In recent years, there have been more TV dramas about the early history of the Ming Dynasty, such as "Zhu Yuanzhang" and "Mountains and Rivers Yueming" and other large-scale TV series, which have many depictions and interpretations of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
In these TV series, zhu yuanzhang's image has changed people's impression in the past, and everyone can see more of Zhu Yuanzhang's more grounded side, but people who are familiar with history know that although Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the grass, he was fierce and decisive, otherwise he could not become a generation of founding emperors.
It is undeniable that Zhu Yuanzhang is not a reckless man who will only fight at once, in addition to his military ability, his political acumen is also different from ordinary people. When the Mongol government retreated back to Mongolia, hundreds of thousands of Mongolian women were ruthlessly abandoned in the Central Plains, and his treatment of these Mongolian women was of great help to the development of the entire Ming Dynasty.
The founding emperor of the country who was born in the grass
Zhu Yuanzhang's rise is, in modern terms, "counterattack". Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a poor family, had a difficult life under the oppression of the Yuan court since he was a child, and later lost his parents and relatives in a plague, and the only remaining brothers, sisters-in-law and nephews were also separated from the war and did not know where to go.
In a desperate situation, Zhu Yuanzhang once shaved as a monk to go to the Buddhist temple to make a living. However, at that time, it was the climax of the peasant revolt at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the places were chaotic and uneven, and Zhu Yuanzhang's monks did not last long before they lived a wandering life again.
In three years of wandering life, he also worked as a beggar, wandering between many cities, but with great ambition, he naturally could not be satisfied with begging along the street all his life, so at the age of 25, he joined Guo Zixing's Red Turban Army and joined the anti-Yuan cause.
Under Guo Zixing's command, Zhu Yuanzhang's wisdom was soon revealed, whether it was commanding battles or handling affairs, he had a cheerful personality and was well-behaved, and was highly respected by people in the military. Guo Zixing liked this young man very much, and later married his righteous daughter Ma Shi to Zhu Yuanzhang, which was empress Ma who later had a deep affection for Zhu Yuanzhang.
At that time, the anti-Yuan Red Turban Army was not single-minded, and everyone knew that if this anti-Yuan thing came to fruition, it would divide the world, Guo Zixingxian was famous and had the support of the White Lotus Society, and the other marshals of the Red Turban Army had always been jealous of Guo Zixing, and even had many secret harms, fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang had several rescues on the side.
But slowly Zhu Yuanzhang also found that the red turban army was in civil strife to this point, and he had no ability to fight for the world, so in the end he chose to raise his own troops, and recruited many generals, and no one expected that this little beggar who had begged along the street would eventually become the final winner of the battle for the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
Expelling the Tartars established the Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang used Yingtian as a base to develop his forces from the time he attacked Yingtian, and together with several fierce generals under him Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, he unified the Jiangnan region within a few years.
After annexing the forces of Chen Youyu and Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang finally had the strength to compete with the Yuan court.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang was proclaimed emperor in Nanjing, with the era name Hongwu and the national name Daming, and the history was called Hongwu Yuan.
Seeing the decline of the Yuan Court, Zhu Yuanzhang has already captured half of the world. In the third year of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign as emperor, he appointed Xu Da as the general of the Conquest of The Northern Expedition and took the capital directly.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also set out to eliminate the scattered forces in the Central Plains, and the Ming Dynasty army cut down foreign tribes with thunderous momentum, and since then, the century-old foundation of the Ming Dynasty has been laid, and the entire world has been taken into the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang.
The world is established, and the next step is to deal with the many traces left by the Mongolian Yuan regime in the Central Plains.
Just when Xu Da and Chang Yuchun were approaching the city, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Yuanshun, fled, but this emperor obviously learned the ancient saying in Chinese culture that "husband and wife are originally forest birds, and great disasters are flying everywhere", and he fled lightly, while most of his harem women were left in Dadu in panic.
In addition to most of these Mongol women, many Mongolian women were abandoned as a burden in the places where the Central Plains had been occupied by the Mongols. The total number is as high as hundreds of thousands.
When the Mongol forces were eliminated, how to deal with these Mongol women became a headache.
Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts
The courtiers disagreed on how to dispose of the Mongol female captives.
Some people believe that these Mongol women should be sold into slavery, after all, during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the Han chinese were treated as the lowest people and humiliated by the Mongol Tatars. Now that these Mongols were captured, they naturally had to taste enslavement.
But another part of the people also think that these women are innocent, and Zhu Yuanzhang is also the founding emperor, naturally he wants to show his benevolence to the world, and sending these women back to Mongolia will naturally make the people of the world think that he is a virtuous emperor.
In the face of so many proposals, Zhu Yuanzhang had his own thoughts.
Although these Mongolian women are the remnants of the Mongolian Yuan, they are only weak women who have no power to bind chickens. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately won the world, and he did not despise to vent his anger on these women. However, if these women were returned to Mongolia, it would inevitably make the people feel weak and ignore the pain of the people under the oppression of the Mongolian Yuan.
Therefore, he thought of a way, that is, to let these Mongolian women choose for themselves, they can stay in the Central Plains as Han Chinese, marry Han people in the future, marry each other, teach their children, or choose to return to Mongolia, Zhu Yuanzhang also promised that he would ensure their safety.
As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang's move came out, many Mongolian women thanked Zhu Yuanzhang's benevolence, and thought that they would not know how many doubts and abuses they would suffer when they returned to Mongolia as prisoners of war, so they chose to stay in the Central Plains.
The world has been in war for many years, the people are not happy, and there are not a few people whose wives and children are scattered. After these hundreds of thousands of Mongolian women stayed in the Central Plains, they soon married and had children with Han Chinese men in the Central Plains, which accelerated the population growth in the early years of the Ming Dynasty to a certain extent.
A small decision has brought a new atmosphere to a dynasty, and it is no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang can become a generation of emperors.