Why did the Qianlong Emperor commend the ministers who were martyred in the Ming Dynasty? Because by the Qianlong period, the mentality of the Qing rulers had changed. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, from Shunzhi to the early Qianlong Dynasty, the Qing court officials were particularly sensitive to the history of the Ming Dynasty. Especially the history of Nanming. The Qing Dynasty has always demanded that the Southern Ming Dynasty be called a puppet dynasty, which is completely refusing to recognize it.
This situation did not change until the 31st year of Qianlong, that is, in 1766 AD. Emperor Qianlong asked the ministers that when the Southern Ming Dynasty was mentioned again, there was no need to add the word "pseudo", which was equivalent to acknowledging this history. The other is that the anti-Qing generals of the Southern Ming Dynasty are no longer called bandits or thieves.
To be honest, Qianlong is not the kind of emperor who is open-minded and cheerful. Qianlong's purpose in doing this is obvious, that is, to tell everyone that the nature of the Qing Dynasty is no longer the same. In the past, the Qing Dynasty was a new force that eliminated the old regime, and as long as it was related to the previous generation, it had to oppose it. But now that the Qing Dynasty has been stabilized, it is completely possible to call itself the successor of the previous dynasty.
This attitude was reflected in a book ten years later. On the eighth day of November in the 41st year of Qianlong, Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty personally ordered the compilation of an official biography of a person-"Records of the Martyrdom of the King James Dynasty". The list of books in this book begins with the mention that "the Ming Dynasty has returned since Wanli, the dynasty has been in turmoil, the Central Plains has collapsed, and the fate of the scene has moved subtly." The mainland family built Piji, and Longxing Dongtu. Wang Shi moved smoothly and looked at the clouds. At that time, the ministers who defended the land, each for their own master, often died in pieces, and shed blood and endangered the territory. "The meaning of this big call is that the Ming Dynasty is going to end. The world will belong to the virtuous. So who is this virtuous man? Of course, it's Nurhachi. The courtiers of the Ming Dynasty didn't know the real dragon, so they had to fight against Nurhachi. But I still like the spirit of risking my life to work for my boss's house. That's why this book was published, to commend the loyal ministers who died for the Ming Dynasty.
A total of 3,982 people were included in the book. Among them, 1,941 were posthumously given nicknames by the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Kangxi also once said, "Since ancient times, the righteousness of the world is better than my dynasty." To be honest, this "righteousness of the country" may be a bit controversial. After all. His son Yongzheng later said in "The Mystery of Dayi Jue" that the Qing Dynasty stole Li Zicheng's fruit. But that's not important. Anyway, when it comes to the prosperous era of Kangqian, there will always be Xi to ignore Yongzheng. Qianlong's attitude of commending the ministers of the Ming Dynasty was completely inherited from Kangxi's theory, and he felt that whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, it was the orthodox dynasty of China. The Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty and was a normal dynastic change. This does not affect the continuation of Chinese civilization.
In order to implement this idea clearly, Qianlong made another big move after compiling the "Records of the Martyrdom of the King James Dynasty". That is, in the forty-first year of Qianlong, another masterpiece was completed - "The Biography of Erchen". The impact of this book is too great. Because almost all of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty who defected to the Jurchens in the early Qing Dynasty are included in this book. But the reality is that the descendants of these people are still working in the Qing court. Unexpectedly, Qianlong directly took out the ancestors of these people to worship the sky. The ministers were confused.
Some people persuaded him that the descendants of other people were all officials in our Qing Dynasty, and if you make fun of their ancestors, what if these people quit doing it? Qianlong was very resolute: Even if they made meritorious contributions to my ancestors, they could not write off all the immoral deeds they had done when they were alive. Qianlong still has the confidence to do this. After all, the Qing Emperor relied on the Eight Banners, unlike the Ming Dynasty, who had to look at the faces of your ministers. Now that these people are being beaten up with yin and yang, it is just right to carry out ideological construction for the bureaucrats of the whole country, so that everyone can learn from the loyal ministers of history Xi from them, and not Xi learn from those people. Therefore, this is a theme education of the temperament of Qianlong himself, which presided over the collective study Xi of the whole country in the Qing Dynasty.
However, the irony is that on the day of the collapse of the Great Qing Dynasty, none of the children of the Eight Banners were martyred for the country, and they were even digging the roots of the Great Qing Dynasty.