Zhang Jiashi has made some adjustments to the current Qin law and the corresponding punishment methods, but for more laws, Zhang Jiashi can only choose to continue to use them.

A law that does not keep pace with the times is certainly harmful, and it can even be said that it will do more harm than good, but such a thing as arbitrarily amending the law is undoubtedly more harmful.

Therefore, Zhang Jiashi himself chose to let most of Qin's laws and decrees follow, more because he did not want the empire to fall into some chaos.

Of course, this kind of chaos is not too big a problem for Zhang Jiashi, but now is not the best time to deal with these chaos.

As for the changes in the law, Zhang Jiashi tended to keep pace with the times, rather than planning to make better laws to pass on to the ages.

The latter form of law-making, or statecraft, has historically proven to be utterly unworkable.

And the most obvious representative of them is a book of "Emperor Ming Zuxun".

......

"Emperor Ming Zuxun" was officially compiled and completed some time before Zhu Yuanzhang's death.

But from its prologue, you can see how "legalistic" this thing is:

Since ancient times, the establishment of the legal system has been the beginning of the king. At that time, the law had been decided, and the people had kept it, and it was added to the sea with grace and power, and the people were peaceful. At the beginning of his business, he experienced hardships, read a lot of people, and was familiar with things. Compared with the lord of the deep palace, he is not familiar with the world, and the people in the mountains and forests, and the elders who are self-conscious, are far away. I was young and lonely, and I was on duty for a long time, and at the age of twenty-four, I was committed to the army and was a caller for three years. Then he collected the handsome, practiced the way of training, and sought to keep pace with the heroes. In the past 20 years, he has been able to eliminate strong enemies and unify Haiyu. The hypocrisy of human feelings is also quite known. Therefore, with what he saw and did, he and the ministers were set as the national law, and the government of the Yuan Dynasty was appeased, and the old customs and polluted people were cured. And the strength and deceit of the heroes are difficult to subdue, and I have already subdued them; the people have gone through the chaos of the world, and they want to survive the famine, and they are used to treachery, and it is difficult to meet them, and I have done it all. Since Pingwuchang, the law has been agreed upon, and the profit and loss have been changed, regardless of the number of times. After 10 years, it will be achieved. When it was issued, the people gradually knew about the ban. As for enlightening future generations, it was reverted to the "Ancestral Teachings" and established as a family law. The big book is unveiled in the west, and it is viewed day and night, in order to be the most appropriate, the first and last six years, where the seven transcriptions are still determined, is not difficult? Now the Hanlin is ordered to edit it into a book, and the Ministry of Rites will print it to pass it on forever. All my descendants, who accept my life, do not do wisdom, and mess with the law that I have already made, not a word can be changed. Not only does it live up to the meaning of the Dharma, but the heavens, the earth, and the ancestors will also bless the infinite!

"All my children and grandchildren, who inherit my life, do not do wisdom, and mess with the law that I have already made, not a word can be changed. Not only will it live up to the meaning of the Dharma, but the heavens, the earth, and the ancestors will also be blessed to infinity!"

Ahem, Zhu Yuanzhang's words obviously hit the emperors of the Zhu family very badly.

Because what can be seen from this sentence is that Zhu Yuanzhang thinks that revising the "Emperor's Ancestral Teachings" indiscriminately is even a thing that cannot be tolerated by heaven and earth, or even by ancestors.

Zhang Jiashi really wanted to ask, is it so serious?

But what can be seen from the content of the Emperor's ancestral teachings is that Zhu Yuanzhang, as an emperor from a civilian background, does have many rules in favor of the common people in his thinking.

For more than 40 years since I started the army, I have personally managed the affairs of the world, and I have been involved in the truth and falsehood of good and evil feelings. Among them, those who are treacherous and deceitful, and those who have committed serious crimes and are undoubtedly scorched, are specially ordered to be punished beyond the law, with the intention of making people know what they are afraid of and not dare to break the law easily. However, this privilege is disposed of when it is frustrated and stubborn, and it is not the common law used by the king of observance. When the descendants of the future generations became emperors, they did not abide by the laws and edicts, and did not use the punishment of stabbing, fibula, slashing, or castration. Yun He? Gai Heijun grew up in the palace, and the good and evil feelings of the people were not known; I was afraid that what I would do inappropriately for a while would accidentally hurt the good. If the subordinates dared to use this punishment, the civil and military ministers immediately impeached him, delayed the prisoner, and executed the whole family.

Zhu Yuanzhang opposed the use of corporal punishment, which was a good thing for Zhu Yuanzhang or the people of the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Yuanzhang's harshness on officials is unprecedented:

Since ancient times, the three princes have said that the six secretaries have divided their duties, and there has never been a prime minister. Since the beginning of Qin, he has been the prime minister, and he has died without heels. Because of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, although there were virtuous ministers, there were many villains who were used during the period, and they were dictatorial and chaotic. Today, I dismissed the prime minister, set up five mansions, six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration, Dali Temple and other yamen, divided the affairs of the world, each other, did not dare to press each other, everything is the court in short, so it is stable. When future generations become emperors, they are not allowed to appoint prime ministers. If the subordinates dare to ask for the establishment, the civil and military ministers will immediately impeach, and the prisoner will be delayed, and the whole family will be executed.

The emergence of this law is closely related to the "Hu Weiyong Case", a major case in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Li Shanchang, the leader of the Huaixi Peng Party Group, recommended his fellow villager and in-law Hu Weiyong to serve as the right prime minister. In September of the tenth year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong was promoted to Zuo Prime Minister. He served as prime minister for seven years, and during his term of office, he planted friends all over the DPRK and China, sparing no effort to crack down on dissidents, and the power of the Huaixi friends group continued to expand. For example, Liu Ji, a native of Qingtian, Zhejiang, once assisted Zhu Yuanzhang and made great contributions, but due to his contradictions with the Huaixi Peng Party group, he has not been reused. In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang was awarded the title of hero, Liu Ji was only named the sincerity of the uncle, and the age of Lu was only 240 stones. And Li Shanchang was awarded the title of Korean Gong, with 4,000 stones. The following year, Liu Ji returned to his hometown. However, because he once said to Zhu Yuanzhang that Hu Weiyong was not suitable for entering the picture, he was deeply hated by the latter and was dismissed from his job. In the eighth year of Hongwu, Liu Ji fell ill, and Hu Weiyong sent a doctor to visit, but Liu Ji died soon after taking the medicine.

Of course, the exclusion of dissidents is not the crux of Hu Weiyong's case. In fact, the crux of the Hu case lies in the fact that he is too arbitrary and arbitrary, and he often handles many major cases such as life and death without asking Zhu Yuanzhang for instructions. This naturally made Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a strong desire for power, deeply feel the crisis of the prime minister's autocracy and the fall of imperial power.

In the first month of the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong said that there was a spring gushing out of the well of his old house, which was auspicious, and invited Zhu Yuanzhang to come and watch. Zhu Yuanzhang happily went, and when he walked to Xihua Gate, the eunuch Yun Qi grabbed the reins tightly, unable to speak, and desperately pointed to the Hu family. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the situation was serious, and immediately returned, and when he boarded the palace, he found that the sky above Hu Weiyong's house was dusty, and there were soldiers hidden in the walls and roads. Furious, on charges of "perverting the law and slandering the virtuous" and "harming politics", Hu Weiyong, Chen Ning and others were executed on the same day. At the same time, a large number of fathers and generals, including the first hero of the founding of the country, such as Lee Sun-chang, the first hero of the founding of the country, were implicated in the death of more than 30,000 people, which is known as the Hu Weiyong case. The Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case were collectively known as Hu Lan's Prison, and they were destroyed until the 25th year of Hongwu.

In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, someone accused Li Cunyi and his son Li You of conspiring against Hu Weiyong. In the nineteenth year of Hongwu, Mingzhou Wei commanded Lin Xiantong to take the incident, and after interrogation, it was learned that he was instructed by Hu Weiyong. In order to build a large number of buildings, Li Shanchang borrowed 300 guards from Xinguo Gongtanghe. Tang He secretly reported to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang awarded Li Shanchang with "the father of the country, knowing the rebellion and plotting not to move, the fox is suspicious and wait-and-see, and the big rebellion", and more than 70 people including his wife were killed. Lu Zhongheng's house slave accused Lu Zhongheng of colluding with Tang Shengzong, Fei Ju, and Zhao Xiong, the three marquises, of colluding with Hu Weiyong to "conspire against him". Song Lian's grandson Song Shen was also implicated and killed, and Song Lian himself was degraded to death in Maozhou, Sichuan. Zhu Yuanzhang specially promulgated the "Record of Showing the Traitorous Party".

......

And in the subsequent content, there is also the premise of "Emperor Ming Zuxun":

All the four directions are confined to the mountains and the sea, and they are isolated in a corner, and the land is not enough to supply, and the people are not enough to give orders. If it doesn't think about it and comes to disturb me, then it is ominous. He is not a problem for China, and it is ominous for me to raise troops and attack lightly. I am afraid that future generations will rely on China's prosperity and strength, be greedy for a moment of military achievements, and raise troops for no reason, causing injuries to people's lives. However, Hu Rong and the northwest border are close to each other, and they must choose generals to train their troops in wars for many generations, and be careful when they are prepared.

The names of the countries will not be collected today, but will be listed later: Korea, Japan, Great Ryukyu, Lesser Ryukyu, Annam......

Well, Zhang Jiashi said: The Wanli Korean War during the Mingshenzong period was also a response to Zhu Yuanzhang's understanding of Japan: it was really cunning......

But compared to this, the situation of the country that was not conquered could be regarded as a pit for the Ming army at that time:

On May 8, 1592, Joseon Seonjo Lee Hao rushed to Pyongyang, and then the Japanese 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Army Corps pursued him, broke through the Imjin garrison and captured Kaesong.

At that time, the eight provinces of Korea had been lost, only north of Pyongan Province, near the Liaodong Peninsula in the area of Yiju had not yet been captured by the Japanese army, Li Hao realized that without the help of the Ming Dynasty, it would be impossible to recover Korea, so he sent several groups of envoys to the Ming Dynasty for help. In addition to submitting official credentials to Emperor Wanli, the Korean envoys went to visit the court's ministers, scholars, squires, imperial historians, and eunuchs, and even expressed their willingness to attach themselves to the Ming Dynasty, trying to urge the Ming Dynasty to send troops to aid the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.

However, for the Ming Dynasty, the urgency of Korea was hard to believe, and the constant inquiries about the Korean war made the Korean king and his ministers frightened for a while, fearing that the Ming Dynasty suspected Korea of complicity with Japan, and wanted to annihilate it under the pretext of asking the Ming Dynasty for help to lure the Ming army into Korea to annihilate it.

At that time, there were also Fujian maritime merchants, who reported to the imperial court that Korea was complicit in Japan, based on the news they heard when they went to Korea to do business. After learning of this news, in order to relieve the Ming Dynasty's doubts, Li Hao not only repeatedly sent envoys, but also forwarded the letter of Japanese threats to Korea to the Ming Dynasty, in order to show that Korea had no two hearts. At the same time, the military department Shangshu Shixing also secretly sent people who had visited Korea and seen the king of Korea to distinguish the authenticity of the king of Korea, and Liaodong also sent painters to secretly draw the king's appearance for identification.

In the end, the Ming Dynasty court also believed that "the plan of the Japanese to fight Korea is really in China, and the rescue of Korea by our soldiers is really to protect China." Therefore, he soon promised Li Hao to cross the Yalu River and live in Kuandianbao, on the Liaodong Peninsula of the Ming Dynasty, and officially under the protection of the Ming court, and at the same time send troops to aid Korea.

In the Ming Dynasty repeatedly collected intelligence and discussions, Liaodong had already sent out the deputy commander-in-chief of Kuandianbao in June 1592, and the commander Tong Yangzheng led 8 flying horsemen to send a message to cross the river to the vicinity of Yizhou, North Korea, to prepare, divided into 5 groups, each of which had to gallop 100 miles, and quickly transmit the emergency military situation. It happened that the Japanese generals were stationed in Jiangsha and sent hundreds of cavalry to hold drills, and the Korean minister specially invited the Ming generals to investigate, saying: "If this is the case, as soon as the heavenly soldiers come, they can be exterminated." ”

The Ming Dynasty and North Korea began to negotiate basic affairs, the first thing to be solved was the problem of military rations, because Korea had no salary, so the Ming Dynasty decided to directly allocate salaries to the Ming army by the central government, and at the same time first rewarded the Korean king with 20,000 taels of silver. It's just that the grain is inconvenient, so the position of the Ming army is to hope that North Korea can provide it. But the North Korean government's grip on the local area has spiraled out of control. Many local officials have fled without a trace because they have taken refuge, and the central government does not know the details of the localities.

Finally, on June 15, 1592, the general Dai Chaoben and the guerrilla Shi Ru began to lead the army across the river.

After the first echelon crossed the river, the Korean government repeatedly urged the troops to go south, and for the command of the army, the Ming generals and the Korean ministers had a small quarrel, but the Ming generals insisted on waiting for the whole army to arrive before sending troops, it can be seen that the Ming generals were indeed old in the battle formation, and the Korean ministers lost their judgment because of their lack of military experience and repeated defeats.

On the end of Ding, the former general Guo Mengzheng and the guerrilla Wang Shouguan led 500 army horses to cross the river and return to Liaodong, and on the 17th of the next day, the two led the army to cross the river back to North Korea again, leading a total of 506 soldiers and 779 horses, and the deputy chief soldier Zu Chengxun also led the army to arrive at the same time, with 1,319 troops and 1,529 horses. After adding it up, we can learn that when Liaodong sent troops for the first time, a total of 2,348 troops and 2,622 horses were dispatched, and the commander was Zu Chengxun, the deputy commander-in-chief, and the logistics dispatch was handled by Yang Shaoxun, the chief soldier of Liaodong stationed in Jiulian City.

In June, the Korean envoy Li Dexin repeatedly wrote to Hao Jie, the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, and wept bitterly day and night under the governor's tent, and the governor of Liaodong was moved by it, and sent Zu Chengxun, the deputy commander-in-chief, to lead more than 2,000 cavalry to cross the Yalu River to rescue North Korea.

At dawn on July 17, 1592, Zu's deputy general army ran long distance to take the guerrilla Shi Ru and Wang Shouguan as the vanguard to lead the army into Pyongyang City, Shi Ru led the thousand general Ma Shilong and Zhang Guozhong two officials to enter the city first, and beheaded the enemy 10 levels, due to the heavy rain overnight, the Liaodong military weapons failed, and Zu Chengxun was not familiar with the Japanese army's tactics led to the defeat of the army, Shi Ru was hit by the iron cannon and died. The army was dispersed, Zu Deputy General Soldier was only spared, and retreated across the Dading River within one day, and the DPRK urgently sent troops Cao Shenzhi Shen Xishou to Jiulian City, hoping that Yang Shaoxun General Soldier could order Zu Chengxun Deputy General Soldier to stay in North Korea temporarily, but Zu Deputy General Army retreated too quickly and had crossed the Yalu River.

In the report that Deputy General Soldier Zu Chengxun later presented to General Yang Shaoxun, he mentioned several issues:

Grain and grass are scarce, and the DPRK cannot provide enough grain and grass for the army to eat. North Korean intelligence indicates that there are only more than 1,000 Japanese troops in Pyongyang, and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of Japanese troops after the actual battle. The command was not autocratic, and the Korean ministers always hoped that the Ming army could be commanded by the Korean generals, and pressured the Ming army to send troops under unfavorable circumstances.

The Ming army lacked trust in the Korean army, and Deputy General Commander Zu Chengxun pointed out that there were also 500 North Korean troops who went to Pyongyang at the same time, and as a result, when the battle was approaching, 400 North Korean troops broke and fled first, and the remaining 100 talked to the other side. At the same time, many of the Ming troops were wounded and killed by bows and arrows, and according to Korean intelligence, the Japanese army only had iron cannons and long swords, so it was suspected that the Koreans shot the arrows. After repeated arguments by the Korean envoys, General Yang Shaoxun later accepted the North Korean explanation, that is, the military information was provided by the Korean Jiedu envoys, and there may have been a mistake in the investigation, and the archery may have been because the Korean weapons fell into the hands of the Japanese army, or because some Koreans were captured, so they were instructed by the Japanese army.

After the second wave of reinforcements of the Ming army and since the defeat of Pyongyang, the Liaodong Army has transferred the leading power of the war to the hands of the Central Military Department. However, the Ming Dynasty already had other strategic plans.

The Ming court and the Liaodong army knew that the Wu army was by no means the thousands of soldiers and horses that North Korea thought, and they had already planned to support the operation with logistical supplies from Chinese mainland, and hoped to defeat the Wu army as quickly as possible with superior forces. As for why it later became an echelon increase, it was still due to the lack of supply and lack of intelligence.

Since July, the Ming army has repeatedly sent guerrilla Shen Weijing to Korea, and even as far as Pyongyang to negotiate with the Japanese army, with the aim of delaying time and waiting for the army to assemble.

At the same time, the vanguard was sent first, but because of the lack of military rations in North Korea, the troops were temporarily stationed in Liaodong, according to the record of "Xuanzu Shilu", the number of pioneers sent was 6,000 people, including 2,400 Jizhou town soldiers trained by the deputy chief soldier Zu Chengxun, and 600 gunners of the Southern Army who were supposed to be sent to Jianzhou Wei, and 3,000 people under the guerrilla Zhang Qigong. As for the total number of troops, it is claimed to be 100,000 people, and the actual distribution is 70,000. In September, the envoy Xue Pan crossed the river to Korea to meet the king of Korea to make final coordination, and the king of Korea also said that the army of the Ming Dynasty must bring its own grain, and the agriculture of Korea was basically bankrupt.

A discussion of the number of Japanese troops versus the number of Ming troops. In September, North Korea's Seonjo summoned Yoon Geun-su to discuss with Han Ying-in, Shen Weijing only saw that there were few enemy troops in Pyongyang, and the enemy troops in Hamgyong Province were several times larger than Pyongyang, Yoon Geun-su relayed that Shen Guerrilla said that Pyongyang had 1,000 enemy troops just to see, and that there should be more people stationed in other areas, Yoon Geun-su said that the detective reported that the Pyongyang army was only 900 people, and Shen Weijing said that the detective's words were untrue and should be beheaded, and it was estimated that it would take 70,000 people to capture Pyongyang.... In hindsight, 70,000 men were indeed the estimated number of troops sent for the first time. As for the discussion of the number of Japanese troops in the whole of Korea, you can see the actual record in October Gengin, Seonjo summoned a number of officials of the Bibian Division to discuss, and one of them asked, "... How many thieves are there? Yin Doushou said: "... The thief said that he had 320,000 clouds...", at this time, Yoon Geunsu continued, the thief himself said that if there were 80,000 people, he could quickly capture Korea, but because there were only 50,000 people, he could not defeat it quickly. Li Hengfu replied, "Our army killed almost 100,000 Japanese troops, if there are only 400,000 Japanese troops left, why are there Japanese troops everywhere?..." Therefore, although more than 4 months have passed, North Korea is still unable to determine how many Japanese troops have landed, which also adds a lot of trouble to the estimation of the strength that the Ming army needs to send.

The military strategy of the Ming army. In October Gengchen, Yin Genshou, the judge of Joseon Licao, and others met with the Ming Dynasty's Ge General Soldiers, and Ge General Soldiers privately told them: "This time, 100,000 town soldiers and 70,000 southern soldiers were mobilized in Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong, and 600,000 town soldiers in Guangning, Liaodong and other places, a total of 700,000 people,...... The holy decree thought that if the Japanese army was allowed to escape this year, it would invade again next year, and the Japanese army would not return the armor. ”

This was the Ming army's initial plan for using troops, hoping to assemble a large army to annihilate the invading Japanese army at one time, but it was only later that it was discovered that the plan was different from the reality. The DPRK minister asked about the grain again, and Ge Zongbing said: "The transportation by car to the west of the Yalu River and the transportation by horse to the east does not need to use your country's money and grain. The envoy also asked, "What about Shen's guerrilla peace talks?" If there are really peace talks, there will be no way to justify the pain of the small state. Ge Zongbing replied: If the Japanese army is tied up and begging for surrender, then we can only accept it silently. If they resist stubbornly, they will kill all the Japanese army at once. ”

......

The Ming Dynasty's easing of its vigilance against Japan actually has a lot to do with the record of this non-conquest country.

(End of chapter)