Reading | Zhang Mingyang| The Scale of Evaluating Historical Figures - Reading Yu Yunguo's "From Zhongzhou to Qiantang"

From Zhongzhou to Qiantang

Written by Yu Yunguo

Published by Zhonghua Bookstore

Reading Mr. Yu Yunguo's new book "From Zhongzhou to Qiantang", a deep feeling is the author's calmness and restraint when he knows people and discusses things. Especially in this current era of polarization of the evaluation of the Song Dynasty- the detractors are trapped in the weak Song tradition of "poverty and weakness" and cannot extricate themselves, and the praisers regard the Song Dynasty as the greatest dynasty in Chinese history - the book is even more fair and rational.

In "From Zhongzhou to Qiantang", the author writes about many Song Dynasty emperors, and it is advisable to see how the author evaluates the Zhao officials.

The first Song Emperor to focus on in this book is Song Zhenzong, and his key words in history are "The Alliance of the Yuanyuan" and "Heavenly Book Xiangrui".

In our traditional historical cognition, the "Liaoyuan Alliance" is an unequal treaty with a humiliating nature, and although Mr. Yu does not have a high overall evaluation of Song Zhenzong, he still writes fairly in "Retelling Song Zhenzong and His Era": "The Liaoyuan Alliance is an equal treaty (the Shaoxing Peace Conference should not be confused with it), and it has also laid a peaceful pattern for more than a hundred years, which should undoubtedly be affirmed." ”

As for Tianshu Xiangrui, this book has a special article" entitled "Resistance and Silence in the Farce of Tianshu", which characterizes this farce as "purely the emperor's self-amusement and self-amusement, but it lasted for more than ten years before and after the people's wealth, and it was an almost crazy religious fanaticism and political joke in the history of the two Song Dynasties."

On the whole, the author not only acknowledges that Song Zhenzong has the capacity to tolerate people, and "tolerates and does not rebuke" those who argue with the holy masters, but also defines the Song Zhenzong era as "still in the ascending period of the dynasty" and "the politics of scholars is in the process of being cultivated".

The paradox of history is that Song Zhenzong himself did not understand his historical position until his death. Because he was obsessed with the alliance of the Yuanyuan, he placed high hopes on the Sealing of the Heavenly Book, as a "grand event" to redeem the shame of the alliance and comprehensively enhance his personal historical status. He may not have figured out until he died, what glory he was and why he was ashamed.

How to describe and define an emperor whose overall evaluation is neutral, Yu Yunguo's writing of Song Zhenzong provides a very good model. From the author's praise and depreciation of the two major events in Song Zhenzong's life, it can be seen that his view of historical figures is both "warmth and respect" and "calm and objective", without saying the first thing, discussing things on the facts, limiting the moral perspective to a controllable range, and not obsessed with constructing an overall discourse that excessively pursues identity.

The Song Dynasty recognized as the best emperor was Song Renzong, and the difficulty in evaluating a good emperor was that it was easy to fall into the dilemma of seeking perfection and blame or worshipping. In the article "The Forgiveness and Grace of Emperor Renzong of Song", the author begins with the opening statement: "Among the Emperors of China, to be fair, he was neither a heroic lord who was energetic and promising, nor even a Ming Jun with a high reputation. But his greatest virtue is that he is tolerant and benevolent, and can tolerate all kinds of fierce criticism, even if it is a criticism of his private life. "There is no need for us to worship 'renjun' like Song Renzong... But if you compare Song Renzong with the despots of the Ming and Qing dynasties who 'can't touch the tiger's ass', the fair conclusion of which is better or worse is still self-evident", which may be regarded as the finishing touch of this book's evaluation of Song Renzong, a good emperor is both an objective criterion and a relative concept of vertical comparison.

This is also as the author as a whole said in his overall evaluation of the Song Dynasty: "The Song Dynasty has made great progress in political civilization, but all its progress is relative and operates under an authoritarian regime; the emperor is still the highest decision-maker of the country, and all the top-level designs under the ancestral family law serve the absolute centralization of the monarchy." ”

I think that such an open and compatible mentality of looking at history is one of the necessities for us to read history, and it is also something that we can learn from the knowledge and discussion of this book. In addition to some specific historical conclusions, it is more important to cultivate such an open and pluralistic view of history, and to empathize with historical figures with more empathy for the understanding of historical figures.

Naturally, Mr. Yu also had emperors with low evaluations, especially Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Gaozong of Song. As far as Emperor Huizong of Song is concerned, traditional discourse focuses on emphasizing his unintentional political affairs and indulgence in enjoyment, even breaking the country and destroying his family, but Mr. Yu pays more attention to the side of Song Huizong as an autocratic emperor, highlighting his side of worsening the political ecology of the Northern Song Dynasty. In his article "How Should We View the Song Dynasty" in this book, he pointed out: "Emperor Huizong of Song succeeded to the throne, and in the name of the new law, he practiced the practice of agglomeration and completely degenerated the law; at the same time, he completely exiled the dissident bureaucracy in order to monopolize central control with Cai Jing and other agents." ”

For a "ZTE lord" like Song Gaozong, Mr. Yu's criticism is even more intense, and this criticism is also based on the destruction of the political ecology. He pointed out in "Song Gaozong's Shaoxing System and the Inner Turn of the Southern Song Dynasty" that the "Shaoxing system" is an authoritarian centralized system created by Song Gaozong, and this authoritarian centralized pattern is shrouded in the entire political history of the Southern Song Dynasty, although there are differences between strength and weakness at different times, but there are almost no essential changes. "In terms of imperial techniques, Song Gaozong is definitely a rare master. In the end, he chose Qin Ju and acquiesced in his ascension to the position of minister of power, that is, it was urgent to have a strong and powerful minister of power to help him establish and manage a tricky political affair related to the Shaoxing system, and to succeed in 'holy will' to be arbitrary, and to lose was to be scapegoated by the prime minister."

In addition to the emperor, the book also has a wonderful discussion of several major powers of the two Song Dynasties, especially the relationship between the monarchs, such as writing about the four major powers of the Southern Song Dynasty, "The dictatorship of the Southern Song Dynasty of Qin Juniper, Han Nongxu, Shi Miyuan and Jia Xiangdao, accumulated for 70 years, which is eye-catching and rare for other dynasties", "Qin Juniper's power is completely authorized by Emperor Gaozong of Song out of the need to build the Shaoxing system, then, Han Nongxuan, Shi Miyuan and Jia Xiangdao's power is good at government, all of which have become a monopoly, and the reigning Song Ningzong, Song Lizong and Song Duzong had no choice but to give way."

For the evaluation of historical figures, especially the evaluation of the so-called traitors, I personally do not resent the controversial "moral perspective" in recent years, for example, a person has always been said to be a "traitor" for thousands of years, and the ancients may not be as pedantic and inflexible as we think in our time. For example, you can think that Han Nongxu and Jia Xiangdao are not traitors, but it cannot be denied that he was indeed regarded as a traitor in history, and it is also meaningful to study and respect this "moral sense" of the ancients.

However, the premise of respecting the "moral perspective" is that we should also accept the idea that the moral perspective is only one of the perspectives from which history is read, and how important this perspective is, it is a matter of opinion. But this perspective cannot be the only one, just as we cannot completely get rid of the moral perspective when we evaluate historical figures, because, after all, we live in a real world made up of ideas.

In my opinion, how to evaluate an emperor or a dynasty is naturally the most important objective criterion based on historical data, but we should also tolerate the existence of personal values and attitudes. Great historians such as Sima Qian, Chen Shou, and Sima Guang all had their own value preferences, the so-called "Taishi Gongyue" and "Chenguang Yue". Similarly, as contemporary historical researchers and even ordinary readers, they have the right to construct their own evaluation system of historical figures based on their own ideological resources, social concerns, world views, and personal preferences. Of course, there are also two prerequisites for this, one is to read more books, as much as possible to be familiar with historical materials, empty and unfounded "free thinking" and "critical thinking" is the work of delusional people; the second is to rationally face controversy and different opinions, controversy is never a problem, the purpose of our reading history is not to resolve disputes, but to understand disputes, disputes make history more attractive, let us know more about historical figures more deeply.

How to talk about historical figures and comment on historical figures, Mr. Yu Yunguo has given us an example, as he said in the preface to this book: talk about history, talk with conscience, and remember the reader to write.

Author: Zhang Mingyang

Editor: Jiang Chuting

Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Zifen

*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.