The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang to overthrow the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was also the last feudal dynasty established by the Han People, during his reign he created the "Rule of Hongwu", quickly restored the economy and people's livelihood, but also killed a large number of founding heroes, and he was not merciful in the face of those courtiers who had fought with him. It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang dared to kill anyone, but he was very afraid of a cook, what was the reason for this?
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Ming Dynasty, with the great feudal princes, some posthumously as kings, and the first six dukes, of which five generals and one minister were the founding fathers. Such a large number of officials and knights involved as many as twenty-one founding fathers.
However, when Zhu Yuanzhang sat firmly in the country, he began to "open the knife" with these founding fathers, and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was suspicious by nature, was always suspicious of gods and ghosts, afraid that they would rebel. This led to a series of "HuLan Prison". Two of these figures are Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu, both of whom were well-known heroes in the founding period.
After Hu Weiyong became the prime minister, he flew high and flew, and single-handedly held the power of life and death. He dared to read the recitals submitted to the emperor and deal with them on his own, concealing and not reporting the recitals that were unfavorable to him; he also often did not report Zhu Yuanzhang, arbitrarily and arbitrarily carrying out the important matters of the life, killing, and promotion of officials. At the same time, he established his own "sect", which caused a fierce conflict between imperial power and xiang power.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong on the charge of "arbitrarily bending the law", slaughtered the three ethnic groups, and sat on his henchmen, killing more than 15,000 people. This is not ending, still expanding the number of people involved, but all the people who can have anything to do with it are not spared, this case lasted for ten years, dozens of princes and nobles were killed before and after, a total of more than 30,000 people.
During this period, the Jinyi wei commanding general Jiang Xian accused Blue Jade of "plotting rebellion", and after Blue Jade was imprisoned, the interrogating officials said that the cadres who had a good relationship with Blue Jade belonged to the rebels, and Zhu Yuanzhang "killed" with a big stroke of his pen, so he killed the entire Blue Jade clan, not Manmen, and the entire family was destroyed.
However, the situation did not stop there, but continued to expand the scope, and the high-ranking officials who were killed by this case were only included in the "Record of Rebel Ministers", including one duke, thirteen marquises, and two uncles, and 25,000 people.
Through the "Prison of Hu Lan", it can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang almost killed the founding heroes of the early Ming Dynasty, and even studied some special cruel punishments, but why should he be afraid of a cook?
This brings us to Zhu Yuanzhang's third son, Zhu Tang, who is both good-looking and talented, and somewhat arbitrary. In the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378), on the way to Taiyuan, Zhu Tang felt that the meal was not satisfied, so he beat the cook Xu Xingzu with a whip, and was reprimanded by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Tang felt very unconvinced, thinking that there was no need to maintain a cook, and as an emperor, he should not be afraid of a cook, so Zhu Yuanzhang, the "big parent", gave him a vivid lesson.
The "History of Ming" records: "My handsome people are in peace with the chaos, and they are not appeased. Xu Xingzu, the sole chef, has not tasted humiliation for twenty-three years. The resentment is not big, the boy knows it. ”
This means that I have been very principled in leading soldiers to fight for so many years, but I will not let go of anyone who makes a mistake, but only this cook I dare not start. You must remember not to "lose the big because of the small".
Looking back at history, there are many tyrants who have not treated their subordinates well, and some have rebelled, and some have even been directly taken off their heads. Lü Bu in the Three Kingdoms period is the best example.
Although Lü Bu was brave and fierce, but he was less scheming and narrow-minded and more suspicious, he not only distrusted his subordinates, but also often reprimanded him severely, and finally rebelled under his subordinates Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu, and Lü Bu, who obviously still had the strength to fight, could only obediently surrender, and finally was hanged and killed.
Events like this can be said to be numerous in history, and Zhu Yuanzhang obviously deeply understands such a truth. Especially if they have to eat every day, if they are not good to the cook, they are poisoned in the meal, they do not know how to die, only by giving complete trust and protection to the cook, they will swear to die for their own loyalty.
Zhu Yuanzhang told his son by example that he should treat his subordinates kindly, and only by maintaining the subordinates could he ensure his own safety. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature, he gave the cook absolute trust, which can expose the ugliness of human nature, indicating that Zhu Yuanzhang prefers to be extreme in doing things, which is the main reason why he can kill the heroes while treating the cook well!