In the history of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen was evaluated as follows: astronomy, geography, the art of war, etc., and he also had the ability to never forget; Most of the people who fight the world around Zhu Yuanzhang are reckless people who have not read books, and Liu Bowen naturally thinks differently from others in the way he thinks about problems, which means that Liu Bowen has a "unique" role for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Therefore, the world's evaluation of Liu Bowen is extremely high: he is the same adviser as Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period.
Three points of the world Zhuge Liang, rule the rivers and mountains Liu Bowen
Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty referred to Liu Bowen as "My Son's Room", which shows that Zhu Yuanzhang himself admitted that Liu Bowen's influence on him and on the entire Daming Dynasty was equivalent to Zhang Liang's influence on Liu Bang. Such a legendary figure, but did not enjoy the blessing when it should be, not only desolate in his old age, but also died for unknown reasons.
In January of the eighth year of Hongwu, Liu Bowen began to be sick in bed, and when Zhu Yuanzhang learned of this, he sent Prime Minister Hu Weiyong to visit; And let the imperial doctor prescribe a prescription for Liu Bowen's condition, and let Liu Bowen take the medicine according to the prescription prescribed by the imperial doctor. But Liu Bowen took the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor, and not only did his body show no signs of improvement, but he became more and more uncomfortable.
Three months later, Liu Bowen died.
The records about Liu Bowen from illness to death are not complete, so it can't help but make people think:
Some people say that Liu Bowen died of normal illness,
Some people say that Hu Weiyong killed him,
Some people say that Zhu Yuanzhang actually poisoned him
In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang launched the Hu Weiyong case and convicted Hu Weiyong of five major crimes, the fourth of which was "harming colleagues, and the party is the same as the party", and one of the colleagues who harmed was Liu Bowen.
But was it really Hu Weiyong who killed Liu Bowen?
Let's take a look at this article, who is the culprit?
A hero who was "mistreated"
Liu Bowen, along with Xu Da and Li Shanchang, is known as the "Three Masters of the Ming Dynasty", but those who know the history of the Ming should know:
Xu Da was made the Duke of Wei in the third year of Hongwu
Li Shanchang was made the Duke of Xuanguo
And Liu Bowen was only named a sincere uncle
The rank of knighthood in the Ming Dynasty was as follows: Wang and Gong, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Male.
It is also reasonable that Zhu Yuanzhang's son was made king, after all, he was the son of Taizu; In addition to Taizu's sons, the highest title is "duke", Zhu Yuanzhang made six dukes in the third year of Hongwu, in addition to the six dukes, there were twenty-eight marquis and two counts.
No matter how much merit Liu Bowen had before and how much influence he had on Zhu Yuanzhang, he was only made a count, not a "duke", not even a "hou".
In fact, it took a lot of effort for Zhu Yuanzhang to invite Liu Bowen, the "Zhuge Liang", under his command: in the eastern Zhejiang region at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Liu Bowen, Song Lian, Zhang Yi and Yechen were called the "Four Mr. Eastern Zhejiang".
After Zhu Yuanzhang captured Chuzhou, he already had Tang He, Xu Da, and Chang Yuchun around him who were brave and good at fighting, but there were only two Wen Chen: Li Shanchang and Zhu Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang is a man of great ambition, and he also knows very well that if he wants to achieve great things, he needs to recruit more and more talents to help him, especially resourceful advisers.
After all, for Zhu Yuanzhang at this time, most of the people around him are reckless who have not read books, and they are really thirsty for talent.
Hu Dahai and Zhu Yuanzhang recommended "Mr. Zhedong Four", and Zhu Yuanzhang asked people to invite him, except for Liu Bowen, the other three all joined Zhu Yuanzhang.
Hu Dahai recommended four sages, so he sent an envoy to collect them with book coins.
Liu Bowen did not unify his submission to Taizu at first, and Taizu thought to himself: If he Liu Bowen is really a talent, it doesn't matter if he asks for a few more times.
So Zhu Yuanzhang sent another man named Sun Yan to ask Liu Bowen, and Liu Bowen did not want to see Sun Yan at first, but he did not want to offend people, so he asked people to send Sun Yan a sword. But Sun Yan did not accept Liu Bowen's sword, because Sun Yan felt that this sword should be given to the Son of Heaven, and I was a courtier, so I really did not dare to accept it. Sun Yan returned the sword to Liu Bowen, along with a long letter, and after Liu Bowen read the letter, he made up his mind to follow Zhu Yuanzhang.
The two times were not personally visited by Taizu, but Zhu Yuanzhang's sincerity can also be seen; Moreover, the reason why Liu Bowen let Zhu Yuanzhang "Sangu Maolu" is actually not to be proud of talent, but to observe the current situation, which hero can achieve great things; Now that the investigation of Zhu Yuanzhang had ended, Liu Bowen was naturally willing to follow Taizu.
Facts have proved that Zhu Yuanzhang's sincerity was not in vain, and Liu Bowen was indeed a great talent; In every subsequent battle, although Liu Bowen did not personally go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, his role was indeed worth thousands of troops, helping Taizu to make plans, not everyone can do it, and the ability to strategize is required.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang began to make great meritorious ministers in the third year of Hongwu, and Liu Bowen was made a sincere uncle. It stands to reason that a wizard like Liu Bowen is not too much to be named a duke, but when we analyze the six dukes canonized by Zhu Yuanzhang, they are actually the first heroes who followed Taizu to fight the world. Liu Bowen followed Taizu relatively late, and even if the merit was great, it was only a count's title.
Purely from the point of view of knighthood, there are indeed some grievances for Liu Bowen; But as a courtier of the founding emperor, perhaps even if he is aggrieved in his heart, he cannot show it; Because it is easy to get rid of the "meritorious master". This was not soon, Zhu Yuanzhang began to "Qing Jun side".
Liu Bowen died
Liu Bowen's life can be divided into three stages:
The first stage: full of pride and ambition in adolescence
The second stage: In his youth, he cherished Taizu, and Maxima met Bo Le, showing his strength
The third stage: After the establishment of the Daming Dynasty, it struggled and ended in tragedy
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Daming Dynasty, the Ming court began to appear: the Huaixi Party and the Eastern Zhejiang Party.
The Huaixi Party was headed by Li Shanchang
The Eastern Zhejiang Party is headed by Liu Bowen
Liu Bowen held the position of imperial history, and the nature of this position determined that Liu Bowen would definitely make many enemies in the dynasty. After all, most of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty were from reckless backgrounds, and they were often proud of their achievements.
For Liu Bowen, who often impeached himself, he naturally hated the root of his teeth.
Liu Bowen even proposed to Taizu to take over the military power of the military generals, which naturally made these heroes of the Huaixi Party hate it to the bone.
In the struggle between the Huaixi Party and the Eastern Zhejiang Party, Liu Bowen was not allowed to leave his job "due to illness" and return to his hometown. In the fifth year of Hongwu, when Liu Bowen returned to his hometown to recuperate, there was a place called Danyang about 170 li south of Putian. Located in Zhejiang and the border of Fujian, the situation is more complicated, it is the place where Fang Guozhen, one of Zhu Yuanzhang's fierce enemies before the emperor, started, and another is called "Yanyun's lair".
Liu Bowen then asked his son to investigate the place, and then wrote a note and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang.
At this time, Hu Weiyong (a member of the Huaixi Party) was in power, and the twist was directly sent to Zhu Yuanzhang without Hu Weiyong, which made Hu Weiyong and others very dissatisfied.
Hu Weiyong grasped this matter and joined other ministers of the Huaixi Party to sue Liu Bowen: Liu Bowen was good at feng shui fortune telling, and found that this place exuded royal qi, and actually wanted to take it for himself and use this place as the burial ground of their Liu family in the future; He even had his son expel the local people for this.
If nothing else, the word "Wang Qi" alone touched Zhu Yuanzhang's sensitive nerves;
If Liu Bowen planned to take this place of Danyang as his own, wouldn't he have a reaction?
So Zhu Yuanzhang "invited" Liu Bowen back to Nanjing and continued to recuperate in Nanjing; In fact, it is convenient for Zhu Yuanzhang to look at Liu Bowen all the time.
Hu Weiyong took Zuo Cheng to save affairs, saying that there was a royal spirit in the foreign land, Jitu was the tomb, and the people were with them, and they asked for inspections to drive away the people.
Later, Hu Weiyong of the Huaixi Party was promoted to the left prime minister, and Liu Bowen was extremely disappointed, and his inner hopes were also shattered; Over time, the excessive worry becomes more serious.
In the eighth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang learned that Liu Bowen was seriously ill, so he asked Zuo Cheng Prime Minister Hu Weiyong to visit, and when Hu Weiyong went, he also brought the prescription prescribed by the imperial doctor, and let Liu Bowen take the medicine according to the prescription. However, after Liu Bowen took the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor, his condition became more serious, and his health became worse and worse.
In fact, Liu Bowen once went to Zhu Yuanzhang because of this matter, and told Zhu Yuanzhang that his health was getting worse and worse after taking the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take it seriously, nor did he care about Liu Bowen, which made Liu Bowen very disappointed.
At this time, Liu Bowen was very cold, and in March Liu Bowen was allowed by Zhu Yuanzhang to return to his hometown to recuperate. In addition to his son, there were also people sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to escort him back to his hometown.
After returning to his hometown, Liu Bowen stopped taking medicine and refused all the medicines prescribed by others; He forced himself to have a normal routine and diet, but after only a month, Liu Bowen realized that his time was running out and began to explain the future to his sons.
"After I die, you must immediately hand over the heavenly documents to the emperor, and you must not delay for a moment; In the future, none of our Liu family's descendants can learn this discipline. ”
He also instructed his sons to be both strong and soft, respect the law and morality, and treat the people with leniency.
Before his death, Liu Bowen wrote a letter with ten countermeasures. Liu Bowen instructed his son Liu Lian that he could not give this act to the emperor after Hu Weiyong's death, otherwise the emperor would not be able to see it.
On April 16, Liu Bowen died of illness.
After Liu Bowen's death, later generations continued to seal him:
Emperor Wuzong posthumously regarded him as a Taishi
Sejong made it worthy of the temple
This shows that Liu Bowen's achievements have actually withstood the test of time, and have also been recognized and appreciated by the world.
epilogue
It is recorded in the history books that Hu Weiyong killed Liu Bowen:
"Records of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty": "Cheng Tu in the history of the festival: Former sincerity Bo Liu Ji was poisoned, and Guangyang Yizhi was killed. Ask Guangyang, Guangyang is 'nothing'. When Shangpo heard that (Liu) Ji Fang was ill, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong waited for the doctor because he drank poison. It is to blame Guangyang for deceit, not to be loyal to the country, and to sit idly by and watch the ruins.
The translated meaning of this passage is: Tu Jie said that the former sincerity Bo Liu Ji was poisoned, and Wang Guangyang should have known; But Zhu Yuanzhang asked Wang Guangyang, and Wang Guangyang said that there was no such thing. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Liu Ji was sick, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong took the imperial doctor to see Liu Ji, and Liu Gene was poisoned because he took the medicine that Hu Weiyong brought to the imperial doctor. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry and rebuked Wang Guangyang for being disloyal.
It can be seen from this passage that it was indeed Hu Weiyong who killed Liu Ji, and there is indeed a certain degree of credibility.
But some people also say that the reason why Liu Bowen was poisoned was actually Zhu Yuanzhang's conspiracy.
Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware that Hu Weiyong had always had a feud with Liu Bowen, and when Liu Bowen was seriously ill, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked Hu Weiyong to visit Liu Bowen, obviously using Hu Weiyong's hatred of Liu Bowen to get rid of Liu Bowen.
Obviously, Liu Bowen's death is actually inseparable from Zhu Yuanzhang.
But if the cause is investigated, in fact, Liu Bowen himself is also responsible.
Liu Bowen has been upright in his life and has great ambitions.
When Zhu Yuanzhang fights the world, whether it is a military general or a Wen Chen, it is an indispensable talent for Zhu Yuanzhang, and he will naturally regard it as a treasure in his heart; But after Zhu Yuanzhang sat down in the world, these powerful ministers who fought the world became "dangerous ministers", people who threatened the imperial power.
If Liu Bowen could learn from Zhang Liang and retire when Liu Bang became emperor, he might really be able to end well.
Wang Shizhen, a literary scholar of the Ming Dynasty, commented on Liu Bowen as follows: Some people compare Liu Bowen with Zhang Liang, saying that Liu Bowen's strategy is indeed not lost to Zhang Liang; But if it comes to the integrity of being an official, Liu Bowen is indeed much worse than Zhang Liang.
Liu Bowen is talented, and he also wants to show his talent above the court and be famous in history. As everyone knows, his "knowing the world" is no longer needed after Zhu Yuanzhang has stabilized the world.
Liu Bowen "annoyed" the king of a country step by step above the court, and its end may have been predetermined when Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne. Liu Bowen was confused for a while, and did not recognize that his great talent and responsibilities were actually inconsistent with Zhu Yuanzhang's environment for governing the world, and it was a pity to end up with a rabbit and a dead dog.
Of course, if Liu Bowen could meet a founding king with an open heart, he might not end up so badly!
Life is indeed different and complete, giving a body of talent, being famous in history, but not ending well; It is enough to see that everyone's life will have more or less shortcomings, for Liu Bowen, the biggest flaw is: there is no rush to retreat!
Resources:
"Ming History is actually super good-looking"
"Records of Ming Taizu"
"History of Ming - Liu Ji Biography"
#历史开讲 #