When the ancient emperor made meritorious achievements, he was inseparable from his courtiers to follow, and with the help of these courtiers, he was able to sit firmly in the Jiangshan, but after the stability of the jiangshan in the day, these heroes will also attract the suspicion of the emperor, and the final outcome of many meritorious people is not very good.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a very suspicious emperor, many of his heroes were liquidated, and one courtier voluntarily surrendered his military power in his later years, asking the emperor for 100 beautiful women and dying well.
Assisted by Zhu Yuanzhang
Tang He was born at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was three years older than Zhu Yuanzhang, both from Fengyang County, and their families were poor since childhood. When he was playing as a child, he often played the role of a general, and when he grew up, he was tall, well-behaved, courageous and resourceful.
In 1352, he joined Guo Zixing's uprising team with more than a dozen prime-age people in his hometown, and performed well in the uprising team and became a thousand households. Later, he took the initiative to write a letter inviting Zhu Yuanzhang, who was still a monk at this time, and came to defect after receiving the letter.
After joining the uprising, not long after, Zhu Yuanzhang's position was higher than that of Tang He, and at that time, many of his fellow villagers were somewhat dissatisfied and very jealous of him, and everyone was unwilling to obey Zhu Yuanzhang's orders, only Tang He listened to his commands carefully and cautiously. Guo Zixing died of illness in 1355, and most of his power was inherited by his son-in-law Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang's power increased greatly, leading 100,000 soldiers and horses, and with the assistance of those around him, he finally established the Daming regime after 14 years. After the establishment of the regime, he also began to reward meritorious men, of which Tang He followed the other side very early and made a lot of merit on the battlefield.
However, Tang He finally received only one Marquis of Zhongshan, and the other Li Shanchang Xu Da and others were all made dukes.
One word
It is said that this happened at that time because he offended the emperor with a sentence he said when he was drunk. It is said that when he was stationed in Changzhou, he once complained to the people around him when he drank too much wine, saying that defending the Ming Dynasty was like sitting on a roof, both to the left and to the right.
To put it simply, he is very important to the dynasty, not only can he follow Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world, but also can rely on his own strength to help others pacify the world. This drunken nonsense was also known to the emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature, and when he heard this sentence, he became suspicious of Tang He.
Therefore, later when Zhu Yuanzhang discussed the merits and rewards, he only made him a marquis, fortunately, Tang He later also learned about this matter, and understood that Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious of himself, so in the following time, he never dared to complain, and he was also conscientious in the dynasty, until 1377 AD, he was crowned as the Duke of Xinguo.
Ask for beauty
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, with the consolidation of the regime, Zhu Yuanzhang grew older and older, and his suspicion of his courtiers became more and more serious, coupled with the early death of the prince who was determined early, in order to smoothly hand over the imperial power to his grandson, he also began to clear the way for future generations.
At that time, many heroes were killed, and the most famous Hu Weiyong case in that period involved more than 20 princes and more than 30,000 related personnel. Tang He realized that he was also in danger, so in 1388, he took the initiative to find the emperor, saying that he was old, hoping to surrender his military power and return to his hometown.
At this time, the emperor was trying to weaken the military power in the hands of his courtiers, and Tang He took the initiative to come to the door to make him very happy, so he asked the other party what kind of reward he wanted, Tang He was 63 years old at this time, and he also had his own children and grandchildren, and normally handed over the military power to retire home, hoping to pave the way for his children and grandchildren.
Most of the time courtiers would ask the emperor for some rewards, grant their children and grandchildren official positions, and let them hold real power. But Tang He did not make such a request, but instead told the emperor that he only wanted 100 beauties. Zhu Yuanzhang listened to his request and felt strange.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh on the spot, trusted him more, and aimed to build a mansion for him in his hometown, and later rewarded him with 300 taels of gold and 2,000 taels of silver, and gave him the same reward for his wife, and publicly issued a decree to praise the other party in the dprk, and also agreed with him that every year after that, he could enter Beijing to meet the emperor.
The news that Tang He had surrendered his military power to demand 100 beautiful women spread in the DPRK, which also caused the shameful laughter of other officials, and everyone laughed at his old age and impropriety, but Tang He did not care, and rarely set foot in the court after returning to his hometown. Zhu Yuanzhang, however, paid more attention to him.
In 1394, Tang He's illness worsened, and he couldn't even stand up, and the emperor remembered his fellow countryman, specially sent a car to take him into the palace, took his hand to remember the two men's journey around, and in 1395 AD, the seventy-year-old Tang He died of illness, and the emperor posthumously sealed him for three days.
epilogue
As a rare meritorious man during the Ming Dynasty, Tang He's most important point was to surrender his military power and stigmatize himself to alleviate the emperor's suspicions about him.
Let the emperor think that he was obsessed with beauty in his later years and had no intention of political affairs, so he was able to enjoy his old age in peace, and his descendants also inherited his title, which lasted for more than 200 years until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.