The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

"Zhang Juzheng's reform measures have thoroughly exposed the adverse consequences of excessive centralization. Before many practical problems in the lower administrative units have not been resolved, the increase in administrative efficiency will inevitably be slow and limited. Forcibly improving efficiency has exceeded a certain limit. It will only cause uneasiness within the administrative system, the entire bureaucracy will either split or gather due to excessive pressure, and practical problems will turn into moral problems.”

"Looking at today's expropriation and acquisition policy, the central government is forcing the improvement of efficiency, while the lower administrative units have so many problems that it is difficult to implement the effective implementation of the decree. This makes it difficult for the entire Chinese administrative system to adapt, and the middle and grassroots bureaucrats are under too much pressure. Can deceive the upper and lower in a rough way. For example, in the procurement in Henan, officials chose to conceal the fact of the famine from the central government in order to complete the task, regardless of the people's sentiments. This brought a series of serious consequences, the government's prestige was greatly lost, and the people suffered. It was unspeakable. Then it extended to a moral issue. The government held high the righteousness of the Anti-Japanese War and asked the people to give their all to contribute to the country. If you don’t support the purchase, you are not patriotic. The people think that the government extorts money without consideration for the people, and the personal morality of leaders and officials is also questioned. "

"There is a saying in the history circles that 'the Ming Dynasty paid more taxes to the poor'. It seems that because corrupt officials were rampant at that time, the people were apportioned excessive taxes, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. In fact, this has something to do with the facts. In and out. At the same time, the British taxation was equivalent to that of the Ming Dynasty, but the population was only one-thirtieth of the Ming Dynasty. How could the UK continue to grow and develop? The reason is not the excessive taxation, but the incompetence of the government and laws. Even if the country The low tax rate does not benefit farmers, and it can only encourage landlords to increase exploitation and bureaucratic additional exploitation.”

"Morality is not omnipotent. The government cannot rely on the simple righteousness of the War of Resistance and require the people to give up their homes to serve the country. It is more necessary to improve the legal system, improve the administrative system, curb corruption, encourage and support advanced economies, and reduce the squeeze on traditional agriculture..."

These were all commentary articles written by Chen Yinke. After writing them, he burned them and did not publish them.

Chen Yinke never talks about politics, but it doesn't mean he doesn't understand politics. He has studied history to the point where he can see many things more clearly than bureaucrats, but that's all, and it can't change China's status quo.

Anyone can talk about it, but the hard part is how to solve the problem.

Can't solve it!

Of course, Chang Kaishen wants to improve the administrative system and improve the executive power of grassroots officials. But this is impossible, unless a fundamental reform is carried out in China, and the internal and external conditions of the special period of the Anti-Japanese War do not allow him to do so.

Therefore, Chen Yinke burned the article, and it was useless to publish it, but would offend those in power.

After burning the article, Chen Yinke quickly rewrote another article, analyzing "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" purely from the perspective of historical methods. He first criticized Zhou Hexuan's ignorance of certain historical materials, and believed that some of Zhou Hexuan's thoughts were a little one-sided. At the same time, he praised "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" with its unique style and novel viewpoints, which opened up a new form and direction for the study of Ming history.

...

Before Chen Yinke's second article was published, Wu Han had already started to praise "Fifteen Years of Wanli".

Wu Han is also an expert in the study of Ming history. Although he belonged to the liberals earlier, he has a very radical personality. As early as more than ten years ago, Wu Han wrote to Hu Shi: "If you look at the history of any country and any dynasty, you can't find such a despicable, shameless and insane government (Nanjing National Government)."

Wu Han asked Hu Shi to point out a clear path, and Hu Shi asked Wu Han to "save the country with science".

At that time, Wu Han respected Hu Shi very much, and specially wrote Hu Shi's famous saying on the back of his graduation photo: "Bold assumptions, careful verification. Talk less empty words and read more good books."

However, when Wu Han arrived at the Southwest Associated University, the corruption of the National Party and the attitude of disregarding the life and death of scholars, coupled with the death of a friend in poverty and illness, completely turned Wu Han's thinking to the left. His actions were more radical than Wen Yiduo. He not only devoted himself to various anti-Chiang activities, but also wrote a book "From Monk Bowl to Imperial Power".

This book was later renamed "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", and it was published almost at the same time as Zhou Hexuan's "Fifteen Years of Wanli", and it was specially used to allude to Chang Kaishen.

After reading "Fifteen Years of Wanli", Wu Han felt that he had found a confidant. Although one of them wrote about Zhu Yuanzhang and the other about the Wanli Dynasty, they all followed the path of "alluding to history" and criticized Chang Kaishen and the Nationalist government.

Wu Han wrote several critical articles in a row, and regarded "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" as "an incomparable classic in modern Chinese history".

...

Zhang Xueliang, who was far away in Guizhou, also read "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" for the first time.

The young marshal has been studying the history of the Ming Dynasty for these years, and he wrote to Song Meiling to ask for any books he lacked. In 1945, Zhang Xueliang even claimed that he had become an expert in the study of Ming history, and he asked to invite several Ming history experts to have face-to-face exchanges-Dai Li expressed his embarrassment.

After Zhang Xueliang finished reading "Fifteen Years of Wanli", he didn't think about alluding to Chang Kaishen. Instead, he replaced himself as Emperor Wanli, and his once capable subordinates as Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing, Hai Rui, and Qi Jiguang, and then reviewed and reflected on his mistakes when he was in charge of Northeast China and North China.

Then, Zhang Xueliang compared the Wanli Dynasty with China in the 1920s and 1930s, reflected on the governance issues of the Beiyang government and the Nanjing government, and wrote a 20,000-word reading experience, which was passed on to Chang Kaishen by the guard.

Chang Kaishen threw Zhang Xueliang's article away, and left it in a corner for decades, until he discovered it when cleaning up junk materials in the 1980s.

...

Xie Guozhen is undoubtedly the most popular Ming history expert today. He studied under Liang Qichao in his early years, and he and Zhou Hexuan were barely considered brothers in the same school. His "Historical Records of the Late Ming Dynasty" was popular in the 1930s, but it attracted attention again during the Anti-Japanese War, because China during the Anti-Japanese War was too similar to the late Ming Dynasty.

Xie Guozhen was stranded in the occupied area at this time. When "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" was published, he had just read Zhou Hexuan's article discussing the death of Shen Wansan.

Zhou Hexuan's views on Shen Wansan's life experience come from Mr. Gu Cheng, an expert on Ming history.

Xie Guozhen disagreed with this. He believed that the historical materials in "Wu Jiang Zhi" might be wrong, and he produced multiple historical materials, thinking that Shen Wansan might have died after Zhu Yuanzhang became the throne. Of course, it is absolutely impossible for Shen Wansan to be exiled by Zhu Yuanzhang, but only suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Xie Guozhen immediately wrote a rebuttal article, which was finally sent to Chongqing for publication after several months.

It was not until the end of 1944 that Xie Guozhen read "Fifteen Years of Wanli" in the occupied areas. He greatly appreciated this book, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he wrote three analytical articles in one breath, discussing the influence of the Wanli Dynasty on the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

...

As for most ordinary readers, they completely regard "Fifteen Years of Wanli" as a purely historical reading. They expressed regret for the failure of the reforms of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time hoped that the national government would learn from it, and called for strengthening the legal system and punishing corrupt officials.

Chang Kaishen also likes "Fifteen Years of Wanli" very much. He did not substitute himself in Emperor Wanli and Zhang Juzheng, but in Shen Shixing. He felt that he was devoting himself to developing the country, but only in return for all kinds of betrayal and suspicion. At the same time, he was constrained by the bad situation in China, and he couldn't really use his talents and abilities.

At the same time, Chang Kaishen also lamented that no one is perfect in the world, even Qi Jiguang is corrupt, sycophant, and loves women, but who can compare with Qi Jiguang among the generals of the Republic of China? Employment should be casual, as long as they have outstanding abilities, those generals who can really fight should be tolerated for the time being, such as Tang Enbo who made Henan a mess.

The "Fifteen Years of Wanli" in the eyes of every reader has a different interpretation.

This book was very popular. Not only was it popular in China, but even Fairbank took a copy back and had someone translate it and recommend it to the American historians.