Zhu Yuanzhang's life

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty. Formerly known as Chongba, it was later named Xingzong. Han nationality, born in Zhongli, Haozhou (now Fengyang, Anhui), joined the Red Scarf Army led by Guo Zixing to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty at the age of 25. In the seventh year of Longfeng (136 1), he was named the Duke of Wu, and in the tenth year he called himself the King of Wu. In the 28th year of Yuan Zheng Zhi (1368), after basically defeating the peasant rebels and the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, he proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing, with the titles Daming and Hongwu, and established a unified feudal regime throughout the country. Zhu Yuanzhang's rule is called "the rule of Hongwu". Buried in ming tomb.

Born in Bree

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor peasant family, so he came from the lowest social stratum in China. He is the only founding king of the dynasty with this background. /kloc-0 +2 1 year 10 was born in Zhongli village, Haozhou county, and his childhood was very difficult. His parents and grandparents are delinquent teenagers, hiding debts everywhere in the Huaihe River basin, trying to find a place to be tenants, so that they can live a subsistence life in this land ravaged by drought and epidemic. He is the youngest of his parents' four surviving sons and two daughters. All the children except the oldest were abandoned or married because their families could not support them. By the 1930s of 14, the Huaihe River region had become the cradle of the Red Scarf Army rebellion, and its Messiah doctrine attracted more and more people's support. People believe that in this darkest and lonely moment, changes will take place, the light of Zoroastrianism will reappear, and Maitreya will rule the world from the western paradise, which will make people's fate change dramatically in a utopian way. The young Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather was a fortune teller and a veteran, who fought against the Han army in the final conquest stage of Mongolia in the 1970s. His grandfather exposed the boy to all kinds of wonderful stories of magical events and advanced adventures. These are the environments in which Zhu Yuanzhang grew up as a child.

1344, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang 16 years old, in three weeks in May and June, the epidemic accompanied by locusts and summer drought took the lives of most members of his family-his father, mother and married eldest brother who still lived at home. Besides him, his eldest sister-in-law, younger son and another divorced and married brother are the only survivors. Those who survived were too poor to bury their dead relatives, let alone support Zhu Yuanzhang. 10 At the end of June, he was sent to a nearby Buddhist temple as a boy and handyman, and his father's wish was fulfilled when his child was ill. At the same time, he has grown up and become a tall and strong young man. His distinctive feature is that his face is covered with wrinkles and pockmarks, and his chin is prominent. This strange appearance is daunting, and it seems to indicate the extraordinary quality of the future. There is no doubt that he has these qualities, but he rose from a poor and uneducated peasant family and then ascended the throne of the emperor and became the founding king of a new great dynasty. This story is a bit unlike a novel.

Join the rebels

During the Yuan Dynasty, people were divided into four classes, and the Han people and southerners under the Yuan Dynasty were the third and fourth classes. If you kill a Mongolian, you will be fined 820 taels of silver. If you kill a Han, you will be fined the price of a donkey. Han people can't even have their own surnames. They can only use the date of birth as their names. They can't own weapons. Only a few families can share a kitchen knife. Heavy taxes, coupled with constant famine, the vast number of Han people are struggling on the verge of death.

1343 Haozhou drought. Unexpectedly, there was a serious locust plague the next spring, and the crops were eaten clean by locusts. It never rains but it pours, and then the plague happened. At that time, every household died, and a village died a dozen or even dozens of people a day.

Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang's family was also infected with the plague. In less than half a month, his 64-year-old father, eldest brother and mother Chen passed away. Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother watched their relatives die one by one, and there was no money to buy coffins at home, not even a piece of land to bury their relatives. Alas, Zhu Shizhen has worked hard all his life. He has no place to live and no place to die. Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother burst into tears and alarmed their neighbor Liu Jizu, so their stepfather gave them a cemetery. The two brothers finally found some rags to wrap the body and buried their parents on the land of the Liu family. In less than half a month, the harmonious and warm home in the past no longer exists, and the love of parents is gone forever. The pain of bereavement deeply affected Zhu Yuanzhang's mental state, making him seem to have fallen into a bottomless abyss. At this time, in order to survive, Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother, sister-in-law and nephew were forced to split up and flee. Zhu Yuanzhang was really desperate. He remembered the Huang Jue temple where he made a wish to give his life as a child, so he went to the monk Gao Bin, where he was shaved into a monk and became a boy. He sweeps the floor, burns incense, rings bells and drums, cooks and washes clothes in the temple every day. He is busy all day, and sometimes he is scolded by the old monk. As time went on, Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger. One day, while sweeping the floor, he tripped over Galand's chair, so he bumped into Galand's broom.

On another occasion, the old monk saw that the candle in the hall was bitten by a mouse, so he reprimanded Zhu Yuanzhang in public. Zhu Yuanzhang thought, Galand can't even control what is in front of him. How can he manage the palace? To make matters worse, I was scolded, and the more I thought about it, the more angry I became. So, Zhu Yuanzhang found a pen and wrote the words "three thousand miles away" behind God Kuanlan. All these reflect Zhu Yuanzhang's unwillingness to be oppressed.

However, shortly after Zhu Yuanzhang became a boy, the monks in the temple didn't have enough food and there were no charities in the temple. Therefore, the master Gao Bin had to break the porridge and send the monks away for alms. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang is just a 50-day-old child. He can't recite the scriptures or do Buddhism, but he has no choice but to dress up as a monk and leave the temple to wander. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was only 17 years old.

Zhu Yuanzhang begged as he walked. He was told where he would go as long as the years were good. He went south from Haozhou to Hefei, then went west to Henan, Gushi and Xinyang, north to Ruzhou and Chen Zhou, and east to Lu Yi and Bozhou. 1348, he returned to Huang Jue Temple. During the three years of wandering, he traveled all over the famous cities west of Huaihe River, got in touch with local customs, saw the world, broadened his horizons and accumulated social life experience. The hard vagrancy created Zhu Yuanzhang's resolute and brave character, but it also made him cruel and suspicious. This period of life had a profound impact on Zhu Yuanzhang's life.

Zhu Yuanzhang's three years abroad was also a period of surging peasant uprisings at the end of Yuan Dynasty. There is a saying in the society that "Wang Ming was born, and all beings are blessed", and Anbaili in the north is also carrying out the same propaganda. Zhu Yuanzhang was also exposed to such propaganda when he was wandering. He witnessed the deterioration of people's lives and realized that chaos would come soon. So after returning to the ancestral temple, Zhu Yuanzhang worked hard, made friends and prepared to make a career.

135 1 year, sent Han He, the leader, to revolt in Yingzhou, and made Han the Ming king. In August of the same year, Peng Yingyu and Xu Shouhui revolted in Qishui. These insurgents wrapped their heads in red scarves, so they were called the Red Scarf Army. 1352, Guo Zixing and Sun Deya revolted in Haozhou.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard about the uprising. At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang received a letter from his childhood partner Tang He, in which Tang He invited Zhu Yuanzhang to join the insurgents in Guo Zixing. Just then, Zhu Yuanzhang's younger brother secretly told him that someone knew the letter and planned to complain. So Zhu Yuanzhang put down his job and went to the Red Scarf Army in Guo Zixing. This year, Zhu Yuanzhang was 25 years old.

Military commanders and generals

After Zhu Yuanzhang joined the army, he was quickly appreciated by Guo Zixing, because he was brave, resourceful, flexible and proficient in writing and calligraphy. So, Guo Zixing transferred Zhu Yuanzhang to Shuaifu as a police officer and appointed him as the nine captains of Qin Bing. Zhu Yuanzhang was smart and capable, and took the lead in the war. All the spoils he got were given to Marshal Guo Zixing and were rewarded. He said that the credit belongs to everyone, so he gave the reward to everyone. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang's good reputation spread in the army. Guo Zixing also regarded him as a confidant and often discussed important issues with Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, Guo Zixing had an adopted daughter, the daughter of his close friend Ma Gong. After Ma Gong died, his youngest daughter was adopted by Guo Zixing. At this time, Guo Zixing saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was a talented person, which was of great help to his career. So he married Ma Shi, a 265,438-year-old adopted daughter, to Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was renamed Zhu Gongzi in the army. With your identity, you can't emphasize 8 with your previous nickname, so you have another official name with "Guo Rui"-Bird.

At that time, there were five marshals in Haozhou. There are many contradictions among Guo Zixing School, Sun Deya and the other three marshal schools. In September of this year, Sesame Li, commander of Xuzhou Red Scarf Army, was beheaded by Yuan Army. Peng Da and Zhao Junyong led the troops to Haozhou. Peng Da made friends with Guo Zixing, while Sun Deya and others made friends with Zhao Junyong. Egged on by Sun Deya, Zhao Junyong kidnapped Guo Zixing and took Guo Zixing's bamboo slips to kill Guo Zixing. With the support of Peng Da, Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to save Guo Zixing. Since then, the two factions have become more intense.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that all the people in Haozhou were fighting for power and profit, and there were many contradictions. He is determined to create a new situation on his own. In the 13th year of Zheng Zhi (A.D. 1353), Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his hometown to recruit soldiers. His childhood friends Xu Da, Zhou Dexing, Guo Ying and other acquaintances in the same village and neighboring villages heard that Zhu Yuanzhang had become the leader of the Red Scarf Army, and they all came to defect. So Zhu Yuanzhang quickly recruited more than 700 people to return to Haozhou. Guo Zixing was very happy, so he promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to be a town governor.

This winter, Peng Han, his son, called himself King Huai Lu and King Yong Yi, and was still a marshal. Zhu Yuanzhang saw that these people had not come to Haozhou for half a year, so he chose 24 confidants, including Xu Da and Tang He, from his own recruits to leave Haozhou and stay in the south for a while. On the way to Dingyuan in the south, Zhu Yuanzhang first recruited 3,000 militiamen in Zhangjiabao Donkey Village, and then recruited 800 militiamen to clear their noses and heads. Zhu Yuanzhang commanded this detachment Wu Xiangdong to March, and broke the Yuan Army camp in Hengduan Mountain in Dingyuan at night, and Marshal Miao tycoon surrendered. Zhu Yuanzhang selected 20,000 robust Han Chinese from the army to join his team and went south to Chuzhou.

On the way to the south of Chuzhou, Li Shanchang, a famous Dingyuan, asks for an audience at Yunmen. Li Shanchang and Zhu Yuanzhang hit it off as soon as they met. Li Shanchang also used the example of Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu, to convince Zhu Yuanzhang that as long as he followed Liu Bang's example and knew how to be kind and not kill people indiscriminately, he would soon pacify the world. Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was reasonable, so he left Li Shanchang as the shogunate minister and told Li Shanchang to coordinate the relationship between generals and create a great cause.

Zhu Yuanzhang soon occupied Chuzhou, and his nephew Zheng Wen and his brother-in-law Li Zhen took refuge in his nephew Bauer (later named Wenzhong). From their mouths, Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad to learn that his second brother, third brother and sister had all died. At that time, there was an orphan Mu Ying in Dingyuan, which was very pitiful. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang took these three children as adopted sons and changed their surnames to Zhu. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted more than 20 semes.

When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Chuzhou, Guo Zixing was excluded by Zhao Junyong, Sun Deya and others. Therefore, it was not long before Zhu Yuanzhang captured Chuzhou, and Guo Zixing also came to Chuzhou. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately handed over the relieving. This team of 30,000 people was disciplined and honest, and Guo Zixing was very happy to see it.

1355, Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Hezhou in one fell swoop. News came that Guo Zixing immediately appointed Zhu Yuanzhang as the company commander, guarding Yuzhou. On one occasion, Zhu Yuanzhang went out and saw a child crying. Zhu Yuanzhang asked him why he was crying and replied that he was waiting for his father. After careful inquiry, Zhu Yuanzhang learned that the child's father and mother were both in the military camp, and the father raised horses in the military camp. Mother and father dare not recognize each other, so they have to become brothers and sisters. Zhu Yuanzhang realized that there were problems in the military discipline. After they breached the city, they disturbed the people and robbed women. If this situation continues, the army will lose the hearts of the people. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the generals, affirmed discipline, ordered married women in the army to return, and reunited many separated couples in the city. This matter was widely spread and Zhu Yuanzhang won the hearts of the people.

This year, he died of illness, and Guo Tianxu, his son, was appointed as the viceroy, his brother-in-law as the right deputy marshal, and Zhu Yuanzhang as the left deputy marshal. Nominally, Marshal Du is the head of the army, and the position of the right deputy marshal is higher than that of the left deputy marshal. However, most of the troops in Chuzhou and Hezhou were recruited by Zhu Yuanzhang, who was more courageous and talented than Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyou. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang actually became the coach of this team.

Zhu Sheng made recommendations.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he pursued the strategy of "building a wall high, accumulating grain widely, and slowly proclaiming himself emperor" put forward by Zhu Sheng. Building a high wall means strengthening military preparations and consolidating the rear; Wide grain accumulation refers to developing economic production, storing grain and enhancing economic strength; To be king slowly means not to be king too early, lest you make too many enemies. These three suggestions are of great strategic vision and are the guiding ideology of Zhu Yuanzhang in his early development.

In the 16th year of Zheng Zhi (AD 1356), in March, Zhang Shicheng launched an offensive in the Yangtze River Delta to attack the Yuan Army south of the Yangtze River. Zhu Yuanzhang took this opportunity to personally command the amphibious force and attack Qing Ji for the third time.

After Zhu Yuanzhang entered the city, he ordered to appease the people and changed the celebration to Yingtianfu. After being reported in Wang Xiaoming and Han Liner, Zhu Yuanzhang was promoted to a member of the Privy Council, and soon he was promoted to a provincial branch in Jiangnan and other places. Zhu Yuanzhang set up Tianxing Health Post in Yingtian, with Liao as the commander-in-chief and Li Shanchang as the chief physician.

At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had an army of 100,000 troops, his momentum was much greater than in the past, but his territory was still small and he was attacked on all sides.

At present, Zhu Yuanzhang's primary task is to consolidate the base area centered on Yingtian. So shortly after the occupation, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent Xu Da to capture Zhenjiang. By the winter of 1357, Zhu Yuanzhang had captured Jintan, Danyang, Jiangyin, Changzhou, Changshu, Yangzhou and other places in one year and controlled the strategic strongholds around Yingtian. By 1359, according to the current map, Zhu Yuanzhang had occupied Nanjing, Jiangsu, west of Taihu Lake, south of the junction of Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, and reached a rectangular area in eastern Zhejiang. Compared with the occupation of Yingtian four years ago, the situation has been greatly improved.

After completing the deployment of "building a high wall", Zhu Yuanzhang began to implement "extensive grain accumulation". In the early days, the solution of military commissariat mainly depended on compulsory requisition, that is, requisition of "village commissariat". But in the long run, the army will become a purely destructive force and lose people's hearts. In order to solve the food problem, Zhu Yuanzhang not only mobilized the people for production, but also decided to implement the reclamation law, vigorously carry out army reclamation, appointed Marshal Kang Maocai as the water conservancy ambassador, was responsible for building water conservancy projects, and assigned generals to reclaim farmland in various places. In a few years, villages have been built all over the country, and the national treasury is full and the food is sufficient. 1360, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "village grain" would no longer be levied to reduce the burden on farmers.

While winning the hearts of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang constantly recruited talents, especially the intellectuals of the landlord class. Zhu Yuanzhang also specially built the Lixian Pavilion in Yingtian to receive them. These people played an important role in the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's unification, such as Li Shanchang and Zhu Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang has great respect for Confucian scholars. 1358, he summoned the Confucian scholar Tang Zhongshi (that is, Tang Guifang) and asked Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Taizong and He how to pacify the world, which also showed that Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to establish a new feudal dynasty.

Chen first, then Zhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang established a base area centered on Yingtian, with Chen Youliang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Fang Guozhen in the southeast and Chen Youding in the south. Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding's goal is to protect the territory, while Zhang Shicheng has no ambition to get ahead of the Yuan Dynasty. Chen Youliang is the strongest, and it is the most dangerous enemy that Zhu Yuanzhang encountered when he occupied Yingtian.

Zhu Yuanzhang designed to lure the enemy deep and build fighter planes. On the morning of June 23rd, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to Jiangdong Bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush rose to attack, and Chen Youliang was defeated. Zhu Yuanzhang collected Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. In August of the following year, Chen Youliang defeated Jiujiang and captured Anqing, so Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to Jiangzhou, Chen Youliang's lair, Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.

At this moment, the Central Plains Red Scarf Army split and was badly hurt. In February of the 23rd year, Zhang Shicheng took advantage of people's crisis and sent Lu Zhen to attack Anfeng. Liu Futong turned to Zhu Yuanzhang for help. When Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to Anfeng, Liu Futong had been killed by Lv Zhen. Zhu Yuanzhang only rescued Wang Xiaoming Han Liner and arranged for him to live in Chuzhou.

When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue Wang Xiaoming, Chen Youliang thought it was time to fight back, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu.

Zhu Wenzheng, the nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang, led the soldiers to hold on for 85 days. In July of the 23rd year of Zheng Zheng (A.D. 1363), Zhu Yuanzhang led 200,000 troops into Hongdu. When Chen Youliang learned of this, he withdrew from the besieged army and confronted Zhu Yuanzhang. The two sides launched a decisive battle in Poyang Lake.

From August 29th to1October 3rd, the Poyang Lake water war lasted for 36 days. Zhu Yuanzhang's army gave full play to the flexibility of the boat, attacked Chen Jun, and finally won. Chen Youliang was shot to death by random arrows.

1On New Year's Day in 364, Zhu Yuanzhang called Wu Wang and fought a hundred lawsuits. He still issued orders in the name of "imperial edict and Wu Wang decree". Since Zhang Shicheng was king in 1363, Zhang Shicheng was called Wu Dong and Zhu Yuanzhang was called Xiwu in history.

In March of 24, Zhu Yuanzhang went to Wuchang to inspect the city again, and Chen Li finally surrendered out of the city. After the annexation of Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang's next goal was Zhang Shicheng.

In May 26, Zhu Yuanzhang published a campaign against Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng's eight major crimes are listed in a campaign. Except for the fourth and eighth items related to the Western Wu Dynasty, all others accused Zhang Shicheng of betraying the Yuan Dynasty. If you don't look at the beginning and end, it is very easy to mistake it for a punitive order of the Yuan Dynasty. This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang has assumed that he is a king who obeys his destiny and is ready to inherit the orthodoxy of the dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's army attacked quickly. In 26 years 1 1 month, Hangzhou and Huzhou surrendered one after another, and Pingjiang became an isolated city. So Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded Pingjiang with heavy troops and launched the Pingjiang Campaign.

At the same time of siege, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Liao Yongzhong to Chuzhou to meet Wang Xiaoming, and sent Han Liner to Yingtianlai. But when crossing the river in Guazhou, he quietly chiseled the bottom of the boat, and Wang Xiaoming sank to the bottom of the river. Then, Zhu Yuanzhang announced that he would no longer use the dragon and phoenix chronology, calling 1367 the first year of Wu. At the beginning of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang built a wall around the city and a three-story wooden tower, which was higher than the city wall. He shot into the city with a crossbow and a spear, but Zhang Shicheng's several breakthroughs ended in failure. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to surrender many times, but Zhang Shicheng refused. After Zhang Shicheng stuck to Pingjiang and ran out of ammunition, he ate rats and hay. When the arrows run out, the roof tiles are used as bombs. It was not until the eighth day of September in the twenty-seventh year (A.D. 1367) that Zhu Yuanzhang led an army into Pingjiang, while Zhang Shicheng launched street fighting resistance. Finally, Zhang Shicheng was captured and sent to Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang asked questions, but he ignored them. Li Shanchang asked him, but he swore. Helpless, Zhu Yuanzhang had to order the guards to kill Zhang Shicheng with disorderly sticks. At that time, Zhang Shicheng was 47 years old, and Soochow perished.

Sophora japonica immigrants

Hongwu migration in Ming Dynasty was the largest and longest organized migration activity of Han nationality in China, involving millions of people. Its momentum and scope were unparalleled in the past. It is of historical significance to promote ethnic integration and cultural exchange in China. Hongwu immigrants not only rationally allocated the living space of the population, but also through the long-term cultural, psychological and customs exchanges between immigrants and local aborigines, regional civilizations will inevitably take care of each other and cultivate new seeds of civilization, which played an important role in the great integration of the Chinese nation, left a rich legacy in the history of ancient immigrants in China, laid the foundation for the Ming Empire to become the most powerful country in the world at that time and contributed to the cultural development of the Chinese nation.

Northern expedition remnant yuan

Ming Taizu's Northern Expedition was eight military actions against the Northern Yuan after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

Battle name date

Ming Taizu's First Northern Expedition 1370

Ming Taizu's Second Northern Expedition 1372

Ming Taizu's Third Northern Expedition 1380

The fourth northern expedition in Ming Taizu 138 1 year.

Ming Taizu's Fifth Northern Expedition 1387

Ming Taizu's Sixth Northern Expedition 1387- 1388

The Seventh Northern Expedition in Ming Taizu 1390

Ming Taizu's Eighth Northern Expedition 1396

Recover from social unrest and resume production

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, China was devastated by nearly twenty years of war. In this case, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the policy of developing production and resting with the people.

1370, Zhu Yuanzhang accepted the minister's suggestion, encouraged the reclamation of wasteland, and ordered all wasteland in northern counties to be exempted from three-year tax. He also took compulsory measures to transfer farmers from densely populated areas to sparsely populated areas; For those who reclaim wasteland, the government provides cattle, farm tools and seeds; It also stipulates that tax exemption will be granted for three years, and cultivated land will be owned by agricultural reclamation; It also stipulates that farmers who own five to ten acres of land must plant mulberry, cotton and hemp, and farmers who own more than ten acres of land must double their planting. These measures greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of farmers for reclamation.

In addition to civilian villages, there were military villages and commercial villages in the early Ming Dynasty. The military camp is managed by guards, and the government provides cattle and farm tools.

In order to restore and develop production, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to building water conservancy and relieving famine. Driven by Zhu Yuanzhang's positive measures, farmers' enthusiasm for production is high. The rapid development of agriculture in the early Ming Dynasty changed the dilapidated scene of rural areas in the late Yuan Dynasty. The recovery and development of agricultural production promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce in Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang's recuperation policy consolidated the rule of the new dynasty, stabilized the lives of farmers and promoted the development of production.

Militarily, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the military governor's office in charge of the whole country, and divided it into the governor's office of the central, left, front, rear and right armies, which was contained together with the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War has the right to issue orders, but it does not directly command the army. The viceroy is responsible for the management and training of the army, but has no right to dispatch the army. In this way, military power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor.

The key to the reform of central institutions is to abolish the prime minister system. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was responsible for handling world affairs and had the highest status. Its chief executive is the left and right prime ministers in high positions. The prime minister is prone to conflict with the emperor, and Hu is the most important person in the Ming Dynasty.

Hu Yu 1373 was promoted from the right prime minister to the left prime minister. Hu's disciples and followers spread all over the ruling and opposition parties, forming a power group that threatened the imperial power. 1378, Zhu Yuanzhang took action against Zhongshu province. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the left prime minister Hu and the right prime minister to be put into prison. After the two men went to prison, the censors understood the emperor's intention, and they joined forces to attack Hu's authoritarian group. So, in 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu and related officials on the charge of bending the law without authority, and announced the abolition of Zhongshu Province, and no longer set up a prime minister in the future.

After Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu for perverting the law, the Hu case became a sharp weapon for Zhu Yuanzhang to crack down on dissidents, and more than 30 thousand people were implicated and killed. Finally, South Korean Li Shanchang was also implicated, and the 77-year-old Li Shanchang family was killed.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang killed the hero aquamarine in 1393. Aquamarine was the founding general of the Ming Dynasty and was named Liang Guogong by Zhu Yuanzhang. 1392, at the end of the dynasty, the Royal Guards took part in the sapphire rebellion, and Zhu Yuanzhang immediately took it down and interrogated it by the official department. Three days later, Zhu Yuanzhang killed aquamarine, and then, it was another large-scale cleaning and involvement. In the Hu and Lan cases, 40,000 people were killed.

Combating corrupt officials

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty and was blackmailed by corrupt officials in the Yuan Dynasty since he was a child. His parents and eldest brother died of cruel exploitation and plague, and he was forced to become a monk at an early age. Therefore, after he joined the uprising, he vowed that once he became emperor, he would first kill all corrupt officials in the world.

Later, when he succeeded to the throne, he did not break his word. Sure enough, he launched a vigorous "anti-corrupt official" campaign nationwide, targeting corrupt officials at all levels from the central government to local governments. His method is very special:

First, Zhu Yuanzhang killed officials who embezzled more than 62 taels of silver.

Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang dared to take "Gao Qian" away from him.

Third, Zhu Yuanzhang invented the cruel criminal law of "peeling and patting grass" to deal with corrupt officials.

Fourth, Zhu Yuanzhang will never tolerate the cadres he trained.

As the founding king, Zhu Yuanzhang used extremely cruel laws to severely punish corrupt officials with his high prestige. Its great determination, strong strength and precise measures have received a powerful deterrent effect.

centralized rule

Because Zhu Yuanzhang was the founding emperor, the power of the emperor in the early Ming Dynasty was stronger, and the power of the civil servants in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was stronger. Zhu Yuanzhang used the secret service to send a large number of secret agents named "checking schools" to all parts of the ruling and opposition parties to carry out espionage activities.

1382, due to the need of monitoring officials, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the pro-military Duwei mansion in charge of the imperial army into a Royal Guards, and granted powers such as reconnaissance, arrest, trial and punishment of criminals. This is a formal military secret service directly controlled by the emperor. It has its own courts and prisons, often called "imperial prisons", where various kinds of torture such as peeling, diarrhea and stabbing are used. Zhu Yuanzhang also asked the Royal Guards to execute the scepter in the imperial court.

At the local level, in important places in various counties, Zhu Yuanzhang also set up a patrol inspection department, which is responsible for inspecting, arresting thieves and questioning traitors. 1370, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the establishment of a department to take scholars. Scholars had to pass three exams before they could take the imperial examination, but their writing was sporadic and irregular. According to some unofficial history records, Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty and worked as a monk in his early years, so the words "light" and "baldness" were very taboo. I don't even like "monk", and even "sheng" with similar pronunciation is equally disgusting. However, after the research of modern scholars, most of these records are untrue. Zhu Yuanzhang was never afraid to talk about becoming a monk. Ming Taizu Tombstone and Ming Taizu's poems both talk about Zhu Yuanzhang's becoming a monk as a teenager. Unofficial history said that Zhu Yuanzhang's taboo words such as "light", "baldness", "monk" and "fate" lacked certain credibility.

The above-mentioned records about "literary inquisition" can't be found in more formal history books, such as Ming History and Shi Minglu. The textual research of historians such as Wang Chunyu and CHAN Hok-lam is mostly untrue:

For example, Xu Yikui in unofficial history was killed by Zhu Yuanzhang. However, according to the records in the Official Records of Hangzhou, Official Records and Ancient and Modern Mausoleum Watch of Hangzhou, Xu Yikui was still alive until the second year of Wen Jian. "Epitaph of Qigong in Langhu County, Fangguang County, Wenling City" was written by Xu in the first year. Therefore, "Zhu Yuanzhang killed Xu Yikui for writing a book" is a mistake.

Unofficial history recorded a poem in Ying Zhi Shi, in which Zhonghe Shang came to reply (seeing the heart), which angered Zhu Yuanzhang and was beheaded. However, through the textual research of Supplementary Biography of the Monk and the record of chasing the lamp, we can know that the monk came to reply because he was killed because he exchanged information with Hu during the rebellion of Hu, and the informant was monk Zhicong.

The literary prison mentioned above makes civil servants feel insecure, so they have to design standard wording. In fact, the memorial written by Ru Tai Su, a senior minister of housing, is too long, exceeding 1 10,000 words. Zhu Yuanzhang established stylistic rules to prevent it from happening again.

Zhang Jianli's stylistic norms have the rules of "two names are unbiased and too outspoken" and "nothing can be avoided except the word ferocious", which means that if the emperor's name is two words, there is no need to avoid using either of these two words, nor to avoid homophones of the emperor's name.

Pay attention to education

In the process of establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that the reason for the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was not only the quality of the rulers themselves, but also the educational failure of the whole society. Therefore, as soon as he ascended the throne, he took a series of compulsory measures to build schools and select academic officials, and insisted on "education" as an important indicator to measure the political achievements of local officials. In order to select officials who can obey the emperor, the Ming government stipulated that the imperial examination could only be put forward within the scope of the four books and five classics, and candidates could only answer questions according to the specified point of view and could not give play to their own opinions. The style of the answer sheet must be divided into eight parts, called "eight-part essay"

Zhu Yuanzhang had higher standards for "senior teachers" (scholars from imperial academy). In addition to paying attention to the national economy and people's livelihood, he should also have the quality of participating in and discussing state affairs. Haha, as you can imagine, the teachers who lived in Hongwuchao, especially the Guo Zi scholars who loafed around under Zhu Yuanzhang's nose all day, were really walking on thin ice!

Bury Xiaoling Mausoleum

Ming tomb is located at the foot of Mount Qomolangma in Dulong, at the southern foot of Zijinshan Mountain in the eastern suburb of Nanjing, on the west side of Maoshan Mountain. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Ma Shi, the empress, were buried here.

Zhu Yuanzhang simply arranged the funeral and built his mausoleum at the southern foot of Zhongshan, called Xiaoling Mausoleum. Fiona Fang ming tomb has a total length of 45 Li, which is huge. 1On June 24th, 398, Zhu Yuanzhang, aged 7/kloc-0, died and was buried in Xiaoling. Posthumous title is "Mao". Ming tomb was built in the 14th year of Ming Hongwu (138 1), and Ma Huanghou died the following year and was buried in this mausoleum. Because of Ma Huanghou's "filial piety", this tomb was named "Xiao Ling". Zhu Yuanzhang died in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, and the underground palace was buried with Ma Huanghou.

Historical evaluation

Ming Taizu's most important achievement is to expel Land Rover, eliminate riots, save the Han nationality and other nationalities, avenge China's national subjugation for nearly a hundred years, abolish the racial policy formulated by Mongols and restore the Han nationality. Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor tenant farmer's family in Huaihe Plain, Anhui Province. At this time, Mongolia's oppression and slavery to the Han nationality and other ethnic groups has reached an unbounded level. He never experienced the normal environment of China's rich and stable agricultural society, nor did he receive the systematic education of Confucius' poems, books, rites and music. However, through his own wisdom, belief and commander, he overthrew Mongolia's tyranny and slavery, rebuilt the empire, and guided the people to get rid of barbarism and regain confidence, dignity and honor.

The Ming Dynasty was born in the turmoil of half a century. In this era when everything is destroyed by barbarians, the daily life in most parts of China is more and more directly resorting to barbarian violence, and civilization has declined. Only the savage animals did it on the land of China, and the benevolence, righteousness and morality were completely lost. Han people became slaves and were slaughtered by barbarians. The disintegration of Mongolia and the rise of the Ming Dynasty were not the so-called class struggle at all, but a desperate duel between the Han nationality and other nationalities for survival and freedom and getting rid of the trampling of Mongolian slavery. When Ming Taizu led the Han nationality and other nationalities to expel Mongolia, he also pointed out that Mongolia and Semu people are not Chinese people, but if they are polite and willing to become subjects of China, they are no different from China people, which fully embodies the benevolence and righteousness of the Chinese nation.

This outstanding national hero left the village because of natural and man-made disasters, and was hungry and cold until he ascended the throne in Nanjing. The road he and his civil servants and military commanders took was not only for the benefit of individuals and a certain class, just like his self-report-I was dressed in cloth, and the world was nothing to me.