홍무 3년(1370) ‘平定沙漠’ 詔書의 頒布와 詔書의 ‘언어’

Abstract

In the sixth lunar month of 1370, Ming Taizu 太祖 (Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋) received General Li Wenzhong’s 李文忠 memorial which reported on the death of Toghon Temür, Great Khan of the Great Yuan, in the fourth month and the capture of the Great Khan’s grandson Maidaribala on the 16th day of the fifth month in Yingchang 應昌.
 According to the Ming Veritable Records 明實錄, it was on the 20th day of the sixth month that Ming Taizu mentioned these significant events in his imperial proclamation 詔書 to officialize the ending of the Great Yuan. By comparing different versions of the proclamation included in historical sources, this paper shows that the texts in the Ming Veritable Records were doctored by the compilers. They pushed the date of the proclamation from the original 15th day to the 20th day of the same month. In addition, they edited the original contents to reflect the circumstances of the 20th day.
 Following the proclamation in question, presumably on the 20th day, Ming Taizu issued another imperial proclamation bearing the same news. It was addressed to the people of the Great Yuan such as Mongol princes and nobles, and Jurchen chieftains who had not yet submitted to the Ming rule. In the received Ming Veritable Records, this proclamation was written in classical Chinese following the conventions of recording the Chinese imperial documents. This paper argues, however, that another significant problem of the Ming Veritable Records is hidden here: The compilers rewrote the proclamation to look like a usual Chinese imperial document. The original text of this proclamation was not written in classical Chinese, but in the colloquial language following the conventions of the Yuan imperial edicts which employed a unique style to translate word for word what the Mongolian Great Khans spoke. The colloquial style and words of the proclamation were a practical and effective method to persuade its audiences to submit to the new Ming ruler.