Chapter 83: Distinguishing between Chinese and barbarians
"Mr. Shen, I am too narrow-minded. I hope you can forgive me."
Luo Zheng showed bitterness and apologized to Shen Yichen with a fist. He was not a shameless person and he would admit his mistakes when he was wrong.
"I think you should admit your mistake to the Grand Master."
Shen Yichen not only has to seek justice for himself, but also has to protect Sun Tixue's reputation.
"Grandmaster, I know I was wrong."
Luo Zheng bowed deeply to Sun Ding with a very humble attitude.
"It's okay. There will always be times of confusion when you are young. It's good to wake up."
Sun Ding did not delve into it further. On the one hand, he could understand the courage of young scholars when faced with the injustice of the imperial examination.
On the other hand, he was indeed biased towards Shen Yichen, and he couldn't do anything to turn the tables on him.
It can only be said that Sun Ding was just admiring talented people at the beginning, and he came up with the operation of giving equal importance to the Four Books and Five Classics on a whim. There was no favoritism or secret manipulation between him and Shen Yichen.
Sun Ding had not expected things to develop to this point.
The only thing that can make me feel comforted is that Shen Yichen deserves the first place in the case, and there is no unfair impact caused by my favoritism.
Otherwise it would be self-defeating.
"Luo Zheng, you sit down too."
Li Min eased the atmosphere at the right time . After all, he was the one who asked Luo Zheng to leave. If he didn't say something, the other party probably wouldn't dare to sit down.
"Mr. Prefect, you are so generous. I am ashamed."
Luo Zheng apologized and sat down. The celebration party, which had been a little tense, soon became lively again.
"As expected of you, you are the top case. If an ordinary person were to encounter such a situation, it would be difficult for them to remain so calm."
"Nonsense, Shen Yichen is a real talent, why is he so panicked?"
"To be honest, I read Shen Yichen's collection of essays for the boy's exam, and the essays are indeed impeccable. Especially the idea of solving the problem, I really don't know how he came up with it."
"It is precisely because I have read his articles that I have never questioned the first place in the case. Shen Yichen's talent is undisputed."
Shen Yichen's previous poems may bring him great fame and be widely sung.
However, if one really wanted to gain the absolute recognition of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, one had to read the eight-legged essay.
This time the storm subsided extremely quickly, and even the instigator Luo Zheng quickly bowed his head and apologized. The reason was that Shen Yichen's eight-part essays for the imperial examination were too powerful.
Not only did they follow the traditional way of speaking for the saints, but they also gathered the strengths of postmodern network problem-solving thinking. To put it simply, they were ahead of the entire era and formed a dimensionality reduction attack on the candidates of the same year.
Whether or not one is convinced ultimately depends on one's strength. When most people are convinced, a small ripple will not cause any trouble at all.
After a few more glasses of wine, Yingtian Prefecture Governor Li Min, perhaps in order to calm the previous influence and to elevate and flatter Sun Ding, started talking about the literary style and education of Yingtian Prefecture.
The best example is naturally Meng Fan at the table. After a southern chieftain surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, he was able to rank fifth in the Yingtian Prefecture's college examination.
Isn’t this enough to show that Sun Tixue attached great importance to education and culture and made great contributions to the inheritance of culture?
"Sir Sun, Yingtian Prefecture has been thriving under your guidance in recent years. In such a short period of time, even Meng Fan has mastered writing and achieved good results in the college entrance examination. Your contribution is truly invaluable. I offer you a toast."
"Mr. Li is too polite. Education is the work of the great sages and saints. I dare not take credit for it."
Sun Ding made a modest and polite remark, but still raised his glass and drank with Li Min.
Originally, these were just two words of compliment in official circles, but unexpectedly, Meng Fan, who had been silent at the main table before, sneered after hearing them.
"Luchuan is a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery. Why do we need education?"
Meng Fan's words caused the expressions of several people at the main table to change drastically. Even Sun Tixue, who had remained calm when being questioned by Luo Zheng before, became serious.
Because this is not just a matter of lack of emotional intelligence and lack of face, but a direct refutation of the Ming Dynasty's border policy and the results of several battles in Luchuan!
Luchuan is located in the western border area of Yunnan. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, many heroes emerged in the world, which also provided rare opportunities for ethnic minorities in the border areas.
A local leader named Sikefa obtained an official position by paying tribute to the Yuan Dynasty, and then gradually established a local government, which is known in history as the "Luchuan Regime."
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the local government of Luchuan continued to expand outward, even threatening the hinterland of Yunnan. However, in the early years of Hongwu, the second-generation leader of Luchuan, Si Lunfa, chose to submit to the court and was granted the title of Luchuan Xuanwei Envoy.
But this kind of border leader, surrendering today and rebelling tomorrow, is basically a regular skill. So in the 13th year of Hongwu, after the Luchuan chieftain Dao Ganmeng rebelled, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he could not tolerate it, so he sent troops to behead Dao Ganmeng and put down this wave of rebellion.
At the same time, he also removed the post of Luchuan Xuanwei Envoy from the boss behind the scenes, Si Lunfa, and replaced him with Diao Binyu, who was close to the Ming Dynasty. This allowed the Yunnan border to temporarily settle down.
The superficial peace lasted until the early years of the Zhengtong era, when the power of Diao Binyu, the Luchuan envoy appointed by the Ming dynasty, declined. Si Renfa, the son of the former chieftain Si Lunfa, felt dissatisfied that Diao Binyu had taken his father's position.
So he organized his old subordinates and united the forces from other areas in Luchuan to rebel against Diao Binyu. He also invaded Mengding and Wandian, which belonged to the Ming Dynasty's Pingmian Xuanwei Office, and carried out large-scale killing and looting.
In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, this action means that Diao Binyu is the envoy appointed by me. If you oppose him, aren't you opposing the central government?
Mu Sheng, the Duke of Qian who was stationed in Yunnan, had no intention of tolerating this barbarian chieftain, so he immediately reported the situation to Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen and prepared to take action!
After receiving the news, Emperor Yingzong of Ming did not blindly prepare to start a war, but sent Yang Ning, the head of the Ministry of Justice, to find Si Renfa and convey his imperial edict, ordering him to return the occupied territory.
Unexpectedly, Si Renfa ignored the imperial edict and publicly declared: "I am the Dharma", and even changed his name to Si Renfa.
When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he was shocked. I have seen some crazy people, but I have never seen anyone as crazy as this one. You are the law, right? Then I will show you who has the greater law in the world!
To be honest, although Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty was a complete failure in the war and became known as the "Emperor who Calls for the Door", he was very active in starting a war.
In the words of later generations, whether you can win or not is a question of strength. Whether you fight or not is a question of attitude. So he mobilized troops and issued an order to Mu Sheng to send troops to attack.
However, Emperor Yingzong of Ming himself might not have expected that this seemingly simple battle to conquer the rebellious chieftains would involve three large-scale battles, several surrenders and rebellions, and it took a full ten years to barely end it in the form of an alliance.
In addition, because of the Luchuan War, the Ming Dynasty mobilized a large number of manpower and material resources, which led to the exhaustion of the army and the emptiness of the treasury. This laid the hidden danger for the subsequent battle against the Mongolian Wala tribe in the north, and became the turning point of the Ming Dynasty's decline from prosperity.
In addition, Liu Wan'er's father, Hanlin scholar Liu Qiu, was killed mainly because he offended the eunuch Wang Zhen. But in fact, he opposed the Luchuan Campaign, believing that it was a waste of money and manpower, and was disliked by Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen.
The combination of many other factors led to the tragic outcome.
With the precedent of Liu Qiu, the Luchuan Campaign almost became the national policy of the Ming Dynasty. Isn't Meng Fan's public rebuttal equivalent to a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty?
"How dare you! Luchuan is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, why doesn't it need education?"
Yingtian Prefecture Governor Li Min's face darkened, and he began to reprimand. At the same time, he was very politically sensitive, pointing directly to Meng Fan's words "I am Luchuan", making it clear that this is not your Luchuan, but the territory of the Ming Dynasty!
"The territory of the Ming Dynasty? My tribe has lived here for a hundred years, and at that time it was still under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. How can it be called the Ming Dynasty?"
Meng Fan was the son of a tribal chief in Luchuan. He received Confucian education since childhood. Since he surrendered and was forced to move to the inland of Ming Dynasty, he has been in a state of dissatisfaction.
What made him feel even more unacceptable was that he was clearly as knowledgeable as the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, but he was always regarded as a barbarian. The more prejudice and discrimination there was, the more Meng Fan leaned towards his hometown, Luchuan.
Today, the edifying speech given by Yingtian Prefecture Governor Li Min in front of the new scholars reached Meng Fan's critical point, and he finally couldn't help but explode.
Just like all the students present, Shen Yichen listened to the conversation between the two parties silently. From a modern point of view, Li Min regarded education as an achievement in front of Meng Fan, as if he looked down on the other party's barbarian origin and did not respect him.
But in the Ming Dynasty 's concept , the people on the border were just a group of barbarians. If I use the Central Plains culture to educate you with advanced civilization, you should be grateful instead of repaying kindness with enmity.
Not to mention the southern barbarians, even the Joseon Dynasty, which was deeply influenced by the Central Plains civilization, was considered the greatest honor to be the dog of the Ming Dynasty. They regarded the emperor of the Ming Dynasty as closer than their own father, and wore mourning clothes for him when he passed away.
So you cannot look at many concepts from a modern perspective.
Regarding Meng Fan's remarks, Li Min, as a third-rank prefect, was refuted to his face by a mere scholar, so he naturally could not tolerate it.
However, "doctors shall not be punished", and Meng Fan was already a newly-minted scholar. Before his title was revoked, no matter how angry Li Min was, he could not have anyone drag him away and beat him up.
Since he couldn't use torture, and Li Min, with his status and position, couldn't continue to argue with him, so there was only one way left, which was to expel him from the Education Office.
Just as Li Min waved his hand and prepared to call the yamen runners, Shen Yichen, who had been silent before, spoke up: "When your tribe existed in Luchuan, it was true that the Ming Dynasty had not yet followed the will of heaven to establish a country, but this does not mean that Luchuan is not our Chinese territory!"
"As early as the pre-Qin period, the Chu general Zhuang Qiao had established the Dian Kingdom. The First Emperor built the Wuchi Road and sent officials to Yunnan to govern, marking the official jurisdiction of the central government over the southwestern border."
"Although there were occasional ups and downs in the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, Luchuan was always under the jurisdiction of the Huaxia or was enfeoffed. If you count carefully, it has a history of a thousand years. Where were your tribes at that time?"
Shen Yichen slowly recounted the history of the southwestern border area. If you really want to be serious, the ancestors of the Han people have been living in that area for at least a thousand years.
Aren't we going to see who arrives earlier? Then let's have a competition!
"What do those dynasties have to do with the Ming Dynasty?"
Meng Fan obviously didn't agree with Shen Yichen's theory. The Qin and Han dynasties happened thousands of years ago. How could they be blamed on the Ming Dynasty?
Hearing this, Shen Yichen's expression became even colder. Since you don't want to listen to the cultural heritage, then I'll let you hear what real specious arguments mean.
"The relationship is that all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people in the world are his subjects. Since has already submitted to the Ming Dynasty, then you are the territory of the Ming Dynasty!"
