The Battle of Jing
In July 1402, after Zhu Di, the King of Yan, led an army to attack Nanjing and overthrow the rule of his nephew Emperor Jianwen, he was in a hurry to prepare his own enthronement ceremony - first of all, he had to draft an edict declaring the throne of the world, and his subordinates said that this could not be attributed to the famous scholar Fang Xiaoru to convince people, so Fang Xiaoru was brought to Zhu Di. When the city of Nanjing was destroyed, the palace was on fire, and whether the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao died in the fire or escaped from the city has become a mystery for eternity. Fang Xiaoru, on the other hand, wore Ma Dai Xiaoxiao and cried bitterly -- obviously, he thought that Zhu Yunjiao was dead, and as an old vassal of Emperor Jianwen, how could he not be sad for his old master! Although Zhu Di was unhappy in his heart, he patiently advised, "Sir, don't suffer yourself, I just want to emulate the Duke of Zhou and assist the king." The person who took the throne of his nephew and forced his nephew to live or die actually compared himself to the Duke of Zhou who wholeheartedly assisted his nephew, and Fang Xiaoru immediately asked: "Where is King Cheng?" Zhu Di replied, "He set himself on fire and died." Fang Xiaoru asked again, "Why didn't you become the son of a king?" Zhu Di was justified: "The country should rely on the older monarch." The implication is that Zhu Yunjiao's son is still a mao child, how can he govern the country! However, Fang Xiaoru still asked without hesitation: "Why didn't you become the younger brother of the king?" "Yes, when it comes to blood relations, brothers are more close than uncles after all." Since you brazenly compared yourself to the Duke of Zhou, why didn't you treat Emperor Jianwen's younger brother as a king to assist you? Zhu Di could only say vaguely, "This is a family affair of Yuan." He also motioned to the left and right to take a pen and paper, and said: "It is necessary to issue an edict to the world, and it must not be drafted by Mr. Sir." ”
Fang Xiaoru (1357 – 25 July 1402)
Fang Xiaoru wrote the four characters of "Yan Thief Usurpation", and then threw his pen to the ground, crying and scolding: "Die and die, I will never draft any edicts!" Zhu Di changed his face and threatened in a loud voice: "How can you die so easily!" Even if you are going to die personally, don't you care about your Nine Tribes? Who knew that Fang Xiaoru was not at all subservient, and said resolutely: "Even if it is the Ten Tribes, how can I do anything?" Zhu Di was furious, and ordered the first person to use a knife to draw up from the corners of his mouth on both sides, all the way to his ears, and Fang Xiaoru still spit blood on the throne, scolding endlessly. Zhu Di ordered him to be imprisoned, and then began to search for Fang Xiaoru's closest relatives, in addition to the Nine Tribes, he also regarded his friends and protégés as a clan, and filled the "Ten Clans". Every time a person was arrested, before being executed, he was pulled in front of Fang Xiaoru and shown to him. Fang Xiaoru either turned his head to "not care" or "his face did not move, only scolding" (Qing Zenren won the "Sequel to Jianhuan", vol. 2). Fang Xiaoru's elder brother Fang Xiaowen was also a reader of "mechanics and dedication", and he had the honor of dying before Fang Xiaoru and did not witness such a family disaster. When Fang Xiaoru's younger brother Fang Xiaoyou was escorted and about to be tortured, the brotherhood finally made Fang Xiaoru unbearable, and he looked at his brother and burst into tears. Who knew that Fang Xiaoyou not only did not blame or complain about Fang Xiaoyou's intentions in the slightest, but instead took a poem and comforted his brother:
"Brother, why should weep,
Take the righteousness of Cheng ren here.
After a thousand years of Huabiao stigma,
The soul of the traveler still reaches the home mountain. ”
Filial piety and humility, calmly killed. Such a brother is indeed a heart-to-heart, liver and gallbladder; how can such a brotherly feeling not be sensational and awe-inspiring!
In the end, Fang Xiaoru was sentenced to a cruel punishment, that is, splitting the limbs and cutting them to pieces. Regarding his death, the Biography of Ming Shi Fang Xiaoru records it as follows:
"Filial piety died in anger, and made a desperate word:
'Heaven has fallen out of chaos and knows the reason,
The traitors had to plot against the state.
The loyal servants exchanged tears of anger and tears,
Why should we ask for such a martyrdom?
Whoops and whoops ’”
Fang Xiaoru was known as "Mr. Zhengxue" and was 46 years old when he was killed. His wife Zheng and his two sons, Fang Zhongxian and Fang Zhongyu, both hanged themselves before Fang Xiaoru died—there is also a theory that Fang Zhongxian was only 7 years old at the time, rescued by loyal men who risked death and changed his name to Yi, until more than 150 years later, his descendants restored the Fang surname. Fang Xiaoru's two daughters were "young", that is, both children under the age of 15, and on the way to be arrested, the sisters jumped down from the Qinhuai Bridge and threw themselves into the Qinhuai River and died.
In 1402, the year of the noon horse, the scholar Gu Yingtai of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties wrote a chapter entitled "Martyrdom at noon" when he wrote the "Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty". In the case of Fang Xiaoru alone, the nine ethnic groups within his five services, plus friends and protégés, were killed as many as 873 people! The rest of the relatives who were relatively distant from Fang Xiaoru's blood relations—presumably including those friends and protégés who were not very close—were exiled to the farthest frontier, where "the dead are innumerable." The extermination of the Three Nationalities and the Extinction of the Nine Nationalities are all cruel punishments peculiar to an authoritarian and centralized society, and the only person who suffers from the torture of the "Ten Nationalities" is the only one in ancient and modern China and abroad. Some people say that Fang Xiaoru also has a responsibility for the curse of the Ten Tribes: if he refuses to make a decree, why should he use excessive language to provoke Zhu Di? This may have some truth, but it did not alleviate the sins of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di in the slightest. After ascending to the emperor's throne, Zhu Di called all the old subjects of Emperor Jianwen who refused to submit to him as "traitors", and launched a horrific massacre, and countless people were killed and exterminated! After writing the chapter "Martyrdom at noon", Gu Yingtai said bitterly: Zhu Di's tyrannical act surpassed the tyrannical Qin in Chinese history, which was known for its cruelty! Today's people should especially reflect: the autocratic imperial system since the Qin Dynasty is the fertile soil for breeding tyrants! Over the past thousands of years, how many outstanding sons and daughters of China and national elites have been swallowed up by the despotic demon kings of all sizes, and how many good people have groaned in pain under the tyranny of tyranny! And the brothers Fang Xiaoru and Fang Xiaoyou, who will never yield in the face of tyranny, even though they have such shortcomings and deficiencies, they are not ashamed of Mencius's image of "big husband": rich and noble cannot be adulterous, poor and lowly cannot be moved, and mighty cannot be bent!
Statue of Fang Xiaoru in Changzhou ZibenTang
The Fang brothers' "family mountain" is in Ninghai, Zhejiang, and without the need for a "thousand years", the "traveling soul" of the Fang brothers can be justifiably returned to their hometown: after Zhu Di's death, Fang Xiaoru's case was rehabilitated zhaoxue, and in the second year of Ming Wuzong Zhengde, that is, 105 years later, in 1507 AD, Dai Xian of Ninghai Zhi County built the "Fangzheng Xue Hometown Ancestral Hall" on the bank of the local Peach Blossom Creek, and held two festivals every spring and autumn. During the Wanli period, some people built a tomb monument and a shrine for Fang Xiaoru in Nanjing, where he was martyred. On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Fang Xiaoru's death in 2002, Fang's descendants donated money to rebuild the tomb of Fang Xiaoru together with the Yuhuatai Administration Bureau, which has now become a key cultural relics protection unit in Nanjing. On April 3, 2014, a descendant of Fang Xiaoru in Changzhou sculpted a bronze statue of Mr. Fang Xiaoru in the Fang clan's ancestral heir "Zi Ben Tang" and held a grand inauguration ceremony. The heroic soul of the Fang brothers should be rested in peace: the brotherhood between their brothers and sons will always be remembered and recited for future generations; their spirit of vowing to fight against power to the end is always worthy of the respect and admiration of future generations.