The Qing army entered the customs and Shunzhi ascended the throne
Since its establishment, the Qing Dynasty was an imperial dynasty built by ethnic minorities, it has been threatened by various forces, and its ruling base is far more fragile than imagined. Tang Bin was born in the early Qing Dynasty, it is he who built the cultural legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that he laid the foundation for the Qing Dynasty for a hundred years, so that the modern anti-Qing revolutionary Zou Rong called him a "taming slave".
First, the difficulties of the early Qing Dynasty
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Manchu rule was not stable. In the south, nanming used the banner of "Daming" as a call to gather the hearts and minds of the people; the younger brother of the Qing Dynasty, Joseon, was "sinister" and planned to train 100,000 soldiers to directly attack the outside of the pass and restore the Daming River and Mountains; the northwest border was also unstable; the sons of the Eight Banners who entered the customs, together with their families, were only 300,000, and it was impossible to rule tens of millions of Han chinese with 300,000 Manchus. The clandestine operations of anti-Qing gangs in the Qing-occupied areas also caused social instability in the Qing Dynasty.
Map of the situation in the early Qing Dynasty
What is even more frightening is that although the Qing Dynasty also tried its best to flaunt itself with orthodoxy and honor Confucianism, the truly highly respected Confucian masters did not buy it at all. The most famous story is that Zhu Shunshui preferred to go to the Wudi and promote the cultural undertakings of the feudal state rather than step into the Central Plains under Manchu rule; Gu Yanwu, who was "the rise and fall of the world and the responsibility of the puppeteer", resolutely refused Kangxi's enlistment in the erudite Hongzi Branch; and Huang Zongxi also refused Kangxi's conquest three times. It was in this context that Tang Bin appeared.
Gu Yanwu
Second, Tang Bin and his people
Tang Bin, born in 1627 (the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty's Apocalypse), was a native of Ju County, Henan. In the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), he entered the army. In 1654, he entered the National History Academy to revise the "Ming History Draft", because of his positive performance, the correct view of history (that is, to try his best to defend the Qing Dynasty and smear the Ming Dynasty), which was very in line with the taste of the Qing Dynasty, and the following year he was promoted to deputy envoy of the Shaanxi Tongguan Dao, and then transferred to Jiangxi Daotai.
During his tenure in Jiangxi, he actively participated in the suppression of the Southern Ming forces. At that time, the Southern Ming had already perished, but there were still many old Southern Ming forces fighting guerrillas in the southern occupied areas, the most famous of which was that Li Yuting, the Marquis of Tonghai, led more than 10,000 people to fight guerrillas in the mountains of Yudu County, Jiangxi Province, despite the difficulties, causing great trouble to the Qing army. After Tang Bin took office, he first recruited Li Yuting. Li Yuting surrendered fraudulently, but Tang Bin intercepted the letter written to Li Yuting by Zheng Chenggong and other maritime anti-Qing forces, learned of Li's plan, and calculated it, resulting in Li returning without success. Tang Bin then joined forces with the soldiers and horses of the Inspector of Jiangxi to encircle and suppress them. Li Yuting was rarely captured, but he was unyielding and was eventually ruthlessly killed by Tang Bin.
3. Governing the country through science
Tang Bin is not a person who does not learn and has no skills, but the values of Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi and others are different. Tang Bin's teacher was Sun Qifeng, a master of science with the same name as Huang Zongxi, who also refused to become an official in the Qing Dynasty. However, unlike teachers and others, in Tang's view, the general trend of the world is originally a turn of feng shui, and the core belief of Tang Bin Theory is that "the creatures of heaven and earth cannot be defective." Where there is a defect, it is up to the person to remedy it." This sentence is put to the national level, that is, the change of dynasties is a normal thing, so there is no need to remember the homeland, what needs to be done is to deal with the present, to remedy with manpower, and to use contemporary people to strive to improve the present. Even if the boss (the emperor's ruling class) is changed, as long as the management class (officials) continue to work hard, it can still benefit the employees (the people) and continue to operate the company (the state). Under the guidance of this world outlook and values, Tang Bin put forward "close to the people and love the people, people-oriented", "leniency is the people, keep a part of the gift", "seek the people's feelings", these three articles constitute the backbone of Tang Bin's theory.
In 1669, Kangxi eradicated Aobai and pro-government. Kangxi then began to construct ways to maintain Qing rule. At that time, Kangxi studied the emperors in history, opened the system of sutra feasts and daily lectures, and let the Han scholars and masters teach themselves history lessons, drawing on the rise and fall of successive dynasties.
Tang Bin
Tang Bin was an attendant at the Hanlin Academy at the time and was one of the teachers who taught Kangxi. Starting from the theory he learned, he instilled all the essence of Cheng Zhu Lixue into Kangxi, and the core content was roughly three points:
The first is that the Lord acts quietly and is put to use through the ages. This was the idea that Tang Bin first instilled in Kangxi, and its focus was to encourage Kangxi to be a generation of Ming emperors, think of the people, and lightly dispense with small gifts. Therefore, in the later period of the Kangxi Dynasty, he vigorously reduced the expenditure of the harem, and at the same time implemented the practice of dividing the land into acres, and the two measures reduced the pressure of the people and directly alleviated the contradictions between the people.
The second is to govern the country with reason. Reason is science, Tang Bin is a scholar of science, naturally he is a treasure to Cheng Zhu's doctrine, he fooled Kangxi to rule the world, must be like Yao Shun's firm belief in Confucianism, so Science became an official of the Qing Dynasty during the Kangxi period. In 1679, Kangxi opened the Erudite Hongzi Branch, which was the one that Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi could not look up to, but Tang Bin was elected to the first class of the branch. Kangxi's tireless and inquisitive character throughout his life was inextricably linked to Tang Bin's guidance.
The third is to rule Confucianism with Confucianism and rule the world by culture. In view of the fact that there were too few Manchus in Guannei at that time and the Han people were a hundred times the Manchus, the Shunzhi period promoted the promotion of supporting puppet armies, recruiting Wu Sangui and other former Ming generals to surrender and using China to control China. When he arrived at Kangxi, he did not want to borrow the power of the second minister, and he also wanted to cut the domain. Just at this time, Tang Bin proposed the strategy of ruling Confucianism with Confucianism, to put it bluntly, it is still hua to make china, but the "hua" here is no longer a puppet army, but a Han scholar who has been educated by the Qing Dynasty, has a red seedling, and is loyal to serve the Qing Dynasty. This article was called by Kangxi directly and praised vigorously. It eventually became the national policy of the Kangxi Dynasty, called "Right Text", which means to worship literature. Its performance is still in 1679.
Kangxi
Tang Bin successfully instilled his own theory into Kangxi, making Kangxi the first emperor to truly accept Confucian Chinese law after entering the Qing Dynasty, and during the Kangxi period, the enclosure of land was completely stopped, sinicization was really carried out, and the traditional Huayi debate began to transform into the Huayi family, and the folk anti-Qing movement was seriously hit.
Fourth, the peak of life
Tang Bin was promoted to Inspector of Jiangning for his special contributions to the Qing Dynasty, stationed in Suzhou. Jiangning is Nanjing, which is the place where the Ming Dynasty made its fortune, and it is also the economic center of the country, and its status is very important, so the person who can serve here must be the closest person to the Qing Emperor. Therefore, Inspector Jiang Ning can be called the peak of Tang Bin's life. During tang bin's inspection of Jiangning, he led by example and successfully applied science to Jiangning.
Suzhou is one of the southern commercial centers of gravity, at that time Suzhou had Lengjia Mountain, there was a Wutong Ancestral Hall on the mountain, the Wutong Ancestral Hall was named as a letter to the Five Tongs God to ensure peace and wealth, "claiming to the gods, you can get rich." Repay the debt directly, and the gods will repay the money", so the Wutong Ancestral Hall has received a large number of donations and strong financial resources. Moreover, the dignitaries and nobles often came and went, so that the temple "lived in a prison of wine and acid, the sound of songs and dances, and the noise of day and night." ”
Suzhou Jiangning patrolled the old site
However, the temple is not a serious religion, but a cult of cheating money and amassing wealth in the name of religion, and the most crucial point of its doctrine is that the gods of the Five Passages Shrine like beautiful women, and there are young girls and women in the folk who are sick, "they will know that the Five Links will marry women", and their families do not seek medical treatment, they rely on self-healing, in case of illness and death, "the family does not think that they are mourning, but they are called "those who are called".
After Tang Bin arrived at his post, he interviewed the people's feelings, discovered the matter of the Wutong Ancestral Hall, and immediately dealt with it, but the voices of opposition followed, and the wutong ancestral hall forces had already penetrated deep into the people, and even co-opted some squires and magnates, Tang Bin was horrified, not afraid of difficulties, and used thunderous means to resolutely destroy the Wutong Ancestral Hall, and played Kangxi 's special decree to strictly prohibit it, so that local officials would increase their intentions to inspect, and those who dared to revive the temple were punished," so as to avoid the Jiangning area from becoming a cult center and threatening Qing dynasty rule. Tang Bin died in 1678.
Interview with people
Wen Shijun said
Tang Bin revised the history books for the Qing Dynasty, the historical view was "correct", and gave Kangxi the correct suggestions on how to rule the Han people, which actually built the legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty. In the Yongzheng period, in order to huairou Han people, strengthen thought control, and set up a positive model, he posthumously honored the first Wenzheng Duke of the Qing Dynasty, "Tang Bin", 46 years after Tang Bin's death. After the rise of the modern revolutionary movement, the revolutionary Zou Rong criticized Tang Bin's traitorous behavior, saying that he was a slave of the Manchus. However, from today's point of view, we should not seek full blame for Tang Bin, because the Qing Dynasty is one of the orthodox imperial dynasties in China, and Tang Bin gave advice and suggestions to the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, improved the rule of the early Qing Dynasty, and was ultimately conducive to the restoration and development of production at that time and the improvement of the people's lives. In a sense, it was Tang Bin's thought that influenced Kangxi and laid the foundation for the Qing Dynasty for the next hundred years.
bibliography
Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2012.
Yu Longsheng: "Tang Bin and the Practice of Science and Governance in the Early Qing Dynasty", Humanistic World, No. 6, 2015.
Wu Jianhua: "The Incident of Tang Bin Destroying Obscene Words", Qing History Research, No. 2, 1996.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Purple Orange)
This article is the original work of Wenshi Science Popularization Self-media Haoran Wenshi, and unauthorized reprinting is prohibited!
The pictures used in this article, unless otherwise noted, are from the network search, if there is infringement, please contact the author to delete, thank you!
We will provide you with wonderful historical articles every day, and we kindly ask all readers and friends to pay attention to our account! Your likes, retweets, comments, this is the best support for us!