Chapter 52 Chapter two

The past is unbearable to look back on, and the hope for the future is slim. Zhu Yuanzhang stayed with his second brother in this sad and confused situation. After half a year, he lost his soul and lived like a year. A child of the poor is like a vigorous weed, no matter how harsh the environment is, it can grow very strong and luxuriantly.At the age of sixteen or seventeen, Zhu Yuanzhang had grown into a tall man. No one could have imagined that he was yellow-skinned, thin, and sickly when he was a child.At the age of sixteen or seventeen, it was the age to develop a long body, but it caught up with a rare hunger and famine.As long as it can fill the stomach and keep alive, he has stuffed it into his mouth.Bark, grass roots, and Avalokitesvara soil were all he had no choice but to feed his hunger during that period of time.In order to find something alive, he racked his brains and almost tried everything.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not the kind of hero who had clear ambitions and lofty ideals since he was a child. "Playing the role of emperor" is purely a child's game, and it can't be taken seriously, and it can't be farfetched to say that it is his childhood ambition; the clear wish that filled his heart during his adolescence may be to eat well and dress well.The deliciousness of that beef meal in childhood has long been a distant and beautiful dream, and he is very satisfied to be able to eat meat every day.As a descendant of tenant farmers, the most ideal society in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind is that each household guards about ten acres of land, and lives a farm life where men farm and women weave, calmly, peacefully, and self-sufficient.If it is ideal, this may be the highest goal in life that he hopes for in his heart.

However, natural disasters and man-made disasters made the wish in his heart come to naught.The reality unfolding in front of his eyes was a darkness more terrifying than hell.Six months after the disaster, the two brothers tried their best, but failed to find a way out to survive.It would not be an exaggeration to say that they lived a life that was not as good as that of an ox or a horse.However, even this kind of life that is inferior to cows and horses is unsustainable, and what awaits them seems to be starvation to death.He was supposed to be full of youth, vitality, pursuit and passion, but there was a note in his heart that was very incompatible with his age, and he felt a sense of despair at the end of the road.

The two brothers stayed in the broken house left by their parents and couldn't help crying. Compared with Liu Bang, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang, although they belonged to the same hometown, were born in the countryside and grew up in the countryside, but Zhu Yuanzhang's situation was more miserable than that of Liu Bang. Liu Bang's family was also poor, but he had a few acres of Susukida. As long as he worked hard, he would not be able to survive starvation.He is the third child, his parents are still alive, and he never seems to worry about food and clothing. Furthermore, their personalities are quite different.Liu Bang didn't do farming, and he was idle since he was a child. To put it bluntly, he was a typical "thug" in the countryside.This kind of person is tactful and shrewd in dealing with things, and has both ways and means. In today's words, he is "eatable".Not to mention the lack of food and clothing, even a little loss, it will not be spread on his head. "Hooligans" live more freely and free and easy in the countryside than ordinary farmers. They not only have rogue-like entanglements—you can also say they are obsessions; they can also see through everything, detach themselves from it, and be free.Generally speaking, they seldom have any unforgettable pain and scars.

But Zhu Yuanzhang is different. His family is a typical farm laborer. It can be said that "there is no tile on the top, and there is no place to stand on the bottom". However, his personal situation is still declining, and he is approaching the road of starving to death; his character is also very different from Liu Bang. There is no difference, he is a typical serious, diligent and persistent person.That is to say, among all the emperors in ancient China, only Zhu Yuanzhang can be regarded as an out-and-out peasant. The wailing of Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers could not help alarming Aunt Wang who lives next door. Seeing their distressed and desperate appearance, this kind neighbor suddenly remembered that Zhu Wusi sacrificed his life for Zhu Yuanzhang's temple. become a reality?

Aunt Wang talked about what happened back then, and she not only fulfilled her wish, but also got a bite to eat, and the second brother immediately agreed.So, with the help and management of Mrs. Wang, Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk and became a monk in Huangjue Temple located in the southwest corner of the village. He is said to be a monk, but in fact he is just a little boy servant in the temple. He spends his whole day doing chores such as sweeping the floor, burning incense, lighting candles, etc. He is still careful and always smiles.In order to get a mouthful of soup and leftovers to survive, Zhu Yuanzhang had to swallow his anger and flatter him.I couldn't hold it anymore, so I vented my anger on the clay bodhisattvas in the temple.

Once, when he was immersed in cleaning, he accidentally tripped over the God of Garan. Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the broom and beat the statue for a while, venting his grievances. Another time, the candle on the Buddhist hall was gnawed by a mouse, and the elder reprimanded him severely.Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Jialan God, the housekeeper Bodhisattva, had seriously neglected his duties and even ignored the mice, which caused him to be scolded, so he wrote five large characters on the back of the statue: "Sent for three thousand miles". Zhu Yuanzhang's venting, revenge and resistance can be seen from this.He is not as cautious as ordinary farmers, but he is not afraid of authority, even gods and ghosts.At the same time, in order to survive and develop, in order to achieve a certain purpose, he is also good at "lurking minions" and making compromises.

However, the temple is not a "Western Paradise" far away from reality. The disaster is too severe, the land rent of Huangjue Temple cannot be collected, and the monks' survival is also in crisis.Just when Zhu Yuanzhang entered the temple for fifty days, he was sent out by the elders to wander around for alms. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang became a wandering monk, wearing a broken hat, holding a wooden fish in one hand, and a bowl in the other, and wandering around with a small burden on his back. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was at the age of sixteen or seventeen, a self-respecting and fragile age.But Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't respect himself.Every time he came to a village entrance, he would knock on the wooden fish with his hands and sing the Buddha's name, attracting the guidance and onlookers of the villagers.In order to survive, he had to endure well-intentioned inquiries and ridicules, and even malicious insults and humiliations.

He is no longer vulnerable.The so-called begging of the monks is begging and begging in the mouths of the common people.Zhu Yuanzhang has long been strong and mature in the pain of the death of his parents. Rolling eyes, embarrassment, cold reception, embarrassment and annoyance are nothing to him. Zhu Yuanzhang spent three years in alms alone, almost traveled all over Huaixi and Dayi, the famous capitals in southern Henan, and suffered discrimination, humiliation, and hardships.This period of life not only exercised his body and tempered his will, but also got in touch with the society, broadened his horizons, increased his knowledge, and became familiar with the mountains, rivers, geographical situation, customs, customs, and resources in Huaixi and southern Henan. It played an important positive role in his commanding operations and unifying the world in the future, and became a rare and precious wealth in his life.

When he returned to Huangjue Temple, he seemed to be a different person. He began to make friends extensively, and took the initiative to go out to inquire about the news.During his travels in the clouds, he knew the importance of written and written books. After returning, he began to study and read with anger. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, who is doing these things, has no great ambitions. He just wants to increase his knowledge, learn more about the situation, and understand some principles so that he can live more clearly. One day, Tang He, a childhood friend who played with him, quietly sent a letter from Haozhou City, saying that he had defected to Guo Zixing's subordinates in the Red Scarf Army, urging him to join the gang.

Zhu Yuanzhang devoted himself to Buddhism because of his livelihood. Naturally, he didn't want to escape into Buddhism for the rest of his life, but he didn't want to leave the rare "pure land" of Huangjue Temple.Undecided in his heart, he went to the village to seek advice from Zhou Dexing, who had just come back from other places and had herded cattle together.Zhou Dexing was not sure, so he asked him to ask the Bodhisattva a hexagram after returning to the temple to decide whether to stay or not.Zhu Yuanzhang walked back full of worries, but before reaching the mountain gate, he smelled a smell of smoke from a long distance away.He hurried forward, not aware of his shock, and saw Huangjue Temple turned into a broken wall, a few piles of rubble and smoking beams, and his brothers and sisters had long since fled without a trace, without a trace.The Yuan army set fire to the temple. Because the Red Scarf Army recited the name of Maitreya Buddha, and there was a statue of Maitreya Buddha in Huangjue Temple, the Yuan army was afraid that the temple would have an affair with the Red Scarf Army, so a fire broke out. Zhu Yuanzhang, who was homeless and had nowhere to stay, was once again forced to a "dead corner" and a "dead end". He no longer hesitated, turned away from the ruins with green smoke, and resolutely went to the city of Haozhou. The Red Scarf Army ran. "Emperor Mingzu's Preface" wrote about this: "At the age of twenty-four, I commit myself to the army." In the dark, there seems to be a pair of invisible hands of fate persistently pushing Zhu Yuanzhang to follow the "established" emperor's road. This "hand of fate" is not a god, but the general trend of the world that was developing at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It somehow chose and took a fancy to Zhu Yuanzhang, and used him to turn a new page in the history of the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.