If you can become the emperor's father-in-law, even if you have no real power, you can at least exchange it for a supreme position, and even many people will come to you. Although the emperor's father-in-law still has to kowtow to the emperor in peacetime, at least the emperor will respect him very much.
As the father of the emperor's concubine, as long as he follows the rules and does not do illegal and rebellious things, he can spend his life in peace and stability, and even future generations can enjoy happiness. But when Zhu Yuanzhang's father-in-law was not so good. At that time, there was a man named Hu Mei, who was Zhu Yuanzhang's father-in-law, but just to enter the palace to see his daughter, he was given death by the emperor.
Hu Mei entered the army
The history books record that "the first name was Tingrui, avoiding the Taizu character, and changing the name to beauty." Chu Shi Chen Youyu (初士陈友友), the minister of Jiangxi Province, guarded Longxing. ”
Hu Mei's original name was Hu Yanrui, because Zhu Yuanzhang was character Guorui, in order to avoid secrecy, Hu Yanrui later changed his name to Hu Mei.
At first, Hu Mei was a subordinate officer under Chen Youyi, and Zhu Yuanzhang heard that this person was heroic, and when he captured Jiangzhou, he sent someone to recruit Hu Mei. In the end, Hu Mei Kaesong surrendered, and Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to reward his knowledge of current affairs, still made him the minister of Jiangxi Province.
After Hu Mei surrendered to the Ming army, Zhu Yuanzhang treated him better than before, and Hu Mei also believed that his decision was correct, and later sent his daughter to the palace and became Zhu Yuanzhang's concubine.
Pet Concubine Hu
Hu Mei was very talented in military affairs, and Zhu Yuanzhang reused him many times. The history books record that "mei congzheng wuchang, fu and da and other handsome horse buzhou division to take Huaidong, into Zhang Shicheng, xiahuzhou, weiping river, do not take Wuxi, surrender Mo Tianyou." Shi also, Dr. Jia Ronglu. It is said that Hu Mei was ordered to fight Zhang Shicheng with Xu Da, and later captured Huzhou, besieged Pingjiang, and then led an army to capture Wuxi, surrendered Mo Tian, and after the triumphant return, Hu Mei was crowned as ronglu doctor.
Later, Hu Mei repeatedly made military achievements, because of his merits, his daughter Hu Shi was also valued by Zhu Yuanzhang, and was named a concubine, giving birth to the twelfth son of the emperor, Zhu Bai. The history books record that "(Zhu Bai) was sexually addicted to learning, and read books every night. He also led troops to quell the Changde rebellion, and was made the King of Xiang by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was in Jingzhou.
Go to hell and die
In the fourth year of Hu's concubine, Hu Mei was suddenly imprisoned by Zhu Yuanzhang, and in the twenty-third year of Hongwu, Hu Mei was ordered to die by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Hu Mei made great military achievements for the Ming Dynasty, his daughter Hu Shi was a favorite concubine, and his grandson Zhu Bai was clever and clever from an early age, and was deeply valued by Zhu Yuanzhang, why was his ending so tragic? Why did Zhu Yuanzhang arrest Hu Mei?
How the history books record this incident, the "History of Ming" records that "seventeen years of sitting and dying." Twenty-three years later, Li Shanchang was defeated, the emperor decreed that the party should be betrayed, and Yan Mei, because the eldest daughter was a noble concubine, took her son-in-law into the chaotic palace and was forbidden. ”
That is to say, in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, Hu Mei was suddenly imprisoned, and for twenty-three years, Hu Mei, because the eldest daughter was a noble concubine, he and his son-in-law disturbed the palace ban, and finally the matter was revealed, his son-in-law died because of torture, and Hu Mei was also given death by the emperor.
Therefore, there is a folk saying that Hu Mei entered the palace without the permission of the emperor to visit his daughter Hu Shi, in ancient times, the harem was not allowed to enter men, Hu Mei entered the harem without authorization, that is, contempt for imperial power. It was for this reason that Hu Mei was punished by Zhu Yuanzhang.
But Hu Mei is a courtier, will he not know that it is a felony to do so? Even if he didn't know, how much he wanted his daughter and had to break into the harem without permission. Even if he took ten thousand steps back, Hu Mei really did this, then he was Zhu Yuanzhang's heavy courtier, his daughter was a spoiled concubine, and besides, he did not break into any catastrophe, as long as he punished him a little to show a warning, why did Zhu Yuanzhang have to give death?
This shows that Hu Mei's death is not so simple.
We need to know what Hu Mei started by, leading soldiers to fight. When Hu Mei surrendered to the Ming army, he proposed two conditions to Zhu Yuanzhang: first, his original position must be guaranteed; second, his army could not be absorbed, and his army should still be under his own control.
Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to his first request, so after Hu Mei surrendered, he still held his previous position. However, the second condition made Zhu Yuanzhang always dissatisfied. You have obviously surrendered to me, but you refuse to hand over the military power, is it because you want to leave a way back for yourself so that you can commit wrongdoings in the future?
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang's emissaries persuaded him to agree to Hu Mei's request first, and as for the military power to find an opportunity to take back in the future, Hu Mei agreed to submit to Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been wary of Hu Mei, he does not fully believe in Hu Mei, and has repeatedly sent him to fight, but also wants to spy on his loyalty. This was the first reason why Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to get rid of Hu Mei.
The second reason is that Hu Mei was doing things for Chen Youyi, who was Chen Youyu, Zhu Yuanzhang's sworn enemy. Now that he had persuaded his mortal enemy's men to submit, this person was still unwilling to surrender his military power, and if he had a different heart in the future and wanted to avenge Chen Youyu, it would be a very troublesome thing. Because of these two points, Zhu Yuanzhang could not fully trust Hu Mei.
Before Hu Mei was imprisoned, the history books recorded that "beauty and Jing have a side of merit, and the emperor is particularly thick." It is said that Hu Mei and Yang Yan have the merit of being independent, so they are particularly treated by Zhu Yuanzhang. Since he received special favors, why was he suddenly imprisoned in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, and there is no record of these years during this period.
This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang had already begun to plot, and in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Hu Mei was named the Marquis of Linchuan, and his status was already at its peak. At this time, Hu Mei was in a high position of power and still had an army for him to deploy, and Zhu Yuanzhang naturally could not tolerate him anymore. In addition, Hu Mei is a foreign relative, if he allows it to develop, it will be difficult to deal with in the future, so from this time on, Zhu Yuanzhang has been planning how to deal with Hu Mei.
Although Hu Mei was a military expert and also made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, his merits were too high, his status was more sensitive, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a suspicious emperor, which doomed Hu Mei not to die well. It's just a pity that the prosperity and decline, in the end, Hu Mei died inexplicably, I'm afraid that even he himself did not think that the reason for being given death would be so absurd.
(Reference "Myashi")