In December 1379, Yushi Zhongshu shangshu Zhu Yuanzhang accused Hu Weiyong of poisoning and killing Liu Bowen. After receiving the recitation, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and immediately summoned Wang Guangyang, the right minister, into the palace to inquire about this matter.
When Wang Guangyang found Zhu Yuanzhang, who had a vicious face, he was frightened and trembled, and replied with trembling: "The things that Tu Jie said are pure fiction. ”
However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not believe Wang Guangyang. He threw Tu Jie's song at Wang Guangyang's feet and scolded: "Er waited for the imperial court, but he formed a party for personal gain, deceived the king, sat idly by and watched the Ming Dynasty ruin and prosper, and lost his heart." ”
Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered wang Guangyang to be expelled and driven to Hainan. However, when Wang Guangyang's ship reached Taiping, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an urgent edict. In the book, Zhu Yuanzhang demeans Wang Guangyang for being worthless:
"You've been following me for a long time, but in the military, you can't give advice; In the Prime Minister's Mansion, you have not recommended a single person, and you know nothing about the national plan; When you go out to inspect, you are silent and silent; When the town is guarding Jiangxi, you sit and watch Zhu Wenzheng plotting rebellion; In charge of Zhongshu Province, you know that Yang Xian has had it, but you do not expose his crimes. Today, you are addicted to wine and do not want to make progress, I did not want to say more, for fear that you mistakenly thought that I was weak and widowed, and I hope that you can reflect on yourself. ”
Wang Guangyang was silent for a long time after reading it. That night, he hanged himself in his room. So is Wang Guangyang really as "incompetent" as Zhu Yuanzhang said? What happened between him and Zhu Yuanzhang? Why did Zhu Yuanzhang have to put him to death?
Zhu Yuanzhang's left and right hands
Wang Guangyang, Jiangsu Gaoyouren. In 1355, Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Taiping and recruited civilian generals everywhere. In his early years, Wang Guangyang, who had been admitted to the Imperial Household Examination, but was reluctant to serve as an official in the Yuan court, voluntarily came to vote, and served under Zhu Yuanzhang together with Chang Yuchun, Li Xi, Tao An and others.
Among zhu Yuanzhang's newly recruited group, Chang Yuchun and Liao Yong'an were fierce generals who charged into the battlefield and made great contributions to his capture of Jianghuai. Tao An and Li Xi made a strange plot to set a celebration and let Zhu Yuanzhang stand firm. Only Wang Guangyang had never made the slightest merit.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was very fond of him. When Zhu Yuanzhang marched south to the north, Wang Guangyang could not leave his side and had been following him to handle military priorities. After capturing Quarry Rock, Wang Guangyang was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang to the rank of Marshal lingshi and ranked under Li Shanchang.
Wang Guangyang was modest and kind, solemn and steady, and extremely loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang. Compared with Li Shanchang, Li Xi and others, Wang Guangyang has less flowers and intestines, and only knows how to bury his head and work hard. Therefore, although Wang Guangyang did not make much meritorious achievements, he was able to stand out among the many civil servants and become Zhu Yuanzhang's right and left hand.
After Zhu Yuanzhang captured Jiqing, he rarely appeared on the battlefield. Wang Guangyang was placed in the armies of Xu Da and Chang Yuchun and held the official position of managing military generals. As a courtier, Wang Guangyang appeared on the front line in almost every battle, and was highly respected by Chang Yuchun and Deng Yu. When Zhu Wenzheng was attacking Jiangxi, Wang Guangyang worked closely with him and joined forces to defeat Chen Li. Therefore, At that time, Wang Guangyang had already grown into one of the few military and political all-rounders under Zhu Yuanzhang.
However, when Zhu Yuanzhang placed Wang Guangyang in the position of participating in the government of Jiangxi Province, he also placed Zhu Wenzheng in Jiujiang as the governor of Dadu. Zhu Wen was zhu Yuanzhang's only nephew, and the Battle of Hongdu and the Battle of Poyang Lake both had great merits. However, Zhu Wenzheng was narrow-minded and blind, and after being suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang, he went so far as to have an affair with Zhang Shicheng and wantonly bought Zhang Shicheng's private salt.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang's main rival was zhang Shicheng alone, and he repeatedly ordered the various ministries to cut off economic and trade ties with Zhang Shicheng in preparation for Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to attack Pingjiang. Zhu Wenzheng's actions undoubtedly touched Zhu Yuanzhang's sensitive nerves, and Wang Guangyang, who participated in the government of Jiangxi Province, should have reported the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb and hid the matter.
However, Wang Guangyang never expected that after Zhu Yuanzhang captured evidence of Zhu Wenzheng's collaboration with the enemy, he actually beat him to death. Zhu Wenzheng's death gave Wang Guangyang a great stimulus, and he gradually grew from a loyal and dutiful executor to a "lying flat" who got by and lived.
A virtuous and talentless minister
After Zhu Wenzheng's death, Zhu Yuanzhang did not pursue Wang Guangyang's faults, and he still entrusted Wang Guangyang with heavy responsibilities. When Xu Da's Northern Expedition conquered Shandong and approached Tongzhou, Zhu Yuanzhang transferred Wang Guangyang to Shandong and served as a provincial politician. Shandong, as the old land of the Yuan Dynasty that had just been pacified, had rebel forces scattered everywhere, creating no small trouble for Xu Da's army. Zhu Yuanzhang was able to place Wang Guangyang in such an important strategic position, which showed his trust in Wang Guangyang.
As an "all-rounder of military and political affairs," Wang Guangyang did not live up to Zhu Yuanzhang's heavy trust. In Shandong, he swept away the remnants of the Yuan dynasty, stabilized the rear of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and continuously supplied xu da and Chang Yuchun with grain, grass, and troops. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Expedition was able to successfully conquer Dadu, drive out Emperor Yuanshun, and support Wang Guangyang and Deng Yu on the front line in Shandong and Henan.
During Xu Da's northern expedition again, he engaged Timur in Shaanxi, drove him out of Shaanxi, and confronted the Yuan army in Ningxia and Gansu. Wang Guangyang hurried from Shandong to Shaanxi to serve as a government official in a strategic buffer area, escorting Xu Da.
Zhu Yuanzhang once commented on Wang Guangyang, saying: "He is very dedicated, cautious and pragmatic in handling heavy tasks, and more importantly, he has always been loyal. It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang dared to put Wang Guangyang behind Xu Da and let him shoulder the safety of hundreds of thousands of troops, and indeed trusted him very much.
In 1370, Li Shanchang, the chancellor of the Left Dynasty, fell ill, coupled with old age and frail health, and lack of energy, it was difficult to support the heavy government affairs of Zhongshu Province. The right minister Xu Da was stationed in Beiping for many years, did not ask about political affairs, and only hung up a false name. Zhu Yuanzhang successively transferred Yang Xian, who participated in the administration of Shanxi, and Wang Guangyang, who participated in the administration of Shaanxi, to Zhongshu Province one after another, serving as left and right servants.
At that time, when the Ming Dynasty was first established, hundreds of wastes were waiting to be rebuilt, but the Zhongshu Province, which was ruled by Li Shanchang, was in a state of twilight, which made Zhu Yuanzhang extremely disappointed. Zhu Yuanzhang intended to take advantage of Li Shanchang's illness to promote a new person to serve as the minister of Zhongshu Province. When he consulted Liu Bowen's opinion, he was rejected by Liu Bowen. In Liu Bowen's view, Zhongshu Province is a big coffin, and the probability of death of Zhongshu Province is very high.
However, Liu Bowen also scorned the three people mentioned later by Zhu Yuanzhang, Yang Xian, Hu Weiyong, and Wang Guangyang. He said:
"Yang Xian has the ability to be a prime minister, but he does not have the belly of a prime minister; Hu Weiyong is like a calf, you use him to plow the ground, he will actually break your pears; And Wang Guangyang has no virtue and no talent, and you will only harm him if you use him. ”
Zhu Yuanzhang has always been arrogant and arrogant, and will never listen to Liu Bowen's advice. However, it did not take long for a serious infighting to break out in Zhongshu Province. At that time, Yang Xian coveted the position of chancellor, characterized Wang Guangyang as his competitor, and tried every means to attack and exclude Wang Guangyang.
Yang Xian and Wang Guangyang, who should have cooperated sincerely, made Zhongshu Province a miasma, the two factions fought endlessly, and the contradictions gradually became public. Zhu Yuanzhang was also extremely dissatisfied with this, and after Yang Xian used his excuse to accuse Wang Guangyang of filial piety, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately demoted him to Hainan. At this time, less than half a year before Wang Guangyang returned to Beijing, this former "old friend" had become a victim of Zhu Yuanzhang's promotion of Yang Xian to the throne.
Zhu Yuanzhang abandoned Wang Guangyang and reused Yang Xian, only to value his talents, so that he could carry out drastic reforms and quickly restore the economy and livelihood of the Ming Dynasty. However, Yang Xian was too obsessed with power, and after Wang Guangyang left, he fought with Li Shanchang, who was about to retire. In the end, zhu Yuanzhang was annoyed and cut him to death.
After Yang Xian's death, Zhu Yuanzhang transferred Wang Guangyang back to the capital from Hainan and appointed him as the Right Minister of Zhongshu Province. Wang Guangyang also became the third chancellor of the Ming Dynasty after Li Shanchang and Xu Da.
As Liu Bowen said, Wang Guangyang's ability was simply not enough to stand in the position of Zhongshu Province's chancellor. He blindly adhered to the "Xiao Zhi Cao Sui", and not only did he not change the institutional policy set by Li Shanchang, but even questioned it. Wang Guangyang's conformism made Zhu Yuanzhang, who intended to show his fists, sullen and unhappy.
At that time, the newly appointed Zhongshu Zuo Cheng Hu Weiyong entered Zhu Yuanzhang's heart. Hu Weiyong's ability is not inferior to Yang Xian's, but he knows how to be introverted, and there is no Yang Xian's arrogance. Therefore, after Wang Guangyang served as chancellor for more than a year, Zhu Yuanzhang casually found a reason to send him out of Guangdong and promote Hu Weiyong to be the chancellor.
Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he could not stand this former "friend", and once again transferred Wang Guangyang back to the capital to serve as a royal historian.
"Lying flat" was killed
Wang Guangyang's return to Beijing this time can be described as disheartened by Zhu Yuanzhang. Within three years, he was demoted twice, once in Hainan and once in Guangdong. The reason for this was actually to make room for Yang Xian and Hu Weiyong. Even if you let an ordinary person look at it, you will feel that you have lost face.
After that, Wang Guangyang indulged in drinking. Yu Shizhong was supposed to supervise the hundred officials and share the emperor's heavy responsibilities. But Wang Guangyang lived a comfortable life of not paying attention to it. After four years in the position of Yushi Zhongcheng, Wang Guangyang did not achieve anything.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang's "humiliation" of him is not over. In 1377, Zhu Yuanzhang transferred him to Zhongshu Province as Hu Weiyong's deputy. The former old boss turned into a subordinate who nodded his head and waist, and Wang Guangyang's resentment towards Zhu Yuanzhang became heavier and heavier. In the face of Hu Weiyong's greed and perverting the law and poisoning the people, Wang Guangyang ignored it. Hu Weiyong engaged in power and money transactions on a large scale, formed a party and private ownership, and as a right-hand man who balanced Hu Weiyong, Wang Guangyang even went with the flow and did not report what he knew.
At this time, Wang Guangyang seemed to have become a corpse vegetarian, hiding in Hu Weiyong's umbrella, absurd in political affairs, addicted to wine, all he did was to go up and down on time, as for the military and political affairs of Zhongshu Province, it had nothing to do with him.
The reason why Wang Guangyang did this was that he saw through Zhu Yuanzhang's personality, lost his enterprising spirit, and only wanted to lie in the position of right minister of Zhongshu Province and raise his life. On the other hand, Hu Weiyong is too powerful, and although Wang Guangyang is the second person in Zhongshu Province, he is similar to a transparent person.
In 1379, Zhu Yuanzhang became increasingly dissatisfied with Hu Weiyong's actions, and Yushi Zhongzhong took the opportunity to go to the top and accused Hu Weiyong of poisoning Liu Bowen and implicating Wang Guangyang, bluntly saying that he did not report it.
Zhu Yuanzhang used this as an excuse to summon Wang Guangyang into the palace, did not ask any questions, and reprimanded him. Prior to this, Zhu Yuanzhang had repeatedly beaten Wang Guangyang, persuading him to stay away from Hu Weiyong and ask wang Guangyang to change his mind and change his face and become a loyal vassal of the past again. But Wang Guangyang did not want to repent and insisted on drawing a clear line with Zhu Yuanzhang.
Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang once again released Wang Guangyang to Hainan. However, when Wang Guangyang reached Taiping, Zhu Yuanzhang issued him an edict to "give death". Zhu Yuanzhang placed Wang Guangyang in the position of Right Chancellor for more than two years, and Wang Guangyang not only did not restrain Hu Weiyong's evil deeds, but helped Hu Weiyong block the channels through which hundreds of officials could pass on news to him. For Zhu Yuanzhang, who is self-determined, Wang Guangyang should not choose to "lie flat" in the position of right chancellor in Zhongshu Province, which is the greatest betrayal to him. In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, an official in such a high position as Wang Guangyang is completely unsuitable for "not advancing or retreating."