Zhu Yuanzhang's life

Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Formerly known as Chongba, it was later named Xingzong. Han nationality, born in Zhongli, Haozhou (now Fengyang, Anhui Province), joined the Red Scarf Army led by Guo Zixing at the age of 25 to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty. In the seventh year of Dragon and Phoenix (136 1), he was made Duke of Wu, and in the tenth year he called himself King of Wu. In the 28th year of Yuan Dynasty (1368), after basically defeating the peasant rebels and the remnants of 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 the Ming tombs.

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. 1328+1October 2 1 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 a tenant farmer, so that they can live a well-fed life in this land ravaged by drought and epidemic. He is the youngest of his parents' four surviving sons and two daughters. Except for the oldest child, all the other children were abandoned or married because the family 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 loneliest moment, there will be a change, 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. Young Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather is a fortune teller and a veteran who fought against the Han army in the final conquest of Mongolia in the 1970s. He filled the boy's ears with wonderful stories of magical events and advanced adventures. These are the environments in which Zhu Yuanzhang grew up as a child.

1344, when Zhu Yuanzhang 16 years old, during the three weeks from May to June, most of his family members-his father, mother and married eldest brother who still lived at home-were killed with the plague of locusts and drought in summer. His eldest sister-in-law, youngest son and another divorced brother are the only survivors besides him. 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 a handyman to fulfill his father's wish when his child was ill. At the same time, he also grew up and became 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 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, then ascended the throne of the emperor and became the founding king of a new great dynasty. This story is a bit as unreal as 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 third class and fourth class. Killing a Mongolian is fined 820 silver, and killing a Han Chinese is fined the price of a donkey. Han people can't even have surnames, they can only use the name of date of birth, they can't own weapons, and only several families can share a kitchen knife. Excessive taxes and levies, coupled with constant famine, the vast number of Han people are struggling on the verge of death.

1343, there was a drought in Haozhou. 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 dozen or even dozens of people died in a village every 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 one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother watched their relatives die one by one, and they had no money to buy coffins at home, and there was not even a place 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 cried bitterly 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 of 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 thought of 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 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 is sometimes scolded by the old monk. As time went on, Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger. One day, when he was sweeping the floor, he tripped over Galand's seat and hit Galand's broom.

On another occasion, the old monk saw that the candle in the hall was bitten by a mouse and 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 "send three thousand miles" behind Guanlan God. All these show that Zhu Yuanzhang is unwilling to be oppressed.

However, soon after Zhu Yuanzhang became a boy, the monks in the temple did not have enough food and there were no charities in the temple. Therefore, the master Gao Bin had to break the porridge and let the monks go to alms. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang was just a 50-day-old boy. He couldn't recite scriptures or do Buddhism, so he had no choice but to dress up as a monk and leave the temple to wander. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was 17 years old.

Zhu Yuanzhang begged as he walked. He was told that he would go anywhere as long as the years were good. He went south from Haozhou to Hefei, then turned west into Henan, arrived in Gushi and Xinyang, went north to Ruzhou and Chen Zhou, and returned to Huang Jue Temple at 1348. During the three years of wandering, he traveled all over the famous cities in the west of Huai River, got in touch with the local customs, saw the world, broadened his horizons and accumulated social life experience. Hard vagrancy made Zhu Yuanzhang resolute and brave, 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 "when Wang Ming was born, all beings were blessed", and Anbaili religion 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 Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the ancestral temple, he worked hard, made friends and prepared to do something.

135 1 year, Han He led an uprising in Yingzhou and elected Han as 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 uprising army in Guo Zixing. Just then, Zhu Yuanzhang's younger brother secretly told him that someone knew the letter and was going to tell on it. 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 and general

After joining the army, Zhu Yuanzhang was quickly appreciated by Guo Zixing for his bravery, resourcefulness and mastery of pen and ink. So Guo Zixing transferred Zhu Yuanzhang to Shuaifu as a policeman and appointed him as the nine captains of Qin Bing. Zhu Yuanzhang was clever and capable, and took the lead in the war. All the spoils he got were given to Marshal Guo Zixing, and he was 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 matters 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 2 1 year-old adopted daughter, to Zhu Yuanzhang and changed her name to Zhu Gongzi in the army. With identity, you can no longer use the previous nickname to emphasize eight, so you have another official name, Bird, with the word Guo Rui.

At that time, in Haozhou, there were five marshals in the Red Scarf Army. There are many contradictions between Guo Zixing School, Sun Deya and three other marshal schools. In September this year, Sesame Li, commander-in-chief of Xuzhou Red Scarf Army, was killed by Yuan Army. Peng Da and Zhao Junyong led the troops to Haozhou. Peng Da became friends with Guo Zixing, while Sun Deya and others showed kindness to Zhao Junyong. Egged on by Sun Deya, Zhao Junyong kidnapped Guo Zixing and beat Guo Zixing to the bamboo slips, preparing to assassinate Guo Zixing. With the support of Peng Da, Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to save Guo Zixing. Since then, the two factions have become even more deadly.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the generals 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 (AD 1353), Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his hometown to recruit soldiers. His boyhood friends, Xu Da, Zhou Dexing and Guo Ying, acquaintances in the same village and neighboring villages, heard that Zhu Yuanzhang had become the leader of the Red Scarf Army and all came to defect. So Zhu Yuanzhang quickly recruited more than 700 people and returned to Haozhou. Guo Zixing was very happy, so he promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to be the comforter of the town.

This winter, Peng Gan, his son, called himself King Lu Huai and King Yong Yi, and he was still a marshal. Zhu Yuanzhang saw that these people had not been in Haozhou for half a year, so he chose 24 confidants, including Xu Da and Tanghe, from his own recruits to leave Haozhou and stay in the south. On the way to Dingyuan in the south, Zhu Yuanzhang first recruited 3000 militiamen from Donkey Village in Zhangjiabao, and then recruited 800 people with clear noses and eyes. Command this team, Zhu Yuanzhang eastward, night break Dingyuan Hengduan mountain yuan army camp, marshal Miao tycoon surrendered. Zhu Yuanzhang selected 20,000 able-bodied Han people from the army to join his team and went south to Chuzhou.

Li Shanchang, a celebrity in Dingyuan, is on his way to the south of Chuzhou, and asks for an audience at Yunmen. Li Shanchang and Zhu Yuanzhang hit it off at first sight, and Li Shanchang took Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, as an example to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang that as long as he followed Liu Bang's example, he would repay kindness and not kill people indiscriminately, he would soon be able to pacify the world. Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was reasonable, so he left Li Shanchang as the shogunate minister and asked Li Shanchang to coordinate the relationship between generals and start a great cause.

Zhu Yuanzhang quickly occupied Chuzhou, and his nephew Zheng Wen and his brother-in-law Li Zhen came to take refuge in his nephew Bauer (later named Wenzhong). From their mouth, Zhu Yuanzhang learned sadly that his second brother, third brother and third sister were all dead. At that time, there was an orphan Mu Ying in Dingyuan, who was very poor. 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, not long after Zhu Yuanzhang captured Chuzhou, Guo Zixing also came to Chuzhou. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately handed over the relieving, and the team of thirty thousand people was disciplined and clean. 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 call each other brothers. 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 generals, affirmed discipline, ordered married women in the army to return to the army and reunited many separated couples in the city. This matter was widely circulated and Zhu Yuanzhang won the hearts of the people.

This year, he died of illness and appointed his son Guo Tianxu as the viceroy, his wife and brother as the deputy viceroy, and Zhu Yuanzhang as the deputy viceroy. 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. But most of the troops in Chuzhou and Hezhou were recruited by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang was more courageous and talented than Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyou. So 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 high wall, accumulating grain and slowly ascending the throne" 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's early development.

In the 16th year of Zheng Zhi (A.D. 1356), in March, Zhang Shicheng launched an attack in the Yangtze River Delta to attack the Yuan Army in the south of the Yangtze River. Taking this opportunity, Zhu Yuanzhang personally commanded the land and water army to attack Qing Ji for the third time.

After Zhu Yuanzhang entered the city, he ordered to appease the people and change the celebration to Yingtianfu. After Wang Xiaoming and Han Liner were reported, Zhu Yuanzhang was promoted to the Privy Council, and was soon promoted to the provincial chapter in Jiangnan and other places. Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Grand Marshal's Office of Star Health Instrument in Yingtian, with Liao as the commander in chief and Li Shanchang as the left and right doctors.

At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had an army of 100,000 troops, his momentum was much larger 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 soon 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 within 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, and reached a rectangular area in eastern Zhejiang. Compared with the occupation four years ago, the situation has greatly improved.

After Zhu Yuanzhang completed the deployment of "building a high wall", he began to implement "wide grain accumulation". The early solution to 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, in addition to mobilizing the people for production, decided to implement the reclamation law and vigorously carry out army reclamation, appointed Marshal Kang Maocai as the water conservancy ambassador, responsible for building water conservancy projects, and appointed generals to reclaim farmland in various places. In the past few years, villages have been built all over the country, and the national treasury is full and the rations are sufficient. 1360, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "village grain" would no longer be levied to reduce the burden on farmers.

While winning the hearts and minds 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 (i.e.) and asked Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Taizong and He how to pacify the world, which also showed Zhu Yuanzhang's determination to create a new feudal dynasty.

Chen comes 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 for the first mouse in 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. Chen Youliang defeated Jiujiang and captured Anqing in August of the following year, 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 time, the Central Plains Red Scarf Army split, weakened. 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 the 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 (AD 1363), Zhu Yuanzhang led 200,000 troops to Hongdu. When Chen Youliang learned of this, he withdrew from the besieged army and confronted Zhu Yuanzhang. The two sides fought a decisive battle in Poyang Lake.

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

1364 On New Year's Day, Zhu Yuanzhang called Wu Wang and built a hundred lawsuits. He still issued orders in the name of "imperial edict and Wu Wang decree". Because Zhang Shicheng established himself as the King of Wu in 1363, Zhang Shicheng was called Wu Dong and Zhu Yuanzhang was called Xiwu in history.

In March of twenty-four years, Zhu Yuanzhang went to Wuchang to inspect the city again, and David Li Chen finally surrendered from the city. After the annexation of Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang's next goal was Zhang Shicheng.

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

Zhu Yuanzhang's army attacked quickly. In November 26, Hangzhou and Huzhou surrendered one after another, and Pingjiang became an isolated city. So Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded Pingjiang heavily 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 year of Dragon and Phoenix, calling 1367 the first year of Wu. At the beginning of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang built a wall around the city and built a three-story wooden tower, which was higher than the wall. He shot at the city with a crossbow and a ware, but Zhang Shicheng failed in several breakthroughs. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to surrender many times, but Zhang Shicheng refused. Zhang Shicheng stuck to Pingjiang, and after the food was exhausted, he ate rats and hay. When the arrows are used up, the roof tiles are used as bombs. It was not until the eighth day of September in the twenty-seventh year (AD 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 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.

Remnant Yuan of Northern Expedition

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.

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

1370, Zhu Yuanzhang accepted the minister's suggestion, encouraged the reclamation of wasteland, and ordered all wasteland in northern counties and 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 the land reclamation workers; It also stipulates that farmers with five to ten acres of land must plant mulberry, cotton and hemp, and those with more than ten acres must double their planting. These measures have greatly stimulated farmers' enthusiasm 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 the guard, 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 mansion, which was in charge of the whole country's military affairs, and divided it into the governor's mansion of the central, left, front, rear and right armies, and contained it with the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War has the right to issue orders, but it does not directly command the army. The governor is responsible for the management and training of the army, but he 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 a high-ranking prime minister. The prime minister is prone to conflict with the emperor, and Hu is the most important 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. When the two men went to prison, the censors understood the emperor's intention and they joined forces to attack Hu's dictatorship. So, in 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu and related officials on charges of bending the law and arrogating hegemony, and announced the abolition of Zhongshu Province, and there would be no more prime ministers in the future.

After Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu for bending the law, the Hu case became his weapon 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 at 1393. Aquamarine was the founding general of the Ming Dynasty and was named Liang Guogong by Zhu Yuanzhang. 1392 One day at the end of the year, the Royal Guards took part in the sapphire rebellion, and Zhu Yuanzhang immediately had it taken down and handed it over to the official department for interrogation. 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 from an early age. So after he joined the uprising, he vowed that once he became emperor, he would kill all the corrupt officials in the world first.

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

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

Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang dared to "Gao Qian" from his side.

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 severely punished corrupt officials with extremely cruel laws 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 spy on them.

1382, due to the needs 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, commonly known as "imperial prisons", in which all kinds of torture such as peeling, pulling out the intestines and stabbing the heart 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 interrogating, catching 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 became a monk in his early years, so he was very taboo about the words "light" and "baldness". I don't even like "monks", and even the sound with similar pronunciation is equally disgusting. However, according to modern scholars' research, most of these records are untrue. Zhu Yuanzhang never dared 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 records about the "literary inquisition" can't be found in more formal historical 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 of Hangzhou Prefecture, Official Records, Hangzhou Prefecture Records, and Ancient and Modern Tombs, Xu Yikui was still alive until the second year of Wen Jian. "Epitaph of Langhu County, Fangguang County, Wenling City" was written by Xu in the first year. Therefore, "Zhu Yuanzhang killed Xu Yikui for writing" is a mistake.

Unofficial history recorded that there was a poem in "Poems on Yingzhi" in which a monk came to reply (seeing the heart), which angered Zhu Yuanzhang and was beheaded. However, through the textual research and recorded under the lamp, we can know that the monk came to reply because he was killed because he exchanged information with Hu during Hu's rebellion, 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/10 000 words. Zhu Yuanzhang set stylistic rules to prevent it from happening again.

The stylistic norms established by Zhang include the rules of "two names are unbiased and outspoken" and "nothing is taboo except the word ferocious", that is, if the emperor's name is two words, you don't have to avoid using either of these two words, and you don't have to avoid homophonic names of the emperor.

Pay attention to education

In the process of establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was not only the quality of the rulers themselves, but also the failure of the whole social education. 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 "academic qualifications" 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 can only be put forward within the scope of the four books and five classics, and candidates can only answer questions according to the prescribed views and cannot 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, it is conceivable that those teachers who lived in Hongwu era, especially those Guo Zi scholars who loafed around under Zhu Yuanzhang's nose all day, were really walking on thin ice!

Bury Xiaoling Mausoleum

The Ming Tombs play Mount Everest in Dulong Mansion at the southern foot of Zijinshan Mountain in the eastern suburb of Nanjing, and on the west side of Maoshan Mountain, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Ma Shi, the empress, are buried here.

Zhu Yuanzhang arranged the funeral very simply, and built his mausoleum at the southern foot of Zhongshan, called Xiaoling Mausoleum. The Ming Tombs in Fiona Fang have 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, the name of the temple is "Taizu". The Ming Mausoleum was built in the 14th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (138 1), and Ma Huanghou died of illness and was buried in this Mausoleum the following year. Because of Ma Huanghou's "filial piety", this tomb was named "Xiaoling Mausoleum". 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 enslavement of the Han nationality and other ethnic groups has reached an extreme level. He did not experience the normal environment of China's rich and stable agricultural society, nor did he receive the systematic education of Confucius and Mencius' poems, books, rituals and music. However, through his 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 in order to survive and be free from the trampling of Mongolian slavery. While leading the Han nationality and other ethnic groups to expel Mongolia, Ming Taizu also pointed out that although Mongolia and Semu people are not Chinese, if they are polite and willing to be 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, who left the village due to natural and man-made disasters, was hungry and cold until he ascended the throne in Nanjing. The road he and his civilian military commanders take is not only for the benefit of private individuals and a certain class, just like his self-report-I wear cloth clothes and the world is nothing to me.