Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed empress dowager and feasted on his subordinates. After the three dishes were served, Liu Bowen was shocked, saying that they would die today. Sure enough, no one who attended the banquet escaped the clutches of Zhu Yuanzhang. What was the end of Liu Bowen? Which three dishes did Zhu Yuanzhang invite them to eat?
Zhu Yuanzhang was a native of Fengyang, Anhui Province, born in poverty, who originally had nothing, and with the help of Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Liu Bowen, Li Shanchang and others, he changed his life against heaven and led the rebel army to defeat Chen Youyu, Zhang Shicheng and other strong enemies, and also drove Genghis Khan's descendant Emperor Yuanshun to the northern grasslands, establishing a Han dynasty in the Central Plains - the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang also became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
In 1368, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he rewarded his subordinates with meritorious service, and he made Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Deng Yu, and Chang Mao (Chang Yuchun's son) dukes, and tang he and Tang Shengzong and 28 others were made marquises. Zhu Yuanzhang gave many rewards to the heroes. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also issued Danshu iron coupons to 34 meritorious people, and after the meritorious people committed crimes, they could rely on the Danshu iron coupons to avoid death and exonerate crimes.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he did not forget his original intention, he was still diligent and thrifty, and loved the people, and Zhu Yuanzhang also hoped that his ministers would be honest and upright, and love the people like sons, but after following him to fight the heroes of the world, after he was powerful, he began to show off. They lived in extravagant and extravagant lives, and some of them still held the power in their hands, bullied the strong and the weak, embezzled and accepted bribes, robbed the people's women, and so on, and became corrupt officials who oppressed the people, and even a few meritorious people, even Zhu Yuanzhang did not pay attention to them, they were lawless, they had plotted rebellion, and they were disrespectful.
Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more disappointed with the heroes under his hands.
After the disappointment accumulated to a certain extent, Old Zhu began to kill. Zhu Yuanzhang did not want them to continue to stay in the human world, oppress the people and cause disasters to the community.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked people to build a celebration building. After the completion of the Qinggong Building, Zhu Yuanzhang feasted on the heroes in the Qinggong Building. At the beginning of the banquet, Zhu Yuanzhang had a little pity for this group of brothers who had followed him from birth to death and made many great achievements, and he let people serve a dish that he often ate when he was poor: jade white jade soup. The heroes could not guess the emperor's thoughts, and they who were accustomed to eating big fish and meat on weekdays saw cabbage sticks, spinach leaves, steamed tofu and vegetarian soup made of rice grains and crushed rice in a pot, and instantly lost their appetite.
This made Zhu Yuanzhang, who was observing from the sidelines, extremely disappointed, and his eyes became gloomy. Subsequently, the servants brought the three dishes specially prepared by Zhu Yuanzhang for the ministers to the table. After everyone saw the big fish and meat, they ate it happily, but Liu Bowen was scared out of a cold sweat. The three dishes that Zhu Yuanzhang prepared for the heroes were braised dog meat, rabbit meat and bird's nest porridge.
Liu Bowen was too frightened to move his chopsticks, but just looked at the dishes on the table in shock. After Xu Da found out, Liu Bowen whispered to Xu Da, I am afraid that we will not be able to escape death today. The monk of Xu Da Zhang'er was confused. Liu Bowen said, "Birds are exhausted, good bows are hidden; Cunning rabbits die, lackeys cook. "Rabbit meat and dog meat, don't they mean "rabbit dead dog cooking"? Now that the powerful enemies have been eliminated by them, these heroes are useless, and it is time to hide and get rid of them. Xu Da also reacted, although he did not dare to believe that Zhu Yuanzhang would kill them, but his life was at stake, and he did not dare to be careless. Xu Da quickly asked Liu Bowen, what should I do now?
Liu Bowen told Xu Da not to drink, always sober, Zhu Yuanzhang wherever he went, he followed. Subsequently, Liu Bowen made an excuse and left, which made Xu Da more nervous and did not dare to relax for a moment. The other heroes drank wine and ate meat, and soon everyone was full of wine and food, lying on the table. Zhu Yuanzhang saw the situation and got up and left. Xu Da quickly followed and left the Qinggong Building with Zhu Yuanzhang. As soon as they walked out of the Qinggong Building, the Qinggong Building collapsed violently, and all the people inside died.
This story was compiled by later generations, and it is not a real thing that happened in history. The story comes from life, and the reason why posterity will make up this story has a lot to do with Zhu Yuanzhang's claim to the title of empress dowager and the wanton slaughter of heroes. Most of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Most of the 34 founding heroes who were sealed by Zhu Yuanzhang did not escape Zhu Yuanzhang's butcher's knife except for those who died in battle or died of illness very early, for example, Zhu Yuanzhang killed more than 30,000 people in the Hu Weiyong case, including Li Shanchang, Lu Zhongheng, Tang Shengzong, Fei Ju and other heroes. In the Blue Jade case, Zhu Yuanzhang slaughtered tens of thousands of people, including Fu Youde, Feng Sheng, Wang Bi and other princes. The heroes that Zhu Yuanzhang killed, as well as Zhou Dexing, Hu Mei, Liao Yongzhong and others, only Tang He, Guo Ying, Geng Bingwen and Mu Ying, luckily escaped Zhu Yuanzhang's butcher's knife.
Xu Da and Liu Bowen, how did they die?
Xu Da was the first general under Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1363, Xu Da defeated Chen Youyu at the Battle of Poyang Lake, laying the foundation for Zhu Yuanzhang to destroy Chen Youyu. In 1367, Xu Da led an army to destroy Zhang Shicheng. Subsequently, Xu Da began to wave the Northern Expedition. In 1368, Xu Da invaded Dadu and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Xu Da led his troops to continue to attack the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, depriving the Yuan Dynasty of the ability to counterattack from the south.
Xu Da's southern conquest of the northern war lasted for decades, with few defeats. After becoming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Xu Da as a taifu (太傅), a zhongshu right chancellor, a military minister and a prince of state affairs, and a duke of Wei, making Xu Da an extremely popular subject. The more meritorious deeds, the greater the power, the higher the status, in fact, the more the emperor is jealous, but dangerous. In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang killed his own chancellor on the grounds that Hu Weiyong was plotting rebellion, but at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang's killing was still restrained, and Li Shanchang and others had not yet been implicated in and killed by him. Therefore, Xu Da is also temporarily safe.
In 1385, Xu Da died of illness. Xu Da died earlier, and if Xu Da lived a long life and died later, it was likely that he would not be able to hide from Zhu Yuanzhang's butcher knife.
Liu Bowen was a courtier under Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang declared himself empress dowager, and made him a sincere uncle. Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates, those brash heroes, Liu Bowen was a good official who was honest in performing official duties, strictly enforcing the law and discipline, and not showing favoritism, but Zhu Yuanzhang still could not rest assured of him.
In 1375, Liu Bowen fell seriously ill, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked Hu Weiyong to take the imperial doctor to see Liu Bowen. After Liu Bowen took the medicine prescribed to him by the imperial doctor, his condition worsened. After Zhu Yuanzhang learned of this, he simply said a few words of comfort, which made Liu Bowen very cold.
In order to cure Liu Bowen's illness, relatives and friends found some medicinal stones for Liu Bowen and wanted Liu Bowen to take it, but Liu Bowen refused. Before his death, Liu Bowen knew that Zhu Yuanzhang could not rest assured him, so he asked his son to present one of his heavenly documents to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was relieved to learn that Liu Bowen's son had not studied this book. Liu Bowen's move saved the lives of his descendants.