In 1644, the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, fixed Beijing, and in the following year sent a large army to the south, quickly occupying the Jiangnan region. The regent of the Qing Dynasty, Dorgon, was carried away by the victory, killed the people indiscriminately, and implemented a policy of shaving his hair, which provoked a strong resistance from Jiangnan Shifu. The Jiangnan region was once the region with the fiercest struggle against the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. However, after the Kangxi Emperor came to power, especially after the suppression of the San Fan Rebellion, why did the anti-Qing struggle in Jiangnan disappear?
First, who is persisting in the struggle to "oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty."
In 1664, with the annihilation of the Thirteen Houses of the Chudong Dynasty by the Qing Dynasty, and almost all the anti-Qing forces on the mainland were destroyed, the Zheng father and son of Taiwan still obeyed the Yongli Zhengshuo, but their influence was already minimal. Within the rule of the Qing Dynasty, there were two main social classes, one was peasants and the second was scholars. The peasants were most concerned about land and taxes, and by the time of the Kangxi Emperor, he actively encouraged the peasants to reclaim the land, and at the same time reduced taxes many times, and in general, the peasants had recognized the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
However, these scholars, who had read the Four Books and Five Classics and were deeply influenced by Confucianism, were different, and some of them defected to the Qing Dynasty, but most of them still did not accept the rule of the Qing Dynasty, a phenomenon that was particularly common in the Jiangnan region. Therefore, the anti-Qing struggle in this area was particularly fierce, such as the famous Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, Chen Zilong, Xia Wanchun, etc., and many people were even killed by the Qing Dynasty, but they still could not eliminate the struggle of Jiangnan Shifu.
Second, the transformation from the Shunzhi Emperor to the Kangxi Emperor
During the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, Dorgon adopted a policy of military repression of Jiangnan Shifu, but it aroused more opposition. Therefore, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty changed their strategy and sent Hong Chengzu to recruit the military governor of the south, and he adopted a strategy of focusing on care and supplementing it with suppression, but he was still resisted by Jiangnan Shifu. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, three major cases broke out in the Jiangnan area, namely the Song Cancellation Case, the Weeping Temple Case, and the Tonghai Case, which shows that There are still strong anti-Qing sentiments in Jiangnan Shifu.
After the outbreak of the San Francisco Rebellion, Wu Sangui once played the banner of "anti-Qing and restoration", which made the Kangxi Emperor realize that if the Qing Dynasty wanted to be stable, it must be recognized by scholars, especially in the Jiangnan region, which was the most economically and culturally developed. Although force could eliminate these scholars, it could not eliminate the anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming Dynasty, so the Kangxi Emperor decided to change his strategy and use Huairou to win them over. In 1678, the Kangxi Emperor issued an edict to hold the Erudite Hongzi Examination!
3. Jiangnan Shi dafu accepted the rule of the Qing Dynasty
The Erudite Hongxue Section is a very special imperial examination, and candidates are mainly recommended by officials. There were 143 people who took the exam, and 50 people took the exam, including 38 people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They were awarded the posts of reading, lecturing, editing, and reviewing, and entered the Ming History Museum to participate in the work of revising Ming history. Some people may say that this is not just an exam, how can it impress the heart of Dr. Jiangnan Shi? It turns out that the people who took this exam are not ordinary people!
These people were either the sons of the original Ming Dynasty, or the leaders of the literary circles at that time, who had great influence, such as Zhu Yizun, You Dong, Mao Qiling, Wang Wan and others. The Kangxi Emperor flaunted his image as a corporal by passing the Erudite Hongzi Examination to win the support of the scholars, and at the same time let these former Ming remnants revise the history of the Ming Dynasty to establish the orthodox status of the Qing Dynasty. Although Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, the most fierce anti-Qing, did not participate, their disciples and nephews all served the Qing Dynasty and were also recognized by them. Huang Zongxi even praised the Kangxi Emperor as the "Holy Heavenly Son" and called the Qing Dynasty the "National Dynasty". This indicates that Jiangnan Shifu has accepted the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
References: 1. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty; 2. Biography of the Kangxi Emperor