In 11380, Li Wenzhong confessed his posthumous affairs, and after saying goodbye to his wife, he went to the court. After Zhu Yuanzhang read his recital, he directly fell to the ground and angrily rebuked: "Bold Li Wenzhong, aren't you afraid of death?" Li Wenzhong resolutely replied: "Wei Chen's death is not a pity, he is only willing to keep His Majesty's holy name." Subsequently, Li Wenzhong was thrown into prison.
Li Wenzhong was the nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang, the son of Zhu Yuanzhang's second sister Zhu Fonu and Li Zhen. At that time, Li Zhen's family was the wealthiest of all zhu Yuanzhang's relatives, and could eat three meals a day, while Li Zhen was friendly and often received Zhu Yuanzhang's family, for which Zhu Yuanzhang was relatively close to the second sister's family since childhood.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown was stricken, his parents and brothers died one after another, and Zhu Yuanzhang was cornered and became a monk. Soon, the second sister, The family of Zhu Fonu was also affected, and Zhu Fonu died of illness at the age of 36. After the death of Lady Zhu Fo, she was invaded by rebels, and Li Zhen had to take her son Li Wenzhong out of the house.
In 1352, Li Wenzhong and his father Li Zhen went to Chuzhou to defect to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was on an errand in Guo Zixing's Shuai Mansion and was greatly appreciated by Guo Zixing.
When Li Wenzhong saw Zhu Yuanzhang crying in his arms, Zhu Yuanzhang was mixed with sorrow and joy, and comforted him: "When a nephew sees his uncle, he sees his mother. When you get to your uncle's place, you will have a reliance on your life in the future, so I think you might as well change your surname to Zhu with me!"
Li Wenzhong nodded in agreement, and from then on, his name was changed to Zhu Wenzhong. Zhu Yuanzhang asked the teaching masters Fan Zuqian and Hu Han to teach Zhu Wenzhong to write, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally taught him the ability to ride a horse and shoot arrows.
In 1357, at the age of nineteen, Zhu Wenzhong led Zhu Yuanzhang's pro-army to rescue Chizhou as a shepherd. Zhu Wenzhong was a big hit and led his army to take four counties in a row.
The following year, Zhu Wenzhong followed Deng Yue into Zhejiang, and because he won Jiande from the Yuan army, he was promoted to the commander of the pro-army capital, and when he was defending Jiande in zhen, he also took down 30,000 soldiers from the old department of Yang Guan.
Throughout Li Wenzhong's life, from Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising to sitting in the Jiangshan Mountains, he participated in several battles of all sizes, basing himself in Jiangnan, eliminating Zhang Wu, and sweeping through the Northern Yuan, and Li Wenzhong was present in this series of major events.
Zhu Yuanzhang liked this nephew very much, and it was not enough to have this level of kinship, so he had to recognize him as a righteous son, which showed that Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to Li Wenzhong.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not only very kind to Li Wenzhong, but also to his brother-in-law Li Zhen, not only "sparing the Chang Dynasty and praising and worshipping without name", but also allowing him to wear the dragon robe of a five-clawed golden dragon.
After Li Zhen was older, Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a house in the imperial city in order to facilitate the convenience of seeing Li Zhen every day. After Li Zhen's death, he also "quit the dynasty for three days" and "drove to Dian".
Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself empress dowager and made Li Wenzhong the Duke of Cao. After Li Wenzhong's death, he was posthumously honored as the King of Qiyang. In the Temple of Meritorious Service, Li Wenzhong ranked third.
During the war years, after many people saved themselves, they often used the war to collect wealth and fish and flesh the people, but Li Wenzhong always remembered the years when he fled, and how ordinary people lived in the depths of the water.
Therefore, he strictly ordered his subordinates to forbid private intrusion into people's houses, even when the army was short of food and grass, to do his best to help the people, and also ordered his soldiers to adopt orphans in the war.
Li Wenzhong accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang in his southern expedition to the north, and finally received the title of "Duke of Cao", Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Wenzhong to preside over the governor's palace and supervise the state sub-supervision, Li Wenzhong held a high position, and his sense of responsibility was also very strong, and he repeatedly gave advice to Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the words of the historian Gu Yingtai, at that time, the only people who dared to resist Zhu Yuanzhang at that time were Li Wenzhong, except for Empress Ma and Zhu Biao. However, Li Wenzhong's loyalty and direct advice also caused trouble for him.
In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang launched the "Hu Weiyong Case", and deliberately used the topic to play and daxing prison. In a short time, tens of thousands of courtiers were arrested, and everyone was in danger.
Li Wenzhong looked at it and was very worried, he was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang's move would shake the foundation of the country, so he dared to speak out. Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored his words and put down his harsh words, asking him not to be nosy.
One day after Hu Weiyong's case, Li Wenzhong bathed at home, confessed the aftermath to his wife, entered the palace to advise Zhu Yuanzhang, and he opposed Zhu Yuanzhang's indiscriminate killing of heroes, Li Wenzhong asked: "Emperor, if there is a change in the border pass in the future, who will serve the country?" I am not sorry to die, but I beg Your Majesty to think more about the people of the world! ”
After hearing Li Wenzhong's advice that he was not afraid of death, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately became angry and thunderous, and ordered That Li Wenzhong beheaded. After receiving the news, Empress Ma of the Wanxing Harem pleaded with Zhu Yuanzhang with tears in her eyes:
Li Wenzhong is His Majesty's nephew, and when I heard that His Majesty was going to kill him, I couldn't help but feel sad in my heart. His Majesty's relatives are few left, and Wen Zhong is loyal to His Majesty, and his body is also a great achievement in battle, can't His Majesty open a side?
After hearing Empress Ma's heartfelt words, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but burst into tears after hearing this, thinking that Li Wenzhong's advice was also devoted to him, so he spared Li Wenzhong's death penalty. But the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime cannot be escaped, Li Wenzhong was deposed from his official post by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was never allowed to step out of the house for half a step.
At this time, Li Wenzhong had seen through his uncle, righteous father and monarch, and would not allow anyone to rebel against him. As a courtier, even if Li Wenzhong had a blood relationship with the emperor, he could not escape the fate of rabbit and dog cooking.
In order to save his family, Li Wenzhong died of a serious illness (also known as suicide) one day in March of the seventeenth year of Hongwu.
When the news came out, the world mourned. Zhu Yuanzhang was so grief-stricken that he resigned from the dynasty for three days, and personally wrote an article to send a minister to pay tribute, posthumously appointing Li Wenzhong as the King of Qiyang and taking the title of Wujing. Subsequently, Li Wenzhong was assigned to the Taimiao Temple, the Temple of Portrait Heroes, ranking third, that is, after Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.
