Lü Simian: The Ming Dynasty was corrupted in Zhu Di, and the Qing Dynasty was corrupted in Qianlong
Mr. Lu Simian, a master of traditional Chinese studies and a great historian, wrote in the chapter "The Rise and Fall of the Ming Dynasty" in his best-selling masterpiece "General History of China":
"The political corruption of the Ming Dynasty actually began when chengzu was born."
"The first is the cruelty of torture, and the other is the dictatorship of eunuchs, and the two things are also interdependent."
Ming Chengzu is Zhu Di, counting the Jianwen Emperor who reigned only for 4 years, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, how to say that it was also in the early Ming Dynasty, generally the early dynasties are simple folk customs, cultivation and recuperation, relatively clear, Zhu Di in the Ming Emperor, is not a dim king, then why explain the corruption of the dynasty in Zhu Di?
Does Lu Simian's argument stand?
In fact, if we analyze it from the perspective of political strategy, What Lu Simian said is correct.
We know that the biggest drawback of the Ming Dynasty is that eunuchs monopolize power, get power, and exploit the fish and meat people, which is also the usual impression given by the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, it was stipulated that internal prisoners were not allowed to read, and at that time eunuchs did not read and had no culture, so they had no status.
Zhu Di was different, because he successfully rebelled and was received by the internal prisoners, so after becoming emperor, he chose a group of middle officials, that is, eunuchs, to read and write, and then set up the East Factory, which was the beginning of the prosperity of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister and reached the peak of the emperor's monopoly, second only to Yongzheng, because excessive dictatorship also made the Ming and Qing dynasties give people a dark and corrosive feeling, Zhu Yuanzhang and Yongzheng could do it themselves, but their descendants could not do it, they just wanted to enjoy happiness, many things had to be handed over to others to do, and naturally let the authority fall by the wayside.
Therefore, after Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, his son Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji was still nothing, and his grandson Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was very fond of the eunuch Wang Zhen, and it was also Wang Zhen who instigated Zhu Qizhen to drive the imperial conquest, so one of the greatest shames of the Ming Dynasty occurred, the change of Tumu Fort.
Emperor Zhu Qizhen of tangtang Daming, defeated by the army and turned into a prisoner, somewhat similar to the Song Dynasty's Jing Kang shame, and after Yu Qian's victory, Zhu Qizhen launched a change to seize the door, killing the hero Yu Qian and appointing traitors, resulting in the outbreak of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the Ming Dynasty, many people died unjustly, it can be said that they were incomparable.
Zhu Qizhen's son Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen was also one of the darkest days of the Ming Dynasty, favoring the eunuch Wang Zhi. Perhaps it was the opposite of the extreme, and the Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youfan behind him was more clear-cut, and there were no concubines in the world during his reign.
The next 3 emperors are generally considered to be emperors, and Lü Simian also said that they were emperors, namely Emperor Mingwuzong and Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Ming Shizong and Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houxi, and Emperor Ming Shenzong and Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.
Zhengde favored the eunuch Liu Jin, and during his reign, Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning, rebelled, and there were countless uprisings of displaced people. Jiajing was obsessed with refining Dan Xiuxian, and although he did not favor eunuchs, he let the powerful subordinate Yan Song fall to the traitorous minister, causing Wukou to ravage the seven provinces of Daming and hit the city of Nanjing, which can be said to be one of the shames of Daming's change of Tumu Fort, and the degree of fainting and incompetence is no lower than that of the late Qing Dynasty, and the people are miserable.
Moreover, when Jiajing was not only invaded by wokou, but also by the northerners three times, that is, near the capital, Jiajing saw the fire of the invasion outside the city, and Yan Song lied to him that it was a fire in the house, which showed how incompetent Jiajing was, even more than Zhengde, not to mention that Jiajing also had such a cruel and inhumane thing as mutilating the palace women and changing the palace of Nongyin, and these things Were also discussed by Lu Simian.
Not to mention the Wanli Emperor, sending tax inspectors to exploit the people of Daming, 20 years without the dynasty, if it were not for Zhang Juzheng, Daming might have ended in his hands long ago, one of the three major levies of Wanli, the anti-Wu aid to the dprk fought for 7 years and did not win, but after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the island country automatically withdrew, and also wronged Yuan Yifan.
The same was true of Emperor Mingxi's zhu Youxiao, who favored the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and Zhu Youjian did not believe in eunuchs anymore, but indiscriminately killing and suppressing loyal ministers Sun Chengzong, Lu Xiangsheng, and Sun Chuanting, and appointing traitorous ministers Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru, and Yang Sichang, saying that they were faint, were all said lightly.
Therefore, Lü Simian's ming dynasty was corrupted in Zhu Di's view, there was no problem, the essence was that the emperor's monopoly on power was too much, there must be great drawbacks, because personal ability is sometimes exhausted, it must be divided, there is no prime minister, but the power is given to the eunuchs and the cabinet, the Ming emperor is almost not enlightened, all he does is for the Zhu family, do not regard the Ming people as people, and the Qin Emperor Han Wubi is still far behind.
After the Ming Dynasty, for the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, Lü Simian's view in the General History of China is:
"The decline of the Qing Dynasty can be said to have originated in the qianlong world. Emperor Gaozong was extravagant in nature, and during his reign he made six southern tours, costing no art, and after he was middle-aged, he appointed Hezhen, and greed was unprecedented in ancient and modern times. Officials had to strip the people of their services, and their superiors cursed their subordinates, and their subordinates abused the people, so the officials ruled badly. ”
This statement is more agreeable, KangQian's prosperity, to Qianlong's hands is somewhat unworthy of the name, completely saved during the Yongzheng period.
The late Qing Dynasty was also very faint, but the greatest contribution of the first and middle Qing Dynasties was the consolidation and maintenance of the territory, which was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to beat, such as the Kangxi Conquest of Dzungar, the recovery of Baodao, the reconquest of Xinjiang by Zuo Zongtang, the pacification of the Jinchuan River, and the development of the Yunguichuan River and the return of land in western Hunan, all of which crushed the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the Qing Dynasty's decline is also the biggest, that is, the use of firearms, inhibition of suppression of commerce and technology, this point began from Yongzheng, put firearms on the high cabinet, resulting in the late Qing Dynasty to see the foreigners cannon, the Qing soldiers thought it was a monster, with dung to splash, when the Qing Dynasty ministers opened the firearms, they were already rusty...
The firearms of the late Qing Dynasty were completely inferior to those of the late Ming Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang saw it and said, I didn't think we had such a powerful firearm very early, this is the Manchu Qing Ai Xinjue Luo as a foreign nationality to prevent the entry of the lord, but also the Qing Dynasty's most failed place, if you do not suppress the firearm, it will not be the defeat of the Jia Wu, the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, various treaties, etc.
Of course, what needs to be clearly seen is that in the late Ming Dynasty, Western firearms have surpassed us, because the great navigation promoted their technology, Yuan Chonghuan injured Nurhaci's red-clad cannon, that is, imported from the West, and then transformed, at this time it has fallen behind, but the Ming Dynasty can still introduce learning, the Qing Dynasty did this too poor.
However, the Ming Dynasty's Longqing Kaihai also seems to be unworthy of its name, in fact, the Ming and Qing dynasties can be said to be closed to the country, both are internal consumption of civilization, self-sufficient farming environment led to their long-term vision, can not look at overseas and global.
Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, there are very few enlightened and clear,both dynasties are worse than rotten, but the Qing Dynasty is even worse, on the basis of the peak of the Ming Dynasty's dictatorship, the Qing Dynasty reached its peak, inheriting the Ming Dynasty's eight strands of literature to bind the thinking, and vigorously promoting the prison of writing, giving people a dark and depressing atmosphere.