Zhu Sheng was one of Zhu Yuanzhang's most important advisers. In the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's founding, his contributions were not under Liu Bowen. In particular, the strategy he proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to "build a high wall, accumulate grain, and slowly become king" is well-known and is also the most important strategy for Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world. Zhu Yuanzhang relied on this strategy to eliminate a number of princes and eventually seize the world.
We know that Zhu Yuanzhang, when fighting the world, can recruit talents and tolerate all parties. However, after he became emperor, he was very jealous of these people who helped him build up the merits of the country. The greater the merit these men have done, the more jealous he is. In ancient times, there were two most famous emperors who killed heroes because of jealousy, one was Liu Bang and the other was Zhu Yuanzhang. Liu Bang was jealous of the heroes, but he was only jealous of the heroes holding the military power. And in fact, these heroes who hold military power are indeed a huge threat to him. Because except for Han Xin, no one else was his concubine. They themselves wanted to rebel, and Liu Bang had to strike in advance.
Zhu Yuanzhang was different. Zhu Yuanzhang belonged to as long as he was a hero, he was jealous, no matter whether the hero was a civilian or a military general. It doesn't matter whether the hero has military power in his hands or not. For example, Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong were only civilian ministers and had no military power in their hands, but they were all jealous and killed by Zhu Yuanzhang. Including Liu Bowen, he was not spared.
(Zhu Sheng stills)
However, Zhu Sheng did not lose his life, lived well, and was also treated favorably by Zhu Yuanzhang. So what ability did Zhu Sheng have, and how could he get such a favor?
First, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhu Sheng was honest.
Zhu Yuanzhang once praised Zhu Sheng as "an honest man and a hero among the old Cheng Xianda".
If Zhu Sheng is a military general, a military general who does not have much knowledge and culture, we can also understand such praise.
But Zhu Sheng is a resourceful strategist, and it can be said that he has hidden a belly of ingenuity, which is not easy for us to understand. And a resourceful man, he is praised as honest. If not ironic, it was the people who praised him, who loved him very much.
Obviously, Zhu Sheng was extremely loved by Zhu Yuanzhang. This shows that he can often show his heart to Zhu Yuanzhang, making Zhu Yuanzhang feel that he does not have a city government. Of course, according to Zhu Sheng's wisdom, he could not do without the city government. It can only show that he is indeed a wise man, in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, the performance will be performed, the words that should be said will be said, in short, it seems to be just right, and it is comfortable.
This was the first important reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was relieved of him.
(Zhu Yuanzhang stills)
Second, Zhu Sheng did not hold real power in Zhu Yuanzhang's system.
The heroes that Zhu Yuanzhang feared were all those who held real power. For example, Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, Yang Xian, Wang Guangyang, etc., who are in charge of the position of prime minister. Another example is Lan Yu and others, who control the military power. Because these people are in a high position of authority and are prone to arbitrariness in doing things, they do not take the initiative to report to Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Yuanzhang is jealous of them and cannot tolerate them.
But Zhu Sheng was different. He did not hold office in the real power department, nor did he compete for such a position. Let's take a look at these positions he held: Bachelor of Hanlin Academy and Bachelor of Dongge, Jiayi Dafu, Zhizhi Zhen, Tongshu Guoshi, and Zhu Yuanzhang's attendant bachelor and Zhongshun Dafu before the founding of the People's Republic of China. These positions had several characteristics: one was to advise Zhu Yuanzhang as a staff officer; the second was to help Zhu Yuanzhang draft a holy will; and the third was to be an emperor's teacher. These three characteristics make Zhu Sheng and Zhu Yuanzhang very close, can communicate anytime and anywhere, and can even affect Zhu Yuanzhang's decision-making. But he does not make direct decisions, does not directly give orders. Therefore, he could not be jealous of Zhu Yuanzhang.
(Liu Bowen stills)
Third, Zhu Sheng resigned from his post and went into hiding in a timely manner after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In fact, as long as the ministers retired from their positions of real power and did not hold power, Zhu Yuanzhang would generally not dispose of them. Li Shanchang and Zhu Liu Bowen were also considered to have gone into hiding, but they did not do it in time. In particular, Li Shanchang was already involved in Hu Weiyong's case, and he could not retire. As a result, they were all punished.
However, Zhu Sheng retired relatively early. In the second year of Hongwu, he proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to resign his official post and go into hiding. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was actually only dissatisfied with some of the methods of the heroes, and it was estimated that he had not yet moved to kill them.
Moreover, zhu Sheng's choice of retreat is also very exquisite. It was neither his hometown nor the place where he had once cultivated. It is in the Yihuai area. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang could see clearly what he was doing, and he had no connection with the surrounding areas, so Zhu Yuanzhang was very relieved.
Of course, there is another point that needs to be explained that Zhu Sheng died relatively early, and he died in the third year of Hongwu. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to punish him, he had no chance. However, although Zhu Sheng escaped Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment, his son did not escape. When Zhu Sheng retired, he had already expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would kill the heroes, so he repeatedly pleaded with Zhu Yuanzhang and applied for a death coupon. However, his son Zhu Tong was still involved in Guo Huan's case and was killed.
(References: History of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Shilu)