As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in order to allow his eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen to ascend the throne smoothly, almost "cleaned up" all the founding fathers who fought with him on the spot.
For example, Li Shanchang, Tang Shengzong, Feng Sheng, Lu Zhongheng, Lan Yu, etc., they were all heroes who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world together, and some even followed Zhu Yuanzhang when they were teenagers, but they didn't expect to die well.
In the twenty-first year of Hongwu, Tang He, the prince of Xinguo in the Ming Dynasty, came to Zhu Yuanzhang and said that he wanted to return to his hometown, and in addition, he also asked Zhu Yuanzhang for a reward.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked him what reward he wanted, thinking that Tang He wanted gold, silver, jewelry or some privileges such as a gold medal for exoneration, but Tang He said that he wanted 100 stunning beauties!
Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "You old guy, you are also 63 years old this year, right?" Want 100 stunning beauties? Can you do it? ”
Tang He smiled and said heartily: "Weichen is an old person, so it's good." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, and then shook his head again and again, sighing that Tang and this old guy were really useless, and even the other ** people in the court were laughing at him, some lowered their heads and laughed secretly, some laughed loudly, and some had speechless expressions.
So is Tang He really such an absurd and funny person? Of course not, in fact, this is the genius of Tang He. You must know that almost all the heroes who fought the world with Zhu Yuanzhang were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, no matter what kind of great achievements you made before, you still can't escape.
This is obviously paving the way for his grandson Zhu Yunwen to succeed to the throne one day. When Zhu Biao was the crown prince, Zhu Yuanzhang was very good to these generals and heroes, and he was very tolerant, and after Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yunwen was appointed as the emperor's eldest grandson, and Zhu Yuanzhang began to kill.
Some people say that before Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang had already begun to kill, such as the famous Hu Weiyong case in history. In fact, when Zhu Biao was the crown prince, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very harsh on civil officials, and Hu Weiyong's case is a very typical ** case, including the empty seal case and Guo Heng's case, which are all normal cases.
And after Zhu Biao's death, in order to be able to help his grandson Zhu Yunwen pave the way, Zhu Yuanzhang almost killed these threatening heroes and generals, Tang He could not know this, since the death of Li Wenzhong and Xu Da, the only one who has military power in his hands is Tang He, the prince of Thaxinguo, and Zhu Yuanzhang's knife will be cut on his neck at any time.
And Tang He is actually a delicate, brave and resourceful person, he has long smelled the danger, so he took the initiative to ask Zhu Yuanzhang to return to his hometown and take the initiative to hand over the military power.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard him say this, he asked, "Why did you suddenly return to your hometown?" ”
Tang He replied: "When he was young, he fought on the battlefield all the year round, and fell into the root of his illness, and now that he is old, he wants to return to his hometown, go back to his hometown to care for the elderly, cultivate his body, and live a clean life." ”
Tang He's words are actually very clever, not only telling Zhu Yuanzhang why he risked his life to fight for you back then, but also telling Zhu Yuanzhang that he is now a useless old man with injuries, and he is no longer a climate.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy when he heard him say this, so he asked, "I meet your requirements, what else do you want to reward?" ”
Zhu Yuanzhang asked this, in fact, he was testing Tang He, Zhu Yuanzhang was a very suspicious person, he couldn't just listen to Tang He's words and easily believe him.
Who knew that Tang He actually said that he wanted 100 stunning beauties as rewards, which completely convinced Zhu Yuanzhang that he was an old guy who had no interest.
In fact, this sentence was also deliberately said by Tang He, the purpose was to tell Zhu Yuanzhang that he didn't have any big ideals and ambitions, but he still had those human desires, which sounded real and would not pose any threat to Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Yuanzhang naturally let him go.
Zhu Yuanzhang not only rewarded him with soup and 100 stunning beauties, but also rewarded him with hundreds of taels **, thousands of taels**, enough soup and a few lifetimes.
And the other heroes are not as lucky as Tang He, some of them are too conceited, some believe in Zhu Yuanzhang too much, and some do have the intention of rebellion, and they will all die in the end.
Tang He was able to retreat successfully, mainly because he himself was very cautious, good at disguising himself, and indeed had no intention of rebelling and monopolizing power.
Tang He grew up with Zhu Yuanzhang since he was a child, the founding of the Ming Dynasty, those heroes were all added to the rank of knight, Tang He should have been named a duke, but Tang He was only crowned a marquis in the end, of course, this has something to do with Tang He's record being too ugly, the only few times he was alone were fiascos, such as when he was the main force of Ming Yuzhen, he was blocked in Wuxia, or the partial army that smuggled Chen Cang opened up the situation, and then Tang He has been a deputy general, compared with Lan Yu, these fierce generals, it is indeed much worse.
But it cannot be denied that he paid and only got a marquis, and there is indeed the possibility of suppression.
In addition, Tang He and Zhu Yuanzhang also had several small frictions after that, and Tang He escaped from the tiger's mouth, and he was forgiven only by relying on his loyalty.
Tang He knew that his companion was like a tiger, and he was even more cautious after that, for fear that if he said something wrong, his head would fall to the ground.
Relying on such a cautious attitude, Tang He gradually eased the relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang, in the eleventh year of Hongwu, Tang He was named the Duke of Xinguo, which seemed to be a good thing, and he was added to the knighthood, but it was really a bad thing for Tang He, this promotion, so that Tang He was scared, he began to pretend to be a fool, drank every day and did not go to court, did not participate in political affairs, civil and military officials thought that Zhu Yuanzhang would be furious, but Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly: "Let him go"!
After that, Tang He determined Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts, so he continued to pretend to be crazy and stupid, until he returned to his hometown, Tang He took 100 beauties and happily returned to his hometown to retire with peace of mind.
But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't let him go so easily, after the Lan Yu case, the ministers of the court and the central government were panicked, one day, Zhu Yuanzhang came to Tang He's hometown to visit him, Tang He knew Zhu Yuanzhang's intention, this was going to ask for his life, so he pretended to have a stroke, crooked his neck and squinted his eyes, and his mouth was constantly drooling, so Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "Tang He, you can retire with peace of mind!" ”
After Tang He lived until 1395 died at home at the age of 70, Zhu Yuanzhang also specially ordered the boycott of the dynasty to express condolences on the 3rd, and also ordered to posthumously crown Tang He as the king of Dongou .
Tang He was able to enjoy his old age in peace, mainly because he and Zhu Yuanzhang grew up and knew Zhu Yuanzhang very well, and they had a thorough understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang's temperament, so that they could see the tricks and hide if they could, but Lan Yu and these people were not so lucky.