The emperors of ancient times were very jealous of meritorious ministers, afraid that they would be too powerful and would threaten their rule. During the Ming Dynasty, for those who helped him fight the world, The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang only gave them titles and generous rewards, but did not give them military power, thus preventing them from overlying their power and threatening their rule.
For these heroes, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very jealous. In his later years, many generals who had made meritorious contributions to the founding of the country were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang. Tang He was also one of the first heroes to follow Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world, and when he was sixty-three years old, Tang He made a request to Zhu Yuanzhang to resign his official post and return home. Zhu Yuanzhang asked him what reward he wanted, and Tang He said, "I want a hundred beauties."
Among the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty, tang he had the deepest relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang. Tang He is Zhu Yuanzhang's neighbor and childhood playmate. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang would participate in the uprising and eventually establish the Ming Dynasty, which was inextricably linked to Tang He.
Like Zhu Yuanzhang, Tang He was also born into a very poor peasant family in Fengyang County, Haozhou. However, Tang He's fate was even more tragic than Zhu Yuanzhang's. Zhu Yuanzhang has parents and siblings to support him, and although his family life is poor, he can feel the warmth of his family. Tang He was different, and when he was young, both of his parents died.
Because he is an orphan, Tang and are often bullied. These unfortunate experiences made him have a strong desire to get ahead. In order to be able to fulfill his wishes, Tang He practiced martial arts, practiced archery on horseback, and often practiced combat deployment with his friends.
In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, due to the decay of the Mongolian ruling class, social contradictions intensified, and the people's lives were difficult. Coupled with the sudden drought, the life of the people at the bottom is even more miserable. Cornered, some peasants revolted.
After Tang He learned that Guo Zixing had formed the "Red Turban Army" and captured many cities, he decided to defect to Guo Zixing's rebel army and go to build a meritorious career together. Under the persuasion of Tang He, some of his close playmates decided to follow Tang He and go to Guo Zixing together.
However, when Tang He found Zhu Yuanzhang and persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang to follow him to join the rebel army, Zhu Yuanzhang refused Tang He's invitation. In the end, Tang He led more than twenty of his friends to defect to the Red Turban Army. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang went to the Huangjue Temple to become a monk.
When he first arrived in the Red Turban Army, Tang He was just a small soldier. However, with his brave combat ability and fighting spirit of not fearing death, he soon received the attention of his superiors, and his official position was constantly improved, becoming a thousand households.
Tang He always remembered his partner Zhu Yuanzhang, and after gaining a firm foothold in the Red Turban Army, he wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang and invited him to join the rebel army. Coincidentally, Tang He's letter to Zhu Yuanzhang was seen by a monk in the Huangjue Temple. This monk had a grudge with Zhu Yuanzhang, so after learning the contents of the letter, he decided to go to the informant.
In order to save his life, Zhu Yuanzhang could only leave the Huangjue Temple and defect to the Red Turban Army. While in the Huangjue Temple, Zhu Yuanzhang followed the martial monks to learn martial arts and read military books. Therefore, after arriving in the army, Zhu Yuanzhang was quickly promoted and reused by Guo Zixing.
Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang was promoted to Zhenfu and became Tang He's superior. Tang He was three years older than Zhu Yuanzhang, but he always knew that although Zhu Yuanzhang was younger than himself, his ability was far above his own. Therefore, knowing that he had become a subordinate of Zhu Yuanzhang, Tang He not only did not feel dissatisfied, but also very sincerely happy for him.
Once, Zhu Yuanzhang was ordered by Guo Zixing to lead an army to attack the city. However, some generals of the same level as Zhu Yuanzhang in the army did not obey Zhu Yuanzhang's command and often did not cooperate with Zhu Yuanzhang in combat. Only Tang He obeyed Zhu Yuanzhang's command very carefully. Because of this incident, the feelings between Zhu Yuanzhang and Tang He were also stronger.
Since then, Tang He has been following Zhu Yuanzhang's side and helping him fight the world. After many years of southern conquest and northern warfare, Zhu Yuanzhang finally defeated the enemy, unified the world, and established the Ming Dynasty. Tang He and others also became the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty.
However, many things are slowly changing. There is still a big difference between fighting the world and guarding the world. In the process of attacking the world, Zhu Yuanzhang gave them trust, respect, and the right to command the army for these capable generals.
With the change of status, Zhu Yuanzhang changed from a general to an emperor of a country, and in order to consolidate his dominance, Zhu Yuanzhang had to curb the power of these heroes. In fact, not only Zhu Yuanzhang, but also the emperors of every feudal dynasty would curb the power of their ministers to varying degrees.
Before Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhao Kuangyi, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, also slowly established a powerful feudal dynasty by launching an uprising. After Zhao Kuangyi took power, he took the military power into his own hands through "a cup of wine to release the military power".
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he also followed the example of Song Taizu and took back the military power in the hands of the meritorious generals into his own hands. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that if he just blindly suppressed the heroes, it would inevitably cause them to resist.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of a very good way: to give these meritorious men noble titles and rich rewards. Let them become princes and dukes with no meritorious name but no real power. Among them, Tang He was canonized as the Duke of Xinguo.
However, this did not make Zhu Yuanzhang completely let go of his wariness of these heroes. As his time in power increased, his jealousy of these heroes grew. Slowly, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted various schemes to dismiss the earliest group of meritorious men from their posts and raid their homes.
Tang He was also aware of Zhu Yuanzhang's intentions, and he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang, who had become the emperor of a country, was no longer the playmate who was close to him. He always acted cautiously, not daring to do anything out of the ordinary, only hoping to save his life.
At the age of sixty-three, Tang He used his old age and illness as an excuse to request Zhu Yuanzhang to resign and return home. After seeing Tang He's recital, Zhu Yuanzhang called him to the front and asked him what reward he wanted. Tang He knew that this was Zhu Yuanzhang's temptation to himself, and if he showed any hint of ambition, he would suffer a catastrophe.
Therefore, he told Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, the subject wants a hundred beauties. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this answer, he laughed, agreed to Tang He's request, and gave Fengyang to him as a fiefdom. In the end, Tang He successfully defused the crisis and saved his life. After returning home, Tang He was still afraid, and sighed in his heart: It can really be said that the companion is like a companion tiger!
After resigning, Tang He stayed in his fiefdom very peacefully, never daring to do anything that would arouse Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicions. In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, Tang He died of illness at the age of sixty-nine.