The wheels of history rolled forward, and the Ming Dynasty wrote a wonderful chapter with its unique clean government legal system. In the long river of Chinese civilization, the Ming Dynasty can be described as the peak period of clean government construction, with strict systems and strict regulations, so that the state apparatus of this period operated in an orderly manner. However, these seemingly perfect systems exposed their flaws in the torrent of time, which eventually led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty. So, how did the Ming Dynasty's clean government legal system go from peak to decline? What are the historical implications?
First, the original intention of the system: to establish the determination of upright conduct and discipline
During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a peasant, finally ruled the world and established the Ming Dynasty after experiencing the turbulent years of war. As an emperor from the bottom, Zhu Yuanzhang knew the harm of corruption, and saw the fall of the Yuan Dynasty caused by official corruption. Therefore, at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the building of a clean and honest government, and he was determined to change the situation of corruption in the administration of officials and fundamentally eradicate the trend of corruption.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang personally presided over political affairs and was never soft on corruption. According to the history of the Ming Dynasty, in the second year of Hongwu alone, thousands of officials were severely punished for corruption and bribery. For those high-ranking officials who committed serious crimes, Zhu Yuanzhang was even more merciless and punished them with capital punishment. Zhu Yuanzhang's thunderous methods shocked the entire bureaucracy, and for a while, the wind of corruption was extinguished.
However, personal majesty alone is not enough, and Zhu Yuanzhang knows very well that it is necessary to establish a set of effective systems in order to fundamentally reverse the situation of corruption among officials. Therefore, during his reign, he vigorously promoted a series of laws and regulations aimed at punishing corruption and purging the rule of officials, such as the "Da Ming Law" and "Da Ming Huidian", which set the tone for the construction of a clean government in the Ming Dynasty from the institutional level.
2. Establishment of the system: the construction of a layer-by-layer prevention system
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the road to clean government, Zhu Yuanzhang spared no effort during his reign to implement a series of blockbuster laws and regulations, aiming to build a strict prevention system and plug the source of corruption at the institutional level.
"Da Ming Law" is the pioneering work of the Ming Dynasty's clean government construction. On the basis of absorbing the essence of the previous "Tang Law", this code has made stricter provisions on the punishment of corruption. It has a special chapter on "accepting stolen goods", which subdivides corruption into six types, namely, "prison guards", "ordinary people steal", "theft", "perverting the law", "not bending the law", and "taking stolen goods", and imposes heavier sentences in each case. It can be seen that the determination of the "Da Ming Law" in combating corruption is firm.
In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also personally wrote the "Great Message", which brought together his experience in the process of handling cases, and became the most effective legal code in the Ming Dynasty. The "Great Decree" is extremely fierce in punishing corruption crimes, and many regulations even go beyond the provisions of the "Da Ming Law" to severely punish corrupt officials with extra-legal punishments. The popularity and influence of "The Great Message" at that time can be seen.
In addition to the legal code, the Ming Dynasty also made corresponding reforms in the institutional structure. The Imperial Historical Observatory was renamed the Metropolitan Inspectorate, which was subordinate to the cabinet and was responsible for supervising the government affairs; The east and west factories were spy supervision agencies set up by the emperor himself, and their power was so great that they could sweep away hundreds of officials. With such a strict monitoring system, there is no blind spot to drill.
In terms of the selection of officials, the Ming Dynasty also established a strict evaluation system. In the imperial examination, there are strict regulations on the behavior of examiners and candidates, and the number of places in various regions and identities must be balanced when admitting. After taking office, court officials also need to undergo regular examinations and inspections to prevent corruption.
Third, the test of the system by external shocks
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has focused on building a complete system of clean government, aiming to eliminate corruption at the source. However, the operation of any system will inevitably encounter various external shocks and internal contradictions, and the Ming Dynasty's clean government mechanism was no exception.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, large-scale immigration waves brought drastic changes to the population distribution of the Ming Dynasty. Due to the influx of immigrants from all over the world, the old monitoring and assessment system could not cope with such a huge change. Repeated cases of corruption exposed the loopholes in the system at the time.
On the other hand, some emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty began to indulge in religious superstition and believed too much in the teachings of the Buddha, and paid much less attention to the government and the rule of officials. This has created an opportunity for corrupt officials to get involved in institutional corruption.
In addition, some emperors in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty were too young to personally control the power when they inherited the ruling power. In order to consolidate their position, the ruling empress dowager and powerful ministers had to intrigue and compromise with other power groups, inevitably sacrificing their determination to severely punish corruption in the process.
In the face of the above-mentioned unfavorable factors, the construction of a clean government in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was difficult, and corruption cases occurred one after another. Even emperors who once upon a time promoted the "party item review" often turned a blind eye to the problem of corruption in their later years. With the passage of time, the Ming Dynasty's clean government legal system has cracked and collapsed to varying degrees under the dual effects of external shocks and internal contradictions.
Fourth, the implementation of the system: the signs of abnormality under the control of the ministers
Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the young enthronement of some emperors, religious superstition and other reasons, the power of the court has gradually been controlled by the empress dowager and powerful ministers. Under their manipulation, the originally tight system of integrity began to show signs of abnormality.
First of all, the authority of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is no longer the supervisory body. According to the original design, the Metropolitan Procuratorate was the highest supervisory body in the Ming Dynasty, responsible for monitoring the words and deeds of civil and military officials in the government and the opposition, and could report corruption directly to the emperor once it was discovered. However, with the increasing expansion of the dictatorship of the ministers, the supervisory power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate began to be suppressed and weakened as never before.
Taking Zhang Juzheng in the Wanli period as an example, he single-handedly controlled the government and retaliated against those supervision officials who dared to speak out, so that the Metropolitan Procuratorate almost lost its original supervision power. At that time, there was a saying that "Zhang Eun looked at the sun and ate arsenic", which shows the great power in Zhang Juzheng's hands.
In addition to the dysfunction of the supervisory body, even the system of electing and appointing officials has begun to lose its impartiality. According to the regulations of the early Ming Dynasty, officials were required to go through a strict examination and assessment process, but in the later period, in order to win over their cronies, the ministers often directly bypassed the procedure to appoint cronies as officials.
For example, during the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng appointed a large number of his protégés as officials. After these people took office, they naturally obeyed Zhang Juzheng's orders, and private party and corrupt behaviors were inevitable. Another example is Wei Zhongxian during the Chongzhen period, in order to consolidate his power, he even wantonly appointed opportunists and children of wealthy families as officials.
Under the control of powerful ministers, corrupt officials and corrupt officials can unscrupulously disgrace one side, but the supervisory body and the system of electing officials have failed to play their due role in supervising and restraining them. The Ming Dynasty's once-prided system of clean government has survived in name only under this distorted operation of power.
5. The Fall of the Ming Dynasty: The Decadent System Gave Rise to a Change of Dynasty
In the late Ming Dynasty, due to the control of powerful ministers and the dysfunction of the supervision system, the phenomenon of decay spread increasingly in the bureaucratic system. Corruption and pro-trust people have become common, and the once admirable clean government system of the Ming Dynasty existed in name only.
Taking the reign of Emperor Chongzhen as an example, the real power figure at that time was none other than Wei Zhongxian, a scholar. In order to consolidate his power, Wei Zhongxian wantonly appointed opportunists and children of wealthy families as officials, resulting in the corruption and degeneration of the entire bureaucracy. According to historical records, there was a phenomenon in front of Wuyingdian at that time, "There is no reason without money, and there is no reason for it, and there is money and no reason". This shows the depth of corruption.
At the same time, in order to suppress the people's revolt, the Ming court had to levy large taxes, which intensified the exploitation of the people by the officials. Displacement and uprisings have occurred in many places, and social unrest is becoming more and more serious.
Guozhen, the military aircraft prescription, once said: "The country has no discipline, although there is civil and military, it is not enough." "The failure of the construction of a clean government directly shook the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the military attack of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was almost powerless. In the end, under the dual role of national contradictions and class contradictions, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was a foregone conclusion.
The Manchu rulers were well aware that one of the important reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was corruption. Therefore, after entering the Central Plains, they spared no effort to implement draconian anti-corruption measures in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the people. However, this is an expedient measure after all, the decaying Ming Dynasty has no power to return to the sky, and the tide of dynastic change is inevitable.