According to Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, on March 19th, the ninth year of Yongle (141), officials of the Ministry of Punishment fought a lawsuit in front of Emperor Yongle: a citizen (be careful not to be a scholar) stole a set of "good words" and was sentenced to a border tattoo. Ming Chengzu asked, was the word stabbed? Said he had been stabbed. The emperor said, I often warn you that criminals need tattoos, which should be examined by the officials of the Ministry of Justice. After all, it is a life-threatening thing. Stealing is wrong, but stealing is a book of good advice, which shows that you are still bent on doing good. You can avoid his sin and wash off his tattoo.
This information was also adopted by later chronological history books, such as "The Lack of Country" and "Children's Notes". But the emphasis of the inheritance report is obviously the emperor's benevolence, so the thief didn't tell us where he stole, who he stole and who he stole. Kong Yiji was hanged for stealing any books. Every time I read them, I feel bitter and want to cry. But on second thought, for the few happy people in the world, they don't even have books to read, which is no different from being in the grave. Might as well be beaten. However, this book thief in Yongle Dynasty is a bit too miserable. According to Daming Law, tattoos are standardized and tattooed on the right forearm. "Every word is one inch and five cents, and every painting is five centimeters wide, not on the elbow but under the wrist." According to the modus operandi, the words "stealing official property", "stealing official grain", "stealing books" and "robbing" were stabbed. It is stipulated that stabbing the right forearm may be the mainstream, which is convenient for the masses to roll up their sleeves and see through the criminal record. There is no complicated procedure such as shifting gears. From this point of view, tattoos, as Emperor Yongle said, are really going to ruin people's lives. What's it like to take such a risk to steal a book?
The book of exhortation to goodness is an exhortation book compiled by Xu, the empress of Yongle Renxiao, with a total of 20 volumes. Yongle Neifu engraving, we can now see it through the online ancient books in the library. Each volume is preceded by "Yan Jia", which is equivalent to an introduction or bibliography and classified according to "Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism". Jia Yan was followed by short stories, retribution of good and evil in Buddhism and Taoism, causal cycle, and Confucian benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith. Empress Renxiao is equivalent to a major in the compilation style of local records. Other people actually engaged in work, mostly southeast scholars, can take an examination of Changshu, Huating and Quzhou. There are many overlaps with the editors of Yongle Dadian, such as Lin Fuzhen and Xia. The former is a Taoist. Since the beginning of Zhang Yuchu, the 43rd generation of Shi Tian, they have cooperated in compiling Taoist scriptures and mastered them. The latter is knowledgeable and proficient in calligraphy. But they don't have the right of authorship like local chroniclers. At first, the book of good advice was awarded to princes and princes. After the death of Empress Renxiao in the fifth year of Yongle, it was printed in large quantities and given to courtiers, local officials and county schools.
It is because of the books published by the queen and the emperor that the book thief was convicted of a felony. According to the provisions of the Daming Law, the penalties for stealing, stealing royal sacrificial objects, stealing imperial edicts, and sealing letters from various government offices are all considered as felonies, requiring beheading, while others are generally flogging and imprisonment. Tattooing is a means of aggravating punishment, which is suitable for serious cases such as stealing a lot of property and stealing from inside. At that time, the presiding judge was obviously dealing with "stealing books". This theft applies to: "Those who steal imperial edicts, sacred horses and ship symbols are sentenced to death, and those who steal official documents are sentenced to 100 sticks and tattoos." Imperial letters are not imperial edicts, but they seem to be more important than official documents, so let's take a median value, and judge the tattoo first and then keep the edge.
From the literal point of view and the production intention, The Book of Advising the Good is equivalent to a book called "Guidance of Spiritual Civilization". However, if such a book must be boring, this citizen really stole the good heart and obviously misjudged it. We should trust the people's interesting judgments. Throughout the ages, fun is always more tempting than being right.
The literature sources of Quanshan Shu are numerous and complicated. After rough statistics, most of them are from official history, such as the Book of the New Tang Dynasty to the History of the Yuan Dynasty, such as Fayuan Zhu Lin and Taiping Guangji. If the information only comes from these common books, it is not easy to collect the stories together, but it is not unusual after all. What's really interesting about this book is that there are many materials in the collection or subsection that can be tested or not. The second volume, for example, wrote a contemporary ghost story of the Ming Dynasty, which happened in imperial academy's review, Hu Yan's brother, imperial academy's drink offering, and Hu Fa's daughter's fiance.
First of all, this narrative is very interesting, and it is much more circuitous than The Third Niece of the Seventh Uncle. Her fiance's name is Xia Fu, and she doesn't like learning. She set fire to Confucianism in this house and was taken to Nanjing Lingchi for execution after solving the case. His mother burned it to ashes and brought it back, and asked the Taoist priest for an amulet to avoid disaster when crossing the river. Next, we might expect more scary ghost stories, but we didn't. It is said that after Xia Fu's ghost returned to his hometown safely, he was appointed by the city god as a small official in a temple in his hometown, in charge of drowning people. He takes time to go home for dinner every day and likes to persuade guests to drink. Everyone can see him. On one occasion, a neighbor woman secretly poured wine on the ground and was scolded by Xia Fu. Later, I was noticed by my superiors. After strengthening the post system, I could not go home often. Then, the story is over. No karma, no resentment, no preaching. Ghosts are also lively and playful, which looks like politically incorrect light comedies, and also makes people forget the horror of crimes and sentences in the first half.
But this light comedy still has a theme, but it is cleverly hidden. Taoist amulets are the highlight of the story. Xia Fu's safe return to his hometown, no retribution from hell, and a little messenger enjoying family happiness all depend on this, which is obviously a story written by a Taoist. At the end of the story, there is a little entrainment. Someone asked Xia Fu, "Have you ever been to Hu's house?" Xia Fu said, "There are so many gods in Hu Zhai that I dare not go in." He spoke highly of the prestige and goodwill of the Hu family through ghosts and ghosts.
Hu Yan was appointed as the pouring ceremony in imperial academy, and prepared the Yongle ceremony. I wonder if he also participated in the compilation of The Book of Advice. The book "Advising the Good" was written in Yongle three years, and the story took place in Hongwu twenty-seven years, only ten years before it was written. At that time, the publishing industry was underdeveloped, and it seemed impossible to get a story so close to that at that time from the books circulating. There is no such anecdote in Hu Yan's personal works, which can be understood as the restraint of Machamp's disorderly gods. But this story is about his niece's fiance, who is closely related to him. It is quite possible that he dictated the story.
This story, which may come from oral materials, makes me wonder whether many untraceable materials in this book also have such a "field" source. These "field" materials are often more interesting than those in books, and may be more original in stories without careful ideological processing. Look at the other one at hand, which is about the family members of local officials on the ground in Lanxi, and their clothes are compared. Finally, a series of tragicomedy with life and death stories happened, which was more wonderful than Madame Bovary. This story was quoted by Wanli Jinhua Fu Zhi, and it has been used in the reconstruction of local chronicles.
The publishing industry in the Ming Dynasty did not flourish until Chenghua, and it was not until the Jia, Long and Wan Dynasties that private and workshops carved books everywhere. The collected works of many famous literati in Yongle period were not published at that time, and most of them were published after Jiajing. According to the local records, The Book of Persuasion for Good is the basic collection of schools in various counties. According to many local records, books were awarded twice in the 13th and 15th years of Yongle, covering a wide geographical area, including Da Gao, Da Ming Law, Wu Lun Shu, Good for Yin, Filial Piety Facts, and Good Advice Book.
Looking through the local chronicles compiled during the reign of Kanggan, we can see that many county schools only have these books issued during the reign of Yongle, and there is not even a history book. In a slightly better county, some officials bought them themselves, but generally there are only a few history books, plus one or two books of Neo-Confucianism. Among them, the county school library in Jiading, Shanghai seems to be a wonderful flower in the desert. According to the Records of Jiading County in Wanli, the official history of this county is complete except for these books issued by Yongle Dynasty. In the 19th year of Wanli, Xu Xuemo, a rural sage and a minister of rites, added the following items: He Dafu Collection, Records of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties, Records of Dan Lead, Records of Lao Zi's Interpretation of Literatures, Records of the World Hall, etc. Obviously, he likes literature and Taoism, including contemporary history.
In the thirty-first year of Wanli, the Han army of the magistrate added Atlas of the Sea, Collection of Tiruozhai, Questioning and Continuing Questioning, etc. Needless to say, this is a neo-Confucian, probably a disciple of Guan Zhidao. In the same year, Oracle Bone Inscriptions such as Er Ya Zhu, Tao Te Ching, Xu Chong Zhen Jing and Andy Fa Yan were added. This kind of Oracle not only has the academic purport different from that of the magistrate, but also has the consciousness of fighting for the right to speak in culture. Compared with those northern county schools with only a few books, Jiading at that time was a benchmark for academic and cultural diversity. If the book thief lived in Jiading in Wanli, he would never take the risk of stealing the book of good advice.
Ye Sheng
( 1420- 1470)
According to the Book of Poetry in the Caotang, when he was a child, his uncle and guests read the Book of Persuasion at home (similar to today's book club), and he also stood by and listened to some. Later, once, when talking about something that I didn't know which roll it was, he provided memory to say which roll and which board it was. When I turned it out, it was correct, and I was surprised at that time.
(《? Zhutang draft)
It can be seen that the rich content of The Book of Advising Goodness is more than enough for holding a reading meeting to discuss the history of thought, social life and folklore. Because the content of Buddhism and Taoism is passed down from mouth to mouth among the people, it may be read as a story book, and this reading experience is not unified with the official sacred symbols of this book, so it is suspected of stealing books and judging them severely.