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preface
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in the late Yuan Dynasty in a farming family in Fengyang County, Anhui Province.
In the course of its growth, natural disasters have occurred frequently, production has decayed, the people's lives have been difficult, and peasants and people have rebelled one after another, like the fire of the stars, burning brightly.
When Yuan Zhang was seventeen years old:
"After the drought in northern Huaibei, followed by the plague, his parents and brothers died one after another, and in autumn and September, he went to Huangming Temple to become a practicing monk."
After eight years of seclusion, in the twelfth year of Zhizheng, he defected to Guo Zixing and started a new life of his own.
Zhu Yuanzhang went through a difficult initial stage, and finally at the age of forty, that is, in the twenty-eighth year of the first calendar, he officially ascended the throne as a state, established the Jianyuan and Hongwu dynasties, and completed a major transformation from commoner to emperor.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang has shortcomings such as tyranny, autocracy, and suspicion, the author believes that Zhu Yuanzhang also has corresponding characteristics such as self-confidence, righteousness, and magnanimity.
It is precisely because of this that his duality and complexity will affect the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Ming Dynasty to go from prosperity to decline.
First, there is both self-confidence and low self-esteem
From a psychological point of view, self-confidence is primarily a form of self-efficacy, which is an evaluation of what a person shows when dealing with certain situations.
There are four mechanisms of action: behavioral achievement, alternative experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal.
In a nutshell, confidence is a positive evaluation of oneself.
From a destitute boy to a ruler of the world, Zhu Yuanzhang showed extraordinary confidence at the beginning.
In the twelve years of orthodoxy, the Huangming Temple where he temporarily lived was burned by Yuan Bing, and he has been homeless ever since.
At that time, the letters of his childhood friend Tang He and the leaks of others were the external motives for Zhu Yuanzhang to ask Guo Zixing for help.
His inner self-evaluation and active inquiry into the current situation were important factors in his rise to the throne.
From a poor teenager to the head of a country, this huge transformation made Zhu Yuanzhang feel stunned,
He once said:
"When I was in Wuwei, I was just a hillbilly, wandering in the chaotic world, hoping to solve the crisis, but I didn't expect such a day."
Although Zhu Yuanzhang has become a generation of Ming monarchs, he was lonely and helpless in his early years, and his humble experience as a monk in Yunyou also left a deep impression of "inferiority".
It is precisely because of such a "inferior" and "lost mind" that Zhu Yuanzhang's "sensitive" and "suspicious" personality has been created.
Like a shadow-like inferiority complex, Adler said in his psychologist's book Beyond Inferiority:
"A person's sense of self is always in a state of transcendence.
Although he didn't answer the question directly, it did put him at ease.
Zhu Yuanzhang, taking advantage of the majesty of the emperor, tried to avoid the pressure caused by his inferiority, so throughout the Hongwu period, he committed many taboos and appeared many "civil official" incidents.
Taboo, to put it bluntly, is a kind of neglected inferiority.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang is a monk, the words "monk", "sheng", and "light" cannot be said.
The homophony of the words "thief" and "rule" will also bring disaster.
In his early years, Zhu Yuanzhang witnessed the corruption and bribery of various officials, and regarded human life as ants.
So he especially hated those corrupt officials; In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang came from a poor background, and he was not at ease with all civil officials, lest they threaten their power.
Therefore, he has been secretly observing the movements of civil officials, and even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he specially set up Jinyiwei, which was specially responsible for supervising, arresting, and interrogating civilian officials.
The "Hu Weiyong case", "Kong Yin case", "Guo Heng case", and "Blue Jade case" are all major cases committed during his reign, and most of them have not received a good ending.
Of course, there are dereliction of duty by officials who need to be severely punished, but it is also possible that Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless and put tens of thousands of people to death.
Second, the thin affection and deep affection are heavy
Zhu Yuanzhang was the founder and ruler of great unification, and his ruling methods were very extreme.
After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he conquered Sichuan in the west, established the official system in the north, established laws, educated Confucianism, and gradually established a stable and initially prosperous society.
Zhu Yuanzhang's reign was increasingly solid and remarkably successful, but his humble origins contrasted sharply with his glory as emperor.
This contrast, to a certain extent, caused his distrust of the military general class and his indifference to civilian officials.
During Zhu Yuanzhang's resistance to the Yuan and Jianming dynasties, Huaixi Li Shanchang and Xu Da followed him all the way east and built a powerful army.
The eastern Zhejiang faction, led by "Chen Dongsi", assisted him in this crusade and strategized.
Zhu Yuanzhang originated in Huaixi, has a huge power in eastern Zhejiang, has a deep family heritage, and also has certain scruples in eastern Zhejiang.
He first took advantage of the conflict between Zhedong Shifu and Huaixi Shifu to gradually weaken Liu Ji's power among Zhejiang Dongshi Dafu.
However, the unbalanced political ecology unified the Huaixi regiments, posing a greater threat to the majesty of the imperial family.
During this time, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out purges after purges of Huaixi's rule.
The Hu Weiyong case, the Lan Yu case, and the inexplicable death of some meritorious people led to the decline of meritorious people in the early Ming Dynasty, and also made the emperor's power more stable.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless to the former civil and military officials, he was magnanimous to talented young talents.
A year after Lee Sun-chang was executed, Xie wrote a "On Korean Public Injustices", denouncing Lee Sun-chang's crime of rebellion, and Zhu Yuanzhang was not weird because of Xie's talent.
Later, he said to his father:
"A late bloomer, if you let your son come back, it will be better, in the next ten years, there will be time."
This is the intention of leaving talent for the son.
It can be seen from this that it is understandable that Zhu Yuanzhang mutilated the innocent due to suspicion and inferiority, but it is also unreasonable to just say that he was cruel and ruthless.
Zhu Yuanzhang's wife Empress Ma is not only a "noble lady" who followed Guo Zixing when he was a child, but also a confidant who has been in the same boat through thick and thin for life.
The feeling of sharing happiness and hardship between the two deeply moved Zhu Yuanzhang, and when the emperor ascended the throne, he made her a princess and repeatedly praised Princess Ma's benevolence and righteousness.
Zhu Yuanzhang set up a "internal purpose" in his "Emperor Ming's Ancestral Instruction" to avoid the palace interfering in politics.
However, he gave Queen Ma a lot of opinions about the affairs of the dynasty and affirmed them, which shows how deep his love for Queen Ma is.
After the death of Empress Ma, Taizu wept bitterly, and did not change in the dynasty for several days, and never established a harem in his life.
In the early war, in order to strengthen himself and cultivate talents, Zhu Yuanzhang once took in several righteous sons.
They were all poor and destitute, and Princess Ma treated them like her own children.
Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty once explained his political views as follows:
"When the hero horn is established, most subordinates are easily reused, but when they treat their subordinates as their own relatives, their names are respected by each other.
Their friendship is mutually supportive, and over time, they will become their own blood, so they are more trustworthy than any general. ”
However, I have to say that Zhu Yuanzhang still has a good impression of his sons, so he will do this.
Among them, there is a son, named Mu Ying, who is especially graceful.
Mu Ying became an orphan when she was 8 years old, and met Zhu Yuanzhang by chance and was adopted by him.
When Mu Ying was 18 years old, he accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang on a campaign, and then he fought in the south and the north, making great achievements.
Mu Ying was in Hongwu for ten years, and for the merit of "conquering Xifan", he was awarded the title of "Marquis of Xiping" and awarded the "Iron Medal".
The suspicious Zhu Yuanzhang was able to let the children of a foreigner guard a place, and thought that he was the mainstay of guarding Daming, which is enough to show that he values and trusts himself.
According to the custom, after Hou's death, he was added to the title of Marquis, and after his death, Zhu Yuanzhang directly elevated his title to the position of "King of Qianning".
In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, although it had stabilized, corruption still existed during this period, which was a huge hidden danger.
Now people are waiting for His Majesty the Emperor's performance, hoping that he can show his strength and drive this hidden danger away.
The need for this fact, combined with the fact that he was originally a suspicious person, led to several murders in the early Ming Dynasty.
As for the execution of Zhu Yuanzhang, because there are too few records in history, coupled with many records in folklore, it is difficult to judge the truth of it.
Third, open-mindedness and narrow-mindedness coexist
When future generations study Daming, they will find that Zhu Yuanzhang's personality and way of acting are very different from before he took the throne, especially his personality.
This was originally a generous king, but after ascending the throne, he became calculating. His character was complex and influenced the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was able to become a generation of kings largely because of his tolerance of people and things.
Regarding how to use talents, Zhu Yuanzhang once said:
"If you are hungry, you should receive the wisdom of the crowd in order to prosper the great cause."
Teacher Wu Han also said:
"For more than 30 years, Confucianism, Taoism, monks, the four major religions and the nine streams have all been used for their own use, while Gong Tong has been used for his imperial throne. During his ascension to the throne, the Huaixi clique had a close relationship with him and fought for him in the east, while the readers of eastern Zhejiang advised him. ”
In addition, there are also Buddhist monks who impeach hundreds of officials for them, and Taoist monks give them a layer of mystery.
He not only attached importance to southerners, but also actively introduced northerners, attaching importance to the promotion of Han talents and ethnic minority talents.
After Zhu Yuanzhang captured the capital, he ordered:
"All Mongols, hungry ghosts, are allowed to be promoted to officials."
This is all over the world, only talents are recognized, not relatives, moreover, they are also treated very well and respected enough.
In addition, he can also use the advantages of others and avoid the shortcomings of others, instead of blindly blaming others, he is to maximize the shortcomings of others, and will not pursue the faults of others.
General Yuan's general Naha, who was twice arrested, was still awarded the title of Marquis of Haixi.
It can be said that he has fulfilled the sentence he said:
"According to talent, just like a good worker to wood, as long as it is suitable, there is no waste, women are the same, people with big tools, may not have small ability, people with small ability, or may not have great power, so the person who uses it depends on their ability."
Zhu Yuanzhang was magnanimous and gave rich rewards to the military generals and Wen Chen's property.
After the capture of Chuzhou, all the trophies captured from the army were distributed.
In the sixteenth year of the Orthodox era, Taiping City was occupied, and "rich Chen Di offered gold and silver", and then was "rewarded to officials and soldiers from all over the world".
After the founding of the country, His Majesty Taizu canonized hundreds of civil and military officials, six Wang Ye, twenty-eight Hou Ye, and a few meritorious people, who could be exempted from the death penalty, all of which were in name.
Such a large fiefdom, without sufficient strength is impossible to complete.
In contrast, Zhu Yuanzhang was narrow-minded, which also affected his future and even the direction of the entire country.
First of all, Taizu did not spare anyone who might pose a threat to him
The "Four Major Cases" executed all the powerful people throughout the Hongwu period, and only a very few people were heroes after the founding of the country.
Liu Shanchang, who was in a high-ranking position and dying of old age, was still killed, and although the "cloth brother" Xu Da was very cautious, he was not spared.
Liao Yongzhong, the Marquis of Deqing who eradicated King Xiaoming for him, was not spared after all.
What is even more chilling is that his righteous nephew Zhu Wenzheng was beaten because he was too close to Confucianism, and he was dissatisfied in his heart.
There are very few who dare to oppose him, and there are very few who can retreat with their whole bodies.
One is to eradicate dissidents, and the other is to maintain one's own dignity.
As mentioned earlier, there are various taboo words, and the associations surrounding their identity.
Those who disagreed with him ended badly, and Zhang Laishuo advised his fiancée's daughter to be a maid, feeling that it was against common sense, and was executed by Ling Chi.
Li Shilu once told the emperor to promote the art of Zhuzi, rather than honoring monks.
However, the emperor turned a deaf ear to this and dismissed him from his post and returned him, and Zhu Yuanzhang, in a fit of anger, ordered him to be thrown on the steps and executed.
epilogue
Zhu Yuanzhang's early life made him develop the quality of tenacity and courage, but at the same time, he also cultivated his inferiority and doubt.
With the continuous change of the throne, his personality began to diversify, forming a combination of heavy and thin feelings, magnanimity and narrow-mindedness.
These two personalities may seem opposites, but they are one.
He could endure the humiliation and burden of his throne, and after establishing his empire, he spared no effort to eradicate the opposition forces in order to "last forever" in order for the empire to "last forever".
Such a contradictory and intricate personality not only had a huge impact on his own life, but also played an important role in the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty.
[References]
1. Wu Han. Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang[M].Beijing: People's Publishing House. 1991．
2. Mengsen. Lectures on Ming History[M].Changsha:Yuelu Books,2010.
3. Wu Han. Zhu Yuanzhang[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,1991.
4. Zhao Qingwei. A brief discussion on the formation of Zhu Yuanzhang's cultural character[J].Journal of South Central University for Nationalities (Social Science Edition),2001,(2).