Chen Zishan asked Zhu Yuanzhang at the age of eight, "Why did my grandfather plagiarize my family in order to save you from nine arrows?"”
During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the home of the hero Chen De to be copied. Chen De's grandson Chen Zishan was only eight years old at the time, and in the face of a huge punishment, he asked Zhu Yuanzhang directly:"In order to save your life, my grandfather was **Nine Arrows, why did you still attack our family?"
Faced with the child's question, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always been cruel and murderous, did not get angry, but said with a smile:"Raid the house, this is already a great gift for you!Don't be in a hurry to thank me for this favor!"Why did Zhu Yuanzhang say that copying the house is a gift?What mistake did Chen Tak make?
Chen De, like Zhu Yuanzhang, was a poor peasant and bourgeoisie of Zhu Yuanzhang, and decided to follow Zhu Yuanzhang in 1353, shortly after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, when he returned to his hometown of Fengyang to recruit soldiers. In the following decades, Chen De fought bravely and skillfully, made many military exploits, ranked among the upper class of society, and won the respect and trust of Zhu Yuanzhang. However, the most important event in Tran's life was the Battle of Poyang Lake.
In 1363, the feud between Zhu Yuanzhang and his rival Chen Youliang was transferred from land to water. Both sides have stationed warships on Poyang Lake, and both want to annex the other in one fell swoop.
Chen Youliang's navy has 600,000 people, while Zhu Yuanzhang's navy has only 200,000. In addition, most of Chen Youliang's warships were large ships seven zhang high, while Zhu Yuanzhang's side only had small boats built in a short period of time.
Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have lost, but Chen Youliang made the same mistake as Cao Cao, and actually connected all the warships into a chain that stretched for dozens of miles.
Zhu Yuanzhang chose a mobile method of warfare in response to the inflexibility of Chen Youliang's warships. He divided all the warships into twenty phalanxes, each equipped with firearms such as firearms, rockets, bows and arrows. In this way, when the enemy ship approaches, the battleship detachment can be deployed, avoid the enemy ship, and then attack with artillery and rockets, and when the enemy ship is quite close, engage the enemy ship directly.
On July 21, the armies of Zhu and Chen formally clashed on the lake. Zhu Yuanzhang's general Xu Da led the fleet to take the lead in attacking, and ** ran to the front of his warship, launched a fierce battle, constantly using artillery and rockets, destroyed more than 20 ** warships, and captured a large ship.
But just when Zhu Yuanzhang's side began to gain the upper hand, something unexpected happened.
Chen Youliang has a strong general Zhang Dingbian in the army. When he realized that the battle situation was unfavorable, he took three small boats and went straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship. He wants to behead Zhu Yuanzhang and reverse the situation.
The heroic and tenacious Zhang Dingbian was killed on the way, and Zhu Yuanzhang's escort ships could not resist and all retreated. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly ordered the rudder to retreat, but because the rudder was too fast, he did not realize that his warship had run aground.
Now that Zhu Yuanzhang has become a live target, Zhang Dingbian naturally can't miss this opportunity. When approaching Zhu Yuanzhang's ship, Zhang Dingbian immediately ordered his subordinates to release arrows.
Suddenly, a rain of locust-like arrows hit Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a while, not knowing where to hide. At this critical moment, he saw a figure faster than an arrow passing in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. It was Chen De, who was a guard on Zhu Yuanzhang's ship.
Chen De blocked the deadly rain of arrows for Zhu Yuanzhang and failed to kill Zhang Dingbian. Subsequently, Chang Yuchun, Liao Yongzhong and others rushed to escort Zhu Yuanzhang's warship and besieged Zhang Dingbian together. Zhang Dingbian saw that he couldn't defeat them, so he withdrew with the boat.
After Zhu Yuanzhang got out of danger, he saw Chen De with nine arrows stuck in his body, and the corners of his mouth were still bleeding, dying. Seeing this situation, Zhu Yuanzhang had mixed feelings in his heart, so he immediately took Chen De's hand and said:"We will remember your bravery today, and if we become emperor in the future, we will not disappoint you!"
Chen De passed by ** and survived. After recovering from his injury, he continued to follow Zhu Yuanzhang on the battlefield and made many achievements.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Chen De was named the Marquis of Linjiang, and Zhu Yuanzhang gave him Danshu iron coupons. However, before Chen Tak could enjoy more glory and wealth, he died in 1378 due to old injuries**.
After Chen De's death, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had always been diligent, felt extremely sad, especially the elders of the Three Dynasties, so he named Chen De as the Duke of Qi to commemorate.
Chen De's title was later passed to Chen De's son, Chen Yong, but Chen Yong did not ascend the throne to enjoy this honor. In 1387, Chen Yong was tragically killed in the Northern Expedition at the age of 31.
As a result, the title of the Chen family was passed to Chen Zishan, who was only seven years old. At that time, Chen Zishan could have relied on the merits accumulated by his ancestors to become a rich and noble man with no children and no daughters, but he did not have this honor.
The following year, the Chen family was convicted, and it was reported that Chen Yong was involved in Hu Weiyong's rebellion. In the seven years since Hu Weiyong was executed, it is clear that someone has deliberately slandered the Chen family. But Zhu Yuanzhang turned a deaf ear to this and immediately ordered the cancellation of the Chen family's hereditary titles and the confiscation of all property. Chen Zishan was demoted to the rank of commoner.
At this time, Chen Zishan, who was only 8 years old, came out and cried"Shrug your shoulders"Accusing Zhu Yuanzhang said:"My grandfather risked his life to save people with nine arrows, and my father guarded the border for loyalty to the country, why did you still order to raid our house!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was not in a hurry to answer the boy's words, and said sarcastically:"Raiding your family is already a great harm to you, if it weren't for your grandfather's exploits, your whole family would have been beheaded by raiding your family!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's response was certainly not a simple threat. Tens of thousands of people were implicated in Hu Weiyong's case, and many of them were exterminated. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he could completely spare Chen Zishan's life and truly be extrajudicial.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang let Chen Zishan live, not only because of his past kindness, but also because Chen Zishan is just a child and will not damage his power. If Chen De and Chen Yong are still there, I'm afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang will really exterminate them.
The political struggle in feudal society was extremely cruel and ruthless, and the rulers did not hesitate to punish the big families. Because in the mind of any ruler, no matter what type of ruler, favor and martial prowess are as important as power on the throne. For the sake of power, they would rather unjustly kill important ministers than spare anyone who threatens them.