Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a humble background, and in his early years his family was poor, and he often herded cattle in the wild when he was young. Later, after encountering natural and man-made disasters, his relatives in the family died, and in order to feed himself, he could only become a monk at the Huangjue Temple.
Soon after, the peasant revolt broke out, and Zhu Yuanzhang joined the rebel army, and at this point, he embarked on another path of life. After more than 20 years, Zhu Yuanzhang grew from a low-level anti-Yuan rebel army to a generation of founding monarchs, and many civilian and military generals followed him all the way. For example: Li Shanchang, the founding father of the country who fought all the way and was born into death; Liu Ji, a think tank with the talent of Kong Ming; Hu Weiyong, who was an official to the left; The military generals Fu Youde and Zhu Liangzu, and the civilian minister Li Shilu, etc., can be described as talents.
However, time has changed, and as a generation of subjects, fate will never be in your own hands.
Zhu Yuanzhang first ascended to the great treasure, the followers behind him, the reward that should be rewarded, the rise that should be ascended, the seal that should be sealed, and the court presented a prosperity and harmony.
As the founding father of the country, Li Shanchang, a very popular subject, was given the title of Zuo Cheng Xiang and later the Duke of Xuanguo, and even Zhu Yuanzhang also gave an iron coupon to save Li Shanchang from the second death and the death of his descendants. Li Shanchang was originally a good hand in handling the affairs of the imperial court, assisting Zhu Yuanzhang in orderly governance of the imperial court. Over the years, the Ming Dynasty court has become more and more stable, and the country and mountains that have experienced the baptism of war and chaos have also been revitalized. As the "second in command" Li Shanchang, the "party henchmen" behind him are also growing stronger and stronger.
However, the years will not treat anyone kindly, even Li Shanchang, who is intelligent and talented, must serve the old man, and as the head of a major force in the imperial court, he must arrange the future affairs properly. Among them, the most important was the appointment of officials in the DPRK, and among the officials promoted by Li Shanchang, the most famous was Hu Weiyong, who was related to him by marriage. Initially, Hu Weiyong was recommended by Li Shanchang to assume the position of Right Minister. After that, with his own talents, he was quickly reused by Zhu Yuanzhang and was promoted to zuoxiang.
Since ancient times, the power of the monarch and the power of the phase have always been the existence of the east wind over the west wind, and with the increase of power in his hands, Hu Weiyong changed his appearance of being loyal to his duties in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and became blind and wanton.
At this time, he not only used his power to intercept the unfavorable music books, but also made it impossible to report important events. In addition, in the later period, Hu Weiyong formed a party for personal gain, intending to rebel. Of course, in the end, Hu Weiyong's plot ended in failure, but the result was not something that Hu Weiyong alone could end. Not only was the Hu Weiyong clan sentenced to death, but even the Huaixi party behind them was purged, involving more than 40,000 people, including many prominent figures in the DPRK and China.
Among them were Hu Weiyong's former sponsors, Li Shanchang, who was now over seventy years old, and The Crown Prince Fu Songlian, who had been called a "saint" by Zhu Yuanzhang. Li Shanchang was reported to have "known the rebellion but did not move, the fox was suspicious and looked at both ends, and the great rebellion was not done", and more than seventy people in the family were all executed, only Li Qi, who married princess Lin'an, was spared death and exiled to Jiangpu. Song Lian's grandson was executed, he himself was relegated to Sichuan, and eventually, he died elsewhere.
In the face of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's thunderous anger, it was shocking that the henchmen in the DPRK and the Central Committee were so thoroughly liquidated. However, if these things are linked to Zhu Yuanzhang's personality and his actions during his reign, it is also reasonable. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, all his thoughts were on governing the country. With the stability of the court, the character defects that were inferior because of their birth were revealed step by step. Among them, the most obvious performance is the use of people.
At that time, in the Ming Dynasty, the person who could compare with Li Shanchang was Liu Ji.
Liu Ji, also known as Liu Bowen, was a high-profile figure at that time, with the same name as Wei Zheng and Zhuge Liang, with a rational personality, just and upright, and an official of the Yuan Dynasty in his early years. It can be said that it is precisely because of Liu Bowen's personality that he was ostracized in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, so he simply resigned and returned to his hometown. In the early days of Zhu Yuanzhang's founding of the dynasty, the imperial court was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, and it was in urgent need of officials, so Zhu Yuanzhang regretted that he would reuse it. As an upper-class official of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen participated in the handling of state affairs, and Zhu Yuanzhang also attached great importance to and trusted him.
After many years of serving as an official in the dynasty, Liu Bowen eventually became one of the core figures of the Eastern Zhejiang faction, as opposed to the Huaixi faction, and even Hu Weiyong, who came to the top later, had a deep grudge because of the matter of his original appointment. By the time of Liu Bowen's later years, the major forces that had developed were competing with each other, and the relationship between monarchs and vassals gradually faded from its original purity. In the end, Liu Bowen resigned his official post and returned to his hometown, and was poisoned by a bowl of poison, and this bowl of medicine was the work of Hu Weiyong, who was in full swing at that time.
Initially, Liu Bowen found that there was a problem with the medicine and also mentioned it to Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhu Yuanzhang used Liu Bowen's excessive thinking as an excuse to let him recuperate and take medicine. No one knows whether Zhu Yuanzhang's move is really unaware, or whether he deliberately used Hu Weiyong's hand to eliminate Liu Bowen. It was precisely because of the ambiguous attitude between the monarchs that Liu Bowen, who was powerless to resist, was eventually poisoned alive at home.
In addition, Li Shilu, who had been one of the founding ministers, probably did not want to get involved in the whirlpool of power struggle, and the Jin Luan Hall resigned from the government and returned to his hometown, but Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone on the spot to fall to his death in the Golden Ruan Hall.
A group of people who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight in Jiangshan, after the stability of the Ming Dynasty, became a major problem in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart. Fu Youde, a former founding general, made several northern expeditions to Sichuan and Pingnan, but as a result, because of the continuous sitting, the father and son went to the execution ground together and died of beheading. There was also Zhu Liangzu, who was also a military general, who was given the title of Marquis of Yongjia for his meritorious efforts in pacifying Guangdong and Guangxi, and finally, he and his son died tragically under the steel whip.
Those who were not charged with the crime of great rebellion often encountered Several people such as Chun, Xu Da, and Tang He. Chang Yuchun did not have a chance, he went early, but went cleanest; Xu Da finally died of goose meat, obviously suffering from the disease of avoiding goose meat, Zhu Yuanzhang gave goose meat so that he had to eat it all, and finally, he died in grief; and Tang He, who was stupid and did not look very smart, actually died.
In the face of such a monarch, the people of the court were afraid of the precarious situation.
So, why is Zhu Yuanzhang so "ferocious"?
First of all, this is related to Zhu Yuanzhang's inferiority complex. In the face of many talented and capable courtiers above the court, Zhu Yuanzhang was inferior and jealous, and felt uneasy, lest these courtiers would "make great achievements and cover the lord.".
Secondly, judging from the results of The Hu Weiyong case, it directly promoted the reform of the bureaucratic system that has lasted for thousands of years since the Qin Dynasty. As an emperor, standing at the peak of power, the desire to control power is getting bigger and bigger. In order to better strengthen the centralization of power, Zhu Yuanzhang directly abolished the post of chancellor after executing Hu Weiyong, and instead divided the power of the position that originally belonged to the chancellor into six ministries, and at the same time, it also solved the worries brought about by the growth of xiang power.
In the end, everything Zhu Yuanzhang did was to pave the way for the current prince. At that time, the crown prince Zhu Biao was cowardly and incompetent, and Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that after the crown prince succeeded to the throne, he would be swayed by the ministers of the court, so he eliminated these people who might become obstacles to the future power of the crown prince. The prince of good nature, in the face of his cruel father, had also dissuaded, but Zhu Yuanzhang ordered someone to bring a thorn with a stinger and let the prince hold it, and the pain of the prince was flowing.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang said to the prince who hated iron and steel: "The people I have eradicated are like the stingers in your hands, if I do not remove them one by one, how can you go so smoothly in the future." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang's various massacres of heroes were all aimed at maintaining the rule of the Ming Dynasty, but what he never expected was that the crown prince Zhu Biao died young, and his esteemed grandson Zhu Yunjiao, after inheriting the throne, was rebelled by his uncle Zhu Di, the King of Yan, and began to kill each other with blood relatives.
At this time, no one in the DPRK could resist the rebels, and in the end, Zhu Di's ascension to the throne Zhu Yunjiao disappeared, was this the result that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see?
Resources:
[Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang", "Ming Shi Li Shanchang Biography", "Ming Shi Liu Ji Biography"]