preface:
In the early Ming Dynasty, the emperors did not hesitate to be rewarded for the matter of knighthood, but after emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, there was a state of suspension of sealing. The knighthood is a state instrument, and the suspension of knighthood seriously violates the system of "military merit knighthood" in the early Ming Dynasty, and also greatly setbacks the responsibility and mission of the military generals to "stand in solidarity with the country". Emperor Ming's move also led to the imitation of later emperors, the knighthood system was useless, and the title lost its proper meaning.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > ming dynasty hero knighthood system</h1>
In the Ming Dynasty, the titles of meritorious servants were divided into dukes, marquises, and bosans, and the knights were mainly military generals, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the grandfather of the Ming Dynasty, also explicitly ordered that the ministers of civil and military affairs should not be knighted without military merit. The knighthood is also the greatest honor and recognition of the military general, and it is called the title of Marquis Bai Xiangye.
The titles obtained in the Ming Dynasty can be roughly divided into two types, with a large merit knighthood and a small merit knighthood.
What is a big achievement?
The merit of the founding of the country was a major achievement, and Hongwu accumulated dozens of people who were enfeoffed as dukes, hous, and uncles. Ming Chengzu's merits were second only to those of the founding of the country, and yongle was also enfeoffed with dozens of dukes, hous, and uncles. These two merits are also unattainable, and the others can only be knighted once for the merits of the society, such as a one-time suppression of rebellion, or the merit of yingli. During the Tianshun period, Xu Youzhen, Cao Jixiang and others who were known for the "change of the door" were knighted for their merits, and Qiu Yu was enfeoffed with Xianning Bo with the "Rebellion of the King of Anhua" during the Zhengde Period. There were also those who entered the Marquis with great merits, Wuqing Bo Shiheng entered the Marquis of Wuqing with the "Defense of beijing City" feat, and Huaining Bosun Bo entered the Marquis of Huaining with the "Change of Cao Shi".
It can be found that a major achievement is either the frequent occurrence of war in the country's turmoil. Either the transfer of imperial power is not smooth, and the new emperor returns the favored ministers.
What is tired small work?
Tired Xiaogong refers to the accumulation of merit by a military general over the years until he is knighted. Compared with the opportunities and difficulties of a great merit knighthood, the knighthood of a small merit seems to be the king's way, and it is more suitable for the time of chengping. Since the merits of JingNan, the vast majority of the titles of lords in later generations have come from small merits.
Such as the famous general of Tianshun, Chen You, the Marquis of Wuping, was originally a pawn of the Right Guard. Yongle twice accompanied Ming Chengzu on his northern expeditions, Xuande served with military merit into hundreds of households and deputy thousand households, in the orthodox time, he commanded the affairs of you and the governor of the capital, and during the Jingtai period, he marched south to the Miao people's rebellion and the town of Huguang, accumulating merit to the right governor. In the first year of Tianshun, he once again marched south to the rebellion of the Miao people in Heaven, and only then did he make a hereditary earl, and Tianshun entered the Marquis of Wuping for three years with the merits of defending Ningxia and resisting the Tartars, and was still a hereditary count.
Chen You can be called a model of a small meritorious knighthood, from a small pawn to a marquis, attacking the Mongol Tatars in the north, conquering the Miao people in the south, and marching from north to south.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > refused to be knighted, and lost faith in the world's Ming Shizong</h1>
In the previous dynasty, except for emperor Xiaozong of Ming, there were few wars and no knighthoods, and all other dynasties had precedents for knighthood. However, by the time of Emperor Ming, there were Mongol Tatars in the north who repeatedly attacked the border, and even in the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing, there was a siege of the capital by The Khan of Jiajing, which is known in history as the "Change of Gengzhi". To the south, the Wokou swept rampant, sweeping across the entire southeast. During the Jiajing Dynasty, side affairs occurred frequently, but even so, Emperor Ming Shizong was still stingy with knighthood, and no one in the entire jiajing forty-five years was awarded a knighthood for military merit. Even after setting up the imperial list and making promises to be knighted, he still broke his word and did not hesitate to lose faith in the world and the people.
In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, Yang Boshang, the Shangshu of the Bingbu, requested that the knighthood be given as a reward to encourage the soldiers to kill the enemy, "Yiyingren and others who can win the first rank of Li Da, Du'er, Xin Ai, and Datou'er, are given the title of count, and the reward is 10,000 taels of silver..." Emperor Ming Shizong approved his performance. In the same year, the imperial list was also established, and the southern "Southeast Rebellion" could also be crowned count and rewarded with silver and silver.
If the "plague" in the north has not been solved, then the "wu rebellion" in the south has been solved by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, and Wang Zhi, the head of the thieves, has been captured. Did Emperor Mingshizong fulfill his promise? When the Southeast Victory News arrived, it deliberately convened a meeting of the six ministries and nine secretaries of the court to discuss the matter of Hu Zongxian's reward. But it was only "Crown Prince Taibao, Zuo Du Yushi, and Zuo Shilang of the Imperial Army, as the old governor, and also Yin Yizi and The Deputy Qianhu of the Jinyi Guard." "If it is said that Because Hu Zongxian was a civilian subject, Li Shanchang, Liu Ji, and Wang Guangyang in hongwu, Ru Chang in Yongle, Wang Ji in orthodoxy, and Wang Yue at chenghua were all knighted as wenchen, all of which have precedents to follow.
Of course, this is not the first time that Jiajing has reneged on his word.
As early as the Zhengde period, Wang Shouren quelled the "rebellion of the King of Ning" and Emperor Mingwuzong's consecrated title, but it was delayed in fulfilling. In the sixteenth year of Zhengde's reign, Emperor Sejong took the throne, and Sejong intended to eliminate the maladministration of Zhengde in order to fulfill his promise to crown Wang Shouren as a hereditary earl. In the eighth year of Jiajing, Wang Shouren died, and the favored minister at the time, Gui Cao, said that "Shou Ren is not a teacher, and his words are not called a teacher", and Ming Shizong himself regarded "xinxue" as a "heresy" and issued an edict to remove the newly created earl (emperor Nai issued an edict to stop hereditary inheritance, and the canon was not good).
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > the famous general who did not receive the reward during the Jiajing period</h1>
In addition to Hu Zongxian and Wang Shouren, who should not be sealed, is there no famous general worthy of knighthood in the Final Jiajing Dynasty?
Whoops, bright to mid-leaf, taste the boundless wood! For example, the disciples of Ma Yong, Liang Zhen, Zhou Shangwen, and Shen Xiyi, who won a surprising victory and gained the death power of the soldiers, although the ancient famous generals added to it? However, the merit is high and rewarding, and the rise is constant. For no different reason, its resistance is agitated, and it is impossible to rejoice in the government of the government, and it is advisable that its discord does not fit in.
This is the evaluation of Ma Yong, Liang Zhen, Zhou Shangwen, Shen Xiyi and other famous generals in the "History of Ming", which is extremely praiseworthy, and also bluntly says that Ming Shizong can be described as "a high merit and a small reward" for military generals.
For example, Zhou Shangwen, since the age of sixteen, inherited the official position of his ancestors, and the town guarded the border for nearly sixty years. In the twenty-third year of Jiajing, Zhou Shangwen served as the commander-in-chief of Datong, and Zhou Shangwen of Datong beheaded the little prince Man Khan and repeatedly attacked to repel the Tatars. In the Battle of Caojiazhuang in the 28th year of Jiajing, Zhou Shangwen's Tatar Yuda Khan collapsed. There are many such achievements, as early as the twenty-third year of Jiajing, he was the highest official governor of the military general, and in the later period, there was almost no reward, that is, he was not allowed to be knighted, and he had to be given the title of duke, and Zhou Shangwen was also the only one among the ming dynasty warlords to add three titles.
There are also famous generals such as Shen Xiyi and Shi Bangxian, who have guarded the local area for decades, and the first rank has already reached thousands of levels, and they have no rewards after they have been appointed to the governor. Compared with the example of the previous dynasty, the general Liu Jiang of the Yongle Dynasty beheaded more than 700 people of the first rank of Wu Kou, captured more than 1,100 people, and made a meritorious contribution to Guangningbo. There are also Fengrun Bo Cao Yi, Huairou Bo Shiju, and Dongning Bo JiaoLi in the Tianshun period, all of which are sealed with the merit of guarding the border and accumulating the first level of four or five hundred. If this practice is followed, ma Yong, Liang Zhen, Zhou Shangwen, Shen Xiyi, Shi Bangxian and other famous generals have already met the standard of knighthood.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > Why were military generals difficult to seal during the Jiajing period of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty? </h1>
The reason why Ming Shizong braved the world and abruptly stopped sealing is unknown, but it can be seen from his attitude towards knighthood. I have briefly summarized three points.
First, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the status of military generals became increasingly inferior
The Ming dynasty Shen Defu recorded such an event in the "Compilation of WanliYe".
In the past, those with the surname of Benniu in Zhejiang were officials and deputy general soldiers. On the unveiling of Zhang Yongjia Xianggong, claiming to be a lackey crawling to see. His nephew was disgraced and did not make friends. However, this right column is often heard.
From Erpin's deputy commander-in-chief, Zhang Yongjia (i.e., Zhang Xuan), a cabinet scholar who met Zheng Wupin, actually called himself a "lackey crawling see". Although the status of the cabinet scholar is superior, the military general will not be inferior to this point. It can be seen from this what kind of status the military generals of the Ming Dynasty were humble to the middle and late periods, and throughout the dynasties, the status of the military generals of the two Song Dynasties can be compared with them.
The transformation of the civil fort into a watershed of the status of the warrior generals was gradually declining.
The elite and outstanding generals of the imperial court in the Battle of Tumu fort were lost, and the Ming Dynasty also changed from active attack to defense. In addition, at the beginning of the founding of the country, there were frequent wars, and the status of military generals was transcendent; after entering the middle period, the country entered the stage of cultivation and survival, and it was inevitable that civilian officials would dominate the court, and it would also be inevitable that the status of military generals would decline.
The situation of using culture to control force has also been opened up.
For example, Han Yong, a famous minister at the time of Chenghua, participated in the suppression of ye Zongliu and Deng Mao's seven uprisings as early as the orthodox period. At the time of Chenghua, the Yao clan of Datengxia in Guangxi rebelled, and Han Yong took the post of Imperial History of the Capital of You to praise military affairs, and the chief officer and soldier who served as the commander-in-chief of the counter-rebellion was the governor Zhao Fu. Han Yong commanded the zheng yipin senior military general with the title of Zheng Si Pin (正四品) and the imperial history of the capital. Moreover, this is not an isolated case, it has become the norm since Emperor Yingzong, with civilian officials as inspectors and governors as military governors.
The opportunity for military generals to show their faces has become less, and they are far away from the border, and civilian officials dominate the campaign, and the feasibility of military generals sealing has become smaller, which is also one of the major reasons why it is difficult for military generals to be knighted.
Second, the reform of the pre-dynastic maladministration, to prevent the indiscriminate sealing of knighthoods and false titles
In the early years of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, he was also an enterprising emperor, intending to eliminate the maladministration of the previous dynasty. The indiscriminate and fraudulent sealing of knighthoods is also one of the major ills.
Emperor Yingzong's "change of seizing the door" has accumulated many knighthoods. But the real participants were only Cao Jixiang, Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen, and Zhang Xuan, who were barely able to say the past. However, others obviously belonged to the impostor, such as Haining Bo Dongxing, who was made a count because of his marriage with Cao Jixiang, and such as Yang Shan, Cao Qin and others were all impostors.
When Emperor Wuzong was in power, the general Shen Ying was given the title of Yang Bo (靖陽伯) for bribing Liu Jin. There were also eunuchs such as Gu Dakuan, Zhang Fu, and Zhu De, all of whom were knighted because of their impostor titles.
The impostor titles of foreign ministers and military generals and the indiscriminate sealing of foreign relatives have led to a surge in knighthoods and a decline in the gold content of knighthoods. In the early years of Jiajing, the eunuchs' sons and military generals were stripped of their titles. In the eighth year of Jiajing, except for Lord Qi, Emperor Mingshizong replied: "Qi Li was indiscriminately knighted, and his name was light, and people did not know how to persuade him, so he should be cut off." ”
Even the titles of foreign relatives have been removed, but it is difficult to imagine the heart of Emperor Mingshizong. It was even more difficult for The Martial General to be knighted. Overall, Ming Shizong's measures were positive, intended to safeguard the state apparatus. However, Sejong's failure to give the title of a military general seems too cold and thin, and it also violates the original intention of being knighted with military merit.
Third, holding absolute power, treating knighthood as a private property
In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, Zhou Shangwen died, and Li Ke sent a letter to Shen Shu in the matter, hoping that the imperial court would honor Zhou Shangwen and posthumously award him a knighthood to inspire the generals of the border pass. (Shangwen has unfinished merits, the imperial court has unfinished rewards, please order the ministry to read the merits one after another, from the public consultation, give knighthood, extend the reward of the world).) After receiving the recital, Emperor Ming Shizong was furious and said: "Zhou Shangwenbian neglected his own merits, and also brazenly said that JiaChen had not been rewarded, had many grievances, was lenient but did not cure, and somehow died; "Ming Shizong's reply can be described as absolutely unethical and cold. Shen Shu was also imprisoned for eighteen years, and was not released until Longqing, if Zhou Shangwen was still alive at this time, I am afraid that he would not be able to avoid the disaster of imprisonment. It is no wonder that in the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, Hu Zongxian, who was in charge of the "southeast rebellion", did not dare to speak lightly about the matter of the imperial court Xu Feng, and could only carefully play: "As for the small victory of cutting off the steamed bread recently, it is only a small labor of chasing for a while."
It can be seen that Ming Shizong was very disgusted with the matter of knighthood, and his intention to stop the sealing was very obvious. But what about the facts?
In the sixteenth year of Zhengde, Emperor Sejong appointed Yang Tinghe as the earl of "Ding Ce Gong" at the beginning of his reign, and was also dismissed as the Duke of Changguo with the title of "Ding Ce Gong" (定策功) and zhang Yanling (張延龄), the Marquis of Shouning, was also appointed as the Duke of Changguo. If it is said that the sealing of these two people is the act of the first ascension to the throne, then Jiajing has sealed the so-called "Ping Prison Gong" in the twenty-ninth year as a Gongcheng Bo. In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, Emperor Ming's Fa Xiao Lu Bing died, and Sejong specially posthumously awarded him the title of Loyal Uncle, and in the final Jiajing Dynasty, none of the generals who guarded the border area were posthumously awarded knighthoods.
Tao Zhongwen and Lu Bing, both of Sejong's most favored ministers, but both received knighthoods and knighthoods in a non-military manner. Ming Shizong was an extremely self-absorbed emperor, and the author guessed that Ming Shizong's psychology should be: "The world is the world of one person, and if you want to seal it, you canonize it, don't ask questions, let alone ask for it." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" > influence on later knighthoods</h1>
As mentioned earlier, Emperor Mingshizong's initial intention in suppressing knighthood was good, but he did not grasp a degree. This self-absorbed emperor even had cases of knighthoods awarded to non-military ministers in the later period of his reign. And Ming Shizong's move also caused the imitation of later emperors. From the first year of Jiajing to the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, through Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, Chongzhen, six emperors, more than 120 years, occupying half of the reign of daming, there was only one general who was knighted with military merit - Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang's knighthood is highly anticipated by all, and it has reached the point where it is indispensable to seal it. Li Chengliang has been a general for more than forty years, and no one has not used soldiers at one age, and no one has not been cut down at one age. (Ningyuan Bo Li Chengliang Chi drove the frontier for more than 40 years, successively fighting bloody battles, with the first merit of 15,000 and the expansion of the land 700.) Accumulating more than 15,000 levels in the first level, since Ming Chengzu Yongle, only Li Chengliang has this record. Even the "History of Ming" had to praise: "The grandeur of bianshuai's martial arts has not been seen in two hundred years." ”
Li Chengliang will come to this person, and every year a cart of specialties will be given to high-ranking officials in the capital. Therefore, Li Chengliang's knighthood is not luck, nor is it the whim of the Ming Shen Sect, whether it is military merit or personal connections, it has reached the point where it is indispensable to seal.
Li Chengliang was knighted for more than one hundred and twenty years, which is really chilling. The grandeur of Li Chengliang's martial arts is undeniable, but there are also many famous generals who meet the standards of knighthood in the middle and late period. For example, the famous general Yin Zhengmao at the time of Longqing, Wei Yinbao and Huang Chaomeng rebelled in the three years of Longqing, and Yin Zhengmao served as the governor of Guangxi, quelling the rebellion and beheading the thief Huang Chaomeng. For five years, Longqing oversaw the military affairs of Liangguang and quelled the rebellion of the Gutian Yao people. In the sixth year of Longqing, he quelled the rebellion in Liangguang. In the same year, the rebellion of Lan Yiqing and Lai Yuanjue in Guangdong was quelled. If it is like the example of Wang Ji in the orthodox era and Wang Yue in the Chenghua period, Yin Zhengmao has already reached the standard of knighthood, and even the merit is above these two people.
There was also Li Hualong, the inspector who had quelled the rebellion in Bozhou during the Wanli Period, and Ma Gui and Dong Yiyuan, who participated in the Pingbei Worship and the War of Resistance and Aid to the Dynasty. At the time of the apocalypse, the Liaodong Jing of Liaodong was recaptured by Xiong Tingbi. Sun Chuanting, Sun Chengzong, Lu Xiangsheng, and Cao Wenzhao during the Chongzhen period. Which of these people is not a high merit, and which one does not meet the criteria for knighthood.
Mao Yuanyi, a late Ming Ming scholar, once said: "Since Jiajing, the founders of the country have also been widowed, knighthoods have been difficult, and the construction of the building has become less and less, and the country has been revived." "Ming Shizong did have a bad head in terms of knighthood.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="06" > postscript</h1>
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's army marched into the city of Beijing, and in a hurry, he crowned Wu Sangui as Pingxi Bo, Zuo Liangyu as Ning Nanbo, Huang Degong as Jing Nanbo, and Tang Tong as Dingxi Bo, and ordered him to enter Jingqin. At this time, the Ming Dynasty building will fall, and only Tang Tong will enter Beijing, and the rest of the generals will refuse to obey the edict. It can be seen that the title at this time is no longer attractive.
Really do it according to Mao Yuanyi's words, and be knighted early to motivate the border generals, maybe the result is not yet known?
What a karmic fate!
![Analyze why Ming Shizong did not go to the dynasty for more than 20 years[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)