In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang declared himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Ming Dynasty, marking the beginning of a new era.
Subsequently, a sincere edict was issued throughout the country, asking the wise men of the world to rule the world together with the talents of the world.
Zhu Yuanzhang's edict of seeking merit is still very necessary.
On the one hand, during the Yuan Dynasty, the Han people were not treated fairly, and there were few opportunities to rely on the imperial examination to become officials; on the other hand, the political decay at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the frequent wars, and it was not worth serving. So most of the readers became hermits.
Qian Tang was such a reader, before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he had been living in seclusion in his hometown of Xiangshan Baishi Mountain, until he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's edict, Qian Tang felt that it was time to go out of the mountain.
This year, Qian Tang was 55 years old.
Don't look at Qian Tang is already 55 years old, even in modern times it is the age of retirement, but this time out of the mountain is full of ambition.
On the way from Xiangshan to Nanjing, Qian Tang could not hide his excitement, and during the period he wrote a poem:
Good wind blows on the steps of the Beijing Master, iron rod hemp shoes to see the son of heaven.
Heavenly beauty is enlightened, and he is honored to accept the holy will in front of the temple.
To Jun Yao Shunduan Sometimes, the cause of the mountain people should be so.
Qian Tang wore hemp shoes and cloth to see Tianzi, not for a show, but indirectly told Zhu Yuanzhang, don't you need talents, I am coming! I did not go out of the mountains to get rich for promotion, but to help you achieve the rule of Yao Shun.
Sure enough, Qian Tang made some countermeasures with Zhu Yuanzhang above the Golden Temple, and was greatly appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang, and specially awarded the Punishment Department Shangshu.
Qian Tang was an official for 27 years, clean and honest, with two sleeves and a clean wind. However, what makes Qian Tang Qingshi famous is not his political achievements, but his upright wind and bones.
Ancient intellectuals would take the words of Emperor Kuangzheng as their own responsibility, but when they encountered an emperor who killed people without blinking, they would also weigh and weigh, and they could not take their own heads and could not pass.
Qian Tang was different from these people, he risked death twice, which was called iron guts.
The first time was for Mencius.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not read any books when he was a child, although he was crazy after his development, but when he grew up, the value system had been formed, and he was not as obsessed with many Confucian classics as serious readers.
Earlier, he didn't understand that although Confucius was a saint, he had been an ancient man for thousands of years, so could he let the people of the world sacrifice from time to time?
Therefore, he decreed that only sacrifices would be made in Confucius's hometown of Qufu, and that there would be no need for the whole country to be sacrificed.
Moved the spiritual idol of the reader, this is also worth it! After some persuasion, Zhu Yuanzhang withdrew his life.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang read "Mencius" and came to work with Mencius again. He said bluntly, "If I were old today, would you spare me a knife?"
Because Mencius's propositions made Lao Zhu unhappy, what "the people are precious, the society is secondary, and the king is light." There are also "the king's subjects are like the soil mustard, then the subjects regard the king as enemies" and so on.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered mencius to be kicked out of the Confucius Temple and not to be entitled.
At this point, the horse honeycomb was stabbed, and the reaction of the readers was much stronger than when the whole country was not allowed to sacrifice Confucius, and they went to petition one after another.
Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude this time was very resolute, it was really Mencius's doctrine that violated his dictatorship, and he also knew that he could not reason with these readers, and simply magnified the move, and whoever petitioned again would not be spared.
This big move really worked, scaring off many people, and at this time Qian Tang stood up.
Qian Tang was a very standard reader in ancient times, the way of Confucius and Mengmeng was his spiritual idol, more important than life, and he was not afraid at the moment, holding the belief that he must die, saying that "the subject is Meng Ke's death, and death has yu glory." ”
Everyone thought that Qian Tang would undoubtedly die this time, but unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not kill Qian Tang, but felt that Qian Tang's spirit was commendable, not a person who sold his reputation and reputation, and soon restored Mencius's enjoyment.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang resented that Mencius's doctrine was true, so Zhu Yuanzhang simply retreated to the second place, deleted all the unpleasant contents in Mencius, and became "Mencius Excerpts", and stipulated that the future imperial examination propositions could only be derived from "Mencius Excerpts".
If it is said that Qian Tang spoke for Mencius shortly after joining Daming, Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet shown a murderous face, and Qian Tang was a fledgling calf who was not afraid of tigers, it would be wrong.
Because Qian Tang's second death occurred in the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang killed many people in the four major cases of the early Ming Dynasty, and he was already a black-hearted emperor, but Qian Tang was still the Same Qian Tang.
This time, Qian Tang directly advised because he opposed Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait of The Empress Wu in the imperial palace, and Zhu Yuanzhang was also explosive and irritable after he was old, so he immediately dragged Qian Tang to the noon gate to behead.
However, this time Qian Tang did not die, waiting outside the noon gate for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang's anger slowly subsided, he ordered someone to release Qian Tang, and also listened to Qian Tang's words and took off the portrait.
That is, Qian Tang, another person will not have such luck.
Mainly because Qian Tang is a man of integrity and honesty, and is a good official that Zhu Yuanzhang admires more, so although this kind of person sometimes offends Zhu Yuanzhang when he speaks, Zhu Yuanzhang will still weigh and weigh when he is angry, and will not kill him lightly.
However, soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang demoted Qian Tang to Shouzhou, where Qian Tang was already 80 years old.
Shortly after arriving in Shouzhou, Qian Tang died at the age of 81.