A still from "The Silk Case of Daming under the Microscope"

Cai Hui

"Shuai Jiamo is a scholarly nerd, not a psychotic fool, Zhang Ruoyun is a little too hard this time."

"Ordinary light comedy, has nothing to do with the original. Also, if you shoot according to the historical documentary imagined by the reader, it is too difficult for the entire crew. A little disappointed "...

The TV series "The Silk Case of Daming under the Microscope" has a good reputation, but there are also some criticisms, focusing on:

The image of Shuai Jiamo is somewhat exaggerated.

It has little to do with the original.

Reflection is weakened.

The microscope is gone, the "Daming" is blurred ...

Artistic creation should be diversified, and different opinions are the norm. The original work "Daming under the Microscope" is a collection of historical essays, a total of 6 stories, the silk case is one of which is "Xueba Must Die - The Beginning and End of the Silk Silk Case in Huizhou", detailing the conflict between the government and the people caused by the dispute between the people of Huizhou in the fourth year of Longqing (1570) and the seventh year of Wanli (1579) in the Ming Dynasty. The case presents a thought-provoking conflict between traditional governance and modern transformation.

May be for easy reading, the original book has added many entertainment elements, such as calling the core character of the incident Shuai Jiamu "Xueba", to the TV series, changing the name to Shuai Jiamo, further acting as a "nerd", and adding the Sancho-style character Feng Baoyu, the negative character Cheng Renqing, etc., resulting in the whole story being surrounded by various stereotypes, from civil society, to Shilin atmosphere, to family life, to government rules, to human relations, etc. The "microscope" only focuses on the canonical system, ignoring the real ecology, and has lost its sense and space.

Judging from the credits, the original author is also the main screenwriter of the TV series, which may show that telling stories and having ideas are two different things, only ideas, can not tell stories, or only tell entertainment stories, "original soup into original food" may also be tasteful.

The silk case is what happened

In the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1570), the new Anwei Shuai Jiamu filed a complaint with the Huizhou Mansion.

In the Ming Dynasty, administrative and military management was dual, with the people being managed by the county and the military households under the management of the guards. The military families of the Ming Dynasty had a heavy burden, low social status, and their children were proud to leave their nationality. Among the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, Li Dongyang, Wan An, Liu Ji, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Ye Xianggao, etc., were all from military families.

Xin'anwei is in Xiao County, the capital of Huizhou, but has no connection with the local government. Shuai Jiamu looked through the account books of the official government and found that among the annual tax and grain paid by the Huizhou government, there was a sum of human silk, as many as 8780,<> horses, which was borne by Xiao County alone, and none of the other five counties.

Ding silk belongs to the Ding tax (that is, the population tax), which is levied on the county, and the "Daming Hui" must specify which county it is, and it is levied on the prefecture, and the example is shared equally by each county. In the "Daming Canon", the silk of Ding is listed under the name of Huizhou Mansion, and should be shared equally among the six counties.

Why did it become the sole responsibility of Xiao County?

Shuai Jiamu found that when this tax was first sent from Huizhou Prefecture to Xiao County, it was called "Xia Tax Silk", and after collecting it, it was actually recorded in the name of Ding Silk Silk. Xiao County thought that it was paying "summer tax silk", but in fact there was no such tax, and the Huizhou government used it to offset the silk silk. Obviously, the scribes of the Huizhou prefecture had tampered with the names, and the scribes were all from the other five counties, and Xiao County had paid unjust taxes for more than 100 years.

The other five counties immediately counterattacked, saying that the "Daming Huidian" did not record details, and the yellow book should prevail (but there was no relevant record in the yellow book).

After some lawsuits, Shuai Jiamu claimed to have been assassinated and fled to another country. Six years later, the old matter of Huizhou Mansion was brought up again, and behind it was Shangshu Yin Zhengmao of Hubu who used this as a breakthrough point to promote the "one whip law", that is, the unified miscellaneous tax, only linked to the amount of land occupied, the rich paid more, the poor paid less, and achieved "equal endowment". The balance of law tilted in favor of Shuai Jamu.

Yin Zhengmao was a native of Xiao County, and his intervention caused a violent outrage in the five counties, and the people "were angry for a while, crowded the county government, even sued the name, and begged Shenda", so that "the people were in turmoil, rushed to call, and reached the end of the day."

Scapegoating for "eventfulness"

In order to quell the popular revolt, the Huizhou government repeatedly moved and canceled the "Xieji Jinqu Dao soldiers' salaries and silver" that Xiao County had been paying, and the other five counties did not raise taxes, and the burden on Xiao County was reduced. But whether the "Xieji Jinqu Dao soldiers' salaries and silver" should be handed over, and no one cares about why it was added to Xiao County back then.

Cheng Renqing, who instigated the civil revolt, and the plaintiff Shuai Jiamu became scapegoats, and the latter was accused of "not doing anything for himself, fabricating words, making statements, intimidating to gain wealth, and calculating stolen goods", and was "sent to the border army with a hundred rods, 3,000 li, and sent to the border army." The "Chronicle of Xiao County" praised him: "With the view of the dust and the dust, with a hundred years of the case." Although he was slaughtered, he was regarded as a strong warrior. ”

The silk case exposed the plight of the Ming Dynasty:

First of all, Huizhou is a prefecture formed by administrative means, and the six counties are ostensibly fellow villagers, relying on the myth of "southeast Zoulu" (Mencius was born in Zou, Confucius was born in Lu, Zoulu is the code name for the flourishing place of culture and education, and Zhu Xi is a native of Huizhou, so it is called), barely maintaining a fragile sense of identity, but this extensive governance method of "using punishment to support morality", whenever there is a conflict of interests, because there is no solution, the contradiction immediately intensifies, and it is difficult to change.

Second, replacing the rule of law with the rule of ethics, only on obligations, regardless of rights, disputes often rise to the moral level, and it will never be possible to reach a consensus.

Third, many stakeholders have no spokesperson, and the villagers have been able to stir up public opinion, and the consultation mechanism has failed.

Fourth, the secret game of various stakeholders cannot fundamentally change the mechanism of "miscellaneous taxes". The "one-whip law" treats the symptoms but not the root causes, but only expands the tax base and drags the problem down.

Under the impact of the great navigation, the commerce of the Ming Dynasty was developed, and some areas had begun modern transformation, but the key to modernization was to replace the acquaintance society with a living society, and individuals needed more legal protection, otherwise it would suppress mobility, causing multiple stakeholders to be trapped in the original acquaintance society, causing various conflicts, but the Ming Dynasty could not come up with a solution, so it had to be perfunctory with the handsome Jiamu who severely punished the "eventful".

Arithmetic is not equal to mathematics

In the original work, the author has deep thinking about the silk case, but in the TV series, it has become a superficial "beautifying Shuai Jiamu".

Is Shuai Jiamu really a "nerd" character? According to the Wanli Chronicle, he "had little scheming, was proficient in the clever calendar." A little hunting through the history books, a little outline. It is often said: 'If Wen cannot be crowned as a warrior, and Wu cannot be crowned, then he should be seen as a long man.' Chapter 9 Pythagorean, I can be a doctor! He studied arithmetic in order to get ahead.

The TV writer apparently ignores that arithmetic is not equal to mathematics, and arithmetic is a practical technique that must be linked to specific industries. Arithmetic in the Ming Dynasty was characterized by a large number of slips, such as: "The ancients measured the field wide and long, all relying on the rope ruler to pull it." Although there is a general law in the form of a form, only the Fang Tian method is easy to understand. If you see 喎 (pronounced as crooked) obliquely and concave, you must make up for it. But multiply the actual amount of the field, and divide the number of acres by two or four. ”

In order to measure the acres of fields, the Ming Dynasty arithmetic also created "Another Song", which proposed 46 irregular land measurement methods such as square field, straight field, pythagorean, guitian, prismatic, circle, bowl field, qiu field, ring field, terraced field, oblique shape, three guang, arc arrow, eyebrow shape, ox horn, two unequal fields, funada, snake field, four unequal field, five unequal field, etc., a total of <> irregular land measurement methods.

To portray Shuai Jiamu as a mathematician who only pays attention to numbers and does not pay attention to everything in the world is a misreading that lacks common sense.

The famous scholar Joseph Needham once said: "In 1550, European mathematics was no more advanced than the discoveries inherited by the Arabs from Indians and Chinese." But in Europe, something completely new happened. In fact, it was during the Ming Dynasty that Chinese mathematics began to lag behind Europe for two reasons:

On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty Guozi supervised the abolition of arithmetic, which was restored in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu (1392), but soon discontinued.

On the other hand, local education in the Ming Dynasty was completely merged into "serving the imperial examination", and it was difficult for ordinary people to contact arithmetic except for the origin of family learning.

Shuai Jiamu is not a top student

Another important reason for the backwardness of mathematics in the Ming Dynasty is the mistaking of arithmetic as mathematics.

Joseph Needham once pointed out that the lack of rigorous verification in ancient China prevented formal logic from being further developed in China, and Chinese mathematicians never spontaneously invented any symbolic method of recording formulas, and before the Jesuit priests entered China, mathematical statements were mainly written in words.

Scholars Liu Shuyong and Wang Shiping pointed out in "The Problem of Lagging Scientific Development in the Ming Dynasty" that the scientific and technological works of the Ming Dynasty have strong application, but there is a clear tendency to "emphasize art over learning". Among the scientific and technological achievements of ancient China, 80% of the scientific and technological achievements were made in technology, only 13% in theory and only 7% in experiments.

Ignoring this background, it is not appropriate to portray Shuai Jiamu as a "professional-first" modern person. In Ma Boyong's previous works, the ancients are often written as modern people who have been enlightened and have independent self, although it lowers the threshold for reading, but conveys the misunderstanding of "the similarity between the present and the old", making readers ignore the great leap of modern transformation, and readers should be vigilant against this kind of writing that only seeks entertainment effects and abandons responsibility.

Shuai Jiamu is not a scholar, it is difficult to say that he is an arithmetic, he has the desire to be in the limelight, but the people of the five counties call him "Diao Jun", "Xiao Diao" and "Wei Diao", which is also stigmatized and a game of interests pretending to be "moral criticism".

In the TV series, Shuai Jiamu was specially assigned a type character Feng Baoyu, who was gambling and incompetent, but had an epigenetic identity.

An attached student is an attached student. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a quota for the number of Confucian official schools, and Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that there were 40 students in the prefecture school, 30 in the prefecture school, and 20 in the county school. After the development of the imperial examination, the enrollment of official schools was expanded, and new students were increased, and they were enrolled but did not enjoy rice. After hyperplasia, there are epiphytes. There are three grades, which are collectively called students, and the examination results are good, and they can be upgraded step by step.

Students only have basic merits, but great energy, known as the "blue robe king", rampaging in the grassroots society.

The "Blue Robe King" can't afford to mess with it

Why did the student become the "blue-robed king"?

According to scholars Zhao Yi and Wu Xia's "The Blue Robe King Among the Grassroots Scholars of the Ming Dynasty", the Ming Dynasty law stipulates that students can participate in local affairs, have the right to attend township drinking ceremonies and township covenant meetings, and all disaster relief, relief, bridge and canal construction, and academy construction can be discussed with Jinshen, Li Father and Lao, and the school's Minglun Hall is often used as a place for public discussion.

When a student is involved in a case, the county official can be exempted from kneeling and corporal punishment, and even if he commits a crime, he can also be punished by wearing a leather scarf. Gu Yanwu said in "The Theory of Students": "Those who enter and exit the public gate today to disturb the government of the official government are also students; Those who rely on the situation to arbitrarily judge the village, and the students are also; Those who are related to Xu officials, even those who are Xu officials, and students; When the government flicks its will, the crowd rises up and coaxes, and the students are also; Those who control the affairs of the official government, and those who are with the city, are also students. ”

Students enjoy privileges, and rich people do not hesitate to donate a lot of money to become a donation. The Ming Dynasty students have become rogue, that is, "if there is a green tree in the countryside, then all the families depend on it." If there is something for a family, Bunsen will not be allowed to stand out, and it is said to support the portal." Many students participate in civil litigation for profit.

In the TV series, the negative character Cheng Renqing was framed, lost his qualification for the imperial examination, and became a lawyer. Lawyers have a long history, and in the late Spring and Autumn period, Zheng Guoren Deng Xie was known as the "originator of litigation". In ancient times, advocates' profession of litigating for others and writing pleadings has always been despised.

The "Records of History" called Deng Xie a "fraudster", the "Tang Law Shun Discussion" prohibited ghostwriting of complaints, and the "Compilation of the Song Meeting" stipulated: "Teaching the words and litigation documents, one hundred rods, allow people to sue; Repeat offenders are not pardoned before and after, and the neighboring states are under the control, and each scholar receives eighty rods. The Great Ming Law also clearly stipulates that acts such as provoking, instigating, and falsely accusing will be punished with felonies.

The ancients' discrimination against lawyers, stemming from the Confucian idea of "no litigation", but with the development of the market, interests have gradually diverged, and "no litigation" is no longer possible. Insisting on "no lawsuit" is self-deception.

There is no shortage of positive energy in the secret

Judging from the literature, the profession of advocate first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the training textbook "Deng Sixian", also known as the secret book, also appeared in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty had strict requirements for pleadings: the number of words should not exceed two hundred; One case per case; Regardless of oneself, no agency; The pleadings are accepted only at the end of the month; If the time or name is false, it will not be accepted. It is difficult to complete without professional assistance.

The requirements of the Ming and Qing dynasties for the petition were stricter, "All prefectures, prefectures and counties are ordered to fill in the following form by the word, and if they do not conform to the form, the surrogate will be severely blamed, and the complaint will not be allowed to be reasoned."

There were many famous litigators in the Ming Dynasty, such as Song Shijie, according to the law of the time, the litigator could not go to court, but he often went to court, and there were also female litigators in the Qing Dynasty, such as the old lady of the pimple (see "Little Bean Shed", although it is a novel, its affairs may exist).

There are many secret books in the Ming Dynasty, such as "Broken Prison Qiwei" (Yunshui, Lotte Zi Collection), "Falin Ilin Zhao Tian Candle" (Jianghu Drunken Lang Ji), "Thunderbolt Handwriting", "Mr. Ye's Selection of Xiao Cao Zhenglu Dao Pen Zhi Feng" (Ye's Book), "New Engraved Correction of Sound Interpreter's Handbook Xiao Cao's Posthumous Pen" (Yuren Idle Zi Annotation).

Lawyers are regarded as lawyers, who are greedy for money and have no view of right and wrong, but after research, the famous Japanese scholar Fuma Jin, found that these secret books are full of positive energy.

For example, the "Complete Book of the Pen" requires: "With a good heart, you can attack the evil of others, discipline yourself with reason, and cure the traitor." And the "Lyricist's Notes on Xiao Cao's Posthumous Pen" put forward more clearly: "Han Ziyun is not in peace." The litigants are also disgruntled. Whoever raises a pen must be true to the truth, and then make a statement of reason, and must not reverse right and wrong, become chaotic and straight, so as to trap people in sin. Tianjian is here, you must not be careful. ”

In modern society, lawyers and others could have developed into legitimate professions, but they were stigmatized during the Ming and Qing dynasties, reflecting the great resistance of traditional culture in the transformation of modern times. The TV series continues this stereotype, which goes against the purpose of the "microscope" in the original work, no wonder he failed to see Daming clearly.