Chapter 43 5. Arbitrary, Hu Weiyong was removed

In the first month of the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Li Shanchang retired and returned home.For a while, there was no suitable candidate for the position of prime minister.The candidate Zhu Yuanzhang admires most now is Hu Weiyong, but Liu Bowen once said that Hu Weiyong should not be allowed to be the prime minister, because if he is the prime minister, it will be difficult to control.Although he promised Li Shanchang to take Hu Weiyong as his prime minister, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that he needed to observe first before making a decision. After much deliberation, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to recall Wang Guangyang, who had been exiled, back to heaven, re-entered the Zhongshu Province, and ordered him to be the prime minister.Zhu Yuanzhang chose Wang Guangyang out of two considerations: first, Wang Guangyang was wronged when he was demoted; second, Wang Guangyang did not make any mistakes in Zhongshu Province although he had no credit. He will also know how to hand over the real power to the emperor's favorite person.So Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Wang Guangyang to be the prime minister of the right and Hu Weiyong to be the prime minister of the left.

After the toss of being dismissed and exiled last time, Wang Guangyang fully understood: he was alone in the court, and the emperor asked him to be the prime minister, which was to pull himself out as a target for others to hit.At this time, Wang Guangyang was really envious of Li Shanchang being able to return to his hometown, and he had to live in fear every day in terms of his aspect.Wang Guangyang, who is in jail, spends all day with wine as a companion, hoping to use it to relieve his worries. "Master, you can't do this anymore. You drink like this every day. It would be bad if the emperor finds out." One day, Wang Guangyang's butler said to him.

"It doesn't matter, his emperor can do whatever he likes, I don't care!" Wang Guangyang replied drunkenly. "You drink like this all day long, what about Zhongshu Province? Last time, it was because you didn't pay attention that Yang Xian became bigger and then bit us." The butler has been with Wang Guangyang for many years, and it is also a sensible person. "Anyone can do whatever he likes. I've seen through it. Whoever the emperor wants to die, he can't survive. That kid Yang Xian was so proud at the time, he was chopped off by the emperor. Zhongshu Sheng let him go, anyway, the emperor is there. "Although Wang Guangyang drank too much wine, he was not drunk, and he saw all this clearly.

"Then why don't we follow Li Xiangguo's advice and return home?" The housekeeper was very worried about Wang Guangyang.For so many years, they have been masters and servants, but they are also friends. "We can't compare with Li Xiangguo. Liu Bowen can't go back to his hometown even if he is old, let alone us. The emperor doesn't trust anyone. He doesn't need you, but he has to keep an eye on you so that he can feel at ease." Wang Guangyang was very sad, he I didn't expect that I would fall into such a situation. Wang Guangyang's inaction in Zhongshu Province made Yang Xian bigger last time.After returning this time, Hu Weiyong just happened to be fulfilled.Hu Weiyong is different from Wang Guangyang.Wang Guangyang has no backer, but behind Hu Weiyong, in addition to the backer of South Korean Gong Li Shanchang, there are also a large number of Huaixi nobles as backing.

Hu Weiyong noticed Wang Guangyang's inaction.The more cowardly Wang Guangyang is, the more aggressive Hu Weiyong is, and he will flatter the emperor, so he has monopolized power in Zhongshu Province in a short time. With the increase of power, Hu Weiyong became increasingly arrogant and domineering.Relying on Huaixi nobles as the background and relying on the emperor's favor, Hu Weiyong can do whatever he wants in Zhongshu Province.Hu Weiyong must read the memorials of various departments before handing them over to the emperor. If it is not good for him, he will hide it and not report it to the emperor.For a while, Hu Weiyong was in power, and those who liked to seek profit would try their best to curry favor with him, and those who were not used to it dared to be angry and dare not speak out.

Hu Weiyong became more and more courageous.Although Wang Guangyang was above him, he understood that his real threat was not Wang Guangyang, but Liu Bowen, who had retired from his old age and returned to his hometown, but remained in the capital.This person is highly appreciated by the emperor, and he is also extremely smart. If he does not get rid of Liu Bowen for a day, he will not feel at ease when he does things by himself. What Liu Bowen said is correct. After Hu Weiyong took power, he was not only difficult to control, but also narrow-minded, and he must be vengeful.Hu Weiyong did not forget that Liu Bowen spoke ill of himself in front of the emperor.Out of various considerations, Hu Weiyong was determined to get rid of Liu Bowen.So during Liu Bowen's illness, Hu Weiyong bribed the imperial doctor who saw Liu Bowen and secretly poisoned Liu Bowen's medicine.

On this day, Hu Weiyong pretended to give medicine for the emperor, and accompanied the imperial physician to Liu's residence. "Master Liu, the emperor sent me to visit Master Liu today. The emperor rewards you with a bottle of rare medicine. I hope Master Liu will recover soon." Hu Weiyong was uncharacteristically polite and humble. "Thank you Lord Hu, I want to know if the emperor gave me this medicine, can you let me die clearly?" Liu Bowen said out of breath. The emperor's mind became more and more difficult to grasp, even a veteran like Liu Bowen didn't know whether the medicine was given by the emperor or Hu Weiyong's idea.

"Haha, Master Liu, why bother? Don't you predict things like a god? You can just guess. But the emperor said that he must let me watch you drink it so he can rest assured." Yes, it doesn't matter who gave the medicine.Liu Bowen knew that this day would come sooner or later, he was no longer worth to the emperor.Now the emperor is strategizing, so why does he need Liu Bowen nagging in his ear.Hu Weiyong is even more jealous of himself, now that he is in power, it is inevitable to get rid of himself. "Father, you can't drink this medicine!" Liu Bowen's eldest son Liu Lian pleaded.

"Shut up, Lian'er, take care of yourself, and remember to send me back to my hometown in Qingtian." Liu Bowen didn't know that it was poison, but he had to drink it. Liu Bowen drank the poison with a tearful smile and died within a few days. Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad when he learned of Liu Bowen's death. This kind of sadness came from the heart. He knew that his hands were covered with blood. It can be said that Liu Bowen died in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands. He didn't indulge Hu Weiyong, why Hu Weiyong was so rampant so far.But when the emperor is on the throne, he must be ruthless. It is the imperial power that forces him to do so. If the emperor is too kind, he will definitely be swayed by his ministers.The sadness was only for a moment, and soon Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the position of emperor.He knew in his heart that in the long run, Liu Bowen, as a representative of the Eastern Zhejiang faction, must also be eradicated, and Hu Weiyong did for him what he did not want to do publicly.

On this day, General Xu Da's birthday came.The emperor secretly came to Xu Mansion to find Xu Da for a drink.Since he became the emperor, the days of galloping on the battlefield, drinking in big bowls and eating meat in big pieces will no longer exist for Zhu Yuanzhang.So whenever he thinks of the happy things in the past, he would have a few drinks with these buddies.Only at this moment, when he was the emperor, he seemed to have returned to the past, and he felt so relaxed. After drinking for three rounds, Xu Da reprimanded the left and right, and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, this prime minister Hu Weiyong is really too much. Compared with Yang Xian back then, he is even worse." Made a statement.

"Xu Da, you just need to lead the soldiers to fight. If you don't want to fight, stop and hand the soldiers to your nephews. It's time for them to exercise, and you should also take a good rest." The emperor said lightly. "Your Majesty, I am lucky enough to live to this day and I have nothing else to ask for, but I am afraid that Hu Weiyong will destroy our hard-earned country." Xu Da pleaded. "Don't say any more, we know what's going on." After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang left angrily. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang has always had his own calculations.Although Hu Weiyong is domineering, he is just his own tool.On the one hand, Hu Weiyong came to power and tried his best to attack the Eastern Zhejiang faction. On the other hand, as a native of Huaixi, Hu Weiyong wooed his own small circle and split the Huaixi faction.It's not that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to kill Hu Weiyong, it's just that the time hasn't come yet. A few days later, for some reason, Hu Weiyong learned that Xu Da had spoken ill of him in front of the emperor, and was jealous of Xu Da, so he decided to get rid of Xu Da.Hu Weiyong thought that he had done everything well, and the emperor would not do anything to him. At this time, the general Xu Da stayed at home and was unhappy all day because his proposal failed.Hu Weiyong wanted to kill Xu Da while he was away, but he didn't have the chance for several days. Helpless, Hu Weiyong decided to start from the inside of the Xu mansion. Hu Weiyong promised to pay a lot of money to Fushou, the gatekeeper of the Xu Mansion, hoping that Fushou could kill Xu Da for him.Although this Fushou is a janitor, but he is Xu Da's old department. During the war years, he saw Xu Da's bloody battlefield with his own eyes, and he was in awe of Xu Da.So Fushou decided to agree to Hu Weiyong first, and at the same time report the matter to Xu Da. Xu Dazheng didn't know how to deal with Hu Weiyong, when he got the news suddenly, he was overjoyed, and immediately brought Fushou to see the emperor. After Zhu Yuanzhang found out what happened, on the one hand he admired Hu Weiyong very much, but he didn't expect that even Xu Shuai would dare to kill him. On the other hand, he had to give Xu Da an explanation, so he promised Xu Da to wait for the opportunity to get rid of Hu Weiyong. Zhu Yuanzhang understood that after suppressing the East Zhejiang Party, Hu Weiyong succeeded in splitting the Huaixi faction, and Hu Weiyong's mission had been completed.Moreover, he, Hu Weiyong, has now become a public enemy of the group of bureaucrats. If he is not killed, the people will not be angry, and if he is not killed, it may cause even greater chaos. Just at this time, someone came to report to Zhu Yuanzhang that a group of foreigners had been found on the street, and after interrogation, they learned that they were actually Champa tribute envoys.They claimed to have been here for several months, but they couldn't even see the emperor. After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very puzzled, why didn't he know that there was a tribute envoy from Champa coming to worship?So he summoned the Minister of Rites for questioning. "Your Majesty, the ministry of rites has submitted the document about the pilgrimage to Champa to the Ministry of Education two months ago, but it has not been approved yet." The minister of rites replied. The emperor thinks that this matter is detrimental to the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, so he must investigate clearly.So Hu Weiyong was summoned to confront him. "Your Majesty, I have already approved this memorial two months ago. But this memorial has been kept in Zhongshu Province, and the Ministry of Rites has not sent anyone to pick it up." Hu Weiyong said. "Your Majesty, it stands to reason that the Ministry of Zhongshu should send someone to send it back directly to the Ministry of Rites after this kind of memorial is finished." The Minister of Rites defended. "Nonsense, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China takes care of so many things every day, maybe they have forgotten about it. Your Ministry of Rites won't send someone over to take a look!" Hu Weiyong said loudly. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry.This Hu Weiyong is too presumptuous, even reprimanding a Minister of Rites in front of the emperor, I don't know how rampant he is in private!Therefore, he put Hu Weiyong and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites into prison together on charges of dereliction of duty and mutual prevarication. When they got the news of Hu Weiyong's imprisonment, those who had been persecuted and some people who had followed suit immediately told the emperor about Hu Weiyong's crimes.Zhu Yuanzhang hated this kind of behavior where everyone pushed the wall down, so he ordered that anyone who complained about his crimes after Hu Weiyong was imprisoned would be demoted to a lower level. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Hu Weiyong was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang.Through Hu Weiyong, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully attacked the Zhedong faction and split the Huaixi faction.Zhu Yuanzhang took a big step on the road to eliminate Huaixi nobles. Although Hu Weiyong died, the Hu Weiyong case was not over, and the aftermath of its shock has been affecting several years later.