Most friends agree that the proverb "Emperor Yuan" refers to the meaning of "being in an area far from the center, and the imperial power cannot cover the local area".
This is not the case.
The source of this sentence is the "Excerpt from the Ancient Records of Idleness", the original text is:
"The Emperor of Heaven is far away, and the people are few and many are fair.
Play three times a day, don't treat how! ”
Obviously, there is a prominent phrase "do not treat each other", symbolizing the struggle of the toiling masses in feudal society.
So, which dynasty is the source of this slippery sentence? Does the emperor here refer specifically to a certain feudal ruler? According to scholars' research, the "emperor" in this sentence actually refers to a general reference to the unscrupulous emperors of all feudal dynasties. However, in the author's opinion, this is debatable, and the emperor in this proverb does not refer to a general term, but a specific one.
And analyze this proverb from a grammatical level. "Emperor Tiangao is far away" and "the people are less and more public" are an unconventional duality. In this sentence, "heaven" is opposed to "people", and "emperor" is opposed to "xianggong", and the seam is tightly sewn. Since it is a proverb about officials forcing the people to rebel, the "people" here are naturally talking about the toiling masses who have been forced to eat, while "Xianggong" is the bureaucratic class that oppresses the good and the good.
Therefore, according to the duality rule, the "emperor" in the previous sentence should refer specifically to a certain emperor, not to a general reference. Huang Pu, the author of the "Excerpts from the Ancient Records of idle and modern times", was born in the Ming Dynasty, and this book refers to the "Historical Materials of peasant wars in the Yuan Dynasty". Born in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, Yang Ne, the author of "Historical Materials of the Peasants' War in the Yuan Dynasty", witnessed the historical changes of the dynastic change and saw the wave of rebellion of the toiling masses. Since all this is Yang Ne's personal experience, this work has a very high historical value.
The "Historical Materials of the Peasants' War in the Yuan Dynasty" records that in the eighth year of zhengzheng, the people of Wenzhou, Taizhou and other places played a "heavenly high emperor is far away, and the people are few and more public." Play three times a day, don't treat how! The slogan, and the rise of the peasant armed forces, overthrew the local government. Judging from the era of the birth of This Shunkou, the "emperor" in "Emperor Yuan" specifically refers to the Yuan Shun Emperor.
After the Mongol rulers unified the Central Plains, they divided the people of the whole country into four classes: Mongols, Semites, Han Chinese, and Nan.
Semu people: All non-Mongolian, Han Chinese, and Southern people are considered Tomu people. Including Sogdians, Tubo and so on. Traditional theory holds that among the social classes of the Yuan Dynasty, the status of the Semites was below that of the Mongols and above the Han and Southerners.
Nanren: It is a guide to the Han people under the rule of the Song Dynasty and the local ethnic minorities, generally referring to the people in the Southern Song Dynasty south of the Huai River. In the Yuan Dynasty, they were the lowest, most oppressed and discriminated against.
The yuan dynasty central and provincial governors generally did not grant Han Chinese, and local officials were also the first choice for Mongols, and when there was a shortage of talents, they used the Semu people and the Han people in turn. The Yuan Dynasty law stipulates that when the Mongols beat the Han people, the Han people were not allowed to return the hand; the Mongols killed the Han people and only punished him for going on expeditions and compensating funeral expenses; the Han people killed the Mongols, and the death penalty was imposed; the Han and Nan people were not allowed to hide weapons, hunt in groups, or sacrifice in assemblies.
These four types of people, in different classes, can be said to be treated completely differently in terms of admission, scientific research, and litigation. Obviously, as a Mongol-dominated regime, the Mongols enjoyed quite superior treatment in the Yuan Dynasty, which directly increased ethnic contradictions day by day. After Emperor Yuan Shun ascended the throne, the ethnic contradictions between Mongolia and Han had accumulated to an extent that could not be repeated.
Although Emperor Yuan Shun appointed a quite successful escape, the maladministration at this time was no longer something that could be reversed by one person. After the escape was squeezed out by villains and withdrawn from politics, the situation in the country deteriorated. However, Emperor Yuan Shun himself became unenterprising, and gradually "neglected political affairs and wasted on banquets" and began to break the jar and break it.
When the people everywhere rose up at a critical juncture when they were about to subvert the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Shun Emperor still hid in the harem to study the "art of luck in the house". Emperor Yuanshun was the only two carpenter emperors in history, and if he could live under the same sky as Zhu Youxiao, the two emperors would definitely have an endless topic in common. In addition to coveting beauty, Emperor Yuanshun's favorite thing was to design ships and create palace leaks.
In 1368, after Zhu Yuanzhang captured Tongzhou, Yuan Dadu was completely exposed to the sight of the rebels. The dynasty was gone, and Emperor Yuan Shun simply rolled up the eggs and withdrew to his hometown in northern Mobei.
During the Shangdu Panhuan period, Zhu Yuanzhang sent emissaries to summon Emperor Yuanshun, who replied with a poem:
The emissaries of Jinling crossed the river, and the desert wind and smoke opened together.
Wang Qi sometimes rests on its own, and the Emperor's grace is not revealed.
I believe that the sea has returned to the Lord, and I also like that Jiangnan has a handsome talent.
Returning sincerely upset, Chunfeng first arrived at the Phoenix Terrace.
In this poem "Answer to the Lord", we can see that Emperor Yuanshun has recognized the planting, and he euphemistically expresses his situation and gives "Zen" to Zhu Yuanzhang. Originally, it was Emperor Yuanshun's Canghuang Beigu, but he was awe-struck by his righteousness, and this poem shows the absurdity of Emperor Yuanshun. In the second year of Hongwu, Emperor Yuanshun fled to Yingchang with the remnants. In April of the same year, Emperor Yuanshun died of dysentery in Yingchang, and the temple name sizong.
Because when Emperor Yuan Shun was defeated in Jiangshan, he did not choose to fight a battle against the water, nor did he choose to martyr the country with his body, but fled north in a hurry, which can be called "knowing the mandate of heaven and retreating away", so he gave him the nickname "Shun Emperor".
In the distant past, Temujin led the Mongol athletes to conquer the north and sweep through the Central Plains. The Great Yuan Dynasty, founded by several generations, collapsed under the slogan of "expelling the Tartars and restoring China" and became a short-lived dynasty in the history books.
Even, at the time of the collapse of the country, the last emperor Uhatu Khan was given the title of "Shun Emperor" by Zhu Yuanzhang, and these two words were obviously not words of praise.
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[Excerpts from the Ancient Records of idleness, "Answer to the Lord"]