One is Mao's admonition:
The emperor said, "I think the Yuan Dynasty lost the world because it was too wide. In the past, Qin was defeated by violence, and Han flourished with leniency and severity, just for it. Today, the Yuan Dynasty has lost its leniency, so it is appropriate for us to help it fiercely and combine leniency with severity. "
The second part is A Record of Ming Taizu:
It is not enough for Yuan to lose the world with leniency.
It seems that the Yuan Dynasty was really wide.
First of all, let's talk about the laws of the Yuan Dynasty to see if they are loose.
The Ming people said this when compiling the History of the Yuan Dynasty:
Yuan's criminal law, its gain lies in grace, its loss lies in delay and ignorance.
At that time, the world had been peaceful for a long time. The statutes are wide, the characters are uneven, and the joy is chaotic.
People in ancient times used ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink.
Judging from the human body in the Ming Dynasty, the laws in the Yuan Dynasty were indeed somewhat "loose".
Don't doubt what they said, because those people, including Liu Bowen Zhu Yuanzhang, are historical witnesses.
My understanding is that the legal system or social management system of the Yuan Dynasty was somewhat lenient.
Or unsystematic, a little confusing.
There is no severe punishment for those who should be severely punished, and there is no severe attack on those corrupt officials, which leads to too much social injustice and the people have to rebel. There is also a lack of effective system for the management of the people, and it is difficult to control the rebellion of the people.
Undeniably, the Mongols also had a cruel side in the process of conquest. However, it is obvious that there is no experience in governing the country, and the kind of "herding sheep" of nomadic people is sloppy, which also leads to short-lived rule.
Secondly, return to Zhu Yuanzhang.
We all know that Zhu Yuanzhang is a ruthless character. For him, who has always been ruthless, the Yuan Dynasty was also "loose".
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the Yuan Dynasty was defeated by "the imperial court was weak, Fu Wei moved down and tamed chaos".
In other words, the central government cannot control the localities. Apart from the obstruction of centralization, from the legal point of view, the laws of the Yuan Dynasty were not effectively implemented.
In fact, Mao Baoxun made it very clear: "When Qin was defeated by violence, Han Xing helped it with generosity. Today, the Yuan Dynasty has lost its leniency, so it is appropriate for us to help it fiercely and combine leniency with severity. "
He thought that the Yuan Dynasty was lenient, so he wanted to implement heavy laws to govern the country fiercely. This can be understood as his own experience from practice, and it can also be understood as his search for reasons for Daming's fierce politics.
Ming Taizu took great pains to stabilize Daming Mountain. As far as the law is concerned, in addition to the Daming Law, he personally directed and compiled a special criminal law, Dagao, which severely punished officials and people. The prescribed types of torture include clan punishment, year-end, beheading, capital crime, ink tattoo, finger picking, knee picking, hand cutting, toe cutting, foot cutting and flail.
It is more severe than the five severe punishments of shackles, sticks, imprisonment, exile and death penalty in the Yuan Dynasty.
This now seems chilling.
In addition, Ming Taizu also strengthened the autocratic centralization of monarchy, abolished the prime minister of Zhongshu, established a royal guard and strengthened the supervision of officials; There are three departments in the local government to strengthen the control of the court; It is also to compile household registration and strengthen the management of the people. There are also strict control of people's religious beliefs, cracking down on illegal religions and so on.
In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang almost established an all-round and impenetrable high-pressure system and put a heavy yoke on the people of the Ming Dynasty, realizing his own thought of "fighting violence with violence", but China also began to enter an almost dark period.