The mystery of Zhu Yuanzhang's reward for heroes, loyalty and power games in history
Iron slippery, also known as gold medal, in literature, it is one"Awesome"Even if a person commits a great sin, if he has this thing at home, he can also be used to avoid death, and even the emperor can't help it. For example, in "The Story of Zisha" in "Kangxi Weifu Private Interview", the bully Bande won the gold medal of the five major families of Huang Taiji, and he was so angry that he was given the fish and meat in the township, Kangxi wanted to kill him, but he couldn't do it, so he sent someone to secretly change the gold medal hidden in the dead man's house, and then he was brought to justice.
Although the literature describes the gold medal for avoiding death as:"It's powerful", but this was clearly not the case in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, awarded 34 gold medals to meritorious officials in the third year of Hongwu (1370), but it is so-called"The gold medal is the catalyst for death..."Instead of saving the lives of these meritorious men, the gold medal for avoiding death has reduced the vast majority of them or their descendants to a miserable situation"。But, as it has been said, instead of saving the lives of these heroes, the vast majority of them or their descendants have been reduced to a miserable situation, with only two people dying well. Why is this happening?
Zhu Yuanzhang Hongwu was awarded a meritorious hero for three years, and he personally gave 34 iron coupons to avoid death.
History of the Ming Dynasty - Yufu Zhi contains four,"Meritorious Iron Coupons: In the second year of Hongwu, Taizu Meritorious Heroes wanted to be sealed, and the iron coupons were all discussed, and there was no difference. Or it is said that Qian Yunyi, a native of Taizhou, has a family collection, and the king of Wu Yue and Tang Dynasty bought iron coupons, because of his profit and loss, he sent an envoy to take it"。In the second year of Hongwu (1369), Zhu Yuanzhang decided to give them iron coupons to avoid death in order to reward meritorious officials, and even sent people to Qianyun's family in Taizhou to find samples.
According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty - Yufu Zhi", the Ming Dynasty was divided into seven classes: the duke was two classes, the first class was one foot six inches and five minutes high, and the first class was nine inches and five minutes high and six inches wide; Marquis of the third class, nine inches high in the first class, five inches and five minutes in width, eight inches and five inches in width in the first class, eight inches in height and four inches and five minutes in width; The second-class earl, seven inches and five minutes high and three inches and five minutes wide. Six inches and five minutes high, one foot two inches and five minutes wide.
In the third year of Hongwu (1370), Zhu Yuanzhang was a great meritorious hero, successively awarded six dukes and twenty-eight marquises, and rewarded iron coupons to avoid death, of which the six dukes were Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Deng Gui, and Chang Mao; The twenty-eight princes are: Tang He, Tang Shengcheng, Lu Zhonglian, Zhou Dexing, Hua Yunlong, Gu Shi, Geng Bingwen, Chen De, Wang Bi, Wang Zhi, Zheng Yuchun: The twenty-eight princes are: Tang He, Tang Shengcheng, Lu Zhonglian, Zhou Dexing, Hua Yunlong, Gu Shi, Geng Bingwen, Chen De, Wang Bi, Wang Zhi, Zheng Muchun, Fei Ju, Wu Liang, Wu Zhen, Zhao Yong, Liao Yongzhong, Yu Tongyuan, Hua Gao, Yang Jing, Kang Duo, Zhu Liangzu, Fu Youde, Hu Mei, Han Zheng, Huang Bin, Cao Liangchen, Mei Sizu, and Lu Ju.
On these iron gold medals, it is engraved"life deeds and the number of times he has received grace to remember his kindness; Engrave the gold medal and the number of reductions in order to prevent mistakes"。The following text is engraved underneath. All the ninety-seven members, each divided into left and right, the left to give the minister, the right Tibetan assembly, the story of unity, in order to gain faith", resulting in a series of transactions.
Iron coupons can be said to be the highest reward given by Zhu Yuanzhang to meritorious officials, and the most important role is that when these meritorious heroes have major crimes in the future, as long as Danshu does not lose the iron coupons and cut off his head before he goes out, then he can avoid death, so during this period, many ministers are clothed and distributed, and they all want to get a piece of the pie, but in the end, only the above thirty-four people exist.
However, since the middle of Zhu Yuanzhang, a large number of heroes have been killed for various reasons, even those who have iron coupons and gold medals to avoid death have not been spared. If the iron coupon has the function of avoiding death, why has no one ever used it?
As for whether the voucher is valid or not, it is up to Lao Zhu to decide.
There were so many Taoist priests who were killed, but no one had ever used an iron ticket to avoid death. This is mainly because the interpretation of the death-free iron coupon is in the hands of the old Zhu family, and if you want to study it carefully, it can be roughly divided into the following situations.
1.Involved in the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases: 21 people. Although the death penalty coupon has"Death penalty"function, but not all crimes for which the death penalty is imposed can be exempted from death. If a person commits the crime of treason, even if he has ten death penalty coupons in his hand, it will not have the slightest effect. However, during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, there were several major cases of killing heroes, and the most serious one was undoubtedly"Hu Weiyong's case"with"The Sapphire Case", both cases are treason, so the person involved will also get a capital coupon. When he was involved in these cases, the death penalty coupon did not apply. There are 34 people holding death vouchers: Li Shanchang, Tang Shengzong, Lu Zhongheng, Gu Jing, Zheng Muchun, Fei Ju, Zhao Yong, Yang Jing (fraudulent death), Zhu Liangzu's son Zhu Yu, Hu Mei, Huang Bin, Lu Ju, Deng Zhen, and Deng Gui's son Deng Zhenji"Hu Weiyong's case"The other thirteen families who were accused, Chang Mao, Fu Youde (forced to die), Han Xun, Han Zheng's son, Cao Liangchen's son and"The Sapphire Case"The other thirteen families who were accused. Chang Mao, Fu Youde (forced to die), Han Xun, Han Zheng's son, Cao Tai, Cao Liangchen's son, Wang Bi and other five families were included"The Sapphire Case", Yu Tongyuan, Mei Sizu, and Wang Zhi are still alive and dead, and they are listed"Hu Weiyong's case"。
2.Executed on other charges: Trinity. Generally speaking, the longer the time, the greater the effect, that is, because of the old rules of filial piety, the ancestors gave death coupons, and later emperors generally did not dare to overthrow it easily. On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang gave the death coupon, under his rule, his actual role is very limited, after all, he can give it to you, or he can pay you back, it all depends on his words and deeds, if Zhu Yuanzhang did it deliberately before giving the death coupon, the price will be very painful. Among the thirty-four meritorious heroes, Zhou Dexing died on the way to recall because of his son's fornication with prostitutes, Liao Yongzhong died because of the illegal use of illegal items such as dragons and phoenixes, and Hua Yunlong died on the way to recall because of his illegal stay in the mansion of Prime Minister Yuan Zhezong and illegal use of real estate in the palace of the Yuan Dynasty. The residence of Prime Minister Yuan Zhezong and the illegal use of real estate in the imperial palace of the Yuan Dynasty. The mansion of Prime Minister Won Cheoljong and the residence of Prime Minister Won Cheoljong are the most illegal items.
3. Zhu Yuanzhang directly issued: two kinds. This is Zhu Yuanzhang because he has the death of the country of the country of the iron coupon, so it is useless, it all depends on Zhu Yuanzhang himself, if he wants to kill you, then even if you have the death of the country of the iron coupon, you will not be able to recognize the truth of the facts, although this practice is a bit of a villain. There are two of the most typical of them: one is"Manslaughter"Yongjiahou Zhu Liang's grandfather and son, Zhu Liangzu came from Guangdong, during this period there were many violations of law and discipline, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered someone to capture Zhu Liang's grandfather and son to Nanjing, although Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill the two, but when he thought that he had a death-free gold coupon in his hand, it was not good to die directly, so he ordered someone to whip him with an iron whip! Zhu Liang's grandfather and son were beaten with an iron whip and finally beaten to death. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to bury Zhu Liangzu, and personally wrote a memorial text, in which he said that he actually just wanted to punish them, and did not want to kill them. The second is Feng Sheng, who was executed without charge. Zhu Sheng, the king of Zhou, was Feng Sheng's son-in-law, Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished Zhu Sheng for Zhu Sheng's private meeting with Feng Sheng, and later severely punished Zhu Sheng for the death of the prince Zhu Biao, he was even more suspicious of the heroes, Feng Sheng repeatedly disobeyed Zhu Yuanzhang for trivial matters, and in the month of Lan Yu's death, Feng Sheng was recalled to the capital and was executed without charge two years later.
4. Before and after the assassination of the hero: three. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Emperor Jianwen eradicated the clan, triggering"The Battle of Jingjing", which became another big mess for the hero group, and two heroes participated in this chaos. One of them is the two sons of Xu Da, the king of Zhongshan, and the third son, Xu Zengshou"Battle of Anning South"was killed by Zhu Yunwen because he had a close relationship with Zhu Di; The eldest son, Xu Huizu, not only actively resisted Zhu Di during the Anti-Japanese War, but also refused to cooperate with Zhu Di when Zhu Di entered Nanjing, pointing out that he was guilty of capital crimes; When he was in prison, Zhu Di did not kill him, but stripped him of his civilian position and then sent him to prison. Although Zhu Di did not kill him directly, he deprived him of his title and rice grain, and locked him in a cell until death. Secondly, Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, was forced to commit suicide in the second year of Zhu Di's accession to the throne, but Zhu Di did not embarrass him too much. In"The Battle of Jingjing"In the middle, Zheng Ci, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Chen Ying, the middle of the imperial history, led the army to attack Zhu Di, Geng Bingwen was killed, and Zhu Di did not embarrass him too much. Third, Wu Gao, the son of Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, was stripped of his title and exiled to Guangxi because of Zhu Di's disloyalty.
As mentioned above, among the thirty-four heroes who held the iron ticket to avoid death, except for Yingchuan Hou Kangduo and Jinghai Hou Wu Zhen, there were very few other heroes who did not die and their descendants did not sit in Hulan Kingdom, and only Xinguo Gong and Guangde Hou Huagao could escape two disasters and not die because of pacification; Among them, Tang He failed to inherit the title due to the early death of the third generation of sons, grandsons, and great-grandchildren, and it was not until the fifth generation of grandson Tang Shaosong that he was able to renew the title of Marquis of Lingbi. Tang and his sons, grandsons, great-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren died three generations early and failed to inherit the title, and Tang Shaosong, the fifth grandson of Tang, was able to renew the title of Marquis of Lingbi and still got the coupon; Hua Gao died childless, and was buried in the tomb with the coupon.