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The “logic” in the title refers to the internal principles that govern the activities of a person or a political force, and for ease of understanding, can also be called moral principles. For example, if a person cheats and deceives even his father until he has only a pair of pants left, then the logic that this person follows is the internal principle that he bases on when he cheats and cheats, that is, if he can cheat, he can cheat. Lie, never do the right thing. And a political force, such as a country, implements family-style rule, and has occupied the top position of the country since his grandfather’s generation, and will never allow others to be swayed and coveted—that is, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin said, “One family in the world, next to the couch. Let others sleep soundly”—and are prepared to play like this for generations, then the inherent principle of the behavior of this country is that power must be absolutely possessed, that is despotism, that is dictatorship; while another country is addicted to using Solving the world’s problems by violent means, implementing the law of the jungle, and launching wars to kill people everywhere, then the inherent principle of this country’s behavior is bullying and speaking with fists. Logic, i.e. internal principle, and behavior are in fact a causal relationship, and what kind of internal principle will have what kind of behavior, so unless the internal principle of logic, i.e. behavior, has undergone a fundamental change, people generally do not expect that the implementation A country ruled by a family will engage in democracy, and will not allow ordinary people to enjoy any freedom; let alone a country that pursues racism and hegemonism will suddenly become merciful and begin to treat other countries and ethnic groups kindly, “letting China go.” People do not make such expectations.
Looking back at the people and events in the Hongwu and Yongle years of the Ming Dynasty, within that limited historical scope, whether Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, Zhu Yunwen, Fang Xiaoru, Yao Guangxiao (Daoyan), Zong Le, Pu Qia, Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng… , which historical participant did not act according to their inner principles? Therefore, we might as well think of all manifestations of “self” as a result of one or some people’s inner principles. This is the result of a logic or law, which cannot be avoided or changed.
Recently, I have been immersed in the history of Ming Dynasty. At a certain moment, the idea of ”the logic of imperial power” suddenly appeared in my mind: Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di did so many heinous things when they were emperors, so it is not a Crazy? What kind of inner principles or inner logic do they follow when they do these things—for example, excluding dissidents by bloody means and mass murder in national politics? Why do they kill people, especially the heroes? Wouldn’t it be okay not to kill people, for example, to implement the “benevolent government” that Confucius said? For another example, don’t do anything like Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and Literary Prison. Don’t think about controlling everything and letting the world revolve around you alone. You also give people a little freedom and give them a breathing space. , to give society a little bit of energy… wait, wouldn’t it be better? Why don’t they do it?
If a person has an idea, he will always think about it unconsciously. As a result, when I read about history books, I always subconsciously want to find an answer for that idea. I didn’t expect the answer to be found by me! Where did you find it? I found it from what we call “history”. Specifically, I found the answer from the actions of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di.
What is this actually looking for? The answer is there, for thousands of years.
2
When Zhu Yuanzhang participated in the revolution, the Yuan Dynasty, like all dynasties in history that “reincarnated” and was about to collapse, had been rotten and precarious by the emperor himself and the huge interest groups around him. The situation where the left support is weak and the right is about to be unsustainable, on the contrary, it provides the bottom-level peasants with no way to survive, just like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang 1,600 years ago, they shouted: “The prince will be Xiang Ning. There is something!” He rose up and created a rebellion against the imperial court. People who have never been their own masters will become masters again. The fire of the peasant uprising quickly formed a prairie prairie. Zhu Yuanzhang seized this opportunity.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s participation in the revolution was not due to the propaganda of some kind of doctrine, so his blood was stirred up, “to fight for the truth”, “to save my thousands of suffering compatriots from water and fire”, not like this, at least in This is not the case in the historical description. He took this road only when he had no other way to go than to find a bowl of rice in the revolutionary ranks. For this, Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not avoid it, or he could not avoid it, and could not describe himself as a person who had the ambition to save thousands of people from water and fire since he was a child. Later, he personally wrote “The Tomb of the Emperor”, describing the situation and mood at that time——
In Russia, natural disasters are prevalent, and family members suffer. The imperial examination finally took four out of sixty, and nine out of fifty the imperial concubine died. Brother Meng died first, and the family was in mourning. The owner of the land does not care about me, and he shouts loudly, neither with the land, nor the neighbors are melancholy. Hu Yi brother’s generosity, benefit this yellow soil. Funeral without a coffin, the body is bad clothes. Floating cover three feet, laying He Yaojing. After the burial, the family panicked. Brother Zhong is young and weak and has no livelihood. Sister-in-law Meng and her young children returned to their hometown. When there is no rain, the locusts are soaring. The local people lack food, and the grass and trees are the food. I also have, I am mad. It is a plan with my brother, how is it always. Brother Yun goes here, and every time is fierce. My brother cried for me and hurt for my brother. In the daytime of the emperor, weeping and breaking my brother’s intestines. Brothers on a different road, mournful and distant. After two months of residence, the temple owner closed the warehouse. Everyone has their own plans, and the clouds and water are flying. I have nothing to do with anything. Rely on personal humiliation, looking up to the sky. Neither can be relied on, but the shadow of the companion will be the general. Sudden toward the smoke and rushed forward, at dusk to cast the ancient temple to tend to stagger. Looking up at the cliff Cui Wei and leaning on Bi, listening to the ape crowing at the night moon is desolate. The soul is wandering and looking for parents without it, and the ambition is despairing and feigned. The west wind roars, and Russia rustles with flying frost. The body is like a gust of wind, and the heart is boiling with boiling soup. A cloud is almost three years old, and he is twenty years old and strong.
It’s really miserable.
At that time, there were many separatist regimes in the southern provinces of China, the birthplace of the revolution, and the strongest faction was the famous Red Turban Army. The Red Turban Army belongs to the category of “peasant uprising” in our historical narrative, and it has an absolutely positive image. In fact, the Red Turban Army is divided into many branches, and not all the participants are “peasants”. At that time, there was a landlord named Guo Zixing in Dingyuan, Anhui, who felt that the situation was good, so he also started chaos. Rich and powerful people are easy to form political forces. As a result, this man who can be called “tyrant” responded to every call, quickly gathered thousands of peasants, and captured Hao on a dark night. In the prefecture (now northeast of Fengyang County, Anhui Province), the state officials were killed and the land was designated as the king, which is what we call the establishment of a revolutionary base today. People who had never had power or power gathered together, got rid of the oppression and plundering of the government, suddenly had food to eat, and even had wine to drink, so they all said that it was good, the more and more peasants were attached, the more and more Guo Zixing’s power became. bigger.
Among these dependent peasants, there were several fellow villagers of Zhu Yuanzhang who had escaped very early. They also came to this path because they could not survive. Among these fellow villagers, there is Tang He, a cattle herding partner who lives on the same street as Zhu Yuanzhang. This person later became Zhu Yuanzhang’s main comrade-in-arms in fighting the country, and was a famous war general and founding father of the Ming Dynasty. Tang Heshi sent letters to Zhu Yuanzhang, always encouraging him to say, “Come on too! It’s better than starving to death!” Previously, due to natural disasters (plagues) and man-made disasters (wars and landowner exploitation), Zhu Yuanzhang’s family was hungry. Starving to death, dying of illness, almost extinct, it is light to say that “being in a desperate situation” is simply stepping into a dead place. When Tang He sent him a message saying hello to join the revolution, he was devoting himself to be a monk in a temple called “Huangjue Temple” near his hometown Gushan Village in Fengyang, Anhui Province. He felt that he would not starve to death for a while. So I can’t make up my mind yet.
Under the siege of various Red Turbans, the Yuan army retreated steadily. In order to cope with the accountability of the court, the defeated army did something that lacked the virtue of eight generations of ancestors, that is, arresting ordinary people and pretending to be prisoners of the Red Turban Army. Covering up their defeats from the imperial court, on the other hand, they also use this method to repay their merits and ask for rewards. The fate of these “captives” can be imagined. Zhu Yuanzhang thought that if he continued to be a monk in Huangjue Temple, even if he didn’t starve to death, he would be taken as a “captive” by the Yuan army sooner or later, and he would eventually have to lose his life. At this time, the Yuan army set a fire and burned the Huangjue Temple to a white ground. Zhu Yuanzhang, who was desperate, finally gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and resolutely defected to Guo Zixing.
This is the twelfth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1352), when Zhu Yuanzhang was twenty-five years old.
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When Zhu Yuanzhang was a monk, he once traveled to Anhui, Henan and other places as a beggar to seek alms. For more than three years, it can be said that he has seen many things in the world. This tall young man has a broad vision and a certain wealth. He also showed extraordinary bravery and talent in fighting. This may be because he quickly won the appreciation and trust of Guo Zixing and found a good position for himself. And the main reason for quickly marrying the adopted daughter of Guo Zixing, who later became “Queen Ma”. In short, he made rapid progress in the revolutionary family and became an outstanding member of the revolutionary ranks with firm will.
Tens of thousands of peasants participated in the revolution. In the separatist regime, some people hurriedly established a small court and became the “emperor” in person, although these so-called “emperors” were in various forces – not only the imperial court army. ——Basically, in the contest of one and the other, they are all short-lived. Among all these people, why was Zhu Yuanzhang the only one who became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty who unified the whole country? In fact, it is related to its open-mindedness, vision, courage, wisdom and calmness. After becoming the emperor, he did not shy away from the poverty of his background and family affairs. Unlike many guys who became emperors in history, he tried every means to set himself as a “god”, and simply stopped being a son of a man, but a god. The son went, which is quite valuable. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also had similar thoughts when he became emperor. For example, he wanted to be his ancestor Zhu Xi, an inquirer from Southern Song University who was born in Youxi County, Nanjianzhou, Fujian Road (now Youxi County, Sanming City, Fujian Province). In the end, even he himself felt that this kind of clinging was meaningless, but he would be ridiculed by others, so he simply stopped avoiding his poor background, compared himself to Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and constantly emphasized that he was “I am a commoner of Huai right” and “Jiang Jiang”. Zuo Buyi”, “from humble beginnings”, “from Tian Mu”, he is a hero of the world, so he has single-handedly conquered this great country.
Despite this, we still have reasons to say that Zhu Yuanzhang was a normal person in the early days of participating in the revolution. Whether it was to eat enough or to get a better position under Guo Zixing, they were all within the normal needs of normal people. There’s something out of the ordinary here, and there’s nothing to blame. What about Zhu Di, the son of Zhu Yuanzhang’s “Second Red Generation”? I think it is also normal: in order to eliminate the threat of uncles to the throne he finally won, Emperor Jianwen killed them in the name of cutting the vassal, and even more so to his fourth uncle, Zhu Di, the vassal king with the strongest military strength. Step by step, tighten the noose a little bit, Zhu Di will lose his head, or he will lose his head if he doesn’t, why not? So Zhu Di, like his father, also reversed. The difference is that his father is against the court of another family, and he is against the court of the Zhu family. Therefore, Chinese people who believe in the “orthodox” concept have some criticisms of Zhu Di’s “usurpation”. That’s too much, I’m not willing to give him the evaluation of “brilliant talent”. In fact – at least that’s what I think – in terms of historical merit, Zhu Di, who has done a lot of great things in the annals of history, can bear the weight of the words “heroic talent and big strategy”.
The amazing thing is that Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di both started their careers by “rebel”, but they both achieved success in gaining the throne; what’s even more amazing is that after this pair of father and son with very similar personalities took the throne, they both changed at this moment. Another person, at least in terms of indiscriminately killing heroes, engaging in literary prisons and spy rule, has become a terrifying devil… But what is going on? What exactly is at work here?
My answer is: it is imperial power, the absoluteness and self-interest of imperial power that is so extreme that it is pathological.
Why is it called “the absolute and self-interested nature of imperial power so extreme that it is pathological”? To put it bluntly, it means to monopolize power, to monopolize power, to be the only force above everyone. In this state of mind, the fear of losing power is derived from it, which is almost a matter of course. It is precisely because of its supremacy that this fear of the emperors cannot be imagined by ordinary people, so it is often deformed and abnormal. “It’s too cold at a high place.” For more than 2,000 years, hundreds of emperors have passed by like a revolving lantern in China. Which one has not enjoyed the supreme honor of the throne, and which one has not experienced the extreme fear of losing the throne? Which one has not made a murderous attempt to maintain the imperial power? ! The so-called “court politics”, to put it bluntly, is the national politics in which the imperial power has not been constrained by the mechanism of separation of powers, and the absoluteness and self-interest of the imperial power have not been restricted by any restrictions. We say “the logic of imperial power”, the core of which is The core of the essence, the essence of the essence, is here!
In order to monopolize—the political expression is dictatorship—power, the emperor had to be especially careful if anyone threatened his imperial power, and if there was, or seemed to be, he would definitely kill. Such dramas have been staged repeatedly in China’s thousands of years of history. The efforts of the emperors of all dynasties to prevent the fall of power are no less than the efforts he made to govern the world. If we don’t talk about the merits and demerits of the emperors, we even have reason to believe that the emperors, whether they are the masters of the emperor or the emperors who are ignorant, have devoted all their life force to the issue of safeguarding the imperial power. things you want. This is precisely determined by the absoluteness and self-interest of imperial power.
It is worth noting that when the emperor is removing dissidents and eliminating threats to power, he usually does not publicly say: “Yah threatened my power, so I want to kill him.” He would not say that. On the contrary, he often used a high-sounding banner to cover up his true intentions. It seemed that all those blows and killings were for the benefit of the country, society, and the well-being of the people. Throughout the ages, the reason why history has not been so transparent is because such a seemingly gentle veil has always been covered on top of it.
For example, Zhu Yuanzhang killed the prime minister Hu Weiyong.
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Should Hu Weiyong be killed or not? Maybe it should be killed, maybe it should not be killed, it depends on which angle it is said.
Since ancient times, imperial power and state power have been a pair of unresolved contradictions. When the time is good – often reflected in the monarch is a measured and understandable person, not incompetent, small-bellied, “dogs take eight shit”, morbidly greedy for power – mutual accountability and power are clear, and there is nothing wrong with each other; bad When the time comes, you will fight to the death and die, the waves will be turbulent, and the world will change color. In the political and cultural environment of “under the whole world, is it the king’s land; leading the shore of the land, is it not the king’s ministers”, the imperial power, of course, has an absolute advantage over the prime minister. Therefore, in history, the result of the struggle is often the prime minister. It is weakened again and again, and this weakening is often accompanied by the rough fate of the prime minister or the prime minister, and even the loss of life. If nothing else, just how many prime ministers were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di alone! Therefore, it is by no means alarmist to say that the prime minister or prime minister is a high-risk occupation.
Scholars Yang Hongnian and Ouyang Xin have summed up the evolution of China’s prime minister system and its relationship with the rise and fall of monarchical power. They believe that the development of China’s prime minister system can be divided into three periods. , the prime minister can let go of things. Although the monarchy and the prime minister have contradictory aspects, they also cooperate with each other. The so-called ‘the emperor envoys his ministers with courtesy, and the ministers serve the king with loyalty’ is the guiding principle in this period. This is a real prime minister. During the period, there were many ‘sage kings and worthy prime ministers’ who did good deeds for the country and the people. The prime ministers during this period could play the role of truly assisting the emperor. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the rise of Shangshu, as for the Sui and Tang Dynasties, developed into a three-province system. The chiefs of the three provinces interact with each other. There are checks and balances, decision-making in the middle of the book, deliberation under the door, and execution in the document; but also discuss the state affairs together, forming a system of prime ministers with a collegial system. The power of the prime minister further contradicts the power of the monarch, which is characterized by the expansion of the power of the monarchy and the weakening of the power of the prime minister, but the prime minister still plays a certain role in the emperor. This is the second stage of the development of the prime minister system. Since the Song Dynasty, the emperor has concentrated all power, and the monarch’s power has expanded infinitely. Dare to serve, but also unable to deal with military affairs, can only retreat to take the job of ‘voting’ This period.” (quoted from Zhang Boshu’s commentary on “The Structural Characteristics of Chinese Imperial Authoritarian Society”. Yang Hongnian and Ouyang Xin: “History of Chinese Political System”, Anhui Education Press, 1989 edition)
It can be seen that the prime minister system is gradually declining under the step-by-step suppression of the imperial power. Although the above two gentlemen did not specifically point out what happened during the reign of Dai Hongwu, we all know that the political system of China’s totalitarian autocracy developed to its peak in these two dynasties. As the most ruthless dictator in history, Zhu Yuanzhang is more Other emperors in history were more sensitive to whether the imperial power was invaded by others, and were more alert to whether there were other people sleeping secretly beside the couch. Therefore, from the day when Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he began to investigate the office of the prime minister, Zhongshusheng, which was inherited from the Yuan Dynasty. Modifications, restrictions, until finally outlawed. Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not only thoughtful, he was also a very cruel emperor, so the Hongwu Dynasty had a bloody Hu Weiyong case.
Mr. Wu Han wrote “The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang”, and he changed his drafts several times. He was affected by the political situation in different periods. In the 1960s, when Wu Han revised the final draft of this book, he, like all academic researchers, followed the reality at that time that “class struggle is the only way to explain all historical phenomena”, so he was explaining Zhu Yuanzhang’s When it comes to the phenomenon, it seems to us today that there are some dogmas and biases, and some of the language seems uncomfortable and unconvincing. However, I think Mr. Wu Han’s writing about the whole story of Hu Weiyong’s case is unique. He is different from everyone else. He listed several famous cases of Hongwu Dynasty in the “Internal Contradictions of the Ruling Group” to narrate. The literature, especially the interpretation of “The History of the Ming Dynasty Hu Weiyong Biography”, correctly emphasizes what should be emphasized—
“At that time, Zhongshu Shengzong was in charge of the country’s major affairs, and the prime minister had the power to decide all the common affairs, commanded hundreds of officials, and was only responsible to the emperor. Before Hu Weiyong, the prime minister Li Shanchang was cautious, Xu Da often commanded the army outside, and the conflict with Zhu Yuanzhang still lingered. It’s not obvious… Hu Weiyong has been in Zhongshu Province for the longest time and has the most power, which has made Yuanzhang feel that his power has fallen by the wayside and is very unhappy, especially when he offends the condemned heroes Lu Zhongheng, Hou Fei Judu and Weiyong. The military aristocracy and the political leaders of the court combined, and the conflict with Zhu Yuanzhang became more serious. Zhu Yuanzhang directly commanded the army and the school, and was determined to eliminate this confidant. The opportunity abolished the Zhongshu Province, and the emperor directly managed the country’s political affairs, and established laws and regulations, and the office of prime minister is not allowed to be established in the future.” Mr. Wu Han dug into Zhu Yuanzhang’s mind and hit the key point of Zhu Yuanzhang.
And then what? “Since the resignation of the prime minister, the government, ministries, academies, and divisions have been in charge of general affairs. The purpose is to disperse power. “Don’t dare to oppress each other.” “Everything is in the court.” No longer afraid of losing power.” From the emperor’s point of view, this is of course good, but another consequence it has caused is, “Zhongshu Province takes full control of the political power, and once the emperor himself manages the subordinate government, it is a feudal autocracy. Since then, the regime of the emperor has become more concentrated, concentrated in the hands of one person, and the emperor has become a dictator who oversees everything.” (The above quotations are all from Wu Han’s “Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang”, Sanlian Publishing, 1965)
From the point of view of imperial power, being a dictator rather than an emperor in a general sense is obviously a very pleasant thing. I want to continue this great situation from generation to generation. In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), that is, three years before Zhu Yuanzhang’s death, “Shangyu Fengtianmen decreed the civil and military ministers, saying: . . . The Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties died because of it. Although there were virtuous ministers in the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, most of the people who used them were villains who dictated the government and disrupted the government. My dynasty dismissed the ministers, and set up five government offices, six ministries, the Ducha Yuan, the General Administration Department, and Dali. The temples and other yamen are divided into the common affairs of the world, and they do not dare to oppress each other. Everything is in the court, so they are stable. Later, the heirs will not be allowed to set up prime ministers. Punishment.” (“Ming Taizu Records, Volume 239”)
But whether this matter is really as good as he said remains to be seen.
5
Politics carried out according to the logic of imperial power must have the color of violent politics.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a saying that “the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden; the cunning rabbits die, the lackeys cook”. It was Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who really turned this saying into a real historical event. The precedent of generals, such as Han Xin. Han Xin has made great achievements. It can even be said that without Han Xin, Liu Bang’s foundation would not have been established. Because of this, after Liu Bang became emperor, it originated from “the logic of imperial power”, and he was especially alert to Han Xin’s power. This kind of psychology can be understood. for an instinctive fear. In order to eliminate this fear, Liu Bang first changed the title of Han Xin, who was the king of Qi at the time, to the king of Chu, and sent him to a far away place, and then someone reported it “in due time” – under the conditions of imperial autocracy, “explaining” “Report” and the like are completely random Pediatric activities – Han Xin’s “rebellion”, Liu Bang then naturally demoted him to “Huaiyin Hou”, which is equivalent to cutting off Han Xin’s wings and making him incapable of any resistance. Common people. Liu Bang didn’t kill Han Xin with his own hands. In this respect, compared to the later Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, he seemed to be gentle. However, Han Xin was eventually tricked into Changle Palace by Queen Lu Zhi and killed. Is there anything here? Liu Bang’s instigation is very doubtful. It is said that before his execution, Han Xin sighed, “The cunning rabbit dies, the lackey cooks; the birds are exhausted, the good bow is hidden; the enemy country is broken, and the counselor perishes”. , that is: when the imperial power does what the imperial power can do according to the logic of the imperial power, it can be barbaric to the limitless.
However, like the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, they developed violent politics to the extreme, killing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of people in political actions that were not military operations, which is still unique in Chinese history. In other words, the imperial power’s maintenance of imperial power was extremely brutal and bloody in most cases, and in the hands of the murderous Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, it developed to the extreme, and evolved into “millions of people falling to the ground”. A major political disaster on a national scale.
From the beginning of the Hu Weiyong case, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that it was a convenient weapon to be used against political dissidents, so he expanded the case indefinitely, arbitrarily arranging charges, raiding his house and executing him at every turn, “killing one person is killing the whole family”. In this case, Zhu Yuanzhang killed 30,000 to 60,000 people on direct and indirect charges of treason.
Mr. Wu Han compiled a “Zhu Yuanzhang Chronology”, we can see this record from the emperor’s chronicle: “In the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), Liu Ji (Liu Bowen) was poisoned”; In the thirteenth year (1380), Hu Weiyong, the prime minister of the left, was executed for taking advantage of his power, and many people died in his party.” In 1384), Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong was poisoned”; “In the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385), Cao Guogong Xu Da was poisoned to death, and Guo Huan, the servant of the household, was executed for stealing official food, and tens of thousands of people died”; “In the 23rd year of Hongwu (1390), the case of Hu Weiyong, the Korean prince Li Shanchang, was committed, and many people were implicated in the death.” In the seventeenth year (1394), the Duke of Ying, Fu Youde, was put to death.”
Did you see it? Those who participated in the revolution with the desire not to be starved to death in their youth have already definitely turned to their opposites. Since the day they became emperor, they have been killing people almost every day (there are a lot of bloody records in relevant historical books, I will (I won’t list them all here), this is not even explained by the self-interested logic of imperial power. We can only say that the devil is in the world, in the Golden Palace, sitting on the throne of the emperor, and being surrounded by The hearts of the man whose people are shouting long live; as long as the imperial power is the only one in the world, no one can challenge it, and the gods of death will always roam the palace at every moment. Only by lifting the veil of court politics can you truly appreciate what power is evil; only then can you know that under certain conditions, people cannot become demons, but people themselves are demons.
Zhu Di took it to the next level. He killed more people than his father, and the methods were even more cruel. There were many people who even slaughtered with his knife in front of the ministers in the palace, seeing the horror that made the scalp numb. description, I really doubt that this person has a bloodthirsty nature in his bones that brought him to the supremacy of the throne – of course, I don’t really think so, I just say that when the imperial power When unchecked, it is indeed the most brutal and terrifying thing in the world. Why have humans been alert to imperial power for thousands of years? Why are you thinking so hard about how to limit power? It is because the disasters they bring to mankind are too heavy!
It is particularly noteworthy that the father and son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di killed almost all the pillars of the country, who were politically a potential threat to his imperial power. Are these people all corrupt and corrupt, as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di said in their indictments, and they are corrupt and depraved in fish and meat villages. We have no way of verifying them. We just need to remember that both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di are all afraid of these people, so they are all taken away. Killed, our thinking must follow them, follow the “logic of imperial power”.
For example, Li Shanchang was the first hero who followed Zhu Yuanzhang’s life to the death, and won Zhu Yuanzhang’s trust. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed him as the Prime Minister of the Left. In the third year of Hongwu (1370), he was awarded the title of “Founding Auxiliary Transport and Pushing Honesty and Honesty”, and was promoted to Doctor Guanglu, Zuo Zhuguo, Taishi, and Zhongshu Zuo Prime Minister. , hereditary descendants, can be described as a very personable minister. It was such a loyal founding veteran who fought and ruled the world for Zhu Yuanzhang, who did not escape Zhu Yuanzhang’s suspicion and hatred. In the 23rd year of Hongwu (1390), ten years after the Hu Weiyong case, he was investigated by Hu Weiyong’s party. More than 70 wives, daughters, brothers and nephews were executed at the same time. Li Shanchang was already 77 years old at the time, and he was very old. Tang He, who greeted Zhu Yuanzhang to participate in the revolution, understood that this old friend was alert to the minds of all heroes and veterans, so he offered to hand over all his powers and return to his hometown.
Another example is the large-scale slaughter of Jianwen’s old officials by Zhu Di, which I have repeatedly mentioned in the first two reading notes. On the surface, this seems to be just out of revenge. For example, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng did instruct the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen to guard against the King of Yan. During the encirclement and suppression, Fang Xiaoru did help Zhu Yunwen to draft all the crusade against the King of Yan, and made a lot of bad tactics for Zhu Yunwen to contain and eliminate the King of Yan. However, if we study carefully, we can still directly deduce the self-interested logic of imperial power: On the one hand, Zhu Di did have the intention of revenge, but on the other hand, out of his awareness of the self-interest of imperial power, he must put his political enemies to death. They rebel against his chance. After the change of Jinchuanmen, Zhu Yunwen “didn’t know where he was going to end”. He didn’t see anyone alive, and he didn’t see a corpse when he died, so he became a big part of Zhu Di’s heart disease. He went to the Western Ocean with the intention of looking for Emperor Jianwen. It can be seen to what extent the emperor’s self-interested logic stemmed from imperial power to dissident political forces!
To sum up, it can be seen how bad the country’s political ecology was at that time!
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So, how did things get like this? I can’t answer, let me ask some insightful scholars to explain this matter!
Mr. Zhang Boshu pointed out as early as more than ten years ago that since the Qin Dynasty, imperial rule in China has always been of a supreme nature. The so-called “within the Liuhe, the emperor’s land”, “wherever people go, there is no one who is not a minister”, this and the earlier “under the whole world, is it the king’s land; leading the land, is it not the king’s ministers” in cognition. exactly the same. Although Xunzi once said, “Follow the Tao and not the monarch,” Chinese political wisdom has never produced a system design based on different legitimacy that effectively restricts the monarch’s power. In the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu explained the imperial power with the “relationship between heaven and man”, which made the imperial power more mysterious. No matter what the original motives of the Han thinker were, the practical significance of his claim to the authority of the emperor is to promote the formation of the “four-in-one” tradition of heaven, Tao, sage and king in Chinese culture. Within this tradition, the criticism of tyrants is not a denial of imperial power, but a foil and expectation for the monarch and the holy master. (Zhang Boshu: “Structural Characteristics of Chinese Imperial Authoritarian Society”, 2006)
Since Mr. Xunzi’s belief of “following the Tao, not the monarch” could not effectively catalyze some kind of general social consciousness of restricting imperial power, since what Mr. Dong Zhongshu preached through his theory was only some cheap “to the Mingjun and the Holy Master”. We can only say that there are too many things in traditional Chinese culture that put pressure on us. Under such ecological conditions, it is difficult for you to expect violent ideological and social movements like the Renaissance. Yes, this means that you will not be able to put the imperial power in the position of “effectively restricting the sovereign power”, you can’t. It is precisely because of this that for thousands of years, the imperial power has still run wild on our land like a wild beast, and has been running to the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties we are talking about, and has been strengthened more comprehensively during this period, adding more Divine power that is more difficult to control… Is history moving forward or backward?
Trance, we are just a little bit in a trance.
Mr. Liu Zehua, a famous historian, pointed out: “The most basic feature of an autocratic monarchy is that the monarch is one-man dictatorship. Although the pre-Qin thinkers made countless beautiful requests to the monarch, they deeply hoped that the monarch would listen to his advice humbly; or be generous. The statement angrily denounced tyrants, fooled monarchs, and even proposed ‘revolution’, but no one doubted the absolute monarchy, on the contrary, the fervent hope and fierce criticism of the monarchy combined to promote and strengthen the absolute monarchy.” A thought-provoking fact related to this is: “Generally speaking, the contention of a hundred schools of thought always promotes each other with freedom of thought and social democracy. But turning the page of the Warring States Period, we will find an eye-popping phenomenon: the result of contention It is not the development of political democracy and the activation of democratic thought, but on the contrary, it has greatly promoted the development and completeness of the theory of absolute monarchy.” (Quoted from Zhang Boshu’s commentary on “The Structural Characteristics of Chinese Imperial Authoritarian Society”. Liu Zehua: “China The Kingship of Kings”, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2000)
Some people may not fully agree with Mr. Liu Zehua’s point of view, but the fact is that we cannot deny the fact that Mr. Liu Zehua testified, that is: no matter what kind of “ideological movement” experienced in this extremely hard land, the result is The same: “It is not the development of political democracy and the activation of democratic thought, but on the contrary, it has greatly promoted the development and perfection of the theory of absolute monarchy.”
This is no longer a problem that makes us trance, we are just a little scared!
在同一篇文章的注释中，张博树先生还引用《资本论》译者王亚南对中国专制政体中皇权与官僚机构利益上的联姻关系所做的阐释：“中国帝王的政治经济权力，一方面使他扮演为地主的大头目，另一方面又扮演为官僚的大头目，而他以下的各种各色的官僚、士大夫，则又无异是一些分别利用政治权势侵渔人民的小皇帝。官僚士大夫们假托圣人之言，创立朝仪，制作律令，帮同把大皇帝的绝对支配权力建树起来，他们就好像围绕在鲨鱼周围的小鱼，靠着鲨鱼的分泌物而生活一样，这绝对支配权力愈神圣、愈牢固，他们托庇它、依傍它而保持的小皇帝的地位，也就愈不可侵犯和动摇了。”（王亚南《中国官僚政治研究》，中国社会科学出版社1981年版，页61）朱元璋、朱棣用残暴手段屠杀朝臣，包括后来创立锦衣卫和东厂，其全部目的，无非是建立起一个稳定的权势架构，使皇权更有根基，更安全，也更有统治效率。
朱元璋、朱棣的确是做到了。然而这一切，不好意思，我们不得不说，在与浩浩荡荡的世界潮流的对比中，却始终都是一股逆流——用俗话说，就是“倒退的潮流”，就是“逆历史潮流而动”。
历史，说复杂也复杂，说简单其实也简单——某种意义上，数百年以来的人类进步，不就是体现在把这些“神”拉下神坛，将丫还原成为不再具有从精神上奴役人的资格的肉眼凡胎上的么？我们甚至可以说，凡是把自己说成有神性——江湖上所谓的“武功盖世”——的人，都是骗人的家伙，与李洪志、王林之类的江湖骗子没有什么本质上的不同，不同点仅仅在于，江湖骗子不过是装神弄鬼骗吃骗喝而已，而那个被称之为“皇帝”的家伙，则是在折磨江山社稷，折磨他治下的人民。
7
现在我们再回到朱元璋取消中书省，废除丞相制这件事上来。
既然朱元璋信誓旦旦说“我朝罢相，设五府、六部、都察院、通政司、大理寺等衙门，分理天下庶务，彼此颉颃，不敢相压，事皆朝廷总之，所以稳当。”并且警告后人“以后嗣君并不许立丞相，臣下敢有奏请设立者，文武群臣即时劾奏，处以重刑。”那么，他一定认为他所做的决定是开创性、历史性的正确决定。朱元璋认为正确的事情，究竟是不是真的正确，我们从现实（当时）和历史两个角度来思考和评判。
就现实来说，朱元璋从农民起义起家，历经艰苦卓绝的战争，终于推翻元朝蒙汉地主阶级的统治，结束了长期战乱，国家归为一统，社会逐渐稳定，社会生产力包括工商业都得到释放和发展，老百姓过上了比以往好得多的生活，这当然是好事，我们不能忘记这位皇帝为他所拥有的江山社稷所做的贡献，我们甚至可以说，不能忘记这位具有雄才大略的封建帝王为中国所做的无与伦比的贡献。
然而从历史的角度看，这位处心积虑独揽政权并且热心于制度建设的独裁者，却也给后世留下了绝对可以称之为“负资产”的东西，这种东西，便是我们平时所指陈的封建专制主义——经由朱元璋之手，中国的封建专制主义野蛮生长，根系变得愈加粗大，在中国这块非常适宜其生长的土地上，它的根系也扎得更深了，以至于此后六七百年间，在西方世界“一座座火山爆发，一顶顶皇冠落地”，经过与文艺复兴运动——其发端与朱元璋、朱棣父子创建的洪武朝、永乐朝几乎同时代——大规模进入现当代社会，从来都是被皇权遮蔽的晦暗天空，终于有了“人”的旗帜的光耀挥舞，尤其是工业革命以后，社会生产力得到爆炸性发展，中国却在自己所选择的道路上走得格外辛苦，格外艰难。拥有五千年文明史的中国，竟然在长达五千年的历史进程中始终无法驯服权力，这究竟是悲哀呢？还是宿命呢？到了清末，作为这个世界上最勤劳、最智慧、最富于创造力的中华民族，竟然羸弱到无法自立于世界民族之林，不断地遭受西方列强的凌辱蹂躏，不断地割地赔款，不断地丧权辱国的地步。这是一部让我们的心流血的历史。
是的，我们从朱元璋和朱棣身上的确看到了雄才伟略，他们也确曾把中国社会生产力提升到全世界最高，在他们身后，甚至还出现了人们津津乐道的所谓“康乾盛世”，然而这一切是以什么作为代价才出现在历史之中的呢？我们还是以朱元璋、朱棣所拥有的那个时代作为基点来谈论这件事情吧！
恩格斯在评价当时的中国人完全不知道的文艺复兴运动时，曾经动情地指出：“这是一次人类从来没有经历过的最伟大的、进步的变革，是一个需要巨人而且产生了巨人——在思维能力、热情和性格方面，在多才多艺和学识渊博方面的巨人的时代。 ”（《马克思恩格斯选集》，第三卷，第445页）不幸的是，在我们这里，也正是因为我们拥有了一两个雄才大略的帝王，我们才失去了经历“最伟大的、进步的变革”的机会，失去了一个“需要巨人而且产生巨人”的机会，失去了“在思维能力、热情和性格方面，在多才多艺和学识渊博方面”产生巨人的机会……这是多么巨大的反差啊！
虽然历史不能假设，然而为了安妥我们颇不平静的心灵，我们还是在这里做一次假设吧！
如果洪武、永乐两朝的人民视野开阔，看得到地球另一端发生的事情；如果他们先知先觉，预料得到后面数百年间在世界范围之内产生的沧桑巨变，他们将会做何感想呢？我们还可以更大胆一些，假设：如果让他们进行选择，他们是选择明主所创造的盛世，还是选择“人类从来没有经历过的最伟大的、进步的变革”呢？是选择具有雄才大略的一代君王横空出世，还是选择由于“需要巨人而且产生巨人”——不仅仅是皇权统治术，更有哲学、历史、文学、艺术、科学、技术的全面蓬勃发展——的伟大历史机缘呢？是选择“以一人制天下，而天下无法制一人”的政治机理下的“朕即天下”，还是选择“在思维能力、热情和性格方面，在多才多艺和学识渊博方面”的人才辈出呢？
我想，答案应当是不言而喻的吧？
2022-6-6
此文《皇权的逻辑》（2022-6-6）为“读史札记”中的第三篇，前两篇是《想起了方孝孺》（2022-5-5））、《道衍之道》（2022-5-16），下一篇为《致敬靖难之役中的中国军人》，敬请喜欢的读者关注。
陈行之谨启
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