Everyone has heard of such a thing: "Zhu Yuanzhang was fierce in heart, a murderous demon, he once burned a number of founding heroes in the Qinggong Building..."
So, has this really happened in history? What's going on here?
Don't worry, today we will talk about this in detail.
In the folk, there has always been a legend, that is, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he was very afraid every day, because he was afraid that one day he would be taken by others and robbed of the country. However, looking at the world, who has such a skill? However, Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature, and he did not want to believe this fact. In this way, those heroes who followed him to fight the country and mountains together actually became a thorn in his eye.
One day, Zhu Yuanzhang was alone in the palace dealing with government affairs, and the inspection school (a Ming Dynasty organization responsible for checking people's behavior) suddenly came to report that a certain minister was complaining in secret, and a certain minister was feasting on guests at home, secretly meeting with friends, and so on. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this news, he immediately had a question, and he thought: "Are these ministers secretly united behind my back and want to rebel?" ”
"No, in order to save my old Zhu family's country, I must attack them before them to seize the opportunity."
Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang came up with a countermeasure that could sweep the ministers away. He first passed on the holy edict to the central departments, saying: "After the founding of the country, although I have knighted and rewarded many treasures to the meritorious ministers, I have not properly celebrated their merits. ”
Therefore, four months later, a high-rise building was built in Nanjing, and Zhu Yuanzhang named this building "Qinggong Building" and personally wrote a plaque. Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a good day to be held, and he personally wrote down the list of ministers who participated in the ceremony. On the surface, this is a banquet of the highest standard in the country.
However, although Zhu Yuanzhang was very secretive and careful, he was still guessed by Liu Bowen, who had the title of "Regeneration Zhuge Ge". However, although Liu Bowen knew the emperor's thoughts, he did not dare to declare it. After several considerations, Liu Bowen finally wrote a letter, saying: "I am old and unable to take on major tasks in the DPRK and China, and I request to return to my hometown for the elderly." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang naturally approved Liu Bowen's request, and many ministers came to send Liu Bowen off when he left. When Liu Bowen saw his friend Xu Da, because he was overly worried that he would lose his life, he couldn't help but cry for a while. Xu Da saw Liu Bowen's appearance, and could not help but guess that there must be something strange in this, so he found a time to secretly ask Liu Bowen.
However, this is a major national event, how can Liu Bowen easily tell others. Therefore, Liu Bowen instructed him: "At the celebration banquet, do not leave the emperor for half a step." ”
Soon after, it was time for the ceremony to be held. At that time, the Qinggong Building was full of high-ranking officials and generals, which was very lively.
After Zhu Yuanzhang and the ministers chatted for a while, he saw the inspector and the Jinyi guard signaling to him: "Gunpowder, dry firewood, etc. are ready." Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang found an excuse to leave the banquet.
Xu Da had always remembered Liu Bowen's advice in his heart, and after he saw that the emperor was gone, he also followed. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang had already descended the stairs, and when he turned his head to find Xu Da behind him, he was very surprised, so he asked: "Ai Qing, why don't you drink upstairs?" Xu Da hurriedly lowered his head and pleaded with the emperor: "Long live Grandpa, have you really decided to do that?" ”
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard Xu Da's words, he knew that Xu Da already knew his intentions. So he said to Xu Da, "Since you already know what I think, I'll let you go." However, this matter can only be known to me and the two of you, and there must be no third person to know, otherwise, I will never let you go! Shortly after Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da left, a big fire broke out in Qinggong Building.
The ministers were all drunk and could not escape. In the end, QinggongLou disappeared with the ministers...
It is said that Xu Da escaped from the death of the meritorious building, returned home, did not want to eat all day and did not dare to come out, and it did not take long for the depression to become ill, and there was a pimple on his back, and the person was even more out of shape.
One day, two eunuchs brought a steamed goose to Xu Da's mansion and said, "The emperor heard that the emperor was not in good health, and specially ordered the little man to come and greet him." "Xu Da knows that the male goose is a hair object, which hurts the back, and then eats the male goose, will not be killed, this is the emperor's death." Thinking about it, the two lines of tears came down, went forward to give thanks, and accepted the rooster goose. It didn't take long for him to die with hatred.
So, in history, is there a celebration building? Is this really true?
In fact, this legend first appeared in some commentaries of the Qing Dynasty, "Biography of Heroic Martyrs", "Heroic Martyrs of Daming", and "Biography of Ming Heroes". Because zhu Yuanzhang was called the "True Dragon Heavenly Son" many times in the original book, carrying the mission of heaven and making the Rulers of the Qing Dynasty very unhappy, so people made some modifications to the original book, adding a lot of content that vilified and slandered the Ming royal family, and "Burning Qinggong Building" was part of it.
Through the history books of the Ming Dynasty compiled by the Qing people, we can find that there is no record of the burning of the Qinggong Building. Therefore, the burning of the Qinggong Building looks real, but in fact there are flaws everywhere. However, the Qinggong Building is real, according to the Ming records: Zhu Yuanzhang once built a building in Nanjing, he often discussed some military secrets with some strategists and generals here, and there were indeed some artillery and gunpowder in the building.
However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the Ming Dynasty recorded an accident about this building in the book: one day, for unknown reasons, there was a sudden explosion in the Qinggong Building, and the sound was very loud. Because this building was right next to the official palace, it caused panic in the city for a while. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was lucky that day, just not in the building. Maybe the legend of the burning of the Qinggong Building evolved from this incident.
Moreover, regarding Xu Da's death, the Ming Shi records Xu Da's illness and death, and according to Xu Zhenqing's "Zhai Sheng Ye Wen", Xu Da was poisoned by Zhu Yuanzhang. Wang Wenlong's "Record of Long Xingci" records that Xu Da could not eat geese due to illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang gave Xu Da steamed geese, and Xu Da died after eating. Therefore, in summary, the legend of the burning of the Qinggong Building is false and unreliable.
But why are people still willing to believe this story? In fact, to a certain extent, this is related to Zhu Yuanzhang's cruel and ruthless character.
In 1380, in order to centralize imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong, the chancellor at the time, on the charge of "plotting against the law", and also reprimanded his nine tribes. Later, other pretexts were used to kill all those related to Hu Weiyong, and in the end, the matter became a national case. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang went on a killing spree under the pretext of slandering The Duke of Liangguo Lanyu for attempting to rebel.
In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang killed many founding heroes in just fourteen years. And these two events are the famous "Hu Lan Party case" in history. Moreover, for his father's random killing, crown prince Zhu Biao once expressed his opposition, and he said: "Your Majesty kills like this, I am afraid that it will hurt the harmony between him and the ministers." At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang did not pay attention to Zhu Biao's words.
The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately threw a rattan full of thorns on the ground, and then asked the prince to pick it up. The prince was afraid of being stabbed in his hand, so he did not dare to pick it up. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "You are afraid of thorns, so you dare not pick them up, so I will help you remove the thorns now. Now that I have killed these people who may pose a threat to you in the future, you will be able to sit firmly in the country. ”
To tell the truth, Zhu Yuanzhang's words are still very reasonable, but unfortunately, the crown prince Zhu Biaoying died early and did not sit on the throne, and the heir to the throne was Zhu Biao's fifteen-year-old son Zhu Yunjiao. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang was more afraid that the ministers would seize power because the new monarch was young, so he would kill the ministers indiscriminately.
Therefore, some people who hated Zhu Yuanzhang exaggerated these things that Zhu Yuanzhang did and recorded them in the form of literature, and later, they gradually evolved into these legends that we see and hear now.
Resources:
["Ming Shi Taizu Benji", "Ming Shi Liu Ji Biography", "Ming Shi Chronicle At the End of the Book"]