The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was a peasant from a poor background, and after years of uprising and war, he finally overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and established the unified Ming Dynasty. During his reign, he centralized power, severely punished corrupt officials, built water conservancy, reduced or reduced taxes, and vigorously developed agricultural production, which is known in history as the "rule of Hongwu."
He was a diligent and loving emperor and a ruthless monarch, who did not hesitate to slaughter meritorious people and persecute literati in order to consolidate his social heritage. In addition, he has a strange habit that is rarely known, which makes people tremble when they hear it.
So what kind of proclivities does Zhu Yuanzhang have that would make the minister so afraid?
In fact, the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang made the minister frightened was because he always liked to lock up the wives and daughters of soldier generals.
And Zhu Yuanzhang will have this kind of behavior, in the final analysis, it is still his character problem.
Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely a bright monarch in governing the country. He set many rules in order to govern the country well, and almost all the systems of Daming were created by the founding emperor.
In order to strengthen the centralization of power, Zhu Yuanzhang specially abolished the prime minister and set up the Duchayuan, Jinyiwei, and so on, and these measures laid the foundation for the later power of Daming.
In addition to checking and balancing the central power, Zhu Yuanzhang has his own ideas in managing the army, and his unique ideas are actually the fundamental reason why he can unify the world with weakness and strength.
In the army, Zhu Yuanzhang never treated his soldiers badly, not only cared about them in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but also was often enthusiastic about "being a red lady".
While other generals were worried that soldiers would marry and distract attention, Zhu Yuanzhang very much hoped that his soldiers would marry wives and have children. If the soldier could not find a marriage partner himself, he asked his wife Ma Xiuying to introduce them; If the soldiers have a partner but are not married, Zhu Yuanzhang will directly help them handle the marriage, as long as they can complete the lover, Zhu Yuanzhang is never afraid of spending money and labor.
Zhu Yuanzhang's marriage with his soldiers was ostensibly a concern for the soldiers, but in fact he had an unknown purpose.
In order to control the army, Zhu Yuanzhang would order the soldiers' wives and children to be sent to his specially set up barracks before each battle. Zhu Yuanzhang claimed that it was to protect the families of the soldiers and let these soldiers have no worries at the front.
But in fact, these wives and daughters who were forced to gather were the best hostages in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands. Zhu Yuanzhang was ostensibly concerned about these soldiers, but in fact he was threatening them. The wives and children of these soldiers were in the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang, and they naturally did not dare to rebel, and could only obediently obey Zhu Yuanzhang's orders. If a soldier disobeyed or defected, he would disadvantage their wives and daughters, such as sending them to brothels or killing them.
Moreover, after the war, Zhu Yuanzhang would not let these wives and daughters go, because many soldiers died, and their wives and daughters became widows. Zhu Yuanzhang locked up these widows in one place, preventing them from remarrying or connecting with men outside. As a result, these widows were miserable, and many of them had sex with people in the army in order to survive or were forced, and even started a prostitution business.
Some of Zhu Yuanzhang's relatives also took advantage of it and found some widows to be wives or concubines. Everyone in the imperial court also knew about this matter, but they didn't dare to say anything, for fear of angering Zhu Yuanzhang. Only Liu Bowen felt that this was not good, but he only privately suggested that these widows be allowed to marry freely, and did not dare to tell Zhu Yuanzhang in person. It is a pity that the arrogant and arrogant Zhu Yuanzhang did not listen to the advice at all, and whoever dared to mention him directly angered and killed.
However, people still have to remember the truth that "good is rewarded with good and evil is rewarded with evil", and those who do bad deeds will eventually be punished by heaven. Zhu Yuanzhang used these innocent soldiers, women, and children to seek his own personal interests, and finally got his due retribution.
Nanjing has been in a long-term drought and has no precipitation, and it is difficult for the people to survive. It was assumed that there was too much grievance in the city that caused heaven's dissatisfaction. Liu Bowen even took the opportunity to play to Zhu Yuanzhang that too many widows in the widow's camp led to too much yin qi, which would eventually endanger the country and endanger the Jiangshan community.
For the sake of the rivers and mountains that Zhu Yuanzhang had built with his own hands, he had no choice but to agree to let the widow remarry or return home. In this way, hundreds of thousands of widows were freed again.
But no matter how selfish Zhu Yuanzhang made up for the mistakes of the matter, it was useless. Because Zhu Yuanzhang did such an "unkind" thing, he had fully considered it in his heart from the beginning.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that his rivers and mountains were fought by force, and the force was in the hands of the generals. If the generals were unfaithful or ambitious, they could jeopardize their throne. Therefore, he asked the generals to send their wives and daughters to the capital or other places to be supervised by him before they set out on the expedition. In this way, it is equivalent to taking the families of the generals hostage, so that they dare not rebel.
In addition to consolidating power, Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to better control the population.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that population was the foundation of the country, so he encouraged army generals and soldiers to marry wives and have children, and gave generous treatment and rewards. But he also worries that overpopulation will lead to social unrest and lack of resources. Therefore, he restricted the fertility and freedom of the soldier generals by locking up their wives and daughters.
In addition to the purpose of maintaining the stability of the great unification, Zhu Yuanzhang's behavior of controlling the wives and daughters of the soldiers was actually to satisfy his own ulterior selfish desires.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had many concubines, he was not satisfied with this. He likes beautiful women like clouds, and has a strong desire for possessiveness and conquest. By locking up the wives and daughters of soldier generals, he could not only choose the woman he liked as he wanted to sleep in his own chamberlain or give it to others, but also show his authority and domineering.
So what consequences did Zhu Yuanzhang's quirk ultimately bring to himself?
On the one hand, it did play a certain deterrent effect, so that many generals did not dare to rebel. However, this also caused dissatisfaction and resentment among the generals. They felt that they had made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang, but they were treated as puppets and hostages by him, losing the warmth of family and the space of freedom. Their wives and daughters were also greatly wronged and insulted, and some were even forcibly occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang or given to others.
In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not bring his relationship closer to the generals, but intensified their antagonism and hostility.
On the other hand, it also brought trouble and crisis to Zhu Yuanzhang himself. Although Zhu Yuanzhang had countless beauties, he also caused strife and jealousy in the harem. His wife, Empress Ma, although her position was stable, she was snubbed and complained by Zhu Yuanzhang because she did not have many children.
In order to compete for Zhu Yuanzhang's favor and the status of heirs, his concubines often intrigue and secretly calculate. Zhu Yuanzhang also suffered from physical weakness and mental decay due to excessive indulgence, which even affected his political judgment and decision-making ability.
Most importantly, this strange habit buried a major hidden danger in Zhu Yuanzhang's life, and even made it difficult for him to bear the final consequences.
That is the issue of princely succession. Zhu Yuanzhang had many children, but his favorite was his eldest son, Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao was born to Empress Ma and the only son born before Zhu Yuanzhang became king. Zhu Biao has a gentle and humble personality, outstanding talent, erudite and talented, and has won Zhu Yuanzhang's praise and trust. Zhu Yuanzhang made him crown prince early and allowed him to participate in government affairs to cultivate his ability to govern. Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that Zhu Biao could inherit his own rivers and mountains and continue his achievements.
It is a pity that there are unpredictable storms in the sky, and people have bad luck. In the twenty-second year of Hongwu, Zhu Biao, who was only thirty-six years old, suddenly fell ill and died. This was tantamount to a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Zhu Yuanzhang, it was really a heavy blow, and he almost wanted to commit suicide in grief. He held a grand funeral for Zhu Biao and posthumously crowned him Emperor Xiaohui. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang has become more gloomy, extreme, suspicious, and cruel.
Life is rewarded with good and evil in the world, and Zhu Yuanzhang finally became a loner, and the reason may also be his own retribution.
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