In 1375, Liu Ji, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, fell seriously ill and died. At that time, there were two major political factions in the DPRK, the Huaixi clique and the Zhedong clique. Liu Ji was a leading figure in the Zhejiang Eastern Clique, and his death led to the decline of the Zhedong Clique, which was led by Hu Weiyong and the Huaixi Clique took control of the imperial government.
Liu Ji was born in Qingtian County, eastern Zhejiang (located in present-day Lishui, Zhejiang), and when Zhu Yuanzhang led the Red Turban Army to fight the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Liu Ji was recruited into the army by Zhu Yuanzhang, who gave him advice and made many contributions. Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as empress dowager, and in recognition of Liu Ji's meritorious service, he was named Chengyi Bo.
Although Liu Ji was a great hero of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang was very jealous of him. Liu Ji not only had no exhaustive strategy, but he also had many of his comrades in the DPRK who were also from eastern Zhejiang, and later gradually formed the Eastern Zhejiang Clique.
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in Huaixi, and the chancellor Li Shanchang and the general Xu Da, whom he reused, were all Huaixi people. Zhu Yuanzhang directly used the Huaixi clique to suppress the Zhedong clique in order to balance the situation. Liu Ji knew that Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate himself, and he returned to his hometown in the second year after he was named Chengyi Bo
But Hu Weiyong, an official from the Huaixi clique, did not want to let him go easily. At that time, Liu Ji asked his son Liu Lian to play and set up an inspection department in Tanyang (present-day zhejiang and Fujian) to prevent the people from rebelling. Hu Weiyong took the opportunity to attack.
Hu Weiyong hated Liu Ji very much at that time, first, because Liu Ji had previously told Zhu Yuanzhang that Hu Weiyong was not suitable to be a chancellor, and if he became a chancellor, he would definitely threaten Zhu Yuanzhang; Second, Liu Ji had previously played the matter of talking about the Foreign Rebellion, and did not go through Zhongshu Province, which was under the supervision of Hu Weiyong.
Therefore, Hu Weiyu asked his officials to attack Liu Ji, saying that he was interested in Tanyang because the land had royal qi, and Liu Ji wanted to occupy it for himself and set up a private house. In doing so, Hu Weiyong was both a blow to the Dprk, China, and zhejiang cliques, and a personal vendetta.
When Zhu Yuanzhang learned that Liu Ji had been attacked, he did not punish him, but deprived him of his duties. Liu Ji was afraid of being punished, so he went to the capital to apologize to Zhu Yuanzhang. After that, Liu Ji did not dare to return to his hometown and stayed in the capital all the time.
Soon after Liu Ji fell ill, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Hu Weiyong, who was already serving as chancellor at the time, to send a doctor to visit. Liu Ji took the medicine prescribed by the doctor, and his condition became more serious. Liu Ji dragged the sick body to see Zhu Yuanzhang and told Zhu Yuanzhang about hu Weiyong's sending doctor to see him.
After Zhu Yuanzhang listened, he only appeased Liu Ji and did not hold Hu Weiyong responsible. Liu Ji was very disappointed, and his condition became more serious. Zhu Yuanzhang learned that Liu Ji's life was shortly over, so he sent someone to send Liu Ji back to his hometown. More than half a month later, Liu Ji died of a serious illness.
Later generations generally believe that Hu Weiyong instructed the doctor to poison the medicine, which caused Liu Ji to die of serious illness after taking the medicine. Because Hu Weiyong had a motive to kill Liu Ji, Liu Ji once slandered Hu Weiyong in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, almost making him a minister; Moreover, there were also conditions for committing murder, and it was Hu Weiyong who sent the doctor to visit Liu Ji.
More importantly, Liu Ji's son Liu Lian was coerced by Hu Weiyong's henchmen and threw himself into a well. It was precisely because Hu Weiyong hated Liu Ji to the bone that he did not even let go of his son.
Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang was dealing with Hu Weiyu's conspiracy case, Hu Weiyong's righteous son Tu Jie denounced that Hu Weiyong had poisoned Liu Ji, which could also be used as direct evidence that Hu Weiyong poisoned Liu Ji.
After Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu Weiyong, when Zhu Yuanzhang received Liu Ji's second son Liu Jing, he also mentioned Hu Weiyong's poisoning of Liu Ji many times. Later generations also pointed out that Hu Weiyong was instructed by Zhu Yuanzhang to poison Liu Ji, but there was no strong historical support. Therefore, in the absence of new historical materials, it can be basically determined that Hu Weiyong was the real culprit who poisoned Liu Ji.
Hu Weiyong case: In 1380, the courtiers reported to the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang that Hu Weiyong was plotting rebellion, and Zhu Yuanzhang soon executed Hu Weiyong, and later Zhu Lian's henchmen related to Hu Weiyong were executed, and more than 30,000 people were executed; After that, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished Zhongshu Province and no longer had left and right ministers.
Liu Ji's death was a clear sign of Hu Weiyong's arbitrary and arbitrary control of the government. Since then, the Huaixi clique, led by Hu Weiyong, has expanded day by day, threatening Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial power. Zhu Yuanzhang then made up his mind to kill Hu Weiyong.