In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, among the many peasant uprisings, only Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyu could wrench their wrists. As a result, we all know that Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youyi to seize the world and established the Ming Dynasty. It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yuanzhang also set three rules for Chen Youyu's descendants, which can be described as a fatal trick to make Chen Youyi forgive... What rules did Zhu Yuanzhang set? If you are also curious, the following Xiaobian will reveal the secret.
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Chen Youyu was born in Qiuyang (present-day Xiantao, Hubei), three generations of ancestors have been fishing for a living, although he read some books and learned some martial arts when he was a teenager, he has never made a big difference, and when he grew up, he reluctantly mixed with a county official, but Chen Youyu had "great ambitions". Therefore, Chen Youyu later joined the Red Turban Army (peasant rebel army) against the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, and as a result, within a few years Chen Youyu became the leader of the rebel army and established a Han regime in Dingdu (present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi), known in history as Chen Han. At the same time, the peasant rebel army led by Zhu Yuanzhang was also gaining momentum, so a major war was about to break out.
As the saying goes: "One mountain does not allow two tigers", Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyu are doomed to have a fierce battle. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyu launched a decisive battle at Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, although Zhu Yuanzhang only had one-third of Chen Youyi's strength, but he won more with less, not only defeated the Han army, but also shot Chen Youyu. After Chen Youyu's death, his son Chen Li succeeded to the throne, but at this time they still held out until Zhu Yuanzhang surrendered his weapons when he came to the city.
At that time, Chen Li was only twelve years old, and he was just a small child in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and it was said that after he surrendered, he knelt in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and trembled, and even did not dare to lift his head. Perhaps zhu Yuanzhang was merciful, not only did not kill Chen Li, but also gave the Chen family a reward, such as Chen Youyi's father Chen Pucai was given the title of Marquis of En, Chen Youyi's brother was given the title of Gui Renbo, and Chen Li was named the Marquis of Guide, in addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also said that the gold and silver belongings in the treasury were all at their disposal. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's ministers also went to court one after another, saying that keeping the Chen family was tantamount to raising tigers, but Zhu Yuanzhang still insisted.
In the fifth year of Hongwu (1372 AD), Zhu Yuanzhang made another decision, but instead of killing Chen Youyi's descendants, he exiled them. At that time, Chen Youyi's father Chen Pucai was already old, so he moved him to Chuyang (滁陽, in modern Chuzhou, Anhui), and as for Chen Youyi's son Chen Li and his brothers and family, all of them were exiled to goryeo by Zhu Yuanzhang. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not soft on them, because he set three special rules: first: they could not have land in the Goryeo kingdom, and could only live on boats to make a living by fishing; second: men could not marry and have children; third: women could not marry others. Nowadays, it seems that Zhu Yuanzhang's three rules are too cruel, and even some of them violate human nature, enough to be vicious.
It is recorded in the "Song of Qiantang" that Chen Li and others lived a miserable life after arriving in the Goryeo Kingdom, and because of Zhu Yuanzhang's three rules, they had no descendants... So far, there has been little mention of Chen Youyi's descendants. It was not until the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty that Bai Yongsheng, the governor of Huguang at the time, discovered a descendant of Chen Youyi and wrote a note to the Shunzhi Emperor to report the matter. After investigation, Bai Yongsheng found that Chen Youyu and his descendants changed to the surname of Ke and mainly lived in Jiangxi and Huguang. As for where this descendant came from, Bai Yongsheng speculated that he had missed it when he was exiled to Goryeo.
Later, during the Qianlong period, there were also descendants of Chen Youyu in the northeast who were said to have fled back from the Goryeo kingdom, but the number was small and could not be saved in the end. Until the Republic of China period, there were many people who claimed to be the descendants of Chen Youyu, but they could not produce conclusive evidence, and based on legends alone, it was difficult to conclude that they were the descendants of Chen Youyu.
In the past few years, some historians have found that there is a Chen Zhai village in Luoyang, Henan Province, where the people in the village are surnamed Chen, and they all insist that they are descendants of Chen Youyu, and they also came up with a family tree and a seal about Chen Youyu. The villagers said that their ancestors hid their names in anonymity to escape the persecution of the imperial court, and only changed their original Chen surname until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and have been breeding and incense in ChenZhai Village. In addition, in the Xishui area of Zunyi, Guizhou, experts also found a family of Chen surnames claiming to be descendants of Chen Youyi, and also said that their ancestors were from the Goryeo kingdom.
All in all, there are countless people who claim to be descendants of Chen Youyu, and how many of them are true and how many are fake, it is still up to the experts to give us an accurate answer. However, if Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants who knew Chen Youyi were to blossom everywhere under Zhu Yuanzhang's spring, they might really be angry and vomit blood.
Resources:
The Biography of Chen Youyi by Chen Jiancheng, Publisher: China Literature and History Publishing House
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's