Zhu Yuanzhang: both a monarch and a tyrant.

In the history of China, there was such an emperor who claimed to be "the most upright in the country".

what is "getting the country right"?

throughout the ages, there are only two founders.

one is abdication, and the other is revolution.

abdication originally refers to the change of power in primitive society. Yao abdicated to Shun and Shun abdicated to Yu.

after three generations, Zen has undergone a fundamental change, from the previous initiative to the passive.

The powerful minister forced the son of heaven to abdicate the throne to him. The pioneer of this "abdication" was Wang Mang, and it was common in successive dynasties.

there is also a revolution.

Among them, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu, and Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty are the most prominent.

Although Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang both gained political power through revolution, they are still slightly different.

Liu Bang once took office in the Qin Dynasty, although the director of Surabaya Pavilion was not a big official.

But Zhu Yuanzhang is not. He is just an ordinary citizen, a cowherd and a young monk.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the non-Han emperor regime, belonging to foreign countries, which was more convincing in ancient times with Chinese orthodoxy.

therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang has the saying that "the country is the most upright".

However, in history, there was a voice that was extremely unfriendly to Zhu Yuanzhang, and many people thought that he was an eternal tyrant.

why is this?

because he killed the hero.

there is a folk saying that "birds are exhausted, and good bows are hidden; A wily rabbit dies and a running dog cooks.

among the ancient emperors, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who applied this idea to the extreme.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang almost slaughtered all his friends who had fought together.

Except for the early deaths of Chang Yuchun and Xu Da, only Tang and several others survived.

Zhu Yuanzhang launched the famous "Hu Weiyong Case" and "Aquamarine Case" in order to eradicate the hero.

it involves a large population, reaching tens of thousands of people.

Although these founding heroes made such and such mistakes, such as conniving at their subordinates and domestic slaves to roam the countryside, to say "rebellion" would be "adding insult to injury".

after being arrested, aquamarine confessed to all the other charges, but he refused to admit this charge of rebellion.

Zhu Yuanzhang's old buddy was compared to Li Shanchang, the first hero of Xiao He's founding, and he was also involved in the Hu Weiyong case, in which nine families were punished.

One year after Li Shanchang was killed, an official played an apology for Li Shanchang.

This is what he said: He said that Li Shanchang had conspired, but what did he really want? He is now a great minister, above ten thousand people under one person. Even if he helps Hu Weiyong win the world, can he be higher than today? What's more, he started from scratch with your majesty. Doesn't he know the difficulty of successful rebellion? In those days, the heroes rose together, but now? So, I really don't believe Li Shanchang's rebellion.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't condemn the official when he saw the letter.

It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang is just trying to clean up the hero under the pretext of treason.

apart from killing heroes, Zhu Yuanzhang was called a tyrant because of his "harsh management of officials".

officials in Zhu Yuanzhang's period should be the most difficult officials in all dynasties.

since the western Han dynasty, all feudal dynasties have used Confucianism in the upward direction and followed suit in the downward direction, while Zhu Yuanzhang did the opposite.

His harshness towards officials is unprecedented.

During the Hongwu period, all officials who embezzled more than 6 liang were beheaded.

in order to restrain officials, on the basis of the existing Daming Law, he wrote Da Gao himself, which became an extra-legal law.

The penalty in Ming Da Huang is obviously much heavier than that in Ming Law.

For example, in Daming Law, it is stipulated that the punishment for the yamen to conceal the documents and not report them is eighty sticks, while in Ming Da Patent, it is executed in the year.

since the sui dynasty, the five punishment systems have been formally formed, namely, slap, staff, disciple, exile and death. However, in Da Bao, written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, the cruelty of the punishment is appalling.

you can give several examples.

Peel the grass, make the peeled human skin into drums or fill it with straw. The scarecrow stands at the entrance of the yamen or the local land temple to warn the succeeding officials not to take bribes and bend the law.

The execution of Ling Chi is commonly known among the people as a thousand pieces. Although this punishment was not initiated by Zhu Yuanzhang, it was most used in Zhu Yuanzhang.

There were four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty, namely, Hu Weiyong's political case and Lan Yu's case, and two major economic cases-Kongyin's case and Guo Huan's case.

There are more than 1, people involved in the air printing case.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that all the state capitals in the country should be killed; Deputy banishment.

when the two cases add up, the death toll exceeds 7, to 8,.

Among them, some people did commit crimes, but more people were just implicated in innocence.

You can think about the mentality of those who were officials in the DPRK at that time.

someone asked, can you not be an official?

As we all know, Zhang Liang returned to his hometown on the eve of the founding of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bowen, who is as famous as Zhang Liang, has the same plan.

Unfortunately, even after returning to his hometown, Zhu Yuanzhang was still worried about him and tortured him in every way.

It is unclear whether Liu Ji's death was Hu Weiyong's presumptuous assertion or whether he exercised his power at the instigation of Zhu Yuanzhang.

In any case, the political environment in Zhu Yuanzhang's period and Liu Bang's period is not the same.

during the hongwu period, there were two ways to choose officials, namely, imperial examination and recommendation, and the imperial examination was familiar to everyone.

what is a recommendation? Recommendation means recommendation and recommendation. For example, I heard that where there are wise men, as long as someone recommends you and finds you, you have to come out to be an official.

At that time, some people cut off their fingers in order not to be an official, but they still didn't escape.

come out to be an official or die.

Plus the Royal Guards established by Zhu Yuanzhang, there was a lot of wind and grass on the court at that time.

why did Zhu Yuanzhang treat officials so harshly?

I think it has something to do with his background.

Because he was born in poverty and was often bullied by corrupt officials, he planted a seed in his heart since he was a child.

-"Officials are not good people!"

it's good that you don't commit crimes. As long as you commit crimes, there is absolutely no good fruit to eat.

In fact, many people at the grass-roots level feel the same way. As long as the punishment is severe enough, there will be fewer corrupt officials.

actually, it's not necessarily true.

The punishment in Zhu Yuanzhang's period was so heavy, but the corruption of officials was still endless.

This has formed a vicious circle, where officials are corrupt and Zhu Yuanzhang kills people.

officials continue to be greedy and Zhu Yuanzhang continues to kill.

The reason why corrupt officials committed crimes against the wind in Hongwu period was not only greed, but also low salary.

According to the records in the history books, the salary of the county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty was about 9 grains of rice every year, and it was often converted in kind, so the actual salary was only about one or two thousand yuan a month.

won't these officials advise Zhu Yuanzhang and ask the leaders to give them a raise?

Because of Zhu Yuanzhang's background, Zhu Yuanzhang thinks that although the salary of officials is not much, compared with the people, it is already a lot, and the people can live. Why can't you?

The problem of corruption has existed since ancient times. Although anti-corruption from top to bottom has achieved some results, on the whole, it takes the symptoms rather than the root cause.

personally, anti-corruption should be done from bottom to top, so that the masses can exercise their supervisory power.

today, people's media supervise and officials' assets are made public.

in this way, it will be a fatal blow to corruption.

if you only rely on the above heavy punishment, the effect will not be mentioned for the time being, and you may have to be branded as a tyrant.

although Zhu Yuanzhang was harsh on his lieutenants, he was really a good emperor as far as the people were concerned.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a peasant family, so he had a special understanding of farmers and people.

After the war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, many places became wasteland, and it takes a process to reclaim wasteland.

In order to prevent farmers from being burdened by taxes, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that taxes should be collected after three years of reclamation.

Some local officials imposed taxes in the second year for their political achievements, and played Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that our production here is good, so farmers are scrambling to pay taxes, and they can't stop it.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious after reading it, and farmers scrambled to pay taxes? Are you kidding a ghost?

Zhu Yuanzhang advocated that the common people should sue the imperial edict and go beyond their level.

what politicians are most worried about is "seclusion". Zhu Yuanzhang once said to the courtiers, "Since ancient times, people have suffered from diseases, but their worries are not obscene and their feelings are not up to date."

Therefore, the imperial palace in Hongwu period almost became the county magistrate.

Zhu Yuanzhang set up the General Political Department, which is called "General Political Envoy Department", and is in charge of matters that are dismissed by the internal and external chapters. Whenever the four parties express their feelings and make suggestions, complain about injustice, or sue for illegality, they will copy the reasons in the bottom book and present them in a form.

Among them, it has the function of "complaining about injustice or suing lawlessness".

not only that, he also set up a "Deng Wen Drum" at the entrance of the palace, which was managed by a special person. When there was a complaint from the people, the emperor personally accepted it, and if officials stopped him, they would all be severely sentenced.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that officials were not allowed to go to the countryside. Once an official went to the countryside, the people could arrest him.

some people say, why?

isn't it a good thing that officials understand people's feelings and customs?

Zhu Yuanzhang has his own ideas.

when he was a child, officials often committed bandits in the name of going to the countryside.

every time an official passes by, no chickens or dogs are left.

that's why he made this regulation to protect the rights and interests of ordinary people.

once a county-level official in Zhejiang went to the countryside and was arrested by the people.

Later, the magistrate of a county interceded, and the situation was calmed down.

Zhu Yuanzhang actively promoted population migration, and filled Huguang in Jiangxi and Hongdong in Shanxi with Sophora japonica trees, which solved the situation of people without fields and fields without people.

in that period, besides coercion, there were inducements.

For example, if you move from A to B, you can reclaim wasteland if you want, in addition to the promised mu, and these extra reclaimed wasteland need not be taxed.

It is all kinds of policies to benefit the people that make the total grain output and population of the Ming Dynasty far exceed that of the former Yuan Shizu period not long after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Zhu Yuanzhang is so kind to the people, does he have people-oriented and democratic ideas?

not really.

Emperor Taizong of China, a famous emperor who loved the people in history, agreed with a sentence in Xunzi and took it as his motto.

"Jun, the boat is also; People, water also. Water can carry a boat or overturn it. "

did Zhu Yuanzhang have such an idea?

no.

We can get a glimpse of Mencius from his attitude.

Many people think that Zhu Yuanzhang is illiterate, and he did not receive systematic cultural education.

But Zhu Yuanzhang is a very diligent person. After he joined the army, there were some civil servants in the army, and he often asked questions without shame.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang, after being an emperor, can read and break words.

when Zhu Yuanzhang was reading Mencius, he was very unhappy because some words in Mencius were not to his liking.

There's a saying in Mencius: A monarch treats his ministers like dirt, and I treat him like enmity.

Zhu Yuanzhang treats his lieutenants like dirt. According to Mencius, isn't this encouraging his lieutenants to make trouble?

There are many such dialogues in Mencius.

for example, "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least."

.......

At last, Zhu Yuanzhang was unhappy. He ordered Mencius to be removed from the Confucius Temple and planned to destroy Mencius.

fortunately, the scholars at that time had backbone and argued with their lives.

Some officials even said that it was a great honor for me to die for Master Meng.

In desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang was forced to compromise and cut out the chapters in Mencius that didn't agree with him, and made it Mencius Jiewen.

However, this Mencius Festival was not handed down. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, it was abolished, and everyone saw the full version of Mencius.

After all, he was an emperor of a feudal dynasty, and his kindness and charity to the people were only due to his tragic childhood experience.

This is how I evaluate Zhu Yuanzhang:

Hongwu has the coolness of the Qin Dynasty and the benevolence of Chinese.

It stands to reason that there is really no connection between Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. One is the emperor who is respected by Legalists, and the other is the first wise monarch who is admired by later Confucian scholars for three generations or less.

but Zhu Yuanzhang had both.

It's just that he is a cool official, and benevolence corresponds to the people.

There is such a line in Zhu Yuanzhang starring Hu Jun:

"The bloody killing above the imperial court has brought peace and prosperity to the rural people!"

There are many tyrants in China, and there are not a few wise kings. There is only one king like Zhu Yuanzhang who is both bright and violent.