Under the implementation of the ancient feudal system, the officials of the imperial court took the money according to the official rank, and some officials used people's money to do things for others, in fact, most of the officials in the dynasty were rich. However, before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Qing official who was dressed in patches but was reluctant to throw them away, and the first Qing official to carry out the order after the emperor issued the order, he was Zhang Chang.
Why did "Qing official Zhang Chang", as a high-ranking official of the Yuan Dynasty, Hubu Shangshu, come to Zhu Yuanzhang's side when the Yuan Dynasty was facing the rebel armies everywhere? Speaking of which, it was still a will of emperor Yuan Shun that changed Zhang Chang's original smooth life...
It is said that in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, various contradictions coupled with natural disasters raged, so that the desperate peasants took risks one after another, unveiled the uprising, and launched a protest against this long-dying Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, also joined the rebel army in the yin and yang errors, which had a great influence at that time.
In the Zhizheng period, Emperor Yuanshun saw that the effect of suppressing various rebel armies by force was not significant, so he wanted to adopt a policy of Huairou to recruit rebels from all over the country. Therefore, as one of the members of the Yuan Dynasty mission, Hubu Shangshu Zhang Chang was ordered to first meet the warlord Fang Guozhen. However, Fang Guozhen can be said to be a villain who sees the wind and steers the rudder, so Zhao'an has not made practical progress.
Immediately afterward, the delegation came to the camp of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Northern Red Army, and came to summon the Red Turban Army led by Zhu Yuanzhang. Unexpectedly, Zhang Chang was persuaded by Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender on this trip and stayed under Zhu Yuanzhang's command.
In the historical change of dynasties, the direction of officials of the old dynasty is divided into two categories in the final analysis: one is to observe the festival for the dynasty that has been destroyed, or there are more loyal officials who will martyr for the old dynasty; the other is to choose to join the army and continue the path of career when facing the recruitment of the new dynasty. The former, like Wen Tianxiang, a famous anti-Yuan minister we are familiar with, once expressed his heavy determination to die to repay the imperial court with an understatement, while Zhang Chang, who we want to talk about today, chose the latter.
At that time, in the face of Zhu Yuanzhang's recruitment, Zhang Chang chose to submit. Zhu Yuanzhang later told his sages Liu Bowen and Song Lian: "The Yuan Empire has given me a sage, and you can discuss it with him more." ”
What may be confusing is that since Zhu Yuanzhang refused the Yuan Dynasty's offer on the one hand, why did he leave Zhang Chang, who was a major minister of the Yuan Dynasty, by his side?
In fact, at that time, the power of the Yuan Dynasty still existed in the north, and Zhu Yuanzhang, as the ruler of Western Wu, sent emissaries to the Yuan Empire many times to learn about the secrets of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang clearly knew that as long as he knew himself and knew the other, he could never lose a battle. So when this Zhang Chang, who was in a high position in the Yuan Dynasty and had the real news of the Yuan Dynasty, came to his face, how could Zhu Yuanzhang let him go?
Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was thirsty for talents and recruited talents, and he had long heard of Zhang Chang's ability and admired it very much. Before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Chang was unexpectedly made the capital of Zhongshu Province in Western Wu, and then promoted to participate in politics. Zhang Chang's speed of improvement shocked the government and the public.
When he was first left behind by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Chang was still down-to-earth in doing things for Zhu Yuanzhang. According to historical records, "Chang has the ability to discern, the intellect is sensitive, familiar with the allusions of the previous generation, where the state is established, there are more hands, the ruling is like a stream, and there is no stagnation." This means that Zhang Chang is talented and intelligent, plus he was a high-ranking official of the Yuan Dynasty, so he is familiar with the allusions of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhang Chang's work efficiency is also very vigorous, as long as it is through his hands, never stay for a moment, he will give full play to his talents.
Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang lamented that he had not wrongly paid others, he also gave Zhang Chang many rewards of gold and silver jewelry, but Zhang Chang refused the rewards one by one. Zhang Chang's rigorous and pragmatic attitude of doing things not only managed the household department in an orderly manner, but also wore clothes full of patches when he went to the court, which was undoubtedly a model model of Qing officials, which made Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a poor family, more affirm Zhang Chang.
Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, many of the country's systems were not yet perfected, and in the last year of the Western Wu regime's arrival in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the compilation of the Great Ming Law. On the question of whether to use light codes or heavy codes in the compilation and application of law, Zhang Chang and Liu Bowen had a dispute over their opinions.
There is a saying: "Zhuge Liang in three parts of the world, unified the Jiangshan Liu Bowen; the military Zhuge Liang in the previous section, the military Liu Bowen in the later period", this Liu Bowen was an important courtier in the Hongwu period, and advised Zhu Yuanzhang on the future and the future. Liu Bowen was just and scheming, and his eyes were extremely poisonous, believing that Zhang Chang was wearing old clothes full of patches, not a two-sleeved clean official in the eyes of the world, but because he was thinking of the old dynasty.
Liu Bowen believes that when Daming is about to be established, it is necessary to lighten the criminal law and win the hearts and minds of the people, coupled with the perennial war and chaos, the people have long been miserable, and the light criminal law is conducive to the correction and development of the national economy; but Zhang Chang has shown that the criminal law should be emphasized, and the reason given seems to be reasonable -- the people have been in war for many years because of the war, the legal awareness is poor, and now it is necessary to emphasize the criminal law to suppress the rebels who still have the heart of rebellion.
In fact, Zhang Chang's purpose was very clear, that is, he wanted Zhu Yuanzhang to lose the hearts of the people and revive the Yuan Dynasty, that is, because of this incident, Liu Bowen advised Zhu Yuanzhang that Zhang Chang could not stay. He clearly saw Zhang Chang's second heart of "being in Cao Ying's heart in Han", and although Zhu Yuanzhang did not fully listen to this, he also dropped a knot in his heart.
Slowly, Zhang Chang thought that his previous diligence was seen by Zhu Yuanzhang, so he indulged it slightly, often saying to his cronies: "If I have to return to the Yuan, I will still not lose my wealth." And he also did a lot of work to revive the Yuan Dynasty.
In addition to quietly enticing people in the imperial court to write to Zhu Yuanzhang and praise Zhu Yuanzhang's great achievements, he also advised Zhu Yuanzhang that he should know how to enjoy himself in time, and let the generals under his hands do it for the unrecovered cities. Unfortunately, the ambitious Zhu Yuanzhang did not listen to Zhang Chang's rumors, but made him suspicious of Zhang Chang. Zhu Yuanzhang said to Liu Bowen, "I want to be Zhao Gaoye." Liu Bowen also said that just like Your Majesty has seen, Zhang Chang really must be killed.
Later, Zhang Chang was recuperating at home, and Zhu Yuanzhang sent Yang Xian to visit Zhang Chang's home, and as a result, Yang Xian found a letter from Zhang Chang's former courtiers in Zhang Chang's home, in which Zhang Chang said that his days as an official in the Yuan Dynasty were the most dashing and happy days, and that in the Ming Dynasty it was simply like a year, which made Zhu Yuanzhang furious and immediately ordered Zhang Chang to be arrested and interrogated.
But despite this, Zhu Yuanzhang still had expectations for Zhang Chang. He didn't want to believe that this person whose clothes were all patches and who worked diligently would not really want to submit to himself under his sincere kindness, nor did he want to believe that he had never made mistakes in reading countless people, and he had planted a heel here in Zhang Chang. However, Liu Bowen has always insisted on his own opinion, believing that Zhang Chang must have two hearts and cannot keep this person.
In fact, although Zhang Chang served as the governor of Western Wu, he often expressed his longing for the land of the Yuan Dynasty, ostensibly only promising, but in fact hovering his plan to restore the Yuan in the most dangerous places. In prison, Zhang Chang saw that the matter was exposed, and he was disheartened and said eight words: "In Jiangnan, my mind is stuffed in the north." These eight words are enough to prove that Zhang Chang really has two hearts.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard the thunder's anger, he really couldn't bear it and ordered Zhang Chang to be killed. And Zhang Chang's method of death was also more tragic - "breaking his bones and throwing him into the river" was thrown. In addition to his anger, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that the old ministers of the Yuan Dynasty were not enough to reuse and that "the literati were not available", and his vigilance against the wenchen was also born.
Zhang Chang, who was intelligent and well-read from an early age, was deeply influenced by Confucianism, believing that loyal subjects do not do two masters, and although this act of loyal service to the lord is worthy of praise, his loyalty is very stupid. The Yuan Dynasty had already gone, and Zhang Chang's behavior was not only useless, but also brought himself the disaster of killing himself if he was not careful.
However, we can't help but sigh that if Zhang Chang sincerely submits to Zhu Yuanzhang, with his wisdom and wisdom, he will certainly be able to achieve a great cause, and it is not impossible to rank with Liu Bowen, Song Lian and others. It's just a pity that he chose the wrong and stubborn path and fell into the end of the river, which is all self-inflicted.
Text/Chen Xiaoqi
References: 1. "Research on Poetic Thought after Liu Ji Entered the Ming Dynasty", Miao Min 2, "On the Situation and Mentality of Entering the Shiyuan Official in the Early Ming Dynasty", Wang Hongliang