Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 35: To whom does the Ming Dynasty belong?
"Yunfeng, please continue. Father is just angry for a moment. Don't take it to heart."

In the warm room, Zhu Biao spoke to comfort Zhu Yuanzhang only after he left.

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "To be honest, I really don't mean to belittle the old ancestor. I am just discussing the matter. He is too impatient. This is not good."

Zhu Biao smiled bitterly and said, "Father came out of a mountain of swords and was used to using rough methods. I have advised him many times."

"You are still the wise one. As expected, I said that the Ming Dynasty should be inherited by you. If you hadn't died young, how could the Ming Dynasty have encountered so many twists and turns?"

Zhu Yunfeng made no secret of his admiration for Zhu Biao. It’s not that he was praising Zhu Biao, but that was the fact.

If Zhu Biao had not died, there would have been no Jingnan Rebellion, there would not have been so many fluctuations in the early Ming Dynasty, and there would not have been a person like Zhu Qizhen who led to the Battle of Tumu and caused the Ming Dynasty to decline.

of course.

Many things are unpredictable.

Perhaps under Zhu Biao's rule, the Ming Dynasty would have entered the Renzong and Xuanzong eras earlier, but it is an indisputable fact that Zhu Xiongying died young.

If only Zhu Biao's fate was changed and Zhu Biao ascended the throne, but Zhu Xiongying still died young, allowing a guy like Zhu Yunwen to continue to ascend the throne, the result would be hard to predict.

However, when Zhu Di saw his direct descendants flattering Zhu Biao so much, he felt a little unhappy.

Are you my descendant or my elder brother's descendant?
Just flatter him the whole time?
Otherwise, you might as well just acknowledge him as your ancestor.

Although he was dissatisfied, he did not dare to show it.

After all, I did something wrong to my eldest brother later, and now I can't raise my head in front of him, so I dare not say much.

"Ah."

Zhu Biao nodded calmly and said, "Then go on, what are the drawbacks of father's strategies?"

"These national policies were very useful in the early Ming Dynasty and played a role in maintaining rule, but later the system became rigid and did not change, which led to many consequences."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "To put it simply, this country has extremely high centralization, but very low governance efficiency. I don't know if you can understand the meaning of centralization and governance efficiency. It means that power is highly concentrated, but the means of exercising power and the speed of exercising power are very low. Alas, it is very troublesome to chat with you. You don't understand many modern terms."

Zhu Yunfeng felt very uncomfortable looking at the confused expressions on Zhu Biao and Zhu Di's faces.

Their cognitive level was too low, or they had no concept of modern political science and did not understand what centralization and administrative efficiency meant. He had to take some time to explain it to them.

"I see."

After hearing Zhu Yunfeng's simple explanation, Zhu Biao and others finally understood what administrative efficiency and power concentration meant.

After explaining the problem a little, Zhu Yunfeng took out another small notebook from his backpack, opened it and continued: "I have studied the problem of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, and found that its demise is very similar to that of a country in our later generations. That country was very powerful. Even on the last day of its disintegration, it was the strongest military in the world, enough to destroy the world. However, 500 million troops could not protect it, because it was not destroyed by foreign invasion, but destroyed itself!"

"Destroy yourself?"

The three people were very surprised. How could there be a country in the world that would destroy itself?

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "The symptoms of that country are very similar to those of the late Ming Dynasty. There was also serious corruption, numerous internal factions, the economy was controlled by oligarchs, and the lower classes were short of material resources and had a hard life. However, they had huge resource reserves, and if they had developed well, they might have been able to revive. But unfortunately, there was no great figure in the country, only a group of parasites. The country ruled by a group of parasites eventually fell into self-doubt and deconstruction, and then collapsed."

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di looked at each other. Even such a powerful country could collapse. The world is indeed unpredictable.

Zhu Yunfeng looked at the small notebook in his hand and continued, "The result of all this is that everyone in that country has lost their faith and confidence in this country. In simple terms, all of their citizens and those in power no longer agree that this country should exist."

“How can there be such a country?”

Zhu Biao couldn't help but say: "It's reasonable for the people to disagree, but shouldn't those in power feel that this country belongs to them?"

"Do not."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "They are complacent about betraying their own country. Everyone is like a ghoul, lying on its body to absorb nutrients, and in the end, they will destroy this country with their own hands."

“It’s amazing.”

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were both stunned. This was beyond their understanding. Even if the puppet emperor Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it was only to borrow troops to establish the Later Jin Dynasty.

How could there be a country's ruler who would only think about selling out the country's interests instead of governing the country well?

"Don't be surprised, the Ming Dynasty is similar."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "Our ancestors abolished the prime minister and established the cabinet, which concentrated power in the hands of the emperor. However, he was able to maintain high-intensity work for decades and keep the Ming Dynasty's administration running at a high speed. This does not mean that later emperors could do it. As a result, power was quickly controlled by eunuchs and civil servants headed by the cabinet."

He added: "However, the eunuchs and civil servants were caught up in internal strife, and the parties hindered each other. The system began to quickly become rigid, administrative efficiency became very low, and officials began to become corrupt. The result was the same as that country, and it eventually collapsed. Although it was not like that country that was destroyed by its own hands, a series of outrageous actions by its own people were also the fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty."

“Why is this also the case?”

Zhu Biao frowned.

Zhu Yunfeng sighed, "To sum it up, the policies of our first and second ancestors caused everyone in the Ming Dynasty to lose their sense of belonging. Even the Ming emperor did not think that the Ming Dynasty was his kingdom. This is why I said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was very similar to the demise of that country."

"Including the Ming Emperor?"

Zhu Biao was stunned.

Zhu Di next to him was also puzzled.

Zhu Yuanzhang opened his eyes even wider when he returned to his study.

What do you mean?
His policies caused even the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to feel that he had no sense of belonging to his own kingdom?
Are our policies really that bad?
"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled bitterly and said, "Some people in later generations said that the Ming Dynasty fell due to corruption, natural disasters, and foreign enemies. But if you really study it in depth, you will find that these are all objective factors. The real biggest reason is that no one in the Ming Dynasty knew who the empire belonged to."

Zhu Biao quickly asked, "What's going on?"

"It's very simple. I just talked about the feudal system. The princes were a group of pigs that were kept in captivity. In the early Ming Dynasty, they had military power and a large amount of fiefdoms, which soon led to the princes' rebellion. The second ancestor succeeded in suppressing the rebellion and became the emperor."

Zhu Yunfeng gave his ancestor another blow, and then continued: "The Second Ancestor learned his lesson, so he stripped the princes of their military power, but he did not dare to really deal with all the princes, so he could only retain their fiefs and fiefs, allowing them to be rich and secure, and all the Zhu family clan members would be paid salaries so that they would have no worries about food and clothing."

"Under such circumstances, the royal family had no power but had a lot of money, which led them to have children desperately. By the late Ming Dynasty, according to the Wanli Diary, the population had reached 20."

"The annual salary for so many people is an astronomical figure, but the royal family will not be grateful to the Ming court. They think this is what they deserve and the glory of their ancestors. Moreover, the court often deducts their salary because it has no money."

"Then the royal family is restricted and cannot make a living. Therefore, the lower-level royal family naturally does not think that the Ming Dynasty belongs to them. They may even be jealous of the Ming Dynasty, which neither feeds them nor allows them to make a living. If you were Taibo, would you feel a sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty when faced with such a dilemma?"

This sentence is quite heartbreaking.

Zhu Biao glanced at the slightly trembling figure in the study and said, "No."

"That's it." "But the lower-level clans won't do that, what about the upper-level clans?"

"Not even close."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "Those princes think that I have millions of acres of land, but in fact they are all calculated in silver. I have never been able to send people to verify it, and participating in politics is even more wishful thinking. Every day, apart from having children at home, I can't do anything. I can't even leave the city, and I am not even allowed to visit my ancestors' graves."

"In the 16th year of Zhengde, the crown prince of Rong, Zhu Houxun, and the second son, the prince of Funing, Zhu Houxi, wanted to go out of the city to pay respects to their deceased mother, Concubine Liu. Emperor Wuzong said that the ancestral system was limited and that they could not take their personal feelings into consideration. In the 16th year of Chenghua, the prince of Zhao petitioned to go out of the city to attend his mother's funeral. Emperor Xianzong ordered that the prince of Zhao not be allowed to go out of the city and could only go out and return. In the 23rd year of Wanli, the prince of Jin, Minchun, petitioned to go out of the city to pay respects to his ancestors, but his request was rejected by the Ministry of Rites."

"Professor Zhao Yi, an expert on Ming history, said in "A Preliminary Study on the Imperial Clan of the Ming Dynasty" and "The Population of the Imperial Clan of the Ming Dynasty and the Problem of Imperial Clan Salaries" that Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust others and believed that only his children and grandchildren were the most reliable. Therefore, he appointed more than 20 sons to lead troops to guard the country for generations. He protected the royal family internally, eliminated treacherous officials and suppressed rebellions, and resisted foreign invasions externally. His intentions were not bad and his thoughts were not far-reaching."

"But this is a double-edged sword. It all comes down to the complexity and greed of human nature. The princes who hold military power are unwilling to be content and abide by the law. They are always ambitious and ready to rebel and become emperor. The emperor is also suspicious of the princes who hold heavy troops and cannot rest assured. If this continues, the emperor and the princes who lead troops in various places will become hostile. First, Prince Yan Zhu Di successfully rebelled, and then Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao and Prince Anhua failed. This completely violated Zhu Yuanzhang's good original intention of enfeoffment."

"The last step was to reduce the power of the princes. The princes' military power was completely removed, and a series of restrictions were imposed to tie them up tightly. The two princes were not allowed to meet each other, and the princes were not even allowed to go out of the city for an outing. They were not allowed to be officials, soldiers, farm, or do business. They were not allowed to do anything. For more than 200 years, hundreds of thousands of royal family members were suffocated into prisoners. They had no ability or skills, and had no way to defend their country. In the late Ming Dynasty, they were slaughtered by bandits and the Qing Dynasty."

"It can be said that the vassal kings are like imprisoned criminals. Tell me, even if I have fine clothes and delicious food, but I have no freedom and am restricted in everything I do, will I feel a sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty court?"

He looked at Zhu Biao, then glanced at Zhu Di and asked him a soul-searching question.

Zhu Biao remained silent.

"It seems that you should have the answer in your heart, and this is the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. For the common people, they will not have any sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "Let's not talk about the Ming Dynasty. The princes, officials, and even generals persecuted the people and killed innocent people for credit. Even the imperial court imposed heavy taxes on the people, especially in Liaodong, so much so that there was a saying that "it is better to be born in Liao than to be born in Hu."

"Professor Gu Cheng said in "History of the Peasant War in the Late Ming Dynasty" that royal princes, nobles, eunuchs, bureaucrats and landlords occupied land one after another, resulting in serious land annexation. In addition, natural disasters continued, and the people were living in misery. Children and lone travelers disappeared once they left the city. Later, I saw people outside the door cooking human bones for firewood and boiling human flesh for food. I realized that the people before were all eaten by them. And the people who ate them died of red and swollen faces and internal heat within a few days."

"The country is already plagued by natural disasters and man-made calamities, and the people can't survive. The Ming Dynasty has to collect Liao tributes all the time, while the gentry are exempt from taxes and the literati enjoy special privileges. When the people see this, do you think they will belong to the Ming Dynasty?"

The room was already very quiet and no one spoke.

"Then there are the soldiers. Soldiers serve in the army to support their families or to serve the country, but do soldiers in the Ming Dynasty get paid? It's good enough that they don't starve to death. I get less than one-third of the money and food I'm supposed to receive, and most of it is embezzled by the government. Why should I risk my life?"

"The garrisons are even more corrupt. The officers and soldiers in the garrisons can only be regarded as thugs or slaves of their superiors. They usually do hard labor for their superiors without any salary. The meager salary is all embezzled. They are lucky not to rebel. How can they protect the Ming Dynasty?"

"Professor Wang Yuquan pointed out in his book "Military Settlements in the Ming Dynasty" that many of the soldiers in the Ming Dynasty were forced to serve in the military, and they could not be exempted from military service. Although their duty was to defend the country, they were actually people who lacked personal freedom and had a strong feudal personal subordination to the emperor and their superiors, a master-slave relationship, and became the means of production for a few people. Their superiors exploited them excessively, making them miserable. Do you think the soldiers in the garrisons care about your Ming Dynasty?"

"Then there are the gentry. They will say that everything they have today is what they deserve. They worked hard to pass the imperial examinations and attract common people to contribute to them. Why should I pay taxes? What does the life and death of the court have to do with me?"

"Professor Zhang Xianqing pointed out in his book On the Abuse of Official and Gentry Exemptions in the Ming Dynasty that the official and gentry class was greedy and used various means to break through legal restrictions and implement unlimited exemptions outside the law. They passed taxes and corvée labor on to the people. For them, the fall of the court was nothing more than a change of masters. As long as their interests were guaranteed, it was fine."

"And the civil servants, they will think, the country belongs to the Zhu family, what does it have to do with me? My salary is low, and I live in fear every day. The eunuchs and the Jinyiwei have bad intentions towards me every day. During the reign of Emperor Taizu, civil servants were slaughtered on a large scale, and they were slaughtered like dogs. An official's term is only a few years, and promotion is also very unfair. Capable people cannot be promoted, and those who can be promoted are all running dogs of various parties. I might as well embezzle more money, buy land and enjoy life earlier. Why should I work so hard for the Ming Dynasty?"

"Professor Zhao Yi said that the massacres by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di and the conflicts within the ruling class caused them made some people uncooperative with the court, which in turn led to a lack of talent during this period. The evil consequences of Zhu Yuanzhang's massacres were fully reflected in the Jingnan Rebellion, and while Zhu Di massacred most of the civil and military officials, he also blocked the path of the officials' pious submission to the imperial power and cooled the enthusiasm of the officials to defend the dynasty. Under Zhu Di's tyranny, many people were unwilling to serve as officials."

"This shows that in the early Ming Dynasty, the civil service group had already had a huge conflict with the imperial power, which caused a huge rift between the civil service group and the emperor."

"Then there are the military generals. They have a low status and are impeached every day. They will be killed if they are not careful. Qi Jiguang is a rare famous general in the late Ming Dynasty and a famous national hero in later generations. But even such a hero needs to bribe civil officials and become their lackeys in order to be reused. Isn't this a tragedy?"

"As for the other generals, the civil officials either scolded them or said they would kill them. Although Mao Wenlong was not a good person, his position was very critical and could effectively contain the Later Jin. However, he was arbitrarily executed by Yuan Chonghuan. Do you think the generals will be loyal to the Ming Dynasty?"

"The same is true for the nobles. Their ancestors followed Taizu to build the country, but in the end, half of them were slaughtered, and the rest were just pigs raised by the royal family. They have no power and no obligations, and are no different from the princes and royal family. But those princes are obviously rich, and when the emperor was raising money to suppress bandits and pacify Liao, he didn't ask the princes and royal family for money, but thought of them first. Are they happy?"

"Finally, there is the Ming Emperor. After the Battle of Tumu, the power of the military generals declined severely, and the civil officials rose rapidly. They began to form factions, and they were very smart to unite and fight against the imperial power."

"The emperor can only use eunuchs to fight against the civil officials, but he is restricted everywhere. He cannot even recognize his biological father, he must call himself a nephew. He cannot go out, he must stay in the palace. He cannot change his heir, he must be the eldest son, and he is scolded by civil officials every day. What power does the emperor of the Ming Dynasty have? It is better not to attend court, or stay in the palace to cultivate immortality or work as a carpenter."

At this point, Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "It can be said that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty themselves did not regard the Ming Dynasty as their own country. Jiajing sought immortality, Wanli did not attend court for more than 30 years, and Tianqi played with wood in the palace every day. This is the reason."

Of course, he did not do nothing during these few days. Instead, he carefully prepared and studied the history of the Ming Dynasty, and bought a lot of books and papers by various Ming history experts on the Internet for research, and did a lot of homework.

For example, there are Professor Zhao Yi's books on the royal family and the Ming Dynasty system, Professor Gu Cheng's books on Ming Dynasty peasants, Professor Li Xinfeng's books on the Wei Suo system, Professor Fang Zhiyuan and Guo Peigui's books on Ming Dynasty officials, and so on.

These books are full of useful information, which benefited Zhu Yunfeng a lot. So he recorded all the roots one by one in his own little notebook and compiled them into a question book.

Through the study and understanding of these books, Zhu Yunfeng himself summed up the fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, that is, all social classes, including the emperor, lost their sense of identity with the Ming Dynasty, and thus jointly caused the destruction of the Ming Dynasty.

The actual basis of this theory is that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the ideology of society had undergone tremendous changes compared to the ideology of feudal society.

For example, a large number of people from all walks of life quickly turned to the Qing Dynasty that entered the country.

There were also thinkers such as Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Wang Fuzhi who launched fierce attacks on feudal autocracy.

It can be seen that the Ming Dynasty was just like the Russian bear. To put it simply, it was unpopular. To put it bluntly, people actually doubted and disagreed with its entire system and institutions.

And these contents will bring a huge information shock to Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

In fact it is.

Basically, every time Zhu Yunfeng mentioned a class, the faces of the Zhu family's two sons became uglier.

After listening to Zhu Yunfeng's words, Zhu Biao's face looked very ugly, because he found that what Zhu Yunfeng said was right. If he were in that position, it would be the same.

Whether you are a commoner, a member of the royal family, a civil official, a military officer, or even an emperor, if you are imprisoned and restricted everywhere, what is the point? It is better to just live your life to the fullest.

"Why is it like this? Why has it become like this?"

Zhu Biao couldn't help but mutter to himself in deep sorrow.

Zhu Yunfeng knocked on the table and said, "The answer is very simple. It's because the system is rigid. From top to bottom, all the systems are rigid and unchanging, all because of that damn ancestral precept!"

"It is extremely harsh for the common people to travel far away, and they have to monitor each other, so that everyone is in danger. Moreover, the court treats them like pigs and dogs, and will slaughter them if they are not careful. This is the rule set by our ancestors."

"The soldiers of the garrison are born into the garrison. No matter what kind of household registration they have, they can only do such things in the future. They see no hope and no ladder for advancement. This is the rule set by our ancestors."

"The Second Ancestor set the rule that the royal family and nobles were raised like pigs. The establishment of the East Factory, which allowed eunuchs to intervene in state affairs, led to the factional struggle between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty. This was also a consequence of the rule set by the Second Ancestor."

"Civil servants were slaughtered at will, and their salaries were so low that they couldn't even support their families. Although being forced to embezzle may be a way to whitewash it, objectively speaking, low salaries did put civil servants in a difficult situation. Hai Rui was a high-ranking official, and he was once a second-rank official. He ended up being so poor that he could only buy two pounds of pork for his mother's birthday, and he didn't even have money to handle his mother's funeral when she died. It was only with the help of his friends that he was able to handle his mother's funeral. He couldn't even provide basic living security. What was the point of being an official?"

"Not to mention the military commanders, they are suppressed and restricted everywhere."

"Even if he became an emperor, if he flirted with a palace maid, he would be criticized as a king who lost his country. Everyone would use high-pressure education and restrictions on him, and all of this still came from the ancestral system."

"It can be said that the entire Ming Dynasty is synonymous with rigidity. The first and second ancestors have fixed all social classes. What was before will be what it will be in the future. Everyone's life has been planned since birth, and poverty has become a lifelong thing. So they naturally lack a sense of identity with this country. Including the emperor, everyone is subject to the so-called ancestral rules. The ancestral laws cannot be changed. Everyone seems to have a yoke on their body, restraining each other. The result is that the entire Ming Dynasty is locked by an invisible chain."

"So where did this chain come from?"

He turned his head and looked towards the study room behind him, where a figure was sitting, slightly hunched over, but the meaning in Zhu Yunfeng's eyes was self-evident.

(End of this chapter)