Those things in the morning
Now that you are a Juren, please pack your bags, prepare your writing materials, and next February you will face the real test of life - the Imperial Examination.
This exam is only open to those who have obtained the status of Juren, which means that your opponents will be elites from other provinces. The imperial court will select 300 people (subject to change) from among you, but note that these 300 people are not what we usually call Jinshi, they are just "Gongsheng". To become a Jinshi, you still need to pass another level.
The first place in the imperial examination is called yuan, which is the second of the three yuan.
Before we move on to the next level, let's introduce the examination hall of the imperial examination. The examination hall at that time was not a bright classroom like today, and there were a large number of parents waiting outside with watermelons for you. The examination hall in the Ming Dynasty was called Gongyuan, which can be literally translated as "prison" from its structure and environment.
There are tens of thousands of rooms in the Gongyuan (you can estimate the admission rate), all single rooms. Some people may think that a single room is great, but don't rush, let me introduce what kind of single room this is. This type of single room is called a "number house", five feet long, four feet wide and eight feet high.
Everyone can feel that this is almost a cage. Before entering, candidates must be searched and only allowed to bring stationery and lighting equipment inside. Each person is given three candles, after which the door is immediately closed and locked, and the candidate answers questions inside. At night, they also rest inside, but due to the small size of the room, candidates can only sleep curled up, it's really as uncomfortable as possible.
However, in such a harsh environment, under the solitary lamp, in unbearable loneliness, our ancestors were filled with the ideal of serving the country, and wrote articles that were born with strong willpower, which is really worthy of our respect.
Every single person who has gone through this exam deserves our applause, not just those who succeeded but also those who failed.
The final test for the elite who passed the imperial examination was the palace examination, in which they would face the ruler of this empire. The method of examination was that the emperor asked questions and the candidates answered, mainly on policy issues. These poor candidates did not dare to raise their heads, they could only answer the questions with trepidation and then exit to await their fate.
The emperor and the ministers, based on the performance of the candidates, will divide them into grades. There are three grades in total. The first grade has only three people, called Jinshi and Di, namely Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua, which is well-known to everyone. The second grade has several people, called Imperial Scholar, and the third grade has several people, called Imperial Scholar.
The Zhuangyuan is the third of the three Yuans.
If you've made it this far and your name is still on the list, congratulations to you, you'll be appointed an official position. However, don't expect too much, as the positions assigned at this time are not high-ranking. After going through so many hardships, what you might get is probably just a lowly eighth-rank county lieutenant, far from being a county magistrate, but in any case, it's still considered being an official.
The imperial examination is not only a way to obtain an official position, but also a path for scholars to pursue honor. For them, the champion is their goal, although it is said that there is no first in literature, being the first is what everyone wants. The champion is also human, why can't it be me?
It is a fact that the number one scholar is very hard to come by, with only one emerging every three years, and the output is very low. However, there is still another title that is the highest honor in the hearts of scholars, which is what every scholar yearns for day and night. Those who obtain this title will become legendary figures, admired by all!
This title is called Lian Zhong San Yuan, which specifically refers to the combination of three titles: Jiaren, Huiyuan and Zhuangyuan. This is a truly high-difficulty move that requires being ranked first in the entire province, then ranking first nationwide in the imperial examination, and finally being considered the best by the emperor himself. Therefore, it's not enough for candidates to just have good academic performance; they must also be quick-witted, relatively handsome, and have a certain amount of luck to obtain this title. So getting this title requires more than just hard work - even one's ancestors' tombs would be emitting smoke, if not flames.
There have been only two such people in the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty. One was Huang Guan, a man from Anhui during the Hongwu period; the other was Shang Tuo, a man from Zhejiang during the Zhengtong period, who was extremely powerful. Shang Tuo holds a certain position in history and will be mentioned again later.
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties began to implement the imperial examination system, only thirteen people have obtained this honor. They are two from the Tang Dynasty, six from the Song Dynasty, one from the Jin Dynasty, one from the Yuan Dynasty, one from the Ming Dynasty, and two from the Qing Dynasty. These people are really worthy of our admiration.
The Things of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang Edition Chapter 24
Chapter word count: 3975 Updated time: July 2nd, 2022 15:50
Participating in the imperial examination to become a scholar-official was for the purpose of becoming an official. As more and more ordinary people became officials, the secular power of aristocratic families gradually declined, and the scholars who passed the imperial examinations formed what is known as the "imperial examination clique", which later became the group of civil officials. This group had a huge impact on the politics of the Ming dynasty, forming an organizational structure similar to that of organized crime syndicates. They could threaten the emperor from above and control the common people from below, making them extremely formidable. Here, let's take a look at their internal operating order.
We mentioned earlier that once a jinshi is selected, he can be appointed as an official, while it's much more difficult for a juren to become an official. They have to participate in three rounds of examinations, and if they still can't pass after repeated attempts, they can register with the Ministry of Officials. After several (ranging from one to tens of) years, when many officials have died and there are vacancies, these juren will be selected again, and some of them will be chosen to become officials. This is called "da tiao". So what are the standards for da tiao? It's unbelievable, but it's based on their appearance. The selection process is similar to how police identify suspects today. Juren line up in groups of dozens in front of the ministers of the Ministry of Officials, waiting to be selected like suspects.
At this time, those who are ugly will really be left out, definitely won't have a share for you, go home early.
It's not your fault if you're ugly!
Those who were selected as Juren could become officials. Although these Juren did not pass the Imperial Examination to become Jinshi, they were still considered to have passed the list, so they were called "one-listed birth", while Jinshi was called "two-listed birth". After all, everyone came out of the examination, so the Jinshi also regarded the Juren as their own kind. That is what is called Qingliu.
The internal order of these clear streams is quite interesting and needs to be explained in detail. After everyone understands these rules, they can better understand many historical events that occurred in the mid-Ming dynasty's literary and official circles.
We list five officials to illustrate this issue, and name them A, B, C, D, and E. The positions of these five people are as follows: A is the Deputy Minister of War (third rank), B is the Deputy Minister of Rites (fifth rank), C is the Assistant Minister of Justice (junior fifth rank), D is a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy (junior fifth rank), and E is a participant in the Ministry of Revenue's deliberations (junior fourth rank).
Among these five people, Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding were all jinshi (successful candidates in the imperial examination), while Wu was a juren (a lower degree holder). They met in the Ministry of War's main hall, sorted out their official ranks, and sat down according to order. The conversation started, but since they weren't discussing official business, it naturally began with their backgrounds. At this point, Wu would definitely be the first to leave. Why?
Because he's smart enough! Although his official position is second among the five, others are talking about being a successful candidate in the imperial examination, but you're just a juren who hasn't even participated in the palace exam, what's the point of joining in? It's like now when people ask about education, he's from Peking University, I'm from Tsinghua, and you can't say you graduated from Clarendon University. At this time, going up would be no different from asking for trouble. Moreover, these successful candidates love to talk about their experiences during the imperial examination, as soon as they open their mouths, they start talking about how they performed well in the palace exam back then, just like that famous line "Brother, when I was in England"; they occasionally throw out a sentence like that.
He might have been dodging the question and hastily crawling out of it, who knows. This is just the first step to meeting, putting on a show
Here is the translation:
Next, since everyone was a jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination), it's easier to talk. Let's discuss another topic: when did you pass the imperial examination? After discussing this, A passed in the 16th year of Hongwu, B passed in the 19th year, and D passed in the 22nd year. C had the oldest qualification, passing in the 3rd year of Hongwu. This is similar to today's custom of asking someone: "Which graduating class are you from?" Oh, you're my senior! Sorry for not showing respect earlier. At that time, it wasn't something that could be resolved with just a few words. Now, those three had to pay respects to C according to the rules. No matter how much older or more powerful you were than the other person, when you met someone who passed the examination before you, you had to show respect. This is the second step: showing seniority.
The third step is to compare the ranking, even if they are all jinshi, there is still a problem of superior ranking. A said: I am a third-class jinshi graduate. B smiled and said: I am a second-class jinshi graduate. C also smiled and said: I am the 15th in the second class.
At this time, Ding said: I am a scholar of humble origin.
Those few immediately stopped laughing and stood up to pay their respects, this was because Shou Jiji's background was really impressive.
Among all the jinshi, only three people in the first class can directly enter the Hanlin Academy. The second and third classes select elites through examinations to become shujishi. Their duties are to explain classics and historical books to the emperor, help the emperor draft imperial edicts, and serve as the emperor's secretary, with great power. By the mid-Ming dynasty, it became a convention that only shujishi could become Grand Scholars.
How about Sheng Ji Shi? Is he awesome or not?
These three sets are arranged in order, and everyone has a number in mind. In the future, take care of each other more often. The power of imperial examinations is determined through this way, forming a strong force.
Passing the imperial examination was too tempting for people at that time, and getting a good ranking also had extra appeal. Chinese people attach importance to "wearing brocade garments back to their hometown", which means wearing official robes back home to show off to their poor brothers, neighbors, and relatives. At this time, the more grandiose the display, the greater the face.
Everyone has seen on TV that ancient officials would bring a large group of people when they went out, with gongs in front and sign holders opening the way. I don't know if everyone has noticed that those who held signs were actually showing off their knowledge on the signs!
If you are the champion, then it's impressive. The sign can be written with big characters: "Champion and First Place", "Imperially Appointed Hanlin Scholar". With such a grand name, people will be amazed and envious, grabbing their children's heads and shaking them hard, saying they must learn from him in the future!
How about Erjia and Sanjia? Their signboards will also list "Tong Jinshi" and "Liangbang", which are also admired by many people.
The sign of the advanced scholar is easy to write, after all, others have seen the big world, what about the presented scholars? Can't write Zhongjinshi, can't write two lists either. Don't worry, there's a way out as people think of it. When the presented scholars go out, due to the limited number of things that can be written, they fully exert their creativity
For example, if he was a successful candidate in the Jiangxi provincial examination in the year of Dingyin, he would write a sign that says "Dingyin Successful Candidate". Then think again, as the county's chief clerk (a ninth-grade official), although the position is low, it's still an official position. So the second sign would say "Chief Clerk of Certain County". In addition, there are also what year and month he was commended, what political achievements he had, all can be written on, anyway as long as it can cheat the common people.
It was such temptation that led countless people to advance towards official positions, but as mentioned earlier, being an official is not that easy. Zhu Yuanzhang had already set up the most difficult hurdle for them, which not only changed the centuries-old imperial examination system, plunging countless people into extreme suffering, but also affected the fate of China for hundreds of years to come.
This pass is the Eight Trigrams!
Eight-legged Essay
This is a phenomenon worth mentioning, the eight shares can be said to be the invention of the Ming Dynasty, this set of things from Zhu Yuanzhang, to the mid-Ming Dynasty developed and perfected, affecting the knowledge class for nearly five hundred years, cannot be ignored.
The examination subjects for scholars are divided into three sessions. The first session tests the meaning of classics, that is, the Four Books and Five Classics. The second session tests practical writing skills. The third session relies on current affairs strategy, which is to give you a topic to analyze, with a bit of application consciousness. Among them, the most important one is the meaning of classics, which is the key to selecting officials.
At that time, the examinees were not like today's students. Before the exam, they had to review a lot of content. For them, as long as they memorized the Four Books and Five Classics well, it was enough. The questions could only be drawn from these texts, and there wouldn't be any other questions. The scope was relatively small, making it easy to memorize. Moreover, when writing essays, there were specific word limits, generally not exceeding 500 words, unlike some of today's essay topics that require over a thousand words. It seems that the exams back then might have been easier, but in reality, this wasn't the case.
The key lies in the format and personal expression. The eight-legged essay is divided into several parts, including breaking the topic, accepting the topic, starting to discuss, entering the topic, starting the stock, exiting the topic, middle stock, later stock, bundling stock, and concluding. Among them, the most essential part consists of starting stock, middle stock, later stock, and bundling stock, which cannot be written casually but must use parallel antithetical sentences, totaling eight stocks, hence the name "eight-legged essay".
This writing style is too rigid, you can't even add an extra word, it's really harmful, many people are writing and making things up as they go along just to meet the word count and achieve a rhyming effect. On the surface, the text looks very neat, but upon closer inspection, it's full of nonsense.
The ones who suffer are not only the test-takers, but also the teachers who make up the questions. The Four Books and Five Classics have only so many words, and all levels of exams draw questions from them. Generally, questions that have been used before cannot be reused, so teachers rack their brains to come up with new ones. They take sentences from the Four Books and Five Classics, cut them off at the beginning and end, and use just a few words in the middle to make up questions. These sentences don't make sense, they're like phrases with the wrong heads or tails, and even teachers themselves don't know what they mean, let alone students.
The result is that both the examiner and the examinee are confused about what it means, so what kind of talent can be tested out?
The eight-part essay is just a form after all, even if it's old-fashioned, it shouldn't have too much of a negative impact. Don't worry, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty still had an ace up their sleeve, and this move was the most deadly.
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, all articles cannot have their own ideas and must imitate the words of the ancients. They must be written in accordance with the thoughts of the sages - Zhu Xi.
This saint who almost became Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestor, what kind of person is he? He has always advocated for the primacy of heavenly principles, sacrificing human desires. The famous phrase "Dying from starvation is a minor matter, losing one's integrity is a major matter" is a manifestation of his thoughts. Such a person who speaks of benevolence, righteousness, and morality all day long should be a Confucian scholar, but he also has another hobby - having an affair with his daughter-in-law (those who don't understand can go look it up), and got her pregnant. With such behavior, calling him a beast is quite fitting.
He is such a loser, yet he was revered as a saint. He once wrote annotations for the Four Books, which were his own interpretations. However, these interpretations were favored by the rulers and all students were required to answer questions according to Zhu's thinking.
What a pity! Zhu Xi might have thought of one sentence while using the toilet, wrote it down, and then thought of another sentence during meals, wrote it down. Originally, it was not meant to be taken as absolute truth, but after more than a hundred years, everyone is expected to think in his way, which is simply a kind of torture!
Next we will come back from the system and see what new troubles Zhu Yuanzhang encountered after establishing the Ming Dynasty.
After solving the Northern Yuan, Zhu Yuanzhang formulated a series of policies aimed at restoring production and life, which achieved good results. However, at this time, the contradictions within the court became fierce again, and the ministers were divided into two factions, distinguished by region, and began a new struggle.
These so-called factions were actually just local associations, where everyone spoke the same dialect. The largest of these was the Huai Xi Group, which was led by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, but since he also held the position of Emperor, Li Shan-chang acted as his proxy. This group had many members, including Li Shan-chang, Guo Xing, Guo Ying, Tang He, Zhou De-xing, and others such as the deceased Chang Yu-qun. These people were essentially Zhu Yuanzhang's original followers. At that time, people took pride in being able to speak the Huai Xi dialect when they met each other.
Some friends asked, who is Li Shan-chang and why was he the first meritorious minister? Indeed, it seems that he rarely took charge of major events, which was determined by his work characteristics. He was mainly responsible for logistics and administrative affairs. If Liu Ji were compared to Zhang Liang, then Li Shan-chang would be Xiao He. He had always followed Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the world, laboring tirelessly behind the scenes, with logistical work being difficult to manage and exhausting both physically and mentally without gaining recognition. Zhu Yuanzhang was a wise man, so after the founding of the country, he made Li Shan-chang the first meritorious minister and appointed him as Chancellor.
Li Shan Chang's characteristic is that he appears to be broad-minded on the surface but has a narrow heart, and whoever dares to cross him will definitely have to settle with him.
As the saying goes, "Evil people will be punished by evil people." Where there are those who dare to monopolize power, there will also be those who dare to divide it. The Huai Xi group soon encountered an opponent, namely the Zhe Dong group, whose leader was Liu Ji.
The two factions began their struggle right under Zhu Yuanzhang's nose, and he seemed to be very interested, ready to watch a good show.
The protagonists of this play are Li Shan-chang and Liu Ji, but the protagonists alone are not enough. Next, we will introduce the supporting actors and extras who make their appearance, these people are numerous and powerful, and are an indispensable part of this play.
Their names are called Yan Guan. Below we will introduce these people.
The Things of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang Chapter 25
Chapter word count: 4766 Update time: July 2nd, 2022 15:50
What is the official speech? As the name suggests, it is an official who speaks. In the late Ming Dynasty, some people also called these people scolding officials. In fact, they were the product of the Ming Dynasty's supervision system.
At the beginning of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, he followed the system of the Yuan Dynasty and established the Imperial Censorate. In the 15th year of Hongwu (1382), Zhu Yuanzhang renamed it the Office of Surveillance. The head of the Office of Surveillance was the Left and Right Imperial Censors, a title that is often heard on TV. The main backbone of the Office of Surveillance were the Imperial Censors, who were divided into 13 circuits corresponding to the 13 provinces at the time, with a total of 110 people. These people had great power and controlled everything. Since they didn't have any specific tasks to handle during peacetime, they spent their days wandering around, either going to the Ministry of War to investigate empty quotas or to the Ministry of Punishment to investigate wrongful convictions. When officials saw them, they were afraid.
Some people may ask, with such great power in the hands of these officials, what if they also bend the law for personal gain? Speaking of which, we must give a big thumbs up to Zhu Yuanzhang. He came up with some very clever methods to regulate the behavior of the imperial historians. First, when selecting imperial historians, he specifically chose those book-smart Confucian scholars who were stubbornly principled, because this job would offend people and wouldn't bring in any money, and these Confucian scholars were the most suitable candidates.
Secondly, he used the method of controlling the big with the small. These censors were all seventh-grade officials and can be said to be minor officials. Granting them the power to supervise high-ranking officials made them dare not to be too arrogant. There is an official title called "Eight Prefectures Inspector" (which appeared in Chow Yun-fat's movie), everyone heard that the Eight Prefectures' inspector, the official must be very big, but this is also a minor official, often temporarily appointed by the court as an inspector of the Censorate, equivalent to what was previously known as a special envoy, with very small official rank but great power. However, Zhu Yuanzhang still did not feel at ease, so he set up another team to supervise the Censorate. This is the Six Ministries' Supervising Censors.
Corresponding to the six ministries of the central government, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Six Departments, each with a Chief Secretary and an Assistant Secretary. The Chief Secretaries held the rank of Grade 7, while the Assistant Secretaries held the rank of Junior Grade 7. These officials wielded enormous power that was astonishing to hear about.
If they think that the imperial edict has any inappropriateness, they can actually return the edict! And the events entrusted by the emperor to each department for handling are checked and supervised once every five days. If there is a delay or slow action, they will report to the emperor, and after completing their tasks, they will go to the Six Departments to settle accounts. In addition, at the end of the year, officials' performance evaluations are reviewed by these censors.
Their behavioral characteristics can be summarized as: you want to hit me, I'll scold you. This is not a joke, they never resort to violence, all their efforts are focused on verbal sparring and written complaints. If you offend them, you're in trouble. These people have a high level of skill when it comes to scolding others, they are all well-read scholars who can quote from the classics. Their insults even have historical precedents, originating from certain passages in certain texts. If you haven't read much, you might even think they're praising you. It's possible that after going home and looking up the reference, you'll suddenly realize what they meant, and even your ancestors will be insulted.
This kind of scolding without using dirty words is really formidable. This unique skill has been passed down through generations and reached its peak during the Donglin Party period, where it was truly a spectacle with flying saliva, quoting classics and allusions, with malicious intentions yet elegant language. To quote Ge You: "Others scold you but you can't even understand!"
After Zhu Yuanzhang brought this group of people over, he himself soon suffered a bitter defeat.
There is one thing that can illustrate the terror of the spoken officials. During the Hongwu period, the inspector Zhou Guanzheng was on patrol in Nanjing's Fengtian Gate when he encountered a group of eunuchs leading a troupe of female musicians into the gate. According to the Ming dynasty's inner palace system, female musicians were not allowed inside. Zhou Guanzheng immediately stepped forward to stop them, but the lead eunuch ignored him and said: "I have an imperial edict on my person!"
Generally speaking, ordinary people would have let it go, but Zhou Guanzheng insisted that even if there was an imperial edict, they could not violate the inner palace system of the Ming Dynasty and resolutely refused to allow female musicians to enter. The eunuchs encountered such a person and had no choice but to return to the palace to report to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang smiled wryly and issued an oral decree, no longer allowing female musicians to enter the palace, and even added a sentence, "Zhou Guanzheng, you've done well, go back and rest." No matter what, Zhu Yuanzhang had already shown great kindness and given Zhou Guanzheng enough face. But something unexpected happened.
Zhou Guanzheng refused to leave even after being threatened with death. This stubborn scholar insisted that Zhu Yuanzhang come out and talk to him. Zhu Yuanzhang understood that the people he had chosen were not flexible, and that entertainment was also impossible. He personally put on his court attire and came out of the palace to comfort Zhou Guanzheng, saying "You are right, I have changed my mind, we don't need female musicians." Only then did Zhou Guanzheng return home to sleep.
What a legendary tale! The emperor's edict was not enough, and he actually had to come out and apologize in person! As we admire the bookworm's cleverness, shouldn't we also admire his courage and integrity? It is precisely because of people like him who uphold their principles that the Ming Dynasty has been able to thrive for two hundred years.
It should be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's surveillance system was quite good.
But please note, if you are not one of the thirteen imperial censors or a member of the six departments of the Imperial Secretariat, and do not belong to the ranks of officials who have the right to speak freely, then for goodness' sake don't chatter excessively! Don't watch as the officials who have the right to speak freely show off in front of the emperor and then you follow suit with a couple of sentences - if you're not beheaded, it would be strange. The reason why these officials dare to do this is because they have a long tradition behind them.
Since ancient times, there have been officials in charge of speaking, and their task is to offer opinions. The feudal dynasties also formed a tradition - not killing the officials who speak. In history, no matter how incompetent the emperor was, few had the courage to kill the officials who spoke out. So, on the court, it often appeared that the officials would say something that wasn't good for the emperor, without giving him any face, and they would be very pleased with themselves, as if they were saying "you can't do anything to me". The emperor could only listen while grinding his teeth, thinking "tomorrow I'll transfer you to another position and deal with you". The officials who spoke out were indeed powerful!
The story mentioned above is not just about illustrating the power and dignity of the censorial officials, but also serves another purpose.
Everyone can see that Zhou Guanzheng has gone too far, in today's words, he is too serious. The emperor has many things to do, you stop the female musician, and the emperor will praise you with an oral decree, which is enough. Why must the emperor come out and explain it clearly to you, where does he have so much time and patience?
Zhu Yuanzhang was the founder of the system, so he had to set an example, but what about the emperors who came later? As soon as it got light, they would let him get out of bed and face the cold wind to talk things over with you. Even if someone had a good temper, they would still be provoked by these imperial historians. It can be seen that this characteristic of the imperial historians determined that their future development direction would have a certain deviation, and we will see in the following section the huge impact of this deviated force on the country.
The actors are all here, let's take a look at how this play is performed.
Let's talk about Li Shan-chang, the leader of Huai Xi Group. He was regarded by Zhu Yuanzhang as the first meritorious minister and was conferred the title of Duke of Han in the third year of Hongwu. This is quite impressive because at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang only conferred six dukedoms, with the other five being Xu Da, Chang Mao (son of Chang Yuchun), Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, and Deng Yu. Everyone knows how powerful these five gentlemen were - they were all renowned generals who emerged from the flames of war. Unexpectedly, Li Shan-chang's ranking was even higher than theirs, placing him first on the list.
He was also the only civil official in the Duke's government.
In comparison, Liu Ji also made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's conquest of the world, but was only granted the title of Earl of Chengyi (伯爵), and his salary was also the lowest among the earls, with an annual salary of only 240 dan, while Li Shan-chang had 4000 dan, more than a dozen times that of Liu Ji.
Later generations often don't understand that Liu Ji's strategic planning and decision-making played a crucial role in many important decisions, so why did he only receive such treatment?
Actually, if you think carefully, you will find that this problem is not so difficult to explain. Zhu Yuanzhang was a person with strong localism, Li Shan-chang was his fellow countryman, and over the years he only worked behind the scenes, never seeking to be in the limelight, and worked hard with his head down. Such a person made Zhu Yuanzhang feel at ease. In contrast, Liu Ji was an outsider, more importantly, Liu Ji's judgment on things was even more accurate than his!
From the Battle of Longwan to the relief of Anfeng, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of it, he also thought of it; Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think of it, but he still thought of it.
If you were the emperor, would you allow such a person to be by your side? Moreover, these decisions are not policies to pacify the people, but rather schemes to manipulate power, very useful for plotting and overthrowing. Furthermore, Liu Ji's foundation in the dark arts is quite deep, and Zhu Yuanzhang would occasionally recall how he advised him not to rescue Han Lin'er. Who knows if he will do the same to himself in the future?
Not killing him is already being lenient, and you still want a reward?
Liu Ji was intelligent all his life, but he also overlooked this point.
This also made it difficult for him to become a winner in this struggle.
In the first year of Hongwu, the two sides clashed for the first time.
At that time, the supervisory institution was established in imitation of the Yuan Dynasty's institution, the Imperial Censorate. Liu Ji's official position was the Vice Censor-in-Chief, which means he was the leader of the speaking officials. We have previously introduced the power of the speaking officials, and at this time, the advantage was on Liu Ji's side.
The fuse that triggered the conflict was a man named Li Bin, who was a trusted follower of Li Shanchang. He was arrested by Liu Ji for committing a crime and after his crimes were investigated, Liu Ji decided to execute him. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang happened to be away, so Li Shanchang hurriedly went to plead with Liu Ji, but Liu Ji refused to listen and instead reported the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered Li Bin's immediate execution.
Unfortunately, this reply happened to fall into Li Shan's hands. He was furious but didn't dare to conceal it. He knew that asking Liu Ji for mercy directly wouldn't work, so he thought of an excuse to save his trusted subordinate's life. He believed that as long as he mentioned this excuse, Liu Ji would not refuse his request for mercy.
He found Liu Ji and said to him: "The capital has not rained for a long time, sir is familiar with astronomy, this should not be the time to kill people arbitrarily". Li Shan Chang can be called an old cunning, he clearly knew that Liu Ji was well-versed in the way of heaven, using this as an excuse, if Liu Ji insisted on killing Li Bin, he could push the responsibility for the drought onto Liu Ji's head, at that time there was no weather forecast, who knows when it will rain.
Kill Li Bin, and heaven will surely rain!
Li Bin was killed just like that.
Li Shan Chang was enraged and began preparing his first counterattack.
Liu Ji dared to say such a thing, he should have some confidence in it, and he really understands astronomy and weather. The problem is that even today's weather forecast can be inaccurate at times.
This time, Liu Ji's luck was not good, and it didn't rain for a long time. When Zhu Yuanzhang returned, Li Shan-chang's accumulated energy burst out, inciting many people to attack Liu Ji. Zhu Yuanzhang was an understanding person and did not make things difficult for Liu Ji, but Liu Ji himself knew that he could no longer stay there, so in August of that year, he asked for leave and returned to his hometown.
Before leaving, Zhu Yuanzhang was having a feverish head and wanted to build the capital in Fengyang, while also actively preparing for an expedition against the Northern Yuan. Liu Ji gave Zhu Yuanzhang his final advice: building the capital in Fengyang was absolutely not feasible, and the Northern Yuan still had very strong power, so it was inappropriate to send troops lightly. Later facts proved that he was right again.
It should be said that Zhu Yuanzhang at the time was very understanding of Liu Ji. He once told Liu Ji's son, "Now all the civil and military officials in the court are forming cliques, only Liu Ji does not join them. I am a wise man and will not treat him unfairly."
Zhu Yuanzhang was really deceived by Liu Ji this time. Liu Ji is not a kind-hearted person, he had already set up his own chess piece, Yang Xian, before leaving.
Yang Xian was a close associate of Liu Ji and received his instructions to take over as the Imperial Censor-in-Chief, preparing for a counterattack against the Huai Xi clique.
Yang Xian was not simple, he hid his light and nurtured his plans, supported Gao Jianxian and others, and used the power of the officials to continuously collect evidence against Li Shan-chang, and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang that Li Shan-chang was incompetent and immoral, and could not be entrusted with important tasks. Zhu Yuanzhang was not a fool, he knew what Yang Xian's intentions were, but at first, he did not take it seriously, however, as time went on, he also began to have doubts about Li Shan-chang, and criticized him frequently. In November, he recalled Liu Ji and entrusted him with important tasks. The Huai Xi group was completely suppressed.
Zhe Dong Group is about to become the winner, Li Shan Chang is very worried, he understands that he has become a target, and must learn from Liu Ji, find a spokesperson, but this person cannot be too powerful, easy to control. So he set his sights on Hu Wei Yong, but what he didn't think of was that this choice ultimately led him down a path of no return.
Hu Weiyong was a fellow townsman of Li Shanchang, and he had followed Zhu Yuanzhang very early on, but he had always been dissatisfied, always doing some small official jobs like county magistrate, but he was a very capable person. After getting Li Shanchang's approval, he became the new leader of the Huai West group. This struggle would eventually end in his hands.
Just when the Zhe Dong Group was at its peak, things changed again. Because of Liu Ji's direct speech, or in today's words, his lack of communication skills, many people began to speak ill of him in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang also started to suspect this clever and resourceful person, which led to the conversation that later decided Liu Ji's fate.
On this day, Zhu Yuanzhang had a private conversation with Liu Ji. At the beginning, they were quite harmonious and started the conversation by chatting about family matters. Just as the atmosphere was becoming more relaxed, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly changed his expression and asked Liu Ji in a serious tone: if Li Shan-chang is replaced, who can be the new Prime Minister?
Liu Ji was very vigilant and immediately said, "This should be decided by Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression improved slightly as he continued to ask: "What do you think of Yang Xian?"
This is another trap, Zhu Yuanzhang knew clearly that Yang Xian was Liu Ji's man, so he brought up this person to test Liu Ji.
Liu Ji now realized that this was an extremely dangerous conversation. If he wasn't careful, it would cost him his head!
He immediately replied: "Yang Xian has the talent of a prime minister, but not the capacity of a prime minister, it's not possible."
But the test was far from over, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask: "What about Wang Guangyang?"
This is the second trap. Wang Guangyang was not a member of the Huai Xi group, and Zhu Yuanzhang suspected that he had colluded with Liu Ji, so he proposed him for the second time.
Liu Ji saw the invitation and declined it, saying: "This person is very superficial, cannot be used."
Zhu Yuanzhang admired and glanced at Liu Ji, what a clever person!
He mentioned a third candidate, "What about Hu Weiyong?"
Liu Ji let out a sigh and made the most accurate judgment of his life.
"Hu Weiyong is now a little calf, but in the future he will definitely get rid of the constraints of the cow yoke!"
After saying this sentence, Liu Ji let out a sigh of relief, he knew the test was over, but he was wrong, the next question was fatal.
