There is an old saying: "Behind a successful man, there must be a great woman" This saying is applied to Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Taizu, which is most appropriate.
Today, let's talk about some legendary stories of the first empress of the Ming Dynasty, "Ma Dazu", from which we can also see how Zhu Yuanzhang, as an ordinary guard leader, climbed step by step to the position of The Son of Heaven!
Empress Xiaocigao of the Ma clan, female, of Han ethnicity, from present-day Suzhou, Anhui, was the adopted daughter of Guo Zixing of Chuyang. It is said that she is beautiful, slender and graceful, and intelligent, and very insightful when things go wrong.
The only drawback is that he was born with a pair of big feet, but he can also help his husband to firmly stand firmly in the country, haha.
It is said that after Zhu Yuanzhang joined the army, he made many military achievements, was quite trusted by Guo Zixing, and was awarded the title of commander of the pro-army in Fuzhong. Soon, Guo Zixing's subordinates Sun Deya, Zhao Jun, and others ganged up to cause trouble, and also took the opportunity to detain Guo Zixing, and they were worried about their lives, at this time Zhu Yuanzhang heard the news, personally led all the guards to risk death to save Guo Zixing, and from then on, Zhu Yuanzhang began to climb with good luck.
Guo Zixing had a young lady of the Zhang clan, with a unique vision, she found that Zhu Yuanzhang was bold and careful, and did things calmly, so she persuaded Guo Zixing to marry his adopted daughter Ma Shi to Zhu Yuanzhang in order to attract talents and strengthen the strength of the commander. Guo Zixing felt justified, so he married the twenty-year-old Ma Shi to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was twenty-five years old at the time.
At this time, the husband took his wife and noble, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly exchanged shotguns for cannons, and people on the left and right all looked at him differently and began to honor him as "Zhu Gongzi".
It is said that Guo Zixing is a narrow-minded person, he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was very popular in the army, acted competently, and was very loved by the soldiers around him, so he began to suspect that he had different intentions, often picking and choosing Zhu Yuanzhang, and sometimes scolding him.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not know how to be good for a while, and after returning home, Ma Shi advised him to be obedient to his father-in-law, get the spoils of war, and give the best advanced tribute to Guo Zixing and his wife and son, and then he could resolve the contradiction by mediating from time to time.
However, Guo Zixing's two sons saw that Zhu Yuanzhang's power was getting stronger, and they actually regarded him as a troublemaker, and once found a reason to arrest him, locked him in the firewood room to starve him to death, and Ma Dazu interceded with Guo Zixing while secretly hiding the burnt cake that had just come out of the pot in his underwear, and gave it to Zhu Yuanzhang in the name of detective, which finally made him escape a disaster.
It is said that because the burnt cake was too hot, it burned Ma's chest, which made Zhu Yuanzhang suffer and see the truth, which was unforgettable for the rest of his life.
Later, Ma Shi followed Zhu Yuanzhang's southern expedition to the northern war, and also suffered a lot. Because the troops marched to fight, sometimes food was in short supply, Ma Shi always tried to save his own food, trying to find a way to let Zhu Yuanzhang eat a full meal, but he was often hungry.
Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed empress dowager, and whenever he thought about this, his eyes were always moist, and he told his close ministers that if he did not take good care of Empress Ma, he would probably not survive those difficult years.
Not only that, Empress Ma can be said to have a deep affection for Zhu Yuanzhang, and she loves him more than her own life.
Once, during a battle between soldiers and horses against Chen Youyi's army, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the guards into the enemy army, and the two sides went through a scuffle, Zhu Yuanzhang was seriously injured, fell in the pile of dead people, and was dying, Ma Dazu heard about it, disregarding his own safety, disguised himself as a village girl, mixed into the enemy position, and finally found Zhu Yuanzhang, and carried him out of the siege, if it were not for this pair of big feet, how could Zhu Yuanzhang be able to turn the danger into a disaster?
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, Li Lishi became empress and ruled the six palaces. In the following fifteen years of court life, Empress Ma always strictly disciplined herself, and regularly advised Zhu Yuanzhang to make fewer mistakes, listen to the correct opinions of the ministers, and pay more attention to the well-being of the people. At the beginning of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, the government and the public were stabilized.
One day, when Zhu Yuanzhang went down to the court, Empress Ma inadvertently asked him: "Now the people of the world are still stable, right?" It happened that Zhu Yuanzhang was in a bad mood at this time, so he replied: "This is not what you as a woman should ask." ”
Empress Ma was stunned and said very seriously: "What is wrong with Your Majesty today, you are the king of a country, your concubines are the mother of a country, whether the people of the world are stable, why can't parents ask questions?" Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded for a moment, and had to laugh bitterly twice.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very suspicious of people, and after taking the throne, he often worried about the usurpation of the throne by his ministers, so he began to kill the heroes, and the biggest unjust imprisonment was Hu Weiyong's "anti-party case", because of the involvement between the upper and lower levels, as many as tens of thousands of ministers were killed.
Later, even the prince's teacher, Song Lian, a university scholar who has now returned home, was innocently involved, Zhu Yuanzhang did not ask for any reason, he wanted to execute him, the prince heard the news was on his knees and begged bitterly, and even angrily threw water to help the teacher Mingzhi, thanks to the people around him who quickly rescued him.
When Empress Ma heard about it, she asked people to make all the imperial meals of the day into vegetarian dishes. Zhu Yuanzhang retreated back to the harem to eat, and when he saw how it was all vegetarian dishes, he felt strange and asked Empress Ma what was the reason?
Empress Ma replied: The concubines are just sad, they want to eat some vegetarian dishes to pray for Mr. Song's blessing, and the people invite a private school to treat him with courtesy for a lifetime, Mr. Song is so dedicated to teaching the royal prince, shouldn't the concubines do something for him?
Zhu Yuanzhang listened, angrily dropped his chopsticks and turned away, but afterwards he figured out Empress Ma's words, and finally let Song Lian go and sent him to Maozhou.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Empress Ma of virtuous virtue and Shuliang fell seriously ill, and Zhu Yuanzhang was so anxious that he was anxious to sleep and eat, and issued an edict ordering the local governments to pray for the blessing of ma's sacrifices to the gods of the mountains and rivers, and to recruit the best doctors from the people to diagnose and treat his beloved wife.
However, the terminally ill Ma Dazu stopped Zhu Yuanzhang with a bitter smile, saying: "Human life and death are predestined by heaven, even if you do more, what is the use?" The concubines only wish that His Majesty can seek advice and be consistent, that all the children and grandchildren will be virtuous, and that the subjects will be able to afford it. ”