The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 309 Discrimination between Nationalities

Mr. Bidong is Xu Fenpeng. He is a famous historian in the Wanli Dynasty. He has written dozens of historical reviews and historical and geographical works. His comments on historical materials are detailed and his arguments are fair. He is very famous in the world.

Because he set up a hall at the foot of Bijia Mountain in Linchuan to recruit disciples, he was called Mr. Bidong by the world.

Xu Fenpeng's historical thoughts were introduced to Japan in previous lives and were considered by many Japanese sinologists as a "good recipe for governing the country". They even played a guiding role in the ideological process of the Meiji Restoration.

The reason why his book is so effective is because Xu Fenpeng has a strong tendency to criticize the Huayi debate when commenting on history. He was a radical in the Ming Dynasty in terms of nationalism, and could even inspire Japanese reform thinkers two hundred years later to establish the "Yamato" national” identity.

After Li Ruyi learned about the major contents of "On the Nation and State", he found Xu Fenpeng's essays for comparison. At this time, Taxian opened the eighth volume of Xu Fenpeng's "Collected Works of Mr. Xu Bidong" and found the article that elaborated on the orthodoxy of Xu Fenpeng's dynasties. I read "Ancient and Modern Orthodoxy" again.

In this article, Xu Fenpeng begins his discussion with Song Lian, a great scholar in the early Ming Dynasty, who praised Zhu Yuanzhang for his "eternal achievements and great righteousness in the country." He believes that the reason why Song Lian said that Zhu Yuanzhang had great righteousness in the country was not because he followed the people's will and won the support of the people, but because he followed the people's will and won the support of the people. It's because he "quickly swept away the evil spirits and opened up the world again."

He further elaborated, believing that the Ming Dynasty was a country established by driving out the ethnic minority rulers in the Central Plains. Therefore, since the Tang and Yu dynasties in ancient times, the Ming Dynasty was the first to gain the legitimacy of the country.

Next, Xu Fenpeng continued his analysis and said: Judging from this standard, the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties did not clean up the ethnic minority regimes at the founding of the country. Their political power was not taken from the hands of "Hu Xing", so they are less powerful than the Ming Dynasty. It can be regarded as a pseudo-dynasty - "If you put it this way, it will be the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties, all of which are leap positions."

Xu Fenpeng's "Ancient and Modern Orthodoxy" believes that the most orthodox way to create a dynasty is to lead the Han people to establish it by attacking other ethnic groups. In addition, no matter how great the achievements of this dynasty, it is not absolutely orthodox.

Li Ruyi was quite approving of Xu Fenpeng's writings and thoughts. The literati at this time generally had a strong obsession with the distinction between Hua and Yi, and Li Ruyi's family hated Meng Yuan more than most people at this time.

Moreover, this description is not completely suitable for the Ming Dynasty at this time. If the Ming Dynasty’s homeland is only the land of the Han and Tang Dynasties, then how can the Ming Dynasty have the land of Nurgandu, Siwusi Zangdusi, and Duogandusi? claims and actual control power?

The more extreme Xu Fenpeng was, the more Li Ruyi felt that there was no confidence in his writing.

The main purpose of both of them is actually to call on Ming people to establish a nationalist ideology. However, Xu Fenpeng's nationalism is very narrow in comparison, making it difficult to implement at first glance, while Wang Wenlong's idea is step by step, proving the process. Linked together.

After reading this article and savoring it again, Li Ruyi always felt that although Xu Fenpeng's writing was passionate, the purpose was not high. There was a sense of sadness and indignation in his book about the territory outside the customs that "it is better to destroy it than to get it".

Xu Fenpeng directly denounced all ethnic minority regimes as "Huxing" and believed that ethnic minorities should be driven away and absolute Han rule be implemented. However, Wang Wenlong believed that ethnic minorities should also be able to establish Chinese identity.

However, even Li Ruyi felt that Xu Fenpeng's view that "Han, Tang, and Song were all leaps" was a bit too biased. How could the Song Dynasty not criticize him? Scholars in the Ming Dynasty still respected the Han and Tang Dynasties very much. No matter what, he could not convince himself that the Han Dynasty The Tang Dynasty was also a pseudo-dynasty.

Wang Wenlong directly used the story of Hu Yanzan, the general of the Northern Song Dynasty, to explain this matter.

Li Ruyi's ancestors were not from the south of the Yangtze River, but moved from the northwest after Jiajing. Li Ruyi's grandfather Li Xu himself wrote in his memoirs that their family had witnessed the Mongolian invasion in Guanzhong, and because they hated the Mongols, they all Li Xu hated the name of the Yuan Dynasty. When writing books, Li Xu would deliberately replace the word "Yuan" with "original", such as writing "the first year of Hongwu" as "the original year of Hongwu".

"The Generals of the Hu Family", which describes the story of Hu Yanzan's family, became one of the three general novels at this time together with "The Generals of the Yang Family" and "The Generals of the Xue Family". It was widely circulated. Many people in the market have heard of "The King of Zhongxiao of the Great Song Dynasty, Hu Yan's Family is Full". Zhonglie's words.

Wang Wenlong pointed out that the surname Huyan came from the Xiongnu, but by the Song Dynasty the Huyan family clearly identified with the Chinese nation. Huyan praised him for fighting for Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty and was loyal and courageous. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Huyanqing also went to the Kingdom of Jin as an envoy. He suffered all kinds of hardships but still completed his mission.

Compared with Xu Fenpeng's words full of grief and anger, Wang Wenlong's words are very rational.

After putting down Xu Fenpeng's book, Li Ruyi picked up "On the Nation and the State" and started reading. After just reading a few sentences, his eyes lit up.

Obviously Huyan would not think that he was not from the Song Dynasty.

He also gave examples of surnames such as Xianbei and Murong. These clans also brought their people to the Central Plains Dynasty. Over time, these surnames have become a part of the Chinese civilization, along with other descendants of surnames from the Central Plains. Have the same recognition.

Reading the two books together, Li Ruyi felt that Xu Fenpeng's obsession with the Han Dynasty was actually a kind of nationalist thought analyzed by Wang Wenlong, but it seemed to be the narrower type of nationalism that Wang Wenlong said, which was a bit Similar to the "pure national thoughts" of Europeans in Wang Wenlong's book. When Li Ruyi read "On the Nation-State" and its outlook on the future of the Chinese nation, he couldn't help but admire it.

Wang Wenlong said that for the Central Plains Dynasty, because there were too many ethnic minorities in the surrounding areas, it was impossible to form a single nation-state like the divided European countries. The nationalism that the Central Plains Dynasty wanted to build, whether it was to use the Han people to suppress ethnic minorities, or to use ethnic minorities to If the nation suppresses the Han nation, it will definitely fail in the future, and the only option is to take the path of national unity and assimilation.

And such national unity is likely to be achieved in the process of being invaded or uniting for foreign colonization.

Li Ruyi had been convinced by Wang Wenlong's theory. He felt that if the Ming Dynasty could expand its colonial empire, it might be able to establish a unified Central Plains dynastic identity as Wang Wenlong predicted.

He repeatedly read "On the Nation-State" and finally couldn't help but write the article:

"Wang Jianyang was impressed by the Hokkien people's aid to the Japanese in Taiyuan Island, and wrote "On the Nation-State". His purpose was not to criticize, but to advocate the establishment of 'nationalism.' Yu Guan now talks about Jianyang's so-called 'nationalism' , in fact, they all talk about the Huayi debate, and the root of this debate comes from Fang Xizhi's "Shi Tong"."

"Fang Xizhi believed that there are two types of 'orthodox' and 'transformed' in the world. In the three dynasties of Tang, Yu, Han, Tang, Song, and this dynasty, their rulers had the heart to love the people and were 'orthodox'. The kings of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, because of their It cannot be upright, so it is a 'transformation', but is the Meng Yuan orthodox or a transgression? This discussion is the origin of today's Huayi debate."

"...Now the pattern of Wang Jianyang's "On the Nation and the State" has surpassed the Sino-Yi debate. It has swept away the stereotypes of discussion for more than a hundred years and opened a new chapter. It can be called the 'National Debate' in the future."

Fang Xizhi was Fang Xiaoru. This minister who refused to surrender after Zhu Di captured the capital, was executed by Ling Chi, and annihilated ten tribes, was the absolute leader of the literary world in the early Ming Dynasty. The entire discussion of the "Hua-Yi Debate" in the Ming Dynasty originated from Fang Xiaoru's teacher Song Lian became more and more popular after Fang Xiaoru wrote the article.

"On the Nation-State" proposed a more feasible way of nation-building than the "Hua-Yi Discrimination", and the theory was detailed and far more insightful than other nationalist works at this time. After it spread to Jiangnan, it naturally became popular very quickly. It was highly sought after by the public, and articles discussing the book appeared in various newspapers. In prefectural and county schools, there were often heated discussions and opinions expressed about the book.

The article written by Li Ruyi was the most outstanding among these viewpoints, especially his "ethnic distinction" statement that hit the mark and spread like wildfire.

Fang Xiaoru's official evaluation has changed after Zhu Di's death. At this time, he was already on the altar of literati. Although the Ming Dynasty officials did not posthumously grant him any official position, Fang Xiaoru's tablet has entered the official Nanjing Zhongzhong Temple. At this time, the people took great care of the descendants of the Fang family. During the Jiajing period, there was an incident where a traitor in Songjiang Prefecture claimed to be a descendant of Fang Xiaoru in order to seek fame. This son mistakenly identified his ancestors and deceived many scholar-bureaucrats into recommending him. Later, he was still recommended by the Fang family. It was only after realizing that the problem was brought to the government that it was settled.

Wang Wenlong was inexplicably promoted to the same status as Fang Xiaoru.

Even Wang Wenlong's "On the Nation-State" spread to Shanhaiguan. Confucian people among the Jianzhou Jurchens often paid attention to Ming Dynasty's new articles on the "Discrimination between Huayi". After hearing about the "On the Nation-State", they tried their best to Get it and look through it.

After reading "On the Nation and the State", the Jurchens all praised Wang Wenlong.

Even if he praises him, he still spares no effort and even makes Wang Wenlong his confidant.

At this time, when Li Chengliang's Li family warlord and the Jianzhou girl were really on good terms with each other, Nurhachi was still serving as General Longhu of the Ming Dynasty and had not yet broken up with the Ming Dynasty.

The Jurchens who often read Ming people's writings know that during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the Ming Dynasty mentioned ethnic minorities, there were basically no good words, and they were almost directly regarded as humanoid animals. This often made women who were familiar with Confucianism and yearned to be recognized by the famous officials of the Ming Dynasty. The real person is extremely disappointed.

And Wang Wenlong stated in "On the Nation and State" that they should all be included in the Chinese nation. These Jurchen Confucianists suddenly felt that Wang Wenlong was a pretty good person. As for the Han nationality's main idea that seems to be absent in this book, they simply ignored it. Compared with those Ming people's articles that clamored for the distinction between Hua and Yi, the flavor in Wang Wenlong's book was already quite weak. Jurchen Confucianists I have long been used to being scolded.

The Ming Dynasty was a celestial kingdom, and the Manchus were destined to consider themselves culturally weak before the Qing Dynasty entered the country.

Among the Jurchens in Jianzhou who read Chinese books, not all of them yearned for the Ming Dynasty.

As for the other Jurchens, what do they think? They don't know Chinese characters, and they don't even know there is such a book...

(End of this chapter)