According to the "Twenty-Second Chronicle of history", "When gai qunxiong was standing, his subordinates were easy to go, but if fuzhi was the father and son of the family, then there was a name to maintain, and the friendship was to be mutually reinforcing, and over time they became flesh and blood relatives, and they were used to guard the border against enemies, which was more credible than the generals." ”
From the perspective of the Qing Dynasty scholar Zhao Yi: using the feelings of family members and relatives to contact people, and using the names of fathers and sons to restrain people, can play a role in increasing political power.
Zhu Yuanzhang: The more adopted children, the better
In ancient times on the mainland, military generals had always had the habit of adopting righteous sons or calling adopted sons for their own use, and this trend was formed at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
During the Yuan Dynasty, whether it was the generals of the Yuan army or the commanders of the rebel army, most of them liked to adopt righteous sons. It was these righteous sons who made many contributions to their adoptive father or to his side in the war.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was more than fond of adopting righteous sons, and he had more than 20 adopted sons, such as Mu Ying, He Wenhui, Zhu Wenzheng, Li Wenzhong, Xu Sima, Ping'an, Zhu Wengang, Zhu Wenxun, Zhu Wenjin and others.
Zhu Yuanzhang's many righteous sons also played an extremely great role in the cause of founding the Ming Empire.
Zhu Yuanzhang's first adopted son, also the "eldest son", Mu Ying was taken in when he was in Haozhou. At that time, Mu Ying was just an eight-year-old child, his father died early, and the Red Turban Army uprising broke out, and under the continuous war, his mother died of illness on the way to escape.
He lost his only loved one. He wandered alone in Haozhou City, inevitably lonely and miserable, when Zhu Yuanzhang moved his compassion and raised him by his side.
That is, from the beginning of taking in Mu Ying, Zhu Yuanzhang took in more than twenty adopted sons in one go. On the one hand, he gave these young and orphaned adopted sons rich food and clothing, and on the other hand, he taught them to read and write and dance knives and guns. He also asked them to follow their surnames, and when they were old enough to fight, they were given military power, which can be said to regard them as their own sons.
Therefore, in order to repay the favor, these adopted sons all fought bravely on the battlefield to kill the enemy and establish many battle achievements. Through this kind of father-son affection, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully cultivated more than twenty henchmen to restrain the generals for him and supervise each other.
The adopted sons of "accomplishing success and retiring"
Among the adopted sons, the eldest son, Zhu Ying, was particularly prominent, who was trained by Zhu Yuanzhang since he was a child, and he was excellent in martial arts and strategizing.
When Zhu Yuanzhang went south to Dingyuan, Zhu Ying had already asked to follow, and when Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Jiqing, Zhu Ying ushered in the first opportunity to go to the battlefield. By the age of 18, Zhu Ying had already made many military achievements, was promoted to the command of the army, and could be independent.
When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Shangrao, the Shangrao rebels also thought that Zhu Ying was Zhu Yuanzhang's own son and planned to use him as a hostage. But he didn't want Zhu Ying, who didn't want to be haunted, to win successive battles. This was very gratifying to Zhu Yuanzhang.
However, in 1367, on the eve of Zhu Yuanzhang's preparation to become emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang asked his adopted sons to revert to their original surnames, including Zhu Ying.
According to the "Emperor MingShi Speaks New Language", Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhu Ying and asked, "Zhu Ying, whose child are you?" Zhu Ying replied, "King Wu and Princess Wu raised me to grow up, and I am your child." ”
King Wu and Princess Wang refer to Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang held Zhu Ying's head and said, "Now that you have achieved fame, you should restore your original surname, from today onwards, you can change back to Mu's surname!" ”
Mu Ying: The grace of nurturing should be repaid with every effort
The name "Mu Ying" actually contains the meaning of "the grace of eternal Mu nurturing", which is both a warning and a reminder.
The young and unaccompanied Zhu Ying was able to arouse Zhu Yuanzhang's compassion, and his talent and talent, both literary and martial, contributed a lot of military achievements to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang's move was not only to let him give up the title of eldest son and get rid of his unworthy thoughts, but also to let him "return to his surname from the beginning." Move the town of Jianning, and control Shaowu, Yanping, and Tingzhou Sanwei. From then on, it became zhu Yuanzhang's choice to guard the border.
During the Hongwu period, Mu Ying fought in the four directions for many years, first with Deng Yu to regain Tubo, and then several times in the Northern Expedition.
In the fourteenth year of Hongwu, Mu Ying attacked Yunnan with Fu Youde and Lan Yu, attacking the city of Kunming in one fell swoop and completely emptying the remaining Yuan Dynasty forces in Yunnan.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Mu Ying, who was still in Dianchi, Yunnan, fell seriously ill after hearing of the death of the adoptive mare empress.
The following year, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Mu Ying to guard Yunnan. After Mu Ying's death, the descendants of the Mu family remained loyal to the Zhu family.
Since then, Mufu in Yunnan has become the most solid barrier in the southwest region for more than 200 years since the Ming Dynasty.
brief summary
Zhu Yuanzhang adopted more than 20 adopted sons, let them charge for themselves, make meritorious achievements, and finally use the adopted sons to restore their surnames, which cannot be described as unwise.
Judging from the results of the Mu Ying clan guarding the Ming Dynasty for 270 years, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to change back to the Mu surname, which was indeed a wise move.
References: Notes on the Twenty-Second History, Emperor Ming Dynasty Speaks New Language
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