Fifteen years of Wanli, namely1587,430 years.
430 years, long and short. In short, today's world, today's life and today's concept are very different from those of the Ming Dynasty. In short, pulling a wrench means that from Daming to Qing to the Republic of 1911 and then to New China, history is like yesterday.
History is not a little girl who can dress up. Reading history, in fact, is to understand the past, draw lessons from the past, find out the rules, do not forget the roots, follow the general trend, follow the trend, and avoid going against the trend. On second thought, the mountain side is regarded as a mountain peak, with different angles, different scales and different strengths. Although the viewpoints and understandings are different, it is more or less rewarding. Throughout the ages, like Journey to the West, younger people like the Monkey King, like to make fun of Pig and Bajie, older people like to be honest people like Sand Monk, and older people think about the practice of Tang Priest, each with its own position.
After reading Fifteen Years of Wanli, I have a general feeling like this. And every time I watch it, my attention or shift or change will make me feel different. Even after reading the same sentence, I may have a little experience, which makes me taste something and have more imagination. This really answered perilla's "tireless reading of old books, tireless familiarity"
Fifteen years of Wanli, although an ordinary year, a year without earth-shattering events, is the beginning of political stagnation in Wanli. Taking this as a starting point, we expand the scale of time and space, look back vertically and compare horizontally. In fact, there is no key to the embarrassing and difficult paved avenue of time and space, only a reciprocating cycle. History has never been fun, nor can it be played, because it is too heavy and complicated, because it took a sad turn in the fifteenth year of Wanli.
Why is there Wanli's inaction?
That's right. The first is a person's personality. When it comes to personality, most people think that Zhu Yijun is weak, introverted and withdrawn. In fact, before he ascended the throne, 9-year-old Zhu Yijun was as smart, lively, curious and playful as many children. If it is an ordinary family, plus some cleverness and diligence, he can either gain fame and fortune or farm and do business, and always make a difference. At worst, live a normal life, get married and have children, and have a complete life. History cannot be assumed, and life cannot be repeated. Zhu Yijun's temperament and fate changed at the age of nine.
Wanli is sensitive. Unfortunately, his sensitivity is more fragile and hidden than becoming tough and alert with age. Because, he is the emperor, a nine-year-old child who ascended the throne. More unfortunately, when Emperor Wanli was a child, he met many talents at home and abroad in the critical years of his life growth, such as Yan Mu Li, Shou Fu Zhang and great companions. In particular, political strongmen like Zhang and Zhang, who are born with super control, really hurt young hearts. The lack of security and the enhancement of attachment, like a pair of twin brothers, accompany them for life. Even if he doesn't trust anyone or anything, he will shrink back when he encounters difficulties and change his course. These are the taboos of managers, not to mention the son of heaven who shoulders heavy responsibilities.
Like the young emperor, Emperor Wanli was ambitious. When he was young, he was sensitive and eager to learn. After he acceded to the throne, he helped promote Zhang's reform plan. Looking at the political reforms and the New Deal at all times and in all countries, without the strong and sustained support of the king, it was either empty talk or premature death. Zhang's reform was supported by Wanli, but it was abolished by Wanli.
Wanli's ambition, of course, lies in the control of power and grasping what belongs to the emperor. So after Zhang's death, Wanli abolished liquidation Zhang and Zhang Xinzheng's evil to stabilize people's hearts, pacify Yinchuan rebellion, aid Korea and resist Japan, delimit Bozhou to consolidate territory, and continue the good weather of Wanli's revival. Unfortunately, this good day was soon dissipated because of women and children, that is, the concubines of the Zheng family and the constant sealing of history books.
Wanli, seemingly ambitious, has gradually become stubborn and withdrawn because of long-term indoctrination and control by powerful people. This kind of stubbornness, for an ambitious and ambitious emperor, is bound to be decisive, achieve great things, achieve goals, and achieve great success. However, this stubbornness has taken root in the sensitive and dependent Wanli heart, which is really a bit sad for women. In the corner of Wanli, in order to set up a princess, I don't work hard like a strong monarch, nor give up the overall situation like a wise monarch, but like a little girl who is not allowed to dress her beloved toy in fancy clothes, she is complacent, doesn't eat or drink, and plays a small temper.
Wanli is clever again. Lazy politics does not happen overnight. If we only focused on the idea of setting up a princess and a bank and ignored state affairs, Wanli would have been pulled down long ago. From fifteen years of Wanli to repose, I was idle for thirty-three years, which was equivalent to two generations at that time.
During this period, firstly, Emperor Wanli sat firmly in the Forbidden City, and secondly, the Ming Dynasty would come here. Behind the seemingly incredible, clever Wan Li has long seen the clue. After more than 200 years of governance in the Ming Dynasty, the rules of patriarchal clan system have taken shape. Even the reforms promoted by Zhang are just tinkering. Especially in the operational mechanism, civil military commanders and eunuchs are added, and the troika performs its duties and checks and balances each other. The emperor is nothing more than a cover on the troika, so the Ming Dynasty will move forward effortlessly.
As a symbol of the dynasty, the emperor, the cover, should play or play. Although we don't go to court, criticize or hold banquets, Emperor Wanli will never forget the courtesy of being close to the monarch and teacher. What's more, Wanli stood at the moral high ground and ruled by doing nothing, blocking a group of people who are benevolent and moral. Therefore, Wanli does not manage and work hard, and he knows it in his heart.
▲ Ming Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun
Zhu Yijun's growing experience and personality changes have influenced Wanli's political neglect, which is by no means a personal reason. Enlarging the scale a little, the emperor dares to be lazy and can be lazy, which actually indicates that the dynasty is moving from stability to decline. Regardless of Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han, Tang, Northern Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the inverted U-shaped track of dynasties corresponds to the achievements or failures of emperors and generals from generation to generation.
Those who are in power in the rising stage, although they have made efforts and even shriveled up, will more or less leave behind literary martial arts that will be remembered by future generations. It's unfortunate to be in the declining stage, especially the dying monarch, but as long as he doesn't look like Xiezhou, he can win some sympathy from later generations, such as Li Houzhu, Chongzhen and Guangxu (Xuan Tong is the son emperor after all).
What needs to be scolded is, of course, the idle people in the stable stage, who even destroyed the operation of the dynasty. In particular, a long-term incumbent like Wanli, for whatever reason, did not lead the dynasty into a spiral upward track, which is most worthy of historical chewing, aftertaste and deep thinking. In fact, the reason why Wanli is taken as a typical example is that the inaction has never been seen before, and the world has changed greatly, and modern countries have stepped onto the historical stage. Whether it is an ancient empire or a new country, everyone's fate will change and turn.
Looking back, we can chew carefully Wanli's political laziness, not just on the stable and so-called mature operating mechanism, but on the inaction and corruption of the management at all levels of the dynasty. What else is behind it?
First, the system design of the family is inherently flawed. The emperor is a person, and no one can touch or move, or even read or speak. This is the core interest and the fundamental driving force. In order to last forever, the founding kings of the past dynasties have specially formulated a set of family rules and national laws to ensure that the dragon chair will not be handed over to outsiders.
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhu Yuanzhang did the best. The former reduced the military power, which led to a peaceful corner of the Song Dynasty, while the latter's super-strong control of power led to the strange elephants of Daming. Everyone knows that it is difficult to conquer the world, and it is even more difficult to sit on the ground. As we all know, water can carry a boat and also overturn it. The consolidation of political power and state governance is simplified as guarding the dragon chair, and the relationship between the monarch and the minister is alienated into respecting the people. As a result, the fate of the rise and fall of the dynasty could not escape, or the dragon chair took turns.
What is even more detrimental to the consolidation and development of political power is that the family system is designed as an iron law, which is hard to cope with natural and man-made disasters, and also inhibits reform and innovation, making Wang Anshi, Zhang and others fail or repeat the same mistakes.
Li Wanli Fei Li Zhu seems to be competing with Shen Shixing and other ministers, rather than being angry with his ancestors. If we don't keep pace with the times, don't combine with reality, and only rely on the laws of our ancestors, we will not only dream, but also imprison our thoughts and hinder our progress.
Second, apart from keeping their jobs, the monarch and his subjects actually don't know where to take this country. Home is the foundation of monarch and minister, and calming down the world is the pursuit of self-cultivation and self-discipline. How can the world be peaceful and how can the country be governed to achieve national prosperity and people's security? In the early days of each dynasty, it was generally treated lightly and lightly to stabilize people's hearts, strengthen military equipment to stabilize the territory, and select talents to improve the governance structure. Once there was no war in the frontier and the people were well fed and clothed, the empire really didn't know what else to do except fight for power and profit. Moreover, as long as the emperor keeps the dragon chair, as long as ministers have real power, as long as the people live a peaceful life, the national operation will basically stop regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Rather than saying that Emperor Wanli did not care about politics, Shen Shixing and other officials did not care about politics, dragging their feet and muddling along. The first thing that breaks the balance is war, followed by natural disasters. The superposition of the two and the lengthening of the time span will inevitably accelerate the replacement of dynasties. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, objectively speaking, every dynasty has had good days with different durations and short bitter days, but most of them are mediocre and the world is peaceful. They have been tossing for more than two thousand years, always looking back on the past, indulging in the fantasy of three emperors and five emperors, but they don't want to know or chase the good times in the future, and finally passively and helplessly accept the ideological collision of the great changes of the times.
Third, being closed is terrible, and even more terrible is being abandoned by the times. Before the great voyage, it was normal for all parts of the world to go their own way, and only the empire could get through the Silk Road to communicate with China and the West. However, with the great voyage, especially the opening of the western industrialization revolution, the world pattern has undergone great changes across regions, the traditional empire has declined, and emerging countries have risen and dominated the world. From Holland, Denmark to Portugal, Spain to Britain and France, their way to get rich is to bribe with guns, gold, silver and jewelry, break isolation and open up new markets in the new world. Some scholars call it the first globalization.
▲ missionary Matteo Ricci
The outside world is changing, but the Ming Dynasty is indifferent, especially Zhu Yijun and Shen Shixing, who are undergoing great changes. It's not that they don't know that the world is changing, because missionaries such as Matteo Ricci are coming one after another, but they don't want to change, don't want to change, or even have the idea of passive change or change. This conceited closed mind continued until the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Like ice, this ancient empire really woke up.
Time waits for no man, and time waits for no man. Not keeping pace with the times. First, Wanli inherited Zhang Qinzheng's reform of loving the people and lasted for decades, but it was unable to resist the decline of Daming. Just like Jiaqing, no matter how hard you try to save it, you can't fill the emptiness of the empire after all. The second is to lengthen the time. The Qing dynasty replaced Daming and was unable to resist the decline of the empire. It is not so much a prosperous time of Kanggan as a blip of the ancient empire, or another revival of Daming. Because the decline of the Qing dynasty began in Qianlong, Jiaqing was nothing more than carrying a pot. As for Daoguang and Xianfeng, their fate is irreversible.
Why are you afraid of commercial trade, especially capital?
Under the sky, is it not the land of kings? Is leading the land king? Imperial despotism loves land and farmers too much. It can be said that farming is highly compatible with autocratic imperial power. On the one hand, agricultural cultivation can provide a relatively stable tax source for imperial power and nobles, that is, the real grain of the emperor can ensure the operation of the dynasty; On the other hand, it is very important that most people in Lebanon are firmly tied to the land, and the social mobility is not strong, the social order is stable, and the system cost and operation cost of autocratic imperial power are not high. After all, farmers can live a self-sufficient life with two acres of land, a cow, a wife and children. How can they spare time and think about the dragon chair?
Therefore, land is the lifeblood of the emperor and the lifeblood of the whole life. It is precisely because of the combination of land and autocratic imperial power that in ancient China, linking land with people was the core of governance, and people would never be liberated from land. Besides, if you are liberated, nothing will cause trouble, and you will become a refugee, you will get up sooner or later. Furthermore, landlords and peasants have become the most solid and reliable classes in farming society, and of course they are also interest groups that should not be easily touched.
Businessmen and businessmen are not so lucky. Whether artisans or small traders, they are neither liked by the emperor nor hated by the people. No rape, no business. Why give a dirty word to a group that everyone can't live without? Ordinary people don't like businessmen because they value profits too much. In fact, businessmen don't care, don't make the difference, how to be a businessman and how to support their families. Scholars despise businessmen. On the surface, they don't like the copper smell of businessmen. In fact, they are a little jealous of the rich life of businessmen for nothing. Businessmen, in particular, can do things and succeed, and are more easily hated.
The emperor doesn't like businessmen. First, these people are too realistic and utilitarian, directly eroding the actual interests of farming and causing dissatisfaction among landlords and farmers. Second, businessmen wander between urban and rural areas all day, knowledgeable and resourceful. Of course, in the eyes of literati landlords, it is not good for social atmosphere, and if it forms a climate, it will directly threaten the political power.
Therefore, attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business is the keynote of governing the country in the past dynasties, which not only suppressed the actual interests of businessmen, but also blocked the rising channel for businessmen's families to be officials, and stood on the moral commanding heights, demonizing this group. Even Yuan and Qing, who were born in nomadic nationalities, tried their best to crowd out businessmen in order to stabilize the world. In order to preserve the so-called world and maintain the stability of the ruling and opposition parties, it is inevitable that industry and commerce will not develop or even be hit. Therefore, it is not surprising that Columbus and Magellan ventured out to sea and the Ming Dynasty imposed strict sea bans.
Disliking businessmen, restraining business and crowding out capital actually show that the ancient empire was full of fear of commercial capital. If left unchecked, what impact will commercial capital have on a self-sufficient farming society?
First of all, we must weaken the investment in aquaculture. The more active the trade circulation, the wider the scope of its activities. While promoting the exchange of needed commodities, it needs not only a lot of manpower input, but also the improvement of circulation and trade infrastructure, including the construction of transportation roads and markets. The investment here has increased, and the investment in aquaculture has been more or less affected.
Second, speed up land annexation and weaken the foundation of political stability. Commercial circulation or capital financing with land as collateral is risky. Coupled with the natural profit-seeking nature of capital, driven by rolling interest, the combination of landlord and commercial capital will surely occupy more land greedily. Once a small-scale peasant family encounters a change, it can only rely on selling land to tide over the difficulties. Farmers who leave the land, in the case of low productivity, either go up the mountain as bandits or live on the streets begging. According to the existing unemployed population, once it exceeds 5%, it will inevitably endanger neighbors and disrupt society.
In addition, the rise of money and capital markets has promoted the development of mining and handicrafts, which in turn has shaken the foundation of agricultural society. The amount of money in circulation needs physical support. This supporting object is the grain and land in the farming era. With the expansion of the circulation market, it is obvious that relying on land as the anchor of money has been restricted, and money and capital must find new and more liquid objects as support. Once the profit level of mining industry and handicraft industry is improved, or they have comparative advantages in planting industry, money and capital will definitely favor these industries and gradually reduce their investment in planting industry accordingly. Agriculture is unstable, and the world is uneasy.
Moreover, the emergence of the rentier class is beyond the tolerance of the whole society. In a farming society with abundant land and plenty of food, we know that money can make money, but we are afraid of the evil consequences brought by Qian Shengqian. Capital creates wealth. Without firms, banks and banks, commercial circulation and financing can only be carried out on a small scale like farming, and it is difficult to produce greater effectiveness. Therefore, the circulation of commerce and trade and the activity of monetary capital have shaken the lifeline of agricultural society and the political foundation of autocratic imperial power, and its fate can only be suppressed.
Did the ancient empire really dislike commerce and money? Of course not. Even if the emperor says the world belongs to him, when it comes to counting money, he doesn't want to have as much as he wants.
Wanli is one of the emperors who love money and are stingy in imperial history. Everyone likes money. No matter how frugal they are, no matter how hard they work, they buy land and real estate as soon as they have savings. Of course, some of them will borrow money to make profits. Profit-seeking is the basic attribute of commercial capital. Just like two sides of a coin, commercial capital has both selfish side and beneficial side in the process of profit-seeking. Self-interest makes people greedy, lose the bottom line and collect money crazily; Altruism, mutual benefit and sustainable development.
Profit-seeking commercial capital is really like a tiger. Once it is combined with real assets such as land and houses, it will not only break through the profit-seeking boundary endlessly, but also induce people to become more greedy, damage the farming economy and undermine social stability and order. However, commercial capital is not a tiger, but a fox. As long as there is mutual credit, it is good for it, and there will be several times the return. If you break your promise to it, it's not it that comes forward, but it pulls the tiger's skin and carries the banner, orders wolves, tigers and leopards, makes you ruined and even wants your nickname. I only see the fox's cunning and ferocity, unlike Mr. Pu Songling's sentient beings and righteousness. In ancient China, where the golden mean atmosphere was strong, the attitude towards commercial capital was extremely subtle, and the vicious verbal crusade and profit-seeking activities in the heart and actions could be said to be great hypocrisy.
▲ Wanli and Queen Elizabeth I are almost contemporary.
Can business really subvert society? Is capital really that terrible? On the other hand, during the voyage, adventurers dream of making a fortune under the banner of discovering the new continent. In Holland, Spain and Britain, monarchs and subjects are very rich, especially Elizabeth I, who fought against businessmen, pirates and Spaniards for 20 years and forced the first one to remain in the empire.
During the invasion and colonization of western commercial capital, they relied on guns to pave the way for the wanton rampage of commercial capital. While enjoying the pleasure of plundering wealth, they have committed countless evil consequences. This is the self-interest characteristic of commercial capital. The reason why the British Empire crossed Europe and Asia and jumped to the United States and Australia was that it saw both the self-interest drive of commercial capital and the win-win situation of altruism, so it changed from the initial barbaric plunder to colonial expansion and stopped killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Not only does it infinitely amplify the profit-seeking effect of capital, but it even exploits it naked, and it also makes laws to limit the scope of capital profit-seeking activities. Although these restrictions have little effect, they have been unable to escape the cyclical economic crisis and social movements since the Dutch tulip incident.
Western capitalist countries recognize the identity of self-interest and altruism of commercial capital, and after ending colonial expansion and rule, most of them adopt the method of combining mandatory laws and regulations with ethical condemnation to control the fox of commercial capital. Therefore, Adam Smith spent his whole life not only on The Wealth of Nations, but also on Moral Sentiments.
From hunting to nomadism and farming, we are always struggling with food and clothing, and the low productivity inevitably requires the simplification of production relations. It takes courage and courage as well as the times to promote the changes in the farming era for thousands of years. It is unreasonable and useless to simply accuse our ancestors of not keeping up with the situation and changing their ideas.
What needs to be explored is still an old question. In the era of great changes in the world and the transfer of farming to commercial capital, why can't the ancient empire breed capitalism and cultivate a big market? In other words, for thousands of years, the ancient empire stubbornly suppressed the development of industry and commerce and its capital was active. Even though it enjoyed the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Song Dynasty and brought the benefits of commercial capital, why didn't it turn industry and commerce into a climate? Not to mention its output value and employment contribution, at least it has become an important supplement to agricultural production and land tax.
Regrettably, the ancestors who let themselves die did not treat industrial and commercial capital well, industry and commerce did not develop, capital did not form a market, stuck to agricultural achievements, economic activities were single, industrial employment was single, and social structure was single. Where does the relatively simple economic and social structure come from?
Why can't we break the fast knot of population and land tension?
The ancient empire's stubbornness of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce was normal in Wanli, Zhangzhang and Kanggan. So far, the instability without agriculture has become the focus and difficulty of state governance. This persistence, in the face of natural disasters or foreign invasion, can easily lead to the empire falling into a crisis vortex. In the face of crisis, we should either innovate to solve contradictions and regroup, or expand abroad to pass on the crisis.
▲ Ming Great Wall Site
In ancient times, China mainly chose the former road, whether it was to resist the Huns or the Liao, Jin, Yuan and Qing Dynasties, it was passive. Even if the war is successful for a while, it is generally stuck in the Great Wall of Wan Li among the winding mountains. However, foreign border trade, perhaps due to poor border protection, is always confined to a small area and in a short period of time, so that it would rather spend huge manpower and material resources to build the Great Wall of Wan Li, with little interruption from Qin and Han Dynasties to Daming, and it is also unwilling to implement several rules of exchange of needed goods and mutual benefit, which really makes border residents and border guards miserable.
Fortunately, every time there is a crisis, the ancient empire will take the initiative to change, but it can't take a strange circle, change greatly, and make a vigorous revolution. Most of the results came to a dismal end, returning to the original track, and even some practices intensified, especially Wang Anshi's political reform. No matter the people at that time or the latecomers, they are always complaining about the stubborn obstruction of immediate interests and always chanting Shang Yang's achievements. As we all know, Shang Yang's reform is aimed at the overall design of the agricultural war system sweeping the world, and the successor's reform is carried out item by item under the restriction of land system and ancestral law. In other words, to turn into a crisis, we must do a good job in population, land, food and other property. Shang Yang not only integrated the stock but also activated the increment by military force, but the successor could only do the stock, but could not and could not do the increment, or relieved or replaced the stock through the increment. This is that the crisis has worsened instead of being lifted, and even the source of Jingkang's shame can be traced back to Wang Anshi's political reform. The reason is the deviation of system design and operation and the narrow vision of governance purpose.
From the perspective of system design, the survival of the empire based on farming needs to deal with the relationship between population and land. This starting point and destination are to solve the problem of eating enough. Although the literature is unknown and the caliber is not uniform, we can still draw a credible conclusion, that is, in the so-called prosperous times, the steady growth of grain output has brought about the rapid growth of population, and the land reclamation area has also increased accordingly.
Happiness exists in danger. It is unrealistic to rely on excessive reclamation to feed the over-increased population and ease the tension between population and land without greatly improving farming technology and output efficiency. After a long time, poverty and land annexation caused by small-scale peasant families frequently occur, and soil erosion and ecological damage are exposed. In the event of floods and droughts, farmland withering, famine spreading, refugees fleeing, social unrest, rising war and sharp population decline, the next two roads will either rest and continue the life of the dynasty or be rebelled, and the emperor will let him live.
The crisis of ancient empire itself originated from unreasonable population and land system, but it was attributed to simple natural and man-made disasters. In fact, losing paradise means sticking to the outdated land system and not opening up new territories and channels to feed the population. This insistence on land made the ancient empire lose the motivation to beg for food from the sea, and also repeatedly lost the opportunity to open up ways to increase population through large-scale commercial trade. In addition, there are no diversified population support channels and the convenience of exchanging needed goods. The single advantage of agricultural grain, it is difficult for the ancient empire to see its own comparative advantage, and it will not share the benefits brought by socialized division of labor. The biggest risk of internal assimilation crisis is that imperial power cannot be guaranteed; It is still people who suffer heavy losses, so there is a sigh that "it is better to be a peaceful dog than to leave people in chaos".
The single, restrained and conservative system design limits the exertion of governance, including the helplessness of governing talents. The first is the narrow purpose of governance. If you succeed, keep your job. In order to keep the throne of the dragon, ministers and workers are in power, and the Lebanese people don't think much about what they can do to eat and wear warm clothes, and they don't bother to think about it. In order to control the throne and stabilize the political power, successive dynasties can only implement simple and low-cost emphasis on agriculture and restrain commerce, bind people's hands and feet with land, and wash people's hearts with moral etiquette, claiming that the world has been peaceful for decades without any change or breakthrough. Over time, there are many disadvantages. A rainstorm, a locust plague or even a thunder may lead to the collapse of the empire.
Managing narrow vision is the chronic disease of ancient empire. Mr. Huang Renyu compared the structure of China's traditional society in the later period to the "submarine with meat and bread" in the United States, which was mainly influenced by the climate and geographical relationship in the Asian continent. Geographical environment has an obvious and lasting influence on the governance of a continental empire, that is, agriculture is the center, because it faces the sea in the east, desert grassland in the north, tropical jungle in the south and alpine wasteland in the west. Over time, the rich central plains became the main body of the empire, and the concept of self-centeredness was formed.
What's more special is that, except for the early Xiongnu, and later the northern foreign countries such as Liao, Jin and Mongolia, which were powerful and posed a direct threat, the ancient empire was surrounded by small countries with few people and poor days, with constant civil strife and mutual strangulation. The dependency relationship between tribute and asking for help established in this way can survive for a small country, but it greatly strengthens the central consciousness for the empire. Over time, the idea that the world is for me and I am for the world has taken root in the ruling and opposition parties of the ancient empire, and it is normal to be blindly optimistic and arrogant.
Not to mention Maniel's visit to China more than 200 years ago, Matteo Ricci arrived in the empire even more bravely during the Wanli period. Although its scale and itinerary were not as good as Zheng He's voyages to the West, he was able to reach and bring with him western objects such as maps, timers and prisms that the empire did not have. This only shows that there is still a day behind the world. Helpless, the Ming dynasty was unaware of it and was still immersed in a self-centered and backward pattern.
If we had been more open-minded and self-effacing since Wanli, and thought more about how poor neighbors on the other side of the globe lived, instead of paying tribute for thousands of years, perhaps the gates of the empire would not have been locked.
Focusing on land and farming will inevitably lead to the simplification of governance means, that is, a series of economic and social systems, such as farming, taxation, etiquette, customs and law, which are carefully concocted with land as the carrier, cannot match the autocratic imperial power in practice. The county system of the Qin Empire can be inherited and continuously improved, or traced back to the Western Qin Dynasty, which was able to sweep the six countries and unify the whole country. The key lies in unity, the same track, the same book and the same text, weights and measures and so on. In turn, it will promote the expansion of combat materials such as grain and grass. However, due to the immovability and uneven thickness of land, a series of governance systems designed around land are greatly discounted, or others can't catch up with it. Is the grain closely related to the land regarded as the adjustment means of the empire? In fact, its own differences and diversity determine that any physical object is not suitable as a large-scale adjustment tool, and the stability of grain output is not strong and the loss is more serious. Round and round, comparatively speaking, currency has strong liquidity and little difference, and is not affected by natural disasters. The reason why it was not selected as an adjustment tool is that the acceptance of physical currency is high, and credit currency such as paper money can not become a climate.
In fifteen years of Wanli, the world changed. It was not the Ming Dynasty that turned the corner, but the ancient empire. Waiting for us is not only the Qing Dynasty's entry into the customs, Chongzhen hanged himself, not only the haircut and changing clothes, but also Daxing Wenzi Prison, as well as the Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and treaty of nanking, treaty of shimonoseki, the Treaty of Shame and Ugliness, and so on. In the past century, a series of wars were invaded and forced by foreign enemies, a number of treaties humiliated the country and the country, and a century-long history of humiliation at home and abroad.
Author | Xu works in Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Article source | Love Thought Network
Caption: Some pictures are from the Internet.
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