As can be seen from the History of Ming Dynasty, there is no difference between Wanli 15 years later and Wanli 15 years ago. Among them, there is no lack of relief, rectification of bureaucracy, suppression of rebellion, regulation of rivers, economic development, foreign exchanges and so on. The government shows no signs of being lazy. On the contrary, it can be seen that with the growth of age, Wanli's ruling ability is also growing, and many intractable diseases have been properly handled, especially the victory of "Wanli Three Signs", which is especially hard-won.
There are also great doubts about the performance of so-called laziness. There are various indications that there are many problems in the Ming history compiled by the Qing people. Meng Sen, a famous historian, believes that since ancient times, when dynasties changed and later generations revised the history of the previous generation, all places involving the new dynasty were hidden without exception, but in most cases, the time involved was not long, and all hidden places could be discovered and understood by later generations in the process of reading history, and they would never hide all the history of a generation like Ming history.
Most of these problems are concentrated after Wanli, and the reasons for these problems come from two aspects: one is the imperial examination literati in Qing Dynasty, and the other is the residual forces of Lindong Party.
In order to maintain the rule, eliminate people's sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty concealed and distorted the history of the Ming Dynasty, deliberately enlarged the stain, covered the whole on the one hand, and vilified the image of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, the remnants of Lindong Party who participated in the compilation of Ming history stood on the party's side, safeguarded the party's interests, distorted the actual situation of party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty, and judged the people and things involved by Lindong Party's right and wrong standards, which was unfair. Many people question the saying that Emperor Wanli did not go to court. Going to court in the Ming Dynasty was like holding a plenary session, with many people and many words, which was not suitable for asking about politics. Litigation can only provide an opportunity for everyone to quarrel, which is of no benefit to the handling of government affairs. Banning it will have a positive effect on curbing unhealthy trends. The main channel for the emperor to handle government affairs is similar to today, and it is also a small-scale meeting, summoning relevant personnel or through official documents (memorials).
It can be seen from the History of the Gods of Ming Dynasty that there is no difference between the records of court affairs after Wanli 15 years and those before Wanli 15 years. Among them, there is no lack of relief, rectification of bureaucracy, suppression of rebellion, regulation of rivers, economic development, foreign exchanges and so on. The government shows no signs of being lazy. On the contrary, it can be seen that with the growth of age, the ruling ability of emperor Wanli is also growing, and many intractable diseases have been properly handled, especially the victory of the "Three Signs of Wanli".
The perfect system in Ming Dynasty provided conditions for Wanli to carry out "still life photography". After Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, he designed a set of systematic laws and regulations on the basis of summing up the political gains and losses of past dynasties and his own ruling experience, which were embodied in Ming Taizu Zuxun and Taizu Baoxun. In the ancestral training, Zhu Yuanzhang lectured him in a meticulous way, almost sloppy, and made very specific and detailed provisions on the system and laws, institutional settings, the basic words and deeds of the emperor, the code of conduct of officials, and the ethics of the harem. , built a network of power operation and checks and balances.
It should be said that Zhu Yuanzhang reached the highest level of feudal society in system construction, and all systems were not only comprehensive, but also perfect. From the perspective of maintaining imperial power, most systems are very reasonable. So that the Qing Dynasty copied the system of the Ming Dynasty, Kang Gan even sent out a feeling of "ruling the Tang and Song Dynasties" to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Emperor Wanli's "stillness" is still a ruling idea with Taoism as the guiding ideology, and its essence lies in inaction. Taoism prevailed in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang visited Zhang Sanfeng many times, and Judy built Wudang Mountain to worship Zhenwu Emperor. Emperor Jiajing, who was born in Hubei, was deeply influenced by Taoist thought and his style of asking about politics was quite "old school". On the one hand, he lived in seclusion and did not go to court for many years; On the other hand, it has carried out many far-reaching major reforms. Wanli didn't go to court, probably influenced by his grandfather Jiajing.
It should be pointed out that the influence of Taoism is not all negative. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, guided by Huang Lao's thought, the rule of doing nothing led to the famous "rule of literary scene". During this period, the national strength of the Han Dynasty increased rapidly, which created conditions for the later Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to attack the Huns in the north. The "still photos" of Emperor Wanli are also conducive to recuperation and restoration of national strength after the "Three Major Signs".
It is unreasonable to ignore the government on this basis. Emperor Wanli's "still photography" is not only a kind of lazy politics, on the contrary, it is a very profound and Taiji-style ruling means.
The same is true of "missing". I can only say that I have seen the minister less often, and I have not completely disappeared. Even in my later years, I sometimes meet the minister. As for the "disapproval" of the central officials, it is far from the truth. Indeed, Emperor Wanli did not approve all the imperial edicts, but made a choice. But it is wrong to say that it is not recognized on the whole. Especially in the later period, he will reply to whatever Wanli thinks is more important. As for those who stayed on the way but didn't send them, even if they were approved, they only caused unnecessary quarrels and abuse in vain, and they still need specific analysis and cannot be generalized. Even Huang Renyu, who thinks that Emperor Wanli "made a long-term passive slack to his officials as an emperor" and "made a lasting confrontation with his officials with tenacious will", admitted that in most cases, Emperor Wanli only ignored the filled vacancies, and complained through selling names and gossiping, and often protested against abuse. In addition to ignoring the documents of the above nature, he read other notes as usual. In other words, his slackness and abandonment of his duties are selective. "
Judging from the records of the Ming Dynasty and Ming Shenzong's memoirs, even after 40 years of Wanli, in some people's minds, at the peak of political neglect, Emperor Wanli gave an unequivocal reply, retaining the officials he thought should be approved and retained. When Emperor Wanli refused to approve, Zhao Huan, an official of the official department, was used to prove this point. We can see this situation from some contents in Biography of Zhao Huan in Ming Dynasty.
"However, when the cronies have become, China and the DPRK will have a discussion angle. Huan, who is famous for his foresight, suddenly appeared in the ruling and opposition, so he had no control over the courtiers, and Gu Ya was not good at it. Those who attacked Lin Dong used this room to enter. The measures taken were often disintegrated by the adviser Li Ruoxing and the incident person Sun without consultation. The emperor is superior and comforting. ……"
"Next spring, and Wei Yun will establish a vibration base and Wang's suggestion. The three men tried to attack Tang Bin Yinhe, but they didn't ask Douchayuan, so they suggested that Tang defend the story and despise Huan. Huan argued repeatedly, but Dumen couldn't get out, so he comforted him. "
"Trillion for Beijing, illegally diameter. His colleagues Li Banghua, Zhou Qiyuan, Sun Juxiang and the Minister of Housing, Dr. He Jiong, handed over power to Huan. Please give me a push. In order to seize the official's salary, the emperor demoted the official to comfort Huan. Huan invited me to Ili in September, so I bowed my head and went out of the city. The emperor still sent a decree to stay. "
In the above excerpts, such records as "The emperor is superior to the imperial edict to comfort him", "The imperial edict to comfort him", "The emperor withheld the salary of his ministers and demoted him to comfort him" and "The emperor also issued an imperial edict to treat him" can be seen everywhere.
For example, Wanli's strong support for Xiong Tingbi one year before his death can also explain some problems. In the narrative of Biography of Xiong Tingbi in the Ming Dynasty, we can also see that all Xiong Tingbi's contributions to Wanli are "sparse, informed and agreeable" and "sparse and obedient", which are also described in the History of the Late Ming Dynasty written by Professor Fan Shuzhi. "In the next few months, although Zongshen was very ill, he still paid special attention to Xiong Tingbi. Other plays can be ignored, but Xiong Tingbi's plays are indispensable and all have answers. Up and down. "This is the case that Wanli was seriously ill before he died. These facts should be in direct contradiction with the emperor's saying that Wanli gave up everything and only "left the minister to remember the throne in broad daylight, and did not issue instructions or issue them". In the Ming Dynasty, local officials could make decisions without instructions from the emperor. The so-called "the whole central organization almost stopped working" about Wanli's inaction is wrong. Even Huang Renyu, who said that Emperor Wanli gave up his duties, admitted that "the emperor's giving up his duties did not paralyze the government. Civil servant groups have formed their own automatic control procedures for many years. ..... Beijing will try, and the court exam will be held as usual; The timely assessment of local officials and Beijing officials has not been cancelled. The dispatch and promotion of middle and lower-level civil servants are decided by lottery. "
Another reason for Wanli's laziness in politics is that "officials are not appointed or removed", which leads to "officials and Cao Caokong" and neglect of government affairs. This issue should also be viewed in the context of party struggle and inaction, which has advantages and disadvantages and cannot be generalized. Most of the vacant positions are officials (people who give advice or things), not officials who do practical things. Under the background of party struggle, officials are the pioneers of party struggle and the main force in the war of words. Their elimination is very effective in curbing party struggle and war of words. In addition, reducing the number of language officials is also of positive significance for streamlining institutions, eliminating redundant staff, saving administrative expenses and improving administrative efficiency. The arguments of "no suburbs" and "no temples" were not established at that time. Relevant records can be found in Ming History. For example, in April of the thirteenth year of Wanli, "I prayed in the southern suburbs at noon and told the university students face to face:' Although the drought is not virtuous, there are teachers who are greedy for the people and harm the people, so we should choose teachers carefully in the future." "; There are fourteen years of Wanli, "in November, the southern suburbs sacrificed to heaven. "
In fact, there were few "suburbs" and "temples" for Emperor Wanli, and even later he hired people to do it for him, so he didn't go to court very much and didn't meet with ministers very much. There were some physical and objective reasons. This should not be denied. This physiological reason is that Wan Li's legs and feet are really faulty, even disabled.
In Chapter 14 of Detailed Records of the Process before and after the Excavation of the Wanli Mausoleum after the Foundation of New China, the emperor's coffin was opened, and the snowstorm Dingling said:
"Wanli was ill all his life and often took medicine, which was recorded in the literature. However, with the intensification of the "national dispute", ... officials blamed his illness on excessive drinking and drinking ... Even today's Ming history researchers still have some people who hold the same views as officials 300 years ago. In fact, in the face of the empirical evidence unearthed in Dingling, we should break the conclusion of this approximate prejudice. Because both the painful appearance of Wanli's right leg curled up in the coffin and the fact that the right leg was obviously shorter than the left leg after the bone was restored are enough to show that the emperor did suffer from serious foot disease before his death. With this kind of physical witness, it is inevitably unfair in history to attribute Wanli's' foot aches and feet are difficult to walk' to lust for wine and color. "
Maybe because of illness, Wan Li's legs are not the same length. In this case, some etiquette is impossible to attend in person, and it is completely understandable to ask someone to do it for you.