In ancient times, the undercurrents of the officialdom were surging and the winds and clouds were changeable, and if they were not careful, they were punished with the removal of officials and knights, and the heavy ones were full of doors and cuts, and the nine tribes were connected. The political arena of the Yuan Dynasty has a consistent style of feudal officialdom, with endless open and dark struggles, and also has its own characteristics, the so-called "hook examination" is one of them. In the Yuan Dynasty, especially in the official field of the early Yuan Dynasty, "hook examination" was a fatal word. The officials of the Mongolian and Han colors can be described as "afraid of hooks like tigers, and everyone talks about hooks changing color."
The so-called hook test, also known as the calculation, means that the so-called audit system is now called, and according to the results of the hook test, officials can be immediately held accountable and punished. Auditing and inspection in China has existed since ancient times, and the so-called "upper calculation", "hooking", "grinding and surveying" and so on. However, the Yuan Dynasty's hook calculation, combined with the Mongolian "Kurza" (special court) system learned from Persia, has distinct characteristics of the times, reflecting the intricate political line struggle behind it, and the scale and cruelty are unprecedented.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > two big hook tests related to Kublai Khan</h1>
The earliest hook examination of the Yuan Dynasty may have been in the spring of the fourth year of Yuan Xianzong (1254), when Möngke Khan sent Yelü Zhu, Timur and Kubhuchi to the Yan region to calculate money and grain, and in July he "ordered officials to go to the court to calculate the money valley". These hook examinations are small in scale and have not yet set off a big wave, and the big hook examinations that really have the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty are still the Alandar hook examinations that occurred in the seventh year of Emperor Xianzong (1257).
The origins of the AlanTall hook exam itself have a complex political background. At that time, As the Great Khan of Mongolia, Emperor Meng ge of YuanXianzong sat in Mobei and Lin, and ruled the overall situation of the Great Mongol Empire as the master of most of Eurasia. He appointed his younger brother Kublai Khan, later the Ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, to take charge of the affairs of the Southern Han Dynasty and to be responsible for the war against the Southern Song Dynasty.
In order to rule the Han areas in the Central Plains well, Kublai Khan reused the Han people, surrounded by Dou Mo, Yao Shu, Liu Bingzhong, Hao Jing and other Han ministers, to rule the Han Dynasty with han rule and restore the economy of the Central Plains that had been looted by war. In addition, Kublai Khan also made great military achievements.
"Mu Xiu is in the forest, and the wind will destroy it", Kublai Khan's behavior was hated, and someone reported Kublai Khan to Möngke, saying that he was "a patent affair for the courtiers of the royal palace." Möngke was an authoritarian man, and he was also worried that Kublai Khan would shock the Lord and threaten his position. So kublai khan was arranged for a hook test.
The hook examination was presided over by the minister Alan Da'er and the governor Liu Taiping, and the "hook examination bureau" was set up, and the targets of the hook examination were the Shaanxi Xuanfu Division and the Henan Economic and Strategic Division, which were in charge of Kublai Khan. The purpose of the hook examination was to investigate the money and grain taxes that Kublai Khan's palace had arbitrarily withheld and collected, and to force it to be repaid immediately.
The hook test is quite harsh, and the law enforcement is also very harsh. Kublai Khan's large number of loyal officials, Lian Xixian and Zhao Liangbi, were all taken down by the Hook Examination Bureau, and many of them were severely tortured and died in prison. In order to avoid disaster, Kublai Khan heeded the advice of the counselor Yao Shu, surrendered his power, and personally went north to apologize to Möngke, and the matter was terminated.
Kublai Khan used his personal experience to experience the power of the hook test. After he came to power, he used the hook test as a useful political tool and used it very frequently.
The hook examination is the examination and punishment of officials, and naturally becomes an excellent weapon for rectifying political enemies and cracking down on dissidents in the struggle of the officialdom. Take the case of the province of Jianghuai in the seventeenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1280). Zhongshu Province Pingzhang Political Affairs Ahma was at odds with Pingzhang Alibo of Jianghuai Province, and Cui Bin, the Right Minister of Jianghuai Province, thought of hooking up Jianghuai Province and getting rid of these two people. The so-called "if you want to add to the crime, there is no excuse for the trouble", the Hook Examination Bureau found that Ali Bo "arbitrarily paid 470,000 stones of grain", and should recover the treasure banknote 12,000 ingots, involving a particularly huge amount, a particularly serious circumstance, and a very bad nature. Ali Bo and Cui Bin were beheaded for "cheating official grain".
But the feng shui took turns, and Ahma offended too many people when he came to power, and was finally assassinated by the "righteous soldiers". After his death, his minions and cronies were also tested once. By the nineteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1282), You Xian, the envoy of Zhejiang West Xuanwei, went to Jianghuai Province again and found that the total stolen money was more than four million. The party henchmen in Jianghuai Province, who had originally relied on Ahma to gain power, were really bloodied, and they were deposed and sent to prison.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > the hook test of "iron itself is not hard"</h1>
In short, the hook examination is the embodiment of the mixed political system of the Yuan Dynasty and the Mongolian and Han Dynasties, and also reflects the contradiction between the two development paths of the Yuan Dynasty Han Law and the Mongolian Law.
The backward plundering customs of the nomads led to the overspending of the Yuan Dynasty's finances. The significance of frequent hook examinations lies in the recovery of taxes and is an important means to ensure financial resources.
Nomads have long acquired wealth through plunder, and lords have also co-opted their subordinates by dividing up land and rewarding treasures. This custom was extended and infiltrated in the state finances of the Yuan Dynasty. Ignoring the normal needs of economic development, the Yuan government sought to loot local wealth for royal consumption or to reward meritorious nobles. Unrestrained and indiscriminate spending has led to enormous financial pressures. By the 26th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1289), the annual fiscal deficit reached one million silver ingots. Therefore, the Yuan court appointed "financial celebrities" such as Ahma, Lu Shirong, and Sang Ge, who were merchants, to obtain and plunder private wealth by raising taxes, issuing more currency, and buying and buying taxes.
The hook examination is a supplementary guarantee for this kind of "robbery" means, checking whether all the taxes that should be levied have been collected, whether the taxes have entered the national treasury, or have been eaten by the corrupt officials below.
Frequent hook examinations are also a means of increasing centralization and limiting local power. The tradition of Mongolia is to implement a system of sub-fiefs, and to give land to subordinates, so that they can pay tribute on time. However, as the Mongol regime took over the rule of the agricultural areas, in order to adapt to the new situation, it implemented the "Han Law", established counties and counties, and established a centralized government.
Conducting hook examinations of local provinces and prefectures was a good strategy for the imperial court to strengthen the centralization of power and control of local officials. The Minister of Chincha came regularly and irregularly to inspect the work, to judge your accounts, to punish your sins, and to make you frightened and frightened all day long, so that you had to make promises and obey the orders of the above.
Since the main purpose of the hook examination is to amass wealth for the rulers, many of the officials of the hook examination bureau "do not strike iron itself", saying that they are to rectify corruption, but they are corrupt to death, taking the opportunity to eat and take cards. This led to a boiling of public resentment wherever the Hook Examination Bureau went. Zheng Sixiao, a scholar of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, used the metaphor of a fisherman's cormorant fishing to expose the compulsory collection of taxes and exploit the people: "Cormorants get fish full of jaws, that is, they are shaken by people; cormorants take fish even more, and people shake them; labor is endless, and the benefits are very fresh." ”
Local officials at all levels, especially Han scholars and doctors, have always been opposed to the hook examination. The opposition to the hook examination is constantly neglected, saying that the hook examination "wreaks havoc on the people and emptys their family wealth", "strips the people of life", and "destroys the huge room without knowing, and even forces women to become prostitutes". They say that the hook test abuses the people, asks for the people's life, and abolishes the hook test, but more out of their own interests.
The hook examination offended too many people in the government and the public, and in 1291, after the fall of Sango, the right minister who presided over many hook examinations, the call for the abolition of the hook examination was high throughout the country. In October, Yuyu Xi Timur played in the imperial history: "Hook Kao Qiangu, since the beginning of the Central Unification of the Thirty Years, more Ahma, Sango ruled the country, and managed to the extreme, while the rest of the party princes took back the bribe, the people are not able to die, it is better to give up." Kublai Khan, out of the consideration of stabilizing the hearts and minds of the ruling clique, pushed the boat along the water and issued an edict, dismissing the Kao Qian Valley, "On the day of the edict, the people celebrate each other", and shouted the emperor's grace.
Later, Kublai Khan also executed three hook examiners, Nasu Raddin, Xin Du, and Wang Juji, who were "forced to kill the officials", "to thank the world". The vigorous big hook examination movement at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty came to an end.
Excerpt from | Leadership Digest, October 2021
Source of the manuscript | Integrity Watch
This article is written by | Big Lion
Responsible Editor | Shadow
WeChat Editor | And also