Because many suffering people often used the banner of religion to oppose the imperial court with slogans such as "Maitreya is born, King Ming is born", so it was driven underground and could not function normally. During the Song Dynasty, Manichaeism was recognized for a time. However, due to the rebellious nature of this religion, the court still did not allow it to exist normally, and it was once again forced underground.
By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, as everyone knows, the Yuan Dynasty left the traditional Chinese Confucian orthodoxy, so it was relatively open to religion. For a time, Manichaeism became a religion that could spread more freely. But later this Manichaeism was also used to resist the imperial court and was driven underground again. This Ming sect or Manichaeism was driven underground. In order to protect themselves, they desperately tried to establish relations with Buddhism. They used the White Lotus Society of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism to link themselves to themselves. This is why in the Yuan Dynasty, many people used the White Lotus Society to gather people. In fact, they believed in a religion that was a mixture of Manichaeism and the White Lotus Society. What are they promoting? The propaganda is "Maitreya is reborn, and King Ming is born". We have talked about it in the previous two lectures. At that time, Liu Futong said, "Ten people with one eye can beat the Yellow River and the world rebels." He said that "Maitreya was born and King Ming was born." He called on the people to rise up against the court and strive for a happy life. At this time, they He raised his own slogan to display the banner of Mingwang. Therefore, the "Ming" of Xiao Mingwang is the "Ming" of Manichaeism and Mingjiao. This Ming comes from here.
The second question is, why do we think the Red Scarf Army should be led by King Xiao Ming? Now let's take a look at the slogan of King Xiao Ming. The slogan at that time was "The mountains and rivers are about to stop the land of China, and the sun and the moon reopen the Song Dynasty."
Zhu Yuanzhang inherited this fire virtue, which originated from the south and must defeat the water virtue in the north. Therefore, Ming and Fire are connected together.
Why were there many legends related to fire when Zhu Yuanzhang was born? He said that the temple he lived in, others thought the red light was on fire, but many people said it was not clear at first glance. When I was born, I looked to see if their house was on fire, and then checked again and there was still no fire. This fire actually indicates and implies that he is a fire virtue. In the future, when he reigns in the world, it is connected with the word "Da Ming". In order to make their rule more legitimate, they wanted to use these Shinto teachings to fool the people, strengthen their authority, and promote the divine right of the emperor. Therefore, they set up a lot of foreshadowing in advance, and finally said that Zhu Yuanzhang won the world. is legitimate.
Confucian intellectuals believe that Zhu Yuanzhang took the Ming Dynasty as the name of his country, and he founded the country with the virtue of fire because he had obtained the way of heaven and divine help, and it was natural that he wanted to rule the country. Therefore, even though Zhu Yuanzhang had abandoned the concepts of the birth of Maitreya and the birth of King Ming proposed by the White Lotus Society, he still retained the title of the Ming Dynasty. One more thing, we left a small question last time, that is, if anyone becomes the king, he is always called the big king, big king, why is the name of Xiao Ming Wang so small? Who established the reign name? From ancient times to the present, there have been two-character reign names and no one-character reign names. Why did Zhu Yuanzhang have a reign name called Wu Yuannian when he was King of Wu before the founding of the Ming Dynasty? One word, what does it mean?
According to the current analysis, Zhu Yuanzhang cannot be called "Da Ming" by King Xiao Ming. He must make this "Ming Wang" Xiao Ming Wang to show that he is higher than him, so everything must be publicized on Xiao Ming Wang, this kind of material. Therefore, Han Lin'er can only be the Little Ming King, but not the Great Ming King. Although he used the word "Ming", he made him small, and only Zhu Yuanzhang himself was big. The country name with large characters originated from the Yuan Dynasty. It was not used before. Like the Song Dynasty, it was called later. The Yuan Dynasty was called Dayuan. How did the name of the Yuan Dynasty come from? It is based on a sentence from the "Book of Changes", called "Great Qianyuan", the Great Yuan. The Ming Dynasty succeeded the Yuan Dynasty and was also called "Da Ming".
Let’s talk about the first year of Wu. Why do everyone use a two-character reign name, but King Wu came up with a one-character reign name? In fact, Shi Chen accidentally revealed his flaws when he was compiling history. Why do you say this? Because he used the dragon and phoenix reign title at that time. In 1367 AD, which was the 27th year of Zhizheng, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Liao Yongzhong to pick up King Xiaoming to Yingtian. When Liao Yongzhong reached Guazhou, the ship sank. , this Xiao Ming Wang is gone, and this Dragon and Phoenix reign name can no longer be used. But this year is not a year of changing the Yuan Dynasty, that is, it is not a year of establishing a new year. So when recording this period of history, can we still use the Year of Dragon and Phoenix? If we don’t use the Year of Dragon and Phoenix and there is no other year available, we use "Wu". "Well, it's "Wu Yuannian", so there was a Wu Yuannian in history. This Wu Yuan Nian can exactly let us know that it was the year before Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, and he was still serving the Dragon and Phoenix reign of King Xiao Ming. But when the historians were writing, they could not write like this. The three questions we talked about earlier talked about the Ming Dynasty of Zhu Yuanzhang and how this "Ming" came from. Its origin is related to the "Ming" of Manichaeism or Mingjiao. Finally it was generally accepted.
Next we will talk about Zhu Yuanzhang. He said that he established the Ming Dynasty. He wanted the whole world to see it. Indeed, King Ming was born. Maitreya was born. King Ming was born. Everyone should live a good life. You can follow. Zhu Yuanzhang was not wrong, so what kind of country did Zhu Yuanzhang want to build the Ming Dynasty into?
Zhu Yuanzhang's slogan during the Northern Expedition included these words: "Expulse the Tartars, restore China, establish discipline, and save the people." "Expulsion of the Tartars" means to expel the Mongolian nobles, restore China, and restore Han rule in the Central Plains without ethnic oppression. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang once said later. This is what we add. Zhu Yuanzhang did not mean to oppress the Mongols. He said that the Mongols and everyone should be equal. They are all covered by the sky and contained by the earth. Everyone is equal. All my children should be equal.
He said that restoring China did not mean to oppress the Mongols, nor did he mean not allowing the Mongols to stay in the interior. "Expelling the Tartars and restoring China" meant overthrowing the rule of the Mongolian aristocrats. "Chen Gang established the discipline", what does "Chen Gang established the discipline" mean? It is to establish social order, establish systems, rectify order, and "Chen Gang establishes discipline." There is also a saying called "saving people from ashes". The life of the people in the Yuan Dynasty, especially the Yuan Dynasty, was too miserable and the people were in dire straits. I want to "save the people from the dire straits." Well, I think these few sentences contain Zhu Yuanzhang's ideal of governing the country, which has several contents. I think there are three:
The first is to drive away the rule of the Mongolian aristocracy, which he achieved.
Second, we must reorganize social order.
Third, we must liberate and rescue the people from dire straits. The first one has been realized, and he is working on the second one. The first and second items are to liberate the people from the heat of water. How does he do this? How does he achieve his goal? There was a saying in the past that after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he betrayed the peasant revolution and uprising, and became the enemy of the peasant class. Later, right? In a traditional patriarchal society, given the level of productivity development at that time, no one could escape this law. When he became a ruler, he was sure that he was on the opposite side of the people. However, Zhu Yuanzhang himself once lived at the bottom of society, and his considerations and starting points were different from other emperors.
Not long after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang said something. He said, "The world has just been stabilized and the people have financial difficulties." The world has just stabilized and the people have financial difficulties because of the war and a lot of losses. "The common people are exhausted in their talents and abilities. They are like a bird that has just taken flight. You cannot pluck out its feathers. A newly planted tree cannot shake its roots. It is just left to rest and grow. Only those who are honest can make promises to themselves and benefit others. You should remember this deeply. "That is to say, when a bird is about to fly, you can't pluck its feathers, and when a tree is just planted, you can't shake it around, and you can't touch its roots. How to do this? Rely on integrity, prohibit corruption and violence, and care for the people so that they can rest and recuperate. He once discussed with Liu Ji how to develop production and how to make the people live in peace and contentment. Liu Ji said that it was just kindness and kindness to the common people. Liu Ji said that a policy of kindness should be implemented towards the common people. Zhu Yuanzhang said that it is not good to be generous and tolerant. How should he say this? He said, "If you cannot give benefits, it is useless to generalize about generosity. From my point of view, generosity will be the wealth of the people and the strength of the people. If they are not used sparingly, the people's wealth will be exhausted, and if they are not saved, the people's resources will be poor." "If we don't understand education, the people will not know etiquette and justice; if they can't help but be greedy and violent, the people will not be able to live a good life; if we call them tolerant and benevolent, they will only have a name but the people will not be benefited by it."
What does it mean? You can't just say that you are tolerant. They have no wealth and no economic development, can you? It's okay to say that you work on projects all day long, and the people are very tired, but you can't. He said that your education is not good, nor are the etiquette and laws, and the people do not know how to educate them. How can you just talk about mercy? He said that you can't control corrupt officials, but you can't control rich people, and the people are still oppressed and exploited. Just talking about tolerance is not enough. If you can't handle these things well, even if you just talk about tolerance, the people will not get any benefits. These few sentences contain Zhu Yuanzhang's philosophy of governing the country.
I summarize Zhu Yuanzhang’s philosophy of governing the country into five points:
The first is to develop production and enrich the people. This is the first one.
Article 2: Save expenses, save people’s money, and save people’s manpower.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not have land at that time. He realized the hardship of the people's life. He did not allow others to waste material and financial resources casually. He said that these were the people's wealth and the people's labor income bit by bit. They were all of blood and sweat. After Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, he was very frugal in terms of food and clothing. Everyone knows that Nanjing is a hot stove and it is very hot. When he went to various yamen to see things, he was sweating profusely. There were people next to him holding clothes for him, which made them wet. Then he changed another one. The official next to him saw that none of the clothes he had changed was new. He didn't have anything. He said that I was rich in the world and couldn't have anything, but I must control my heart.
So Zhu Yuanzhang, he lived a poor life, he understood the sufferings of the people, and he did not do extravagant or corrupt things.
He said, "The master's hobbies are very important. Practicing frugality is enough to nourish one's character. Advocating extravagance will lead to loss of morality." What does it mean? He said that after becoming emperor, whatever he likes will be the custom below. It is said that if we advocate frugality, we can nourish our nature and our moral character; if we advocate extravagance, we will lose our morality.
Once Zhu Yuanzhang was in the palace and saw several palace ladies throwing a strand of silk thread on the ground. He called the palace lady back and said who threw it. Do you know that it belongs to the common people? Blood and sweat, I will punish you with heavy punishment next time. I dare not step in muddy water when I see two eunuchs wearing new shoes in the palace. They run out when it rains. Why don’t you take care of the clothes and shoes provided by the common people? This is all the blood and sweat of the people. We can’t let you waste it casually, just say that he advocates frugality in the palace and himself. This is related to his origin, and also related to his idea of ??cherishing the people’s power and protecting people’s livelihood. Not only because He was born poor, and there are many people who forget their origins when they are poor, right?
So, he has a philosophy, which is to let everyone live in peace and contentment, to save people's financial resources, and not to waste their people's power and money.
Third, fewer construction projects should be carried out so as not to add more burdens to the people.
Zhu Yuanzhang also rewarded mulberry farmers. He stipulated how many trees, mulberry trees and jujube trees a family should plant. He said that if there is a famine, these date trees can also save lives. He lived a hard life and he ran things very carefully. He said that when I read "Respecting People" in "Shangshu", he said that I had many feelings. What feelings did I feel? It is said that those who were emperors in the past, that is, those who were the masters of the people, did not always consider the problems of the people, saying that we must not ignore the interests of the people. Why? It is because we can only last long if we consider the interests of the people. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was able to care about the people. He did not just care about the people for the sake of the people. He also considered his rule. I think this was at that time. At home, he was the country. The country is home, and in such a political situation, this is inevitable. What is this sentence called? It is called "Every governance is based on the security of the people, and the security of the people leads to the security of the country." As we all know, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once said, "Water can carry a boat, and water can also capsize a boat." He said, "Every governance is based on the security of the people, and the security of the people will lead to the security of the country." The meaning is the same. What we just talked about is what kind of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build his Ming Dynasty into. He himself promoted that he was the Ming King and the Ming Emperor, so he implied that he was born as the Ming King. Since he stood in this position, he And did what he wanted to do.
Fourth, carry out moral and legal education. This word is too modern, this word, this word. In fact, this is how we carry out moral and legal education, run schools, promote education, and let everyone know the law.
Zhu Yuanzhang attaches great importance to the education of the people. An important way of education is to run schools. He attaches great importance to it. We will not go into details on this. He also took some measures to bring education down to the grassroots level in the countryside. For example, he created a list called the "Jiaomin Bangwen", which contained a four-character sentence. This article asked the people to abide by morality, not to do wrong, not to steal, to be filial to the elderly, and to unite with the village. List of parishioners is posted everywhere. There must be a wooden dou in each village. What is a wooden dou? A dou is a bell. What is a wooden dou? It's the bangzi. Someone walks around the village regularly, banging the bangzi, honoring your parents, not stealing, and loving labor. That's all. Let these moral constructions be carried out among the people, this is one.
Another one is that the Ming Dynasty implemented an ancient ritual. What is this ancient ritual? It's called "rural drinking ceremony", and "xiang" means "xiang" in the countryside. Drinking wine and drinking wine existed in the Zhou Dynasty and were practiced in the Ming Dynasty. What does it mean? During festivals, especially during the New Year, these highly respected old people in the village will preside over the village drinking ceremony. They will summarize what happened in the village during the year and judge the performance of the villagers during the year. Whoever performs well Well, sit down and drink, behave badly, drink standing, behave badly again, drink without alcohol, stand on the side, propose punishment, and give some people a warning. He took moral construction all the way down to the grassroots level.
Also, about the law. We will also mention that the book on law he compiled is called "Da Gao", and the Ming Dynasty also had a legal text called "Da Ming Code". The "Da Ming Code" requires every county school to have it and all students must learn it. The "Da Gao" must be available in every household. What is the "Da Gao"? We will talk about it in detail later. "Da Gao" contains various regulations for punishing corrupt officials and punishing wrongdoers. He compiled "Da Gao" and asked every household to collect it. In the future, if you commit a crime and are sentenced, the crime will be reduced by one level. If you say that our family has the "Great Edict", you can take a look and it will be reduced by one level. He said that if something breaks the law, do you have a "Da Gao" at home? If not, add one more. This became a habit followed by the Ming Dynasty later. When the common people had something wrong, they would go to the government to tell them what they had been sentenced to. If there is a "Great Imperial Edict", if they say there is, then let's reduce it by one level. In fact, it may not really exist, but it has always been The traditional legacy is what Zhu Yuanzhang left behind.
Fifth, the last article is to crack down on corrupt officials, rectify the administration of officials, and not let them do whatever they want.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang lived at the bottom of society, he hated corrupt officials and the oppression of rich people. He had personal experience. He said that I had seen state and county officials before. They drank all day long and did not care about the lives of the people. They only knew how to collect taxes and embezzled stolen goods. He said that I would demand that officials be honest. If your officials are honest, If you are no longer honest, you will be walking among thorns. No matter how you walk, it will not work. He will use the rule of law and his harsh methods. to achieve his purpose.
What we just talked about is what kind of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build his Ming Dynasty into. He himself promoted that he was the Ming King and the Ming Emperor, so he implied that he was born as the Ming King, so He occupied this position and did what he wanted to do. Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he hoped to have an orderly and harmonious society, a clean government, a government that could develop production, and let the people live a better life. Such a Ming Dynasty. That is, he has his own set of ideals for governing the country. However, we say that Zhu Yuanzhang was a person who lived five or six hundred years ago after all. So, can he do these tasks very thoroughly and implement his ideas to the end? He himself is very contradictory. For example, these meritorious ministers who followed him in the north and south, as well as his princes, Princess, what should I do? What should they do when they become high officials, dukes, marquises, kings, and consorts? He will give generous rewards to the fields. Doesn't he want to restrict the wealthy people? But a new generation of wealthy people will grow up again, and they will continue to follow the old path and become the opposite of the common people. But this is another question, but Zhu Yuanzhang himself cannot escape this strange circle. What he thinks is one thing, and the objective historical development is another. .