Preface
In the long river of history, there are many touching stories that people will remember. One of them was that Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the execution of a teenager, and at the time of the execution, the teenager greeted death with a smile on his face.
In that era of iron-fisted rule, a young man bravely avenged his father, and even provoked the emperor's murderous opportunity, he was not afraid of the danger of life and death, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, was impressed, and won the honor of being an official.
What kind of life legend is this? Let's walk into that magnificent story together......
1. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the dynasty was ruled with an iron fist, and the criminals were everywhere
Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor from a humble background, he opened the country with a butcher's knife and paved the foundation of the Ming Dynasty with blood. In that turbulent era, full of war smoke and fallen soldiers, Zhu Yuanzhang could only stabilize this fragile dynasty with the most ruthless means.
In order to consolidate the imperial power, he carried out an extremely strict purge of the powerful people of the government and the opposition, vowing to cut off dissidents and sweep away dissidents. Whenever someone harbors dissenting intentions and forms a party for personal gain, even if it is a small suspicion, Zhu Yuanzhang will be ruthless and cruel and ruthless to punish him.
Under his iron-fisted rule, in the early Ming Dynasty, there were thrilling big and important cases such as the "Hu Weiyong Case" and the "Lanyu Case", which caused shocks in the government and the public. Among them, the most famous is the "Hu Weiyong case", which started from a small whistleblower and finally turned into a major conspiracy involving the lives and deaths of more than 30,000 people.
Hu Weiyong was once Zhu Yuanzhang's confidant minister, with extremely high power and status, but he was ambitious, and Zhu Yuanzhang cut off his head after seeing through his ill-intentioned attempts. What's even more incredible is that Li Shanchang, who fought side by side with Zhu Yuanzhang back then, was also implicated in his case and killed because of his recommendation of Hu Weiyong, which shows Zhu Yuanzhang's ruthless methods and unrelenting determination to kill.
These major cases not only eliminated many of the founding heroes of Zhu Yuanzhang in his early years, but also eliminated any threat to the imperial power from the government and the opposition, and the position of the Zhu dynasty was more stable from then on. But it is precisely because of this that the entire officialdom is silent, and everyone is in danger.
Officials have stayed away from the center of power, pampering themselves as small officials on one side, rather than coveting high positions and dying for their lives. Even Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, watching their father kill his cronies and heroes one by one, also had a deep fear and awe of his father.
In such an era of iron-blooded purge, the government and the opposition were full of criminals, innocent people were often implicated and imprisoned, and they were imprisoned, and unjust cases were rampant.
Chuzhou Mu Zhou's father was one of the innocent victims, who was wrongfully involved in a major case, arrested and detained, and interrogated, and his life was instantaneous. And his only son, Zhou Wan, made a desperate bet to save his father, and went to Beijing to redress his grievances and meet the saint alone.
Second, the young man looked forward to saving his father and went to Beijing alone to meet him
Zhou's father was originally an upright and upright official, who was well-governed, pragmatic and honest, and was deeply loved by the people. However, fate was impermanent, he lost everything, and unfortunately was involved in a major case of Zhu Yuanzhang's suppression of dissidents, and was strictly arrested and tried by Tingzhu.
The whole family was terrified, feeling unprecedented panic and pressure. Zhou's mother was at a loss, mourning day and night, and was at a loss. Only the young Zhou Wan was left in the family to stand alone in the building, and he had to shoulder the burden of maintaining the whole family.
Zhou Wan has been taught by his father since he was a child, and knows that being poor but having firm ethics is the way to be an official. He knew very well that his father was a good official who abided by the law and was not greedy, had good conduct, was honest and self-righteous all his life, and never made any big mistakes. What his father did was an example for Zhou Wan to learn and follow.
For this reason, he first asked his father's close friends for help everywhere, wanting to use the strength of others to avenge his father, but every time he pounced, no one was willing to get involved in such a big case for Zhou's father, for fear of affecting himself, and he was afraid to avoid it. Faced with such a desperate situation, Zhou Wan was confused and at a loss.
At this moment, an old uncle gave him inspiration and hope: "Instead of doing nothing here and being anxious, it is better to go to Beijing to see the emperor in person and directly ask for rehabilitation!" Although Emperor Zhu is ruthless, if you can make sense of him, you may not be able to do your best to avenge your father! This undoubtedly gave Zhou Wan a glimmer of life.
So, this weak-crowned boy who was only sixteen years old was alone with a sense of filial piety, packed his simple bags, and went to the distant Beijing to seek an opportunity to redress his grievances.
3. The dignified court provoked the disaster of killing
It was not easy to meet the emperor, and even when he arrived in the capital, Zhou Wan was confused. He searched for a way around the capital, and finally with the help of a court official, he was allowed to temporarily "sue the emperor" when he was in the upper court and avenge Zhu Yuanzhang in person.
Although he was very nervous and scared, for the sake of his father's life, the young man still mustered up the courage and walked into the magnificent inner hall of the Forbidden City alone. The court never expected that it would be a sixteen-year-old boy who "sued the emperor" to the emperor.
At first, Zhu Yuanzhang was a little curious about this bold and innocent child, but when he heard that Zhou Wan wanted to avenge his father, who had already been convicted, his brows immediately furrowed. A kind of anger that was trampled on the head of the villain ignited from the bottom of his heart, almost gushing out.
Zhou Wan stood fearlessly surrounded by thousands of guards, and did not feel the solemn atmosphere of the court, and made a generous statement to tell his father about his grievances.
This was really an unforgivable crime at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, slammed the case, and immediately ordered the execution of this ignorant and vain teenager! Everyone's eyes revealed a kind of pity and sadness, and finally a filial son will be buried together.
Fourth, he is not afraid to show filial piety and courage when he is dying
At the moment when the guards were rudely dragging Zhou Wan to prepare for execution, the atmosphere in the entire court suddenly froze. After all, the execution of a filial son to avenge his father's grievances was also the first time in Zhu Yuanzhang's years of rule.
Everyone looked at the brave boy with regret and dismay, and secretly sighed at his tragic fate. However, surprisingly, even Zhou Wan, who was dying, did not have the slightest fear and weakness.
On the contrary, when he looked up at Zhu Yuanzhang, his face was filled with a calm smile, just like a flower blooming towards the sun in spring. This image of a filial son who is not afraid of danger and sweeps away the fear of life and death gives people a feeling of commendable ambition and courage. Even some of the old ministers were amazed and praised this filial son.
This scene completely shocked Zhu Yuanzhang, and also planted deep doubts in his heart: How can a child be so calm? is so calm and calm in the face of death, is there another hidden plot and conspiracy behind this? So he temporarily pressed the warrant for execution, ready to further consider Zhou Wan's origin and intentions.
Fifth, Zhu Yuanzhang was broken by filial piety
After being rescued by the front line of life and death, Zhou Wan knelt on the ground, helpless and trembling, and the sudden escape from death made him fall into the clouds. He still sincerely thanked Zhu Yuanzhang for his grace and forgiveness, but then unexpectedly said something rebellious: "My father is old and frail, if he is in the frontier and defending, he will not be able to bear the hardships, please reconsider!" "
This is tantamount to directly rejecting Zhu Yuanzhang's already valuable leniency, and ignoring the emperor's pardon, which is simply a crime! The civil and military officials in the audience were in an uproar, and some even denied what they had just seen and heard, who dared to be so rude and unruly in front of Zhu Yuanzhang?
Sure enough, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, his eyes widened, and he looked at Zhou Wan as if he was going to eat him alive. With a wave of his hand, he once again ordered to drag down Zhou Wan and behead him on the spot to show the public! But at that moment, he saw Zhou Wan's shining eyes and calm smile again, as if he was blind to the thought of life and death.
A kind of filial piety that is almost pious and focused, putting life and death aside just to save his father. This made Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly feel shocked. In the face of the battle of military flags and the stakes of life and death, how can a child be so calm and composed? He must have had an incomparably strong concept and a pure heart in his heart.
Yes, it must be due to simple filial piety, and it is also God's compensation for his life's work. So, his palms gradually drooped, his expression softened, and he made an unexpected decision.
Sixth, the surprise of forgiveness and the conferral of the official position of the guard
Since you insist on atonement for your father's sins, then you will be an official in the court, instead of your ignorant father! If you have any advice, you will be recruited into the case. "
Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly became gracious and personally canonized Zhou Wan as an official guard, and his future is immeasurable. The young Zhou Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief, he risked his life alone to break into the capital, not only won the understanding for his father, won the amnesty, but also won the emperor's appreciation and entrusted him with important tasks.
The audience was in an uproar, followed by the sparse applause of the soldiers, which soon converged into a thunderous applause and cheers. All the officials in the government and the opposition looked sideways, and they couldn't react to Zhu Yuanzhang's unexpected magnanimity.
This Ming Jun, who is decisive and ruthless in his daily life, was impressed by a young man's filial piety and gave him a generous reward. Since then, the story of "Filial Son Zhou Wan" has been widely spread and has become a great model of filial piety for later generations. Therefore, the literati of the government and the opposition supported the filial piety of this young man and turned it into a family motto teaching material, which was passed down from generation to generation.
Seventh, return home and reunite, the father comforts the filial son
After being pardoned and released from prison, Zhou's father was extremely relieved, but at the same time, he was also afraid that his son was in danger alone. But when he heard that his son had become a court guard, he was overjoyed, and suddenly felt that his hard work was not in vain.
The Zhou family was finally able to reunite in this stormy era and reunite the power of filial piety of the family and country. Zhou's father did not exhaustively encourage Zhou Wan to be brave and skip others, and asked him to be cautious in his words and deeds, continue to uphold the heart of filial piety, and remember the foundation of being a man.
After Zhou Wan was conferred, he still maintained his humble and polite nature, was not disturbed by wealth and wealth, and served the new master conscientiously. Afterwards, the government and the opposition all returned the favor to Zhou Wan, and the officials who were suspected of Zhou's father being tired came to visit one by one, wanting to make friends with their family.
But Zhou Wan refused them one by one, he adhered to his father's teachings, did not interact too much with the upper echelons of the government and the opposition, and just focused on his own duties. Perhaps this filial piety and responsibility will eventually shine on a bigger stage.
epilogue
This is the inspirational legend of Zhou Wan, who is known as the "filial son". A young man who did not learn and did not know how to do it, relying on his simple filial piety, finally moved the lord of the dynasty, not only redeemed the life of his family, but also won a bright future.
History has a warm color pen because of him, and his filial piety is destined to be praised in the officialdom for generations. Undoubtedly, the heroic courage and simple filial piety displayed by this young warrior left a precious spiritual wealth in the turbulent era, which is worthy of everyone's memory and admiration.