Those in high positions are often the most reflected in the feeling of being cold in the high places, so the emperor's suspicions are also extremely serious. In order to strengthen the absolute monarchy, there were not a few emperors in ancient times who beheaded and exiled the heroes of the country.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Han Gaozu's ancestor Liu Bang killed Han Xin and many other founding generals; after the Yue King Gou Practiced Guangguang and restored the Yue Kingdom, he beheaded the doctor WenZong, and the great general Fan Li was well aware of the principle of "cunning rabbits die, running dogs cooked", so he resigned his official and soared between the mountains and rivers; Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was afraid of the recurrence of the "yellow robe plus body" incident.
The first thing he did after becoming emperor was to "release the military power with a glass of wine."
"Grassroots Emperor" Zhu Yuanzhang is even more of a suspicious person,
After ascending to the throne, he wantonly beheaded the founding heroes Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong and others. Guo Decheng was a hero of the early Ming Dynasty and also Zhu Yuanzhang's brother-in-law, but the suspicious Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not kill him, but also rewarded him with gold.
Founding Hero
As we all know, it was very difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to become this emperor, he was originally from a poor background, and he was a cattle herder who herded cattle for the landlords. Due to natural disasters, relatives died one after another, the whole family went out to beg, and after being separated from his family, he had to enter the Huangjue Temple as a monk, and had to continue to wander and beg when the temple life was unsustainable.
During Zhu Yuanzhang's begging along the road, he met various peasant rebel armies, and with the help of his brother, the 25-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang joined the rebel army led by Guo Zixing against the Yuan Dynasty, and it happened that Guo Decheng and his two brothers were also in this team.
Guo Decheng's father, Guo Shanfu, was originally a jianghu warlock who gave people a face on the street.
As soon as he saw Zhu Yuanzhang, he saw that he was extraordinary, and believed that he would become a great instrument in the future.
After returning home, Guo Shanfu told his three sons Zhu Yuanzhang that he was the son of heaven, and all three of them were people who could become generals, so that they must follow Zhu Yuanzhang, assist him to become the king, and also marry his only daughter Guo Ninglian to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang won the respect of the whole army with his charm, and Guo Zixing also paid more and more attention to him. During Zhu Yuanzhang's crusade against the Yuan Dynasty and the fight against other rebel armies, the three brothers of the Guo family bravely killed the enemy and made great achievements.
As Guo Shanfu predicted, in 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor after breaking all kinds of peasant rebel armies.
Several sons became the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty,
The daughter was also given the title of Concubine Ling, and the Guo family was prominent for a while.
Suspicion
Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from the grassroots, was inferior from the bottom of his heart, and after he took the throne, he took a series of measures to strengthen the absolute monarchy and centralized power, and was particularly disgusted with those ministers who suppressed dissidents and formed parties for personal gain.
Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed empress, and both of his brothers were made generals.
Only Guo Decheng himself did not have a marquis, and the highest official position only achieved the xiao riding sheren.
Guo Decheng is well aware of the heart of the emperor, understands the principle of "accompanying the king like accompanying the tiger", whenever Zhu Yuanzhang proposed to make him a high official, Guo Decheng always refused, claiming that he had no talent to rule the world, did not like to be an official, and only liked to drink. Zhu Yuanzhang only smiled and acquiesced to his statement.
Once, Zhu Yuanzhang invited Guo Decheng to the Royal Garden to accompany him to drink, and Guo Decheng was overwhelmed when he saw the wine, accidentally drank too much, and tore his hair indiscriminately, bluntly saying that these hairs were too troublesome, but it was better to shave his head.
Zhu Yuanzhang had once been a monk, and when he heard Guo Decheng say this, he thought that he was indirectly mocking himself, but
Seeing Guo Decheng's drunken appearance, he could only put aside his worries for the time being.
After returning home and waking up, Guo Decheng was terrified at the thought of his drunken gaffe, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang hated others most when they mentioned the topic of monks and monks, lest he be in danger.
Guo Dechen thought about it and decided to confirm his reputation as a "drunkard" and a "madman". After a drink, he took the opportunity to pretend to be drunk and went to a temple to shave his hair and become a real monk. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard about it, he gradually dispelled the suspicion in his heart, thinking that Guo Decheng was indeed a careless word, and he was really just a drunkard.
Reward gold
However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not completely let down his guard, so he borrowed gold to test him at the banquet.
After Empress Ma's death, Guo Decheng's sister Concubine Ning was deeply loved by Zhu Yuanzhang, and even specially set up a banquet for her in the palace, and the Guo family naturally arrived.
After the banquet, Zhu Yuanzhang left Guo Decheng alone and once again offered to make him a high official, but he still refused for the same reason.
Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to give up, take out two pieces of gold and stuff them into Guo Decheng's clothes, call them rewards to him, and tell him not to publicize them to the outside world.
And Guo Decheng immediately understood that this was the emperor testing himself.
After Guo Decheng xie en, after a short period of thought, he thought of a good way to dispel the emperor's doubts. Before walking to the palace gate, Guo Decheng found a place where no one was and hid two pieces of gold in his boots.
After arriving at the palace gate, Guo Decheng pretended to be drunk and went on a rampage, the guards had to search as usual, and Guo Decheng deliberately took off his boots that would not have been inspected, so that the gold fell out.
The guards asked where the gold came from, and Guo Decheng casually said that it was stolen from the palace. Blatantly stealing in the palace was a serious crime, and the guards did not dare to be sloppy, and immediately brought him to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately interrogated him again about how the gold was obtained, Guo Decheng still said that he had stolen it, Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with the situation, and told the guards that he had rewarded him, so that Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion of Guo Decheng was completely eliminated.
The successive crises are enough to see Guo Decheng's great wisdom.
From the time the emperor rewarded him with gold and prevented him from preaching it to the outside world, Guo Decheng understood that this was a life-and-death temptation.
He knew that before leaving the palace, the guards would search him, and the gold would inevitably be found. If Guo Decheng said that it was a reward from the emperor after it was discovered, it shows that he did not take the emperor's words to heart and despised the imperial power; if he did not say that it was the emperor's reward and easily let go of the palace, it means that he had a certain amount of power in the palace.
Fortunately, Guo Decheng was clever and clever, saw through the emperor's intentions, successfully resolved the crisis, and won the trust of Zhu Yuanzhang.
In 1380, the "Hu Weiyong Case" that shocked the government and the opposition broke out, and through this case, Zhu Yuanzhang took the opportunity to behead several founding ministers, involving a large number of people, and in this case, together with the ministers, they beheaded more than 30,000 people.
In 1393, the "Blue Jade Case" occurred, and more than 10,000 people were killed by Zhu Lian.
Guo Decheng has been able to save himself and the names of his family in every case by virtue of his usual lazy and alcoholic image.
In feudal society, the emperor is the master of heaven and earth, and the imperial power is supreme and cannot be infringed upon by anyone. Guo Decheng knows Zhu Yuanzhang's temperament very well, his vision is long-term, he knows that "the high places are not cold", willing to be a small official all his life, living a quiet and peaceful little life, this is not the best choice of that era.