The cunning rabbit is cooked by the dead dog, and the bird is well hidden. This sentence vividly summarizes the relationship between the founding emperor and the heroes in ancient times, who can share hardships but can hardly share blessings. Very typical is the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang and his brothers.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, is very familiar to everyone. He grew up in a poor family, herding cattle, working as a monk, traveling in all directions, and even as a beggar. Later, at the recommendation of his fellow villagers, he entered the military camp and began his career in the military.
It is not easy to go from a poor boy to the position of emperor step by step. There was hard work, there was luck, and there was also a group of brothers who followed their birth and death, who did their best to resist the Yuan, loyally assisted, and finally founded the Ming Dynasty. Among them, there was a founding hero who was comparable to Xiao He and ranked at the top of the merit book, but in the end he ended up with a tragic end, he was Li Shanchang.
First, Li Shanchang, a very popular minister
If he had not met Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang was still a teacher. The turning point in his fortunes took place in 1351. That year, Li Shanchang was 39 years old and became Zhu Yuanzhang's adviser, which began their inseparable war years for more than ten years. Every step of the siege and land raid was accompanied by Li Shanchang's advice. Zhu Yuanzhang praised him as "Xiao He in the world", full of friendship and respect.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Li Shanchang has followed me for many years, although he did not fight on the battlefield, but he made suggestions and suggestions to govern the rear, and should be promoted to a great power." Lee Sun-chang served as the left chancellor, and later he was named the "Duke of Korea", becoming the only civil official who was the head of the six dukes, and a very popular subject! Zhu Yuanzhang also married his daughter Princess Lin'an to Li Qi, Li Shanchang's son.
Second, character weakness provokes the disaster of killing
As the saying goes, it is easy to fight the country and the country is difficult to defend the country. Zhu Yuanzhang was already forty years old when he was emperor, and he was suspicious and fierce in his life, and for the sake of the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty and future generations, he killed a large number of Confucians, eunuchs, and ordinary people who were implicated and killed hundreds of thousands.
The crown prince had already been identified as Zhu Biao, who had thought that he would die young. Therefore, in accordance with the principle of "standing up for a long time, standing a long man without standing a virtuous person", the new crown prince became Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao. Zhu Yunjiao was very young and had a kind and generous personality, and whether or not the throne was firmly held became a major concern for Zhu Yuanzhang. He was more suspicious than before.
Accompanied by jun like a companion tiger, Li Shanchang, who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, relaxed his vigilance. Resourceful and thoughtful, but also has weaknesses. The "Biography of Ming Shi Li Shanchang" records that he was "broad on the outside and more carved on the inside", which means that Li Shanchang looks tolerant and friendly on the outside, but in fact he is very jealous and mean to others. Especially after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it was even more proud of its achievements and pampered and proud.
As a Huaixi person, in order to safeguard the interests of themselves and their fellow villagers, the "Huaixi Faction" gradually formed a "Huaixi faction" in the imperial court. He single-handedly promoted Hu Weiyong, and the "Huaixi faction" formed gangs and factions to exclude dissidents, and their power grew stronger and stronger.
Zhu Yuanzhang also sensed that something was wrong, on the one hand, Li Shanchang's power was getting bigger and bigger, and he thought to himself: "If this continues, won't the prestige of The Emperor not exceed that of me, the emperor?" On the other hand, his colleagues and fierce enemies continued to "wear small shoes" for Li Shanchang, so Zhu Yuanzhang's friendship with Li Shanchang slowly faded, and later Li Shanchang returned home due to illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of this to fire his squid, and since then Li Shanchang has returned to his hometown.
According to the reason, Li Shanchang has unloaded his armor and returned to the field, far away from the rivers and lakes, and should have disappeared, but there are still legends of him on the rivers and lakes. After all, he was once the eldest brother of the Huaixi sect, and hu Weiyong, a compatriot who was plucked by his hand, was also ranked as the left minister, so he was at home, and his heart was still in the middle. This influence made Zhu Yuanzhang always feel that it was a threat to the imperial power of the Zhu family, and it was a big heart disease in his heart. This laid the groundwork for Li Shanchang's future tragedy.
Many years later, Hu Weiyong's alliance with the party for personal gain became more and more intense, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not say a word, cut him down for the crime of treason, and was implicated in the murder of more than 30,000 people, becoming one of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty. After cutting him down, there was no one to restrain Zhu Yuanzhang anymore, and Zhu Yuanzhang simply cut off the profession of prime minister, completely ending China's ministerial system, Hu Weiyong became the last prime minister in China, and the autocratic imperial power was greatly strengthened.
At that time, Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang were closely related, or in-laws, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not investigate deeply. Five years after the Hu Weiyong case, Li Shanchang's family was implicated again, and some people accused Li Shanchang's younger brother and son of being Hu Weiyong's henchmen, which was an unforgivable thing for Zhu Yuanzhang, who was suspicious by nature. But Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the face of his old friendship and ordered him to avoid death. However, Li Shanchang had no intention of being grateful for this, which made Zhu Yuanzhang's dissatisfaction in his heart accumulate more and more.
Later, one straw after another that overwhelmed the camel finally brought about the disaster of killing. "A straw" is that Li Shanchang wanted to build a mansion, in order to set up a shelf, he actually borrowed three hundred soldiers from his former subordinates, and this matter was very unhappy in his heart after Zhu Yuanzhang knew about it, and a person who had been relieved of his official pension for many years still wanted to "transfer troops"?! This made Zhu Yuanzhang kill.
Then "another straw" appeared. Coincidentally, at that time, one of Li Shanchang's relatives was bullying people and was arrested in prison for a lawsuit for human life, at this time Li Shanchang not only did not deal with things in a low-key manner, but instead committed crimes against the wind, constantly exerting pressure on the government and demanding the release of people. After Zhu Yuanzhang knew about this matter, he could no longer tolerate it. At the same time, the wall fell and everyone pushed, and the military officials of the Chinese wrote letters one after another, and for a time Li Shanchang crossed the street like a rat, and everyone shouted and beat.
One day in May of the twenty-third year of The Great Ming Dynasty (1390 AD), Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly ordered that Li Shanchang's entire family be beheaded! Li Shanchang, who was a rare man, did not expect to end his life in such a way.
3. Tears before the execution
More than 70 members of the Lu family were preparing to be executed, and one of them, named Lu Zhongheng, was indignant and scolded Zhu Yuanzhang loudly for being ungrateful and cruel to the extreme. Li Shanchang immediately stopped Lu Zhongheng and shouted at him: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, this is fate, you are not qualified to scold Your Majesty, Your Majesty let us die without complaint." ”
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard these two sentences, he had mixed feelings, remembered the previous Zhengrong years, and couldn't help but have tears in his eyes. A good brother who was once born and died together, a pair of good monarchs who admired each other, could not imagine such an ending.
summary
The cunning rabbit is cooked by the dead dog, and the bird is well hidden. For the sake of consolidating and unifying imperial power, even if Li Shanchang made great achievements, even if the wind and candle were dead, he could not escape the cold wind of the autocratic imperial power. Even so, if Li Shanchang had been less arrogant, less high-profile, and let go of the chaos between the DPRK and China, he would have been able to spend his old age in peace and enjoy the happiness of heaven. But on the contrary, losing oneself in a high place, pride and complacency are bound to kill oneself.