Ancient Chinese titles refer to the titles of emperors, empresses, and officials who, after their deaths, are highly summarized and evaluated by posterity according to their historical merits. It is usually divided into three types: beauty, peace, and evil, which play the three functions of praise, sympathy, and denial.
By the Ming Dynasty, the rulers followed the system of giving three pins to the emperor during the Tang and Song dynasties, and gave the three pins or more to the virtuous ministers. In the history of the Ming dynasty of nearly three hundred years, according to historical records, there were a total of 121 "loyal" officials who testified to it. Loyal, dangerous to serve, not to give up. The nickname "loyalty" was also a recognition and encouragement for the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the connotation of "loyalty" of Ming officials</h1>
In the Yi Zhou Shu Tan Fa Xie, "loyalty" means "to serve the body in danger", that is, to serve the king even if you hurt yourself. In Guo Lianghan's Compilation of The Ming Dynasty, "loyalty" has a fuller and more comprehensive interpretation: "serving the body in danger", "prosperity and decline are pure and solid", "not forgetting the country in the face of trouble", "pushing the virtuous and doing their best", "honest and fair", and "killing to serve the country".
1. Military loyalty - the loyalty of the first soldier
Many of the officials of the Ming Dynasty who received "loyalty" had military merit, and they "did not forget the country in the face of trouble", and sacrificed their lives and forgot their deaths for the country and the king. Confucius once said: "Heroes and benevolent people, there is no survival to harm benevolence, there is a killing to become a benevolent", the Ming Dynasty officials who obtained "loyalty" just have this ambition, they are not afraid of the enemy, not afraid of sacrifice, willing to exchange their own strength for the country, the people's security, the world's peace
Taking Yu Qian as an example, he was a jinshi during the Yongle period, and once accompanied Zhu Zhanji on his personal expedition to quell Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion. Entering the army as a civilian official, he angrily drank Zhu Gaoxu in the court with an indomitable attitude, and reprimanded the Han king for fighting two battles, sweating profusely.
During the Orthodox years, Yu Qian was suppressed by the eunuch Wang Zhen and demoted to the post of Shaoqing of Dali Temple, after which Wang Zhen seduced Emperor Yingzong into marching and attacking Vala, but Emperor Yingzong was taken prisoner first. In the face of the incessant discussion of "moving south" in the court, Yu Qianli said sharply in the crowd: "Those who say that they have moved south can be cut off." The capital division of the world is fundamental, and if it moves, it will be a big thing, and song Nandu will not be seen alone! ”。
At his insistence, he led 220,000 soldiers to jointly defend Beijing, launched the "Beijing Defense War" that was later known, and FuDaizong succeeded to the throne to defend the country. In the eighth year of Jingtai, Emperor Yingzong was restored, and Yu Qian was framed by Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen and others, and died in a wronged manner, until the time of Emperor Mingxianzong, he pursued "Su Su", and when he arrived at Ming Shenzong, he changed his name to "Zhongsu".
Yu Qian's loyalty lies in being loyal to the state society in times of great difficulty, and standing up and being loyal to the motherland in times of crisis, and being a pioneer on the battlefield of war without fear or remorse.
2. Political loyalty - loyalty to death
In the courtroom, there is another manifestation of "loyalty", which lies in the loyalty of death for the comfort of the national community. For most civilian officials, there are few opportunities to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and serve the motherland, but above the government and the opposition, they are often not afraid of power, and they are bent on the generosity of the country and the people. During the Ming Jiajing period, the famous literary minister Yang Jisheng, who had tried to impeach Qiu Luan and attack Yan Song hard, lived in prison for three years, and was finally victimized by Yan Song. He did not repay his kindness in his life, and was retained as a loyal soul to make up for it. ”
This kind of behavior of defamation at the expense of one's life is just as Qu Yuan said in "Leaving sorrow": "Even if the heart is good, although it is nine deaths, it is still unrepentant." This spirit of serving the country and the people and seeing death as a homecoming is not only loyalty to the country, but also loyalty to one's own morality and character. In short, this kind of behavior is probably a kind of "loyalty" of faith that "follows the Tao and does not obey the king."
Those who are subjects must be loyal to both the king and morality, and only those who are loyal to the king are easy to flatter and flatter, and only on the basis of loyalty to the king can they adhere to the power of morality, adhere to the first place in the country's social order, and adhere to the bottom line of serving the country and the people, is the true way of "loyalty" of scholars.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the general situation of the "loyal" officials of the Ming Dynasty</h1>
In the Ming Dynasty, an official's title was usually given two words, and if one of the words was "loyal", it was a supreme praise for the official and a great political honor.
1. Military attachés are loyal and honored with military merit
During the Ming Taizu period, there were many founding heroes who had the title of "Zhong" after their deaths, and sun Xingzu, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, had accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang on his northern expedition and was posthumously awarded the title of Marquis of Yanshan, Yu Zhongzong; Mao Ji during the Chenghua period, who served as the chief of the Guangdong Department of the Punishment Department and the Guangdong Affairs, was posthumously given the title of "Zhongxiang"; Wu Kezhong once accompanied Zhu Di on his expeditions to the Wara and Arutai Department, and was killed in battle during the Tumu Revolution, and was posthumously honored as "Zhongyong" after his death.
Most of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty who received "loyalty" used military merit, because for the emperor, it was the most direct and simplest expression of loyalty to the courtiers to serve him and the motherland.
2. Civilian officials are loyal and honest, and they are respected by speaking outright
In the history of the Ming Dynasty, the title of zhong was not only reserved for military attachés, but also for civilian officials. However, the "loyalty" of civilian officials is divided into three situations: One is that in the Ming Dynasty's wars, civilian officials were respected for governing the army, such as Yu Qian, Guo Yingxiang, Cai Daoxian, and others, all of whom performed the work of military attachés in the position of civilian officials, and had certain military merits in their bodies or eventually died on the battlefield.
The second is that civilian officials who speak out in righteousness and fiercely criticize will also be posthumously given the title of "loyal", such as Zou Zhi, Shen Lian, Wei Liangbi, Yang Lian, Zhou Shunchang, etc.; the third is that ministers who are deeply trusted by the emperor also have a certain chance of obtaining the title of "loyal" after their death, such as Hu Qi, Ye Xianggao, Wen Tiren, and so on.
In the case of Yang Lian, he was a famous courtier between Wanli and the Heavenly Apocalypse, and together with Zuo Guangdou, Yuan Huazhong, Wei Dazhong, Zhou Chaorui, and Gu Dazhang, he was called the "Six Gentlemen of Donglin". Yang Lian served as the left deputy capital yushi for five years, and during his tenure at the imperial court, he paid close attention to the "Attack Case", "Red Pill Case", and "Palace Transfer Case", and devoted himself to impeaching the castration party represented by Wei Zhongxian, and was eventually framed and imprisoned by Wei Zhongxian.
Before the execution, he left a bloody letter: "Lian Jin's death staff is under the scepter!" Foolish to repay the Lord, foolish to the enemy; for a long time to fight seven feet, no longer think about it. Not for Zhang Jian to flee, nor for Yang Zhen to look up to medicine, want to return to the imperial court with his life, do not want his wife to cry a ring of ears... But I am a deputy constitutionalist, and I have been ordered to do so. Confucius Ziyun: "Entrusting the lonely to send their lives, the great festival is indispensable!" With this thought, we can finally see that the former emperor yu is in the heavens, and the Emperor Of the Ten Patriarchs and the Emperor Tianhou and the heavens are all over the world. Laugh, laugh, laugh! The knife cuts the east wind, why should I? It was not until the Chongzhen period that Yang Lian was rehabilitated and posthumously honored as a "loyal martyr".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the reason why Ming officials were "loyal"</h1>
The title is an evaluation of whether a person's life is a meritorious deed, and it is a unique official culture in ancient China, and the ruler praises and inspires subordinate officials by giving them to them. The Ming Dynasty was an important period for the inheritance and development of the ancient official law and title inheritance in China, and it abolished the evil rumors of officials, the discussion and refutation of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the titles were more meaningful.
Among them, the promulgation of "loyalty" has stricter audits and requirements, and the "loyalty" of the courtiers is an important recognition of their character and ability. But what kind of courtiers can obtain the title of loyalty? This needs to be analyzed from the factors of the official's grade and qualifications.
1. Divide according to grade
Titles were given by the emperor and were usually assessed strictly on the basis of grade. In the pre-Qin to Han dynasties, the title of title existed together with the title, and there were titles and titles, and the title was only given to nobles with titles. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the qualification limit for the title was opened, and meritorious officials could also receive the title given by the emperor. From the Sui Dynasty onwards, the scope of the title was expanded to more than three pins, and this standard continued until the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty followed the Tang and Song dynasties' system of titles, and selected a virtuous and meritorious minister from the two capital ministers of more than three pins to grant them to the title. During the Ming Dynasty, there were the most ministers who won the first product, and those below the second product had to choose the best and most talented ministers. However, the Ming Dynasty has a long history, and some of the officials are in important positions, but they are of bad character, relying on flattery and trusting the emperor to obtain beautiful titles, such as the Taoist priest Shao Yuanjie "Wenkang Rongjing" in Jiajing, And Tao Zhongwen "Rongkang Huisu" and so on.
2. Attach importance to work performance
Job performance is a measure of a minister's ability and a decisive factor in weighing and evaluating whether a minister can be satisfied. During the Wanli Dynasty, the Ministry of Rites clearly stipulated that "the affirmation of the canon, the various deeds of the civil and military ministers, the investigation of the biography of the deceased, the impeachment, the extensive consultation, the generalization of the government and the opposition, the honor of the state, the public opinion is accepted, and there is no slanderer to discuss, please go to the court." The industry is ordinary, although the rank is not allowed to be abused. The Upper Edict compiles the Initiation Code. ”
Work performance is further refined on the basis of grade division, from which ministers who are truly loyal to the king and the people are selected. At the same time, in special periods, whether to measure the work performance is even greater than to deal with it by grade.
During the Hongwu dynasty, the official Wupin's Hanlin was waiting to subdue Wang Yi, who had sent an envoy to Yunnan, and in the face of the threat of the Liang King, a remnant of the Yuan Dynasty, he rebuked and insulted: "Since the heavens have destroyed Ruyuan, I have been ordered to live in the Ming Dynasty for a day." If you are like the embers of fire, how can you compete with the sun and the moon? I have been commanded, and I will not be succumbed to it. Ru threatened me with fierceness, would I rather fear death? He then killed himself on the spot. This act of defending the integrity of the state led to Wang Yi receiving the title of "Zhongwen" after his death.
3. The emperor is highly centralized
Compared with the Tang and Song dynasties, the centralization of power in the Ming Dynasty further deepened, and the balance of the relationship between the monarch and the subject became an extremely important key to governance. In this regard, the title became an effective means of showing the emperor's grace and encouraging and deterring the courtiers. Qiu Jun, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "Since ancient times, all the people who have been invited to the king, the spring and autumn worlds are still the same, the future generations have always belonged to the division, I have the beginning of the retro system, and all the ministers who have merit in the world, their honors are all given to the clouds."
The emperor's gift is a recognition of the official's life's merits and personality, but this is not purely objective, and sometimes depends entirely on the emperor's personal preferences. For example, the Jiajing Emperor was quite fond of the Taoist priest Shao Yuanjie, and after his death, he was given the title of "Wenkang Rongjing", which set a precedent for the ming dynasty's four-character title. This kind of act of giving courtesy under high centralization has greatly trampled on the impartiality of the title, so that the title that should have played a role in rewarding and punishing and demonstrating is no longer fair and just, and has greatly consumed the reverence of the courtiers and posterity for the title.
The "loyalty" of the Ming Dynasty is loyalty to the king, loyalty to the country, and under the title of "loyalty" is an internalized Confucian spirit of the country, which can effectively motivate ministers to throw their heads and spill blood for the country and the king, and practice the principle of "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a destiny for the people, continuing to learn from the saints, and opening up peace for all generations".
"Loyalty" is the ideal state of being a subject and the goal of self-encouragement of officials at the level of political morality. The "loyalty" of Ming officials had an incentive effect on the entire political arena and also played a role in maintaining stability for the country.