Ming Shi: Is the system of court staffs set up by Zhu Yuanzhang pros or cons?
preface
"The treatment of the incorrigible is easier, and the execution is less sinful than keeping him alive, for they will certainly become worse people when they live."
▲Ting cane Jinyi Wei (stills)
cause
After Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne, in order to strengthen the imperial power, he created a system of court staffs to punish officials who violated discipline.
▲The Minister of the Court Staff (stills)
outcome
Successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty continued to use the scepter system created by Zhu Yuanzhang, and punished contemporary ministers accordingly, although they could strengthen the imperial power, they greatly insulted the dignity of the Ming dynasty scholars.
▲The Ming court staff system
disposal
1. The first person to receive the staff
Ru Taisu, the chief of the Punishment Department, was Zhu Yuanzhang's first official of the court staff, and from then on, the court staff system was used by successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Speaking of Ru Taisu, his point is also enough to back, a year ago Ru Taisu was still a servant of the Punishment Department, only because he had a friendship with a corrupt official, he was implicated and was demoted to the head of the Punishment Department.
Although the official position was demoted several levels in a row, Ru Taisu did not seem to be greatly affected and still worked day and night. As the saying goes, the blessing is incomparable to the misfortune, and it was not long before trouble found him again. No matter how big an official Ru Taisu was, he had the habit of advising the imperial court, and once he said that the imperial court had misused people in recent years, could not retain real talents, and appointed eunuchs.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious after listening to it, combined with the fact that Ru Taisu had just been degraded, thinking that Ru Taisu was saying that he himself could not be reused, and satirizing the emperor that he would not use people, and in a fit of anger, he tied Ru Taisu to the outside of the noon gate with a court staff.
▲Ru Taisu (stills)
2. The cause of the cane rutaisu
Taishi Ling Liu Bowen once suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang cancel the court staff, and the ancients could not be disgraced, and tied people to the public and beaten with a stick, which was impossible to hang on to the face of an individual, let alone a minister in the middle of the court. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Liu Bowen's words were reasonable, but Tingjian Ru Taisu also had his reasons.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang had just ascended the throne, and he was still on a stable footing, and if he wanted to consolidate the imperial power, he needed to have the domineering spirit of the king, and any decision he made had to be said to be one-sided, and he could not let the courtiers point fingers and feet.
The day after Ru Taisu was beaten, Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Ru Taisu's advice again, and thought that ru Taisu had some truth in what he said. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang publicized Ru Taisu's recital to the dynasty, which was considered to be a compensation for Ru Taisu.
▲Rutaisu
3. The first person to be killed by a staff
Although Ru Taisu was beaten, he finally won the affirmation of Zhu Yuanzhang, even if he was not beaten in vain, but Xue Xiang, who was also a minister of the court, was not so lucky. Compared with Ru Taisu, Xue Xiang was completely wronged, when the Imperial History of the DPRK impeached Guo Huan, the servant of the Household Department, saying that he had colluded with the OFFICIALS of the DPRK to secretly sell official grain.
After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang became angry and ordered his subordinates to strictly investigate this matter, and all those involved in this matter should be arrested and severely punished. Many innocent officials were implicated in this incident, and Xue Xiang was one of them. Xue Xiang was one of the few Qing officials in the imperial court at that time, and he once managed the flood on the Huai River, which was unanimously praised by the local people.
After Xue Xiang was caught, he suffered several times from the court staff, sometimes the old wounds were not healed and new wounds were added, and under the successive court staffs, the body and mind suffered a double blow, and finally Xue Xiang was tragically killed by the stick.
▲Xue Xiang (stills)
4. The first wicked man to be staffed
If Xue Xiang's being killed was an unjust death, then Zhu Liangzu's being killed was a great pleasure. Zhu Liangzu was the founding general of the Ming Dynasty, and after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Liangzu was ordered to guard Guangdong, thinking that emperor Tiangao was far away in Guangdong, which could be described as doing no evil, which caused dissatisfaction with the county order, so the county order was played to the imperial court to report Zhu Liangzu's various evil deeds.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he learned of this, believing that it would be a big disaster in the future to allow Zhu Liangzu to continue to be wanton, so he sent someone to take Zhu Liangzu's military power and escort Zhu Liangzu to Beijing, and after announcing his crimes, he sentenced Zhu Liangzu to a court staff until he died.
▲Zhu Liangzu (stills)
5. The purpose of creating the cane system
Zhu Yuanzhang has successively punished Ru Taisu, Xue Xiang, and Zhu Liangzu with the court staff, although the crimes committed by the three people are light and heavy, but without exception, they have questioned the imperial power, and the real purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang's creation of the court staff is to make the ministers loyal to themselves and not to question themselves, otherwise the end will be very miserable.
Although at the end of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign as emperor, some people persuaded him to cancel the court staff, believing that it was a very degrading punishment, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored it and chose to continue to use it, which was later extended by the later emperors of the Ming Dynasty.
▲ The staff is used by future generations
brief summary
The punishment of the court staff is a double-edged sword, which can effectively restrain the words and deeds of the courtiers to the emperor and strengthen the position of the emperor in the court, and at the same time it also greatly reduces the status of the scholars in the court and hurts their personality.
【References】:
History of the Ming Dynasty
"Those Things of the Ming Dynasty"
"Detailed Explanation of the Dynasty"