Author: Our special guest author Zhu Yingyuejiang
"A laugh in the sea, a tidal wave on both sides of the strait..."
In the familiar melody, a group of jianghu haojie sang to the wine, walked in all directions, martial arts battles and children's love, at this moment, they all reflected each other, and together they formed Jin Yong's "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu".
However, although the popularity of "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu" is high, the story age in the book is very vague, and readers can only speculate that "Laughing Proud of the Jianghu" may have occurred in the Ming and Qing Dynasties according to the clothing, food, shelter, and transportation of the characters in the book, "using silver bills", and "governor", "patrol", "general" and so on.
Because of this, many film and television dramas often set the era background of "Smiling Proud Jianghu" as the Ming Dynasty when filming "Smiling Proud of jianghu". If "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu" really happened in the Ming Dynasty, then if we look at this drama from a historical perspective, we will find that the two details in the play quietly hide the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
1. What kind of official is the inspector?
The first detail of the rise and fall of the dynasty revealed in "Laughing proud of the jianghu" takes place in the second chapter of the major protagonists who have not yet had time to steal the scene.
According to the description in the book, at that time, after Lin Pingzhi killed people for the first time in his life, his subordinates were still free to stand up for Lin Pingzhi, shouting that they had offended their own young dart head to die, who knew that the other party had not expressed much, Lin Pingzhi on the side saw that the blood on the ground was first frightened and half dead, and asked the Shi Dart head around him what to do.
Shi Dangtou secretly thought to himself, "It is inevitable that people will be killed in a fight in the jianghu, but in ordinary days, everyone kills underworld figures, but what Shao Dangtou killed this time is obviously not a thief." In this way, not to mention the little young master of the dart board, even if the governor and the prince of the inspector kill people, it will be as difficult to end easily."
Although Shi Dangtou's words were intended for Lin Pingzhi, they were really a bit elusive. It is said that the governor is a big member of one side and his power is in the sky, and Shi Dangtou feels that it is understandable to be on top, but where is this "patrol" sacred? Why is it that in Shi Dangtou's mind, "patrolling" seems to be an untouchable existence?
In fact, shi dangtou's idea is not a problem in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Because the Imperial History of the Ming Dynasty was "the Division of the Heavenly Son's Eyes and Ears and Wind discipline", its organization was strict, its authority was wide, and its authority was rare in the past, and it was indeed an undesirable existence.
According to historical records, the Ming Dynasty set up a total of 13 patrols to guide the imperial history, all of which were personally assigned by the emperor, and these inspectors, as the spokesman of the emperor, were divided into various places to inspect, among which the patrol of Zhengqipin also had the right to "act cheaply", and could supervise the behavior of officials at all levels in "brushing the scrolls", "interrogating criminal prisoners", "inspecting the government", and "inspecting the promotion".
At first glance, the Inspector Imperial Historian seems to be the embodiment of justice, specializing in overseeing the injustices of the world. However, if you look at the history of the Ming Dynasty, only the imperial history of the early Ming Dynasty can be said to be just and righteous, and in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the role of the imperial history of the inspector is completely changed.
For example, during the Hongzhi period, when Bao Ze inspected Huguang, he investigated the bad deeds of the kings of the clan who encroached on the land, and then let these high-ranking and powerful princes obediently return all the land to the people, which caused a sensation in the government and the opposition.
In addition to the shock of the hundred officials, the small inspectors of the imperial history only gently waved their hands, with the calmness of "brushing off the clothes", and continued to throw themselves into the next battle, so that the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the people of the government and the public were full of legends of the imperial history.
Among the various legends, there are not only the feats of Zhejiang Inspector Yushi Li Gang during the Tianshun period, who brought more than 400 corrupt officials and corrupt officials along the way, so that the Zhejiang officialdom was cleared, and there was also the compassion of Yu Qian, a great hero in the defense war of Beijing, who rehabilitated more than thirty unjust cases and saved hundreds of unjust prisoners during his patrol of Shanxi.
One achievement after another made the reputation of inspector Yushi so famous that when many corrupt officials heard that Inspector Yushi was about to inspect their own jurisdiction, they consciously hung up their seals and resigned officials and went home to sell sweet potatoes.
Regrettably, in the early ming dynasty, it was like a clear stream of imperial history in the official field, but in the late Ming dynasty, it quickly became corrupt and degenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye. For example, during the Wanli period, the inspectors of the "Heaven Patrol Hunting" have long lost the low profile of the early Ming Dynasty, but chose to "ride a big horse and dress in splendid embroidery", and when they arrived at the place of the patrol, they extorted and extorted all the money, treating local officials as human flesh atms.
Among them, the most typical is Wei Zhongxian's "son" Cui Chengxiu. When he was in charge of patrolling Jianghuai, he clearly marked the prices of all the prisoners he caught along the way, and as long as the money was in place, he would let him go whoever he wanted.
During the Chongzhen period, the inspector yushi degenerated even more seriously, and every time the inspectors traveled, the local officials had to spend a lot of reception fees, and these expenses would then be transferred to the people, so that Liang Tingdong, the military secretary, once angrily rebuked: "The state sends a patrol party, and the world sends more than a million", that is to say, the travel expenses of the patrol yushi are as high as millions, and they are about to catch up with the military expenses of Liaodong.
2. How can I become a general?
At the time of the rapid corruption and degeneration of the Imperial History, the second hidden danger of the demise of the Ming Dynasty also comes to the fore in "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes", which is a strange scene in the seventh chapter of the novel when Liu Zhengfeng washes his hands of the golden basin.
Before the golden basin washed his hands, the jianghu Haojie all thought that Liu Zhengfeng was a big man of the Hengshan faction, and even when he stayed at the scene of the ceremony of the golden basin washing, the military attaches of the DPRK and China who had always been in violation of the river water from the wells of the rivers and lakes rushed to the meeting, and also sealed Liu Zhengfeng as a counselor on the spot, so that the melon-eating masses at the scene shouted incredible.
To say that the position of counselor general is also a familiar face in "Smiling Proud of the River". In the later story of the novel, Ling Fox Chong intercepts the road halfway to pretend to be an officer, and the interception is also a staff general.
So, what position was the general who frequently appeared in "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes" in the military system of the Ming Dynasty?
In the 15th century, the Ming Dynasty first set up this official system of staff generals, mainly as the commanders of the zhenshou border area, ranking second to the chief soldier and the deputy chief soldier, which is roughly equivalent to the three pins in the middle of the dynasty.
The irreplaceable position represents the high standards and strict requirements of the selection of generals, and initially people wanted to be a staff general in the Ming Dynasty, not only to be skilled in martial arts, but also to be extremely loyal.
Some people may ask, since the criteria for selecting generals in the Ming Dynasty were so strict, how did Liu Zhengfeng, a big man in the jianghu, become a general through selection?
In fact, the fact that Liu Zhengfeng, a social person, was able to become a staff general in itself showed that there was a big problem in the human resources of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and the position of general was no longer inhabited by the able, but by the rich. But where there is a mine in the family, donating a ginseng will not be a problem at all.
Buying and selling generals is just the tip of the iceberg of selling officials and knights in the official arena. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, various official positions were openly bought and sold at clear prices. For example, the cost of serving in the military department is 1000 taels, the cost of serving in the ceremonial department is 2000 taels, if it is a foreign transferist, it is differentiated according to the degree of regional affluence, and the cost of some good places is as high as 5000 taels.
Perhaps the price of the hat is too high, there was an official who did not play cards according to the rules, when buying an official, he ran to bargain, the original 5,000 taels of official position, he was only willing to pay 3,000 taels of silver, and finally only got a prefect position.
To say that the official was wrong was to buy a civilian official, and if he bought a military general position, the price would be much cheaper. According to historical records, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the position of Jinyi Wei was only twenty or thirty taels of silver, and there were often scoundrels in the city who paid for officials, and when they were transformed, they could rely on the identity of Jinyi Wei to extort and extort and run rampant in the townships.
This trend of selling officials and lords developed into a farce on the eve of the fall of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the peasant army led by Li Zicheng was already under the city, but many secret agents sent by the peasant army to the city were still selling the official positions of the imperial court to the peasant army, so that Daming had not yet perished, and the official positions of military generals at all levels had been snapped up by the peasant army.
This rush to buy is really more active than the citizens in Jiang Kun's cross-talk "Anxious" to rush to buy peanut oil and yellow sauce, and it seems not surprising that Liu Zhengfeng was able to successfully get the position of general in the context of the Ming Dynasty's rush to buy official positions.
However, when the dynasty reached this point, how long the purchased ginseng could do it was really a matter worth thinking about.
References: Zhao Kesheng, Xu Wenji, "A Book to Understand the Ming Dynasty", Wang Shihua's "Imperial History of the Ming Dynasty", Gu Cheng's "History of the Peasants' War in the Late Ming Dynasty", "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Ming Shilu", Qi Xiaojing's "Research on the Ming Dynasty Patrol According to the Imperial History System", Li Xiong's "Ming Dynasty Patrol According to the Imperial History"
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