In 1372, an emissary from Annam paid homage to Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhu Yuanzhang told him: "Since you do not regard me as emperor, take your tribute and leave, and never come again!" The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry was only because Zeng Lu, the head of the ceremonial department, found a big problem.
Zeng Lu, a native of Xingan, Jiangxi, was able to recite the Five Classics verbatim when he was only 7 years old.
As he grew older, he became more knowledgeable and versatile, and he did not know anything about the various systems and talents that had been produced in China for thousands of years.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was full of wars, and Zeng Lu organized the sons of the township to defend his hometown.
He often brought out good wine and good meat to entertain everyone, and told everyone the truth of obedience and rebellion, and what we can do and what we can't do.
Under Zeng Lu's influence, no one in the township did that immoral thing, so people called his hometown Junzi Township.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he wanted to compile and revise the history of the Yuan, so he recruited zeng Lu, who was very cultured, into the dynasty and appointed him as the chief officer of the compilation and revision of the history of the Yuan.
After the compilation of the Yuan history, Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded him with many things, and still kept praising his merits in compiling and revising the Yuan history, but Zeng Lu proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang at this time: The compilation and revision of the Yuan history has been completed, please allow me to return to my hometown.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not agree to him, but gave him a new task, asking him and the courtiers to compile and revise the classification ceremonial book.
In the process of compiling the book of rites, the ministers often raised the bar, and this one said that the etiquette of this matter should be like this, and the law of etiquette that said this matter should be like that.
At this time, Ke Zenglu always said loudly: This etiquette system can only be based on this statement, and if it is based on other statements, it is wrong.
When others disagreed with him and argued with him, he was immediately able to cite the deeds in his biography to support his theory.
From this, it can be seen that the ink in Zeng Lu's stomach is not a star and a half, and at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang is also more and more aware of his talents, so he appoints him as the head of the ceremonial department.
In 1369, King Chang of Kaiping died suddenly of illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang was very uncomfortable, and when Goryeo learned of this, he sent emissaries to worship.
However, when Zeng Lu asked the emissary to check the documents, he immediately saw two big problems.
First, outside the document, there was a yellow paw embroidered with a golden dragon.
Second, the time on the document did not even use the Hongwu year number.
Zeng Lu immediately reprimanded the Goryeo emissaries severely and reported the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang, asking Zhu Yuanzhang to punish the emissaries who were disrespectful to the Ming Dynasty.
When the Prophet saw that his little trick had been debunked, he quickly apologized, explained, and immediately corrected his mistake.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the emissary had come from thousands of miles, so he did not punish him.
In 1372, an emissary from Annam, Ruan Rulin, came to Nanjing to pay tribute, and this time, after Zeng Lu met with Ruan Rulin, he found a big problem, so that Zhu Yuanzhang directly asked Ruan Rulin to return with the tribute, and did not come back to pay tribute in the future.
It turned out that Chen Rixi, the king of Annam, was a king officially recognized by Zhu Yuanzhang.
No, Chen Rixi was murdered by his uncle Chen Shuming, after which Chen Shuming established himself as king, fearing that zhu Yuanzhang would send troops to recruit him when he learned of this.
Therefore, he sent emissaries to observe Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude, and when Zeng Lu read the documents, he found that he had changed the name of the king.
Therefore, he immediately played the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang, and zhu Yuanzhang was furious after investigating it clearly, so he asked the emissary Ruan Rulin: What the hell is going on?
Ruan Rulin said vaguely that Chen Rixi had died of illness.
But Zhu Yuanzhang did not believe at all: even if Chen Rixi really died of illness, Chen Shuming would not be qualified, and could not establish himself as king without my consent.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Ruan Rulin to take the tribute and leave quickly, and never come to pay tribute again.
Of course, later, Chen Shuming sent emissaries again and again to intercede with Zhu Yuanzhang and confess his mistakes, and Zhu Yuanzhang allowed him to take Chen Rixi's seal letter to manage state affairs. He was also clearly told that he would not be allowed to come to the Ming Dynasty until the next three years and pay tribute once.
After Zhu Yuanzhang went through this incident, he was even more serious about Zeng Lu, who was meticulous.
In 1373, Zhu Yuanzhang made Zeng Lu jin the title of Zhongshun Dafu (中顺大夫) and a rebbe attendant, but Zeng Lu resigned because the word "Shun" had offended his father's name and went to the imperial court to request a lower rank.
However, the officials did not agree to this. Soon after, the border generals captured many slaves, and Zhu Yuanzhang opened a net to let them all go back, and at the same time, let the Confucian ministers draft edicts.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the edict drafted by Zeng Lu, he was very happy to praise: Not long ago, Tao Kai's article was very in line with my heart, and now, the edict drafted by Zeng Lu is so good, our Ming Dynasty is really prosperous in literature!
Zhu Yuanzhang actually raised Zeng Lu's talent and learning directly to the level of prosperity of the Ming Dynasty's literary fortunes, which shows how high Zeng Lu's status was in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind.
Unfortunately, in December, Zeng Lu fell seriously ill, and in desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to go home to recuperate, unfortunately, the 54-year-old Zeng Lu died of illness on the way back to his hometown.
After Zhu Yuanzhang learned the news of Zeng Lu's death, he was very sad and lamented that he had lost another great talent.
Zeng Lu's life not only loved to read, but also to collect books, and when he learned where there was a good book, no matter how far away, he must find it there.
And no matter how much it costs, you must buy that book, so that you feel comfortable in your heart.
It seems that Zeng Lu is a great talent who is both intelligent and studious, so do you know who are as intelligent and studious as he is in history? Discussion is welcome.
Source: Ming Shi.
#Historical Figures # #人物 #
