What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Zhu Yuanzhang, a native of Zhongli (now Fengyang, Anhui), was the eighth among his uncles and brothers, so his real name was Zhu Zhongba.
Zhu Yuanzhang grew up in a poor family, and his father, Zhu Wusi, made a living by renting the land of the landlord Liu De's family. When Zhu Yuanzhang was young, he also relied on herding cattle for Liu De's family to earn some rations.
In folklore, when Zhu Yuanzhang was herding cattle, a lot of interesting things happened.
Once, Zhu Yuanzhang was tired of herding cattle, so he fell asleep on the ground with a large log on his pillow, and happened to be seen by Liu Bowen, who was passing by. Liu Bowen saw Zhu Yuanzhang's head on the pillow, his limbs open, sleeping there on his back facing the sky, and he couldn't help but laugh, suddenly teasing. Liu Bowen picked up a branch of grass and tickled the heart of Zhu Yuanzhang's foot. But Zhu Yuanzhang did not wake up, but felt the itching of his feet, moved a little, turned sideways, curled up on his legs and fell asleep again.
When Liu Bowen looked at it, he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, pinched his fingers, and then suddenly realized. This child turned out to be the future Son of Heaven, and he would also be the one who would assist Zhu Yuanzhang to become the Son of Heaven.
It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang's sleeping posture at the beginning happened to be a "heaven" character; under Liu Bowen's scratching, it became a "son" character, which together was exactly the word "heavenly son". This is heaven's hint that Liu Bowen should assist Zhu Yuanzhang to gain the world and become the emperor.
Liu Bowen secretly inquired about Zhu Yuanzhang's situation and silently returned to his hometown. Many years later, at the invitation of Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Bowen came out of the mountains to help Zhu Yuanzhang unify the world.
After Liu Bowen left, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to herd his cattle. When Zhu Yuanzhang was herding cattle, he would often have a bunch of small friends following. Among these small partners, including three of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty, they are Tang He, Xu Da, and Zhou Dexing.
At that time, their favorite game was "being the emperor", and that "emperor" was naturally Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to the big stone on which he was sitting and said, This is my dragon chair, and then pointed to the valley in front of him and said, This is the Golden Ruan Treasure Hall. So the others knelt on the ground, prostrated their heads, shouted "Hooray," and played happily.
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Huizong of Yuan, there was a great drought in the world, the harvest of grain was cut off, and a great famine occurred. Instead of actively providing disaster relief, the local officials intensified their exploitation of the poor people for the sake of the good life of officials and nobles.
In order to help his family survive the famine, Zhu Yuanzhang worked harder to help the landlord Liu De herd cattle. Because he ate less and couldn't keep up with his physical strength, Tang He actually starved when he followed Zhu Yuanzhang to herd cattle. Zhu Yuanzhang hugged the weak tanghe, gritted his teeth and said, Today I invite everyone to eat beef.
Under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, Zhou Dexing, and other friends helped to kill a calf that was grazing, set it up and roasted it and ate it. They roasted and ate at the same time, each one of them eating with a mouth full of oil. Tang He, who had regained some strength, told Zhu Yuanzhang that Liu De would definitely punish us if he found that there was a cow missing. Zhu Yuanzhang said, don't be afraid, I have a way.
Under the command of Zhu Yuanzhang, they cleaned up the scene and buried the ox's tail in the stone crevice. Zhu Yuanzhang went back to deceive Liu De, saying that the cow had burrowed into the mountain and only revealed a tail, and he really couldn't pull the cow out. Of course, this kind of trick certainly can't fool Liu De. Zhu Yuanzhang was severely beaten by Liu De. After Liu De finished beating Zhu Yuanzhang, he also ran to Zhu Yuanzhang's father, Zhu Wusi, and asked them to lose their cattle.
At this time, the Zhu family, in order to pay the tenant rent to Liu De, was already a disciple of the family, and the only remaining rice seeds were also robbed by the officials who were arrogant and violent. The rats did not dare to stay in the Zhu family, fled one after another, and if they did not run, their lives would be gone, and they would have to be caught and eaten. The family cut off grain, coupled with the landlord Liu De's refusal to borrow grain, and also threatened them to lose cattle money, Zhu Dad, Zhu Mama and Zhu Brother died one after another, leaving only Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother Zhu Zhongliu.
Zhu Yuanzhang's parents and brother died, but there was no place to bury them. In desperation, the two brothers could only run to the landlord Liu De, hoping that Liu De could give away a piece of land and let them bury their relatives. However, Liu De, who was rich and unkind, scolded Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that he had not lost money for stealing cattle, and he still wanted a cemetery.
Just when Liu De's brother Liu Jizu was passing by, Liu Jizu, who was kind and charitable, felt that the Zhu family was pitiful, so he gave a piece of land to Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers and let them bury their relatives.
Except for Liu Bowen, no one else could have expected that decades later, Zhu Yuanzhang would actually establish the Ming Dynasty and become the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to worship his ancestors, Zhu Yuanzhang returned from Nanjing to his hometown that had been separated for a long time. After the villagers knew about it, one by one they were elated and ran out of the house to greet Zhu Yuanzhang in front of him.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his father and fellow countrymen who had just experienced the war, although their lives were still very hard, but they were so enthusiastic about themselves, they could not help but be touched in their hearts. Therefore, it was publicly announced that the labor tax of the fathers and villagers in the hometown was exempted. The villagers were naturally very happy to hear that, and long live the mountains one by one.
In his happiness, Zhu Yuanzhang remembered that liu Jizu, the benefactor who had given land to him, wanted to thank this benefactor again, so he asked Liu Jizu if he was there. Some people say that Liu Jizu has died, but his brother Liu De is still there. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Liu De's word, he felt a wave in his heart, and immediately calmed down and said, where is Liu De now, go find him.
Liu De had already heard that Zhu Yuanzhang had become emperor and wanted to return to his hometown, and he was staying at home worried. Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang pass him on, he was so frightened that his face was like dust, and he thought that this was over. But he couldn't help but see Zhu Yuanzhang, so he could only tremble in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, kneel down and prostrate his head, while shouting for his life.
Zhu Yuanzhang walked up to Liu De, lifted Liu De up from the ground, and said to Liu De, "Because of the kindness of your brother Liu Jizu, you were able to bury your parents, and you didn't know that I would be emperor now, and I don't blame you for the previous things." On the spot, Liu De was rewarded with thirty hectares of land and exempted Liu De from taxes for ten years.
Liu De originally thought that Zhu Yuanzhang, who had become emperor, would definitely find him to settle accounts, and even if he did not kill him, he would beat him up. However, I did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not repay the revenge of that year, but also treated him so kindly that he actually repaid his grievances with virtue, and he could not help but cry bitterly on his knees and cry out for Zhu Yuanzhang as a Ming Jun.
Zhu Yuanzhang also rewarded the family of his benefactor Liu Jizu, and later posthumously made Liu Jizu a hereditary marquis.
Zhu Yuanzhang, with his broad mind and moral retribution, not only impressed Liu De, let Liu De be grateful to himself, but also won the admiration of his hometown fathers and elders, and the people of the world. This is what a generation of Ming Emperors and Lords should do.
After all, although Liu De ran amok in the township and was unkind to the rich, he did not commit any heinous felonies. Moreover, Liu De's status is also too small, rather than a small punishment, it is better to give grace to win the hearts and minds of the people of the world. On the contrary, if Liu De is a meritorious and influential person, with Liu De's character, Zhu Yuanzhang will certainly not be assured of the existence of such people, and will be eliminated quickly.
Liu De escaped a disaster with his own smallness.