The lucky people are a special kind of group of people in history. Sima Qian said: "Not only women are charming, but also eunuchs." In Sima Qian's eyes, the biggest feature of Yu Xingren was a "flattering" character, which could not only be charming like a woman, but also use words, deeds, skills, etc. to please the monarch, which was recorded in great detail in his "Biography of Yu Xinglie". This is inconsistent with the morality of the ancient Chinese traditional scholars, so later historians added the word "villain" after "Yu Xing" to make its praise and derogatory meaning clearer. The first step in the study of the lucky person should be to know what kind of talent is the lucky person, so we must examine the literal meaning of "lucky".
First of all, let's take apart the word "Yu Xing" and see what "Yu" and "Lucky" mean respectively. The "Explanation of Words" says: "Yu, qiao stuffing high material also." From this explanation, we can see that "Yu" has two meanings: one is to have verbal skills to cater to the monarch and win the favor; the other is to have higher talents, that is, to be a skill in settling down and establishing a life.
The meaning of "lucky" is relatively simple, referring to being pampered. If the words "佞" and "幸" are combined, it is a compound word of the dynamic complement structure, "佞" is the central language of the word, indicating actions and behaviors, and "幸" supplements the effect of this action. The words "佞" and "幸" complement each other: "佞" is the method and way of "lucky", and "lucky" is the purpose that "You" expects to achieve.
Yu Xing and his special relationship with the magnates had already appeared before the Western Han Dynasty, such as Mi Zihui and Song Jun in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, Long Yangjun and Wei Wang, And Empress Zhao, the mother of Qin Shi Huang and Qin Shi Huang. In the Western Han Dynasty, there were also many yu fortunate, and they gained great favor because of their own hue or ability to make the emperor feel happy and psychologically dependent. The first time Tai Shi Gong passed on such people, especially the Western Han Dynasty," was the Biography of Yu Xinglie. Therefore, this article will take the "Biography of Yu Xinglie" as the starting point to explore the political influence and social roots of Yu Xing in the Western Han Dynasty.
First, the political influence of the Western Han Dynasty
The Western Han Dynasty relied on the abnormal political power conferred by the monarch, or monopolized huge economic wealth; or used administrative measures to influence the monarch; or interfered in harem affairs and inheritance issues; and even directly controlled the government himself and excluded dissidents. Tai Shi Gong recorded in the "History of Yu Xinglie" that Deng Tong, Han Yan, and Li Yannian were deeply valued politically as Yu Xingzhi. For example, Deng Tong served as a shangdafu for the sake of Yu Xing and obtained the right to mint coins himself; Han Yan served as a general because of Yu Xing, mastered the army and traveled in the Tianzi car; Li Yannian wore two thousand stone seals for the sake of Yu Xing and participated in the formulation of national ritual music. Sima Qian's "Biography of Yu Xing" is only the beginning of the political influence of Yu Xing in the Western Han Dynasty, and in the era after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Yu Xing's political influence has intensified, which is also a major drawback in the political situation of the entire Western Han Dynasty.
Yu Xing was able to directly intervene in the monarch's policy decisions, and due to the monarch's emotional super-intimate relationship with his beloved Yu Xing, it was reflected in the political importance attached to the opinions of the Yu Xing. Therefore, the Yu fortunate people can directly interfere in the policy decisions of the monarch for some political firsts, and because the monarch is emotionally intimacy with his beloved Yu Xing, it is reflected in the political importance of the opinions of the Yu Xing. Therefore, the lucky ones can often play a role in reversing some political decisions. For example, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han Gaozu and Hong Wei during the reign of Emperor Hui of Han, both of whom were extremely favored by the emperor, the ministers of the Gongqing often had to write to the emperor through these two people to convey their opinions:
To Hanxing, Gaozu to violent resistance, but the birth of the widow to Yu Xing; filial piety when there are Hong Wei. These two people are not capable of doing so, but they are gentle and noble, and they lie up, and the secretary of state is said because of Guan.
The Yu fortunate controlled the communication channels between the emperor and the ministers, and their political influence was self-evident. During the reign of Emperor Hui of Han, Zhu Jian, the Prince of Pingyuan, saved hou Of Yang from death by sparing him from capital punishment, and also relied on the strength of Yu Xing to turn the tide. Emperor Hui, enraged by Empress Lü's favor and intending to kill him, was unable to change Emperor Hui's decision, and Zhu Jian changed Emperor Hui's decision through Emperor Hui:
"[Zhu Jian] asked to see Xiao Hui's fortunate minister Hong Wei and said, 'Therefore, the emperor has been blessed, and the world will not hear of it.' Now the Empress Dowager Houxing of Peiyang is an official, and the roads are all slanderous and want to kill them. Today, the Marquis of Peiyang, the Empress Dowager of Danri, is angry and also curses the king. Why not be the Marquis of Peiyang and the Emperor? Emperor Tingjun was the Marquis of Peiyang, and the Empress Dowager daxiao. The two lords are blessed together, and the wealth of the king is multiplied. So Hong Wei was terrified, and from his plan, Emperor Yan, the result was the Marquis of Peiyang. ”
It can be seen that the political decisions of the monarchs of the early Han Dynasty were operational in the hands of Yu Xing, because their intimate relationship with the emperor made it easier for the emperor to accept their opinions, which was a political advantage that the foreign court ministers did not have.
And Yu Xing grasped the wealth power of a country that is rich and invincible, the so-called "country of ten thousand multiplications, can not be without the decoration of ten thousand gold; the country of a thousand multiplications, can not be without the decoration of a thousand gold; the country of a hundred multiplications, can not be without the decoration of a hundred gold." Guan Zhong's words profoundly pointed out the importance of economic wealth to a country, and currency is a direct embodiment of the meaning of economic wealth, and rich monetary and economic reserves are crucial to a country. However, Yu Xing was able to rely on the monarch's favor to seize a huge amount of wealth from the country's economic reserves, even to the point where he was rich enough to rival the country.
One of the most famous is Deng Tong during the han wen emperor period, when the han wen emperor because of the xiangshi said that Deng Tong had the appearance of starvation, emperor Wen actually gave Deng Tong the copper mountain of Shudi, allowing him to have the right to mint the currency himself, and Deng Tong was rich and invincible because of his own coinage. "Deng Tong, the doctor also, has forged money and money for the king." Therefore, Wu and Tang's Qianbu are in the world". Another private coinage was Liu Tao, the king of Wu of the clan, "who caused the outlaws of the world to steal money, boil seawater for salt, so that there was no endowment, and the country used it to be rich", he used the accumulated wealth to lay the material foundation for the future rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, and Deng Tong was fortunate to have an economic strength similar to that of the prince of the clan, which showed the weight of his power. Fortunately, Deng Tong had a cautious personality and did not dare to overstep it, and if he used this wealth to transport the prince and cultivate his henchmen, his power would be no less than that of Liu Tao, the king of Wu.
The amount of yuxing's wealth is also reflected in the extravagance of his life. The "Xijing Miscellaneous Records" recorded: "Han Yan is good at bullets, often using gold as a pill, and there are more than ten people who are lost, and Chang'an is known as 'bitter hunger and cold, chasing gold pills.'" 'Kyoshi children, every smell, every smell of Yan out of the bullet, followed by, look at the where the pill fell, and pick up the fire. Han Yan's extravagant behavior of flying gold like a stone with a slingshot is jaw-dropping, and at the same time, the side also reflects the huge wealth of Han Yan. Another Yu Xing Dongxian used the wealth rewarded by the emperor to decorate the mansion as luxurious as the imperial palace, "the pavilion is terraced, the turn is connected to the note, the mountain pond is played well, and the carving is exhausted."
It can be seen from this that Yu Xing relied on the monarch's favor to possess a large amount of national wealth, and lived a lavish life, such as Deng Tong, who even had the right to mint coins, which was a unique economic right of the government, which undoubtedly caused great harm to the country's financial and economic development.
Second, the social roots of the development of the Western Han Dynasty
Since the Unification of the Qin Dynasty, a highly centralized authoritarian centralized system has been established, and imperial power has been greatly strengthened. The Western Han Dynasty inherited the Qin, that is, the so-called "Han Chengqin system", and the strengthening of feudal imperial power was even worse. Especially during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, through the implementation of measures such as the Chinese Dynasty and the Confucianism of Exclusive Respect, the development of feudal imperial power reached a new stage. With the continuous strengthening of imperial power, Yu Xing can get more protection and greater power from the strengthened imperial power, as we can see through the following examples.
For example, when Emperor Wen of Han summoned Emperor Wen's favored minister Deng Tong to the Palace of Chancellor, in the name of great disrespect, Emperor Wen sent emissaries to save Deng Tong and defended him: "This language is a courtier, and the king is relieved." After Deng Tong was rescued, he also cried to Emperor Wen with some trepidation: "The chancellor killed several ministers." "At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, although the chancellor had a lot of power and still had a certain degree of restraint on Yu Xing, he could not kill or expel his favored Yu Xing in disregard of the monarch's wishes like Guan Zhong.
In the stage after Emperor Wu of Han, the imperial power further developed, and Under the protection of the imperial power, Yu Xing's behavior became more unscrupulous, and the behavior of external ministers who could restrain and dispose of Yu Xing was almost non-existent, but instead there was a strange phenomenon of flattery and flattery to Yu Xing. For example, during the reign of Emperor Han, Kong Guang and Yu Xing Dong Xian were the Third Duke, but Kong Guang was respectful and flattering to Dong Xian and did not dare to be disrespectful. "Guang Ya is respectful, knowing that the Lord wants to honor the sages, and wen xian should come, and the light guards the crown to go out to wait, and when he sees the sage car, he will enter." Kong Guang's attitude towards Yu Xing, who was also the prime minister, was very different from that of Guan Zhong and Shen Tujia before him, tracing back to the source, which was the result of the continuous strengthening of feudal imperial power and the gradual increase in the protection and connivance of Yu Xing.
Moreover, in the early days of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, it adopted a policy of recuperation and recuperation, and after more than seventy years of efforts, the economic situation of the Western Han Dynasty has been greatly improved. From the economic dilemma of "the Son of Heaven cannot have a donkey, but will take the picture or ride on an ox cart" to the prosperous prosperity of "the money of the Beijing Master is huge, decayed and uneducated, and the Corn chen of Taicang is full of dew and accumulation, to the point of corruption and inedible". And the prosperity of the economic situation also led to the prevalence of extravagance from the imperial court to the people, "at this time, the network is sparse and the people are rich, the service wealth is arrogant, or the merger of the hao party, in order to arbitrarily judge the township song." The clan room has the tugongqing doctor below, competing for luxury, and the room is obedient to the top, infinite. "People at that time were eager to gain wealth, to compete with each other, to pursue pleasure.
The prosperity of the social economy and the flourishing of the extravagance in society have created favorable conditions for the development of Yu Xing. The socio-economic prosperity meant that the wealth that the emperor could reward Yu Xing greatly increased, such as Deng Tong was given a coinage of Tongshan, Shi Xian received a one-time reward of 10,000 million yuan from the Han Yuan Emperor, Dong Xian received hundreds of millions of rewards, and even obtained many palace secret treasures from the Hands of the Han Emperor. Through the wealth he obtained, he could live a luxurious life in society, which was undoubtedly very attractive to those who exploited the camp, which led to the increasing number of people flattering and flattering the emperor at the imperial court, and the trend of extravagance and happiness prevailed in society.
Third, the inherent needs of Yu Xing
During the Western Han Dynasty, in addition to the above-mentioned social environment providing them with a suitable soil for their growth, the most fundamental thing was the role of the people themselves, which was the internal factor that caused the motivation of the lucky people. For the generation of the blessed, the lowest biological needs and security need to be addressed, so what really comes into play is the need for belonging and love, the need for respect, and the need for self-actualization. That is to say, these fortunate people become "lucky" in the gradual realization of the need for belonging and love, the need for respect, and the need for self-actualization. This is also the internal motivation of the formation of the lucky people.
Fortunately, they were government officials by profession, and in the bureaucracy, they certainly expected to be able to integrate into high society and the high-ranking official clique of the imperial court to meet the needs of belonging and love. But it is impossible to achieve this need in any case by fighting alone alone, because these fortunate people have defects of one kind or another: either they are too young, too shallow, and too low prestige, such as Han Yan and Dong Xian, who are all young people in their twenties and cannot compete with the court ministers. Either they are not enough to learn, they do not have the ability to settle the country, such as Deng Tong and others, "without other skills", can not be compared with the imperial court ministers. Either they were eunuchs with low status and who had been subjected to corruption, such as Li Yannian and Shi Xian, who were "greatly qualitatively inferior, although they were willing to follow and make peace, if they acted as if they were righteous and yi, they would not be proud in the end" In the society at that time, they were looked down upon, so it was impossible to join the high-ranking official clique of the imperial court.
In this case, the fortunate people set their sights on the emperor, because only the emperor could give them high-ranking officials and give them a place in the imperial court, belong to the high-ranking bureaucracy of the imperial court, and meet their needs for belonging and love. When the need for belonging and love is met, so does the need for respect.
Because the people who were fortunate enough to be knighted by relying on the favor of the emperor were inconsistent with the moral standards of the time, even if they became officials and joined the bureaucracy of the imperial court, they would be criticized and even insulted by the ministers. For example, Deng Tong showed only a little inferiority in front of Shen Tujia, and was forced to go to Cong Xiang Mansion and was scolded and insulted by Shen Tujia. These disrespects can cause the lucky person to feel inferior and incompetent. If they wanted to eliminate this unpleasant feeling and be respected by others, they had to rely on the emperor's favor. For example, Dong Xian relied on the Han Emperor to become the Grand Sima and even Kong Guang, the chancellor, had to make promises to him and did not dare to fight with him. Therefore, only by further pleasing the emperor and being sheltered by the imperial power can we be free from insults, and obtain a higher official position under the promotion of the emperor, and others will respect themselves, although some of these respects are not from the heart, but fear the power of the imperial power or the power of the fortunate, but the appearance of superficial respect is enough to meet the needs of the respect of the fortunate people to a large extent.
When the need for respect is met, a new need, the need for self-actualization, arises that requires the fortunate person to reach his potential and become the ideal person. The ideal of the blessed man, like that of most people in society, is to become a person with eminent power and infinite wealth. On the one hand, they tried their best to win the emperor's favor, and on the other hand, they co-opted other ministers who supported them in order to maintain their position and wealth and meet the needs of self-realization. Therefore, the real motivation of the fortunate person is the satisfaction of his own needs.
epilogue:
Sima Qian's "History of Yu Xinglie" first set a precedent for this class of Yu Xing, and later historians began to follow suit, and Yu Xing became a fixed group of people studied by historians of all generations. Sima Qian's Western Han Dynasty's Yu Xing reflects the characteristics of its times, as Mr. Zhang Dake pointed out: "Yu Xing refers to the courtiers around the emperor, and the inferior commission is trivial and insufficient." However, they are good at observing the colors of speech, pleasing the people's masters, swaying the will of the people's masters, and unconsciously interfering in the major affairs of the country, so that the wind of luck has affected the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government, which is an inevitable drawback of the autocracy. Sima Qian's special biography for Yu Xingli was to expose and criticize this ill. ”
The extreme prosperity of the Yuxing group in the Western Han Dynasty reflects the fact that they relied on the emperor's favor to have great political and economic privileges, and the fundamental reason for the prosperity of the Western Han Dynasty was the result of the combined political, economic and social ideological factors at that time. The evil influence of the Western Han Dynasty's fortunate participation in government also warns us that the contemporary employment mechanism cannot be used for personal reasons and because of love, and we should not take our own personal feelings as the primary condition for considering the use of people, but should make the best use of people's talents and materials.
bibliography:
The Chronicle of The Chronicle of Yu Xinglie
The Biography of Hanshu Yu Xinglie
History of the Qin and Han Dynasties
The Quirks of the Western Han Emperor
"Miscellaneous Records of Xijing"