During the Ming Hongwu period, a traffic accident occurred on the street of Yingtian:
A horse-drawn carriage unfortunately overturned when it was galloping through the market, and the passenger was thrown off the car and injured and died, and the deceased was the son of Hu Weiyong, the current minister of the dynasty.
In order to vent the pain of losing his son, Hu Weiyong ordered the coachman to be killed. Afterwards, because he used lynching, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious. What Hu Weiyong did not expect was that this incident soon triggered a series of crises, and finally brought himself the disaster of killing himself. What the viewers did not expect was that his death also led to a major case that affected more than 30,000 people and lasted for more than ten years.
Under the auspices of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hu Weiyong case was condemned as an "iron case" for major crimes such as unauthorized power, conspiracy to rebel, and collaboration with the enemy. But over the centuries, many people have questioned this.
An ironclad case
Hu Weiyong is the "big red man" in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes. Zhu Yuanzhang changed 5 prime ministers in one dynasty, and Hu Weiyong was in power for the longest time.
When the spring breeze was triumphant, this former "favorite" was suddenly killed in 1380, affecting the three tribes. What is intriguing is that even in the more than ten years after Hu Weiyong's death, his charges have been constantly refreshed and escalated.
What crime did Hu Weiyong commit that made Zhu Yuanzhang hold on so hard?
Crime 1: Unauthorized power. In the years when Hu Weiyong was alone, his arbitrary behavior had long provoked Zhu Yuanzhang.
Two things happened before Hu Weiyong was killed, which made Zhu Yuanzhang even more intolerable. First, Hu Weiyong's son was killed in a traffic accident in the street market, Hu Weiyong killed Ma Fu in a rage, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to pay for his life; second, in 1379, the right minister Wang Guangyang was given death for sin, and Zhu Yuanzhang traced that his concubine was the daughter of a criminal minister (according to the law at that time, the daughter of a criminal minister could only be assigned to a meritorious military general, not to a civilian minister), so Hu Weiyong was implicated as the head of the six ministries.
Crime 2: Conspiracy. After Hu Weiyong came to power, his power grew, and his henchmen spread all over the court.
The History of Ming records that in the first month of 1380, Hu Weiyong's henchman Tu Jie took the initiative to report his rebellion. Zhu Yuanzhang angrily killed Hu Weiyong, and the whistleblower Tu Jie was not spared.
There is also a version of the report of rebellion: in the summer of 1380, Hu Weiyong said that there was an auspicious omen in his home - sweet spring water came out of the well, and invited Zhu Yuanzhang to come and watch. The eunuch Yun qi learned that Hu Weiyong was going to take advantage of the opportunity to rebel when he was on an errand at Hu Weiyong's mansion, so he stopped Zhu Yuanzhang in the middle of the road. Yun Qi was beaten to death because of the collision with the Holy Car, and could not speak, but still pointed in the direction of Hu Weiyong's mansion. Zhu Yuanzhang sensed that something was wrong, and climbed the city tower to look at it, which did not matter, the ambush set up by Hu Weiyong in the palace was unobstructed. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang escaped the disaster, Hu Weiyong was immediately executed, and Yun Qi, who reported the news, died quickly because he was seriously injured.
Crime 3: Collaborating with the enemy. Hu Weiyong not only had great energy in the imperial court, but after he was killed for several years, there was constantly new evidence that he was also in collusion with external forces.
In 1386, the imperial court found a case of Ningbo Wei commanding Lin Xian's "Tongwu" incident, and traced it up and found that this matter was actually related to Hu Weiyong.
In 1390, the imperial court captured the old yuan dynasty's vassals, and then Shunten found out that fengjie had sent a letter to Hu Weiyong to Yuan Sijun, and in the letter, he took the initiative to claim the title of vassal to the Northern Yuan and asked them to make an external response.
No matter which crime is confirmed, Hu Weiyong will not be able to end well, not to mention that several cases have occurred concurrently, and it is no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang has designated the Hu Weiyong case as an "iron case."
The aftermath is not gone
Hu Weiyong is dead, and judging from Zhu Yuanzhang's follow-up reaction, the case is far from over.
Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang announced the abolition of Zhongshu Province, and the system of prime ministers, which had been practiced for more than a thousand years since the Qin and Han Dynasties, was completely abolished. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang, the chairman of daming group, completely fired his own CEO and held the power in his hands. Not only that, Zhu Yuanzhang also announced that the future heirs were not allowed to negotiate the appointment of the chancellor, and if the chancellor dared to play the role of the prime minister, he would be sentenced to capital punishment.
On the other hand, after Hu Weiyong was executed, because of the increasing number of crimes, thousands of people were affected, and more and more "accomplices" surfaced. The prince's teacher, Song Lian, was now more than 70 years old and was recuperating in his hometown, and he was also implicated. Fortunately, the empress dowager's intercession was spared the death penalty, but he still died in the subsequent exile. Ten years after Hu Weiyong was killed, his Bole Li Shanchang was revealed to have been closely related to Hu Weiyong, and more than 70 members of Li Shanchang's family were beheaded at the door... After more than ten years of Hu Weiyong's case, many meritorious generals have been wrapped up in it. As a result, more than 20 princes were killed in the case, and the number of people implicated in the death reached more than 30,000.
The expansion and endlessness of Hu Weiyong's case put everyone in the imperial court at risk. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the compilation of the "Record of Manifesting the Traitorous Party" and the "Record of the Commandments of The Subjects", and wrote Hu Weiyong as a negative teaching material. He then distributed these texts throughout the country for his subjects to admonish.
Doubts abound
Regarding the record of Hu Weiyong's case, there are many unclear, contradictory, difficult to distinguish between true and false, and even unintended in the historical data, so many people have questioned the case.
The main points of doubt are as follows:
First, the authenticity of specific events.
In the "History of Ming", there is a record of "Tu Jie's change", but there is no such thing as "Yun Qi's change". Many historians believe that the "cloud miracle change" does not exist. Qian Qianyi, a scholar of the late Ming Dynasty, said: "The matter of Yun Qi, the history of the country and the history of the wilderness, has nothing to examine. The Ming historian Wu Han also believed that this matter was untrue through research.
Similarly, there is also controversy over Hu Weiyong's "Tongwu". The "Ming Shi Nihon Biography" details how Hu Weiyong planned the rebellion, and the Japanese monk Ru Yao led a tributary team of 400 people to help the rebellion, but when they arrived in China, Hu Weiyong had been defeated and killed for many years. Although the narrative in the History of the Ming Dynasty is detailed, some scholars believe that there is no reliable evidence in history of the "Tribute to the Yao Dynasty" after examination.
Second, was Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction reasonable?
In the two versions of Hu Weiyong's death, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately executed Hu Weiyong after he caught him. On the one hand, it can be considered that he hates Hu Weiyong very much. On the other hand, the crime of treason is not a single-handed battle, shouldn't it be strictly interrogated and pulled out the radish to bring out the mud? Hu Weiyong's "interrogation records" during his lifetime are missing, but after his death, the records of his collaboration and rebellion have become more and more specific, sufficient, and detailed. Among them, how much subjectivity and how authentic it is are debatable. In addition, it may also be worth noting that the whistleblowers in both coups died quickly.
Third, is Hu Weiyong's case an unjust case in the end?
According to the "History of Ming", Hu Weiyong did have the intention of plotting rebellion: privately "hugging" with courtiers, subjectively there was a sense of disobedience. But because there are too many contradictions in the relevant records, did he really raise an army to rebel? Is it because of the impending catastrophe that you are desperate? Historians have their own side in this regard.
In addition, in this case, more than 30,000 people were implicated and killed, and how many of them were unjustly imprisoned? After killing Li Shanchang, an official named Wang Guoyong wrote a letter to argue about Li Shanchang's grievances, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not get angry after hearing this, and his attitude was very interesting.
What is the truth?
Perhaps it is precisely because of the many doubts that people's curiosity to explore the truth has been stimulated.
Let us turn our attention to Zhu Yuanzhang, the person responsible for this big case.
As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang is a power controller. After the success of entrepreneurship, his biggest heart disease should be: how to firmly hold power in his own hands, how to firmly hold power in the hands of his descendants.
Under the Ming Dynasty system, major and minor matters in the imperial court could only be presented to the emperor through the hands of Zhongshu Province, a process that strengthened the power of the emperor and weakened the power of the emperor. Hu Weiyong's arbitrary behavior during his tenure as chancellor greatly increased the contradiction between imperial power and relative power. In addition, there was a group of people who made Zhu Yuanzhang have to guard against the old guys who had followed him to fight the world. They have merit, they have the ability, and they are therefore even more difficult to control. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang has always believed that the Yuan Dynasty lost the world because of the drawbacks of "not separating the Yue Zhongshu to play things" and "appointing powerful ministers to deceive the upper and lower levels", so he needed to find an opportunity to eliminate these "hidden dangers".
Therefore, some people believe that Zhu Yuanzhang's Daxing Hu Weiyong case is "Xiangzhuang dancing sword, intended to be Pei Gong". He wants to overthrow the increasingly disobedient Hu Weiyong, and even more he wants to take the opportunity to abolish the thousand-year-old system of prime ministers.
Therefore, some people explained Zhu Yuanzhang's great killing hero Su General in this way: He was clearing the obstacles for his own imperial power, and even more for the imperial power of his descendants.
In this case, the greater Hu Weiyong's charges, the more he has an excuse to abolish the prime minister system; the more widespread the impact, the more likely he is to eliminate the "hidden dangers" in the regime.
The truth of Hu Weiyong's case has been sealed in history. Posterity can only slowly approach the truth in continuous examination and speculation. If you compare the intricate Hu Weiyong case to a game of chess, who are the pawns? Who is the gamer? Who is the winner? Think carefully, and everyone will have their own answer.