Daming under the microscope

Chapter 1 Preface
Straight to the point, let me clarify two misunderstandings that readers may have after reading the book:
This book is not a novel, but a historical documentary;
I am not a professional Ming historian, I am a writer.

So why does a writer who works on fiction suddenly want to write such a non-fiction historical documentary?
It was pure chance.

In 2014, I chatted with a friend who likes Ming history. She talked about a civil tax riot in Huizhou during the Wanli period.

After listening to the narration, I couldn't get enough of it, so I searched for some information and found that there is too much information about this case.A participant at that time collected more than 100 official documents, letters, notices, memorials, notes, etc. involved in the case, and compiled them into a collection called "The Complete Book of Silk and Silk".In Chinese history, there are very few local events that can preserve such comprehensive and complete original materials.

This silk case has only one cold record in "Ming Shilu", but if the details in "Silk Quanshu" are added to it, the whole incident will immediately become alive.The intrigues in it, the various attitudes of people in it, and the various unspoken rules of the officialdom and folks at that time are simply more exciting than TV dramas.What we see are people with flesh and blood, and vivid and delicate stories.

This kind of historical sense of "raising the dead, leaving the flesh and bones" has already possessed a literary beauty.

Excited, I can't wait to share this discovery with others.But for most people, reading the original sources is too difficult to distill the story on their own.I sorted out this silk case by myself, and relayed it to the public in a less "academic" way, thus I wrote "Scholar must die - the whole story of Huizhou silk case".

This article was first published on my own Weibo, and it immediately attracted widespread attention. The enthusiasm of the readers was beyond my expectation.I curiously asked them, what is the most attractive part of this article?They all said that these details that have been silent in history are so fascinating.

For a long time, the impression of history in our minds is a summary of the laws that illuminate thousands of miles, and a grand narrative from a strategic height.While this is correct, the perspective is simply too high, too high to be impersonal.Even if some narrators deliberately lower their perspective, they only stay above the temple, between civil and military, and care about a small group of elites.

The joys, sorrows and sorrows of ordinary people, and the thoughts and thoughts of people at the bottom of society are often ignored by history books.Even if it is mentioned, it is only a high-level generalization such as "the people are in dire straits" and "the people are full of grievances", and they are rarely described in detail.

Why is Liu Zongyuan's "The Story of the Snake Catcher" famous through the ages?Because he didn't lament in general that "a tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger", but first carefully outlined the real living conditions of a common people-if he catches a snake, he will lie down;When readers see these details, they can naturally understand why he risked his life to catch the snake, so as to understand the author's deep meaning.

The value of "The Complete Book of Silk" lies in this.From the perspective of official records, the Huizhou tax case is just a simple record, and it is enough to record such a thing.But how this case started, how it evolved, how it intensified into a civil uprising, and how it ended, the detailed process can only be understood by reading "The Complete Book of Silk and Silk".

The specifics of how to apportion each sum of money, how to write each pleading, the various methods used by the public to make troubles and officials hold meetings, and the specific debating skills of various interest groups are all in sight, as if they were there in person.

After writing the Huizhou silk case, I was full of interest in this field, and then I successively wrote "The Choice between Pen and Ash - Wuyuan Dragon Vein Defense War", "Who Moved My Ancestral Temple - Yang Qianyuan Legal and Political Situation", "The World Transparency—The Past and Present of the First Archives of the Ming Dynasty" and several other documentaries.

The emphases of several documentaries are slightly different.In "Schoolmaster Must Die - The Beginning and End of the Huizhou Silk Case", we saw how an unfair tax policy changed under the game of many interest groups; "Who Moved My Ancestral Temple - "Yang Qianyuan Legal Affairs" is about a case of civil temple property competition in Shexian County. Through the perspective of several civilians, it has witnessed the subtle operation of the judicial system in the Ming Dynasty at the grassroots level; It talks about the continuous controversy caused by a dragon vein in Wuyuan County. We can see how county officials balance the interests of a county on major issues; The whole process from the establishment to the destruction of the library, from which to explore how the politics of the Ming Dynasty collapsed step by step.

These incidents are exactly the same as the style of the Huizhou silk case, examining a certain slice and a certain dimension through rich details.These are specific and subtle details, but it is precisely from these "small" that we can truly see the meaning of "big".It is like a microscope, which can judge the health of the whole human body by examining the changes of a drop of blood and a cell.

That's why I named this book "Da Ming under the Microscope".I believe that only by seeing these most basic political ecology can we understand the various choices made above the temple and the evolution of the general trend of history when it is transmitted to every nerve ending.

Zhang Lixian was commenting on the famous documentary literature "Is Paris Burning?" "The two authors said: "True narrative masters never use qualitative or decorative words, but leave the right and pleasure of drawing conclusions to the readers. Lale Collins and Dominique LaPierre I did it too." I have deep sympathy for this sentence, so I also imitate the sages, and in these articles, try not to draw any conclusions, but faithfully present all the things and leave them to the readers Judge for yourself.

Also, again, I'm not a professional academic.

While perusing these materials, I found that I had too much to learn.Almost every detailed record will generate many derivative background questions.For example, the Ming Dynasty adopted the two-capital system, and Nanjing also had six departments, but they had only false names but no real power.In the first draft of the silk case, the relevant persons were going to the Ministry of Household Affairs to file a complaint. I subconsciously thought that they were going to the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing.Later, after being reminded by others, I found out that the Nanjing Household Department is responsible for the taxation of Jiangnan and has considerable power.For another example, in "The Choice between Pen and Ash—Wuyuan Dragon Vein Defense War", I miscalculated the age of a county magistrate, thinking he was a young talent, but I realized that I had made a calculation error after being reminded.

To figure these things out and get the details right, you have no choice but to read a lot of sources and research papers.

These papers quote extensively from many sources, their inferences are rigorous, and the method of using historical materials is even more subtle.Each paper focuses on solving one or several small problems, which can just answer my question about a certain detail.Many papers can be combined to form a breakthrough in one direction and form a unique originality.Let you see the sun through the clouds and suddenly see the light.In the process of studying, you can clearly feel the existence of the so-called "academic community". They support, learn from and inspire each other, and one academic achievement leads to another. academic fire.

In fact, many of the historical rediscoveries that we find amazing or rare are not new in the academic world.For example, the Huizhou silk case has many scholars studying it, and it is not a novel breakthrough.It's a pity that there is a high barrier between academics and the public, and there is no mutual understanding, which makes such a vivid story neglected for a long time.

From this perspective, I am just a relayer, a translator.My duty is to summarize the original historical materials and the achievements of many scholars, and share them with the public in a relatively easy way.

Therefore, the birth of this book should first be attributed to these respectable scholars.

In "Students Must Die - The Story of the Huizhou Silk Case", I refer most to the research monographs of Qin Qingtao, Zhang Yapeng, Li Yiqiong, and Liao Huasheng.Among them, Qin Qingtao made some corrections and annotations on the whole book "Sijuan Quanshu", which is the basis of the whole article; Zhang Yapeng and Li Yiqiong put the Huizhou silk case into the entire history of taxation in the Ming Dynasty, and conducted an in-depth analysis from the perspective of finance Liao Huasheng outlined the grassroots political ecology of Huizhou Prefecture from a more macro perspective.

Among them, Teacher Li Yiqiong also took precious time to help me deliberate on the imprecise or omissions in the article.She said this: "I hope you can use your wonderful pen to write richer stories, popularize historical knowledge rich in stories to the public, and let historical research reach the public. This is also my wish."

Teacher Liao Huasheng even provided me with more materials. His student, Mr. She Wei, reviewed the basic historical materials of Wuyuan's "Baolong Quanshu", which led to the follow-up "The Choice between Pen and Ash - Wuyuan Dragon Vein Defense Battle" "One article.

When writing "Who Moved My Ancestral Temple-Yang Qianyuan Legal and Political Situation", I would like to thank Mr. Afeng from the Academy of Social Sciences.He not only provided me with a series of basic materials, but also discussed with me for a long time, which benefited me a lot.

The main reference book of "Transparency in the World - The Past and Present of the First Archives of the Ming Dynasty" is "Houhu Zhi", which is attributed to the old Mr. Wu Fulin in Nanjing.In his rare years, he sorted out the "Houhu Zhi" hidden in the pile of old papers, which is really admirable. The editions of "Houhu Zhi" are rare, and the quality of the original copy is poor. There are a lot of vulgar characters, typos, and missing characters in it. It is extremely hard work to proofread one by one.Even if such unpopular historical materials are proofread, few people care about them, and there is almost no reward for doing this.Mr. Wu said in the introduction: "People of my age have no intention of money. They just want to do something down-to-earth. As long as it is beneficial to the world, it is enough to wish."

In addition to them, I also referred to a large number of papers, which cannot be exhaustively listed due to space limitations.In short, I am only standing on the shoulders of scholars. Without their efforts in combing through historical materials and thinking about solving one problem after another, I would not be able to complete this book by myself.

(End of this chapter)