Preface
Zhu Yuanzhang is a very thoughtful emperor, and he has always been resolute in everything he does, and regardless of relatives near and far, several major cases in the Hongwu period showed this point vividly.
In the last years of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the execution of a criminal official, but this official was unusual, he also had another identity, he was the husband of Zhu Yuanzhang's second daughter, Princess Anqing.
At this time, Princess Anqing was middle-aged, but she had to face the pain of being widowed in mourning clothes, which made her quite sad, so she kept pleading with her father, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang could open up in front of her daughter.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always loved his children, did not relent in the face of his daughter's crying, and it didn't take long for the horse's head to fall to the ground, what did this horse do to anger Zhu Yuanzhang?
1. The princess got married in the early Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma have loved each other for a lifetime, and have a total of two daughters, one is the eldest daughter Princess Ningguo, and the other is the second daughter Princess Anqing.
Princess Anqing was born a few years before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, as a noble princess, she was naturally very loved by Zhu Yuanzhang, but her princess status was also destined to become a victim of politics.
In order to win over the founding heroes, most of Zhu Yuanzhang's daughters are married to the school-age children of the founding heroes' families, and these families are basically either rich or noble, and their status is also very high.
However, when he arrived at Princess Anqing, Zhu Yuanzhang's vision of choosing a son-in-law turned around 360 degrees, giving up some nobles and nobles, and instead choosing those promising young people among the commoners.
The reason for this can be glimpsed through those political cases in the Hongwu period, Princess Anqing was married in the fourteenth year of Hongwu, and just the year before, the "Hu Weiyong case" that shocked the world occurred.
This case involved quite a lot of powerful families, and many of them were connected to the nine clans, which also made Zhu Yuanzhang lose trust in the founding heroes and noble families and increase his guard.
Among them, Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest daughter, Princess Lin'an, was married to Li Qi, the eldest son of the founding hero Li Shanchang, but in the Hu Weiyong case, Li Shanchang was found to be deeply implicated, so the entire Li family was sentenced to nine clans.
Li Qi, as a concubine, saved himself from death for the sake of the princess's face, but he also couldn't escape punishment, and Princess Lin'an was also exiled to the border together.
Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor, but he is also a father, as a father, it must be quite distressing to see his eldest daughter's marriage unfortunate and suffer like this, but this marriage was decided by himself, and he must also regret it.
Therefore, when choosing a husband for Princess Anqing, who is about to marry, she must have wanted to avoid such a tragedy, so she no longer chooses among the powerful families.
Zhu Yuanzhang then set his sights on the literati, although most of the talents also have some families, but there are also many people from civilian backgrounds, so the Jinshi selected by the imperial examination is a good range.
In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang took a fancy to a talented man named Ouyang Lun among the Jinshi, who was both talented and good-looking and had no background, which made Zhu Yuanzhang quite satisfied with him.
2. Life after marriage
In the fourteenth year of Hongwu, Princess Anqing and Ouyang Lun held a wedding, which was the first intermarriage between royal and commoners after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and Princess Anqing also became the first princess of the Ming Dynasty to marry a commoner.
Zhu Yuanzhang was finally satisfied with this marriage, thinking that if the princess was married so low, the husband's family would have no power and no power to make any waves, and the princess would not have to be implicated and suffer, but the seeds of disaster were still planted.
Princess Anqing is of course dissatisfied with her marriage, her three sisters are at least married to officials with family backgrounds, but as a princess, she actually married a commoner who had just been admitted to the imperial examination.
Although Princess Anqing realized from the tragic results of Princess Lin'an that marrying a noble is not necessarily a good thing, it does not mean that a noble princess has to marry a commoner, and the status gap between them is too big!
However, Princess Anqing's arms can't twist her thighs, Zhu Yuanzhang is both a father and a king, and the princess's marriage is not her own decision, so she can only marry Ouyang Lun aggrievedly.
But the life of the husband and wife after marriage is not as unbearable as Princess Anqing thinks, in order to make the princess marry decently, the horse family will inevitably receive a lot of rewards before marriage, so the conditions of the Ouyang family are also very poor.
What's more, Princess Anqing's identity is much higher than that of the Ouyang family, and it is too late for the Ouyang family to have such a noble daughter-in-law, so it is simply to offer Princess Anqing up, and dare not let her suffer a little grievance.
Husband Ouyang Lun, as a jinshi, not to mention that he is also quite bookish, and his attitude towards his wife is very polite, coupled with the identity of Princess Anqing, Ouyang Lun is even more unlikely to snub Princess Anqing.
3. Ouyang Lun broke the law
Princess Anqing and Ouyang Lun's husband and wife life is like this, and the Ouyang family has greatly improved their social status because of the honor of Princess Shang, and Ouyang Lun has been arranged for a good position.
However, after seeing the convenience brought by power and status, the originally simple Ouyang Lun's mind was gradually corrupted, and he wanted to pursue more benefits through his status as a colt, so he embarked on the road of breaking the law.
After marrying Princess Anqing for more than ten years, the time came to the end of Hongwu, and Zhu Yuanzhang was already dying of old age at this time, but it didn't mean that he was old and confused, and he clearly understood government affairs.
But Ouyang Lun thought he was smart, so he took advantage of his position and position to boldly extend his hand to the tea trade.
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the tea trade had become an important source of lucrative finance for the state, and private intervention was absolutely forbidden.
However, in such a high-risk environment, Ouyang Lun was still blinded by interests, so he took risks and relied on his power to send his own people to sell tea abroad without permission.
Generally speaking, local officials are quite willing to report and rectify this kind of behavior, after all, it is a big political achievement, but when the owner behind the smuggler is the master of the horse, things are different.
After all, there is a princess behind the horse, that is the royal family's own people, and the tea trade is also the emperor's business in the final analysis, you go to report the horse, in case the emperor has no reaction, the horse will retaliate against you, why bother?
Therefore, the officials should not be able to see and know that Ouyang Lun was smuggling tea, and Ouyang Lun's house slave Zhou Bao was even more reckless because his master was a concubine, and he didn't know how to keep a low profile in smuggling, and he swaggered and extravagant.
Not only that, but when Lantian was routinely inspected by local officials, he dared to beat other officials, which made the officials unbearable, and directly sued the court and let the emperor handle the family affairs himself.
Zhu Yuanzhang was quite angry after knowing this, what he hated most was the officials who sought personal gain for public purposes, not to mention that Ouyang Lun was still the son-in-law he personally fancied, but he misbehaved, isn't this just a slap in the face of Zhu Yuanzhang?
So Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have the slightest mercy to cover up the concubine, and directly ordered Ouyang Lun to be arrested, and went to prison to prepare to lose his head, leaving no mercy at all.
Princess Anqing was shocked when she learned about it, and hurriedly entered the palace to intercede for her husband, and even cried bitterly in front of Zhu Yuanzhang regardless of her image: "How can I live if you kill him!" Are you willing to see me a middle-aged widow! ”
However, this is a matter of principle, Zhu Yuanzhang did not give in to his grief-stricken daughter, and it didn't take long for Ouyang Lun to be escorted to the execution ground, and then his head fell to the ground, and Zhou Bao, who was fighting for the tiger, also did not escape death.
epilogue
It can be seen from this incident that it is definitely a good thing that Zhu Yuanzhang has principles, putting the law of the country above his family, this is the decision that a real emperor should have.