Although many dynasties in ancient China had ***, the Qing Dynasty was particularly serious. The number of cases, the number of people involved, the length of time, and the severity of punishment are second to none among all dynasties.
The Qing Dynasty destroyed talents, imprisoned thoughts, blocked the way of speech, brought great pressure to social psychology, made many intellectuals self-suppress and self-censored in thought, greatly hindered the development of culture and social progress, and was one of the key factors of modern China's backwardness.
At the time of the Qing Dynasty, the Enlightenment in Europe was in full swing. Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu and other great Enlightenment thinkers emerged, they dared to criticize ** and religious authority, advocated freedom, democracy and equality, opened the shackles of people's thoughts, provided theoretical and ideological preparation for the bourgeois revolution in Europe and the United States, and at the same time, also provided a powerful ideology for the people in Asia, Africa and Latin America to pursue a better society.
The **** of the Qing Dynasty is like the shadow behind the prosperous era, although the Kangqian prosperous era is dazzling, it still can't hide its blood. In the Kangxi Dynasty, because the regime was not yet fully consolidated, most of the historical materials that recorded the change of dynasty during the Ming and Qing dynasties reflected the sensitivity of the Qing rulers to this part of the content on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also showed that they were trying to consolidate their rule.
Zhuang Tingyan of Huzhou, Zhejiang, bought the unfinished manuscript of the Ming Dynasty history book by Zhu Guozhen, a scholar of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, and found someone to edit it, supplemented the history of the Chongzhen Dynasty and the Southern Ming Dynasty, and published it by his father.
This is the famous "History of the Ming Dynasty" case. If you have read Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Deer and Ding", you may know something about this case, because Jin Yong used it as the beginning of "The Legend of the Deer and Ding".
This book stands on the position of the Ming Dynasty and expresses their views and attitudes, so there are not too many taboos in expression, even including some dishonorable things before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs.
When writing the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the author used the era name of the Southern Ming Dynasty instead of the era name of the Qing Dynasty, which was considered to be a non-recognition of the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Because of the position and content of this book, the author Zhuang Tingyan was denounced in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), and in the end, all the people who titled the book, wrote the preface, proofread, engraved the book, sold the book, bought the book, and even their family members were implicated, and the death toll was as high as more than 200 people, and nearly 2,000 people were assigned to the frontier.
Zhuang Tingyan had died at this time, but even if he died, they would not let him go, and his body was dug up, beheaded, mutilated, and hung on the city wall for three months.
Another similar case occurred in the fiftieth year of the Kangxi reign (1711), in a book called "Nanshan Collection", the author Dai Mingshi wrote some historical facts of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and the praise of the righteous people who resisted the Qing Dynasty, in which when referring to the Southern Ming, he used the era name of the Southern Ming Dynasty and compared several emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty with Liu Bei, the Zhaolie Emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, and Zhao Yu, the late Song Emperor who retreated to Yazhou in the late Southern Song Dynasty, which is obviously implying that the Qing Dynasty was not truly the orthodox of the world.
These stories show that the political struggle between the Ming and Qing dynasties was fierce, and certain events in history still attract attention and discussion.
Dai Mingshi was *** by the minister**, Kangxi was furious and ordered the criminal department to deal with it. The Criminal Department convicted him of a great rebellion, and hundreds of people were widely involved, preparing to put him to death.
However, Kangxi eventually decided that the punishment was too severe, beheaded instead, and pardoned his family. Most of the other people who were connected by the company were also changed from capital crimes to distribution to frontiers. In the Yongzheng Dynasty, the number of ** has increased, reaching more than 20 pieces.
Unlike the Kangxi Dynasty, most of the Yongzheng Dynasty's *** cases were related to power struggles. For Emperor Yongzheng, ** is just an excuse, and the key is to eliminate dissidents and fight political opponents in this way.
Investigate the examination questions of the court field": Cha Siting was a cabinet scholar of the Yongzheng Dynasty and the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites. When he was the examiner of the Jiangxi Township Examination, Yongzheng thought that his test questions were sarcastic and cursed him, so he dismissed him from his post for investigation.
Later, during a search of his home, several more diaries were found, some of which were considered "ridicule" and "great disrespect". Cha Siting eventually died of illness in prison, but his body was still cut up and displayed to the public.
His family was also implicated.
Although this case seems to be *** on the surface, in essence, Yongzheng is trying to weaken and combat the power of Long Keduo's faction, paving the way for him to completely get rid of Long Keduo in the future.
Cha Siting was once recommended by Long Keduo and had dealings with him, and was regarded as one of Long Keduo's henchmen. As expected, not long after investigating the test questions in the court field, Yongzheng announced his 41 major crimes and imprisoned him forever on the grounds that Long Keduo had formed a party for personal gain and secretly possessed jade.
Third, the number of *** in the Qianlong Dynasty was the largest in the Qianlong Dynasty, and the number of *** reached its peak, as high as more than 130, and it is estimated that all the other emperors of the Qing Dynasty during their reigns did not add up to him.
In the Qianlong Dynasty, there were many types, including discussing sages, nostalgia for the homeland, criticism of the monarch, involving historical materials in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, racial issues, etc., all of which could be convicted, and it can be said that they can be blamed at every turn.
If it is said that Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Yongzheng are engaged in *** in order to stabilize their rule, then when Qianlong came to power, the Qing Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, and the world is stable, why did Qianlong still engage in ***?
We tend to think that the imperial court's control over the first should be looser, but in fact, it is the opposite, and the type and number of *** in the Qianlong period ranked first among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
This begs the question, why did Qianlong strengthen his control when he was politically stable? From the history of the Yuan Dynasty, it can be seen that when the Mongols became stronger and the political situation was more stable, the stricter the precautions against the Han and Nanren.
This shows that sometimes the implementation of various prohibitive measures is determined by the ability to enforce them. It is precisely because the world is peaceful that it is more convenient to tighten the net. Qianlong thought that he had a stable rule, and he didn't need to compromise with others or pretend, so he could do whatever he wanted, and others couldn't help him.
We need to look to Emperor Qianlong for answers, because as an important figure in the peak period of the Qing monarchy, his personal thoughts had a direct and significant impact on national policy.
In the more than 2,000 years of ancient Chinese history, the situation of different dynasties was different. For example, in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor was young, and his relatives and eunuchs alternately held power; During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the gate valve politics and the strength of the family were strong; During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the system of three provinces and six ministries was implemented, which restricted the imperial power in the system; During the Song Dynasty, the scholar group rose and was known as "the scholar and the emperor ruled the world together".
Although in these dynasties, relatives, eunuchs, families, scholars, etc. have restricted the imperial power, but during the reign of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, after the efforts of previous generations of emperors to centralize power, the monarch has reached its peak at this time, and there are very few things that can limit the imperial power.
Emperor Qianlong himself also believed that his personal influence on the governance of the whole country and the policy had reached an unprecedented degree, and he hung the holy precepts of the Kangxi Emperor in his own handwriting in the East Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace, which began: "The rule of chaos in the world is to blame, and it is all related to the body and mind of the master." ”
Regarding the ideological tendency of Emperor Qianlong, Wang Fansen, an academician of Taiwan's "** Research Institute" and a researcher at the Institute of History and Philology, conducted an in-depth study in the book "The Capillary Role of Power: Thought, Scholarship and Mentality of the Qing Dynasty".
First of all, Qianlong had a firm belief in Confucianism, and he opposed any thought and behavior that did not conform to Confucian orthodoxy and took measures to prohibit it.
Therefore, if someone criticizes the ancient sages, they may be at risk of being convicted. However, although Qianlong himself was often critical of ancient books and sages, this criticism was seen as fine because of his status as emperor.
Secondly, Qianlong advocated the unity of the monarch and the teacher, and believed that the emperor was not only the monarch of the country, handling state affairs, but also the teacher of the people, responsible for educating and guiding the people.
Therefore, the state needs to monopolize knowledge and culture, and set cultural standards, and the emperor's standard is the standard by which the quality of culture is measured. This meant that any speech that did not meet the emperor's standards would be banned and destroyed.
Emperor Qianlong attached great importance to loyalty, and he believed that loyalty should be manifested in loyalty to the monarch personally. He actively promoted the culture of loyalty to the monarch and regarded loyalty as the first priority. He will punish those who violate his loyalty.
He saw it as a necessary means to maintain his rule. Emperor Qianlong adhered to the Confucian Principle of Changlun and advocated the culture of loyalty to the monarch. He hoped that through this culture, alien rule would be rationalized and that everyone would be loyal to their dynasty.
He compiled the "Records of the Martyrdom Ministers of the Victory Dynasty", and praised those loyal ministers who died for the Ming Dynasty. However, for those who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he considered them "a big loss" and compiled them into the "Biography of Erchen".
This reflects Emperor Qianlong's strict definition and firm stance on loyalty.
1.Part A includes people who have been loyal to the Qing Dynasty and made outstanding contributions after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, such as Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou, Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming.
2.Part B includes people who were dissatisfied after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty and did not make much contribution, such as Qian Qianyi, Gong Dingyu, Sun Kewang, and Bai Wenxuan. 3.For those who surrendered and rebelled, they were listed separately as "Biography of Rebel Ministers", such as Wu Sangui.
Qianlong's series of measures were aimed at warning everyone to remain loyal to the dynasty, otherwise it would be stinking for thousands of years. These ideological tendencies of his also explain why, during his reign, ** reached its highest peak.