Chapter 46 8. The meritorious officials were expelled, and Li Shanchang was punished

Among all the founding heroes, military general Xu Da made the most contribution, while civil servant Li Shanchang made the most contribution.Li Shanchang was the head of the six princes when the country was founded, and he was also Prime Minister Zuo of the Zhongshu Province, in charge of the daily affairs of the Zhongshu Province.Although Li Shanchang has resigned for many years, he is still the pillar of Huaixi nobles. If there are any difficult matters, the ministers also like to consult with Li Shanchang before making a decision. Compared with Xu Dalai, Li Shanchang is a greater threat to the court.

In fact, while successfully getting rid of Xu Da, Zhu Yuanzhang has been thinking about how to get rid of Li Shanchang.It's just that Zhu Yuanzhang understood that compared with Xu Da, Li Shanchang's old tree has deeper roots and more luxuriant branches. It will take a lot of work and careful planning to move him down. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, the year when Xu Da died, someone suddenly reported to Zhu Yuanzhang that Li Shanchang's younger brother Li Cunyi and his son had colluded with Hu Weiyong in preparation for rebellion. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard this incident, thinking that the opportunity to bring down Li Shanchang had come, so he decided to interrogate Li Cunyi and his son himself.

"Tell me, how are you planning to rebel?" Zhu Yuanzhang said to Li Cunyi. "Your Majesty, I've already said everything I need to say." It turned out that Li Cunyi had been interrogated by the Criminal Ministry before this. "Does Li Shanchang know about this?" Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask. "Your Majesty, my brother is completely unaware of this matter, and I hope the Emperor will find out." Li Cunyi replied. How could Zhu Yuanzhang be willing to stop here? He knew that if such a thing really happened, they would not seek Li Shanchang's opinion. "There may be a way out if you confess honestly, otherwise you will confess everything under severe punishment."

Li Cunyi had already experienced the severe punishment of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and knew that he could not survive it.Thinking about it, it would be better to recruit now, maybe the emperor's kindness can really save me from dying. "The emperor is wise, my brother does know about this." Li Cunyi said. "Tell me what's going on." Zhu Yuanzhang said unhurriedly. "Hu Weiyong wanted to rebel, because he and I were in-laws, so he asked me to persuade my brother. My brother was very surprised when he heard about it, and said that rebellion was an act of destroying the nine clans. He firmly disagreed. After a while, Hu Weiyong sent his brother again An old friend Yang Wenyu went to persuade him, saying that after the matter is completed, he will be the brother of the family for nine thousand years and govern the country together with Hu Weiyong. The brother still refuses, but his words are quite wavering." Li Cunyi said.

"Then what happened afterwards?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked angrily.He treated Li Shanchang well, and didn't dare to think that Li Shanchang would really turn his back on him. "Later, Hu Weiyong saw that he couldn't persuade my brother, so he came to ask in person. My brother still refused. Later, when my brother mentioned this matter, he said to me: 'I am old. After I die, you can do whatever you want. Anyway, I will see it too. Not anymore.'" Li Cunyi continued. "Li Shanchang is so courageous, let him come to see me immediately." Zhu Yuanzhang ordered angrily.

When Li Shanchang arrived, he was too scared to move.As soon as he saw the emperor, he collapsed to the ground: "Your Majesty, it was because of my confusion that I listened to the words of that villain Hu Weiyong. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Although Zhu Yuanzhang was angry, his mind was clear.He understood that these few confessions by Li Cunyi alone would not bring down Li Shanchang.What's more, now that Xu Dagang is dead, if Li Shanchang is killed again, I'm afraid it will arouse the suspicion of the veterans.It's better to put him back now, and kill him when we have enough evidence.

"We know that you, Li Shanchang, are loyal to us. How could Li Xiangguo work with a villain like Hu Weiyong! Let's not pursue this matter any more. You should go back to your Hangzhou and take care of your old age." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled Said. Li Shanchang has long been used to a stable life, he can't grasp the situation in the court, and he can't figure out the emperor's mind, he only thinks that the emperor thinks of his meritorious deeds and will not use his own knife.Hearing that the emperor spared him his crime, he quickly leaned over and thanked the emperor, and happily went back to Hangzhou.

Zhu Yuanzhang's "impunity" really paralyzed Li Shanchang.After he returned to Hangzhou, he did not restrain himself at all.In the 23rd year of Hongwu (1390), the 77-year-old Li Shanchang expanded his house. Because of insufficient craftsmen, he borrowed three hundred soldiers from Xin Guogong Tang He. Tang He has always been cautious, so he resigned early and returned to his hometown in Fengyang.Xu Da's death made Tang He vaguely feel that the rain was coming, so he acted more cautiously.He wrote back to Li Shanchang, saying that he had no military position and only a few followers around him, and he had no extra soldiers to lend him.

After replying the letter, Tang He still felt uneasy.He understands that if the emperor wants to kill someone now, he only needs to say a word, and it doesn't matter whether he is guilty or not.So I must not let the emperor get any handles, and let the emperor know that I am already a timid and law-abiding little citizen.So he wrote a memorial overnight and reported the situation to the emperor. After watching Tang He's memorial, the emperor laughed loudly, and said to Prince Zhu Biao: "Look, our incomparably brave Marshal Tang has now become a mother-in-law. I would like to show you this small matter. However, It would be great if all our founding heroes lived in peace and stability like Tang Shuai, then I would feel more at ease." Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy that Tang He had become a docile citizen, and at the same time hated Li Shanchang's large-scale construction projects.

Soon, Ding Bin, the brother of Li Shanchang's concubine, was convicted and imprisoned because he acted mischievously by relying on Li Shanchang's power, which hurt other people's lives.Unaware of the imminent danger, Li Shanchang, instigated by his concubine, put pressure on the government and ordered them to release Ding Bin.It just so happened that this matter was reported to Zhu Yuanzhang by Jin Yiwei, who was staring at Li Shanchang. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he heard about this, and cursed: "Good Li Shanchang, why do you let my officials release you? If you don't kill you, what is the law of heaven!" So he ordered Ding Bin to be escorted to Beijing, and Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to Judge him personally.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's suggestion, Ding Bin recruited Li Shanchang to have close contacts with Hu Weiyong and conspired to rebel.Later, under hints, several servants of Li Shanchang also reported the conspiracy between Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong, and said that Li Shanchang borrowed three hundred soldiers from Tang He in order to test Tang He's attitude and see if it was possible to win over Tang He to make a big event together .All of a sudden, all the civil and military players played Li Shanchang one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the time was ripe, so he ordered Li Shanchang to be thrown into prison, waiting to be dealt with. Prince Zhu Biao interceded: "Father, since ancient times, those who have ruled the world have always ruled the country with virtue. May I ask you, Father, that you have killed and punished so severely, who else will come out to be an official in the future? Li Xiangguo is the first sage in the founding of the Ming Dynasty. , if you kill him, I'm afraid it will chill the hearts of all scholars in the world!" "Biao'er, why don't you understand? We killed so many people just to give you a stable Ming Dynasty. You are weak in character, how can you control the heroes of the whole dynasty? Now I put them all together. Get rid of all of them, so we can safely hand over the Zhu family's foundation to you." It's not that Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know that the killing and punishment are too heavy and the officials want to change, but facing such a benevolent and weak prince, he has no better choice. choose. This morning, the censor said: "Your Majesty, I watched the sky last night and found a meteor falling in the southwest. According to historical records, this indicates that a minister is about to be convicted and die." Zhu Yuanzhang got up immediately and said: "It seems that even the sky can't tolerate Li Shanchang." The officials immediately agreed. So in the 23rd year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a decree, saying that Li Shanchang, as a relative of the emperor, knew that Hu Weiyong wanted to rebel, but he didn't report it. . On the way to the execution ground, the seventy-seven-year-old Li Shanchang finally understood that the emperor would never let him go, and he would find various reasons to put himself to death.It's a pity that Li Shanchang couldn't understand these truths in his life of rich clothes and rich food.At the same time, Li Shanchang couldn't help admiring Zhu Yuanzhang.He thought to himself that if he became the emperor, it would be difficult to tolerate the existence of Li Shanchang like himself. Although Li Shanchang was executed carefully, the aftershock it caused was far beyond Zhu Yuanzhang's imagination.The prince's words are correct, Li Shanchang's death shocked the scholars of the whole court.A year later, someone wrote a letter calling for grievances on behalf of Li Shanchang. The meaning was roughly as follows: Li Shanchang was loyal to the emperor, and he helped the emperor win the world through life and death, so he should be ranked first in terms of merit.Besides, Li Shanchang is a relative of the emperor, so there is insufficient evidence to say that he rebelled, and that he wants to assist Hu Weiyong, it is a big mistake.Li Shanchanggui is the number one hero in the founding of the country, even if he helps Hu Weiyong win the world, what can Hu Weiyong give him?It is even less advisable to say that the meteor will kill the minister to respond to the celestial phenomenon.I am afraid that people in the world will hear about this, saying that Li Shanchang has made such great achievements but ended up in such a way, so that the hearts of the people will be scattered.Now that Li Shanchang is dead, it is meaningless to say these things. I only hope that you, the emperor, can take this as a warning for the future. After Zhu Yuanzhang read it, he felt that he was indeed responsible for Li Shanchang, and he also killed his whole family. He really had nothing to say, so he no longer blamed the person who wrote this article. After the death of Xu Da and Li Shanchang, Zhu Yuanzhang killed a group of founding heroes, and the threat of these honors was finally lifted.However, Zhu Yuanzhang believes that the problems of the court have not been resolved. The most prominent problems are: first, officials neglect their duties and become corrupt;