Huang Zicheng (1350~1402) was originally named 蔔, zi cheng, in the line of characters. Jiangxi is pleasant. In the eighteenth year of the Ming Dynasty (1385), Ming Taizu Hongwu was the third person to be listed as a jinshi.
Huang Zicheng is erudite and versatile. When he was a teenager, he studied "Yi" with his fellow villager Ouyang Zhen, and then studied "Shang Shu" with Zhou You and Liang Yu ," which was quite famous in the local area. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu (1384), Huang Zicheng participated in the Jiangxi Township Examination and won the second place. In the second year, he participated in the ceremonial meeting and won the first place in the examination, Huiyuan, the top of the temple examination high school, and ranked tanhua. He was taught Hanlin to edit, and was promoted to write, read for the prince of the Eastern Palace, and tired of the official to the secretary of the Taichang Temple.
When Emperor Jianwen was made the emperor's grandson, the kings were dissatisfied. Emperor Taisun secretly instructed Huang Zicheng at the East Point Gate and asked, "Long live the Emperor, I am newly established, the kings are my elders, they are all respected and have heavy soldiers, if they do more wrongdoings, what should I do?" Huang Zicheng said, "Your imperial uncles only have some guards, as if they are wrapped around their feet, there is nothing wrong with it, if it is illegal, the imperial court sends the Sixth Division to suppress it, who can resist for how long?" He also enlightened the Emperor Taisun with the allusion to the chaos of the Seven Kingdoms of the Han Dynasty in history: "You don't have to worry, although there is a difference between big and small forces. But just by looking at whether it is reasonable, we can see whether it wins or loses. The Emperor's grandson raised an eyebrow in joy and said, "I have nothing to worry about today' words." From then on, Huang Zicheng was called Mr. Huang.
Emperor Taisun ascended to the pole and changed his era name to Jianwen. Relying more heavily on Huang Zicheng, he appointed him a Hanlin scholar, often consulting on state affairs. At that time, the imperial uncles were each the king of the domain, and they were all suspicious and eager to move. One day, after Emperor Jianwen retired from the dynasty, he said to Huang Zicheng: "Sir, don't you forget what Dongjiaomen said?" Huang Zicheng hurriedly prostrated his head: "The minister does not dare to forget." So he conspired with Qi Tai and others to cut off the power of the kings. Qi Tai advocated first stripping the Yan King of his military power, and Zi Cheng said, "No. The King of Yan was strong and had no bad deeds, while the Zhou, Qi, Min, and Dai princes Taizu often had misdeeds during their time, and today they are famous for cutting the clan and becoming famous. You can start with the King of Zhou, because the King of Zhou Zhu Xuan and the King of Yan Zhu Di are brothers of the same mother, cutting the King of Zhou is like cutting off the arm of the King of Yan, and the King of Yan will definitely argue for it, so that the King of Yan can be convicted of 'conspiracy', and then it will not be easy to cut off the King of Yan? Qi Tai and others thought that this plan was the best, so they reported it to Emperor Jianwen.
It was at this time that someone secretly accused the King of Zhou of plotting against him. Emperor Jianwen quickly sent Li Jinglong to lead an attack on the Zhou Dynasty, implicating the King of Xiang and the DaiWang. Therefore, Emperor Jianwen, at the instigation of Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, deposed Zhu Yu the King of Zhou and Zhu Ji the Prince of Min as Shuren, put the Acting King Zhu Gui under house arrest in Datong, and put zhu Gui, the Prince of Qi, under house arrest. Thrown into prison, Zhu Bai, the King of Xiang, knew that there would be no good results and died. Emperor Jianwen issued an edict to the King of Yan, which lasted for several weeks of the king's sins. Who thought that the King of Yan, instead of complaining, accused king pingsu of zhou for letting loose, which was self-inflicted. He also praised Emperor Jianwen for being able to thank his close relatives and give the King of Zhou a way to live. After all, Emperor Jianwen was naïve and did not understand power and scheming, and after reading the Book of the King of Yan, he was moved by compassion and prepared to give up. Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng rushed to the advice, believing that today's matter has come to an end, and we must firmly remove the heart of the Yan King, otherwise we will miss the opportunity and the consequences will be unimaginable. Emperor Jianwen still hesitated, saying, "If the alliance is not on the throne for a long time, the kings will be abolished continuously, and if the King of Yan is cut again, how will he account to the people of the world?" Huang Zicheng was so anxious that he said, "Those who become big things do not believe in small words." The first mover strikes, and the last striker makes the last man. "The emperor must not be deceived by the hypocrisy of the King of Yan. Emperor Jianwen also said, "The King of Yan is known for his wisdom and courage, and he can use soldiers, so I am afraid that we are not prepared enough, and it will be difficult to win." Therefore, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng hurriedly deployed their offices, ordering the governor Song Zhong to mobilize officials and troops to go to Kaiping to guard the towns, transferring the elite soldiers of the Yan King's Palace to Song Zhong's command, and summoning Hu Qi to command Guan Tong and others to enter the capital to weaken the power of the Yan King. He also transferred the beiping Yongqing left and right guards to garrison Zhangde and Shunde respectively, and ordered the governor Xu Kai to step up his training in Linqing. Troops were trained day and night at Shanhaiguan to control Peiping. Replace the Beiping guards and closely monitor the movements of the Yan King's Mansion. All this Yan King Zhu Di saw in his eyes and remembered in his heart. He adopted a policy of static braking and retreating as a defensive policy, calling the sick, closing the door, watching the situation and looking for opportunities. At that time, what bothered him the most was that his eldest son and the two county lords were still in the imperial capital, so the King of Yan - falsely claiming that he was getting sicker, asked the emperor to allow his three children to return to the palace to visit. At that time, Qi Tai objected and suggested that the third son of the Yan king be taken hostage, but Huang Zicheng said that it was better to send them back to show that the imperial court did not suspect the yan king, so that he could take advantage of his unpreparedness and win the battle. Therefore, Emperor Jianwen sent people to escort the sons of the Yan King back to the palace. At this time, the King of Yan had no heart disease at all, so he raised an army in the name of "Qing Jun's Side", and the King of Yan faced his soldiers with tears and swore: "The framing of the kings was not by the will of the Son of Heaven, but by the traitors Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng." The King of Yan also made himself king of Zhou and rebuked Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and other traitors for their power, causing Emperor Jianwen to be unkind.
At first, Emperor Jianwen over-trusted Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, and soon after ascending to the pole, he slashed the kings of the various domains. These two were originally students and knew nothing about the military. When the officers and troops commanded by Geng Bingwen were defeated by the King of Yan, Huang Zicheng did not think so, and advised Emperor Jianwen to say: "Victory and defeat are common affairs of soldiers, not enough to worry, today the army is rich and prosperous, the soldiers are strong enough to eat, and the Yan King's army is a corner of the region, how can it resist the power of the whole world." We only need to gather half a million officers and troops, march on all sides, and the King of Yan will be captured at once. He also recommended Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, believing that he could take on this big responsibility. Emperor Jianwen obeyed his advice, so he replaced Geng Bingwen with Li Jinglong as the general of the conquest, and led millions of troops to meet the division of the King of Yan. Before leaving, Huang Zicheng also gave him a military strategy. Li Jinglong was a man of literary and martial talent, but he was an incompetent man, and he was defeated in a battle with the King of Yan. The loss of soldiers and horses weighed hundreds of thousands, and he abandoned his division and returned. Emperor Jianwen actually took tolerance as his heart and pardoned Li Jinglong for his innocence. Huang Zicheng wept and argued, accusing Li Jinglong of being a teacher without discipline, intending to wait and see, not to be cursed, and not to be xie Zongmiao; no punishment was possible. Emperor Jianwen did not listen. Soon, the generals of Jianghuai were defeated by the King of Yan one after another, and some of the generals also surrendered to the King of Yan. Huang Zicheng saw the situation, pounded his chest and cried bitterly, saying: "The matter has reached an irreparable point, I mistakenly recommended Li Jinglong, mistakenly missed the major affairs of the country, even if I died ten thousand times, I could not atone for my sins." ”
King Yan led his troops to approach the imperial city, and because there were ministers, Emperor Jianwen had no choice but to dismiss Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng from their posts. Sent the young secretary Xue Yan to ask the King of Yan to strike. King Yan did not agree at all and continued to march south. Emperor Jianwen nominally exiled Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, but in fact secretly ordered them to recruit troops in the local area. Huang Zicheng led his wife Xu Shi and his four sons Weifu from Taihu Lake to Suzhou, and together with the prefect Yao Shan, they proposed the King of Qin, and everyone agreed to die together. Yao Shan was touched by Huang Zicheng's loyalty and told Emperor Jianwen: "Huang Zicheng's talent is enough to remove the country's difficulties, how can he doubt his loyalty and discard it to the people to cater to the enemy." Emperor Jianwen had also woken up at this time and urgently summoned Huang Zicheng back to Beijing. Unfortunately, everything was already too late, the King of Yan would soon enter Jinchuan, the capital fell, and the imperial capital was on fire. Some say that Emperor Jianwen was burned to death, and some rumors say that Emperor Jianwen obtained the secret recipe of Taizu, escaped from the secret passage, and became a monk. King Yan ascended to the pole and changed his era name to Yongle for Chengzu.
Cheng Zu took the throne and immediately ordered Huang Zicheng to be captured quickly. Huang Zicheng originally wanted to cross the sea with Yao Shan to move troops, but Yao Shan said that as a minister who guarded the land, he only wanted to coexist and die with Suzhou City, but did not answer. Huang Zicheng went to Jiaxing again, found the retiree - Yang Ren was ready to plot together, only to be denounced by the Taicang warrior Tang Hua, who tied Huang Zicheng to the Capital Division. Cheng Zu personally interrogated, and Huang Zicheng defended himself unyieldingly, accusing Cheng Zu: "Your Majesty has seized wealth with military strength. If it weren't for the Emperor's leniency and tolerance, you wouldn't be where you are today. Cheng Zu pretended to be kind and advised Huang Zicheng: "Mr. Early Wen is erudite and good at reading, not as obsessive as Fang Xiaoru, I can forgive all your sins." Huang Zicheng smiled, "Wealth is just a matter of moments, what is the weight of talking?" Your Highness, you have done such a paradoxical thing. I am afraid that future generations will one day follow your example. When Cheng Zu heard this, his face changed suddenly, and he couldn't say a word for half a day, so he had to change the topic and ask Huang Zicheng: "Why do you want to cross the sea and move troops to compete with me?" Huang Zicheng said: "The Emperor Zu rebels to fix the world, because of the courage of His Highness, you were given the title of king of the clan and had heavy troops, in order to defend the royal family, and now you are not going to pacify the northern Hu Yu, but instead of fighting with the Son of Heaven for the world, you are killing each other." I just want to borrow the power of foreign tribes, is this different from your highness's rebellion? Cheng Zu knew that he was reasonable, and his shame turned into anger, so he sent sixty-five of Huang Zicheng's clan relatives and three hundred and eighty-one of his wife's clan relatives to him, and when he cried out in the sky, Huang Zicheng's face still did not change color. Cheng Zu said, "I know that you will definitely not serve me, so give me a pen and paper to write your confession." Huang Zicheng wrote: "I Huang Zicheng was a courtier of the first emperor, and I did not fulfill my duty and cut off the King of Yan early, so that he achieved his ferocity today and caused such a great disaster to the country today, I hope that future generations will not follow suit." When Cheng Zu saw the book, he was furious and ordered the knife and axe hand to cut off his hand first, and then said to Huang Zicheng: "Although you have not successfully crossed the island, you have already traveled to the sea." So he ordered Huang Zicheng's feet to be amputated, and finally dismembered and died, that year, Huang Zicheng was only 35 years old. All Jiangxi relatives were beheaded, and all in-laws and foreign relatives were issued with shubians.
In the fifteenth year of Zhengde, the magistrate built a "Huang Taichang Ancestral Hall" in his hometown, "using Zhangdaohua". Huang Zicheng's reputation was not restored until the early years of Hongguang after Chongzhen's death, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Rebbe Shangshu (礼部尚書), courtesy of The Imperial Household. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court gave the title of "Zhongwu", "悫" sounded exactly, and the meaning of sincerity and loyalty was true, so people later called Huang Zicheng "Huang Zhongcheng".