The life of the grassroots emperor Zhu Yuanzhang is legendary, from a cattle herding baby all the way back to the Ninth Five-Year Emperor. He experienced the hardships of his childhood and tasted the cold and warmth of the world, especially the oppression of the landlord Liu De when he was a child.
When he returned home, how did he treat the landlord Liu De?
Born into poverty
Zhu Zhongba, a native of Fengyang, Anhui, when he was a child, his family was poor, and in the late Yuan Dynasty, the Shu people were not allowed to be named, and could only use the combined age of their parents as a name, or according to the family ranking name, Zhu Yuanzhang ranked eighth in his family, so he was called Zhu Zhongba.
Because of his poverty, Zhu Yuanzhang had no money to go to school when he was a child, and he herded cattle for the landlord Liu De during the day, and there was no wage, and the landlord occasionally enjoyed food and food.
Zhu Yuanzhang's family belonged to the extremely poor peasants, and there was not a single point of land, and his father, Zhu Wusi, made a living by working for the landlords, and in order to catch up with the good years, the landlords could reward some grain and catch up with the bad years.
In other words, as long as there is still a mouthful of surplus grain at home, and the wife and children are hot, Zhu Yuanzhang will definitely not go out to break in.
Landlord Liu De
Because of the reason why the film and television drama scandalized the landlord, everyone may have some misunderstandings about the ancient landlord, and the landlord must have been the most diligent peasant in all dynasties. How did landlords come about?
From the very beginning, each person was given three acres of land, and the peasant Zhang San worked hard in the field every day, paying a lot more sweat than others, and the grain naturally produced more, and the remaining surplus grain went to buy land. Some farmers are lazy and can only exchange land for grain. Gradually, the Zhang Sanjia family owned six acres of land, ten acres of land, and twenty acres of land. After decades of accumulation, Zhang San became a landlord.
After there is more land, Zhang San himself can't be busy, what to do? He rented the land to the peasants, sat at home to collect the rent, and after slowly accumulating a certain amount of wealth, he would also choose to lend money to the peasants and charge high interest. Large landowners were born from this.
It is precisely because landlords know that the land they own is not easy to come by, so they are often very critical.
Zhu Yuanzhang's father, Zhu Wusi, gave Liu De land every day, and in addition to rent, there was almost no grain left in the family. Because there are too many children, they can't afford to raise them. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang supported himself from an early age, and followed other children to herd cattle for the landlord to reduce the burden on the family, in case he could catch a wild game, it was simply a mountain treasure and seafood.
The landlord Liu De, who has a fat head and big ears, eats every day with a mouth full of oil, but cuts the children who herd cattle very much, and only occasionally rewards them with leftovers. Usually, the requirements for these naughty children are also very harsh, and they can't help but scold because of a little triviality. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang hated him very much in his heart.
Stealing beef
Zhu Yuanzhang was resourceful from an early age, and was the head of this group of cattle herders, and during a cattle herding, Zhu Yuanzhang and his friends were so hungry that they couldn't find anything to eat. Everyone asked Zhu Yuanzhang to think of a way to get some food to fill his stomach.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked around, only the endless meadow, and the only thing he could eat was the calf in front of him. In the face of hunger, Zhu Yuanzhang could not manage so much, and could only roast and eat this calf of the landlord's family.
The first time the friends ate beef, they devoured it one by one, and before long, only a cow's tail was left. At this time, the friends are afraid, how to explain to Liu De in the evening? If Liu De knew that they had eaten the cattle, he would have killed them.
As the child king, the resourceful and brave Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward again, he asked the children to bury the bones and ashes, and then found a cliff edge, put the tail of the cow in a stone crack on the edge of the cliff, and hurried to the landlord Liu De's house to tell Liu De about the cow falling off the cliff.
After Liu De came to the edge of the cliff, he saw that several cowherds only grabbed the tail of the cow, the cow may have fallen into the cliff, deep and bottomless, Liu De saw that these children were okay, he scolded them, and this matter was over.
Both parents died
In history, there is an iron law that whenever dynasties change, there will be natural disasters.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was 15 years old, there was a drought in the Haozhou area, and later caught up with the plague and locust plague, and the peasants had no harvest. If a peasant is unfortunate enough to get sick, he has no money to find a doctor to see a doctor, so he can only pray for incense and worship the Buddha at home and pray for peace.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang's father Zhu Wusi was unfortunately infected in this plague, and then, there was a famine, the mother and eldest brother starved to death one after another, and the departure of the parents gave Zhu Yuanzhang a great blow, and there were only a few stinking children left in the family, helpless.
In any case, parents must be allowed to "bury themselves in the ground" and settle down. Zhu Yuanzhang's family was destitute, and where there was money to buy coffins and cemeteries, Zhu Yuanzhang could only wrap his parents and eldest brother in broken straw mats first.
Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang found the landlord Liu De, hoping that Liu De would buy a coffin for his parents and give him a piece of land to bury his parents on the basis of his father's work for many years.
But Liu De refused and drove away Zhu Yuanzhang. Because there were too many poor peasants like Zhu Yuanzhang's parents at that time, he was already numb, and we can't evaluate that Liu De was too bad, we can only say that he had no sympathy, in that era, human life was indeed like grass and mustard, not worth mentioning.
Zhu Yuanzhang's actions did not move Liu De, but touched his neighbor Liu Jizu, who was kind enough to buy a coffin for Zhu Yuanzhang's parents and buried them. This act of kindness was remembered by Zhu Yuanzhang.
In order to survive, Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother, sister-in-law and nephew were forced to separate, each uprooted from their hometown, hoping to find a way to live, in desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang came to Huangjue Temple to shave as a monk, because when the monk can eat mixed food, will not starve to death.
Homecoming
Many years later, Zhu Yuanzhang had become the Emperor of Daming, the True Dragon Heavenly Son.
In May 1370, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his hometown to worship his ancestors, and in the crowd of onlookers, Zhu Yuanzhang recognized the landlord Liu De at a glance and ordered him to come and ask questions.
Only to see that the landlord Liu De was trembling, hurriedly knelt down, kept prostrating his head, and said: The villain had no eyes and no pearls in the past, and offended the emperor. Begging Zhu Yuanzhang to spare his life.
Zhu Yuanzhang replied:
What er does is also a constant ear, and there is no need to ask. When I was poor, did I know that today is the Son of Heaven?
What you do is also in line with human nature, and when I herd cattle, you don't know that I will become the Son of Heaven in the future.
Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang asked: Where is the benefactor, Mr. Liu Jizu?
Liu De replied: Liu Jizu has been ill and died for many years.
After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang deeply regretted it and posthumously honored him as the Marquis of Yihui, so as to protect Liu Jizu's descendants and enjoy special honors forever. He also rewarded the landlord Liu De with 30 acres of good land and exempted him from taxes.
Zhu Yuanzhang's move made Liu De grateful, he thought that Zhu Yuanzhang would take the opportunity to retaliate, but he did not expect to get Zhu Yuanzhang's favor.
The great poet Su Shi of the Song Dynasty once said:
Those who have established great things in the past will not only have supernatural talents, but also have the will to persevere, and also have a broad mind like the sea.
Zhu Yuanzhang has experienced hardships since he was a child, which has created his tenacious will, and if he can achieve great things, he must have the mind of a hundred rivers.