Zhu Wen, a native of Dangshan (now Anhui) in Songzhou in the Tang Dynasty, was born as a commoner, and boasted of being a hero when he was young.
Later, he joined Huang Chao's subordinates and accumulated military merits as a defense envoy in the same state. Later, he returned to the Tang Dynasty, served as the envoy of the Xuanwu Army, and turned his head to fight against Huangchao. After Huang Chao's death, Zhu Wen recruited the rest of the army, defeated the nearby separatist forces, and gradually took control of the government. Later, he deposed the emperor, killed the prince, killed the ministers, and established the Later Liang. Later, he was killed by his own son usurping power.
Liang Taizu Zhu Wen Zhu Wen was brutal and easy to kill, and the "Disaster of the White Horse Station" killed more than 30 important ministers of the Tang Dynasty at one time, and all the corpses were thrown into the Yellow River. "Old News of the Luoyang Gentry" tells several stories about him, which can explain Zhu Wen's character from the side.
At the beginning, when Zhu Wen concurrently served as the envoy of the Four Towns, he exposed his brutal and murderous temperament. His subordinates did not do as well as he wanted, and they were killed immediately. The subordinate officials went to work in the Shuaifu every day, said goodbye to their families in the morning, and when they came back in the evening, they patted their foreheads and congratulated themselves on spending the day safely. When Zhu Wen invited guests, the guests were also scared and silent.
Despite this, in order to gain fame, some scholars still went to Daliang to meet them, hoping to be appreciated by Zhu Wen. Jin Shi Du brought his own article to ask for a summons, and after the official in charge of receiving talents reported, Zhu Wen did not say a word. As a result, Du was placed under house arrest in the inn, entangled and exhausted, and was very embarrassed.
It turned out that as long as the names of the scholars who came to take refuge were not received, the responsible people did not dare to let them go. Zhu Wen didn't necessarily remember when he remembered that if the person left, the person in charge would be killed. Du had to go to the guest room of the Shuai Mansion every day to wait for the summons.
After almost a year, Zhu Wen suddenly remembered Du's name, so he asked his subordinates, the person surnamed Du was **. The attendant replied that it was in the guest room. At this time, a fast horse rider came to report other matters, and Zhu Wen finished his official business and returned to the inner house for dinner.
After seeing noon, Du was very hungry and wanted to go back to the inn. The little official stopped and said, "If the commander summons you, but you return to the inn, we will die immediately." Please bear with me, I'll go get you food. ”
In the afternoon, Zhu Wen returned to the lobby, took out the dice and tossed them, reciting a name for each roll. I voted many times, but it didn't seem to be satisfactory, and I stared at the people on the left and right many times. The people on the left and right were frightened, and they all shrunk their necks and did not dare to move. Zhu Wen's voice became louder and louder, and he almost shouted out when he read Du. At this time, several dice are red upwards. He became happy and ordered someone to summon Du in.
Du came in tremblingly and kowtowed, and Zhu Wen waved his hand to let him sit down. Du was honestly frightened, leaned forward, and sat down on the edge of the chair. Zhu Wen was silent for a while and said, "It seems to be raining." Du nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes." "It was a sunny day, but it did fall a few heavy raindrops, knocking on the eaves to make a sound.
Zhu Wen stood up and looked out the window for a long time, then returned to his seat and asked, "Have you ever seen it rain on a sunny day?"Du quickly stood up and said, "No." Zhu Wen motioned for him to sit down, and said: "There is no cloud and rain, I don't know what the omen is, please Xiucai write a poem about this." ”
With a pen and paper left and right, Du was like sitting on a charcoal fire, thinking hard, and wrote: ".The same thing is different, the rain is flying in the sun wheel. If the teachings are similar, compete for the Liang King's creation!”Zhu Wen read the poem and praised it, and asked Du to go back first.
Du was drenched in sweat, and when he returned to the inn, he fell ill with diarrhea and could barely get out of bed. The little official in charge of the reception served the medicine as if he were serving his parents.
The next day, Zhu Wen met again and gave him a lot of money and goods, and Du's illness was cured at once.
When Zhu Wen wanted to usurp the throne, he wanted to be a straight talker. One day, I took dozens of scholars to the suburbs and rested under a large willow tree. He said to himself: "What a big willow tree, it is suitable for the front of the car." Immediately, five or six more people chimed in: "Indeed, indeed, it is very suitable to be the front of the car." ”
Zhu Wen turned his head and glared at everyone. One of them saluted and said, "This willow tree is very good, but the front of the car needs to be made of elm." Zhu Wen said angrily: "Exactly, how can the willow tree be the front of the car?"You cuoda, you (a contemptuous term for the reader), will only compliment me with words. Then he looked at the samurai who followed him and said, "What are you waiting for?"The samurai stepped forward and killed the man who said that the willow tree was the front of the cart.
The original author finally concluded that although Zhu Wen was cruel and moody, he must have something outstanding in power and military affairs, otherwise he would not be able to achieve hegemony. "Luoyang Jingentry Old News".
Zhu Wen did not follow common sense when recruiting talents, and Ming Shizong was also outrageous when he promoted **. He dreamed of thunder on the first night of the hand-picking champion, and the next day he saw a person named Qin Minglei in the list, so he didn't look at the test paper and directly set the first place.
When it came to increasing the number of cabinet candidates, the counselor recommended several people, none of whom were satisfied. Later, when I saw the names of Zhang Zhi and Li Ben, I promoted them to the cabinet. Li Ben was a sacrificial wine at that time, and Zhang Zhi was also the lowest petty official in the court. The Manchu civil and military forces were shocked, and they didn't know why these two people had been so favored.
Later, I learned that the emperor saw a sentence in the first few days, "To govern the country, you must cure the root cause." Therefore, Zhang Zhi and Li Ben were promoted. Zhang Zhi died of illness in the second year of his election to the cabinet, and Li Ben served as deputy prime minister for 13 years, but he did not make any achievements in obscurity, because his father died and resigned from his post and was never appointed again.
The above account is from the "Wanli Ye Shu Ed.", which also introduces the flail and the court staff. The author says that the punishment of Miki sachead has existed since ancient times, but it is rarely used by scholars. After the eunuch Wang Zhen and the eunuch Liu Jin took power during the orthodox period, the flail began to be abusive, and it became heavier and heavier, and the largest wooden flail reached 300 catties. Moreover, the shackles are often used in the treatment of ministers who are in prison.
Most of the punishments for flail are aimed at prisoners who do not commit crimes to death, but Dongchang wants to put them to death. Generally, if the prisoner is strong and has no signs of death, the Jinyi guard will modify the torture equipment, and if it is three inches shorter, there will be no reason to live.
If the flail is not watched by an enemy, and at night he secretly hires a beggar to carry his back against his back, and occasionally there are survivors. The maximum period of flail is two months. Some people died after standing for two or three days, and the corpses still had to stand there, decomposing to reveal their bones.
The court staff appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty, except for the country established by ethnic minorities, and was rarely used by emperors later, but now it has repeatedly been used as a court staff to rebuke ministers. During the Chenghua period, the ministers were wrapped in a thick layer of felt, so they were only injured, and few were killed in the court. Since Liu Jin took power, he had to take off his clothes when he was in power, and there were many ministers who had been compiled
The flail, as the name suggests, stands on the street with a heavy wooden flail to show the public. There is probably a special device, and the prisoner can't sit down even if he wants to. The three inches shorter mentioned above may be a device that forces the prisoner to stand with his legs bent, so that he cannot bear weight and dies faster. ）