Crow's mouth

 

Crow's mouth

When Fang Shidi was chatting with Agudengba and Azhuo, Agudengba's donkeys Mahu and the big gray donkey were also chatting leisurely. Adhuo's white-hoofed horse gently shook its tail and stood quietly looking around.

At this moment, the crow Betty suddenly flew over Fang Shidi's head and poked Fang Shidi's hat brim with his big mouth.

Fang Shidi was very angry: Why are you poking at the brim of my hat, you crow's mouth?

The crow Betty croaked: You just told the story of Wu Sangui refusing to surrender to Huang Taiji three times, and you also sang a nonsense Ningyuan ballad "Refuse to Surrender". Do you think Wu Sangui is a national hero?

Fang Shidi was helpless against crow Betty. Crow Betty is still shouting: Wu Sangui is a traitor! Wu Sangui is a traitor!

Agudemba began to scold the crow Betty: Betty! We are chatting, please don't talk.

The crow Betty flew on the back of the big gray donkey and still murmured a few times.

Fang Shidi said to Agudengba and the coachman Azhuo: This crow reminds me of those loud-mouthed ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Fang Shi said:

When Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian first came to the throne, he still wanted to do something great, but he was very jealous, and his ministers refused to obey anyone, and they kept arguing all day long. The Ming Dynasty's civil servants' hobby of "talking" was rare in the feudal dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, internal and external troubles necessitated decisiveness, but the monarchs and ministers were angry all day long, and as a result nothing could be accomplished. At that time, we were discussing peace talks with the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Some ministers suggested that the bandit troubles of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had not been eliminated, and the affairs on the Liaodong border had not yet been resolved. The Qing people had the intention to negotiate peace, and the emperor could negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty first. As soon as this statement came out, some veterans were furious, and a huge war of words broke out in the court.

During this war of words, the emperor did not dare to try peace talks with the Qing Dynasty. Faced with the dilemma of resisting foreign aggression and keeping peace at home, Emperor Chongzhen had no cards left to play.

In Chinese history, the trend of empty talk was prevalent in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. At that time, a group of scholars escaped from the world by talking. In today's terms, they were Kanye. You talked about Buddhism, he talked about the universe, and he developed a good tongue. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the catastrophe was approaching, the ministers naturally stopped talking about romance, but when they focused on current affairs, it was still empty talk. Everyone thought they had grasped the truth, but in fact they were just talking empty words, big words, and lies, and were divorced from reality. The words are true.

Agudemba said: You are telling the truth. As far as I know, the war of words in the late Ming Dynasty was due to party strife. The ministers do not proceed from reason, but are obsessed with sectarian disputes. It is difficult to reach consensus on anything, nothing can be done, and in the end they are scattered.

Agudengba continued: The party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty started as a struggle between the Donglin Party and the three parties of Qi, Chu and Zhejiang, and later evolved into a dispute between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party. It is a deep regret to look at the party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty from today's perspective. The Donglin Party indeed gathered the best and most righteous intellectuals at the time. They also regarded themselves as the embodiment of justice and were full of moral superiority in what they did. They didn't know that their path was actually to ruin the Ming Dynasty with their opponents in acrimony.

Fang Shi said:

Mr. Agudemba, you are absolutely right. My grandfather once told me that although Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian was diligent in political affairs, practiced frugality, redressed injustices, and eradicated the eunuch party during his reign, at that time, there were endless internal party disputes in the Ming Dynasty and constant disasters among the people, which eventually led to A peasant uprising broke out in the region. Externally, the Hou Jin regime took advantage of the situation to rise and watched with eager eyes. The country was in a situation of internal and external troubles.

At that time, the Huns in the north rode Mongolian war horses and constantly harassed and looted. The Kingdom of Jin also rode Mongolian war horses. Chongzhen believed in destiny, but also decided to obtain more bloody horses as military horses to defend the country with force. My grandfather was ordered to transport many bloody horses from the Western Regions. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty rode on these military horses to repel the Xiongnu and the Jin Kingdom.

Fangshi sighed and said sadly:

At this time, the bandits in the Western Regions began to cause chaos. Li Zicheng led a group of thieves to rebel. A team of thieves claiming to be descendants of Aryans joined the peasant uprising and launched a challenge to the Ming Dynasty. This team of thieves claiming to be descendants of Aryans took away the bloody horses that my grandfather sent to the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen believed the instigation of the treacherous officials and thought that my grandfather was colluding with foreign thieves in the Western Regions, so he killed him.

My grandfather and the court horse officer Xia Xiong were both Tocharians. They are very social with each other. Under the persuasion of Xia Xiong, the imperial horse officer, Chongzhen agreed to let my father continue to transport sweat-blooded horses to the imperial court. My grandfather and Xia Xiong also had a friend who was a Jurchen named Feng Tiansheng. Later, my father took refuge with the Jurchens Feng Tiansheng.

Fang Shidi said:

Maybe you think my father betrayed the imperial court and was a traitor to the Ming Dynasty. For this reason, I also asked my father, why did he choose to join the Qing Dynasty?

My father told me: Although Chongzhen was not an emperor who lived a dissolute life and ignored government affairs, the chaos was already overwhelming at that time, and Emperor Chongzhen had no way to recover. When the situation was very critical, Chongzhen, who was helpless, once asked the Qintian monitor to predict the fate of the dynasty. Chongzhen casually said a little bit of the word "friend", and the Qintian monitor said that the situation was not good, and the word "friend" was the same as the word "anti". Similar, the word "rebellion" comes to the fore, and the situation is already in danger. Chongzhen changed his words about the word "you" in "you". Qin Tianjian said that the situation was even worse. When the word "you" was taken apart, there was the word "大" on the top but missing a stroke, and there was the word "明" but no "日" on the bottom. The word becomes a symbol of the ruins of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen changed it to "You" among the twelve earthly branches. Qin Tianjian immediately knelt down and kowtowed and said, "I dare not speak." Emperor Chongzhen said: "But if I say no interviews, I will forgive you." Qin Tianjian said: "Your Majesty is the supreme being in the world. Now the word 'You' is the truncation of the word 'Zun', which may be very ominous."

People close to Qin Tian Prison told my father about this. It is said that Chongzhen was very miserable at that time. Qin Tianjian later defected to the Qing Dynasty, and my father also went to the Qing Dynasty with the people around him. The Ming Dynasty was destroyed, and all the people in the country belonged to the Qing Dynasty. Who can say that all the officials of the Ming Dynasty were traitors and traitors. One emperor and one courtier, this is the case at all times and in all countries.

Fang Shidi sang a song "Hate for the Subjugation of the Country":

 

Looking at five thousand years,

Looking across the country thousands of miles away,

Changing dynasties is normal.

Proud sons return to the emperor from generation to generation.

 

The royal family, the country, the family, the world,

Shameless and dissolute world,

The poor are forced to revolt,

If the ruler and his ministers are unruly, the people will rebel.

 

Politicians know how to control the people.

Foolish people only know how to be slaves.

No one hates the country’s subjugation,

Who can save the country?