Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was born in a poor peasant family with 8 children, and he happened to be the fourth, so he was named "Zhu Zhongba". Zhu Yuanzhang's father, Zhu Wusi, in order to avoid tax debts, turned his back on his hometown to do things for the landlord Liu De, and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was 15 years old, was also doing things for this landlord, and his job was to herd cattle.
Zhu Yuanzhang also fantasized that if he could become a landlord like Liu De in the future, how good it would be to eat and drink spicy all day long, so he ran to listen to the landlord's son in the gap between cattle herding, hoping that he could also have a career in the future. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang did not know that he would become emperor in the future, just a hungry and full "cow herding baby".
The good thing is that in 1343, the locust plague and the plague swept through Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown together, and all his parents and siblings died, leaving only him and his second brother alive;
Zhu Yuanzhang was really desperate, so he had to go to the landlord's family to borrow money to bury his family. Liu De is usually very harsh, every time they Zhu Yuanzhang comes back from releasing the cow, they have to touch the belly of the cow to see if Zhu Yuanzhang has a good herding of the cow, if he feels that the cow's belly is deflated, he will beat him, and now he has to borrow money, I am afraid it is even more difficult than ascending to the sky.
Zhu Yuanzhang and his brother knelt in front of Liu De and wept bitterly, begging Liu De to pity them, but Liu De still did not agree to them. Chinese all paid attention to the soil for safety, and in the end, Liu De's brother Liu Jizu could not look down and buried their families in a relatively remote piece of land, and finally Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers buried their families with the help of Liu Jizu.
After Zhu Yuanzhang and his brother left their families, they also began to run for the rest of their lives, Zhu Yuanzhang also worked as a monk, but in the chaotic days, monks are not easy to do, and the incense in the temple is almost broken. In 1352, while still knocking wooden fish in the temple, he received a letter from Fa Xiaotanghe inviting him to join Guo Zixing's Red Turban Army.
The 25-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang changed his life this time, because of his outstanding performance, in just a few months he was appreciated by Guo Zixing, promoted from Ma Ben to the commander of the ministry, Guo Zixing also married his adopted daughter to him, this adopted daughter is the later famous Empress Ma.
In 1355, Guo Zixing died of illness, zhu Yuanzhang took over as guo zixing's commander, successively eliminated Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youyu, as well as some remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty in 1368, with the capital at Nanjing. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he went to his hometown again, and recognized Liu De in a bunch of people, and Liu De was afraid that he did not dare to look directly into Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, for fear that Zhu Yuanzhang would take revenge.
But Zhu Yuanzhang did not resent what Liu De did that year, and Liu De did not expect that the "cow herding baby" would become an emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang also rewarded him with 30 hectares of land, exempted from 10 years of taxation and servitude, Liu De heard that there was a reward for not dying, and immediately knelt down to thank the lord for his grace. Liu Jizu, the biggest helper to Zhu Yuanzhang, had long since passed away, and when Zhu Yuanzhang heard the news, he showed sadness on his face and gave his descendants a hereditary title.
The story of Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu De tells us a truth: "Don't deceive young people who are poor, and don't live up to the chaff grace", maybe the young people you look down on will become great people like Zhu Yuanzhang in the future.