Chapter 353: Minister of Rites (XI)
Gao Pang was also very surprised that his teacher was so serious about exposing the Qing Dynasty. However, he didn't dare to say it, so he could only sigh: "If these things are sent to the court..."
"It's useless." Chen Mingtai replied.
"Ah?" Gao Pang didn't understand what the teacher meant.
Chen Mingtai sighed, "I say, it's useless to send it. This book is for future generations to study, not for people today to listen to. If you want to talk about this, you might as well find a few storytellers to edit it for the Qing Dynasty."
"Teacher, you are too modest." Gao Pang said sincerely but his words were not what he meant.
"Gao Pang, you don't have to play dumb. These gentry don't care about what we make. If the world changes hands, they will run away quickly. Those who change their minds because of what they hear are people who have never seen the world and have no property. To deal with them, I think what they say in teahouses and taverns is more useful. They say that since the death of Wanli, who lived for decades, all the emperors died quite casually. It would be more useful to slightly change what these people say."
"Oh? How do you mean?" Gao Pang finally faced what the teacher said sincerely.
"Change it to these people died casually, because there is no real emperor, these people were just casually pushed to the stage, so they will die casually. If they live and die casually, it's fine. After these people became emperors casually, no matter how they toss, they are miserable. Well..., just say they jump up and down like rats in a cage, and all their efforts are useless."
The teacher's words were so devastating that Gao Pang felt uncomfortable, especially the metaphor of the rat in the cage, which even gave Gao Pang a sense of sympathy.
After hesitating for a while, Gao Pang asked tentatively: "Teacher, isn't this a bit harsh?"
Chen Mingtai shook his head. "We have to make the people look down on those people."
Gao Pang was secretly horrified. There is a bad comment that says the words of scholars are like knives, killing people without blood. I thought the teacher was a very humble person, but I forgot that the teacher was also a scholar.
But looking back at what the teacher said, it is indeed very useful. The people who heard this really looked down on the Qing Dynasty.
However, Gao Pang still felt a little uneasy, so he asked tentatively: "It's okay to say this about the Qing Dynasty, but isn't it a bit too much to say this about the emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"
"If we don't say this, how can we explain it to the people if they ask why the Qing Dynasty was able to destroy the Ming Dynasty?"
Gao Pang thought for a moment before answering, "It was Li Chuang who destroyed the Ming Dynasty."
"Then why did Li Chuang only sit on the throne for three days after he destroyed the Ming Dynasty?"
"Uh... that's right." Gao Pang found that the internal logic here was very complete. It was indeed necessary to start from the emperors after Wanli of the Ming Dynasty to denounce them together.
Chen Mingtai looked at Gao Pang and said with a wry smile, "Gao Pang, you are my son-in-law. There is no need for us to say those useless words. After you surrendered to His Majesty, His Majesty used you. I was also promoted by His Majesty and given such a noble position as the Salt Administration. We have to do more for His Majesty. The people of Jiangnan don't want what happened in history, they want a reason to surrender to His Majesty. Land reform is certainly one of the reasons, but these are not enough. We must use words that the people can understand to let the people understand. Your Majesty is the man destined by heaven."
Gao Pang felt that this was right, so he stopped talking about other things and asked Chen Mingtai to summarize the "history" of how to convince the people of Jiangnan.
Although he admitted that his teacher and father-in-law was right, Gao Pang still secretly read the materials his teacher brought him. After all, he was a scholar, and he was far more interested in the history described in words than the rhetoric on the streets.
This one makes me feel that the writing skills of the teacher and others are different. Go to the Later Jin, which the Qing Dynasty once called itself. Since there is a Later Jin, there must be Jin. The textual research goes straight to the Jin Kingdom.
Jin clearly stated that there were seven indigenous ethnic groups in Northeast China: Jurchen, Han, Mongolian, Korean, Khitan, Bohai, and Xi.
There is such a record in the "Yanyunlu": "There are military power and money, first the Jurchens are used, then the Bohai, then the Khitan, and then the Han people; even the Han people Liu Yanzong and Guo Yaoshi have no military power ." The so-called "Han people" here are actually the Han people in the north, but these Han people still find it difficult to obtain actual military power. Even in the rewards of the Jin Dynasty court, there is such a difference in treatment. There is such a record in the Jin Dynasty historical materials: "From Nianhan down to the infantry, the silk given by the court is divided, and each person gets 55 pieces. ... Although the number is the same, the items are different. The Jin people get brocade, Bohai gets silk, Khitan gets silk fabrics, and the nine states get only miscellaneous colors."
Chen Mingtai's research concluded that Jin fully acknowledged that the Han people were one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Northeast China.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, some Jurchens migrated southward and settled in the northern and eastern parts of Jilin Province and Liaoning Province. At this point, the Jurchens were roughly divided into three major groups, which were respectively called "Jianzhou Jurchens", "Haixi Jurchens" and "Wild Jurchens" in the records of the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the Jianzhou Jurchens were the main members of the Manchus. Under the policy of the Yuan Dynasty that "if Jurchens and Khitans are born in the northwest and do not speak Chinese, they are treated as Mongolians; if Jurchens are born in Han areas, they are treated as Han people", these Jurchens, who accounted for about three-fifths of the total population of the Jin Dynasty, were not considered Jurchens.
Chen Mingtai also listed some other contents. One of the theories is that during the Jin Dynasty, some Jurchens migrated south to Henan, and later moved back to the northeast, which is Jianzhou.
However, these can only prove that the history of the Wild Jurchens is clear, but the origin of the Jianzhou Jurchens has always been unclear.
Gao Pang was immersed in the ocean of history. Chen Mingtai, however, jumped out of it. It was precisely because he had researched the historical results that he knew very well that these results were not very tenable. After thinking about it, Chen Mingtai wrote a letter to Huo Chong, asking Huo Chong to send troops to attack the capital and seize the historical materials that had not been taken away. If those historical materials could be studied, there should be a great deal of close combat.
In this letter, Chen Mingtai also told Huo Chong his thoughts on the two propaganda lines.
Soon, the storytellers in the teahouse began to sing stories about emperors in the past two hundred years. In recent years, because Emperor Yongzheng had dealt with court officials harshly, entertainment stories about the Qing Dynasty had been quite popular among the people. When the storytellers started, the people also had some reactions after listening to them.
It turns out that the previous emperors died casually and tragically because they were not "real emperors" at all.
Just as Chen Mingtai expected, once this propaganda came out, it quickly gave the people an explanation.
But with an explanation, there is naturally a question. Many people are curious whether Huo Chong, the emperor who now rules Jiangnan, is a real emperor?
The weather was already cold, and the people in the south of the Yangtze River had a rare opportunity to rest. Although it was a war, Huo Chong did not levy heavy taxes on the people, and the people's lives were actually much easier during this war.
In addition, the Chinese army has strict military discipline, just as the military song sings, the three major disciplines and eight points of attention. The people have also become accustomed to such an army, so the streets have become much better.
In such a peaceful city in the south of the Yangtze River, there are suddenly many theaters, where many new plays are performed.
The actors didn't have any great singing skills, nor were they famous actors. But the show was free, and the common people who had nothing to do at home went to watch.
The plays performed were all spoken dramas, with more narration and less than half of them being sung. However, the content of the plays was mainly about the lives of the common people. "The White-haired Girl", "Three or Five More Bushels", "Put Down Your Whip", and "The Waves Wash Away the Sand" all told stories about how the common people were exploited by the landlords and gentry, how the government backed the landlords, and how the Manchus oppressed the Han people.
Jiangnan has a long tradition of anti-Qing resistance, and the drama allows the people to empathize with them. Seeing Xier's father Yang Bailao being forced to death at the end of the year, many people couldn't help but sigh. After seeing Xier being kidnapped by Huang Shiren, she was forced to work like a cow and a horse every day, and finally fled to the mountains, where she was forced to become the White-Haired Girl under harsh conditions, the audience cried.
The White-haired Girl is a story of this era. So naturally no one would think that after Xier was kidnapped by Huang Shiren, she would become a mistress in the Huang family. No one would think that Xier would be treated as a human being. A lonely woman who fell into the hands of others would be oppressed to her heart's content.
Human rights and laws did not exist at all in the same era as the White-haired Girl.
Because they have seen and understood these things, the audience has hope when they see Dachunge join the Huaxia Army and return to the countryside with the troops.
Sure enough, Dachunge first dealt with Huang Shiren's backers, and Huang Shiren was cunning and knew that the Qing Dynasty could not defeat the Chinese court, so he had a falling out with the Qing officials who had colluded with Huang Shiren to oppress the people. He pretended to be a good gentleman and wanted to get away with it.
The audience saw that Huang Shiren, for the sake of profit, suddenly captured the Qing officials who had fled to him because of defeat and gave them to the pursuing Chinese army in exchange for his own safety. They were all shocked by such evil and shrewd human nature and didn't know how to react.
Dachun asked Huang Shiren where Xier had gone. Huang Shiren said that he had sent Xier home, and she lived alone afterwards and eventually died of illness. I was deceived by Huang Shiren for a while. The Chinese army here has strict military discipline, and you are not allowed to hurt anyone, nor can you kill people right away.
Huang Shiren actually succeeded in his speculation and was not liquidated.
At this time, the troops heard the legend that there was a monster called White-Haired Girl on the mountain leading wolves, insects and wild beasts to threaten the people, so they asked Dachun Ge and the locals to lead the team, and the troops took weapons to the mountain to eliminate these evils.
They did drive away the wild beasts along the way, and finally were able to enter the mountains and find Xier, who became the White-Haired Girl.
When the two met and recognized each other, the audience couldn't help but applaud.
The audience included not only ordinary people but also some people from the gentry families. Seeing this, their reactions were different. A girl gently tapped her feet. She had been unbinding her feet for more than a year or two. Although it was much better when the weather was warm, her feet were still uncomfortable when it was cold.
Even so, the girl still sighed. Her companion couldn't help but turn his head and asked in a low voice: "Qingqing, why are you sighing?"
"This is fate." said the woman called Qingqing, and then sighed.
Sure enough, Xier was rescued and went back to expose the collusion between Huang Shiren and the Qing officials. One scene was very cruel and realistic. When the officials came to Huang Shiren, Huang Shiren not only took Xier for himself, but also forced Xier to sleep with the Qing officials to satisfy their beastly desires.
At the end of the drama, Huang Shiren, who oppressed the people and colluded with officials, was dragged away and shot, and all his land was confiscated.
Huang Shiren denied everything, but was still convicted in the face of facts. When he was dragged away and shot, Huang Shiren revealed his true colors and shouted loudly, "You traitors, the Eight Banners will come back and kill you." However, no matter how Huang Shiren struggled, he was eventually dragged away and shot.
There was applause and cheers from the audience. The people were not frightened by Huang Shiren's threats, but were overjoyed to get rid of a bully like Huang Shiren.
Qingqing, who was sitting in the audience, looked at Huang Shiren on the stage with disdain, and then looked at her companions. The companion on the left frowned slightly, and the one on the right sighed. Qingqing didn't say anything and continued to watch the play.
The drama did not end with Huang Shiren's demise. After Huang Shiren's death, his lackey Mu Renzhi, in order to save his life, also exposed the evil deeds of other gentry. Based on the evidence, the troops eliminated the remaining gentry.
Dachunge got together with Xier, whom he had never forgotten, and became the leader of the village work team. He and the local people participated in the court's land reform, destroyed the old land deeds, and made new contracts. They became the people of the new era.
At the end of the play, the storyteller who had been appearing in this new drama mode and telling the story stood up and said loudly to the audience: "This is it. In the old era, people were forced to become ghosts. In the new era, ghosts are turned into people. If you think you can cover up everything by colluding with the government, then you underestimate the will of heaven. Heaven has its own way of karma. No one can escape it. When a wise ruler appears, the world will be clear, and all the evil spirits will retreat!..."
Hearing the loud applause from the people below the stage, the young companion who was already sighing sighed again and wanted to get up and leave.
Qingqing didn't move. Seeing that Qingqing and the others were not leaving, the young companion sat back in his seat and asked, "Why don't you leave?"
"I want to see the waves wash away the sand." Qingqing replied.
"I think we've collected three or five more buckets." The companion on the other side replied.
"What's so good about it? It's just killing gentry." The young companion replied unhappily.
Qingqing looked at her companions and suddenly stood up and pulled the two of them, "Let's go out and get some fresh air."
Although the theater was free, tickets were required. After the young people came out, they went to the newly built public toilet first. Then they came back to wash their hands in the sink at the bottom of the newly built fountain pool. Only then did they buy some snacks and chat while eating.
"Siyu, it seems like you're taking this trick seriously," another male companion advised.
Qingqing munched on some maltose snacks without saying a word, just looking at Wang Siyu who was annoyed.
Wang Siyu nodded, "We should rely on officials and be on the side of the court. But watching this drama makes me angry."
Qingqing couldn't help but chuckle, but didn't say anything. Wang Siyu turned back and looked at Qingqing, "What are you laughing at?"
Qingqing couldn't help laughing again, "Haha, if I let you lead the team to the village, would you let Huang Shiren go?"
The two men were stunned. They thought Qingqing would say something else, but unexpectedly, Qingqing directly threw out the most realistic question. Yes, if the two of them became officials now, what would they do?
Qingqing looked at her two companions and felt that men were really unreliable. They were obviously going to be officials, but they were still so hypocritical. What was going on? The drama was being staged to tell everyone in Jiangnan that this was how the Chinese court would do things!
If you don't follow the will of the court, do you really think that the Chinese court is useless? Do you really think that the Chinese army, which has conquered such a large territory with its army, will let go of the traitors who betrayed their own country?
But since the men were useless, there was no way to borrow their strength. Qingqing didn't say anything else, but pointed to the venue, "Listen, the show is about to begin!"
The three of them returned to the theater with their own thoughts. The play was "The Great Waves Wash Away the Sand". Qingqing had heard of this play a long time ago and wanted to see it very much, so she watched it very carefully.
It must be said that this play is obviously not as popular as the White-haired Girl among ordinary people. Although the story is also very complicated, it is completely about the upper class, at least the educated class.
What Qingqing cared about was not such a simple story, but the part about the upper buildings mentioned by the lecturer.
Even if it is not explicitly stated, the underlying basis of this story is the choice of a young man who has learned both literary and martial arts and is married to an imperial family.
These young people all have something they can sell: labor.
Labor is an indispensable condition for any social production, but it only becomes a commodity under certain historical conditions. On the one hand, the owner of labor must be a free man, so that he can freely sell his labor; on the other hand, he has lost all means of production and is free and has nothing. He must sell his labor to survive. These two conditions have not always existed in the development of human society, nor did they appear with the emergence of commodity production. At the end of feudal society, due to the polarization of small producers, especially through the primitive accumulation of capital, a large number of hired workers who sold their labor were produced, and the relationship between capital and hired labor was formed. Therefore, capital is a historical category, which takes labor as a commodity as a prerequisite.
In "The Great Waves", the main characters are all scholars, so they have labor to sell. Although the purpose is to sell it to the powerful, using labor to exchange for the opportunity to gain power.
The common people who don't understand these things just watch the performance, while Qingqing really enjoys the content of the drama.
Capital is power. Whoever exploits workers most efficiently and accumulates more capital will gain controlling rights and become the chief decision-maker. The shareholding system based on capital distribution can be completely described as an aristocratic republic - whoever controls more troops and more land will have more say, and the nobles who own the most land and enslave the most serfs will become the chief nobles.
