Pig" is homophonous with "Zhu"! In the Ming Dynasty, what did people call pigs?

In ancient imperial power, there was a system of "avoidance", whether it was words or deeds or behavior, and if you did not pay attention, you could be beheaded. Judging from the types of "avoidance", it is mainly divided into "national secrets" and "family secrets", of which "national secrets" are most often mentioned, and "national secrets" are the most main avoidance of the names of emperors, such as: Song Taizu Zhao KuangYin, "Kuang" characters are less than the bottom horizontal; to avoid the han Gaozu Liu Bang's secrets, the word "bang" was changed to "guo" and so on.

What about the Ming Dynasty? The word "pig" is homophonous with "Zhu", what to do? It must be avoided, that's a sure thing. Otherwise, to say "kill the pig" is completely to rebel against the rhythm, and ten heads are not enough to cut. How did the Ming dynasty avoid the word "pig"? This problem is not difficult for the wise Ming Dynasty people to replace it with "豕" or "彘". In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang himself is not very mindful of the homophony of "pig" and "Zhu".

This can be seen from one thing, one year, Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuanzhang made a private visit to Nanjing City, and saw that every household had posted couplets, and Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy. Suddenly, Zhu Yuanzhang found that a family was not posted, and Zhu Yuanzhang went straight in. It turned out that this family was a pig, and the poor family could not afford to buy a couplet, so Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent his men to prepare a pair of couplets in pen and ink, "Splitting the road of life and death with both hands, and cutting off the root of right and wrong with one knife." From this point of view, Zhu Yuanzhang is not afraid of the word "pig".

Another point, it should be noted that the so-called "avoidance" is to avoid "name", not surname, and Li Shimin and Liu Bang mentioned the day before yesterday are the reason. However, the Ming Dynasty did once forbid the eating of pork, which was stipulated by Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao, "Zhengde FourteenTh December Yi Di, up to Yi Zhen." When the patrol arrived, the folk livestock and pigs were forbidden, and the slaughter was exhausted near and far, and the farmers of the tian family were thrown into the water. It is the age, Yi Zhen Ding Qi, there is a Si family sheep instead. ”

Why did Zhu Houzhao ban raising and killing pigs? In fact, the biggest reason is that Zhu Houzhao's own zodiac sign is "pig". No wonder he did this, but by the time of the sacrifice the following year, the ministers could not find a pig to sacrifice in the whole city! This is a great disrespect to the ancestors, and it is best that Zhu Houzhao can only abolish this prohibition.