"And Shanchang (Li Shanchang) boycotted (Xiang), and Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) wanted to confront Yang Xian. Xian Su Shan Ji (Liu Ji), Ji Li could not speak, said: "Xian has a phase and no phase instrument, and the husband and the prime minister hold their hearts like water... This is not the case with the Constitution. The emperor asked Wang Guangyang, "This is shallower than the constitution." Then he asked Hu Weiyong, saying, "For example, the driver is afraid of his cunning." 'Hou Xian, Guang Yang, and Wei Yong all lost. -The Biography of Ming Shi Liu Ji
This record is that Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed Li Shanchang from the post of prime minister, and then asked Liu Bowen (Liu Ji) Yang Xian, Wang Guangyang, and Hu Weiyong who was suitable to be the prime minister? As a result, Liu Bowen did not care whether the relationship between others and him was good or bad, one by one pointed out the shortcomings of these people, although Zhu Yuanzhang frowned when he heard it, but later, these three people really encountered things, all fell down, this round Liu Bowen observed accurately, full score.
Liu Bowen was a genius, and the folk proverb said: "Zhuge Liang in three parts of the world, liu Bowen in the country and mountains", and put Liu Bowen's position higher than Zhuge Cheng Xiang. Zhuge Liang is the embodiment of wisdom, so how clever is Liu Bowen?
Qingtian, Zhejiang is the hometown of Liu Bowen, where he was born, grew up, and studied, because his learning ability was too strong, and he was admitted to the Xiucai at the age of 12, which was a blockbuster. In the last year of the reign of Emperor Yuan Taiding and Sun Timur (1328), Zhu Yuanzhang was born, and the 17-year-old Liu Bowen was busy studying Zhu Lixue, and his teacher Zheng Fuchu was very satisfied with this student and quietly told Liu Father a word:
"Your son will definitely be a big man in the future." Perhaps Liu Bowen learned not only Confucian classics from his teachers, but also the ability to prophecy, and since then, Liu Bowen has often said something amazing, saying what he says.
Liu Bowen was originally ready to serve the Yuan court, but during the reign of Sun Timur, the Yuan Dynasty was already in chaos, liu Bowen witnessed the darkness of the imperial court, resigned three times in anger, and waited for the Ming Lord to come. This Ming Lord, of course, was the later Zhu Yuanzhang, and in the twentieth year of Zhengzheng (1360), Zhu Yuanzhang asked someone to carry a gift to invite Liu Bowen, Liu Bowen touched his chin, well, this person's etiquette is good, and people look wise and wise, go.
When zhu Yuanzhang was at his side, Liu Bowen showed his fists and feet, and when others were not optimistic about Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Bowen formulated various strategies for him to break through, "first destroy Chen Youyu, and then destroy Zhang Shicheng"; when others persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang to raise the white flag to Chen Youyu for their own lives, Liu Bowen pointed out to the point that Chen Youyi's arrogant soldiers would be defeated, and those who cried and shouted surrender and disturbed the hearts of the army should be dragged out and killed.
Eight years passed, Zhu Yuanzhang, with the assistance of Liu Bowen, ascended to the peak of his career, dressed in dragon robes, proclaimed himself emperor at Ying Tianfu, and established the Ming Dynasty. Saying that the empress dowager naturally wanted to discuss the merits and deeds of reward, Liu Bowen was given the title of sincere bo, he had great merit, and the annual salary was only 240 stones, while Li Shanchang, as Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown, was 4,000 stones per year. The contrast was too great, and Liu Bowen immediately sensed the emperor's thoughts.
Liu Bowen is too clever. From zhu yuanzhang's side, before there was the battle of Longwan, after there was the rescue of An Feng, he strategized to win thousands of miles away, comparable to Zhang Liang, who was beside Liu Bang of Han Gaozu, Zhu Yuanzhang could think of everything he could think of, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think carefully, he could also think of how Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a suspicious personality, could let a guy who understood power and strategize and become too smart stay by his side for a long time?
In the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Liu Bowen was "given" to return to his hometown, but because Hu Weiyong was looking for things, Liu Bowen's Feng Lu was punished, and he had no choice but to go to Beijing to apologize. During his time in the capital, it happened to coincide with the New Year, and on the first day of the New Year, Liu Bowen and other ministers jointly congratulated Zhu Yuanzhang, and wrote a poem "The Friends of the Fengtian Hall of the Fengtian Temple and the Hanlin Grand Hall of the First Dynasty of the Yi Dynasty" to express their feelings, and the last sentence was as follows:
"From the courtiers to the talented Yang Ma, the white head is incompetent and ashamed of the old body." It means that looking around, the emperor and your other courtiers have the ability, and there are many young talents, only I, a bad old man, have not used it very much, and I am ashamed. Of course, this is nonsense, without Liu Bowen, where is Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty? After this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very cold to Liu Bowen, and Liu Bowen knew it in his heart, refused to take medicine when he was sick, and died soon after.
Before his death, Liu Bowen called his two sons over to educate him, asking him to be careful in everything he did, not to be strong, and to attract people's attention; he also told them that when Hu Weiyong was hanging up, he would tell Zhu Yuanzhang the "Daming Stabilization Policy" that he had left behind, because the emperor would definitely think of him when the time came; in addition, Liu Bowen also took out the heavenly documents that he had received all his life and asked his son to hand them over to Zhu Yuanzhang.
The sons are actually very worried, if Liu Bowen leaves, will the Liu family be convicted and defeated? Liu Bowen shook his head and told them: "The Liu family will not be defeated, and I calculate that within 9 generations of my death, the Liu family will definitely produce a wizard who can inherit the family business; in this way, the Liu family can guarantee that the tenth life is worry-free, and there is no need to worry." ”
Sure enough, 5 years after Liu Bowen's death, Hu Weiyong was exterminated because he was involved in a conspiracy case, Zhu Yuanzhang remembered Liu Bowen, and often called Liu Bowen's second son Liu Jing to chat, "Yan language is like family." The titles of the Liu family were inherited from generation to generation, and in the tenth year of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1531), the imperial court once again discussed Liu Bowen's merits, believing that he should be worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
As a result, Liu Bowen's ninth grandson Liu Yu was promoted in the same year, not only to be enfeoffed as a count, but also to serve as a commander of Chuzhou, and the history books record that Liu Yu was "good at working poetry and writing, and good at ink landscapes", able to write and martial arts, and appeared particularly outstanding among a large number of clumsy disciples who were stained with the light talent of their ancestors to become officials, different, and indeed a wizard, Liu Bowen predicted that the Liu family would not be defeated, and it would really come true a hundred years later.