Gao Yuan has already planned to go to southern Xinjiang, but he doesn't want to leave immediately, but has to wait until after the New Year before setting off. This is also the proper meaning of the title. After all, celebrating the New Year is a big event in this era, not to mention that it is almost the end of the year, and the last few days are not missing.
Before the end of the year, the last major event for the court has arrived, that is, Li Shanhai, the plenipotentiary envoy requested by North Korea to be attached, finally arrived in the capital, and the Ming court was finally going to make a final decision on North Korea's attachment.
It stands to reason that the senior officials of the imperial court had already made it clear that this matter was to be accepted, and there should not have been any more complications. Who knew that things would actually turn out to be a bit evil.
It's not that some people are opposed to accepting the annexation, but some people suggest that for such a major event as the annexation of Korea, the emperor should not simply agree, but should make "three concessions", and gave the example of the famous Mingjun in ancient times. When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he first went through the "three concessions" ceremony, which brought peace to the world.
In fact, the reason why these people use Emperor Wen of Han as an example is obviously not to say that the two things are similar in themselves - the Ming Dynasty's acceptance of the internal annexation of Korea and the accession of Emperor Wen of Han to the throne are completely different. These courtiers are not a scumbag, how can they be so careless? match? In fact, these people have another intention.
There is a saying about the etiquette of "three concessions". In ancient times, important events such as the succession of emperors to the throne and the appointment of ministers were often very particular about the courtesy of three concessions. Not to mention, Zhu Yijun's ascension to the throne was so legitimate, didn't he also go through this procedure?
Now some court officials give the example of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty Liu Heng entering Chang'an and ascending the throne. In any case, it should be more corresponding to the new emperor's accession to the throne. What is the matter with North Korea?
Emperor Wen was the fourth son of the great ancestor Liu Bang and the half-brother of Emperor Hui Liu Ying. His mother was Bo Ji. In the eleventh year of Emperor Gao's reign, he was granted the title of Dai Wang. After the death of Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, Empress Lu came to rule the dynasty. Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty died young, and Zhu Lu took control of the power in the dynasty. After the death of Empress Lu, Taiwei Zhou Bo joined forces with Prime Minister Chen Ping and others to crush the forces of Lu and welcome Liu Heng, the acting king at that time, to the capital to succeed him.
At that time, Liu Heng took Song Chang, Zhang Wu and six other confidants to Chang'an. When they arrived in Chang'an, they first sent Song Chang to inquire about the situation. Song Chang had just arrived at Weiqiao, three miles north of Chang'an. Officials from the prime minister down were waiting here for the arrival of the king.
When Liu Heng came to Weiqiao, all the ministers paid homage and proclaimed themselves ministers. Taiwei Zhou Bo wanted to change places to talk to Liu Heng. Song Chang was worried, so he said: "What you say is public, what you say is public. What you say is private, the king does not keep it private." Let Zhou Bo speak to his face if he has something to say, and don't hide it.
Zhou Bo had no choice but to kneel down and offer the Emperor's Seal Talisman. However, Liu Heng did not accept it immediately, but said he would wait until he got to Chang'an Mansion. This is a give-and-take.
When they arrived at Dai Wang's residence in Chang'an, the ministers also followed him. Prime Minister Chen Ping, Taiwei Zhou Bo, General Chen Wu, Yushi doctor Zhang Cang and other ministers knelt down to invite Liu Heng to ascend the throne of emperor. Liu Heng declined again and said that he was not capable enough to take on the important task. The ministers could ask Liu Jiao, King of Chu, to discuss the matter. This is also a give-and-take.
Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and others knelt down and asked again: "I have a plan: Your Majesty, it is best to call the ancestral temple of Emperor Gao, even though the princes and people of the world think it is appropriate. I dare not ignore the plans of the ancestral temple and the country. I hope that your Majesty will be happy to listen to you. . I would like to present the emperor's seal before bowing down." Chen Ping and others advised Liu Heng, not only for the ministers, but for everyone in the world. Everyone in the world thinks that you are the most suitable to wait for the emperor's position! These are the three concessions.
Liu Heng then said that since the clan, princes, generals and ministers all thought that I was the most suitable, then I did not dare to refuse anymore, so he accepted the position of emperor and entered Weiyang Palace that evening.
Liu Heng entered the Weiyang Palace in the evening, and that night he worshiped his confidant Song Chang as General Wei, in charge of the northern and southern imperial guards, and appointed Zhang Wu as the Lang Zhongling to ensure his personal safety as soon as possible. An edict was issued overnight to grant amnesty to the whole country.
After the enthronement ceremony, Liu Heng welcomed Empress Dowager Bo to the Weiyang Palace and returned all the territories of various princes that the Lu group had invaded. He rewarded the officials who had killed Lu, granted Zhou Bo 10,000 households in the city, and granted him five thousand catties of gold. Prime Minister Chen Ping and General Each of the three thousand households in the town of Guanying was given two thousand catties of gold; the Marquises of Zhuxu Liu Zhang, Xiangping Houtong, and Dongmu Hou Liu Xing each had two thousand households in the town and were given one thousand catties of gold; Liu Jie, the Dianke, was made Marquis of Yangxin and was given one thousand catties of gold...
As for the significance of the "three concessions" in this matter, in the eyes of later generations, it was probably just a show by Emperor Wen. After all, everyone else has arrived in the capital, and they are urging him to succeed to the throne. Why would he invite the King of Chu to discuss it with him? Not even a three-year-old child would believe this!
However, the problem is that some "shows" must be done. Only by doing this show can it be considered that a certain process has been completed and it has legitimacy. In the end, people are left speechless.
Of course, North Korea is not a new king coming to the throne, but it happens that there are hidden dangers similar to those when Emperor Wen of Han succeeded to the throne.
This hidden danger is that the world is undergoing great changes and people's hearts are uncertain.
Of course, it is not the Ming Dynasty that "the world is undergoing great changes and people's hearts are uncertain", but North Korea.
As we all know, in the first year of the Tang Dynasty (668), the Tang army destroyed Goguryeo. The Tang Dynasty divided its territory into nine governors' offices, forty-two prefectures, and one hundred counties. It also established the Andong governor's office in Pyongyang to rule it, and appointed Youwei. General Wei Xue Rengui was the guardian of the inspection school in Andong, leading 20,000 troops to guard the place.
The 27th king of Goguryeo, Treasure King Gaozang, was captured by the Tang Dynasty. According to the records in Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian", the Goguryeo nobles and most of the wealthy households and hundreds of thousands of people were moved to various parts of the Central Plains and integrated into various ethnic groups in China. Another part stayed in Liaodong and became subjects of the Bohai Kingdom, while the remaining small part integrated into the Turks and Silla. Since then, the Goguryeo country no longer exists in the world, and it has officially returned to the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty for the first time after the Han Dynasty.
So the question is, since the country of Goguryeo disappeared from then on, where did the later Goguryeo appear? The answer is Silla.
At the end of the ninth century, Silla gradually declined due to the peasants' struggle against brutal feudal exploitation. During this process, Zhenxuan in the southwest and Gongyi in the north established the Later Baekje Kingdom and the Later Goguryeo Kingdom respectively, and the Korean Peninsula was divided into the "Later Three Kingdoms".
The latter three countries each expanded their territory and competed with each other, intensifying feudal exploitation and oppression unprecedentedly. What followed was land reform, the formation of a new bureaucracy, the decline of Buddhism, the formation of Confucianism, etc. These events that occurred in the early 15th century were all part of the birth of the New Kingdom.
The chaotic era on the Korean peninsula slowly came to an end in 918. Later, Wang Jian of Goguryeo was crowned king by his generals, and Goguryeo fell.
Wang Jian immediately moved the capital to Kaicheng (called Songyue at the time). In order to facilitate the rule and make the various tribes surrender, the Goryeo Dynasty established by Wang Jian claimed to inherit Goguryeo and changed the name of the country to "Goryeo" - here is an important explanation: Goguryeo and Goryeo are completely different. Inheritance relationship!
A country that has been destroyed for 250 years has already dispersed its people to various places. The word Goryeo actually comes from the adjunct of "high mountains and beautiful waters" in the Analects of Confucius. The later English name of Goryeo "Goryeo" was derived from the English name of Goguryeo "Goguryeo". The English name "Korea" of Samhan is a deformation of the English name "Goryeo" of Goryeo. In fact, both "Goguryeo" and "Goguryeo" are the pronunciation of Chinese characters introduced to Silla during the Tang Dynasty, and both come from ancient Chinese historical books.
In the early days of the founding of Goryeo, the north probably confronted the Balhae Kingdom along the Yongheung River north of the Taedong River in later generations. From 936 to 943, Goryeo expanded northward to Wonsan City in later Korea. In 993, the northwest of Goryeo reached the Yalu River.
After the Goryeo-Mongol War, the eastern and northern boundaries of northern Goryeo were occupied by the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, and became the Shuangcheng Mansion and Dongning Prefecture of the Yuan Dynasty, which belonged to the Liaoyang Province of the Yuan Dynasty. Jeju Island has also long been the direct jurisdiction of the Mongols, the "Tamna Military and Civilian General Office", responsible for the prevention of Japanese aggression and the affairs of overseas Koreans.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Goryeo actively expanded northward and recovered the land occupied by Mongolia in the north. In 1388, the first year after the Ming Dynasty defeated the Northern Yuan army in the northeast, Ming Taizu established the Tielingwei to replace the Yuan Dynasty's Kaiyuan Road in Northeast China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Since Goryeo claimed sovereignty over the northern part of the Korean Peninsula at Kaiyuan Road, the Ming Dynasty, which was focused entirely on continuing to conquer the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, did not want to cause trouble, so it gave up the territory in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula at Kaiyuan Road and moved Tieling Guards to Liaodong. Jibao (later Fengjibao in the southeast of Shenyang, Liaoning). In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393), Tieling Guards moved from Fengji Fort to Yinzhou (later Tieling City, Liaoning Province).
In the late Goryeo Dynasty and the early Joseon Dynasty, Li Chenggui strengthened the management of the Tumen River Basin in the Korean Peninsula and recruited the Jurchens living in the area. Eventually, the Tumen River and the Yalu River became the boundary rivers between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea.
In short, Goguryeo was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty long ago. Later Goryeo split from Silla, then changed dynasties to North Korea and gradually unified the Korean Peninsula.
Looking at its history, it can be said that the current Lee Dynasty of Korea and even its ancestors were never part of the direct rule of the Central Plains Dynasty. [Note: Please note that what is mentioned here is that there was no direct rule, but Silla was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. ]
That is to say, Ming Dynasty accepted the annexation of Korea, which was essentially the first time that the Central Plains Dynasty fully and directly ruled the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, these courtiers who believed that the Ming Dynasty should make "three concessions" were actually worried that North Korean people would be dissatisfied with the internal affairs. Without this process, the subsequent rule may be unstable, and more energy and time will be spent to consolidate it.
It can also be said that they believed that Emperor Han Wen made three concessions when he succeeded to the throne in order to gain legitimacy. At this time, the Ming Dynasty needed three concessions, also in order to gain legitimacy.
This kind of thinking is actually not difficult to understand: North Korea is also a country that practices Confucianism. Now that you want to annex, I, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, will make three concessions in accordance with tradition. After three concessions, you still insist on annexing, then you should naturally recognize me from now on. Is it legal?
Zhu Yijun felt quite tired of this, but it was difficult to refute this truth, so he had to call in the six cabinet ministers again for Wenhua.
During the meeting, Zhu Yijun couldn't express his feelings, so he could only suppress his dissatisfaction and ask the ministers what they thought about this.
Wang Jiaping first expressed his opposition. His point of view was simply that although the three concessions did help to strengthen legitimacy in theory, North Korea was neither far nor close to the capital, and the envoys wanted to avoid unsafe sea routes. We can only travel by land, and it takes two or three months to go back and forth (envoys are not marching, so they walk slowly).
In this case, if we still have to make three concessions, even if a full year is not delayed for no reason, it is completely unnecessary.
However, Zhao Zhigao, who had always had little presence in the cabinet, somehow had his own opinion this time. He and Shen Yiguan firmly stood on the side that should give way to three.
Zhao Zhigao's point of view is that North Korea's inclusion is a big deal, and North Korea has always called itself Little China - regardless of whether it is true or not, in short, it is a country that worships Confucianism. In this case, our great dynasty has always paid attention to the principle of "monarch, monarch, minister, minister", so we cannot lose etiquette, and we should have these three concessions.
Shen Guangyuan was more direct than him. He said clearly that he did this to stop the North Korean officials and people from talking, and to prove that this attachment was not forced by Ming Dynasty, but that your king insisted on it, and Ming Dynasty reluctantly agreed. Come down.
The subtext is that you should be more honest in the future. My emperor has taken you in because he is deeply benevolent. I don’t want to see the Korean people suffer, and I don’t want to see your king lamenting day and night because he is worried that he will not be able to "die in the country of the emperor." He is not coveting your poor and remote country. Mu of broken land, don't you know what is good and what is bad.
It should be said that both of these statements are not unreasonable, but although Zhu Yijun is inclined to Wang Jiaping's point of view, it is still not good to ignore the opinions of Zhao Zhigao and Shen Guangyuan just because he is afraid of wasting time. After all, they occupy the word "ritual". It is difficult to oppose this thing in Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun had no choice but to place his hope in Gao Pragmatic, hoping that Gao Pragmatic would understand what he meant and come up with a proper solution so as not to put him in a dilemma.
Gao Pragmatic is indeed a person who is good at solving problems. He first pondered why Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiguan were so insistent on letting the emperor make "three concessions."
After thinking about it, I guess it's still a matter of the school's philosophy. Whether it is practical learning or spiritual learning, they usually say that their school is developed from Neo-Confucianism. In other words, they all think that they are the orthodox Confucian school.
However, what the Practical School emphasizes is to be effective in managing the world and benefiting the people, which is essentially a return to the early Confucian tradition; the Xinxue School also believes that Confucianism during the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian period has gone astray, but what they advertise is that they must first solve the problem of human thought. Question, I believe that only after the moral level is comprehensively improved, other things can be solved. Therefore, not only the Practical School considers itself to be "Practical Learning", but the Mind School also considers itself to be Practical Learning - Moral Practical Learning.
Since it is a practical study that emphasizes morality, etiquette and law must be emphasized in everything, because etiquette and law are the expression of morality, so the "three concessions" must be present.
After understanding this, Gao Pingshi rolled his eyes in his heart, but his face made it hard for him to object directly. If Wang Jiaping dared to object now, it was because he had already planned to take up his official position, and his time was tight and his tasks were heavy. After being busy with the internal affairs of North Korea, he was also busy with the maintenance of the country. Naturally, he was not willing to delay, and he was not afraid of direct opposition.
It's a pity that Gao Pragmatic doesn't plan to retire yet, so he can't do this and can only make peace: "I believe that etiquette cannot be abolished, but the procedures can be adapted to reality. In my humble opinion, 'three concessions' are feasible, but not necessary." Let Li Shanhai go back and forth three times... Anyway, he is a plenipotentiary envoy, so he can request the king of Korea three times and the emperor must give in three times... At most three days will be enough."
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