Zhu Yuanzhang killed so many heroes, are they all deserved?
The late Qing historian Meng Sen once said in the "Lecture Notes on the History of Ming" that "since the first emperor, those who have won the righteousness of the country have only Han and Ming", why is this? He explained that it was because Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, were both "pifu uprisings, without the suspicion of relying on the prestige of Bing, to eliminate violence for the people, and did not have the intention of foreseeing the artifact", that is to say, these two people were from humble origins, did not have the political lineage, and the prestige of the door valve, but they could gain the world, and their original intention was only to eliminate harm for the people, not to seek power and usurp the throne, which was not easy. However, the two most righteous people in China's history are also the founding kings who have killed the most founding heroes in Chinese history. The reason is also because they come from humble origins, afraid of those who have the ability to rebel, in order to protect their own country, they can only kill their former friends who followed their conquests.
Among them, Zhu Yuanzhang was the most brutal, and the most famous of the founding heroes he killed were Li Shanchang, the Duke of Korea, and Lan Yu, the Duke of Liangguo. As for Hu Weiyong, although he was not knighted, he did contribute to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and he can be counted as a founding hero. But shouldn't these founding heroes really be killed? Not necessarily.
First of all, Blue Jade was greatly praised by Zhu Yuanzhang after many meritorious deeds, and the gifts were great, which made Blue Jade gradually arrogant, and even learned that Zhu Yuanzhang before he ascended the throne took many righteous sons and raised many Zhuang slaves. Lan Yu had forcibly occupied Dongchang Mintian and was questioned by Yu Shi, and as a result, Yu Shi was directly driven away by Lan Yu. Zhu Yuanzhang came from a poor background, and he most despised such officials, but whether to kill or not was not up to the emperor. As a result, due to the early death of crown prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang intended to support his young grandson Zhu Yunjiao to succeed to the throne, so the fierce general Lan Yu had to be killed. But sapphire is also deserved.
And Hu Weiyong, who was the last minister of Zhongshu Province in Chinese history, was even more damned. After Yang Xian's death, Hu Weiyong was highly valued by Zhu Yuanzhang, so he served as a chancellor for many years, which made him slowly arrogant. Many major events of life and death and dethronement dared not to report Zhu Yuanzhang's own decision. He reads the chapters reported by various departments first, and then he will not submit the detainees that frame him. He also took bribes. Lu Zhongheng, the Marquis of Ji'an, and Fei Ju, the Marquis of Liang, were both scolded by Zhu Yuanzhang for some trivial matters, and the two were very afraid, and Hu Weiyong took the opportunity to envelop the two with the intention of rebellion. Since Li Shanchang's younger brother Li Cunyi was the father of his son-in-law Li You, which had another layer of kinship with Li Shanchang, he asked Li Cunyi to persuade Li Shanchang to join him, but the elderly Li Shanchang did not want to wade through this muddy water, so he did not agree but did not report it. In September of the twelfth year of Hongwu, because Hu Weiyong did not report zhu Yuanzhang's tribute to the champay state, the Ministry of Rites and Zhongshu Province shirked their responsibilities to each other, angering Zhu Yuanzhang and directly taking Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong together. The following year, Hu Weiyong's conspiracy was brought to trial, and China's last prime minister died. Zhu Yuanzhang also ordered the abolition of Zhongshu Province, and there was no chancellor from then on.
Let's talk about Li Shanchang, who held an important position in the dynasty for ten years after Hu Weiyong was killed, and it was not until Hongwu twenty-three years ago that he was killed because he did not report Hu Weiyong's rebellion that year. But this can not be said to be unjust, in ancient times, conspiracy to rebel is a capital crime, you Li Shanchang knew but did not tell Zhu Yuanzhang, this is not clear with acquiescence, do not kill you to kill whom.
So did Zhu Yuanzhang not have the heroes who were wrongfully killed? There are still some, feng sheng and Fu Youde died unjustly. Feng Sheng was reprimanded by Zhu Yuanzhang because he had met with his son-in-law Zhu Xu (Zhu Yuanzhang's fifth son) privately, and finally Zhu Yuanzhang was too suspicious, believing that the military alliance between the crown prince and the general was too dangerous, so he killed Feng Sheng.
Fu Youde died for no reason. In November of the 27th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang hosted a banquet for the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs. However, when Fu Youyoude walked to the door of the banquet and found that the guardian was his son, he was very angry, but he had to bear with it. At the banquet, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly raised his dissatisfaction with Fu Youde's son Fu Rang, and fu Youde got up to confess his guilt and was reprimanded by Zhu Yuanzhang for being disrespectful and asked him to take the second son's first rank. In the end, Fu Youde took the heads of his two sons to Zhu Yuanzhang and committed suicide.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was very cruel, he was only a corrupt official and a person who violated the law and discipline, and he still loved the people like a son.