On the seventh day of the ninth month of the twelfth year of Shunzhi, under Tiananmen Square, a seemingly "lengthy" edict was widely distributed all over the world, which caused a huge wave of discussion among the whole Celestial Empire, especially among the princes and ministers and the clan Jueluo:

First of all, the so-called "edict"[1] is not something that can be used in any matter. In the Qing Dynasty, whenever there were major political events and grand celebrations, the edict was used to declare the subjects of the whole country. For example, the emperor "ascended to the pole" and issued an edict to announce his own policy program; The emperor "collapsed" and issued an edict, summed up his life's ruling experience, and admonished his ministers with his last words; The emperor had gross negligence, publicly blamed himself to the world, and issued an edict for his own crimes; The country's major reforms, such as the Guangxu Dynasty's reform and reform of the law, the promulgation of the Restoration Edict, the Constitutional Edict, etc. In addition, the "canonization of the queen" and the "honorific title and emblem" must be issued to declare that the whole country, regardless of the government and the people, is known as one.

In addition, when the emperor wants to make a formal speech to the civil and military officials and the relatives and nobles of the clan, he can adopt a variety of official document formats other than the edict - the general name is "system of words", such as edicts, edicts and other edict documents, all those that contain the words of the Son of Heaven are called "system words", but they are mainly for the purpose of announcing the hundred officials, and are not issued to the common people.

Secondly, the place where the edict was issued was also very particular. In the Qing Dynasty, formal edicts were issued, and there were generally three options: Taihemen, Wumen and Tiananmen, among which Tiananmen had the highest regulations. In the event of major celebrations such as the new emperor's accession to the throne and the wedding, and the emperor's parents entering the palace, Tiananmen Square must be opened. The emperor usually does not go to Tiananmen Square, and only enters and exits through this gate every year when he goes to worship the sky, the earth, and the five grains. In addition, major ceremonies such as the sacrifice of flags when generals set out for the expedition, the sacrifice of the road during the expedition of the imperial driver, and the arraignment of important criminals by the criminal department in the autumn ("autumn trial") were also held here. Only the emperor can enter and exit Tiananmen Square, and he can only enter and exit happy events, and it is absolutely forbidden to enter and leave funerals. It can be seen that Tiananmen Square is an important weapon of the country, and the announcement of the edict here is of great significance.

zuihou, the content of the edict is even more astonishing. If this exuberant edict is translated into the vernacular of later generations, its essence is to say:

"Fengtian carried the emperor, and the edict said: Sun Gouzi, the original clothed man under the white flag show Prince Fushou, bullied others, humiliated scholars on the street, and happened to meet the Qing Dynasty Dorobelle, who was ordered to leave the palace, and Xuan Ye, the minister of the left president of the firearms battalion, was angry with the advice of the prince Baylor, and used his fists and feet, causing the second son of the emperor to dislocate his shoulder. But no weapon blades were used in the whole process, and there were no bleeding internal injuries caused by the second son of the emperor, let alone any illness.

When I heard this, my beloved son was very heartfelt, just like all ordinary fathers in the world who felt sorry for their sons, and they were so angry that they ordered severe punishment, and even did not hesitate to behead the person who committed the crime.

However, the Queen Mother was wise enough to warn me not to transfer my personal grudges to the law of the country. This calmed me down, and I ordered the Shangfang Yuan of the Thirteen Yamen to try the criminals together with the Zongren Mansion and the Criminal Department, and crowned the second son of the emperor, Xuan Ye, as the prime minister of the Lower Five Banners Sect, and acted as the supervisor on my behalf. The reason why the second son of the emperor is the person who supervises the trial is to hope that he can enforce the law impartially and set an example for the royal family.

What is commendable is that the injured second son of the emperor did not get angry, but according to the law in the "Supplementary Regulations of the Great Qing Dynasty", he pointed out that he himself had only suffered minor injuries, and Zhang Gouzi did not use weapons, according to the law, "beating the sect Jueluo", should be sentenced to "eighty rods and two years", and the rest of the accomplices are only counted as brawls, and each is responsible for "twenty lashes".

This deliberation was unanimously agreed by the Zongren Mansion, the Criminal Department, and the Shangfang Yuan, and jointly formed a special project manuscript and submitted it to me. This result is very much in line with my original intention:

At the beginning, I deliberately ordered severe punishment to test whether the second son of the emperor would take the opportunity to vent his personal anger; The purpose of letting the three yamen of the government and the ministry be tried is to examine whether the officials of various departments can handle the case impartially, and also to test whether the second son of the emperor can work together with the officials of various ministries to do a good job; Since the criminal Zhang Gouzi and others were taken into custody, they have been frightened, and the second son of the emperor was able to express his condolences on my behalf and deal with it properly, which reflects my love for the people like a son.

Although Zhang Gouzi and the others are criminals, they have not committed the "Ten Evils"[2] after all, so that they will not be forgiven, they are still human beings after all, and they are still my people! Therefore, the title prepared by the second son of the emperor and the ministries has been gratefully approved: the first offender Zhang Gouzi will stay in Ulan Ude and be punished as a slave of the armored man. The rest of the accomplices were given permission to be "flogged [3]" twenty times, and sent back to the lord to strictly discipline them.

With this prince, I share the worries of the monarch's father, and I am very comforted; The rewards and punishments are clear, there is no favoritism, and the family and country are very fortunate!

I would like to take this opportunity to announce to the world: since the son of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty can be so fair and strict, from today onwards, not only "the prince and the common people will be guilty of the same crime", but also "the common people will not be punished extra-legally"!

In the future, no matter the clan Jueluo, the yellow and red belts, the princes and ministers, and the nobles and magnates, they must not put pressure on the court because the case involves themselves, their families, relatives and friends, etc., in order to seek heavy punishment for the perpetrators and ignore the majesty of the country's laws!

Let's ask: Who else in the world can compare with the second son of the emperor, Xuanye? My beloved son can be so fair and put the law of the country above himself, so who has reason to seek love outside the law?

What is even more commendable is that Xuan Ye, the second son of the emperor, was able to draw inferences from one another, and in order to maintain the foundation of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, the original owner of the Five Banners unanimously suggested that after I personally led the Eight Banners, all the children of the Eight Banners would first be loyal to the Qing Dynasty and to me, which was a blessing for the country and the world. From now on, there will no longer be disregard for the general interests of the world because of "the selfish interests of one flag and one family". However, the people who wrap the coats of each flag still belong to the door of the heads of each family, which is not in line with the current trend of the world.

When I heard it, I felt the same way. In order to stabilize the people's hearts and stabilize the world, the Nine Kings Dolgon took advantage of the situation and promulgated the "Surrender Order" in the spring of the second year of Shunzhi, allowing the officials and people of the Eight Banners to recruit poor people for reclamation. However, many of the original peasants after the enclosure were also seized because their family property was seized, so they had no choice but to "bring land to be charged", and those who took land to fill only had to pay rent and tax, and if they did not have land, they would have a greater burden. At the same time, there was a situation of "Manchurian coercion and surrender" in which the banner soldiers forced the Han Chinese. In the same year, the imperial court promulgated the law of fugitives and corrected it, but it has not had any effect so far.

Based on this, I announce to the world today that the order to surrender and the law of escape need to be carefully judged and not hasty. Especially now that the world has been decided, and the people are looking forward to stable production, all those who will be charged in the future must be strictly controlled and judged in detail. Fugitives should also be treated with caution and must not involve innocent people.

As for the enclosure of land, in the first month of the eighth year of Shunzhi, I pointed out in an edict that the peasants depend on the land for their livelihood, and the enclosure of the land cuts off their livelihood; The local magistrate of the household department was required to return all the land that had been enclosed to the owner so that he could cultivate it in due course. Soon after, I approved the suggestion of Kechen[4] Li Yunchang to avoid the "leeway" of 13 counties, including Gyeonggi Liangxiang and Zhuoxian. In the tenth year of Shunzhi, I reiterated again: "In the future, I will still abide by the previous decree and never occupy private real estate." ”[5]

In addition, the clothed people are an old Manchurian custom, and it has long been a rule in the time of Taizu Taizong: the power of the general manager of the baoyi is in the state, and only the royal family has the right to give or take back the baoyi to the officials and soldiers in the Eight Banners, and the officials or soldiers who have the baoyi only have the right to reward or punish their own baoyi, but have no right to kill, nor have they the right to buy, sell, exchange, or give away privately.

However, after entering the customs, the newly naturalized clothed servants often only know that there is a family master, but do not know that there is a country owner, and blindly loyal to the family master, but ignore the authority of the royal master. The reason why Zhang Gouzi actually beat the prince in the middle of the city!

Therefore, Xuan Ye, the second son of the emperor, suggested that a "Royal Servant Bureau" be set up in the Zongren Mansion to manage the people of the five banners, and the naturalization and deployment, daily management, promotion and punishment, salary and welfare of the coated slaves, etc., were all collected under the Royal Servant Bureau. At the beginning of each year, the princes, ministers and generals of various clans, and even the owners of banner families, who need to newly accept slaves from the family, need to report to the Royal Servants Bureau. After being counted by the Royal Servants Bureau, interested people are beckoned, and after training and selection, they are distributed to each family according to their needs.

From then on, the Baoyi people were in fact royal servants, loyal only to the royal family, but only served the heads of the families under the orders of the royal family. The Royal has the right to deploy and use it at any time.

In view of the fact that this law was first implemented, and the second son of the emperor has been planning for a long time, his mind is meticulous, and no one can compare. Therefore, I decreed: Ordered Dorobelle, the prime minister of the Lower Five Banners Sect, the Minister of the Left President of the Firearms Battalion, and the second son of the emperor, Xuan Ye, who also led the Zuo Zongren of the Zongren Mansion, and took the post of Minister of the Imperial Servants Bureau.

All of the above things will be announced to the world, and the salty envoys will know about them

Chin this! ”

Such a lengthy decree quickly aroused widespread discussion in the capital.

[1] The edict of the Qing Dynasty had a certain format, the beginning sentence must be "Fengtian carries the emperor, the edict says", the end sentence is "proclamation to the world, Xian envoy to hear and know" or "proclamation to China and foreign countries, Xian envoy to hear and know", and the middle describes the content of the edict to the world. The edict was drafted by the Cabinet and submitted by the scholars, and after the Emperor's approval, it was written in ink pen, straight from right to left, on large yellow paper, with the seal "Treasure of the Emperor" in the middle and at the seams of the paper. After the completion of the edict, it is called "Zhao Huang", and it is sent to the tower of Tiananmen Square to be read out with extremely solemn and complicated etiquette, symbolizing the proclamation to the world. After the edict is completed, the Ministry of Rites receives the edict, immediately transcribes or engravings and prints multiple copies, and sends them to various places by the post road, and then the local officials receive the edict and announce the edict. The transcribed edict is called "transcribed yellow", and the engraved edict is called "yellow".

[2] The "Ten Evils" refer to major criminal acts that directly endanger the ruling order of absolute monarchy and seriously undermine feudal and ethical relations. On the basis of the "Ten Articles of Serious Crimes" in the "Northern Qi Law", the "Kaihuang Law" of the Sui Dynasty formally established the Ten Evils system, which was followed by the Tang Dynasty. Those who commit the ten evils are "forgiven by constant forgiveness." In the Qing Dynasty, the ten evils mainly refer to: one is rebellion, two is rebellion, three is rebellion, four is evil rebellion, five is unrighteousness, six is great disrespect, seven is not filial piety, eight is not harmonious, nine is unrighteousness, and ten is civil strife.

[3] "Xiao flogging" means using a small bamboo board to carry out flogging. The "Great Qing Law" stipulates that all the crimes of flogging canes shall be punished with bamboo boards, which are five feet and five inches long. The small bamboo board is one and a half inches wide at the big end, one inch wide at the small head, and weighs no more than one and a half catties. The big bamboo board is two inches wide, and the small head is one inch and five minutes wide, and it weighs no more than two catties. In the case of robber death, a stick is used.

[4] Kechen, referring to the official of the department. The six departments of the Ming and Qing dynasties were collectively referred to as "branch officials" in the matter and the imperial history of the various provinces of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Ming Zhouhui's "Jinling Trivia: Ya Yan": "Zhang Wei is the most rare Taoist official, and his people are like the four branches and ten philosophers of Confucius, which may not be available to everyone. "History of the Ming Dynasty: Career Official Zhi I": "All the Beijing camp exercises, all of them are inspected by the ministers of civil and military affairs. "Qing Historical Manuscript Shengzu Ji I": "August Ding Wei, try Hanke Taoist in Baohe Palace, incompetent. ”

[5] According to the Biography of the Qing Emperors, this is the case in the official history.