Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 929 The emperor is not worried

In the eighth year of Wanli, Gao Wushi entered the Imperial Academy as the number one scholar in the new discipline. During the Longqing and Qing dynasties, the cabinet drafts and the emperor's Zhu criticism (check the archives) made a prescriptive explanation on the issue of "civil officials overshadowing the military" that had not been clarified in the past:
"Where Enyin is hereditary, the ministers of culture and military affairs and the generals who participated in the tour will suppress the thieves. If they encounter a big enemy, they can plan to set up an ambush, charge into the battle, and make extraordinary achievements. Qinyi is promoted to Yinzi, and those who have the word "hereditary" are allowed to inherit."

This article clarified for the first time the military merit principles of Wenchen Enyin's military service, and listed the review procedures for reporting.This decree does not appear in the Zhengde version of "Da Ming Hui Dian", which was gradually established after the Jiajing Dynasty and was confirmed in the Wanli Dynasty (this is a historical fact).

Having said that, there are two most critical questions:

Why can't the momentum of Wenchen Yinwu stop?

Why didn't the emperor doubt the empress of civil servants with shady officials and military positions?

The simple answer to the first question is: the problem is that the rewards are difficult, not enough.

In the Ming Dynasty, the military merit titles of different surnames were only three grades: Duke, Marquis, and Bo, which is a lack of system compared with the traditional Chinese "fifth-class nobles".Since the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the vast majority of lords have been conferred by military generals, and only a handful of civil servants have been conferred.

After Jiajing, although there were many border incidents, and Wen Chendu and Fuduo personally experienced the battlefield, the canonization of lords tended to stagnate again.

In fact, it is good for the imperial court to regard the title of knighthood as an important code, but excessive stinginess of the knighthood will make the ministers lose their enthusiasm for loyalty to the country.

In this regard, many people have also put forward opinions and suggestions. For example, Chen Zilong proposed to restore the "fifth-class nobility" to boost the morale of the army:

"Today, the world strives for wisdom and death, strives for fame and fame, and is hated by the emperor, so it is better to be conferred lightly... Today's troubles are that people despise superiors and have no desire to make progress. The sage king sets his admiration and attaches his heart to it. The things are different, but the name is important. Fujue, power and property, if it is excessive, it will be emphasized, to show respect; If everything is gone and not set aside, it will be dangerous and redundant.”

However, in the Ming Dynasty, most of the country's political affairs were established by Zhu Yuanzhang in the name of "ancestral system", which was rigid and inflexible.Under such circumstances, the institutionalized civil servant Yinzi's military position, due to its nature of military merit and hereditary inheritance, replaced the political function and political significance of civil servants' titles in a certain sense, and became an important form of court rewards for meritorious civil servants.

Although the relevance of this system was not listed in the canonical system, it was a tacit consensus among the people at the time.

As mentioned above, in the Hongzhi Dynasty, Yu Qian’s son Yu Mian asked Yu Qian’s descendants to take up military positions. In fact, he quoted Wang Jifeng Bo, the Minister of War of the former Dynasty, and Ma Ang, Bai Gui, Cheng Xin, and Yu Zi, the ministers of the Ministry of War. The case of Jun and other Yinzi Jinyi is used as a reason for begging.

A similar view of attaching Yinzi's military position to a "secondary" or "quasi-noble" system was widely popular in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The "Shi Guan" and "Bu Yin" articles of Yinzi's military position were included in the volume of "Xun Qi".

In Ming Dynasty public and private archives, Zhongjing referred to Wenchen Yinzi's military position as "Yanshi Zhizhi" and "Yanshi Jinwu", which is also derived from the title of "Shijue" by Fu Gonghoubo.

For example, in the early years of Jiajing, when the court discussed the matter of Wang Shouren's canonization, the ministers once made a statement:
"There are six merits in the book of conferring a husband: founding the country, Jing Nan, Yu Hu, Ping Fan, conquering barbarians, and capturing rebellion; It is not enough to be salty. Those who cover the six meritorious deeds are related to the weight of the country and the safety of the four directions. Since they are not the seal of Maotu, they are not enough to repay them. As for the death of Sui, Xuanyou, and the suppression of bandits, they are all one-time affairs. Tin can be used in the shade of brocade clothes, but if you want to cut the talisman, you can't."

What is this passage about?To put it simply, those with great military merits were conferred titles, while those with minor military merits were conferred with Yin Zi Jinyi, which can be said to point out the institutional relevance and complementarity between "Yin Wu" and "conferred titles".

In the early years of Jiajing, Xia Yan and others who were in charge of the military department at that time were ordered to investigate the situation of military occupations in the previous dynasty and then reported it. In their memorials, they first discussed the conditions of Hongwu's "founding of the country" and Yongle's "Jingnan" Duke, Hou, and Bo. , expressing the meaning of "careful about famous utensils" in the previous dynasty, followed by a statement of the titles of the "foreign establishment" of Jinyiwei officials, and lamenting that "since the orthodoxy, noble concubines, lords, princes, and noble children have sent more salary. Weizhong, progressive use of affairs", and "in the Zhengde period, eunuchs dominate power, and there are many lucky children who pretend to be brocade clothes". Yinzi Jinyi is compared to the meaning of being a knight, which shows the status and role of Yinzi Jinyi in the Ming Dynasty's political reward mechanism.

When Wang Chonggu paid tribute to Alta, he was the first minister of the frontier (he was the governor of Xuanda at the time), and it was only natural that his family had several officials.

Not to mention Gao Gong, because of his various contributions, the number of yin officials the Gao family has received has not yet been used up - there are not enough juniors.

Therefore, this trend of "civil officials overshadowing martial arts" can't be stopped, and it's impossible to stop--the meritorious officials, the meritorious rewards, the merits of those ministers are there, but they can't be promoted, and the nobles can't be added. , How can you do it if you don't shade the officials?
And when it comes to the fact that the emperor did not suspect that most of these civil servants who were shady officials would be stuffed into Jinyiwei, there are several reasons.

First of all, the most fundamental one is that there is no precedent for civil servants in Ming Dynasty to rebel - it would be boring if you insist on Hu Weiyong.

On this basis, other aspects can be discussed, among which there is another issue of trend.

In the Ming Dynasty, the officialdom was "self-divided into two ways", the civil servants were selected based on the imperial examination, and the military officials were selected based on hereditary.

The military attache group is mainly composed of descendants of military generals in the early Ming Dynasty. It is a relatively closed hereditary community with identity. For example, Qi Jiguang also came from this kind of background, and it is really rare for Liu Xian to fight with one knife and one gun.

And once the descendants of civil servants entered the Jinyiwei hereditary lineage, it meant that this descendant occupied the right row for generations.This phenomenon to a certain extent broke the internal closure of the military officer group of the Ming Dynasty, er... it also improved the military personnel structure of Jinyiwei.

Many sons of civil servants who entered the ranks of military officials continued to maintain the style and social network of the original gentry family. At the same time, through marriage and job relationships, they gradually became like warriors, and became the link between the two political and social groups of gentry and military officials.

In fact, the role of social media of Wenchen Yinwu's children had become prominent in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.For example, during the reign of Hongzhi, Yao Jifu, the son of Yao Kui, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Yao Jifu, a native of Zhongshushe, once advocated that among his parents, he would be a Jinshi on the same list and "those who are from the imperial court and who live in the capital" held friendship activities, which attracted the children of officials, eunuchs, and gentry in Beijing to sing and make friends. There is a "40 The friendship between the Nian Tong family is as amiable as yesterday".

At that time, most of the people who participated in the meeting were civilian gentry, and Bai Guizi, Bai Guizi of the Ministry of War who joined the military because of his father's shadow, and Bai Bin of Qianhu of Jinyiwei, and Li Jing, the governor of Li Bingzi of Baihu of Jinyiwei, also happily participated.

Another example is Wang Yu, the son of Wang Aoyin, a veteran of the Seven Dynasties and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, who served in the Jinyi Army. , The second is suitable for the son of Jinyi Qianhu Wei Gang, the second is for the son of Jinyi Qianhu Zhang Yu, the second is for the son of Jinyi Qianhu Zhao Yu, and the second is for Tengxiangwei The son of Xia Ming and so on."This is the functional manifestation of marriage.

After Wanli, the children of civil servants who joined Jinyiwei, relying on their special political and cultural background and resources spanning "literature" and "martial arts", on the basis of social interaction, they also built a set of political patronage relationships to protect their own and family interests. long-term existence.

The main manifestation of this aspect is that the disciples of Wenyin gradually took control of Jinyiwei's power by taking advantage of their own unique advantages.

In the original history, after Liu Shouyou, the current governor of Jinyiwei, his grandson Liu Chengxi and his great-grandson Liu Qiao continued to be hereditary Jinyiwei officials for two generations, and they were all promoted to the first level of the governor and took charge of the guards.

In addition to the Liu family, Wu Mengming, the grandson of Wu Dui, Guo Chenghao, the grandson of Guo Zizhang, the Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and Tian Ergeng, the son of Tian Le, the Shangshu of the Ministry of War, were all prominent governors of Jinyiwei during the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods.

Based on the particularity of Jinyiwei's judicial functions and the own advantages of Wenyin's children, some people in the Ming Dynasty even pointed out that "Jinyi's law and administration of employing people is not the same as Simamen's selection of officials. It is not the same as the law enforcement pen. The literati and bureaucrats are all against each other", so the theory of "only Confucianism can take up this post" is the theory of the governor of Jinyiwei.

In other words, after Liu Shouyou, if you were not a civil servant, you would not be suitable to be the governor of Jinyiwei!

Did the emperor say anything?No, the emperor not only acquiesced, but even seemed to support it—since civil servants are also loyal and good, why don't I use them?
Moreover, Jin Yiwei originally had such a bad reputation, but now after changing a few governors, he is actually called a virtuous man for a while, why would I not do it!

As for, do you think Jin Yiwei will lose control?
Just kidding, Jin Yiwei has long been supervised by the East Factory!The position of imperial envoy admiral Dongchang can only be done by eunuchs. There will never be any civil servants who are so arrogant and send their children and grandchildren to be factory supervisors, right? ——
Thanks to the book friend "Yi￡Aoxue Lone Pine" for the support of the monthly ticket, thank you!By the way, it took me a few minutes to find out how to type the symbols in your ID.

(End of this chapter)