There are countless similar records in the book. From this book, we can see that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty spent the whole day on official business, and he never slacked off from four or five in the morning to rest after sunset in the evening. Compared with the self-discipline and diligence of the Qing emperor, Ming Di was particularly incompetent.
The Ming Dynasty was the dynasty with the largest number of emperors with complete personality in the ancient history of China. Except for the founding emperors Zhu Yuanzhang and Chongzhen who finally tried to save the Ming Dynasty, but failed, all the other emperors were "doing nothing" and led the Ming Dynasty to extinction step by step.
So why did the emperor's character appear almost two extremes in a dynasty with such similar times and the same system?
The understanding of seizing power is different.
As we all know, the Qing Dynasty was one of the few unified dynasties in ancient China, which was established when ethnic minorities seized power in the Central Plains. The huge population base of the Han nationality inevitably determines that the political power established by ethnic minorities cannot be widely recognized nationwide. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, a Han farmer, gained political power through an uprising. His status as a farmer helped Zhu Yuanzhang win the favor of the people in this agricultural country with a large number of farmers.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, one overthrew the rule of ethnic minorities and established the Han regime, and the other overthrew the rule of the Han nationality and established the minority regime. The advantages and disadvantages brought by such a sharp contrast to the emperors of the two dynasties are self-evident.
1. The Qing emperor was born in misery.
As the Manchu regime that invaded the Central Plains and overthrew the Han regime, the Qing emperor always lived in a crisis of fear of being expelled from the Central Plains and overthrowing the regime. Since the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the voice of "opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty" has echoed all over the country. A Ming dynasty aristocrat who claimed to be an orthodox royal family has been gathering people with lofty ideals in various places in an attempt to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and rebuild the Ming Dynasty. Under this pressure, the emperor of the Qing dynasty knew that his minority position was not enough to convince the public. At the same time, Manchu has been living between the white mountains and the black waters, and its economy and culture really lag far behind the Central Plains.
Under the pressure of its own shortcomings and the outside world, the Qing emperor could only prove his ability to the world by studying and governing the country diligently, and take out political achievements to win the obedience of the Han people. Therefore, under this pressure, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty did not dare to slack off and enriched their knowledge and governed state affairs with a high degree of self-discipline. As a result, the prosperity of the Kanggan dynasty gradually reduced the voice of anti-Qing and regaining sight.
The Ming emperor died in happiness.
The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty was Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born at the grassroots level. Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the ruthless Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongols through the peasant uprising. Zhu Yuanzhang's identity as a farmer of Han nationality has won the recognition of the vast number of Han people, and at the same time, he has been admired by many people for bravely fighting against the tyrannical rulers of the Yuan Dynasty and saving the people devastated by the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang's regime can be said to be justified and admired by thousands of people. It was in this environment without external pressure that the Ming Dynasty began.
As the saying goes, pressure is motivation. In the absence of external pressure, except for the first few emperors who just founded the People's Republic, all the later emperors lived comfortably under the framework constructed by the previous emperors. In this relaxed and idle atmosphere, many emperors turned their energies to other places for recreation, such as the famous carpenter emperor Zhu Youxiao, "brother and sister love the emperor" Zhu Jianshen, "medicine love the emperor" Ming Muzong Zhu Zaihou and so on. These "wonderful" emperors all finished their imperial careers in a trance, and the Ming Dynasty went downhill because of their existence.
Differences brought about by differences in political systems
Although the Ming and Qing Dynasties were both highly centralized monarchical autocratic times, and the Qing Dynasty mostly inherited a series of systems of the Ming Dynasty, the differences in political systems to a certain extent and the unique phenomenon of eunuchs in power in the Ming Dynasty also brought great influence to the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
1. The Ming emperors were freed from specific political affairs.
The cabinet system established in the Ming Dynasty greatly liberated the emperor. The emperor no longer needs to deal with every political affairs himself. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty only need to make a detailed "draft" in the cabinet and give their own opinions before they can "criticize" things. Some important national affairs of the country will also be handled by six departments. After the completion of the six films, the emperor only needs to have a look to see if he is satisfied with the results.
It can be seen that only two or three important political affairs were really handled by the Ming emperor himself, so that the Ming emperor had enough time to release his "personality". In addition to the convenience brought by the cabinet system to Ming Di, the influence of eunuchs in the late Ming Dynasty also made Ming Di have fewer things to deal with. Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, many emperors handed over state affairs to eunuchs, completely ignoring them and concentrating on developing their "personality".
It was the connivance of the emperor that led to the appearance of many eunuchs in Absolute Monarch, such as Wei Zhongxian in the late Ming Dynasty. These big eunuchs took advantage of the emperor's trust to make waves in the court, persecuting loyal ministers and good generals, and making the night extremely dark.
2. The Qing emperors had a strong sense of centralization.
Unlike the Ming emperor who entrusted power to the cabinet and eunuchs, the Qing emperor may have absorbed the precedent of the disadvantages brought by the eunuchs in power in the Ming dynasty, and his control of power reached the peak of previous dynasties. The establishment of the military headquarters in the Qing Dynasty marked that the autocratic monarchy and centralization of power reached a certain level.
The orders of the Qing emperor were issued directly by the military department, that is, the South Study Room, and sent directly to the executive heads of central or local institutions. The orders of the Qing emperor were sent directly to the frontline commanders without going through six departments. The emperor can directly convey his instructions to departments at all levels in the form of "secret orders". The emperor needs to do every detail himself, so he is very busy every day. In order to handle state affairs well, it is natural for them to arrange their time with their self-discipline quality.
In a word, there are both external and internal reasons why the emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties can form such a huge contrast in character. Their different personalities brought different styles to the two dynasties. The Ming dynasty was always in a downward trend, while the Kanggan dynasty flourished in the middle of the Qing dynasty. It can be seen that in feudal society, the emperor's personal character had a great influence on a dynasty.