In 166 1 year, under the autumn wind on August 7, the great genius Jin Shengtan ended his legendary life of 53 years in the execution ground of Sanshan Street in Nanjing. Zhang, whose real name is Cai, is famous for his boldness. He was born in the late Ming Dynasty. After the demise of the Ming Dynasty, he vowed not to be an official, and often lamented: "How can a saint not sigh when there are golden people in the world?" So, he changed his surname to "Jin", the word "Shengtan", and the name was Rui, posthumous title Kunshi. Changing his name and surname, coupled with this unique number, is very consistent with his "crazy" name.
No one expected that this great master in the history of China's literary criticism would bid farewell to worldly customs in such a sighing way. The fall of Jin Shengtan is the sorrow of that era, a dark day in the history of China literature, and a sorrow in our national memory!
Through his lifelong efforts, he made novels and operas that were ignored by the world gain an important position consistent with traditional Confucian classic poems. The works such as The Water Margin and The West Chamber annotated by this great literary critic are highly respected and worshipped by many literary masters in later generations.
The year when he was put on the execution ground was the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, and the anti-Qing and regaining sight movements that broke out one after another in various places gradually came to an end under the bloody suppression of the Qing court. The study of Jin Shengtan's death can not be separated from the specific background of the times and the complex attitude of the Qing court towards the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. All this, but also from the "wailing temple case"!
0 1
"Crying Temple Case" is one of the three major cases in Jiangnan in the early Qing Dynasty (the other two cases are "Tonghai Case" and "Jiangnan Trafficking Case"), which shows its extraordinary social influence. The case originated in the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (AD 1660). Shortly after Ren Wei, the magistrate of Wuxian County in Suzhou, took office, he ordered the arrest of people who defaulted on taxes and grain in the city, and some poor people were forced to go bankrupt. On the other hand, he ordered his men to steal thousands of stone grains and rice from the official warehouse to enrich themselves.
A few months later, people in the city complained bitterly and people's grievances boiled. Many scholars who were indignant at this decided to use their own way to resist the tyrannical behavior of unscrupulous county magistrate. Scholars such as Jin Shengtan and Ni Yongbin wrote "exposing posts" (documents exposing illegal officials) and went to the Confucius Temple in the city to cry to the saints about the evil deeds of the county magistrate.
Jin Shengtan also drafted the Crying Temple for this purpose:
"In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, on the fourth day of February, Wu Chong, a member of the south of the Yangtze River, pretended to be Wei Chu. He was audacious, deceiving the world and destroying the ancestors, openly breaking the rules of thousands of years, ignoring the benevolent policies of the holy dynasty, sneaking into Changping, colluding with Cao Wu's trip, stealing chickens and dogs, and selling agricultural products. The crime is extremely evil, and the people's grievances are boiling. Readers should follow the example of four dimensions and eight virtues. Unexpectedly, I actually went out to the devil wears Prada, like a generation. The students are ashamed, the master is ashamed, and I go to the Confucian Temple to cry. "
"Crying Temple" is a popular custom in Suzhou since the Ming Dynasty. Due to the prosperity of local economy and the prevalence of Confucianism, some well-off literati have gradually become important supervisory forces from the people. Whenever they find that the government has tyranny, injustice, evil deeds, etc. They will gather in the Confucius Temple and cry to the saints. At the same time, they will also write their findings into documents and organize personnel to declare them to the higher authorities.
Because these literati themselves have a certain social status, appeal and influence are also quite extraordinary, this special social supervision method initiated by literati gradually gained the attention of the government in the Ming Dynasty. Their reactions are usually handled properly. After all, in any era, the voice of scholars can not be easily ignored.
However, what Jin Shengtan and others didn't expect was that it was unwise to apply the customs inherited from the Ming Dynasty to the foreign Qing Dynasty.
In the process of reporting, Jin Shengtan and others directly pointed the finger at Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Jiangsu Province, denouncing him as the mastermind behind the scenes, which also brought them fatal disaster. They didn't expect that the "wailing temple" of the Ming Dynasty was completely unworkable now. Soon, Zhu Guozhi ordered the peak sexually team to arrest these troublemakers. Eighteen people were arrested three times before and after, and Jin Shengtan, the great genius who drafted the Temple of Crying, was designated as the principal offender. The charge was "shocking people's hearts and causing chaos, which was different from the national law", and the sentence was scheduled to be pronounced in the autumn, so the scene at the beginning of this article appeared.
There is a profound social background behind the rapid response of the Qing rulers to the case of Zhu Guo, the governor of Jiangsu Province. In recent years, in the anti-Qing military activities initiated by Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan in Nan Ming Dynasty, scholars from the south of the Yangtze River were often found among those who contacted them and tipped them off.
Therefore, in order to shock and warn these literati in the south of the Yangtze River, the Qing court decided to kill people with the "Crying Temple Case", and let these literati who still remember the Ming Dynasty know with killing and blood that the weather has changed now and the world is dominated by Manchu. Anyone who doesn't listen, who doesn't listen, is a lesson from the past. It is not surprising that the four assistant ministers in charge of the Qing court, Sony, Suksaha, Zieba Bilong and Ao Bai, are all Manchu.
02
Thinking of the bizarre and appalling bloody case caused by the "literary inquisition" during Kang Yong's reign in Qing Dynasty, we can get a glimpse of the mentality of Manchu rulers: inferiority and fear.
A nation with only a few hundred thousand soldiers and civilians finally got the opportunity to enter the Central Plains and unify the world. This is what Huang Taiji and early Dourgen never thought of. Of course, the important role played by Han people can not be ignored, such as Fan Wencheng's suggestion, Wu Sangui's switch guidance, Hong Chengchou's strategizing and so on.
There are two factors that can't be ignored when the Manchu Dynasty can sit in the world:
First, as far as Emperor Chongzhen is concerned, it was his careless suspicion, unkindness and a series of wrong decisions that drove loyal ministers such as Sun Chengzong, Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng to a desperate situation, which eventually led to the unavailability of good generals in the Ming Dynasty.
Second, Li Zicheng, Zhang and others had a hard time, which dealt a fatal blow to the already turbulent Ming Dynasty. At the same time, because they all lack the vision and pattern of an outstanding politician, they are doomed to be not excellent builders, but destroyers.
Subjective and objective factors created a new situation in which the Qing Dynasty changed dynasties and ruled the world. How to rule this huge empire with a vast territory and a population of hundreds of millions is a major issue before any Qing court ruler in the early Qing Dynasty.
"Yangzhou Ten Days", "Jiading Three Slaughters" and "Wailing Temple Case" all used bloody steel knives to commit violence against the people. Daxing's "literary prison" is to clamp down and imprison the people ideologically. Only by thoroughly taming the people in the world can these Manchu rulers be satisfied. When they look at the sight of all the people in the world, they will think that their rule is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and so stable.
Emperor Kangxi's "ban on the sea", Yong Zhengdi's lack of confidence in the book Righteousness and Righteousness, and the fact that Emperor Qianlong destroyed more books than the book Sikuquanshu are undoubtedly behind this inferiority and fear. I feel inferior to the splendid Chinese culture and fear the distant and broader world! (Some readers may be puzzled. Emperor Kangxi, known as the first emperor of the ages, was also afraid of the western world. In fact, arithmetic and calendar are only his own contact and study, and it is absolutely forbidden to promote them among the people. He is deeply afraid that these academic research and scientific achievements from the west will shake his ruling foundation. )
Not to mention the fact that compared with the Song Dynasty, when the literati ruled the world together, even compared with the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, the status of the ministers of the Qing Dynasty was very low. Before the imperial power, they were completely "slaves", unable to hold their heads high, and had to obey Nuo Nuo.
After thousands of years of development and changes, imperial power reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. In the last years of Qianlong, the whole world was undergoing great changes. Whether it was clever Jiaqing or mediocre Daoguang, it was doomed to be unable to lead the empire to adapt to the changes and adjustments of the world.
You can't take the initiative to embrace change. In the end, you can only be knocked on the door by foreigners with strong guns, and you are forced to re-examine and look at the world in a humiliating way. The source of all this is actually the policy towards this country since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs!
Let's switch the lens of history back to the night before the execution of the great genius Jin Shengtan. When he was in prison, the master who had been laughing and cursing all his life still chose to treat death in a humorous way. He telephoned the jailer and told him that he had something important to tell him. The jailer was overjoyed, expecting that this great genius would tell him his wealth. He immediately found a pen, ink, paper and inkstone for Jin Shengtan, and made delicious and fresh dining tables for him to please him.
Just as he was dreaming of making a fortune, Jin Shengtan just smiled and pointed to the dining tables in front of him and said, "Peanuts and dried beancurd are chewed together and taste like walnuts. If you get this skill, you will die without regret! " This is also the last sentence recorded in the history books by this great genius. Of course, the jailer's reaction is not recorded in the history books, but the author speculates that it should be a black line on his forehead.
After Jin Shengtan was killed, two balls of paper rolled out of his ear, which read "good" and "pain" respectively. We can read these words calmly now, but who knows that these simple words reflect the sadness of that era. These unarmed literati have come to such a miserable end in order to supervise and correct the atrocities of the government! The more humor Jin Shengtan showed before he died, the more we can have a deeper understanding of that unfair, dark and turbulent era!
The Qing court may think that by creating a series of bloody tragedies, this nation with a glorious history and splendid culture can completely surrender, and then it can maintain its eternal imperial hegemony. However, if they really face up to the magnificent moment in history, they will know that this nation will never really give in!
Believe it or not, the revolutionary wave during the Revolution of 1911 was the most powerful cry of our nation! The spirit of countless sages has been passed down from generation to generation!
From the history university hall (ID: oldmanno)