Zhu Yuanzhang is a controversial figure in Chinese history, from a positive point of view, opening a bowl, expelling Hu Yu, establishing the Ming Dynasty, recreating the Han people's rivers and mountains, singing and crying...
Speaking of some of Zhu Yuanzhang's black materials, there are also many, wantonly slaughtering heroes and brutality. Excluding some of the more controversial ones, one thing that cannot be washed away in any way, is to restore the burial system.
The Biography of Ming Shi HouFei says: "Taizu collapsed, and most of the palace people came from the dead. ”
The system of martyrdom first appeared at the end of primitive society, and in some excavated sites, it can be seen that classes appeared at the end of primitive society, and some victors would pit slaves as funerary goods.
Even in the feudal era, human martyrdom still existed. Take the case of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the ancient world, who began to build the world-famous Qin Emperor's Mausoleum before his death, using pottery figurines instead of living people to be buried. However, after his death, Hu Hai of Qin II still killed many people to bury the Qin Emperor (II said: "Those who do not have children in the former emperor's harem are not suitable." "All are ordered to die, and many are dead.")
So why did the system of burial prevail in ancient times? For a long time, the ancients had the idea of "living to death", and it is recorded in the Mozi Festival: "The Son of Heaven killed martyrdom, dozens of people, and a few widows; The generals and doctors were martyred, dozens of people, and a few widows. ”
That is to say, in the pre-Qin era, from the Son of Heaven down to the scholar, human martyrdom has become an institutionalized existence.
Later, with the entry into the late Warring States period, with the development of productive forces, people as important laborers began to receive attention. The living labor force is certainly more valuable than accompanying the dead. As a result, the use of clay figurines and wooden figurines began to replace living people. Of course, we can also understand that the development of productive forces promotes the emergence of humanistic ideas.
The abolition of the system of institutional martyrdom appeared in the Han Dynasty. According to the Book of Han, during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Yuan, the king of Zhao Miao, was stripped of his fiefdom for forcing 16 slaves to be martyred.
After the death of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, two foreign generals who were deeply trusted by Emperor Taizong, Ashinadur and Qi heli, requested martyrdom, but were stopped by Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong at the beginning of the succession.
Of course, although there are provisions on it, in the two-thousand-year-old feudal system, the system of martyrdom still exists one after another. According to the "History of Song", after the death of Emperor Gaozong of Song, his two talents, Li Shi and Wang Shi, were forced by Emperor Xiaozong to commit suicide and be martyred.
Persian historians mention in the History of the Conquerors of the World that there was also a phenomenon of human martyrdom in the Yuan Dynasty, the original text: "Forty daughters from the Heteromi and Nayan families were selected, dressed in beads, jewelry, and beautiful robes, dressed in expensive clothes, and sent together with good horses to accompany the spirit of Genghis Khan." ”
In other words, the system of human martyrdom may have never been broken during the feudal dynasty until Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, so the statement in the title that Zhu Yuanzhang restored the system of human martyrdom is not valid.
It is not right to say that, at least after the Han Dynasty, although human martyrdom existed, it was sporadic and not institutionalized, while the Ming Dynasty was different. Before Zhu Yuanzhang's death, after the death of his second son, the King of Qin, two princesses were martyred. Wait until Zhu Yuanzhang dies,
Volume III of the "Small History of the Ming Dynasty" records that "as many as 46 concubines and palace women were martyred in the palace", of which 38 were strangled alive during the funeral...
The Yongle Emperor died, and the Joseon Dynasty's "Records of Sejong of the Lee Dynasty" mentioned that "the emperor collapsed, and more than thirty people were martyred by the palace people." On the day of death, all are paid to the court, and they are paid, and they are led to the ascension of the church, and the cries shake the temple. A small wooden bed was placed in the hall, and a lanyard was placed on it, and the head was taken into it, and the bed was removed, and all the pheasants died of their necks. ”
Later Emperor Akihito became emperor for less than a year, and there was a will in front of him hoping that "the mountain system should be thrifty", so there were still five concubines who were martyred for him.
Emperor Xuanzong of Ming had 10 concubines buried for him, and some of them may have just entered the palace and never seen the appearance of the emperor, and were forced to become the "sacrifices" of the royal family.
In the "Biography of Ming Shi Hou Concubine", there is a Guo Concubine, named Love, Character Shanli, and Fengyang Ren. Less than twenty days after entering the palace, Emperor Xuande died, and she knew that her death was near, so she composed a poem, word cloud: "There are several short repairs, and there are not enough to compare." Born like a dream, death is also aware. I have returned to my relatives before, and I am ashamed of my loss of filial piety. The heart can not be healed, but it can be mourned. ”
Such a talented woman, because of the martyrdom system of the Zhu Ming Dynasty, died young. But compared to those who did not leave their names, she is also a lucky one!
The abolition of the ming dynasty's martyrdom system began with Emperor Yingzong of Ming, although it shows that Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was not an emperor, was captured in the change of Tumu Fort, and killed the hero Yu Qian after the restoration, but compared with the previous emperors who swallowed mountains and rivers, they had a little bit of humanity.
The History of Ming records that in the eighth year of Tianshun (1464 AD), Emperor Yingzong collapsed and "left his will to remove the palace concubines from being buried". After Emperor Xianzong succeeded to the throne, he obeyed his father's will and no longer arranged for the burial of the living. Since then, the martyrdom of the Ming Dynasty system has disappeared.