The snow presses the branches low, although it is not low in the mud; when the red sun rises, it is still in line with the sky. - Zhu Yuanzhang
In the history of our country, Zhu Yuanzhang was a very famous iron-blooded emperor, who was not only cruel enough to himself, but also to the people under his opponents.
When Hongwu was about ten years old, an official sold his daughter to go home because of his lack of money.
As a result, after Zhu Yuanzhang learned of this, he directly sentenced this person to "corruption", which is what we often call "becoming a eunuch". So, what's going on here?
The Hongwu Emperor's "Search"
As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang was originally a cowherd, and when he was a child, he had to eat and become a monk, which can be said to have suffered a lot.
By chance, Zhu Yuanzhang received a letter from his childhood playmate Tang He, so he joined Guo Zixing's rebel army and began his legendary career.
During the uprising, Zhu Yuanzhang fought bravely and was soon promoted. Later, he even walked out of Haozhou City and established his own entrepreneurial team.
Subsequently, he took his own men and horses to continuously expand the territory, laid the military town of Nanjing, and used this as a base to expand around.
Finally, at the suggestion of Liu Bowen, Zhu Yuanzhang first fought a decisive battle with Chen Youyi, and then defeated Zhang Shicheng and established the famous Ming Dynasty, known in history as the "Hongwu Emperor".
However, although Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, his requirements for life were very frugal, perhaps because he had too many hard days when he was a child.
At the same time, when Zhu Yuanzhang demanded that he be frugal, he also generally demanded that civil and military officials should not be extravagant and wasteful. Therefore, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were very low, and in Emperor Zhu's view, these Feng Lu were enough for them not to go hungry.
Once, there was such an official who wanted to go home after being dismissed by Zhu Yuanzhang. Because there is no coil in his hand, he can only sell his daughter to exchange money and raise money for the way home.
During his reign, although this person did not have great merits, he was also considered to be an official and honest, and he could be regarded as a good official.
However, when Emperor Zhu learned of this matter, not only did he not take out silver to appease him, but he also directly "castrated" the minister.
Zeng Bing is exactly who he is
The person in the story is named Zeng Bingzheng, he is a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, this person is not very skilled, but he has a "clever mouth". Once, because of two things, he was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to appoint officials from "ethnic minorities" as officials, but he was stopped by Zeng Bingzheng, and the reasons he gave were very much in line with Zhu Yuanzhang's appetite.
At that time, he wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang, believing that the quality of ethnic minorities was inferior and could not be reused, otherwise it would not be conducive to the development and stability of the country and society.
In addition, he also proposed that ethnic minorities should speak Chinese and wear Hanfu to fundamentally change the living conditions of ethnic minorities. Zeng Bingzheng's proposal was unreasonable, and anyway, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with it, so he promoted him for the first time.
Soon after, Zeng Bingzheng was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang, and his status achieved a small leap. Another thing happened a year later (the Hongwu Decade).
At that time, a natural disaster occurred in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang summoned his ministers to discuss the matter, because it was related to the issue of national fortunes, so many people were not optimistic about this matter.
At this time, Zeng Bingzheng gave Zhu Yuanzhang a recital, in which he talked with Confucianism, believing that this was a sign of "Providence, conforming to the will of the people, and holding the state.".
As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang has always attached great importance to the national fortune, and the group of ministers are not optimistic about this matter, which makes him really a little "unhappy". However, when he saw Zeng Bingzheng's words of praise, he was very happy and praised this person again.
After a period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang entered Zeng Bingzheng into the center of the imperial court and became a chief of the Punishment Department, which can also be regarded as a carp leaping dragon gate, achieving a major turn.
Castrate him for me
During his tenure at the Punishment Department, Zeng Bingzheng had a straightforward personality and dared to speak out, so he was deeply liked by Zhu Yuanzhang. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang let him enter the Department of Communications and Politics and was in charge of civil complaints.
In this regard, Zeng Bingzheng is also very dedicated. However, with the passage of time, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually discovered that Zeng Bingzheng did not have much ability, and to use one sentence to describe it was "good speech, no ability".
What's more, with Zhu Yuanzhang's favor, Zeng Bingzheng's style also began to change subtly, and he always forcibly instilled his thoughts into the emperor, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very unhappy.
Under this circumstance, Zhu Yuanzhang could really understand Zeng Bingzheng's personality, and it turned out that he was a thorough "corrupt Confucian", and now he was looking away.
Thinking back to the earlier days, Zhu Yuanzhang praised Zeng Bingzheng's ability in front of the group of courtiers, but now the person he chose was a "corrupt Confucian", which made him a little angry.
At this time, Zeng Bingzheng handled several wrong cases, giving the Qunchen an excuse to "punch" Zhu Yuanzhang in the face. In this regard, Emperor Zhu could only "step down" Zeng Bingzheng and let him return to his hometown.
As the saying goes, "accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", during his tenure, although Zeng Bingzheng did not offend him, Zhu Yuanzhang wrote down "this account" in his heart because he lost face.
As we all know, during the next year, the salaries of the hundreds of officials were very low, and sometimes even the basic livelihood could not be guaranteed. Once, Qingguan Hairui bought two pounds of pork, which caused a great commotion.
And Zeng Bingzheng's Tongzheng Department is also a Qingshui Yamen, plus he is relatively clean for the officials, so he does not even have a travel fee when he returns home.
To this end, Zeng Bingzheng thought about going, and could only sell his daughter to come home. Zhu Yuanzhang took a look, this is not a punch in the face, although the salary I gave you is not much, it is not even possible to take out the entanglement, right?
In this way, Emperor Zhu believed that Zeng Bing had done this on purpose, and the anger in his heart exploded.
At that time, Zeng Bingzheng did not break the law, so Zhu Yuanzhang was not embarrassed to take him. Therefore, he found another reason to punish Zeng Bingzheng.
Zeng Bingzheng was a Confucian student, and Confucianism advocated the doctrine of "benevolence and righteousness", and Zeng Bingzheng's act of selling his daughter obviously violated this principle, so Zhu Yuanzhang used this as an excuse to castrate Zeng Bingzheng and said that he had done this in vain as a father.
Later, after Zeng Bingzheng was released by Zhu Yuanzhang, he returned to his hometown, and since then there has been no news, and there is no record of him in history.
As the saying goes, accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, not to mention that he is still working around the moody Emperor Zhu, corrupt officials have no life, and Qing officials are not good. After killing millions of soldiers in Jiangnan, the sword around his waist was still bloody; the mountain monk did not know the hero, and only asked for his name by beeping! This is Zhu Yuanzhang's "iron and blood".