"History of Ming" "Praise: Taizu with the wisdom of the gods and martial resources, embracing the aspirations of the world and the people, taking advantage of the time, Haojie Jingcong, suppressing chaos and destruction, fifteen years into the emperor." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang was originally a poor peasant, when he was a child, he worked as a cattle herder, and later because of the pressure of life, he also became a small monk, along the way, he was able to achieve the imperial industry, and he was a legendary existence among the emperors of all generations. He was born low, but he became a role model for later generations to learn, and was often evaluated by people with the four-word "wise and divine martial arts".
During his reign, there was a great drought, many of the people starved to death, seeing such a situation, his heart was heartbroken, his original intention of establishing the dynasty was to give the people of the world a better country, to become a king who can understand the "people's livelihood and suffering", seeing these people suffering, he opened a warehouse and released grain, and did his best to help the people.
Zhu Yuanzhangzhi was so concerned about the people because he himself was from a poor background, he was born in Haozhou Zhongli Guzhuang Village in 1328, he lived a hard life of exploitation every day, his family was poor, he did not have the opportunity to go to school since he was a child, and he had to earn some living expenses by herding cattle for other people's families.
In 1343, there was a drought in Haozhou, and the next spring there was a plague and locust plague, Zhu Yuanzhang's parents died in this disaster, when the ruling class was corrupt at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, not only did not help the people, but also constantly exploited the people, he had no way to go, to become a monk, but even the temple did not eat, and finally he could only go to the fate, the disasters of that year were deeply imprinted in his heart. So he couldn't let his people suffer like that again.
Zhu Yuanzhang also knew in his heart that if the people were caught in water and fire, but the imperial court only cared about their own greed for pleasure, there would be dissatisfaction in the hearts of the people, and there were many rebels like Cheng Sheng and Wu Guang in history, who could unite the suffering people and rebel against the useless imperial court, Zhu Yuanzhang was also one of the rebels in those years, so the disaster and famine could be small or big, and if the people sang praises and praises and handled it well, then the water could carry the boat and overturn the boat, and it was possible that the throne would not be secured.
He opened a warehouse to release grain and provide relief to the people. But he was also suspicious, and it was not certain whether officials would work upwards or downwards. Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not have the opportunity to go to school when he was a child, he was very diligent later, and Li Shimin once said: "If you take the mirror as a mirror, you can dress properly; if you think that it is a lesson, you can see the gains and losses, and you can learn from history; you can know the rise and fall." Zhu Yuanzhang could not read a lot of historical materials, and naturally knew that no matter how holy the monarch's subordinates were, it was inevitable that there would be corrupt officials and corrupt officials.
At the same time as opening the warehouse and releasing grain, the most effective way for him to understand the real people's feelings is to go and see for himself. But he was also worried that if the officials knew that they were going to check on the disaster, they might deliberately show themselves when he went, so he decided to pay a private visit, find a beggar's clothes to put on, and go to investigate.
Begging this matter, Zhu Yuanzhang has experience, he relied on the experience of his youth, all the way to come, there are passing officers and soldiers next to him did not pay attention to who he is, and finally he went to the Huainan area where the disaster was the most serious, he obviously had allocated funds to release grain, but he was still hungry all over the field, nor did he see the officials vigorously providing disaster relief, seeing is believing, he saw clearly everything that happened.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew in his heart that all this money and wealth must have been embezzled, he took off his beggar's clothes, returned to the imperial court, and found out that there were 61 people who were corrupt, and the most hateful thing was that there were 5 Yipin ministers in it, who took high-ranking officials and did not do things for the people, but abused their powers, pretended to be public and private, and did some corrupt things, everyone knows that Zhu Yuanzhang hates corrupt officials the most, and has issued a number of edicts warning officials not to be corrupt, but these people know the law and break the law, so these 5 important courtiers were beheaded by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang killed 150,000 corrupt elements during his 30-year reign and clearly stipulated: "Officials who embezzle more than 60 taels of silver should be killed." He also said that as long as it is corruption, no matter who it is, he will never tolerate it. And these people knew the law and broke the law, and finally they were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, which was also deserved.